Guardian ARticle today - excellent money saving old style tips!

phizzimum

I've started drying out lemon peel!

I remember reading somewhere that it can make your compost heap too acidic so I'm glad to find another use for it.

Kay, you have inspired me to take cuttings too. is there a time of year that's best or doesn't it matter?

Tashja

What a georgous article !!!

The name tags and lack of use for toe nails really made me laugh !! Going to print a copy and put it on my pin board to remind me never to throw anythig away.

T xx

pavlovs_dog

thanks to kay for bumping - i misse dit first time round but thoroughly enjoyed it :j

kay41_2

Phizzimum - I've taken cutting at all time of the year, fuschias and busy lizzies in early spring when you get those lovely new shoots, I would have thought early spring would be good for most. I realise this should have been posted on the greenfingered site, maybe someone will move it!

I am starting my chillis again - they are so rewarding as they grow so quickly, and when the chillis appear they grow almost visibly every day! I also grow cut and come again lettuces (various types) in patio pots and they are great.

When I told a firend of mine about the orange peel for firelighters we both had the same thought - all that peel we've wasted recently!

weezl74

Hi Kay 41,

Do you grow chillies from seeds scraped out? What do I do next?

Weezl x

kay41_2

You could try - get a small pot of compost, put the seeds on the surface and just poke them in slightly with a pencil so they are lightly covered. Put clingfilm over the top (keeps them moist and warm) and put them on a sunny windowsill. You should see shoots in 7-14 days. If it doesn't work, I suggest buying a packet of seeds. Good luck and let me know how you get on!

[Deleted User]

I have just read this and I too can remember wearing a 'liberty bodice ' It was the most uncomfortable garment ever invented ,but it did the job and kept you warm It seemed to have lots of 'sticking in buttons' which dug in my skinny ribs .Oh for the days of skinny ribs now 65+ years later LOL
My Mum was a very frugal lady and nothing was ever thrown out until its use was exhausted .She never owned a washing machine, but had a boiler in the scullery and a mangle, that I grew to hate in the cellar. Winding that enormous handle was tiring but a job that was one of the things that was doled out to my two brothers and me . They would vanish on Mondays (wash day) and return when it was all done Grr
I like washing the blankets though .In the spring around March the whole house was turned upside down for a major 'bottoming out' or spring clean . All the blankets in turn were put into a bath of warm soapy water usually with some Lux soap flakes and I would happily dance a jig on the blankets in the warm water .
She used to grate the big block of Fairy green soap for hair washing into tiny bits, and always rinsed your hair in Vinegar, it was a bit smelly at first but you had to get used to it . No white stuff in those days . Windows were cleaned with Metholayted spirits and scruched up newspapers,and the newspapers twisted as tight as possible afterwards to make fire lighters for the kitchen range.
She always starched her nets in 'Robin' stach and the solution was also used for pillow cases,and my school frocks .You could stand my Dad's shirts up on their own at times with the starch in them.My Mum's motto was 'if its white, then its very white' .She also turned sides to middle until they were past using then were cut down for pillow cases.The reason apart from frugality was there was a dreadful shortage of material after the War so nothing was ever thrown away.Our rag & bone man never got a lot from our house at all.
Old clothes that were past it were made into Rag-rugs for beside your bed .Lino in all the bedrooms, no wall-to wall carpeting in our house.
My Mum was born in 1900 and grew up during WW1 following that she had the twenties and thirties to live through before WW2 .She married in the middle of the depression in 1935 so for most of her life she had very little money anyway.
She would have been appalled at the waste today. Every scrap of paper was saved for shopping lists and then scewed up for use on the fire . Her larder was always stocked with things from the garden and she bottled as much as she could for the winter .I think she would have been delighted with the modern day 'boot sales' that would really have got her into bargain mode .She was always first in the queue for the jumble sales at our church, and we were taught to go for the material if at all possible, or old jumpers for re-knitting into new cardies. My Dad would mend my brothers shoe's on his 'cobblers last' on a Saturday morning .They went through shoes very quickly. He would bang 'Blakeys' into the heels to help make them last longer .'Blakeys' were metal tips that you could buy from the cobblers shop for a few pennies .
In those days you had a pair of shoes for school, and a pair of plimsolls and maybe a pair of slippers for around the house .They were usually part of your Christmas presents along with a jigsaw, an annual and some times a paint box or crayons .
My brother made me a dolls house from orange box wood when I was small, and my Mum decorated it with scraps of material and my Dad painted it for me .The boys often made their own boats and areoplanes out of balsa wood kits .We had a Ludo game set for years that was a pre war one but it was looked after and put away in the box afterwards .it was so difficult to buy anything from the shops as there were so little stuff available as the factories didn't really get into production for luxuries like toys until the early 1950s .
Our entertainment was the wireless and the free library. On Saturday nights it was sit and lsten to the play if you behaved and didn't make a noise, and I would wait for my Mum to get up and slice the bread for the toast which was done in front of the fire on a long toasting fork. Then it was toast and cocoa for supper and off to bed .
It was lovely to be tucked into bed with my Dads army greatcoat over my toes and listen to the wind whipping up the leaves outside my window and all was right in my world
Not many luxuries by todays standards, but a lot of love and cuddles go a long way when your family has survived a war and are still intact
My mum sadly died aged 62 in 1962 when things were just starting to get better and food was more plentiful in the shops .I still think she would still have been a frugal lady though, and would have loved to have tucked in her grandchildren at night .She was lucky eough to see my eldest brothers little girl though and her face was aglow when she did

Rowan9

Thanks for this heart-warming post, JackieO. I really enjoyed reading it. Your writing is so descriptive I could just imagine the warmth of your dad's coat over your toes!!
W

Olliebeak

Lovely memories JackieO. I grew up with my grandmother who was about the same age as your mother. She died in Oct 1965 aged 63, and had married in the mid 20's. She'd adopted my dad (her sister's son) around 1930 and had another son of her own in 1931, so they grew up as brothers. Although I was born in 1951, she had not changed her ways at all - so I had the same style upbringing as my parents would have had. Very 'waste not, want not' and 'children should be seen and not heard'! I was bought 'something for best' at Christmastime and then it would become 'birthday party wear' from around Easter when I would get another 'something for best' outfit. That would only be worn for Sunday School and taken off again when I got back home again. Apart from that I wore school uniform and old 'playing out clothes' that would last all week. Washing was only done once a week - so if the playing out stuff got really dirty, I didn't get to play out till after the next Monday. I soon learned to keep out of too much muck.

You mentioned 'liberty bodices' - the bane of my life. No other kids in my class had to wear them - I was so embarassed (warm but embarassed!).

THIRZAH

I remember liberty bodices too-JackieO.I think I wore one in the winter until I was about 5.We needed them though. Our house was so cold. We had a Rayburn in the kitchen and an open fire in the "front room"(which was only used on Sundays or at Christmas etc. There was a wall heater in the bathroom but we were only allowed to turn that on when we got out of the bath.We only had baths once a week, the rest of the time we just had a "good wash".

In the winter we would either get dressed in front of the Rayburn or under the blankets. My dad used to shave at the kitchen sink.

My Mum and Grandma used to help at jumble sales so they always got first pick at the clothes. We'd come home from school on jumble sale days to find a pile of clothes for us to try on before the sale started.

They never wasted anything either. Grandma used to cut down cotton dresses to make aprons which she sold at church fetes.She saved the well worn bits of sheets for us to use instead of hankies if we had a cold.We would open out used envelopes and use the paper for drawing.

We grew all our fruit and veg. Mum would bottle fruit and we just ate whatever veg were in season. Bread and meat were delivered about three times a week. My mother's weekly grocery order would be delivered in a small cardboard box with the packet of soap powder wrapped in newspaper.