NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

kacie

Hi,

I spent far too much this year on things I didn't need, but wanted. Next year I have a big holiday planned and half paid for so I'll need to save to pay for the rest of that, but other than that I'm hoping to only do essentials only

My current job is only temporary as well, so need to save incase something else doesn't come up quickly

Crochet_Teapot

I'd love to join in as well. I hate shopping and apart from food shopping I rarely shop, except for birthdays and Xmas and then it's mostly online. My high street contains 90% of stuff that I don't actually need e.g. shops like Accesori*e...full of tat IMHO

I hate greed and consumerism.

Crochet_Teapot

And when is that flipping Newbie alert going to disappear!:p:p:p

[Deleted User]

Morning shipmates Well I splurged out just over £54.00 yesterday for a whole month's shopping @ Aldieeees I am a very happy bunny this morning as I have filled my cupboards and fridge and apart from buying some sausage meat just before Christmas to make the sausage rolls with (my nominated job for my two DDs)I have nothing left to buy. Cards are all done and sent off ,presents wrapped (left over paper from last year (I too run the iron over pretty paper and recycle it if I can :)) so my purse will be firmly shut until the New Year.

I have no plans to spend much then either ,I find increasingly the older I get the less inclined I am to want to waste money on stuff I really don't need or want.

I have told my family I do not NEED slippers for Christmas I have five pairs in the cupboard unworn More than enough to see me out at my age .

One of my granddaughters likes to buy me nice shampoo and conditioner which is lovely of her and I rarely have to top it up during the year as she seems to buy gallons of the stuff :) But she is sensible, and in a lot of ways clever, as she always asks 'Nanny what do you need for Christmas /birthday' etc which is lovely as I then get things I find useful.

Looking around the shops this week I too spotted stuff that is completely useless, but folk were buying it as though it was the holy Grail. The money being thrown away on stuff that will get shoved into the back of the cupboard is frightening. Luckily I put my foot down a few years ago, and my family more or less know what puts a smile on my fizog

One of my hobbies is renovating old furniture and to me a nice pot of a particular colour paint is a great gift. I have told one of my DDs I'd like some nice red paint as I am doing a Liverpool football club design on my DGS bookshelf. I so enjoy doing this, and I know he will be chuffed to get his specially designed shelf from his Granny.Last year I did a nice photo frame for my DD in blue and white as her downstairs loo was decorated in a seaside theme and I had found a postcard of beach huts to go into the frame It looked really nice and cost very little to do. Boot sales are great places to pick up odds and ends for renovating and once sanded down and undercoated/topcoated things get a great new lease of life .

Good inexpensive hobby if you have the time and patience (I have lots of both)
Right time to trot off to the galley to make a cuppa
Onwards and upwards chums
JackieO
P.S. perhaps we could post on here if we were going to buy something, and the rest of us could 'talk' you out of it :):)

moments_of_sanity

I too am unable to work due to chronic illness and whilst I am not out of the house at work, I do work hard achieving the things I can do for my family, such as keeping the house tidy, meal planning, budgeting and shopping for the best food deals. Whilst these might not be done to some people's idea of 'standards' they are done and believe me it is hard work!

I met with my Daughter yesterday in London and we had a wonder around some of the shops before heading back to her accommodation and I was amazed at the amount of things people buy. We popped into Selfridges as my youngest DD loves Nuttela and they do 'personalised' jars which her Sister wanted to get and were a good price at £3.99 but on the way out we grabbed a drink at the food hall (DD had taken a bottle of water with her but I have a cold sore and didn't want to use the same bottle), I was in the que with my 89p bottle of water and the amounts people were spending on lunch was astronomical, they were paying £10+ for a quick lunch time snack :eek: I was also amazed to see people paying £16.99 for 1 Christmas tree decoration.

Consumerism seems to have gone made lately and as others have mentioned, there seems to be home decoration for seaons, do people really change their sofas to suit the room decoration/colour scheme? I must be very odd as my decorating is done around the sofas and my living room was last painted in 2008 with a colour called Hessian and I am sure, in time, it will eventually come back into favour and I will be considered 'trendy' :rotfl:

Minimalist

Just catching up on the past couple of days - fantastic thread, Slowdown. Thanks to all for sharing ideas and experiences, as we start out on our voyage towards a consumerism-free 2015 :T

Everyone’s individual situation and priorities are different, but it’s great to hear the different ways we’re all striving to resist unnecessary spending. When you think of all the millions that advertisers and marketers invest in research and psychology targeted at making us spend (magnified by the social pressures Slowdown and GreyQueen have mentioned) - so even if we’re not always 100% successful, we should take a minute to congratulate ourselves for having seen through the con in consumerism!

I really resent the sense of being "sold to" - particularly when I do give in and end up buying something I don't want or need, that isn't even good value or the best of its type. I've started to think “If it needs advertising, it’s not worth having". I can’t think of a single ad which has inspired me to buy something I wanted or needed - it’s sheer propaganda.

Advertising feels to me like a kind of mental pollution, filling people's minds with toxic ideas about what our lives should be like. Now if we want to watch a TV programme on a commercial channel, I’ve taken to recording it to our hard-disk recorder to watch later (not v OS I realise )...then fast-forwarding through the ads. (A low-tech alternative would be to mute the sound, then do a bit of dusting until the ad-break is over )

Sorry if that all sounds a bit ranty, but it really annoys me to see how people are being manipulated into debt and dissatisfaction. If you'll permit me one more mini-rant, it makes me furious the way certain politicians have hi-jacked our language and used it to stigmatise people who aren't in paid work. I really liked Slowdown's take on what "hard working" should mean, which clearly reflects a lot of people's experience of working hard in their homes and communities - no less important because they aren't being paid by the hour to do it!

Well, after getting that off my chest, I think I'd better go and have a nice herbal tea to calm down...

Caterina

Grrrr lost a long post on why I detest the concept of "hard work", after all a lot of people give up hard work to escape the madness of consumerism and end up living with very little money but regain a lease of life, increase human contact and live better than kings and queens.

A quick story which I love:

In ancient Athens, the philosopher Diogenes sat on the ground, in front of his abode, a disused barrel, eating a bowl of lentils and enjoying the warmth of sunshine on his bare skin.

The philosopher Timon, dressed in finery, passed by and looking at Diogenes with great contempt, said: "Look at you, Diogenes, naked, eating lentils yet again! See, if you could only learn to be subservient to the King, you would never need to eat lentils again!", to which Diogenes answered: "My dear Timon, see, if you learned to love lentils, you would never need to be subservient to the King again!".

I have heard this story a long time ago, as a teenager, and it pretty much sums up my philosophy of life. I have worked hard in the past, sadly, out of necessity, but the moment I could let the strife go, I dropped it like a hot potato! I have lived very close to the breadline in the past to be able to be a SAHM and enjoy my children, my DH has stayed in a modest job for years, even thought as an architect he could have found much more lucrative jobs, because he detested the cutthroat world of private sector management. He is much happier now in the public sector, with reasonable hours and decent management (not always the case). He works because he loves what he does.

I am aware that sometimes there is no choice but to work hard, but my question is why strive for it? Why almost sanctify the concept?

Ah well am I the only anti-hard-work person here? I am interested in hearing people's opinions.

seriouslyfrugal

Hi Shipmates

Just a quick reminder that the martin Lewis show is on @ 8 pm on ITV 1 I believe he is covering Xmas saving

catch up soon

Butterfly_Brain

I finished Christmas shopping weeks ago.

DS came to me last night and said he needs new trousers, shirts and shoes to go for interviews:( Luckily as luck has it, I received a 25% off Matalan coupon in the post, so we are going over tomorrow to kit him out.
That is all that we are buying.

Minimalist

Caterina wrote: »

I am aware that sometimes there is no choice but to work hard, but my question is why strive for it? Why almost sanctify the concept? Ah well am I the only anti-hard-work person here? I am interested in hearing people's opinions.

Interesting question, Caterina (as a lentil-lover, I did enjoy your story!) And thanks for sharing the link to your blog - I really liked your "rules" and the positive way you’ve framed your plan.

I'm in the middle of stepping off the paid-work treadmill and getting my life back, so this is very pertinent to me at the moment...In the past I've been a terrible workaholic - and I do think it can be a kind of addiction - which has damaged my health and not really contributed all that much to our financial security (I was in a cycle of over-work / over-spending, to sustain and compensate for that unhealthy lifestyle...)

The moral value given to paid work in our society is wrong in my view - particularly where it's linked to the idea that the more a person earns, the greater their value (especially where such people feel that their earnings are due to their own intrinsic merit, rather than the result of their privileged circumstances!). And the more hours worked, the better the contribution - often far from true.

I do think that work - in the sense of undertaking purposeful activity - is beneficial to the person doing it, beyond just the financial reward or the result achieved. Although how many paid jobs today feel very purposeful?

I don’t think there should be this moral distinction between paid work and unpaid activities - things like caring for children, budgeting to maintain a home, or growing vegetables to feed the family. Just because something is rewarding or enjoyable, doesn’t mean it’s not a valuable activity.

And I’m not saying people should be busy all the time - we all need time to relax and reflect - just that the emphasis on the “virtue” of paid work can lead to a dangerous imbalance in life, at the cost of wellbeing and happiness - and excluding those who aren't in employment.