Have you inspired/converted someone to the "OS ways and means Act" 2008?

Squiggly_Diddly

Slightly off topic but big thanks to Haribo - I now have an avatar & can see others!!! I always wondered how to do it..... lol

My girls (11, 14, 15) get the OS ideas (although they can't always be bothered!!) but they do like baking, and making bread/soup etc, help with the meal planning & so on... And I have a feeling I'm boringly evangelistic about the whole MSE website in the presence of others - but, you know what, I DON'T CARE!!!!

r.mac_2

Haribo - don't worry. Lots of people on here thought I was a bloke until i stated otherwise! Think its the name and lack of avatar

I have picked up my original OS ways from my mum, and then added to those basics from here. I have to admit that not many of my friends are OS, but all remark on my kitchen skills when thye are round for supper

I suppose my sister and I swap OS tips the most and I am trying to rub some of it off on DH. He's getting there very, very, very slowly!!! But he tends to only notice or resist if he sees me do something differently or mention the change. if i tell him afterwards and tell him the saving made he is much more receptive!!!!!!

purpleivy

We are fairly OS here. Particularly me. Kids are in private school, courtesy of their grandmother, she's also very OS.

I find it interesting that when it comes round to birthdays in my dd's class, they don't want fancy presents from dd (she couldn't compete and wouldn't want to) but request home baking instead. She makes them their favourites, or something that she enjoys making and they are absolutely delighted.

Autumn 2006 we had a german girl living with us for the term (also from an OS family) and the 2 of them made a fabulous gingerbread house for German class. The problem was that Spanish class demanded something..... so she made a chocolate swiss roll in the shape of a bulll LOL! have a pic of the house somewhere, will see if I can find it.



http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/PurpleIvyGirl/IMG_0591.jpg

phizzimum

all my friends think i'm crazy baking things and making from scratch when i could just buy them from a supermarket.

I also think there's a bit of the "that's ok for you, you don't have a job" attitude. But i was thinking about it last night, and i probably wouldn't earn as much with a little part time job as I can save by being frugal. does that make sense? (not knocking working mums here, please don't get wrong idea!)

so i tend to keep quiet about the things i do. although my girls are very keen on the homemade things that appear in their lunch boxes, so maybe i should just concentrate on converting the next generation!

scuzz

A few people I know have started to do things. Mainly home cooking and recycling more.

One friend has become a "tight-wad" like me apparently:D She's always on at me "do you know how much having a coffee out would cost" etc!!!! Seeing as she was in bad money problems and is now ok, I guess I was a good influence!

Another is ebaying to the hills and decluttering her home like there's no tomorrow.

Mum's joined my voucher hunting ways and has invested in a slow cooker.

Other than that, I think that's my impact on the world!!

paddy's_mum

I've always been an OS style operator anyway due to frugal mother and grandmother's teaching but with the help of this site, have brought it to what I can only (very immodestly!) term a fine art. Not a penny or a scrap of food gets wasted in this household. We run two chest freezers (we are very rural and nearest shop is well over a mile away) and I would think that 95% of the contents are either from the 'salmonella shelf' (reduced for quick sale) or created from the discarded or second quality vegetables left from harvesting in nearby fields. I recently made 50 bubble-and-squeak patties, and the only bought ingredient was onion. Potatoes, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower had all been gleaned from the fields.

Only yesterday, I discovered from my daughter that her stock of Mum's HM soup was down to zero because while both her sons have been poorly with the nationwide bugs, they have asked to be given some of Nanny's soup. I take that as quite a compliment but it does explain why my former son in law nicknamed me the Soup Dragon!

I do at times splash out some of the savings I have made on something that will help in the home. Recently I bought a stick blender and that is so useful. Have a breadmaker on order (a Panasonic, what else?!) and use a Remoska and slow cooker on a regular basis.

I also make cloth bags and pinnies for family members or friends from curtains bought at charity shops. My next big challenge is to make a window quilt for the front door, again using reclaimed curtain fabric.

Less kind people call all this stuff being tight fisted or a downright Scrooge. I prefer to look at our standard of eating, our healthy bank balance, and realise that I shall have the last laugh.

taplady

My sister and I are both OS but we didn't learn it from Mum, we try to convert her but she thwarts us at every turn:D
She told me the other day that she tells everyone that ' my susan cooks everything from scratch' I was really touched as I didn't realise that she had even noticed!:j

I have also converted DH as a few weeks ago I found him washing out a sandwich bag so he could use it again!:D