Help! - My Mum Has Grown A Huge Eco-Footprint!

[kenneal - lagger]

My Mum had a working class upbringing in South Wales with a father invalided out of the coal mines and unable to find work. She always swore that her children wouldn't have to suffer the upbringing that she had. She would always be happy to spend money and still does. She would buy rhubarb from the supermarket even though we had some growing in the garden (the only thing we had growing in the garden apart from grass and weeds).

Dad had a poorish, middle class upbringing in a careful household and was always careful with money and things. His mother would always make us a packed lunch to eat if we went out for the day when we went to stay with them in Portsmouth in the summer. She would never buy a meal when we went out, something which has stuck with me, to an extent, ever since.

We are shaped by our upbringing in many ways but we are all different in the way that we react to that shaping. I veered to my father's way of doing things; he spent weeks one year building my brother and I a desk each for Christmas which my mother would much preferred to have bought. I loved watching him make those desks and have enjoyed woodworking and building ever since.

Sadly he died before we moved into our present house although he did see the previous one that we built. He could never understand why I sold a perfectly good, super insulated (for the time) house to move into a caravan in a field. I could now tell him my full motivations for that move although I didn't fully understand them myself at the time!

Recently, I have started to spend the money that we have on stuff that will be useful post crash, mainly tools that I don't use very often now but that may come in useful later or for my children to use. I also stockpile useful stuff to my wife's bemusement although she does go along with it.

[vtsnowedin]

. I also stockpile useful stuff to my wife's bemusement although she does go along with it.

Cherish her.

[Tarrel]

Good news; I've discovered that Mum has a hot and cold fill washing machine.

Bad news; The hot water system in her new apartment is powered by grid-connected electricity!

Thinking of suggesting a swap, so we can feed her washing machine with Rayburn-heated water, and she has our cold-fill-only one.

[RenewableCandy]

Tell her that yours is newer/flashier/whatever than hers. Unless she's the type who'd reply "Well you should have the newer one then..."

[powerbilston]

I would suggest it's to do with the freedom of consumerism. Coming from a family that "never had much" it's amazing to see my now retired mother spend and spend on toys that neve see the light of day.