NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Lavender_Cosmos

I've not been online hardly at all over Christmas. But I did want to catch up reading this thread as it's so good!

I had some great practical presents from my family for Christmas: cloches, veg seeds, welly boots, slippers, thermals, soap...:j

My sister bought me a Marguerite Patten wartime cookbook and I'm going to try many of the recipes. We, as a nation, were our most healthiest on the wartime diet. Lots of veg and less meat.

Not spent any money since a few days before Christmas and apart from a small weekly food shop I don't need to buy anything.:D

mothernerd

GreyQueen if you find more of the paper (more than you can use in a reasonable amount of time) a local playgroup would probably be glad of it.

I still have stationery and pens from an old job - the place was shutting down and individual workers or sometimes whole units would be relocated to buildings that were staying open. Many of the staff just dumped the contents of their desks wholesale by the bins - I 'rescued' as much as I could. Probably a reaction to being a member of many voluntary groups in my youth that struggled to find cash for even the basics (most were already giving up considerable chunks of their time).

Nine years on I am still trying to find homes for some of it but still thinking it's too good to throw away. Could be worse - I spent the latter stages of my first pregnancy struggling to get round my kitchen as we were housing a large office desk and two wardrobe size metal cabinets that had been donated to one of the aforesaid groups, they just hadn't got their own premises (or even a room with someone else) by then. Luckily a pub landlord gave them some space in a back room just before I went into labour - keep catching my bump on the desk corners didn't help.

117pauline

Hi there

I haven't bought anything since Tuesday which must be a record for me.

We have never had so little food over Christmas yet we both say how much better we feel for it.

Turkey and mushroom pie with last of the veg tonight cooked in my new halogen oven. I really like it so far and it is making me think a bit about how I cook things.

I read a really interesting article last night about stuff - the idea was that we may not be happy with lots of things or very few, if we are not happy in ourselves. I thought that was well worth a ponder too.

Last summer I did a mindfulness course on learning to live (rather than just survive) with chronic pain and I am still practising at becoming more mindful in all aspects of my life. On good days, it is great but then I struggle on the bad ones!

So my guiding lights are growing in number and so are my "gratitudes" too ~ today's was the crisp sound of walking on snow

Have a wonderful evening
Pauline

Primrose

You have to feel very sorry for the volunteers in charity shops. Somebody I know who volunteers in one says the week after Christmas is always totally manic. Half the country are engaged in using the break to have a declutter /clear out lf their wardrobes and houses and they usually have to move half a ton of black bin bags dumped on their doorsteps before they can open up the shop after Christmas ! Still, for anybody on the hunt for bargains, this is probably the best time !

fuddle

I won't be taking part in the boycotting of supermarkets. I would like to but it's just not feasible for us.

Done just short of a 700 mile round trip this weekend and called off to the supermarket on the way back for tea. We picked reduced pack of salad and a couple of burgers. Raided fridge for carrot and cheese to grate and a splodge of mayo and a nice, non stodgy, non heavy meal for little pennies.

Haven't been anywhere near the sales and have no desire to do so, although I will be looking online for cheap/sale priced scarves to wear when I start in the office. I think different scarves/different tights are the cheapest way of getting the most out of the pieces I have without people thinking I am wearing the same things most of the time - which I will be

GreyQueen

Wow, fuddle, that's a lot of driving , I bet you're all glad to be back home.

I've finished stripping the feed-hole-bit off the side of the printer paper (think of about a 10 inch tall stack) but will have to separate the sheets, started on doing that but have had enough for tonight. All the strips have been roughly cut up so they can go in the recycling bin as shreddings (this is allowed).

I have given paper away to voluntary groups in the past but this I will keep as I have a constant need for scratch pads and, as I get so little unsolicited mail, have caught up on my own supplies and am on the verge of running out. Egads, can't have that, can we, but it's good to think of voluntary groups and their needs.

This evening's cunning plan will involve lounging in a bath for a while before spending a bit more time with the folks downstairs (have fled from the TV, they're watching something recorded earlier in the week).

Mum has also decluttered Grandma's 'pearls' - not real ones - to me to restring them. They're one double-strand and one triple strand, haven't been used in 50 years and are too small for either of us to wear as is. I'm planning to turn each of them into a single strand and wear them like that. Getting something out of the jewellery box and into the light of day.

I shall wear them with heavy irony. And my classic Dannim@c.

thriftwizard

Today I took DS1 back to the town he lives in. It's a pretty & prosperous Home Counties place, within easy commuting distance of the City, hence the eye-watering property prices & rents. The flat he shares with two other "musos" is just off the high street and only has one parking space, taken by the flatmate who spends most of his time in the States, who also pays most of the rent. So we have to park in the nearest multi-story public car park, which is HUGE, and carry his stuff back over to the flat.

Today it took us twenty minutes queueing to be admitted to the car park, (the barrier lifted to admit one car every time another left) and another half an hour of patient circling round the 12 floors to finally find a parking space I could manoeuvre our mid-sized car into; there were one or two others but you'd have struggled to fit a Smart car in and open the door, thanks to sloppy parking in the surrounding spaces. We dropped his stuff off at the flat, where he discovered that there was nothing in the fridge (just as well, the flat's been empty for a week) so we trotted off to find something to eat before I set off for the 2-hour drive back home. Which meant walking down the High Street - oh my goodness! Retail MADNESS! People literally being barged off the pavements by other people laden down with stuffed carrier bags plastered with high-end logos.

And did these people look any happier than the poor souls rushing round like headless chickens before Christmas? Not one bit; grey, tense faces, anxious eyes, harassed parents screaming at bored & badly-behaved kids, just better-dressed bored kids than we have down here in the sticks!

To be fair, if they can afford to live there, they can probably afford the retail therapy without stressing too much about credit card bills. But I have to say, it didn't look very enjoyable or fulfilling...

emslovesmickey

Hi again all,

I've spent money today on food for work and cat food - a total of £14.47. I've also done a little planning.

One thing that I feel is necessary is having a little treat on occasion. I don't know about others but if I go cold turkey it will end up going completely wrong. That being said, I don't want to reward myself UNLESS I have completed a task. So here are my first ten tasks to do. They are not small tasks as I feel that would be cheating myself.

1. Finish Van Gogh Starry Night cross stitch
2. Complete the craft project book I am currently working through
3. Complete the plans for the second and third books I am writing
4. Read and review 100 books on GoodReads (library will help there!)
5. Make fifteen christmas presents
6. Make twelve birthday presents
7. Make theatre style advent calendar and Graphic45 box
8. Hit my minimum savings target for the year - £4325.31
9. Finish Kili cross stitch
10. Write 50,000 words

Bobarella

Have had another lovely low key day with the immediate family. We went to the park & took some wild bird food with us. The robins were over as soon as the food was down which goes to show how much they need it at the moment.
We then went to friends for a low key buffet tea at 3pm. It was lovely to catch up with them & their children. We cycled there and back so no transport costs & now home in the warm again. We have another week to look forward to & it reminds me how little you need to feel grateful & blessed for your lot in life.

Aril

Hello:D
Today's my last day before I go back to work but as I'm a self employed part time house sparkler it doesn't generally carry the stress of when I was the main wage earner working full time [redundancy sorted that one in the end] and I have time so save us more.

Been busy in the kitchen making ginger cakes. Two for a meal and a chum who always comes over around her birthday and takes the remainder of the cake home rather than having a card:rotfl:This year I actually remembered that the mix is too much for two tins so put the bit over into a smaller tin for us to enjoy:j

We've been busy eating up the leftovers. Lunch finished the lurking snacky bits which were opened and I've made a cauldron of soup from the leftover roast veg and bendy carrots which should see us into the next year:eek:There are lots more naughty foods in the garage that we've received over Christmas but they can stay there and be eaten gradually. If they come in the house I shall feed my face...we went running today so don't want to undo the good work completely.

Have continued scrubbing my kitchen cupboard tops. Eeek:eek: Talk about out of sight out of mind. I'm now laying newspapers over the clean surface so that next time I can replace the paper. I love cleaning by and large but that's a mucky job and not one I want to repeat in a hurry.

Nowt spent today. Just a small bit of fresh fruit and veg and milk tomorrow should see us right until I do a proper menu and shop at the weekend.

I've been reading about "give as you live" which sounds quite in keeping with me doing more to help others. I already do a couple of the daily clicks sites to help charities but this is a site where instead of earning cash for yourself you can donate a percentage of the purchase price to certain charities. I don't buy a lot but if I'm purchasing an item say from Amazon anyway might aswell go through the donating site so that I can do more good with my money I thought. I'm not promoting it I just hadn't realised that such places existed:)

A few more items have been decluttered. One thing I found is tiny but a friend collects them- popped said item into the post as a little surprise for her.
Arilx