It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Slinky

Longwalker said:

We were out getting the grandkids their coats for Christmas today. I chose the grandsons and it was a hell of a lot of money. Mr L commented on how when he was that age he had hand me downs and I replied back then we all did, we were all the same. But nowadays a 16 year old not wearing the same as his peers will be teased, tormented or even bullied, in our day all our peers were pee poor

I remember when I was at middle school, there was the option for the girls to wear summer dresses, in the days when they had to be made by mothers with fabric and pattern from a local shop. The lady across the road gave my mum her daughter's outgrown school dress, which was green and white stripes. However in my year, the fabric choice had been updated to blue or green checked gingham. No way was I wearing the striped dress and standing out from everybody else in the year, so I continued to wear the winter skirt and blouse.

When we got to upper school, the PE kit specified a blue aertex blouse. Mother found a white button up one at a jumble sale which she died blue. Of course a completely different blue to everybody else, and the 'proper one' wasn't button front, but I was stuck with this one. That and a pair of size 7 hockey boots I never grew into, but she bought because one of her sisters had big feet. And a hockey stick that was too short from the day we bought it but was a £1 cheaper than the right sized one.

When you're at school you just want to not stand out in the wrong way. And it wasn't like we didn't have the money for the better options.

littlemoney

When I was at school, my mum purchased the school uniform for me to grow into. She did this for my final skirt to see me through the 6th form. Just after she got the skirt, the school changed the 6th formers uniform, previously it had just been a different tie, now it was completely different. I was the only one wearing the old style uniform.

littlemoney

freyasmum said:

I've done quite well recently with getting some reduced bits and pieces. 

I got a corn-fed rotisserie chicken in waitrose for £1.99, which I was quite happy with - I wouldn't have paid £8, mind you. Few packs of mince reduced in aldi, so those will make some chilli/bolognese and a couple for the freezer. 

Then I got a carton each of whole eggs and egg whites reduced in the cash and carry, which have been portioned into 100-ml ice cube trays (2 whole eggs per cube) and frozen. I used 2 cubes for our toad in the Hole recently. I mention this because I reckon a lot of people probably don't realise that you can freeze eggs (not in their shells). I have egg yolks in the freezer from making meringue, which i will use for custard to go with our Christmas pudding.

I do love a mince pie, especially warmed with some cream. I will eat a tiny slice of Christmas pudding if it's there, but really its for my MIL, and our Christmas pudding of choice is a toffee and pecan roulade.

I make marshmallows with my eldest and shortbread with my youngest, which we enjoy with some hot chocolate on Christmas Eve, while reading the night before Christmas. It's magical ❤️

I don't use eggs fast enough. Can eggs be frozen just by cracking them into a suitable container and the put in the freezer?

Slinky

littlemoney said:

freyasmum said:

I've done quite well recently with getting some reduced bits and pieces. 

I got a corn-fed rotisserie chicken in waitrose for £1.99, which I was quite happy with - I wouldn't have paid £8, mind you. Few packs of mince reduced in aldi, so those will make some chilli/bolognese and a couple for the freezer. 

Then I got a carton each of whole eggs and egg whites reduced in the cash and carry, which have been portioned into 100-ml ice cube trays (2 whole eggs per cube) and frozen. I used 2 cubes for our toad in the Hole recently. I mention this because I reckon a lot of people probably don't realise that you can freeze eggs (not in their shells). I have egg yolks in the freezer from making meringue, which i will use for custard to go with our Christmas pudding.

I do love a mince pie, especially warmed with some cream. I will eat a tiny slice of Christmas pudding if it's there, but really its for my MIL, and our Christmas pudding of choice is a toffee and pecan roulade.

I make marshmallows with my eldest and shortbread with my youngest, which we enjoy with some hot chocolate on Christmas Eve, while reading the night before Christmas. It's magical ❤️

I don't use eggs fast enough. Can eggs be frozen just by cracking them into a suitable container and the put in the freezer?

I belive you need to separate the whites and yolks

RobM99

Never seen frozen eggs for sale. Seen hard boiled - peak of laziness, that!

-taff

when we were children we used ot parcels sent from Italy with clothes in there. Trouble was, my cousin was elfin and delicate and I was a great big hulking lump. I also had weird ideas about clothes. I remember wearing one particular rust pleated skirt with a tiger t-shirt for weeks at a time. I remember the first time I got to pick an outfit, it was blue striped blouse with a matching blue skirt and a blue jacket. I felt very smart in it and wore it to death. Then I entered the world of goth and it's been black ever since

AnimalTribe

Eggs can be frozen. I usually just mix the egg white and yolk together and freeze in small pots of four eggs as that's how I mostly use them. You can separate them into whites and yolks if you want to use them that way. Some people suggest adding either salt or sugar, but I never have, and I've never had a problem. 

Katiehound

oh Newberry fruits!
Memories
yes, we always had those at Christmas- of course my favourites were the black ones - just like favourite fruit gums!
Turkish delight in the little wooden boxes.

One year we were given marrons glace- nothing special ! would rather have had maraschino cherries ( a whole jar of them, I mean!) and one year we were given a huge wooden box ( I still have it!) of glace fruits from Fortnum & Masons!!

Will have to make do now with marzipan!!

Bluegreen143

Loving these stories of childhood clothing dilemmas.

I’m in my early 30s and so our clothes weren’t homemade and we always had the proper uniform but my mum used to love getting (what she thought was) cool accessories - stripy or leopard print tights etc - whereas I’d want the ground to swallow me up if I looked remotely different to my peers so couldn’t imagine anything worse than leopard print tights to school at age 11!

She didn’t have much cash so I do remember the stress in my early teens of not having the “right” jacket etc - then I took discovered goth/emo type clothes and didn’t care about designer jackets anymore 😅

I don’t want my kids to feel left over but neither do I want them spoiled so it’s a tricky balance. They are too young to care about clothes now but I’m sure it’ll come. We are much better off than my mother was when I was growing up (she was a single mother and on benefits then a mature student) so it’s harder to say no when you can afford it. Just about getting the right balance I guess.

When they are teens I want to let them manage their own clothing budget and supplement it from their pocket money if they want fancier stuff than I’m prepared to pay for, use it as a budgeting lesson. I think I could have done with more practical hands on budgeting practise as a teenager.

in_my_wellies

I was about 11 when I went with my mother and grandmother to buy a coat. We must have gone round every shop and I was bored. For a joke I found a muddy brown shiny, probably polyester type fabric, one about three sizes too big. Without them noticing I put it on and announced that I liked this one! They agreed and bought it! I had to wear it for the whole of secondary school.