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.

.

That’s some crazy penny pinching if I do say so. Sardine heads sound vile, I don’t mind hand me downs but I like my children’s clothes to actually fit them. I couldn’t really be arsed making all that from scratch and I don’t know if suncream ingredients are cheaper than actual sun cream but I’d rather not test it out

Can I suggest that if what you say you are or have done is true that perhaps you might want to calculate the amount of time you have wasted doing them! A peperoni pizza is 67p in Aldi. A bottle of vinegar is 50p. I would suggest there are better ways of spending time such thinking up more adventurous ways to entertain your children. Remember you had to buy the Greggs sausage roll to be able to feed the birds the crumbs and the apples to make the vinegar or all these sardines and bananas to use the skins and heads.

a shitty princess bed

Where is Shitty in the line of succession? So many royal offspring these days that I get confused.

Too tired to read but I guess MNHQ will have this thread deleted by morning 🙄

I've spent way more than £120 on my kids' beds.

I just assumed it was another one of Jordan's kids, BlackcurrantJamOnToast.

We fought with pigeons for the sausage roll crumbs on the ground outside Greggs.
BlackcurrantJamontoast seriously stop I cant tale anymore! 🤣

Apart from the vinegar out of apple and grating soap it all sounds pretty usual to me op. Maybe the fact you had just met her and it was a social event wasn't the right time or place to be sharing lifestyle tips though? She probably wasn't prepared for this much candidness or detail. Good on You though.

it all sounds pretty usual to me op

Cannibalism?

i once made a homemade suncream when I could not afford a bottle of the real stuff

what on earth did you make it out of? how on earth could it have been cheaper than actual sunscreen? And how badly did you burn?

Some of your list (with above exception really excluded!) are just what people do - right? If I met a woman in the school yard and was chatting about holidays and such and then she started describing that list to me I'd be wondering why I got so much information.

I thought everyone got clothes you can grow into?

Tbh given the current state of the world we should all be a bit more like you and a bit less like her.
Save for the cannibalism. That’s a bit too far.
To me ‘cheap’ people are those who are miserly and ungenerous to their friends and family and care more about having money than anything, you don’t seem to be that to me, you just enjoy being thrifty and don’t like waste. Which I think is fine.
I’m going to implement your ‘whatever is in the fridge/freezer’ dinner thing once s week as I can definitely be guilty of not using food before it goes off and I don’t like that about myself.

Anyone else think the OP is just luring those poor pigeons into a false sense of security until

BAM!

Turns out those greggs sausage roll crumbs lead straight onto a roasting tray .........

I thought everyone got clothes you can grow into?

Is that the reason for the increase in the average size of a UK adult? trying to grown into their bargain clothes?

I think I need your advice I've quite a good income come Thursday and poof! Sunday I have no idea where I spent my HARD (director in a company with stbxh) earned cash,obviously on dc's but still 🤔🤔 maybe I'm overcompensating for him being such a shitty father.....🤔 money well spent if that's my problem!

I have my children’s baby teeth in a drawer.... earrings ??

And stop feeding and chasing pigeons, they're disgusting vermin. I'm bird phobic and find going into the town centre difficult enough without idiots encouraging the vermin and chasing them, possibly in my direction, if they get too close and/ or fly at me I will panic. In addition they're unhygienic.

Crumbs also encourage other pests and it's gross yo just chuck them on the ground tbh

The pigeons near Greggs should be a good size. I imagine they taste a bit like chicken. You could stuff them with the leftover bits of grandad, for added meatiness.

Wildorchidz I'm with u there with the children's teeth!WTF DO WE DO WITH THEM!!!!!

Artist's impression

"leftover bits of grandad"

I would imagine the homemade sunscreen was made with zinc? In which case, perfectly fine??

wildorchiz

Seriously? You would waste a good source of calcium by frivolously dangling them from your ears? Grind them finely then sprinkle over your pizza if you run out of sardine heads.

The pigeons near Greggs should be a good size. I imagine they taste a bit like chicken. You could stuff them with the leftover bits of grandad, for added meatiness.

Grandma would be a better option, then it is a bird inside a bird.

ZippyBungleandGeorge

Amazing