I have lost my OS ways, help!

A question about : I have lost my OS ways, help!

Hello all,

I haven't posted for ages although I still lurk quite regularly. The problem is, since DH got a decent job with a commensurate salary I have become lazy. In the last couple of years I have been on a slippery slope with spending! Before, there was no question, I just had to save and scrimp, we had a mortgage and two children, then two teens.

Now because of a series of circumstances we no longer have a mortgage (well we do but it is almost negligible), the teens have grown and are semi-independent, DH has the much better job and salary, I do a few hours per week childcare and earn a reasonable amount.

In recent months we have started home improvements, now that finally we can afford it, but I look at the bank balance and the look at the future with all its potential scary things and I get worried.

How do I get back on the straight and narrow? Don't get me wrong, I did not go out and fritter money away, after all once an OSer forever an OSer! But I have been less careful in general.

Also, I have a dilemma: what would be better for me, taking into account financial factors AND happiness quotient, to look for more work, or to economise?

All ideas and suggestions will be welcome, as well as hearing from people who. Like me, lost their OS mojo for a while but managed to get back to the good ways.

Thank you.

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Best answers:

• I shall follow this thread with interest as I've fallen off the wagon.
  I'm glad your life has improved though x
• Hi CATERINA you're still OS underneath, it's a bit like riding a bike pet, you never really forget you just get a bit out of practise if you haven't done it for a while. You just need to get back on and ride as it were and you'll get your balance back very quickly. We're here to help if you need us, welcome home!!! Lyn xxx.
• you need to sit down and look at your finances - keep a 'spending diary' - now where do you see you are 'going off-piste'?
  a few takeaways? ready meals? meals out? or not keeping a tight rein on finances? or is it more with the 'disposables'? upgrading the TV when the old one works perfectly well? new moby's? not entirely sure how to advise as you don't say HOW exactly your finances worry you?
• This is me too was doing so well but couple of holidays later, having to help family out now at bottom of ladder again need to get back to saving, cutting back, menu planning ! Will watch with interest x
• Thank you dear old friends, and new ones too. At the moment I am definitely spending more on takeaways and ready meals because I don't have a kitchen, we cook like students on a two ring electric tabletop cooker and do the washing up in the bathroom. No point starting a spending diary now because I know it would be excessive. Sometimes it is all too much and bagged salad ready washed is so much easier, or ready grated cheese means I have one less gadget to wash (upstairs)!
  Once I have a nice new kitchen I know that the food side of things will fall back into place.
  It is more a mindset I need to re-enter and I think that Lilyplonk is right, the posting on one of the daily threads might help and inspire me again.
  Meanwhile I have opened this little corner which is a start. Good night all and thanks again xx
• We had chippy dinner tonight.
  But tomorrow I will make the pork that's been in the freezer since the meat pack I got at Christmas.
  Tbh Caterina, without a kitchen it's very hard to be OS with the cooking x
• mrsmortenharket, SNAP! We had chippy too, but in keeping with my renewed OS vows we shared one portion between the two of us as it is big enough. We reasoned that half a fish contains at least as much fish as 4 fish fingers (our normal portion). The chips are plentiful and freshly cooked, very nice. Our local chippy has a Saturday special for Ј5 which for London is unbelievable value! And accompanied by homemade salad, yogurt with almonds and a bit of homemade strawberry jam and a glass of wine (a bottle lasts us 2-3 days) it was a veritable feast for very little expense. Especially compared with a potential restaurant outing!
  Glad to be back on course. It will be much easier once we have a proper kitchen, but in the meantime I shall just have to make intermediate wise choices!
• That is a good price for London. I love London and always wish I lived there. Of course, house prices are madness so I shall settle with just outside London.
  We had too many chips last night so shall cut down next time.
  I've been to asda. I am fully stocked up so apart from bread/fruit, we should be ok this week.
  I'm dreading the children being off school. Entertaining them will be hard...14 year old girl, 12 year old boy and a 5 year old boy who is Autistic! I will take the train to London with them as the museums are free but not sure how 5 year old will manage.
  Right, I am going to do a meal plan. Which should have been done before I went shopping...!
• Let me know if you are coming anywhere near Greenwich and we can arrange to meet for a cup of tea in the park
• Hi Caterina, I too have fallen off the wagon somewhat over the last five years, though I do remember your name on these boards!
  I have had three children in the last 5 years and I have become very much time poor even though I don't go out to work. Think three school runs a day at the moment...! Anyway, there have been some things that I do, like baking all my own bread, meal planning and writing a shopping list, rarely using the tumble dryer which are all part and parcel of life for us. But my husband is going to be going self employed in the next few months, so I think I need to get back into gear again. I used to spend hours reading this board and getting so inspired, so perhaps I need to do that again.
  Anyway, all the best with your home improvements, and hope the kitchen is ready soon
• Thank you DianaMattos and good luck with your return to OS too!
  Today my OS action were:
  1. Bought a few mature veg plants for the allotment. Tried seedlings before but they all died of cold, then plug plants and they died of slug attacks. Now the allotment looks much more respectable with a few plants in. Not as cheap as from seed but still more economical than shopping for veg!
  2. Made DH's packed lunch for tomorrow, this is a habit that had slipped quite badly and which will save us around Ј80 per month.
  3. My lovely Indian neighbour gave me some of her homemade food as she had had guests and had a lot of food left over. Not free technically because I shall get her a nice bunch of flowers tomorrow (she has fed us LOADS since we have been kitchenless) but nevertheless a lovely gesture and amazing dinner!
  Let's all keep each other updated on how we plan to return fully to our lost OS ways, it might help!
• I'd like to get back to OS ways too, so I'd love to join in if I may? I've moved house from a huge 5 storey Victorian heap (it was cheap when we bought it as it was a "project") to a 3 bed room, 1 flight of stairs normal house.
  I haven't been OS for a long time as it took ages to sell the house and the house itself was making me miserable. I was like a sloth in the end. I now have a manageable house with a garden and a washing line, a copy of "A Girl Called Jack" cookbook and I'm determined to get back to OS.
  I left all of my tatty old furniture that had seen us through building work on the project behind for the new people, and have bought a few pieces of good quality stuff. This should be easier to clean and make look nice and tidy, also the fact that the whole house doesn't take as long to clean is a bonus.
  Caterina, I was months without a kitchen once while mine was built in the old house. I was so desperate for a decent meal with lots of veg by the time I could cook again, and the dust it caused......who knew that dust came in so many colours. You have my sympathy. I used to live near where you lived many moons ago too. My mum and dad ran the newsagents in Charlton and I loved going to Greenwich park.
• Thank you all again for your wise words, they really resonate with my thoughts.
  CRANKY40 thanks for reminding me of the Jack cookbook, I have it somewhere and am now inspired to find it and use it!
  PasturesNew and maman you are confirming exactly what I have been thinking. I am also in the lucky position that I don't have to rush off looking for work - although to grow any substantial savings I might have to - as we have enough to live on. I am planning to go back to an OS lifestyle and see how I can economise, then I shall have a clearer view whether to find more work.
  My OS plan for today is:
  1. Do the ironing myself instead of sending it to the dry cleaner. I have done this in the past because of lack of clean space during the building works and the despair of dust getting into everything. But now the dusty work is over (nearly) and I can make space for the ironing board in my bedroom.
  2. Commit to a NSD today
  3. Take meritaten's advice and prepare a spending diary, no need to buy one, as I have a few old notebooks that can be stripped of a few written pages and reused.
  4. Finalise my CV ready to be sent out if I see a worthwhile job opportunity.
  Have a good day!
• Update on yesterday and plan for today:
  I ended up not doing any of the planned stuff as the good weather demanded LAUNDRY! With no washing machine in the home, laundry is a lengthy affair trekking from friends home to friends home with baskets full of clothes and bedding. It had accumulated enough to need 3 loads, which I managed to do in 3 separate friends houses, but the basket is empty now! I am really grateful to have good friends offering their machine, because the laundrette is Ј6 a pop!
  Re. NSD I managed Ok except that in the evening DH said we need to order the worktops, and *POOOOFFFF* quite a chunk of money disappeared from our account! But these were budgeted for a long time ago and we need them for the new kitchen so in reality it was a "daily expenses" NSD.
  Today my plan is:
  1. Top up the shopping using as many vouchers as possible
  2. Tackle the ironing
  3. Look at our finances to see exactly where we are
  If I have time, CV etc, but that is not a priority at the moment, I think that checking our financial status is more urgent (economise before thinking of going back to work).
• When spending money, don't think "is this worth it for x" , think "what else can this money buy me".
  In economics, it is called opportunity cost. Too many people only think of money with regards to what they are buying, rather than relative value. Of course, as you said you are comfortable, this isn't as much of a worry, but can help to put it into perspective.
  I think it also helps, if not more so, to think of price differences in this way. For example, in my favourite coffee shop, a double espresso is 2 pounds. So for example, if I save 2 pounds of a 100 pound shop, it may not sound like much but I know this is a coffee for me
• I wish I was an OSer. We waste so much money each month, I get so frustrated. My OH is hopeless, and she doesnt really bother if we have money or not. I would rather just not worry, and keep a steady spend each month. After bills, food petrol etc, we have Ј800 per month, Ј250 go's to paying off a holiday we had, the rest just dissapears within a week or 2, then struggle for the rest of the month :P once the holiday gets paid, it sounds like more money each month, but I know it will just dissapear as well :P
  At least you have an OS history Caterina, so can fall back into it. I am jealous of this, lol