NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

maria3104

Hi

I have survived the challenge that is boxing day sales, never went, but have picked up laptop all day for a quick look. Can honestly say there is nothing for sale I need or want.

I do need in 2015 2 king size bed frames at some point. But definitely not yet. Perhaps I can look forward to this purchase and save up. Would be novel.

I do fancy a spin out at some point to admire the pretty lights and indulge in a posh coffee. It is so worth the £3 to me and a real treat.

Roll on 2015, bring it on.

mirry

Emslovesmoney, I think making homemade gifts is much nicer (and cheaper) and it's amazing what things can be made with a bit of imagination.

I was looking on a web site today at the sales and it said .... Shopping is entertainment :eek:

Primrose

Well Christmas 2014 is thankfully nearly over. Just think of the millions of pounds which have changed hands with retailers, and we haven't contributed much to the retail chaos.
Wonder how long now it will be before Hot Cross buns start appearing in the shops, although of course we first have the commercialisation of Valentine's Day to contend with.! A never ending onslaught of consumerism to contend with

sjprmc01

Primrose

I was in the supermarket today and seen cadburys egg&spoon packs, creme eggs and Easter bunnies (aka jelly babies)

Primrose

sjprmc01 wrote: »

Primrose

I was in the supermarket today and seen cadburys egg&spoon packs, creme eggs and Easter bunnies (aka jelly babies)

Oh dear, everything gets earlier every year. I can't help thinking of all the poor souls who worked for City Link couriers who went into administration on Christmas Day. A very unwelcome Christmas present.

sjprmc01

Yes, I thought that was sad, too, although with the bother Yodel have suffered/caused over the Christmas period I was kind of hoping I'd hear that they had bought over them.

thriftwizard

I sent something large (a loom) via Citylink on Monday afternoon, for a very reasonable price, & it arrived safely in Wales on Tuesday morning; sad to see them go under! Whereas an order placed on about the 10th of December & sent via Yodel has yet to arrive, although a replacement sent a week later has; there's no justice.

VJsmum

Evening all, we had to visit relies in Oxford today. This meant a trip down the M40 where the traffic was horrendous. We eventually realised that it was particularly busy around the junction for Bicester village. Horrific prospect, of shopping for "bargains".

Like Black Friday, I have saved far more money by not buying anything.:D

We have a couple of big purchases to make next year, but they are very considered and priced up properly

thriftish

Just saying hello!
We have my PILs for Christmas so I haven't been on MSE for a week or so.

Our plans for 2015 have taken a rather amazing turn - we've discovered I'm six weeks pregnant! We spent many years trying for another baby and suffered 3 losses between 2006-08 before finally giving up, so fingers crossed our surprise Christmas miracle sticks around!

With our son aged 15 & daughter 9 we have no baby gear any more. All going well we will be working to have a thrifty baby and stick to borrowing or buying secondhand where safe.

Anyway, a lot going through my mind this week, but I will be getting my frugal on for reals in 2015 in order to increase our monthly savings. Not Buying It will be a major part of that, especially when it comes time to buy for baby.

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas if you celebrate.
Has anyone made a list of their rules/guidelines/guiding lights for Not Buying It? I have to read back but I've missed a LOT of pages!

mothernerd

I have made a start on next year's Christmas (already have wrap bought 3 years ago for 10p a roll, supplemented by rolls left by DS2 and DS3 and enough cards for next 2 or 3 years). Mum asked if I could look for her a reasonable nativity set as hers are losing their features.

She must have got the idea from looking at mine, which is actually one plus a few bits left from my original set so I asked if she wanted that one and when (we are planning to combine households if/when anything happens to her partner). So when it comes down it will be wrapped and taken to her house - will wrap a box to match - have 4 boxes and several sacks that I want to fill to make my first declutter target for next year.

Going to do some sewing over the weekend. Youngest son (23yo) has an old torn velvet jacket and I said I would try to salvage some to make a scarf for him. Thinking some pieces might make a soft toy, the worn material is so soft.

Know he wants a red and white version of a purple coat he says in unrepairable, so may take apart and take a pattern from it and use the purple cord to make draught excluders (thinking snakes and dragons). He also wants a Stitch onesie (Kigurumi style) so thinking about that. DS2 has a Pikachu one so may ask to borrow that to work out a pattern from - DS2 is tall, DS3 is taller and wide to match.

Thinking about making candles next year. I love them and have not bought any this year, just used up ones that DS1 and DS2 left behind. However I have a number of tea-glass sized containers obtained over the years (plus some larger tumbler sized ones that were in a bag from a skip last year - I rescued several large size plant pots and planters and some very good soil). The glasses would hold votive candles (rarely reduced) or be used with tea-lights but am thinking I could buy wicks and wax (plus re-use left over ends) and fill them all properly for next year. Mum has bought me some scented oil (and have a bit I used to use for reviving pot pourri) so could add that to the mix.

117pauline I have added the list of no-money rewards to my ideas book. I have done similar in the past but to use to fend off depresssion - easy to slide down that slippery slope and hard to think when you are there. So going for a walk (so important to get out in the available light, especially at this time of the year) - if it's written down for you to refer to, it can help before it overwhelms you.

I am considering putting my name down for an allotment (would probably be 18 months to 2 years). I did get one before but it was in very bad condition and at the far end of the field from the compost and leaf mould. It is obvious now that the health problems I have had (recovering from hip replacement) have been coming on for a while. I had periods when I could barely walk or move. However I should now recover properly. I will be doing what I can in the back yard - as soon as I am able to put my raised beds together - and using containers and and potato bags. I have some 'bags' that fold flat but are 1m x 0.5m x 0.5m when filled with soil. Had a patchy year last year as I was planning to move out of the big house (now up for sale) and may have to move again, when we find something to suit me and my mother. But I will do something.

My big achievement on 'not buying it' so far - despite having the cough/cold/sore throat bug for over three weeks (it's just irritating now) I refused to buy cough medicine as I knew there was some in the bags that were still at the other house. I spent 4 hours the day before I went in hospital clearing and cleaning every room (empty coat hangers, things on a high shelf and difficult to reach bits) then bagged everything + the cleaning materials and left the bags in the vestibule. DS3 was supposed to bus everything back here whilst I was in hospital (I bought him a weekly bus ticket) but it didn't happen. A friend helped me bring it back in her car on Christmas Eve.

I don't know where the balance is on learning about money. We were very poor when I was young - my father had a modest wage but the amount my parents agreed he should give my mother when they married (to include all bills as well as food) never changed till she left after 25 years. All pay rises plus any overtime (more than his basic wage) were his alone. Mum got a p-t job when I was 8, at first it meant we sometimes got biscuits or an ice-cream (1/4lb of sweets shared between us after he had gone out), but this was absorbed by bills over the years.

I started saving for my own place when I got my first p-t job at 13, by the time I was 18 I had everything I could need in a flat. I didn't go to university (dad wouldn't have filled in the forms in case we found out how much he actually earned) but started work in a factory. I was made redundant at 19 and with my pay off (just over £200 including 4 weeks holiday pay) I opened a building society account. When I had a job every other weeks wage went into my account, when I only had one night cleaning glasses in a club (mum had my benefit money for rent), I kept a £1 to go out on Saturday and Sunday (3 x 1/2 pint lemonade @ 16p =48p, 3 x 1/2 pint shandy @17p = 51p) and the other £4 went into my account.

At 22 I bought this house (my savings, some borrowed from mum who had worked f-t for a while and the rest borrowed from the bank, in my father's name which I paid back at £50 am month for two years) which had been boarded up for 11 years, had no bathroom and my first sink had been used to mix cement in. I moved in after a year (had a bathroom put in and re-wired) but could only live upstairs and on cold days (had a kettle but no stove) I would eat chips and gravy sat in front of an open grate, feeding a small fire with strips of wood (shutters from a club that was renovating).

When I divorced (husband gambled away all our money then refused to pay any maintenance for our three boys) I kept my house as it hadn't been put in joint names. Having been my mother's confidant (she would tell me all her troubles, then I lay awake all night worrying) from an early age, i tried not to tell the boys too much.

They probably had a lot less than their friends (DS2 had a lot of wealthy friends) but they had enough that they could join in and everyone was always round at our house. One of DS2's primary friends had a garden twice as big as our old house and lived near the local park - he loved that I let them play football on the car park at the back, once the cars went home. His senior school friends all lived in the richest area of town, no-one else a bedroom you could play knee rugby in (I gave the boys the big bedroom to share and extended it by knocking down the wall so the extra 6 or 7 yards of the landing were part of it).

I always told them that if it was important I would find the money somehow. They always went on school outings (I was in the sixth form before a teacher worked out that I always gave excuses for not going, because we couldn't afford it and never took anyone home). Gifts were carefully thought through (usually pooling money from my mother and brother) and bought in advance.

My two eldest had paper rounds and other p-t jobs from a young age. If they wanted to buy clothes with the money, I matched what they put in (tried with savings £1 for every 10 they put in, but it didn't take). They have both borrowed money from me and not repaid it (DS2 was ill during his university years, had to repeat each year and only properly diagnosed last year).

The youngest has never had a p-t job but has always lived within his means. All three went to university at my urging. The two eldest have only recently got f-t permanent employment (may be the area we live in), the eldest a year ago (he and his gf are now saving each month for a house deposit), the middle one has only just completed his probationary period.

The youngest graduated this year. He is registered self-employed and cannot claim JSA. He has a small income from making computer games sold online, has taught himself all the programming and other skills needed but is not self-sufficient. Until 3 weeks ago he has always managed to pay me my 'rent'. He doesn't drink or smoke but as long as he can pay for a pizza he is happy. But we are still waiting for the 'breakthrough' game that will make his fortune. One of his early games sold less than 300 copies (only charging a couple of pounds), yet 5000 people downloaded it when he made it free.

So I don't know. They weren't spoiled, they had enough. We always ate even if it was sometimes a bit monotonous but they never did without. DS2 always seems surprised when a dd goes out of his account and I do worry that their father's 'spend it all on beer, cigs and trinkets and let the grown-ups worry about boring things like paying the bills' has rubbed off on them.

I hope I got it right and they will all find their way eventually. They are more sensible than daft and I will continue to be the responsible parent.