To think I am 'careful' and not 'cheap'

[goawaywillya]

Okay a bit of back ground story. My dd1 attends a sn school and recently became good friends with a new girl in the school. This little girl is from a quite well off family and wants for nothing.
Today at a social event I got chatting to this child's mother who told me about how they had recently spent £120 on a new princess bed for dd and how they have a planned holiday to NZ next year to visit family. She also described going to the cinema or local play centres each weekend and how the eldest dd has violin lessons etc
Then she asked about my own circumstances and I described what I do on a frequent basis to save money she looked shocked and said ' oh. We should be cheap too'. I was a bit 🙄 and when she said ' if you can ever afford to eat out as a family you should try Nando's, they're cheap 'I was like

I'm not jealous of this family. They have good jobs and deserve to spend their own money as they see fit, but AIBU to see myself as 'careful ' rather than 'cheap'. Some of what I do is-

. Dress dd2 in ds old trousers as boys clothes are tougher anyway and her dresses are worn again as tops with leggings.
.once a week I raid the fridge/ freezer and dinner is a mix of this ( I hate waste)
. I sew and darn clothes and can replace a zip
. I have made sardine heads into a pizza topping before
.i have invited family to dinner and kept their left over bones to make stock
. Do not eat out because it's not affordable and I would be shocked by the prices anyway.
I make my own laundry liquid/powder
.i make cake out of banana skins and also out of whole oranges and lemons including pips
.instead of paying huge fees for holiday activities I take the kids to chase the pigeons and feed them sausage roll crumbs outside our local Greggs 😳 or just to play at the park
Our local children's centre does nice low cost/ free activities also.
.i have bought cheap products from Asda and placed it into an empty box of 'posh' product.
. I regift unwanted presents for birthdays or Xmas
.i make vinegar from 🍏 cores
.i once made a homemade suncream when I could not afford a bottle of the real stuff
. I love charity shops and bought dds birthday gift there for under £10. Plus we have taken the kids there to spend their pocket money on toys and books.
.if something is over £5 I will struggle to buy it on principle
.. I grate used bars of soap to make new full bars
. I love summer, i don't have to use the heating 😁
. I buy clothes for ages older than the dcs are so they grow into them and I feel I'm getting my money's worth.
. I got rid of my tv licence and now just use Netflix and YouTube.

See, it's nothing extreme, just trying to save money as we go along. I'm sorry this post is so long , it's just hard to stop once started.

.

Do people really use up the bones left on other people's plates? Bones that they have chewed and sucked on?

Ew

Do people really use up the bones left on other people's plates? Bones that they have chewed and sucked on?

Boiled for stock yes.

What do you think’s going to happen?

ps: Banana peels are full of anti-fungal chemicals. Even organically grown still have anti-fungicide chemicals on them, not approved for human consumption.

I would also not use peel any more. Peel is covered in chemicals. It's protecting the rest of the fruit. I'm sure in days gone by it was fine, but not now.

Similarly, I find boiling a chicken carcass now results in a fatty gloopy soup (although you can put it in the fridge and then scoop off the fat the next day). Cheap chicken is not good for stock. Organic nice chickens are.

It's all about the quality of current food, I'm not sure that using every bit of it is quite as healthy in the past.

If its good enough for our Mary its good enough for me...

www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/christmas/whole-orange-spice-cake-1

I work with someone who allocates 2 pieces of toilet tissue per loo trip to his family.
He also insists they get off the bus 2 stops too soon when returning home with loads of bags from the supermarket as it saves about 40p in the fare.

Crying with laughter on a train. Getting some peculiar looks.

"I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too
It gives me a sense of enormous well-being"

Ahhh, that 'feed the birds' song in Mary Poppings makes me cry every time. See, the simple pleasures are best!

Poppins, not Poppings!

Nothing extreme you say!

Sounds like a post from WW2

I apologise, if that sounds offensive and you don’t have the funds to live well. You are VERY careful, most people wouldn’t chose to live that way.

That sounds incredibly resourceful.

Some of it is a tad extreme for me... other people's bones for stock, homemade suncream and the pigeon activities.

I'm all for engaging children in the simpler things in life but I like giving them experiences too.

I think there's a balance to be had. Every now and again splurge a bit on something you consider to be extravagant but keep doing what you're doing.
Balance 😊

You are not actually saving money in all these cases though.

So using banana peel to make cake... surely you are having to also use butter/marg, sugar, eggs, flour. The cost of those probably mean you'd be better off buying a cheapo supermarket cake.

Charity shops aren't always cheaper. Kids clothes in Primark are often cheaper than charity shops. You can buy books and craft stuff in the pound shop.

lol you lot would be horrified that I make natural remedies to treat
High temps, constipation and hiccups

So using banana peel to make cake... surely you are having to also use butter/marg, sugar, eggs, flour. The cost of those probably mean you'd be better off buying a cheapo supermarket cake.

That doesn’t mean it’s not a good thing to do.

Supermarket cakes taste awful and are full of crap frankly.

I think you can buy suncream in the pound shop too

Supermarket cakes taste awful and are full of crap frankly

Yes but if your primary concern is money, then they are cheaper.

Anyway, if you make a homemade cake using butter, sugar, egg, flour...how is throwing in an old banana skin actually saving you any money?

The thing is, is you posted most of these things on an upper class eco thread, you'd be applauded.

If it's not a niche pass time it's a bit weird.

Who the f buys sardines anyway?!

how is throwing in an old banana skin actually saving you any money?

Presumably though it adds to the taste.

There’s a strong element of disliking waste coming though the OPs posts. I don’t think it’s purely money saving.

You sound like a barrel of laughs OP.

Loved your post. I'm intrigued by vinegar made from apple cores, and wondered if it's similar to apple cider vinegar which can be quite pricey and costs quite a bit more than 70p. I googled it and apple cider vinegar can indeed be made from apple cores and apple peel and has many health benefits.

I think you can buy suncream in the pound shop too

You can. I have a bottle of pound shop factor 50 about 3 feet away from my right elbow.

Sounds like a post from WW2

I dunno - my grandmother lived through WW2, and she was incredibly frugal, but even she would have drawn the line at sardine head pizza and cannibalism.

You sound completely and utterly stark raving bonkers to me. This has to be a wind up surely.

8 pages that I can't be arsed to read, but you really take your DC out to chase pigeons???
How is terrorising small helpless birds an acceptable activity

I love that this is still here! I thought it would get deleted