Can we ever change where we came from?

ognum

I have just spent 30 mins mending a hole in a sheet! It's a good quality white sheet and I could not help myself giving it a few more uses.

We have taken early retirement, have much more than most people, very good pensions, several properties, money in the bank but when we were young we were very, very poor.

I would put groceries back on the shelves at the shop because we just couldnot afford them. I would put leather patches on the arms of my husbands sports jackets, turn the collars of his shirts when they became worn ( nobody does that now) and darn socks! Oh my I sound old and I'm not.

Even now when we can enjoy everything and we do, we both have to do the frugal things we did when we were young.

What do you do that you don't need to?

chazsucks

We can totally change I was brought up as a spoilt only child, always bought everything new, wasted money on things left right and centre when I started working. At one point I bought a new pack of 7 socks every week because I liked how they felt when they were new :eek:

Now, not so much. This evening I sewed up a hole in my leggings because they are otherwise perfectly good, buy reduced food, buy most things secondhand etc

Have also learnt how to actually cook (even though I hate it lol) rather than buying ready meals or takeaways, learnt how to grow our own veg.....

I'm pretty sure that when (if) we are ever 'well off' again we'll continue being frugal rather than wasting money, I love it!

ognum

chazsucks wrote: »

We can totally change I was brought up as a spoilt only child, always bought everything new, wasted money on things left right and centre when I started working. At one point I bought a new pack of 7 socks every week because I liked how they felt when they were new :eek:

Now, not so much. This evening I sewed up a hole in my leggings because they are otherwise perfectly good, buy reduced food, buy most things secondhand etc

Have also learnt how to actually cook (even though I hate it lol) rather than buying ready meals or takeaways, learnt how to grow our own veg.....

I'm pretty sure that when (if) we are ever 'well off' again we'll continue being frugal rather than wasting money, I love it!

Maybe then it's the frugal ways we can't drop once we have them. well done on the learning to cook, hope you get to love it.

Armchair23

ognum wrote: »

Maybe then it's the frugal ways we can't drop once we have them. well done on the learning to cook, hope you get to love it.

I am at the age where I can afford a bar of soap , and how many can you get through in a lifetime anyhow ?

But still I go through the stupid regime of trying to stick the old sliver onto the new and getting annoyed when it doesn't work.

I think when you've been hard up it's something that sticks with you forever. And I know my adult kids think I'm completely insane. But come the holocaust/revolution/armageddon I reckon I'm more likely to get by than they are !

Poppy9

I grew up on what is now one of the roughest council estates in the area. At that time the estate was full of decent hard working families like my own, with the odd lazy good for nothings, and waste wasn't an option. My mother darned and turned collars, clothes were handed down and between neighbours.

Now I live in one the best areas - when I say where I live people comment "that's posh" but I'm still me. I hate waste and it's taken me years to learn to spend our money. I don't leave lights on, I pass on DD clothes and used to accept them from friends/cousins. I think of the ad campaign about waste and recycling that ran s - It's your children's future, don't throw it away,

AubreyMac

My parents emigrated to the UK from a 3rd world war torn country.

Where they are from they lived in a shack with no running water, electricity and a hole in the ground that the whole village calls a toilet.

Luckily, I was born in the UK so don't related to that sort of poverty.

I have seen my parents do some really 'cheapskate' things such as carefully opening envelopes and wrapping paper in order to re-use them, eating/drinking dips and sauces just so it doesn't go to waste. Going through skips to find old junk that can be fixed and when I was young they went bin raiding when shops threw out food. I could never do those sort of things.

My mum has some t shirts that are older than I am, the colour and elastic has gone but she says it still does the job. I saw my dad sew up holes in his flannels and when it gets to the point that it's really really worn out, he would wash the windows with them before throwing it! Even though they are in a much better financial position now, they struggle to accept luxuries.

I think their ways and me being brought up in the UK has made me indulge more, I like to splash out on luxury and I did create a lot of wastage.

Now that I'm in the process of buying my own flat I have to be very careful with my spending.

Poppy9

Furgitude wrote: »

Sounds like you are boasting to me.

And to whom are you referring?

AubreyMac

What exactly does turning collars mean?

Poppy9

AubreyMac wrote: »

What exactly does turning collars mean?

You unpick the stitching of a collar (or cuffs) and turn them the other way around. With collars if they have worn or frayed a bit around the neck line then that is hidden underneath.

My mother only turned cuffs if they had marks on that couldn't be removed and that way it was hidden inside next to the skin.

My mother made us changing capes for the seaside out of terry nappies sewn together with an elasticated neck!

She also taught me how to thread through new elastic on a waist band with the use of two safety pins.

Poppy9

Furgitude wrote: »

The person bragging about early retirement, owning several properties and having more than enough money in the bank, then pretending to be frugal. I know rich people like this, they like to feel important by showing their status whilst trying to obtain pity from the poor days. Such hypocrites.

A lot of people who have become comfortably off over their life time find it hard to spend because that fear remains that they might have a financial emergency.

In life people are either spenders or tightwads regardless of their income.

Peter333

ognum wrote: »

I have just spent 30 mins mending a hole in a sheet! It's a good quality white sheet and I could not help myself giving it a few more uses.

We have taken early retirement, have much more than most people, very good pensions, several properties, money in the bank but when we were young we were very, very poor.

I would put groceries back on the shelves at the shop because we just could not afford them. I would put leather patches on the arms of my husbands sports jackets, turn the collars of his shirts when they became worn ( nobody does that now) and darn socks! Oh my I sound old and I'm not.

Even now when we can enjoy everything and we do, we both have to do the frugal things we did when we were young.

What do you do that you don't need to?

Furgitude wrote: »

Sounds like you are boasting to me.

Furgitude wrote: »

The person bragging about early retirement, owning several properties and having more than enough money in the bank, then pretending to be frugal. I know rich people like this, they like to feel important by showing their status whilst trying to obtain pity from the poor days. Such hypocrites.

This exactly. ^^^ :T

Glad it's not just me who thought this about the original post.

I genuinely can't see what the point of the OP is, or what the OP is supposed to be conveying... :huh: