What OS habits you can't stop once you are better off?

kboss2010

jackyann wrote: »

I re-use and re-cycle a lot.
I cut down old towels to make hand towels, re-use any old material for rag, and make pot holders from scraps of fabric.
I remain very careful about not wasting food.

I think that if you can afford to buy nice things, then that is nice for you. You should not however, be wasteful of the earth's resources just because you can "afford" to! They are different things in my book.

I like to be able to afford to buy fair trade, local & organic produce and not worry too much about the cost. But I am also careful to make the most of it all.

Not everyone can do this, but I applaud those who do the best that they can.

I couldn't agree more :-)

I also think that, unless you're a millionaire, not throwing money away is just sensible. Even if you earn a lot of money, you never know when you might get ill or lose your job and the more you earn generally the more expensive your outgoings are. It's all very well earning £80k a year but if, as a consequence, you have a £400k mortgage and a fancy car on finance and used to spending a lot on your social life, money goes down fast if anything bad happens.

Aril

I'm not giving any of it up. It's completely ingrained and I find wandering around shops for any length of time just browsing incredibly stressful these days. With the terrible damage we've done to the planet different ways of living are necessary and I much prefer this greener way of living. There is always something new to try! I also enjoy the way it has challenged me to learn new skills and sharpened my lateral thinking/problem solving
Arilx

meritaten

at first read I thought 'this doesn't apply to me'! but it does! OH and I are not well off - I am now retired from work (I only ever worked part-time temp jobs), and OH is four years from retirement. the kids are grown up and left home years ago. Our financial advisor says we will be 'comfortable' with the pension pot plus state pension. Although OHs wage is decreasing not increasing as the company has cut back all bonuses, and no longer pays overtime or unsocial hours.
Yet we ARE better off than we have ever been! but, I just cannot let go of my upbringing - I cannot abide waste of money, food or resources, haven't been to a hairdresser in about 30 years, don't wear makeup. hate dressing up so unless I have a really important 'event' will not buy an outfit in a proper shop! DD calls me the 'charity shop queen'! I cook from scratch about 95% of the time (OH has a liking for certain jar sauces and some items from the chill counter).
I see no reason to suddenly start flinging money about! in fact with this government I have a deep suspicion that we are all going to feel a lot poorer soon!

VfM4meplse

Will be watching this thread keenly as I need to get frugal again very soon....

happydays89 wrote: »

I won't stop buying yellow sticker food at Tesco,we own our home and don't owe anyone a penny.When I joined this site we had £35,000 worth of debt on credit cards and loans......I am not getting myself into a mess again.Tonight at Tesco I got 56.00 worth of food for £3.36.Enough bread,rolls tea cakes and scones all down to 10p to last the month

Now here's something I don't get....I do the same, but my mum (a very regular visitor) who always used to buy YS now refuses to eat not just bakery goods, but anything from the freezer. She keeps on saying she can't eat stale food. How can it be stale when it was fresh when frozen and used up within a month?

VfM4meplse

meritaten wrote: »

Yet we ARE better off than we have ever been! but, I just cannot let go of my upbringing - I cannot abide waste of money, food or resources, haven't been to a hairdresser in about 30 years, don't wear makeup. hate dressing up so unless I have a really important 'event' will not buy an outfit in a proper shop!

If you've never liked these pleasures, or will miss them - fine. Being well groomed is important to me, and a bit spent on hair and make-up is well worth the price. As for clothing, I'm more than happy to stick to the chaz these days, as I regularly find good quality nearly-new clothing there at rock bottom prices.

[Deleted User]

Well I think I am clean and presentable, and luckily I have a granddaughter who will insist on my 'Try this out Nanna ' and gives me shampoo's and conditioners that to me cost a fortune,but she is a good lass and like to spread a little happiness by giving me some gorgeous toiletries.I think she is a shopkeepers dream as her idea of heaven is to go to Bluewater on a Saturday and browse the make-up counters and the amount of stuff she has at home would probably fill a decent sized counter in a chemists shop :):)I probably have enough hand cream and body lotions to float a battleship and as for perfumes well she will buy something and use perhaps a quarter of it ,then 'donate it to me :): so I never have to buy perfume.In my shower room I have about 6 different shampoos and conditioners and shower stuff by the gallon I think
I keep make-up for high days and holidays as I often just don't have the time in the morning to put it on.DGS Holly has a big box of almost every colour of nail polish under the sun and rarely a week goes by when she doesn't buy another one:):):).

So my make-up bill is very cheap, I like face wipes in the car ,and usually get them in superdrug or Wilkos.I do like a nice hand wash in the car as well as with three mucky boys in tow often there is no facilities in the facilities IYKWIM, and little boys do get forgetful when they have gone to the loo.

CurlyTop

Hi

Having paid off my own £50k worth of debt, I am in a more than comfortable place however, that hasn't made me complacent.

We're overpaying our mortgage and getting big jobs done on the house whilst we have the money to. Once the mortgage is paid off, it will all be added to the savings pot.

I still meal plan, freeze any left overs, look for the best deals whether it be on insurance or utility bills. I'm on a water meter and use it sparingly. Have one magazine on subscription. Got rid of the rest. I have started to go to the hairdressers but only because I'm working towards going fully grey and need their help to get there, rather than look like Worzel Gummidge.

I've set myself a challenge this year to read any 'real' books that are still in the house rather than to keep buying and adding to my kindle library. I find that I put books on my kindle wish list and then when they are cheap, buy them, hence the growing list. This last year I've not had much time to read, so what's the point of me having bought them. Tsk ! The next challenge will be to tackle the kindle list and to try desperately hard not to add to the collection.

Clothes wise, I buy slightly dearer footwear as I struggle on my feet and need to have a bit of comfort but even then, they are only replaced when they are falling apart. I've lost weight and had to buy some new trousers for work. My colleagues were getting fed up of watching me hoik them up, every time I stood up. Even then when I bought the trousers, I got them from M&S Outlet where the dearest I've paid was £9.

I come on here daily, where I mainly tend to lurk on old style as I find the threads really inspirational and helpful. Lots of top tips that are all most appreciated.

I prefer a much more simpler way of life to live. A bit of classic fm, a book to read or a charity shop jigsaw puzzle to do (which I find totally relaxes my mind), a bit of knitting and I'm done.

I do still get a bit nervous about potentially falling back into the old trap of spending unnecessarily but thinking about it, it's been 2.5 years now since I got out out of debt so I think I can say, hand on heart that I won't be going back that way.

Pollycat

I'm in the lucky position that I've never really had to scrimp on stuff - apart from the odd time very early in my first marriage because of a spendthrift, financially-clueless husband.
And I've never been in debt.

Despite having a decently paid job, I've always lived within my means.
I used to make my own clothes until charity shops started appearing on the high street.
I've shopped in charity shops and on our local flea market for over 30 years.
Surprisingly, people consider me well-dressed - I think it's because I buy good quality clothes cheap - and it's often not something you find in the usual high street stores such as M&S, Next etc.

We eat very well but I don't spend a fortune on food, I buy wisely and menu plan to use up everything.
I can't see the point in using 500gm of mince in a shepherds pie (because that's the weight it came in) when I know that 3/4lb will be plenty for us.
So I buy multiple packs and split them into 3/4lb - 2 x 500gm packs will make into 3 portions instead of 2.

So the OP's question:

What OS habits you can't stop once you are better off?

doesn't really apply to me but I'm not at all surprised to read that a lot of posters don't change their habits after their financial situation improves.
I think it just makes sense.

Nice thread, OP. :T

Spendless

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Will be watching this thread keenly as I need to get frugal again very soon....Now here's something I don't get....I do the same, but my mum (a very regular visitor) who always used to buy YS now refuses to eat not just bakery goods, but anything from the freezer. She keeps on saying she can't eat stale food. How can it be stale when it was fresh when frozen and used up within a month?

Do your taste buds change as you age? I know they do from child to adult, as I can remember disliking things that I'll now enjoy, but beyond that? My 90yo Nan refuses to get a freezer as she wants to eat fresh food, despite that it would make her life so much easier now she has limited mobility. My Mum in her 70s herself had just put it down to her being stubborn, but reading your post, I'm not too sure.

Caterina

Wow, thank you all for your replies, what a lot of wise words, I feel very reassured that I am not weird for still saving and scrimping (in the best possible sense, that is!) even if I don't really need to.

Things I will spend some money are:

Food: I try to avoid supermarkets and will continue to order my organic veg boxes. Now I can put my money where my mouth is, literally, by supporting local and organic agriculture. I order from a biodynamic farm just a few miles from where I live. In fact it is probably cheaper than a lot of supermarket food, and I use every scrap of their delivery. Only, now I can also afford to buy a few more treats, not to be relegated to a diet of swede and Jerusalem artichokes (stalwarts of the local veg box delivery).

Theatre and entertainment: I will treat DH and myself to a few shows that we always wanted to see but could never afford to, eg The Lion King, and a bit of opera, or any show that we find out about and take the fancy to see. Goes without saying, I will be looking for the best offers, but no longer need to sit up in the gods, half dead of vertigo and not enjoying a show that I can hardly watch (it happened, in the ENO in Covent Garden, it was a very cheap but awful experience).

Travel: I hate to fly and train journeys are rather expensive. But now I can go to Italy by train in the two people sleeper, rather than the cattle trucks (couchettes). We used to do it when we were both working but gave it up when I stopped working full time as we felt we could not justify the expense.

Cleaner: I have asked the lovely Lithuanian lady who used to help me when I had students, and she will give me 2 hours once a fortnight, enough to do the harder tops and corners of the house that my knees and hips don't like to reach.

That's it, really. For the rest I will continue as I have always lived, cooking from scratch, using up the ends of jars, bottles and tubes etc, just all the things that you have all mentioned in your replies. The only one I am not doing regularly is YS hunting, because I seldom do supermarket shopping these days, only top ups (and will go for YS every time in preference to non-YS, as a matter of course).

One thing I did not mention in my early post is that DH has a progressive neurological illness (thanks God so far he is living a normal life) so if one day he turned to me and said he wants something really special, extravagant, whatever that might be, travel, theatre ticket, experience, I would just go with it. As it happens, over the years he has become very much Mr Frugal himself, so he has no big fancies. But if he did, I would go to the ends of the earth to get whatever he might want, OS or not.