The Big Adventure

Goldiegirl

Hi everyone


A busy couple of days


Yesterday I decluttered a bit more (now up to 195, due to various things removed from the drawers I was looking at)


I went out for tea with my friend, who traded her in the iPhone 4 for an iPhone 6, almost on a whim!


Today Mr Goldie and I went to Bluewater. I'm afraid that I may not be a good candidate for the 'Not Buying It Thread'. But, we've bought the remainder of the clothes we really needed, and we've bought our flasks and lunch bag that we wanted, plus Mr Goldie's razors.


We used the last of Mr Goldie's M&S gift card, plus a couple of other money off vouchers were used, and vouchers to earn additional points, so we've tried to get as much as we could from our purchases.


We also needed a new kettle. We had £25 in John Lewis vouchers, but JL didn't have the kettle we wanted, so we decided to buy it online instead. We tried to put the voucher codes on to the website, but it was all a bit odd, as there didn't seem to be an enter button for the information. We thought it might deduct the amount of the vouchers after we pressed pay now....... but it deducted the whole amount from our credit card! :eek: So I rang them straight away, and they had to cancel the order and I re-ordered over the phone, using the vouchers. A bit of a faff, but I wanted to use the vouchers on this purchase.


Just going to relax for the rest of the day - sending money is too tiring!:rotfl:

Karmacat

You're an excellent member of the Not Buying It thing I think the title's a wee bit misleading, but its really about conscious buying, not being suckered into consumerism - and your post above is an absolute classic in how to use consumerism to get what you want to get, in the way you want to get it. Good for you! Your friend's "almost whim" is an example of the other way of shopping ...

Goldiegirl

Hi everyone!


You are right KC, rationally I know I'm doing everything I can to make mindful purchases. I started off with high hopes of the 'not buying it thread', as it was just the thing I was looking for. But, fairly early on, it got side tracked into talking about hairdressing and colouring your hair, which was generally agreed to be a bad thing....... but having a bit of colour in my hair about three times a year is one of my pleasures in life, so I started to feel a bit out of step with that particular thread.


So I'm just carrying on, doing it my own way:)


Anyway, March is here, one of my favourite months of the year. It's my birthday month, and spring is just around the corner. Also, I'm going on holiday in a couple of weeks time :j


This morning is nice and sunny, so I have my washing out on the line. It's supposed to be raining later, so I'm hoping the rain will hold off until my washing is dry.


De-cluttering up to 198. I removed the tax disk and holder from my car as it's no longer required, and also a parking permit that was last required in 2009!

edinburgher

I feel a certain Micawberish pleasure at those figures.

Have you been reading Simple Living in Suffolk?

Goldiegirl

edinburgher wrote: »

Have you been reading Simple Living in Suffolk?

I haven't, but it's a good principle to live by.


Although, with all the 'extras' I've been getting like glasses and freezers, I've been spending more than my income.


But this should settle down now that we've been through this spending phase.


My hob was a bit temperamental when I was cooking lunch. But I will hope for the best, I don't really want to start paying out on more things!

Goldiegirl

All is quiet here.


My hob is behaving itself and our new kettle has been delivered.


We've mainly been outside, doing some bits and pieces in the garden, including washing the patio. The weather has been nice, so we thought we'd take advantage of it.


Ducluttering is on a bit of a hiatus. The garden and the majority of the house is done. I have some things to eBay, which I'm not doing until after our holiday. There's only one major area of the house that is left to do. It's one of those cupboards of doom - a few years ago I decided to buy various vintage nautical things, to sell 'later' on eBay. These things are all stored in this particular cupboard, and 'later' has arrived, so I intend to sort everything out. But, after my holiday.


We also have the shed and the loft to deal with, so there'll be plenty to do, in due course.


I was reading the 'Boost Your Income' section of the board, and noticed you could 'hive' your nectar points, and earn 10% more points on your hive. This would be ideal for me, as I have £90 worth of Nectar points, stockpiled for Christmas.


I registered my Nectar card online, but it doesn't seem to want to allow me to hive my points, even using the link supplied in the thread. I have a feeling it's a new scheme and not available to everyone yet. I'll give it a while and have another go another time. If it still doesn't work, I might ring them to see if I can get a 'Hive'

Karmacat

I've not heard of that! When I moved here, I'd not been spending my Nectar points and bought a huge weekly shop with them, but now, I confess, I get the vouchers as soon as I can. I think in the downturn, Martin had a thing about not knowing when any one particular firm was going to go bust, so not to trust and leave them there to accumulate. It spoke to me!

Goldiegirl

I've never built up so many Nectar points before - but I was away last Christmas, so I didn't need to buy any Christmas food.

I must admit, I feel slightly nervous about locking my points away in a Hive, just in case I can't get them out again!:rotfl:

Karmacat

Absolutely! The reasoning behind Nectar doing it is in this article, which I quite like: http://www.headforpoints.com/2014/11/16/earn-10-interest-on-nectar-points-with-hive/
Makes sense. But yes, its about trusting their systems, and letting them have your dosh. As a single person who buys mostly low-cost stuff, I may pass on this one - 10% p.a., I probably get £10 a year - hmm. I might do it, I just might :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Goldiegirl

Interesting article, and the comments people have posted are interesting as well. The general feeling seems to be that they'll get people to Hive their points, instead of spending them. Then, when everyone stockpiles their points, they'll quietly devalue them, cutting the spending power at a stroke!

Hmm..... Might just go out and spend them after all!