Can we ever change where we came from?

AubreyMac

Poppy9 wrote: »

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.

I didn't even know that could be done.

Would have to be extrememly tight fisted or it must be a very pricey or precious shirt to take the time to do so!!

I remember my mum brought a whole roll of cheap but good thick quality fabic from a market. She made curtains with it. And she also made an apron and then a skirt. The pattern was vile (beige with big flowers on it that was like an optical illusion).

AubreyMac

I didn't see the OP as boasting, but just mentioning that we all have our own 'cheapskate' ways that's ingrained in us, hence the question of can this change.

Mentioning the wealth was a way of stating that she/he could easily buy new sheets but choose to fix what they had instead.

I have a friend that I consider wealthy but she is the most stingiest person I know, she wears rags that other people have thrown out. But then that's why she is rich because she doesn't spend on anything.

AubreyMac

Furgitude wrote: »

You dont see boasting? Look again, a whole paragraph of it;)
'Much more money than most' 'Very good pensions' 'Several properties' and 'Money in the bank'!

I read the whole post and saw the bigger picture.

Poppy9

AubreyMac wrote: »

I didn't even know that could be done.

Would have to be extrememly tight fisted or it must be a very pricey or precious shirt to take the time to do so!!

It was just the way it was. Clothes were worn until no good as waste was not an option in the era my mother grew up in (war years). Clothes were still expensive and no Primark like today with 99p t-shirts!

We had our school clothes/shoes and a best outfit for church, special occasions etc. Playing clothes were either hand me downs or ones that we were beginning to grow out of. Black plimsolls were our usual playing shoes.

Poppy9

Furgitude wrote: »

The bigger picture is showing wealth but see what you want to. I think most people will see the only purpose of this thread is to boast. Look at the terminology used, 'Much more' 'Very good' 'Several properties' that person wanted that to be known in very fine detail.

but it's an anonymous forum so boasting would be a waste of time.

Savvy_Sue

Armchair23 wrote: »

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.

:rotfl: My last two old bars are decomposing beneath a new bar as I type! With one of them, I'd done the 'keep it a while and it will last longer' thing and it definitely lasted well, but then fell into slivers. I keep thinking I must just throw the old slivers away because they are just annoying me now, perhaps you have inspired me!

Armchair23 wrote: »

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 !

I think the boys have caught the bug a bit themselves, they're quite frugal.

My mother used to wash plastic food bags, eg bread bags, and re-use them. We have not long finished sorting the contents of her house, including a bedroom full of wool. Some of the balls were stored in old bread bags. It's been a long time since affording new plastic bags would have been an issue for her. She was still buying new wool last summer, possibly because the chances of locating anything similar in her stash were remote.

I'm trying to train myself out of only buying treats when they're reduced.

thorsoak

Furgitude wrote: »

Not if you want frugal pity when you are rich. Even the well off like attention. PS i missed another boast i've not pointed out to you 'Even now when we can enjoy everything, and we do'. That bigger picture you see is getting increasingly smaller with all this boasting taking place :eek:

Frankly Firgitude, I just read scorn and envy in your posts - you are fixated on the comments about wealth now, not about the things that they did to overcome poverty then, and how old habits die hard.

EpsomOldie

thorsoak wrote: »

Frankly Firgitude, I just read scorn and envy in your posts - you are fixated on the comments about wealth now, not about the things that they did to overcome poverty then, and how old habits die hard.

Ditto...........

bouicca21

Gosh I was also brought up in a world where collars were turned and worn sheets were repaired as sides to middle, wrapping paper was carefully saved to be used again, old clothes were turned into cleaning rags, etc - but much of that post second world war austerity is no longer relevant - shirts made of modern fabrics simply aren't worth turning collars for example.

My mum used to know the price of everything on her shopping list in all the major supermarkets and would go from one to another accordingly. But in those days there were several supermarkets within walking distance of each other on the high street and they were all tiny compared to modern ones.

My parents had both been brought up in grinding poverty. Their priority was to save in case of disaster. They spent nothing on making the house, or their lives, comfortable. It wasn't until I was much, much older that I realised we weren't really poor at all.

When I got married the cost of the mortgage and of bringing up children meant that I had to keep some of those frugal ways. And it is really hard to abandon them, which is probably a good thing since I am about to retire on a small pension and will once again have to watch the pennies, though not I hope every single one.

pollypenny

Yes, we still have some of those frugal ways which were absolutely necessary for most of our lives.

Had we not, we could have been living in a council house in one of the worst places in Wales.

I don't see the OP as boasting, more asking if other oldies do the same.