Is frugal the new normal?

cyantist

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Is it frugal or downright money pinching to re dye faded jeans? I do it regularly as they have no physical damage or thin patches but just fade through the summer and then look tired. It really keeps them in use until they DO have thin patches and then I pop them in the rag bag to use as patches on the not so thin ones!

I'm going to go with the first option as I have a dyeing pile next to my sewing pile. Currently have two pairs of slightly faded jeans, a pair of slightly faded trousers and a skirt and a towel that I managed to spray bleach on. I'd never consider just throwing them away, even though with the amount of clothes I have I probably don't need these.

[Deleted User]

lessonlearned wrote: »

Suki - is your mum well......

The reason I ask is that the type of food spending she is doing is what actually alerted us to the fact that my aunt had developed Alzheimer's.

.

Those were exactly my thoughts when I read the post about the excess vegetables. I hope she is ok Suki

Mt S I have to agree with you. I am so very lucky in that my children never ask me for anything and nor do I get any adverse comments when I spend my money but then again my spending is quite subtle

As always horses for courses. Oh dye the jeans MrsL and I am happy to dye towels

re diet, well mine is very simple, no fancy food at all. Allotment veg, nuts, seeds, fruit, sd bread, a little grass fed meat, fish, organic everything if I can. I have always held to the fact that we are what we eat, so very true. Butter, cream, whole milk, loverly

thriftwizard

We eat fairly widely, but just about everything is cooked from scratch, except bread. Some bread is HM, but one or two of the fussier members of the household insist on the stuff that supermarkets sell as bread.

Breakfasts, for those of us that bother, are usually porridge or spelt pancakes with whatever fruit is in season/available cheaply/HM preserves. Lunches are soups or salads, again made from leftovers/whatever's in the garden or fridge, and dinners are a variety of dishes made with whatever I've found to be good value (not necessarily cheapest!) at the local market. I do shop in supermarkets, mostly for non-perishables, but I have to stay out of the cereal & confectionary aisles - they just do my head in! All those choices, all that money for things that very probably aren't going to do you any good at all! Once I'd stopped buying them, I realised how horribly over-sweet they are now; they don't taste at all nice after a few weeks without them.

But I wouldn't want to go back to the days of just meat & 2 veg; what could be quicker & more nutritious than simple stir-fry with bulgur wheat - unless you can't have any form of wheat, of course, in which case rice'd be a better idea - or a swift left-overs & chick-pea curry?

I've been known to dye jeans too, but now I mostly cut them up to use in things I make to sell. I am no longer jeans-shaped, sadly...

moneyistooshorttomention

We are what we eat indeed Kittie:T

I couldn't agree more. Reason being I've come from a horrifically unhealthy family (as in VERY VERY unhealthy indeed) - I've been expecting one of my parents to be dead tomorrow for many years now - as they have so many and severe health ailments. My other parent has various severe health ailments. My younger brother has just added yet another health ailment to his (already) incredibly long (and killer!) list of ailments.

But - I don't.

The only difference I can see between me and them is I eat healthily - and they all don't (edit - I do have to add I am simply NOT prepared to put up with major health problems...end of. That is also a big difference between my family and myself. They will make some attempts to "deal with" - but give up fighting at some point. I will keep fighting - for however long it takes and defeat is not an option for me personally).

I rest my case...

It could be just "luck of the draw" - but I don't think so...

I am utterly convinced that a (genuinely) healthy diet and an attitude of distinct cynicism towards conventional medical care pays HUGE dividends.

suki1964

kittie wrote: »

Those were exactly my thoughts when I read the post about the excess vegetables. I hope she is ok Suki

Mt S I have to agree with you. I am so very lucky in that my children never ask me for anything and nor do I get any adverse comments when I spend my money but then again my spending is quite subtle

As always horses for courses. Oh dye the jeans MrsL and I am happy to dye towels

re diet, well mine is very simple, no fancy food at all. Allotment veg, nuts, seeds, fruit, sd bread, a little grass fed meat, fish, organic everything if I can. I have always held to the fact that we are what we eat, so very true. Butter, cream, whole milk, loverly

Well she's not sick in that sense. She has cancer and has had a stroke but still drives and runs her own business still.

No with her it's just plain simple she sees something and she has to have it, regardless as to whether it will get eaten. She always piles her plate up and sits surrounded by chocolate in the evenings. She has always been like that. She just has to stock pile, yet can't cook to save her life- hence the tins and packet smash. She shops like those families on the Greg Wallace show, blindly putting stuff in a trolly with no idea if she already has 12 tins of it already

I daren't divulge how many tins of salmon we have :eek:

GreyQueen

Suki, you don't have an excess of salmon, you have an insufficiency of cats.

If you don't have a cat, just open a tin of salmon out of doors and you'll soon find a furry friend will pop by looking hopeful.

Crochet_Teapot

Frugal_Dreamer wrote: »

Originally Posted by kittie
"I do so hate it when people think that their way is the only way and they harp on about it"

Originally Posted by Frugal Dreamer: Pot, kettle, black :mad:

My mother lives on her own, doesn't have dementia and yet buys way too much food and throws a lot out. This annoys me...just because of the waste...she could be spending the money on other things for herself.

Nargleblast

Maybe elderly people who hoard food do so because they grew up in the days of food rationing, or in households where not much money was about. They probably have the mindset that they will never ever let themselves be in such a vulnerable situation again - who, amongst those born in the second half of the 20th century really knows what life was like for those who lived through the 1930s and 1940s?

GreyQueen

Nargleblast wrote: »

Maybe elderly people who hoard food do so because they grew up in the days of food rationing, or in households where not much money was about. They probably have the mindset that they will never ever let themselves be in such a vulnerable situation again - who, amongst those born in the second half of the 20th century really knows what life was like for those who lived through the 1930s and 1940s?

Well said.

I used to know an elderly lady, widow of a wealthy businessman. He was a self-made man who had grown up in absolutely terrible poverty in rural Ireland. The kind of poverty which featured such delights as running barefoot in all weathers because your parents couldn't afford shoes and going hungry more often than not.

Unsurpisingly, although such hardships were long gone, they were not forgotten. His wife was a superb cook and could and did cook just about anything from any cuisine in the world, daily, from the freshest ingredients.

He hoarded tinned food. Bought in quantity from wholesalers. It was never eaten and, occasionally, a tin would explode. The waste used to drive her mad, but she acknowledged that her own affluent background was very different to his deprived one, and that she couldn't really understand the need, only accept it.

cyantist

Suki, if the food is never likely to be eaten and your mum doesnt even know what is in the cupboards, can you have a sort out and either meal plan to use it all up or donate it to a food bank or similar?