NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Kerry_Woman

thriftish - Congratulations on your news.

I Want a Baby and cornishgirl18 - Congratulations also on your news.

Stayed away from the sales. Reading the newspaper online and was surprised as to how much money was supposedly being spent. Spent yesterday at home with my Mum which was more important.

edwink

Hiya Shipmates


Hope you all had a good and frugal Christmas!!


Well my hens and ducks enjoyed their Christmas dinner. It disappeared in all directions of the garden within about 10 minutes. They had chopped up roast potatoes, brussels, yorkie puds and pieces of bacon. All hot/warm to warm their little tummies up. Boxing day we gave them the same!! They are not spoilt, honestly. Ah!! Forgot to mention the cauliflower cheese pieces too!!!


Just thought I would mention to those that grow their own veg and also to those who are thinking about starting. You can buy all your seeds at 50p per packet in the autumn from the Whyvalebob garden centres. Every Autumn they reduce all their seeds no matter what they are or the original price. £4.99 organic seeds, expensive seeds the lot!! I get all of my seeds then. They are dated for the following year and the year after that. So if you do not use the whole packet you can keep them by for the next year. This saves us a fortune because we do grow a lot of veg. I will make a note to remind everyone on here in the Autumn.


Have a good day everyone!!


Edwink x

Thistle-down

CAFCGirl wrote: »

I need a coat for the dog. He's a whippet cross so prone to feeling the cold.

Does your son have any outgrown jumpers/coats you could adapt? I boil washed a wool jumper (so it wouldn't fray when I cut it) and then just cut the arms off, something like this:



You can also use a sleeve of an adult's jumper as a coat:



I found a toddler winter coat when we were on a walk that fits my terrier well, it just needed a good wash. I did take it in a bit (just a straight seam down the back) it sure keeps him warm.

7_week_wonder

Hello everyone,

We're just back from a wee outing - we realised mum hadn't been out of the house since Christmas morning, so a breath of fresh air was required! Yes we consumed but I think we can class it as conscious consuming. We had a cup of tea and a scone at the garden centre courtesy of mum (she loves being able to treat us as her way of saying thank you for having her to stay) plus we bought a plant as a house-warming present for a cousin we're going to see on Monday. At least we bought from a local shop and it was definitely something we had planned.

I've been giving more thought to the no-spend rewards. My favourite at the moment is curling up in a chair with a hot water bottle and starting a new-to-me book. Several of my colleagues and I have started swapping books, it means I don't buy new books and I get to read authors and subjects I wouldn't necessarily have tried otherwise. Another treat is a mug of tea or hot chocolate and a few pages of my favourite blogs. Any other suggestions from fellow shipmates?

It'll soon be time for a lunch of bacon butties then an afternoon of photos and chat with mum. Still no sales shopping, and no desire for it either!

115K

^Thistle-Down I did that trick with an old jumper with my dog when she was a puppy and it worked well. She really feels the cold. I did just get her an Equafleece before Christmas as it was on offer and she gets scared when there are fireworks.

I just ventured out for a walk and it is cold out there. I walked past the houses on the streets near us and there is rubbish strewn everywhere because of the windy weather. So many houses had bags and bags of black bin liners next to their already full bins. I saw lots of pieces from a jigsaw puzzle on the path, maybe an unwanted present which could have been donated to a CS.:(

I wanted to go to the shop to buy one solitary can of ale as I really fancied having a mushroom and ale stew and I don't keep ale in the house. There wasn't any there typically so I will have to make something else instead.:rotfl:

fairy3

Hi all shipmates and congrats to Thriftish - how exciting for 2015

Thanks to everyone else for sharing all their tips am really enjoying reading how everyone spends their festive period. Yesterday we spent time with older relatives on a visit and there was so much food! Had a few laughs and photo albums were out which was so nice. Relatives flat is so packed with 'stuff' on every surface after downsizing that even simple tasks like getting a drink was a struggle - made my resolve stronger to declutter my own house and I appreciated the sanctuary of my room which is clutter free (just the one mind).
Brought home leftovers so today is huge cottage pie with veggies and plan to overdo the veggies which will be added to LO gammon and chicken tomorrow and put in a pie with white sauce.
Yesterday spent some money in the lush sale on 2 of the shampoo bars discussed on this thread and they were half price.
Today plan to go to the market for couple of things and combine it with a dog walk by the river as the sun is shining and there are blue skies here, unlike other places not far from here.

Need to find my new calendar and diary ready to record my guiding lights - one will include losing some of the excess clutter from my middle!

pm2326

I went for a walk about an hour ago, needed some fresh air as have a sore throat starting but hoping it's just because been stuck indoors with heating on for 2 days.

Anyway checked out 4 charity shops and nothing there to tempt me so Xmas money still in my pocket.

But I also called in morri**ns for one thing (30p) and its heaving! People are filling trolleys again...surely they can't have eaten it all from Xmas yet!

skint_chick

I haven't spent any money in a week and it feels great! We had a lamb joint for Christmas and have another one ready to cook on Monday when the leftovers are finished - we spent £18 on the lamb joints rather than £16 on a small turkey and I'm really glad as they're going to provide a whole week' worth of lunch and dinner for both of us. I still have half a bag each of parsnips, carrots and sweet potatoes so am going to make a stew in the slow cooker for freezing ready for work lunches. I'll need to get some greens for our rabbit but that should be all we need for at least a week - I made homemade coleslaw and sauerkraut this morning to last until 2015! I don't intend to buy anything in the sales - we went for a walk past the shopping centre yesterday and so many people had several bags, one couple were filling up the back seat of their car with bags because their boot was full and I felt glad I'm not a part of it. I've been doing some paper craft this morning and plan to paint an old chair tomorrow and some pyjama bottoms on Monday - I have all the supplies I need and just haven't had the time.

This next year I am rewarding myself with homemade beauty treatments, time to read library books on my pinterest board, growing my own veg (last year I grew carrots, cabbage, lettuce, herbs, spinach and rocket) listening to music, and going on long walks with my camera.

Love the ideas for dog coats, our rabbit is a house rabbit so doesn't need one but I wish he did because he would look lovely in an old stripy jumper!

thriftwizard

Just walked through town and stopped to look at the sunlight glittering on the river where it swirls around the bend, now the leaves are off the trees; money cannot buy lights that twinkle so subtly & delightfully. The town itself was fairly empty; seems everyone has rushed off to the out-of-town shopping centres to snap up those irresistible sale bargains and sit in the traffic jams for an hour or so. I was talking to a young neighbour whose OH had taken the kids off to the sales: she's worried sick about how they're going to pay for it all, but apparently can't see that none of it is necessary, because "everyone else" is rushing out to buy the stuff they couldn't afford before Christmas for their kids too, so what else can you do...? and so it continues.

And this year, as it was just us, no guests, on the Day Itself, we didn't bother much with extravagant table settings; it was just scrubbed pine with random rescued candles (from the Tip) down the middle and a dusting of ancient fake glittery hellebores, with most of the glitter worn off. It looked lovely & even a bit magical, and we had an uproarious time as everyone was so relaxed. I forgot all about my matching napkins, and nearly forgot the crackers, but hauled out some leftovers at the last moment - there are probably enough in there for next Christmas too; that's what comes of having an odd number in the family! - and guess what? It didn't matter, nobody minded, they probably didn't even notice.

We really should start something like, The League of Conscientious Objectors to Christmas Excess - LCOCE for short! Please, someone come up with a better name, but I do think we should kick off (or find, if there already is one) some kind of actual organised movement to help other people find their way out of The Christmas Trap.

Butterfly_Brain

thriftish............ Congratulations x

We had a nice quiet Christmas, the outlaws came on Christmas day and it all went really well, very relaxed and we chatted for hours.

The TV does not go on on Christmas day, if there is anything that we particularly want to watch we record it and watch it another time.

We had gammon, mash, salad and pickles with HM bread yesterday and picky bits that were left over from Christmas day, plus what was left of the trifle, mince pies and Christmas cake.

Today is another left overs day , Turkey and gammon pie, beans and chips, yum plus anything that is left in the fridge. The gammon water has been made into lentil and ham soup and pea and ham soup and both are in the freezer. DH has insisted that I have a day off today and do whatever I want to do.
I made the pie this morning and DH said that he will cook it tonight and the kids can wash up

I have plenty of milk, which is good until New Years eve and I make my own bread, in fact I have just got one out of the oven. We won't be venturing out to the shops on Tuesday for some more milk and that is all we need to get.
DH got me a gorgeous brooch from ebay an Australian Woman's weekly cookbook from the charity shop (that I spotted and, he went back to get it for me) a new dress, the box set of Grimm season 3 and a complete set of bamboo knitting needles

The outlaws bought me a lovely cardi, DD got me a year's subscription for the Home Farmer magazine and the box set of Thunderbirds:rotfl: DS got me a new stainless steel trowel and fork set

Luckily we are all of the same mindset and nearly everything has to have a use, but we do have a few DVD vices but that is it.

I will see if I have been successful with seed saving in 2015 from the heritage plants and if so I will put in another large order with real seeds, so I can have my own little seed bank :cool:

The runner beans were prolific (70lbs :eek:) and I definitely want to grow more this year, I think we will still be eating them up until the next crop is due :rotfl:

The kale is still growning strong and so are the parsnips, turnips, beetroot, cabbage and swede. I even have salad leaves still growing in the greenhouse.

We need to get a new bathroom and kitchen put in next year after the pipe burst just before Christmas plus I need a new fold up mobility scooter :eek: so we will be eating from the cupboards, garden and freezers for as much of the year as we can.

We are avoiding the sales like the plague !