Just wanted to ask all of you what "old-fashioned" skills you have/use that save you money now.
Mine is canning, and I suppose gardening-- particularly growing tomatoes. Old-fashioned, yes, but my family is cooking with free diced tomatoes at least once a week.
What are yours?
old-timey money-saving skills
December 30th, 2010 at 04:55 pm
December 30th, 2010 at 05:10 pm 1293729044
Sewing, too. I make curtains and table linens and quilts and gifts for people. I'm always amazed at how many people don't sew.
I might put "from scratch cooking" in the old fashioned category, too, mainly because many people don't do it. I buy almost zero convenience foods, unless you count bread (but I make a lot of that, too.) I don't consider opening the bag of ravioli and the jar of spaghetti sauce from Costco to be real cooking, but some of my friends do.
December 30th, 2010 at 05:42 pm 1293730925
gardening
canning
sewing
and baking
I was thinking of all the cool things my grandma and great grandma could do, that my mom never bothered with and I am struggling to learn.
December 30th, 2010 at 05:57 pm 1293731826
-Mending and altering clothes.
-Making craftsy things to give as gifts.
-Using more basic ingredients to (washing soda, Borax, vinegar, baking soda, etc.) to clean.
-Home-cooked meals nearly every night (usually from scratch, though sometimes we use convenience foods like baked beans or Manwich).
-Making baby food (no jars of stuff from supermarket).
-Baking from scratch (pizza crusts, biscuits, desserts, breakfast pastries...we buy some premade, but not nearly as much as is probably normal).
-Handyman stuff (installing faucets/garbage disposals, fixing pipe leaks, etc.)
-Biking/walking/bussing to get groceries. (Seems like in old movies/TV shows, people go to market in other ways than by car.)
-Making sure we always spend less than we earn, and paying off credit cards immediately after use.
December 30th, 2010 at 06:14 pm 1293732872
Mr H can fix things around the house (install toilets, fix leaks, paint and he even installed our new windows a few years ago). That definitely helps the budget.
December 30th, 2010 at 08:36 pm 1293741405
December 30th, 2010 at 09:23 pm 1293744181
December 30th, 2010 at 09:31 pm 1293744682
December 31st, 2010 at 01:01 am 1293757270
December 31st, 2010 at 05:21 am 1293772903
I also invest in stocks that pay a dividend. If that isn't an old-timey thing, I don't know what is. And I like to barter! Just with friends and acquaintances, not with anybody cold.
Sister: soap and candle making.
December 31st, 2010 at 03:19 pm 1293808799