NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

skint_chick

emslovesmickey wrote: »

1. Finish Van Gogh Starry Night cross stitch

Em - where did you get this from? Was it just the pattern or a whole kit? I've just started another cross stitch but have seen this one and would love to do it next!

I have a list of craft projects to start/finish this year and have so many supplies to use up and have vowed that I won't buy any additional supplies this year but I could get this cross stitch for my birthday:o

DianaMattos

This is a brilliant thread!! I have decided not to buy any clothes or accessories for myself for an entire year. It's not like I have a massive clothes habit, but I keep buying 'it'll do' items, and spend too much time searching on eBay or trying to fit in charity shop visits before the school run!!

I am tracking my journey on my blog, where I hope to engage with likeminded people, but now I have found this thread too

Happy 2015 everyone, and all the best with our various personal challenges for the year ahead xx

allybee101

Hello folks.
Lots of busy busy people here! I drove home today after 4 lovely days with my parents and various family visits. I drove from several inches of snow to rapidly melting inch of snow, but now freezing so tomorrow morning's trip to work will be fun.
My brother and sister in law declined leftovers but I gladly accepted some portions of gammon, turkey and stock for the freezer plus some veg and portions of dessert. We were due to have a family get together on Saturday night but the snow and ice meant it didn't happen so Mum was happy to get rid of some of the unused food.
It means I also don't have to go shopping for several days which helps my budget a great deal.

Christmas itself has been low key and wonderfully relaxed. No excessive piles of stuff and nonsense, but some very thoughtful and practical gifts (helped by us sharing suggestions so that gifts would be meaningful).
I managed to squeeze in a visit to my Dad's headstone to lay flowers (24 years on Tuesday), see lots of lovely family including a cousin who's been off the family scene for at least 5 years, had a beautiful snowy walk with DB & SIL (plus hound) and spent a few (v cheap) evenings in the village pub with old friends.

I need to crystallise my new year resolutions, already getting ahead on one of them which is about finding free, sociable things to do.
I've discovered that there is a free talk about the history of my town on 2nd Jan (evening).
Looking forward to work this week - it'll be blissfully quiet so I hope to get well ahead on several pieces of work.

Bathory

Had to go out to do top up shop today as cat food was getting low and they have to be fed otherwise they'll have my leg off. I love Winter and went for a walk early this morning. When the sun came out it was like a dusting of silvery sparkles everywhere although it was very icy. My old Magnum boots are holding up well after 3 years, when they split I mend them with strong glue and they are still holding out.

Had to clean oven this evening - Xmas day HM mince pies had too much filling and blew their lids off and this afternoon I used up some Bramleys for a crumble and the apple filling bubbled up over the top of the dish. I must stop over-filling things when cooking.

I'm meeting a friend in Manchester tomorrow, hope its not too busy and a firm 'no' to any sales tat. Only 3 days left til 2015 .....

Karmacat

Just managed to catch up ... its busy on here

What strikes me most of all is the way that not buying and decluttering go hand in hand for most of us. I include myself in that, but I hadn't thought it was such a strong impulse, to put the two of them together. I like it! It doesn't seem solely down to age, but maybe it is about getting fed up of consumerism.

I haven't overeaten at all this year, between being ill and not being at my mother's house. She seems to take it as her mission in life to get me to eat as much cake and chocolate as possible, in spite of me *never* eating that at home, and having food intolerances around them!

Hope all the Christmas walks are lovely

natnat13

This thread is fab and fast moving! I don't have any clutter but really need to stop spending.
My hair straighters stopped working b4 Christmas, I need to tame my frizzy mop so managed to get a replacement pair off a fb selling site for £5.
Had free tickets to a basketball game for me and the kids today too which was great fun.
Did go into a supermarket today, its DS2's 7th birthday on NYE and got family round for food and he wants me to make him a big chocolate cake. I know home made is nicer but actually I spent £5 on choc buttons, malteasers and stars to decorate it, then other ingredients for the cake, oven etc its probably cheaper to buy one! I will make some quiches etc at the same time the oven is on and it will be lovely but sometimes its cheaper to cheat! I suppose it depends on your lifestyle, time, ethics etc.
I certainly want to batch cook from scratch a lot more this year, I can do it, its just being organised.
My other plans are:
1. Cancel CC
2. Move bank account
3. Make sure all utilities are cheapest they can be
4. Grow some fruit and veg
5. Be very organised for birthdays etc
6. DON'T BUY ANYTHING I DON'T NEED!
7. Sell anything I don't need including wedding rings (don't worry I'm divorced lol)
8. Start saving some money even if its a small amount

emslovesmickey

skint_chick wrote: »

Em - where did you get this from? Was it just the pattern or a whole kit? I've just started another cross stitch but have seen this one and would love to do it next!

I have a list of craft projects to start/finish this year and have so many supplies to use up and have vowed that I won't buy any additional supplies this year but I could get this cross stitch for my birthday:o

I got it from Hobbycraft - was just looking through there one day last year and they had the kit for £20. Just had a quick search on ebay and they do have it there too and the chart only on sewandso of that helps.

purpleshoes_2

The declutter goes on. Went into the next town. None of the sale stuff looked very appealing, might go back and buy some Christmas bits but that's all. Made some fruit smoothies with leftover fruit and soya milk, went to the gym and tried not to think about why I didn't bring any chocolate from my mums back down here. Randomly found out that I had 15 quid in store credit sitting on an ncrowd account so bought an afternoon tea for two with it and I'll take my mum with me.

So much to do around the flat but once another couple of cs bags are ready to go and some more tat gets ragged/binned then things will be looking much more minimalist or as good as it gets in my world.

sjprmc01

Was working today, used the last of the cash on my work pass to buy my lunch and then after work, went for a free 3 course pizza express meal with OH (was my works Christmas present-redeemable with a 1-off code) so i shad a NSD although OH normally picks up some supermarket bits on a Sun after I've been dropped off at work.

I don't normally have money on my work pass as I normally take lunch in but I've gotten very lazy with things like that lately, having to diet from tomorrow so don't plan to put any more cash on the card so I stay on track

Ches

I do agree that not spending and no clutter go hand in hand.I have never been a hoarder so, for instance, I have 2 complete bed sets for eachbed. Only have 8 bath towels and no hand towels for shower room. 4 hand towelsfor cloakroom. Only have 1 set saucepans that are 20 years old. The crockery weuse has been in use for 30 years because I have never found any I like better. My spends in the sale the other day were toreplace 2 dresses which I sold as they did me no favours and I need nice clothesfor the cruises we save to go on every other year. I have 1 pair of boots(expensive) 2 pairs of trouser boots and 1 pair of flats for winter use. (Severalpairs of evening shoes for holidays though, because I am certainly notperfect). The reason I owe on the cc this year is because I had to adaptcertain areas of the house for OH who is partially disabled and getting worsenot because of careless spending.

Yesterday we had HM pie with a filling made from left overChristmas meat, mustard mash and buttered cabbage. Today we had Jacketpotatoes, lo gammon and pickles. Apartfrom my on-line spend I haven’t been near a shop since 20th Decemberwhich didn’t do us any favours as by the time Christmas day arrived the freshcream was on the turn and the vegetables left in the shed were getting limp. Andthe veg was bought at a local farm shop.
I can’t see me keeping out of the supermarketsbut I will aim to shop once only per week on a Friday just as I used to do inthe old days and if we run out of anything we will have to go without until thenext Friday shopping day