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

apple_mint

I'd still stick to OS ways. We eat fantastically. Have both lost weight (and are so much fitter) and our cholesteral levels are now normal. We recycle as we go (boxes in the pantry for sorting) and watch the pennies so that eventually we can start saving for a nest egg (as opposed to paying off loans). If we had more money? We'd love to stay at home and be OS full time (and perhaps have the luxury of going to some evening classes or courses to learn more).

dlb

I have to admit, it is due to debt problems that we have turned OS, but there is no way once i am debt free that i would go back to the way we were.
I was slighty os anyway, but have stepped it up alot.
As for if i won the lottery, well i dont and never have played it, but by saving the money os style ( and wow are we cut our outgoings by doing so) our family have a dream to return to Florida one day, we were fortunate enough to be sent there in 05 all paid for by my special mother-in-law, and it changed our lives.The kids really value everything must more now and every penny they find goes towards a return trip.

And when my eldest son now 10, said all this hard work will pay off mum, just think next time we go i may be 18 but we will have paid for it ourselves. It really touched me.
So although trips abroad are not very os it is a dream that keeps me going is the os ways, if that make sense??

pawpurrs

What a brilliant thread.
Allways been eco friendly and Ols style. Because I love to cook and eat, and hate ready meals, used to run an organic farm, and hate chemicals. I live in an old timber framed cottage and moving to another one soon (hopefully), but if I had more money I would go further and self build on a lovely piece of land and have animals and be more self sufficent.
The only thing I do that is really bad is travel, I love to travel and I know airmiles isnt good. But I do make a point of never going on package holidays, and try to give money to the local community by eating out in local restaurants, and staying in small local houses etc.

stefejb

Singleparentness and asthma forced me to be o/s (lungs can't take chemical cleaners). If i won the lottery i would not go back although i wiuld probably work less hours - i can see the difference it makes with my youngest dd. She is 10 now and knows the value of everything. My elder dds would have rather starved than take own brand let alone value crisps to school but she comes up with her own frugal lunch ideas like home popped popcorn. she saves all the money that hasn't fed her Dr Who obsession and has about 150 quid in her account for when she goes to uni she is a bit of a maths whizz and can work out the per kg price at the shops for me if it's not clear. The downside is that if i need to buy her something big like shoes or winter coats there is a big fuss about the price and she will often go for the cheapest. We learned that lesson though when we bought a pair of school shoes for 5.99 - the amount of time they lasted worked out at about 75p per day so she does take into account quality now.
She sees her dad every other weekend and he is definitely a spendthrift - one of the reasons we broke up. I'm afraid to say that when she's with him she switches and lets him buy her all sorts but it seems to make him happy too so never mind.

stef

purpleimp

This is a really interesting thread! I've always been one for looking for things on the cheap, we've never had much money and my hubby is a bloody nightmare he has no concept of what he spends, as it stands not including our student loans I have a maxed credit card and an over draught of £1200, which could be a lot worse I suppose. But our combined student loans are probably about 20k all told

DH doesn't know I'm doing thins OS as such because he's a bit of a snob in a lot of respects, for example last week I went brambling and he mortified and thinks I'm a damnable gypsy, and wouldn't so much as taste the fruit on principle, but he's very supportive of the home cooking and the christmas hampers I'm putting together (the brambles are in the freezer waiting to be jellied as part of that)

MIL runs a charity shop ans DH will go in there and I am allowed to buy in there but not the others (what he doesn't know wont hurt him if he doesnt know where I shop he doesn't mind!)
We were away this week for a wedding and raided primark and he loaded up on work clothes, I was so proud, he bought 2 work shirts at £4 a piece which here would cost £18 each here and 3 pairs of work trousers at £6 a piece which here would cost £35 so I was dead chuffed, he's getting better......................... slowly!

If I won lotto what I would do would be to buy a house for my parents, we would buy MILs house from her, but for her, so she had the money but gets to live out her days in her own house without the financial worries she has, and I would try to buy back my grandmothers house, if that failed I would buy a plot in Uig or Bernera and build, not a kit but build a big croft house, (I feels kits have little personality or character)

Wih a croft house I'd have chickens and sheep and be growing our own veg, I'd be able to afford to make it the way I wanted and the set up costs and do it for the joy of doing it not the necessity.

Part of me would love to be a stay at home type and be baking and cooking from dawn till dusk, part of me know's I'd get bored and would need the social ineraction too so I'd probably open a tattoo parlour if I had the money!

Oh to live in an ideal world!

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, intersting thread. However, for me, it's by having been OS for many years that I've been able to save, pay off my mortgage, have money in the bank, and able to plan what I do with the rest of my life, without worrying about money.

The satisfaction of being able to have a great life with my family without it costing a couple of limbs, means I can't imagine not being OS, even if I came into a fortune.

Penny. x

Sarahsaver

I was OS because I was broke.

Now I am not broke because I am OS.

JillD_2

Thats a great question.
We used to be a lot better off before we had kids but I find that finding bargains and ways to save money is so satisfying!! If we had more money I think I'd still shop at Asda and try and do it as cheaply, cook from scratch etc but I would definitely go on more holidays and buy better quality clothes. I do get fed uo with cheap clothes not lasting klong, keeo telling myself its a false economy but can't justify anything higher than Primark or George prices at the moment, even though I know they will be all stretched out of shape after a few washes.

Penelope_Penguin

JillD wrote:

Thats a great question.
We used to be a lot better off before we had kids but I find that finding bargains and ways to save money is so satisfying!! If we had more money I think I'd still shop at Asda and try and do it as cheaply, cook from scratch etc but I would definitely go on more holidays and buy better quality clothes. I do get fed uo with cheap clothes not lasting klong, keeo telling myself its a false economy but can't justify anything higher than Primark or George prices at the moment, even though I know they will be all stretched out of shape after a few washes.

Jill, hi! Have you tried charity shops recently? I used them when I was a student, as I couldn't afford anything else, and I remember them being smelly and a lot of the clothes rubbish. I went into one recently, and it was marvellous! The clothes were lovely, arranged into styles and each hanger labelled with its size. I got 2 skirts, a jacket, a jumper and 4 blouses for £25.

I've set myself the challenge that I won't buy new clothes this year (apart from underwear and possibly a winter coat and christmas party outfit, both of which I need, but am not having luck finding second hand).

Penny. x

[Deleted User]

I have always been os. I was the oldest of 7 children and just had to be the main house helper. I could sew a skirt at 9 and make a stew for 9 in a pressure cooker at 11. I knitted a dress for myself at 13. Washing, cleaning etc I could do it all before I was a young teenager

Anyway, yes they were hard times but by golly how I am reaping the rewards now. I have always made my children`s clothes and baked from scratch and almost always grown my own veg. I knew how to stretch the money when things got very very hard ie the mortgage rate went to 15% and we had one salary and three children.

A bit saved here and a bit there adds up to a bucketful over a lifetime. No debt and enough savings to have a very enjoyable old age as my dh of 35 years and I head towards our pensions. Don`t think that being os is not fun because there is enormous satisfaction to be had and the children ended up being os too.

I don`t have to be os these days and I don`t make clothes any more but I am still os in other ways, because it is just a fantastic way of living