NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

thriftwizard

Congratulations, thriftish! You shouldn't find it too hard to equip yourselves for your happy event, Freecycle's provided magnificently for my great-nephews & niece. Plus you will be much more aware of what's really needed (and just how much isn't) than new parents.

Mothernerd, we've been in a similar position with DS1 until fairly recently. He writes music, and for the last couple of years he's been working all day in a job he hated (to keep the roof over his head, as he lives upcountry, closer to where the action is in a musical sense) and sitting up all night composing. Every now & then he'd get expressions of interest, and his tracks got lots of plays & likes on YouTube and he got lots of charities/academic institutions asking him to do stuff for free, or students wanting tracks for films, all of which is good exposure, but nothing that paid. At times he's looked so exhausted I just wanted to kidnap him back. But finally, the ball has started to roll, and this year he has actually been paid for the use of several tracks, and has finally been able to give up the dreaded day job. So if you can keep supporting your DS until he reaches the breakthrough point, and if he can avoid entanglements or debts that force him onto another life track, he may end up better off in the long run than both of his brothers. Sounds like they have had an excellent example from you, which will stand them all in very good stead. Yes, there are lots of people writing games/music, but not that many who do it really, really well.


I'm planning a wee wander up to town this morning, to exercise my library card and to take my £10 Christmas money to the local bookshop, where I spotted a book that completes a series I've been collecting. It'll be several more days before we need anything food-wise, except a hand of bananas, which I can pick up at the greengrocers. Before Christmas I was thinking I'd have to do a supermarket "raid" to carry us through a month without supermarkets; now I think we could probably survive most of it without troubling any shops at all!

I_want_a_baby

Hello all,

I've been avidly reading each evening and catching up on the goings on, not buying it and frugal spends!

My sister and her husband are staying with us over Christmas and new year as they live in Germany - it is so lovely to have them here!
They have given us a contribution towards food but bar that they are staying free of change as they had to spend a lot on fuel and the tunnel crossing to get here.

It's amazing how living with another couple has opened my eyes to how frugal or non wasteful we are without realising! They have done 4 loads of washing in 6 days, she has a bath every day and he has a shower...it goes on. I don't mind as I want them to feel at home and as I say it's our contribution to them being here but it has opened my eyes.

I have been frugally sticking to my guns in regards to food. The items left over from Christmas dinner were sorted through, potatoes, half of the stuffing and the sprouts got took to my mums yesterday for bubble and squeak. 6 pigs in blankets, 6 Yorkshire puddings, a tub of turkey in gravy, a tub of cauliflower cheese and a tub of stuffing went into the freezer. I also added a tub of mashed potatoe from Christmas Eve and I cut up and froze a stollen we got given on Christmas Eve with the same date and I knew would just get wasted.
I am constantly putting clips on open bags of crisps and hiding new bottles of soft drink and replacing them with open ones!
At least this is one area I have been able to control waste!

I am really enjoying the lazy days with no pressures and the freedom to spend time together as a family to do as we please.

I have spent in the sales I will admit, purchasing a few wants and needs including books I've wanted for a while, a new leather handbag bought to last and something for me to show the person who gave me the Christmas gift money, plus a set of pan steamers, some new thick gardening gloves, a white wicker bin for our bedroom and a couple of other bits.

This was my last little blow out before starting the challenge properly and was all on things I've wanted for a while and not impulse purchases. The bag for example was needed as I needed an over body bag to keep my hands free when the baby arrives and I wanted it to be big enough to hold my diary and any essential toiletries I may need to use after the birth plus the usual items. My current one only olds my two purses and my phone. I am glad to have purchased a quality real leather one from clarks that will last and that I can look after and keep for a long time.

In the new year once our guests have departed I am going to write some lists:
Books I have to be read
Preparations for the baby
Crafts/activities I have here I can do (I have a couple of cross stitch sets and a half finished patchwork blanket and half finished knitted blanket).
Activities I have here the kids can do - lots of craft sets received as gifts at Christmas (and before) which I can do and will cost nothing and get them used up.
Toiletries/cleaning products/medicines I have in stock.
Freezer/food cupboard list for meal plans.
The list of lingering to dos that I keep putting off - like putting my photos into the albums I bought!

Then I shall consult these lists and start trying to tick items off!

I am also going to write my sister a list of what she needs for her baby, she has just announced she is pregnant and is panicking at everything she needs to buy. I'm going to write her list so she only buys essentials and not any extra rubbish. She too wants to be as frugal as possible so she is really grateful for my help!

Will post again soon xx

ETA : sorry forgot to say congratulations thriftish! I'm 27.5 weeks pregnant and after my second we sold everything as we thought we were finished but after two years of indecision we decided to have one more! I blitzed the car boot sales and Facebook selling sites and ebay and am pretty much sorted just from these xx begs wishes xx

cydney65

thriftish huge congrats, I hope all goes well for you

Probably off to the shops to keep eldest amused. There are a couple of things he could do with but I will keep buying stuff to a minimum as he is traveling around the country for the next two weeks. I did all his ironing yesterday even though it will all get creased when he packs it up! What am I like?!

Right off for a shower-yes I am being lazy this morning

Have a great day

CydneyX

[Deleted User]

I had family down on the 20th, including grandchildren and spent quite a lot on their `easy` buffet food but that was the underlining to 2014 for me because I know that since then I will be eating and using what I have in store here and tbh it is a LOT. So I will be joining all those eating from what is available in house and in shed and in freezers. As well as food I also have enough fabric, fleece and fibre to spin, sew and knit for at least a full year

Today started well with printing out my growing in 2015, plan for the allotment which is a total of 100 x 9 feet and already contains lots of fruit and flowers. I have sorted through my seeds and only need to buy 3 items, the spares will be going to family as I have decided to downsize drastically and there will be no more squashing in of veggies that I then cannot waste (all psychological)and then have to preerve

Today I threw a l`occitane special offer card away because I am on a mission and have enough lovely toiletries

It isn`t just about `things` with me but it is about preserving, so I resolve to make no more chutneys, jams and marmalades this year and I still have brined green beans from 2012 in perfect condition so no more brining, just sauerkraut and some fruit bottling later in the year

I have ordered some lovely useful pima tops from lands end in the sale but I wear them a lot and could not make them cheaper and dh has ordered a full price posh kindle for my birthday, so that will save me from myself, I hope, no more adding cluttering books even though some do go back to the cs

Ok now to make another meal from leftover turkey and prep for a sensible slow cooker veg casserole for tomorrow. I admit to liking to get back to normal food and my digestive system likes it better too. I had to put the wedge in my bed yesterday as my stomack wasn`t happy with the wine, roasties and chocolate. I need to divorce my mouth hunger from my stomach

This thread is getting more and more interesting and meaningful and it is nice to start 2015, not with resolutions but with a new way of living

seriouslyfrugal

I hope everyone had a good Xmas congratulations to those who received exciting news over the past few days.

I have avoided the sales although I did find my auntie and cousins looking online on Xmas day :mad:-I just don't get it can they not cope for one day

I am feeling sorry for all the city link workers in my opinion that was handled very badly.

I walk every Friday with a health walks scheme and yesterday was no different so nice to get out and about. - and it's free!! :j

I will need to get a couple of items for my sewing today but as I made the adults birthday and Xmas pressies

I'm going to find a notebook to write down my expenses although it will probably end up being a spreadsheet. it can also be for things that will help ( guiding lights etc)
have a good day everyone.

117pauline

Good morning from a beautifully snowy Nottingham

I like the idea of "guiding lights" rather than rules because I have a tendency of behaving badly when someone uses the word.

It sounds to me that we are all enjoying the idea of just playing around with the concept of simplicity and what that means to us. For me it is reminding myself of the way I would like to live, rather than living how others and advertisers tell me I should live.

So for me, listening to the children next door making snowmen last night in the snow was magical. I hope that the memory of it will last much longer than the toys they were bought.

I have huge stores of things so I am determined to clear them and use what I have already bought. We continue to sort through the remnants of someone else's life which is very upsetting as it all just seems to be such a waste. I hope people in the local charity shops will enjoy her things but I feel very guilty when I take yet another car load there. Perhaps I should be working on a one in, two out principle?

Have a lovey day
Pauline

boultdj

Can I come aboard? I try not to buy to much, but OH is a 'ooo! I like that' and get's it, thing I need to realy cut down on is buying seed's[I love my veg & flowers], so I'v been looking to see what I'v got, and taking advantage of the 'new to me' greenhouse, that new neighbour's scrounged & put up for me should keep me out of mischief for a while. The only forseable spend's are to do with new buisness, but that is 'planed' not 'mindless' spending.

Thistle-down

I'm jumping on this ship.

I am great at not spending unnecessarily except when it comes to guitar/PA related gear. I am a singer/songwriter. It's very easy to think of gear being a business expense, and convince myself that things I want are actually things I "need".

My mother sent me some money for Xmas and my first thought was "new guitar!!!" I wasted no time in finding the model I have been lusting after. I actually ordered it, then realized what an idiot I was - having several nice guitars already- and cancelled the order.

Instead I stocked up on enough .77p Harley Benton guitar strings to last at least a year's worth of gigs/busking (maybe longer as I boil them after they become dirty), and a £13.29 backup microphone. I put the rest towards my credit card debt.

It's a strange feeling not giving in to my big weakness. A kind of freedom. There will be no guilt when the package arrives, no half-baked excuses to my husband about why I needed another guitar. 2015 is the year I start being totally honest with myself about spending unnecessarily.

I'm not buying it!! :j

VJsmum

kittie wrote: »

. I need to divorce my mouth hunger from my stomach

I am doing that today. No brekkie, light soup for lunch, chicken and veg for tea. No booze, Chocs or cake today.

Got that lovely tummy rumble back

I also was going to go food shopping, a la GQs mum, but in fact have also realised that I need very little. Off to the butchers for chicken, pick up some milk from the next door shop. Bobs your mothers brother.

cornishgirl18

Id like to jump aboard too please. Currently 26 weeks with baby number 3...and like I Want a Baby was indecisive for a good 4 years after number 2 and sold everything. Thankfully I've sourced most things from the car boot and freecycle and Im much more realistic about what I actually need this time around. Who needs a nappy bin!? ....and I saw a changing mat priced at £50:shocked:!!!!

Really trying to reign in the finances as we moved to a much larger house last year and although hubby and I have good jobs I will be taking a year off on Mat Leave. I already meal plan and cook from scratch and for the first time in years I haven't even had a sneaky at the sales. Living in the middle of nowhere has its benefits!

Look forward to following this thread in 2015!