Newbie and in need of advice please

Verbatim

You're doing so well. Go you!

dollybeads

Verbatim wrote: »

You're doing so well. Go you!

Thank you, I bought a sealed pot yesterday for my loose change and signed up for the sealed pot challenge, so far have 8.91 in there and defo can't get it back out. I have one of my son's 21st and my partners 65th at Christmas to fork out for this year. First time ever I am putting something away to offset this. This sounds really pathetic but this is a radical change for me. Saving for something!!

bought the sealed pot from the £ shop too, not shiny expensive one as per normal. Also bought 9 jotter pads for a £ from same shop, to use as a spending diary and for menus and shopping list. I am staggered how really simple things and basic budgeting are making such a difference. :j More ebaying today hurrah!

thank you for your time dolly x

dollybeads

Have been looking for a thread on OS, but would just like views on regifting unwanted presents or selling on ebay and how to cope with the guilt, as given by lovely friends. Some of these things are quite expensive. Is it ethically ok to do this, obviously with caution and not giving back to the same person, removing labels etc? Or am i being totally ungrateful?

I guess the best thing would be to say to them next year not to buy and I will do the same. Can I ask what response people have got when they do this? It seems we are all trapped in buying lots of "stuff" nobody wants or needs.

dolly x

chivers1977

Hi Dolly

You can either regift or do what I have done with gifts from M&S and John Lewis which still had the labels. WE didn't need another pair of PJs for my son so I went and swopped it for a shirt that he needed. We also don't need any more mugs or a quiz set etc so they will be swopped for something for the kitchen that I do need. Then I don't feel so bad. Saying that I have regifted often:rotfl:

chivers1977

For the past two years I have had a no presents for adults except parents and grandparents rule. Children still got presents. I have sent an email in March to let people know this and made a small donation to charity instead. This year I did not send the email or make the donation (bad yaer financially for us) and got one present that I was not expecting as thought that people would have got the message by now. It saves a fortune and also means that you normally don't get much that you don't want!

katsu

I regift, give to charity shops and have ebayed gifts. You accepted the kind thought behind it when they gave you the item, but keeping it in your house forever unused is just wasting it. Let it go and be useful somewhere else.

My top tip for regifting is to keep a list of who gave you the stuff in your gift stash (to which you will add at sale time) as you don't want to give it back to the giver :rotfl: (or to give it to their sister/mum etc!).

dollybeads

chivers1977 wrote: »

Hi Dolly

You can either regift or do what I have done with gifts from M&S and John Lewis which still had the labels. WE didn't need another pair of PJs for my son so I went and swopped it for a shirt that he needed. We also don't need any more mugs or a quiz set etc so they will be swopped for something for the kitchen that I do need. Then I don't feel so bad. Saying that I have regifted often:rotfl:

Good idea, taking things back and swapping for things you actually need or something you would have bought anyway. I did tell everyone no Christmas cards this year and put what I would have spent in the Charity pot at work (which raised about 150.00 for local childrens hospice). But I am way too generous to my children and grandchildren, spent about £200 to £250 each on them this year! " boys and 3 grandchildren plus about 40 other people (although not that much on each of these also). Its a shame as used up my whole annual bonus to pay for it. Still looking on the bright side, better that I did not get further into debt!!! And yes I know just how extremely fortunate I am to be getting a bonus and a pay rise in current climate. I love my bosses x

Am also going to put some of the older stuff that hasn't been used, on ebay as can't remember who gave me what and would like to spare any blushes

Thanks for your suggestions Dolly x

dollybeads

katsu wrote: »

I regift, give to charity shops and have ebayed gifts. You accepted the kind thought behind it when they gave you the item, but keeping it in your house forever unused is just wasting it. Let it go and be useful somewhere else.

My top tip for regifting is to keep a list of who gave you the stuff in your gift stash (to which you will add at sale time) as you don't want to give it back to the giver :rotfl: (or to give it to their sister/mum etc!).

Indeed! I am also going to set a limit for my children and grandchildren of £50.00 each for Christmas and the same for birthdays. Not sure how this will go down, but my 2 lads (adults now) are very sweet and always tell me to cut back on being so generous so hope it will be ok. Am also going to tell friends no presents all round. I did say to my OH this Christmas that I really didn't want anything nor could i think of anything i needed and would be better if we gave a donation to charity instead. This didn't happen though, so will try again this year. He did buy my some really lovely towels though, which at the time I thought was a bit odd, but we needed some new ones, and these are the luxury sort, so was actually one of the most useful gifts I had this year. Another change in thinking.

Thanks for your help

Dollyx

katsu

dollybeads wrote: »

But I am way too generous to my children and grandchildren, spent about £200 to £250 each on them this year! " boys and 3 grandchildren plus about 40 other people (although not that much on each of these also).

:eek: Yes, you definitely are too generous.

You can still be generous on a smaller budget - seen the boots 50% off sale currently? What about the current toy sales for some classic kids toys for next year?

I gave gifts to around 24 people this year (big family!) at a cost of £170. I use the sales extensively, pound shops, charity shops, crafting/home made gifts. I very rarely give a gift that cost me full price. If you shop in the run up to christmas it really will cost you a fortune for the same stuff you can buy now, hugely reduced.

Get some boxes, add any remaining bits you are going to regift and make a start.

Gingerjar

HI Dolly

You've made a stunning start to your debt free journey - good for you! It's so interesting to hear that someone else's journey parallells your own. I am the same as you in the sense that I've been lucky in life and always had an okay job and okay money stream but ended up in debt due to my own numptiness and nothing else. I also ended up paying out hundreds in debt repayment every month buying a load of old tat that I never even used.

So a big cheer for parking outside town and walking in a bit, I found it saves me a fortune but also curbs what I want to buy as I have to carry it all further.

This year I saved up for my Christmas presents for the 1st time in years, told the family there was a £15 limit on each present (bit of sulking from wider family but hey, that's life!), did the pound shop challenge with my mates which was hilarious and we gave our DD a 2nd hand laptop. She doesn't know and hasn't noticed that's it's not brand new. Best of all I feel relaxed about my spending and that's a great feeling.

Re regifting I agree with the other posters, give a bit to charity shops, ebay a bit and give the other stuff to other people. It's far more wasteful to have more stuff sticking around that you'll never use.

Looking forward to hearing what you do next :j

Ginge X