Our thrifty parents

My mother re-used anything she could, string, elastic bands, paper bags, wrapping paper etc and she loved telling us about one of her wartime dresses. She'd made it from one of her brothers' black rugby shirts and a pack of pink dusters which she pleated for the skirt. She was so proud of that dress.

I remember most of the above. Our parents were raised during the depression and and the war years where everything was on ration. There were good habits in those days. Actually the only way to survive.

Werent wedding dresses made from parachute silk? I think I read it somewhere.
So were parachutes were only used once then? I know clothes were rationed in war time - you needed precious coupons for everything. I can remember ration books as they continued after the war ended. I was born in 44.

My christening dress was made from parachute silk mesmopp I still have it.

It makes me laugh when the younger ones see recycling and the new trendy upcycling as a fantastic new concept thought up by them.
My DIL is amazed that I know how to do it.

I remember helping my father to make the "cones" out of twisted & rolled up newspaper, several were laid in the grate & wood & coal put on top. The wood & newspaper ignited quickly but burned slowly enough to light the coal, it was my favourite job

This brings back memories for me. I earned a thrift badge as a Girl Guide and I wish I could remember what I had to do to get it.

anyone remember whittsy clothes,bought for whitsentide,

DH brought his gardening shirt to me to ask if it could possibly be mended. He got rather near a spitty bonfire and it looks like he was caught by a massive shower of shrapnel! Some things yes but this - no, it would be perfect on a hot day with all those air holes!

I remember most of things posted we still recycle oh more than me it's true old habits die hard .

Oh how I loved to read about "thrifty parents", everything was so familiar, how we learnt and are still doing some things, they were hard times after the war, but we have a happy childhood to look back on.

All of the above and still do some of it. We are the original recyclers.

I never buy clothes unless they are reduced in the sales. Pay full price? Whatever for?
I might see something I like and I think, well, I'll wait until the sales start.
I get upset in January when all the Christmas gifts are suddenly half price. Have you ever returned an item then bought it again for half price?

Our garden was completely given over to growing veg. No room for playing or sunbathing, dad had rows of potatoes, runner beans, salads and mum kept chickens so we never went hungry. Monday night was always bubble and squeak, yummy!

Jayh - I earned a thrift badge too. The only thing I can remember from it was to light the fire using only one match!

Yes my father had a set of lasts to mend shoes. I do not use old clothes to make dusters. I buy e cloths. Old clothes make beautiful (to me) quilts

My mother used to save my worn out thick cotton school knickers for dusting cloths. Including keeping one pair in the car glovebox to wipe the mist off the windscreen. I was mortified when schoolfriends on the school run found them and started waving them out of the window!

I wore my cousin's outgrown clothes (she was three years older than me, and my aunt was 'comfortably off').My Mother spent very wisely but I remember her being absolutely distraught one day when her purse was lost and she had nothing for the rest of the week - there was no 'spare' money in those days. I still have to unwrap soap and let it harden - if I dared to use a new tablet I am sure my Mother would materialise to chastise me. Dad mended our shoes on a last, and the same 1930s furniture, carpet, bedding etc. was around for the whole of my childhood and teenage years.

Monday night was always bubble and squeak, yummy!
It still is sometimes Mrsmopp

RAF you had a car??
and your mum drove? even more

How I agree with you. We are having to move to a small retirement flat soon and I have started to have a clear out. Can't believe how much 'junk' we have collected.

I sometimes think my parents took it to extremes. Their (huge) house was packed full of newspapers, old clothing (you never knew, there might be another Depression, and clothes might come in handy), jars of nails, boxes of used cards, wrapping paper and string for reusing. Towels were never reused for floorcloths- they were made into sanitary pads for my sister and me...we had to wash them by hand in cold water and keep them well hidden from the menfolk in the back washhouse. I wore my mother's old clothes and shoes, she cut the hair of everyone in the family except Dad, we kids weeded the enormous vege garden, painted the house, mowed the lawns and fed the chickens. Bath water was restricted to about 2 inches, sheets were turned, 'botting" fruit was a ritual for all women - stirring huge cauldrons of boiling peaches, plums and vegetables in the searing summer heat. All clothes were homemade or hand-me-downs. A tiny piece of fabric was made to go further by edging armholes with bias binding instead of proper facings. One tin of baked beans fed 5 people. Socks and woollens were darned and redarned till there was more darning than original.Nylon stockings were repaired with human hair or nailpolish. Only mother was allowed shampoo-we had to make do with soap for our hair. This was the prosperous 50s and 60s, and my dad worked in a very well-paid profession. Mother was given a marriage settlement by her parents when she was married in 1947 - "a woman must always have her own money" said Granny. The amount was enough to buy a house, but was not used for such - it was "her" money. Very odd financial choices.

My parent did all these things. Mum would cut up old underwear to use as dusters. The one thing she wouldn't do was rip out old sweaters to reknit them. After living through the war she never wanted to do that again. She started working in an office aged 14 and had to wear her school gym slip until she grew out of it. How embarrassing for her. There's a programme on channel 4 in the afternoons. It's hosted by Gok Won and is about recycling and filling your house for free. It's really interesting.

I still do most of that. Apart from the shoes and the woolly unraveling. Knitting yarn is cheap enough these days and the machine knitted garments of today just don't undo the same. I also reuse clothing that is no longer required. My lovely blue fleece made two little dog coats for my elderly terriers, edged with smart red binding.

Narrowboatgrandad had some pine window frames given to him. They were brand new and about to be thrown out. He made a beautiful rocking horse with them. Apparently you just stick all the flat wood together and then hack off all the bits that aren't a rocking horse.