WHY are you old style?......

tim_n

pff far too many women being domestic godesses = ) what happened to the men!

I'm on a good wage, no debts (Except the student loan) and want to stay that way! You have far more fun making the stuff yourself and it's more relaxing than spending my life in front of a computer screen (which I do all day these days!)

Meantime the savings may be small but the quality is up and getting my savings towards a new house deposit is my top priority!

Snow_Angel

tim - you're not the only guy! It was actually my boyfriend that introduced me to MSE boards in the first place (he was helping me with my dire credit card situation!). I started browsing the boards but initially only concentrated on the student forum and the freebies/discounts forums. I did browse the other forums though as I realised that some of the answers to my questions could be found elsewhere - e.g. utilities board, credit card board and here.

I can actually cook - always could, was taught by the best.....my gran! - and have run ski chalets where I had to cook gourmet 4 course meals for 8 - 10 people on a budget. However, it's a bit harder just for one......or so I thought! I've learned so much reading the OS board...slow cookers, my food processor has come out of hibernation!, cheaper and better ways to get food (I'm blackberry picking next week and me any boyfriend found apple trees yesterday!).

My first post on here was inspired by a desperate need to de-clutter a few weeks ago as I was moving student houses - from a very big room to one half the size! It was very inspiring the replies, and I'm now a regular reader and poster on here (I too generally don't do anything house related before checking on here first!!!).

I also have a long way to go - and life is made difficult money saving wise as I live in a shared house (not all people seem to be interested or can be bothered to do these things). Also i'll only be here for a year, so making significant changes to the property or growing veg etc is pointless at this stage.

However, I am definitely improving in some areas - e.g. using vinegar for cleaning!, making batches of home-made soup, getting things from freecycle, etc.

So, for now thatnks to all the people who have helped in one way or another - you are all :A :A :A - and thanks to everyone who helps me in the future :T

elona

Ruby

The bath foam works as handwash as well! Saves a fortune.

Did you also know about microfibre cloths and Stardrops?

Well done on all you have accomplished!:T

My old style has gone by the board a bit as my dad was terminally ill but I am sure things will settle once evrything has been done re funeral, probate etc.

Bank wanted to charge me £1000 for probate but when I phoned the probate department they said I could do it myself for about £120 and if I needed any help or advice to phone them. As a Scot, I feel my dad would have approved!

Sarahsaver

I am OS because that's how I was brought up. I didn't even know I was but now my weirdness has a name! My parents were 'older' Mum was 33 when I was born in 1970, and Dad was 55. I never though anything of it, other people were odd because their parents were so young. We grew all our own veg, went out picking fruit, mushrooms, got the odd pheasant (dad's 'tactical roadkill';)) and bartered things with neighbours. Mum made many of our clothes, and we unravelled old, worn knitted things to knit new ones.
People, well some people think I am crazy even if I make a cake, but luckily I have some lovely friends my age who all cook their own food, sew and knit - a real OS haven away from the mad consumer society. And we all look quite normal LOL;)
I just think it makes sense. Bit strapped for cash this week so this way of thinking is essential!

Ruby_Pudding

elona wrote:

My old style has gone by the board a bit as my dad was terminally ill but I am sure things will settle once evrything has been done re funeral, probate etc.

(((elona)))

elona wrote:

Bank wanted to charge me £1000 for probate but when I phoned the probate department they said I could do it myself for about £120 and if I needed any help or advice to phone them. As a Scot, I feel my dad would have approved!

Good on you for having the strength to sort this out at such a difficult time

dronid

I’ve always had old style tendencies but I’m quite a long way from being a domestic God (See! another man!) as I found little reference information on how to put them into practice.

As a student I always noticed how poorly my friends ate. (One unfortunate incident had a female friend who shall remain nameless, I know she looks on here, who I found having instant mashed potato and sweetcorn as her lunch because she didn’t have any food. I had a look in her cupboards and made a fish pie from what she didn’t have!) Many students I knew had Pot Noodles as their main meals or would try and buy takeout and many were skint despite being quite well off before. I was skint! I’d come from a single parent family and my council delayed my grant for 4 months after the start of the course. I was staying in property that, for London, was ludicrously cheap via friends. Even so one week I was so skint I was left with eggs, a little milk and flour and lived on pancakes!
After my grant came through I cooked as I’d always done and many of my friends often joined me. I always had leftovers and never again ran out of food. I also never went (too) poor even though I was feeding other people regularly.:rolleyes:

My mother was and is amazing.:j She managed, at our poorest, to keep food on our plates and a roof over our heads (even though she was burning old furniture to keep us vaguely warm. Once, when I was away for a couple of days, the window in my bedroom blew open and it snowed. I remember finding snow on the floor in my room where it had settled and not melted! Nonetheless she instilled in me certain values which this site has reawakened in me which 15 years of living in London had started to numb. I am grateful to have access to such an enthusiastic and supportive community such as this.:j :A

I was considered slightly nuts at work…:D until a number of ladies who come from Ghana found they could phone it for 1/2p a minute, saving them about £900 per year and letting them call for much longer. Then others who were looking around for DVD’s and others who wanted to get out loans.

Now all I need to do is muster a positive attitude towards cleaning.:rolleyes: Hmmm. See I know what to do. It is just doing it!

I would say

economy = 10
ecology = 8
healthy living = 6
job satisfaction (at least the cleaning!) = 2
hereditary = 8
creativity = 7
helping others = 10

Ruby_Pudding

What a lovely post dronid

little_miss_thrifty

....dronid's message will be hard to follow! Anyway, i like the OS way, especially since having my children - wanted no chemicals in the house for cleaning and wanted them to eat food made from scratch, so i knew exactly what was in it. I have always been inspired by the 1940's war era, amazed by what they survived on; an inspiration to us all. Pity life is so materialized now.

sammy_kaye18

I learned to cook out of sheer self defence, for example, because I was sure I was poisoning myself with the muck I first managed to produce.

Jeez i know that feeling - i left my mothers hosue at 19 and made scrambled egg and ended up 2 weeks on the sofa because id given myself food poisoning! so sheer defence is what got me to my 22nd birthday - dotn get me wrong im no delia though although i now cook a good scrambled egg to the point of incinerated!!!

I also grew up in a poor family, my dad was in the RAF and worked every hour under the sun to make ends meet, my mum worked all hours in a Naafi to help out and as a result i was left to care for my sister when she was just 4 and i was only 7 years old.(we were on a RAF base thgouh so nothign happened to us - but that was back in the day when kids were safe to play outside all day!) We were poor growing up and think we went to bed with more clothes on in the winter and my mornign chore was to brace the cold at 6am to fill the coal scuttle so my dad could light the coal fire ready to have the heating on. We used to go walking in the evening as our exercise to save on the household electirc bills too and collect kindling for the fire too and i absolutely loved those days and i kind of miss them too.

I think i am old style because at the little age of 22 my family uses all the old style tips, and even my nan comments on 'oh we used to do that when i was younger too'. I still think back to my childhood and think about what my parents did to get us through and now i use alot of them with my little family.
I remember too just after my parents split up that me (at 15) my mum (36) and my sister (12) lived on beans for about 3 weeks until our neighbour sussed what was going on when we used to raid their biscuit barrel on visits adn helped us out. Id love to have my own allotment but would fear tht id re poison myself by eating somethign dodgy that id grown. i also make my own clothes and a few household things too because i dont see the point in buying them if they are just as cheap to make and i get soem satisfaction out of knowing ive done it myself!

I like knowing that me my bf and our 2 year old are eating health and nutricious meals now. We are all happy and comfortable. I like knowing that the old style tips now mean that one day we will get to have our famly holiday at soem point - not for a while yet thoguh and that one day we will be debt free. I love nothing better than getting my LO bathed and into his vest and PJs to go to bed , giving him a warm milk bottle and cuddling im up in his duvet and fleece blanket. knowign hes happy and one day will probably use these tips with his own family! writing this im wrapped up in a big wool jumper ,my little one is asleep on the sofa wrapped in his big fleece blanket and the dog is cureld up in his bed. happy, content and comfy.


economy - 8
ecology - 7
healthy living - 9
hereditary - 10
creativity - 8

Sarahsaver

tim_n wrote:

pff far too many women being domestic godesses = ) what happened to the men!

Well my OH is out at 7.30 am and back at 5.30pm. I think if you look at things in a 'division of labour' kind of way, why should he spend as much time as I do cooking/cleaning when he is out of the house more? That's just silly!

He is OS in that he plays in a brass band, makes beer, picks blackberries for us, likes all the HM food and does cook on occasions. Also he is happy to live the OS way and not have processed food and 'brand name' everything.

I don't mind being a domestic goddess - It means I am multi skilled and multi talented!