NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

moneyistooshorttomention

emslovesmickey wrote: »

117pauline that sounds like a great idea - what if we all contributed to a list of non-buying treat ideas? I've thought of a few myself but I'd love to hear what kinds of things you do.

That is something I would find useful, if for a very different reason to many.

Having moved from a small city to Back of Beyondsville (not entirely by choice either...) then actually getting my hands on any "small treat" in this little place is difficult. A small W.H. Smith - rather than several decent bookshops. A few supermarkets, etc, but no delicatessens. Few places to eat out (thankfully am okay for places for a modern coffee and modern piece of cake with it), but very limited as to places to eat a proper meal out.

Hence...quite a long bus journey to get to delicatessen/choice of restaurants/proper bookshop and therefore physical access to the "little treats" I've been used to buying myself is a problem and I need to think of other ways of having "a little treat" than "I'll just go in the delicatessen and see what I can find that I haven't tried" or "Wonder if I can persuade anyone else they'd like to have a meal out?".

So, will await suggestions with interest.

Bobarella

115k out of interest what does your username refer to at present.?

parsniphead

CAFCGirl wrote: »

Good day to all.

Had a lovely day today, low key. Walked the dog this morning and did some pottering about tidying up, homing the new additions to the house - mostly DS's new toys. Was extremely glad that I didnt 'buy' in the same manner as last year because in all honesty he's not been that bothered. We could easily have not bought him anything and just relied on the presents from others
Then to IL's for Boxing Day buffet and the second round of gifts, they also followed a similar vein to us and didnt go crazy. Nice chatter and then home for another dog walk and chill out now the skies are dark.

It does make me think about how my mind has been twisted and turned. I fought a lot of emotional/mental arguments with myself over my 'conditioning' to certain events/scenarios. I haven't felt festive this year, but in pondering it, I've missed 'experiences' over things. Maybe this is a turning point and 2015 will focus more on the days leading up to, and enjoying time together. I've also sat watching our son, who is 4 and seeing how the world shapes him too, and how I need to invest a hell of a lot more of my time into him, as opposed to things for him. I realised that if its not something I address now, I will have failed him, and he will become whats wrong with the world, the self indulgent, the commercialised, the selfish, the demanding...... I see it creeping in at the edges and I don't want that for him, or for us as a family. He has such a good heart that the constant stream of enforced desire advertising is sucking that out of him. So really what I'm saying is, I want to do better by him. It is just so hard in this world...... or is it? Is my belief that its hard/challenging/difficult/seemingly impossible how I've been conditioned? To just accept that this is how the world is, and fighting it is too big an ask?:(

Hi cafcgirl.

I have a 3 1/2 year old son and feel the same. I only brought him a few things this year, one being a play d0h set he'd has asked for as I don't want him to start to believe life is all about stuff and more stuff. Unfortunately family don't seem to understand and he got piles of stuff, well tat really from others. I don't,t want to sound ungrateful but it seems impossible to make people understand. If that's how they want to live fine but why can't people accept that you don't want to be like them.

Time is one thing I will be investing in him this year. Work will definitely not be at the front of my mind. What's not done there will not be done at home.

CAFCGirl

GreyQueen wrote: »

CAFCgirl, would it be possible to use the new doggie coat to make a template out of newspaper (taping sheets together as necessary). Then you could look for a bit of quilted fabric, remnants bin or even ask on Freecycle. The ends could be bound with tape, which is perfectly do-able as hand-sewing, just takes a bit longer.

And if you store the paper template somewhere accessible in an envelope, you could run up future dog-coats as necessary.

What a brilliant idea! I have some new material tucked away (but no sewing machine LOL) so I will use that and Im sure theyre must be an old fleece I can use for the warm layer.
Thanks for your genius xx

Everyone up, bar the husband...... Wonder how long till he rises from the pit

CAFCGirl

parsniphead wrote: »

Hi cafcgirl.

I have a 3 1/2 year old son and feel the same. I only brought him a few things this year, one being a play d0h set he'd has asked for as I don't want him to start to believe life is all about stuff and more stuff. Unfortunately family don't seem to understand and he got piles of stuff, well tat really from others. I don't,t want to sound ungrateful but it seems impossible to make people understand. If that's how they want to live fine but why can't people accept that you don't want to be like them.

Time is one thing I will be investing in him this year. Work will definitely not be at the front of my mind. What's not done there will not be done at home.

This year we did avoid a fair amount of plastic tat that we had in abundance last year. Its always so big as well. small plastic tat is one thing, but just eurgh at the giant vehicles....
Now hes getting bigger, the toys are getting smaller thankfully and some are longer term toys, like lego which he likes playing with now - once someone else has built them, but later years I foresee him building with it himself.
Plus my IL side of the family, though not 100% understanding of, are quite supportive of us home educating and so have actually bought things that work for that purpose as well.

What I have also done is made an Amazon wishlist for him (though I do understand the anti amazon stance and I'm more happy for it to be bought elsewhere) but using the wishlist does mean I can send it out to various people and they can choose something I've declared as acceptable coming into the house :rotfl:

parsniphead

thriftish wrote: »

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!

Congratulations thriftish. What a lovely Christmas surprise.

115K

Bobarella wrote: »

115k out of interest what does your username refer to at present.?

When I joined the forum £115k was the total we were in debt with mortgage and credit cards. Now we are at about £60k.:)

We are moving next year so that will change and unfortunately grow to a much bigger number._pale_ Damn house prices in London and the South East.

MidlandsGinger

Hello all,


I'd like to join too please! I've been lurking on this forum for a while, but having read all of this thread, realise that this is just what I need to do. Over the last year I have been slowly decluttering, and thinking very carefully before buying anything. I've got another week off work, so will spend some of that getting rid of more 'stuff'. I did log onto the sales, but was very restrained and only bought a couple of things that I actually needed.


My friends and I finally agreed this year to only buy presents for children, which was a relief, saving time and money. My OH and I had managed to accumulate a lot of cards and paper over the years, so no more was needed, and we've probably got enough for another couple of years!


There are some really good ideas on here, I think I need to go back through it and make proper notes!

pm2326

Morning, permission to come aboard?

I've been reading this thread since day 1 and love it!

I dont have kids so haven't had the trauma of buying or receiving loads of unwanted presents. There's just me and my little old cat.

Christmas Day was spent with my mother and we've had an agreement for years that we'll only spend £25 on gifts. Now we do tend to exceed this a little but never by loads. This year I got money, a pair of pj's and box of chocolates, my mum asked for a radio and I also gave her a cross stitch made by yours truly, she's more than happy.

My last food shop was middle of December so I managed to miss all the crazy people buying loads of food they can't possibly eat and will end up throwing away :mad: I get so mad at this!

I have a well stocked pantry and I want to empty the freezer, I wrote a list of how many meals I can make out of the freezer goodies and when it came out at over 60, I stopped counting :rotfl::rotfl:

So far I've avoided the shops and the only sale I'm interested in is a certain cross stitch site, it's the only time I buy from them, but it never starts until new year.

I'm hoping you lovely lot will help me stay on the straight and narrow in 2015 and if I stray of have permission to make me walk the plank (even though I can't swim :rotfl:)

kacie

I had a NSD yesterday but will admit to buying a new swiss army knife in the sale, the one I have is missing parts and the scissors have broke, so this will replace that one and hopefully last me years.

For those with kids I've seen this:


might be a way of trying to reduce the amount of stuff they are given. I tend to just buy my friends kids books for christmas