Is frugal the new normal?

moneyistooshorttomention

True Kittie. Different strokes for different folks. Some people enjoy the challenge of creating "something from nothing". Others do it because they have to - but aren't enjoying it. Others have "done their stint" at that and didn't enjoy it and are now "putting their feet up" a bit more now that they can afford it.

Each to their own...

fuddle

Some of us get frustrated because we can't do it the way we really want to.

Frugal_Dreamer

kittie wrote: »

I do so hate it when people think that their way is the only way and they harp on about it

Pot, kettle, black

:mad:

suki1964

kittie wrote: »

sounds as though your mother has served her time so why can`t you quietly let her enjoy the fruit of her life`s work? I do so hate it when people think that their way is the only way and they harp on about it

I too am enjoying my food shopping but I am lucky in that my children completely understand. If I want it, I buy it, my money, I earned it. If I had a marks nearby then I too would come home laden with twee bags.

Sorry but your post riled me and I had to comment

Tbh kittie I can't see where I was harping on

I never say a word to my mum about where she spends her money or how

My mum has no reason to be spending money on food. She lives with us. I feed her 6 days a week. She only needs to be spending on her own personal wants- she has cereal which we don't , she likes her treats. I ask for no contribution what so ever

Yet again she's just in the door with a bag of shopping. That's the Fourth carton of salt this year, the third bottle of ketchup this month and there are now at least 6 boxes of crackers and ryvita in the cupboard. I won't bore you with how many tins of soup, beans and veg she has stashed

She has also bought home carrots ( have a garden full) spuds ( the same)


This is along with the 6 packets of cooked sandwich meats, two tubs of coleslaw and four pun nets of tomatoes and three pun nets of plums she picked up from marks on Friday


There is no way on this earth will she eat them before them before they rot, go out of date or she will just clean forget she's got them and will go stock up again

I find it terribly frustrating that she's wasting both money and food this way but I say nothing and leave her to it

Same will happen at Christmas. She will go to marks and buy all the cakes and biscuits and sweets that catch her eye, and come Easter it will all be going in the bin ( as it does every year as no one else in the house has a sweet tooth)

But as I say, she shops like that because for her she feels it's what she deserves and who am I to say she can't

I just hope the larder doesn't collapse under the weight of it all

Mr_Singleton

kittie wrote: »

If I want it, I buy it, my money, I earned it

Unfortunately most children don't see it that way.... Its NOT your money its THEIR inheritance and the more you fritter it way the less their going to get, hence their annoyance at you spending it.

Was a good 'You & Yours' radio programme a while back about this sort to thing.

suki1964

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Unfortunately most children don't see it that way.... Its NOT your money its THEIR inheritance and the more you fritter it way the less their going to get, hence their annoyance at you spending it.

Was a good 'You & Yours' radio programme a while back about this sort to thing.

I hope you aren't implying I'm looking for my mothers money are you?

I wouldn't take a penny off her- dead or alive. She is living very happily on the proceeds of the sale of her house, her own pensions and her late husbands pension and I'm in line for nothing when she goes, apart from a ring, and that's fine by me as I need for nothing

Her will names her grandchildren, and I'm childless

[Deleted User]

Does anyone else feel these days that the enjoyment in food has been somewhat diminished by ALL the health recommendations, guidelines, latest ways of showing what is and isn't healthy on packaging, papers published one day saying if you drink red wine etc. it will give you something nasty and the next that if you don't drink red wine etc. it will give you something nasty? diet fads, celebrity chefs, tweaks like adding instant coffee or horseradish to perfectly nice dishes, all the 'festival' dishes pushed by TV ads each year for 'holiday food' add to the sense of not knowing what it is a good idea to eat or not. What happened to good old fashioned sustenance food? It was enough not so long ago to have porridge for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and meat and two veg for supper, now we have multitudinal choices of fashionable and complex foods for all meals ready made to eat and cuisines from the entire globe to choose from are we really better off? I find food and food advice slightly daunting these days and find myself wanting to go back to simplicity!

Goldiegirl

I find the information on packaging to be really helpful. I've mentioned on other threads that I have to follow a low salt diet to control a chronic illness that I have, so I think it's great that I can tell at a glance which items are best for me.


For example, some passata is loaded with salt, other makes are very low in salt, so it makes it so easy to buy the right passata for me.


Because I have to count salt, I don't count calories, or carbs or sugar or anything else, I just eat a balanced diet.


Likewise, because I eat a balanced diet, I don't pay too much attention to the latest fads, or what is bad for me this month. If I eat too much salt, bad things really could happen to me, so I just concentrate on that, which is a fact, not the latest idea.


I like having a big choice of foods. Some mornings I have porridge, but I also have muesli or whole grain products like Weetibix.


At lunch I'll typically have a couple of slices of toast (HM bread to keep the salt down) and a piece of fruit or a yoghurt.


My dad was a very plain eater, and had to have a meat and two veg type meal every evening. But I got so bored with it, and love the choices we have nowadays. I'm always looking for new ideas for evening meals and love to cook with spices and herbs. As I have to limit salt, it's especially satisfying to cook flavoursome food with no added salt


Food is one of my pleasures - it's more than fuel or sustenance.

[Deleted User]

Today has been particularly frugal.......it's been raining all day and I haven't been out!!!

fuddle

The choices we have today are causing some people no amount of digestive trouble. There's swathes of us out there who are changing right back to simple eating and seeing real health benefits because of it. I also have a balanced diet eating fish, meat, fruit, veg, salad, diary, nuts and seeds. What I don't have is bloat, excess wind, heartburn, stomach cramps and having to make myself ill in order to feel relief.

Ok, so I don't have grains or sugars but that's my choice based on what works for me. A simple diet is keeping me off pills, giving me energy and removing all those things that were making me really very poorly.

A simple diet isn't boring. It's exciting because I get to learn new ways of flavouring food that isn't wholemeal this or sugared that.

We are all so different.