Make with no money.

we used to pretend the shadows off the candles were our friends so we could feel warmer

My mum used to use a sixpence if she lost a suspender. As students, we used wet soap to stick posters up as we hadn't to mark the walls. My father used Lux soap flakes as a luxury bubble bath at weekends. The best laugh was when a reli broke their false teeth into and had them stuck in with chewing gum.

Nail varnish on stockings or tights if they got a ladder.
It would stop it running but the nail varnish stuck the tights to your leg.

Lux soap was lovely! And Lux soap flakes too.

An aspirin? How did she attach it to the suspenders?

I remember using nail varnish to stop ladders, and rubbing soap on them, too.

Clear nail varnish to stop ladders and when it peeled off your leg there was a lovely white blob, unless like a friend of mine you used the first that came to hand! Remember my mum using a button in a suspender. It didn't get attached Doodledog was just secured by the 'hook thingy' through the stocking top. I know what I mean, can't explain it well

I remember my gran rubbing a line of soap on the inside of the front of trousers to get a good sharp crease.

*Once ironed.

I loved Lux flakes for hand washing woollies and delicates. I wish you could still get them!

1987H2001M2002Inanny

Reading all the posts is reminding me of so many different things over the last 65 years....when we didn't have a paint brush,my mother cut a piece off my hair and tied it to a used lolly stick for a brush.For glue she mixed flour and water to a paste. We had weetabix with butter on to fill us up if there were no biscuits or cake.If one of the buttons on her suspenders got lost she used an aspirin instead. Any you ladies remember?

Due to my rather wonky brain I'd read the suspender button being utilised as an Aspirin!

Did the nail varnish trick with ladders in pop socks too. We used flour and water for glueing wallpaper around exercise books. We also took all the little rubber stoppers from the back of doors (they stopped the doors banging) We used them to rub out mistakes we made with home work.

During the war many women would actually draw a black line up the back their bare legs to make it look like they were wearing nylon stockings.

button on suspender belt was quite normal.bit at bottom
Stilleto shoes had screw in as they were so thin, just one or two wearings would wear the heel out.

If you had dark hair, final rinse after washing was with vinegar (some people used beer, but cannot imagine my Mum doing that on mine). Not sure what was used on blonde hair.

Always used newspaper to clean mirrors - was taught that during myj first week as a Hairdressing apprentice back in the mid-50's.

Piece of cotton to tie off any warts = it worked, they fell off after a few days tied up.

Aspirin/hairpin???

Another wart cure was to put raw meat on it under a plaster. It was supposed to drop off in a week but I never actually tried it. I did that trick with nail varnish on stocking ladders, too. We used to get in the bath with denim jeans on to shrink them and pour pure peroxide onto your hair to blonde it. To sunbake you would cover your arms and legs with cooking oil.

yes, my mother always rinsed my (dark) hair with vinegar and water, it was done, when shampoos were soap based, not detergent based as they are now. to make sure all the soap was washed out of your hair and it was left looking shiny rather than dull. If you were blonde you would use lemon juice, for the same reason. I forget the exact chemistry.

I used to cut the buttons off my liberty bodice to use as rubbers at school. My mother could never work out why they kept coming off and getting lost.

I used to use black nail varnish to paint out the chips on my high heeled shoes. I also added studs to the heels so that they didn’t need to be reheeled so often - plus they made that clip clop sound that I quite liked!

Still nothing wrong with a bit of mend and make do I got to do it all the time

My mum used to wear tights. If one leg of a pair was badly laddered she would cut of that leg at the top. She used to wear two pairs of one legged tights at the same time. So she had two bodies and two legs. Obviously she bought the same colour and brand of tights all the time so that they matched. Hope that makes sense.

Like SunshineSally I used to put heel protectors on my shoe heels and liked the click they made.

Lemon juice followed by sitting in hot sun (when there was any) to brighten up fair hair. I’m not sure it worked, though.

Our sheets would be used till they wore away in the middle where we slept on them, then Mum would cut them in half lengthways and sew the edges together so we had to sleep on a lumpy seam! I used to hate them as it was so uncomfortable- it only stopped when I wrote about it in my Topic book at school when we had to write about our weekend and Mum was so embarrassed she threw them away.
The next week I was instructed to write about how we went shopping for new sheets!!

Buttons for suspenders ,.yes remember that well. Cutting the ladderrd leg off tights, so basically wearing two pairs of tights each with one leg !! Worked well.
I always clean windows with a spray cleaner then buff with newspaper - can't beat it!!

Nanny noodles, my Mum did that she called it ' edge to middles' !

It was ‘sides to middles’ in our house!

Witzend

Lemon juice followed by sitting in hot sun (when there was any) to brighten up fair hair. I’m not sure it worked, though.

My children did that when they were young; I didn't know they'd taken the Jif lemons to squirt in their hair. Their hair went a very odd shade.

Yes, I remember sides to middle, Nannynoodles and Witzend and the flat French seam down the middle, which I could still feel.

Dad used to put on heel savers which clicked.

Egg white on your face though goodness knows why I needed a facial skin tightener at age 15.

It sounds as if we'd all be great assets to The Repair Shop. 🙂

Remember all of these. Like so many dads after the war, my dad had a last and did all our shoe repairs. He would put segs on our school shoes and I loved the sound they made.
Mum would unpick hand knitted jumpers and reknit using the wool (and yes, I still do the same!)

Woolworths used to sell one legged tights for a bit! Certainly remember the nail varnish trick.