Does being OS get you down?

boredofbeingathome

I think i have always been OS. I love cooking and doing, and can be quite obsessive regarding waste. Now OH was brought up in a very OS household and he is quite the opposite. If i were to open the kitchen cupboards, i could probably think of about 10 meals, he would open them and go to the take away. Also there is never any thought behind buying, and affordability-especially Christmas and birthdays....I like to deliberate and save ..he doesn't. I have never been able to reconcile that side of his nature.Interestingly he works as a manager of a busy office and can reconcile to the last penny there.
We both see OS as meaning different things, and i love it and would live this way if i had thousands in the bank, he would have the cars in a flash.

Mellika

I guess you also have to think of how often NOT being OS would get you down. I think it would be a lot more often ... :rolleyes:

hollydays

sometimes OH, (who s not very health concious)gets annoyed because we have nothing that he can snack on,ie nothing in,and I know I have loads of stuff in I can make a meal from!! M-in-law,who eats a very high fat diet has subtlely ticked me off for notfeeding her baby enough junk/gunge/bacon butties/chocolate/fried food,processed foo.d and makes me feel a failure.

Mellika

She forgets he's YOUR baby now :P

I'm lucky my mother-in-law is a "miser" - but in every other way, I'm not good enough for her golden boy. Oh well.

nixinix

Thank you to everyone - it really is good to know how/why people are OS. (I am really that nosey!) I prob. lapse most days in one way or another, but do attempt to make all meals from scratch when my two little ones let me.

I don't usually post on here much but I come here everyday and read and learn lots so thank you to everyone for helping be much thriftier and being more determined to be OS than I used to be and heres to getting better still....with hm jam coming this way soon! (thank you Maypole)

maypole

Keep posting nixnix, it's a great group on this site. :j

Bargain_Rzl

Mellika wrote: »

I guess you also have to think of how often NOT being OS would get you down. I think it would be a lot more often ... :rolleyes:

That's a REALLY good point. One of the things I like about being OS (speaking as somebody who has a choice in the matter - I must just state that for the record ) is that I know how disappointed in myself I would feel if I was wasting money left right and centre. Another thing I like is that I know that if the bottom falls out of my whole system - say if I were to lose my job, or there was a war :eek: or something - I would find it a heck of a lot easier to adjust to that than I would if my "default setting" was a more materialistic, less self-sufficient lifestyle.

grreatsite2

I am OS mostly through choice but it has helped me get back control of things. I love the thought that I'm keeping money in my purse now rather than just letting it dribble out on day to day things and having nothing to show for it, just bills. I also love it when there's home cooked nutritious food in the house. If I had to really scrimp and scrape I think it might get me down some days but being in a slightly better position now I really love it.

ceridwen

dolly_day_dream wrote: »

I am OS out of necessity but also inclincation. I have a food budget of less than £50 per month for myself. This is easily achievable with a vegan diet. I don't consider myself deprived at all. I have a freezer full of meals, plenty of clothes to wear - all from the charity shop or home made, a warm and peaceful home and I am lucky enough to have a garden as well. I was lucky enough many years ago to work as a nanny to a very wealthy family. Lucky because it helped me to realise that money just does not buy happiness just a different set of problems.

I

Dont suppose theres any chance of a sample week's menus/shopping list please:D ? I'm veggie - and sometimes wonder whether I should go one step further and be vegan. I'd be interested to see how you manage this on a £50 month budget (does this include getting much food out of the garden?)

[Deleted User]

hollydays wrote: »

sometimes OH, (who s not very health concious)gets annoyed because we have nothing that he can snack on,ie nothing in,and I know I have loads of stuff in I can make a meal from!! M-in-law,who eats a very high fat diet has subtlely ticked me off for notfeeding her baby enough junk/gunge/bacon butties/chocolate/fried food,processed foo.d and makes me feel a failure.

That sounds very familiar :rolleyes: Just like my M-I-L. We dont buy crisps and loadsa of junk cos I want us to eat heathily so she sends us home (or drops off at our house) crisps, chocolate, peanuts and loads of fatty junk :mad:

She says "You're so mean, your starving him" ... and to DH "Come for tea at our house - at least you'll get a proper tea!!"