Guardian ARticle today - excellent money saving old style tips!

beemuzed

I too remember the liberty bodice - I seem to recall rubberised buttons?? My sister is seven years younger, and doesn't remember them at all. As to tights, my first pair cost 10/11 in M & S (just under 55p for those too young to remember £sd!) and were bought to wear at the summer dance at the end of my Upper Sixth year, just before leaving school. Just think, up until then stockings and suspender belts were worn by all of us!
My Mum and Gran would both have thought the article mentioned by the OP was the norm - very thrifty and definitely non-wasting ladies they were both! Not sure I could be quite as thrifty, but am doing my best!

twink

i can remember wearing liberty bodices too and long woollen stockings and the heavy coats on the bed in the winter same as you Jackie, brought up by Gran if it was really cold in the bedroom when i was ill she would take a shovelful from the fire in the livingroom to start the fire in the bedroom, how she managed to cook the meals for us all on a baby belling cooker and more so when thrashing day on the farm came and all the men had to be fed, it was usually broth, beef and stuffing all done it one huge pan, delicious

people seemed to visit more then and we usually played cards or had music on the wind up gramaphone and woebetide anyone who made a noise when the football results were on the radio

my other grandparents never had power or water in the house and i remember the big mangle too, outside loo and bathtime in the tin bath, big white pails to hold the water in the kitchen and the tilley lamp for light, horsehair seats that were very prickly on legs that wore ankle socks

the midden at the bottom of the garden and loads of home grown veg and beautifully scented sweetpeas, a treat was to go to the bottom of the big garden in the trees with a flask of tea and biscuits with Gran

a stone hot water bottle in the bed at night and Gran and Grandad cosy in the box bed in the livingroom with a chenille curtain to draw across

happy days, the sun always seemed to shine, we were outside playing and only got presents at birthdays and christmas, we had a childhood then, we knew our place and didnt expect much but so much love and happy memories

weemissy

Got all carried away in your post JackieO, and felt a wee bit teary at the end! The rag rug thing interests me - does anyone know how to do this? My gran was frugal, a lot of the things said previously are familiar - keeping all paper, every button was kept, turning sheets etc, I remember as a wee girl being quite frustrated that she would walk what I thought was too far to save a penny or 2 on say a pint of milk, The best jam we ever had in the house was bramble jam, the whole family would go collecting the brambles from bushes in big bowls, she would make enough to last until the following year. She got up early every morning and did a baking, we very seldom had shop bought things - I was a wee bit embarassed about this, but looking back our cousins and friends loved coming to visit and looking in the biscuit tins which were always full of home baking. When all our friends got money for the ice cream van or shop we got a stock of rubharb and a poke of sugar to dip it into - the poke being made from part of a paper bag previously used for something else. I remember her telling me that when she was a girl she used old pieces of cloth for sanitary towels and that tampons were very unhealthy, I was horrified but now only use fabulous cloth sanitary towels - I did buy them right enough. Now I actually think I am turning into her and I think she would be proud of some of my ways - I only wish I had started a wee bit sooner!

Lily-Lu

I too wore a liberty bodice. Was born near the end of 1961, but still wore one until I was 7. When I think of liberty bodices, it also reminds me of 'Camphorated oil'. This too was a regular 'winter' household item. It came in a little glass bottle, and mum would warm it near the coal fire before tipping some out into her hand and rubbing it on our chests if we had a cough/cold. Does anyone else remember it?

We too had coats on the bed, and bath night was on a Sunday. Every Sunday night straight after our bath, mum would sit us down on the floor and we'd have to 'suffer' the steel nit comb being dragged through our hair. I never had nits until I was 9 years old, yet this was a weekly torture from being knee high to a grasshopper:rotfl:

Some lovely memories being brought back though. Thanks JackieO:T

[Deleted User]

Ah soda scones and bramble jelly . The red flannel on your chest or camphorated oil being rubbed in to make you breathe easier .The fogs of London were really yellow in the days before smokeless fuel.Those blasted rubberised buttons on the liberty bodices
Twink, I too remember having to sit in silence on Satuday night in case we won a fortune on the 'pools .I think my Dad once won 5/- (12./2p) and was so chuffed that he was sure he was going to hit the 75K one day.We would all sit and say what we would spend it on. In my case I always wanted a pair of Wellies ,but my Mum refused to let me have them as she thought they were 'common' The worst thing that you could do in our house was to be thought 'common' I think she equated it with workmen mending roads
When things got a bit better 'Friday night was Amarmi night' our house. Baths in the tin bath that hung on the back of the coal cellar door until we had an indoor one fitted.
Loo paper that was on a string in the outside loo and that held the hugest spiders I have ever seen .My abolutions were very quick when I was a kid .I can remember whistling loudly in the hope that they would scuttle away before I got to the loo.lol
I can remember wearing Vyella vests as well that a rich relative had sent down to my Mum from Glasow for me .They were a lot softer and more comfortable.
Men tipping their hats as a funeral went past ,and always walking on the outside of the pavements when with their wives .Old fashioned courtesies long gone now I think.
My Mum would have died of embarresment if she had gone out without her hat or gloves on, and she always took her apron off after lunch and sat down to listen to Woman's hour at 2.00p.m.after Listen with Mother with me .
Tattie soup that you could almost stand your spoon up in was my favourite lunch with chunks of my Mum's soda scones dipped in it . Soda scones were also lovely toasted and were made with milk that had gone on the 'turn' a bit
She also grew some amazing tomatoes and we had them in the summer sprinkled with sugar instead of strawberries and I still like them like that sometimes .Porridge oats in the winter with salt on top and the top of the Channel island milk if it was my 'turn'
My Dad loved a pork chop with a bit of kidney attached and if there was a joint with a bone in it he would let us dig out the marrowbone jelly from the inside of the bone with a knitting needle .All things that are no longer available in the butchers now It certainly didn't do me any harm and we had fewer colds I think in those days .
We had a Nitty Nora who came to our school and my Mum said if they ever found a nit in my hair it would be shaved off .Luckily I never caught any and I could sit on my hair when I was 8. Great long plaits that took ages to do everyday.
They was great rejoicing in our house when my brother's record that my Mum had requested was read out on two-way -family-favourites on the radio when he was posted to Germany during his National Service .My Mum was so chuffed at her lad's name being read out on the wireless. Happy Days and simple pleasures

furrypig

Thank you for sharing all your personal stories they are great! I think people who were around in the war from my family were always careful after that. My nan was a really wise woman and taught me lots of OS things and I have many happy memories of the 2 of us in her kitchen though often there were loads of us as we all loved to go to nan's for dinner! She made her money really stretch and I think my dad is the same now even though he has had more money than she ever did. He'll say things like 'why do I need another jumper this one only has a few holes in it so I wear it in the garden and the other one I wear from x Christmas's ago is perfectly good!' he does loads of old style stuff and is still growing fruit and veg in his garden, though mum keeps going out and buying it from Mr T's which desn't impress him!!

When I was young it was embarrasing going to jumble sales, mum working as a cleaner, dad's plant taking over the bedroom (it was the sunniest and before he was given a green house!) but now I am amazed at how well my family coped and never got into debt, never had credit cards and I never really wanted for anything. Well, I did want to go on a cruise that my friend from secondary school was going on as a school trip!! Makes me realise now with kids of my own that there is a lot of peer pressure and lots of school trips are very pricey!!

Now of course I am emulating my dad with tying out making chutney (his raspbery jam is famous in Essex!!) and I make home made crumbles (then ask the kids to say who does the best one!!) he has it right and we often discuss the merits of Lidls over Tescos etc etc. He cooks meals for the local church and I can't believe how he manages to serve 2 big courses for such little money!!

Thanks for letting me reminisce, I'm getting all teary thinking about all the good times/memories with people now no longer here but I think teir legacy can live on through us!

rosieben

JackieO wrote: »

.....
They was great rejoicing in our house when my brother's record that my Mum had requested was read out on two-way -family-favourites on the radio when he was posted to Germany during his National Service .My Mum was so chuffed at her lad's name being read out on the wireless. Happy Days and simple pleasures

Jackie, Thanks, your post brought back so many lovely memories. Two way family favourites immediately brings to mind the smell of the sunday roast cooking, sitting on the back door step shelling the peas (fresh picked from the garden). I was the youngest of 8 kids and whilst we were little my dad grew all our veg and fruit.

furrypig wrote: »

T... I'm getting all teary thinking about all the good times/memories with people now no longer here but I think teir legacy can live on through us!

FP, your dad sounds great! My dad mended his own shoes and sewed leather elbow patches on his jackets. He didnt cook often, but his gravy was wonderful, just like my gran's! I think the best compliment we can pay anyone is to take lessons from how they lived.;)

Austin_Allegro

My grandfather was born in 1905 and lived with us for a while. He was retired, and spent a lot of time making and mending things in the shed. He used to trawl London on his free bus pass and come back with all sorts of busted gadgets which he would make workable again. He also used to take scrap timber from skips and use it to make high quality french polished furniture, using the refurbished power tools.

He was also self reliant and did things like make his own yoghurt and grow his own tobacco. He was happy to mend the bicycles etc of local kids who knocked on our door. I think it came from being a naval armourer during the war - stuck at sea for weeks on end having to repair planes etc using only the materials on board.

It's worth pointing out though, to modern people who might be sceptical, that people like him were never 'tight'. He always gave me and my sister money and sweets on pension day, and paid my mother housekeeping, and was always happy to give us time - which sadly many cash rich people today don't have.