NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

[Deleted User]

Apologies, not at all meaning to put words into your mouth and not intending in any way to cause offence, DD has pointed out to me on reading your last post that they have currently 7 staff off with stress and DO have to when they have the money call in supply teachers but mostly they don't have the extra cash so the existing staff have to cover for absences in any way they can. I guess teaching and education are in a difficult situation these days, but there must be a degree of difficulty in whatever profession you are working in these days, just like life?

Your quote is unfortunately not mine but was put on the thread by MINIMALIST earlier on, sorry!

mumto2monkeys_2

No worries! I think there are degrees of private schools just as there are degrees of state ones. It sounds like your daughter's is really struggling. I hope she, like me, is giving serious thought to what she agrees to at work. I was asked to work in a private school local to me, but I knew I couldn't commit the out-of-hours time. As I said, different demands but equally stressful.

We need some parents putting pressure on the government for us. It scares me what it will be like in a few years - the shortage is hitting. I worry most as a parent for our children.

TudorRose

It'ss taking longer and longer to catch up with this thread because of all the great posts.
Been out for my last shopping trip of the year. Only to local Mr T's for basics such as milk and cat food. Was going to buy some bread but then I remembered that I have plenty of part baked rolls so I am going to cook some of those instead of buying more.
Thought that I hadn't paid over the odds but got back a price match voucher for £1.04 so that will do nicely next time I need some milk.
Still eating leftovers here. Gave all the crisps, cakes etc. to my daughter for my lovely grandsons as I have lost nearly a stone in weight recently and want to continue doing so.
Like Grey Queen I often work out how long I would have to work to pay for something. I earn pennies over minimum wage so I have to watch what I spend. It can be real eye opener when you work out that you would say have to work 5 hours before tax and NI to buy something.
Off out this evening for a meal with some work colleagues. Going to a local Indian restaurant which has a meal deal for £9.95 a head. Have already budgeted for this and even with a couple of soft drinks it won't break the bank.

I see that lots of us are soup makers. I make soup most Wednesdays for my teaa and have it for my tea on Saturday when it is an easy meal because I don't get home until around 8.30 pm.
I love my soups as I know what goes into them so I am able to keep the salt content down and add plenty of vegetables.

It may be of use to some of you who have been thinking of getting a slow cooker. Tesco have own brand 3.5l ones for £10.00 and CrockPot ones for £17.00 today.

Looking forward to seeing how we all progress in the new year.

7_week_wonder

Phew! I turn my back for 24 hours an about 5 pages have flashed before my eyes!

We had friends round yesterday - it was supposed to be just for mulled wine and mince pies, but we ended up inviting them for dinner. I managed to stretch our planned pasta bake to feed an extra 2 and added some salad. So we had a great time catching up with friends at no extra expense.

Today was a trip to see the Kelpies at Falkirk. They are amazing - and my mum was completely awe-struck by them. We took hot drinks and biscuits with us - which turned out to be a wise as well as a frugal decision as the coffee shop was closed.

And now it's off to visit relatives for the afternoon and evening. The only spend for today was £1 on a packet of butter. OH suddenly announced that various other relatives would also be where we are going this afternoon so I had to bump up the number of iced christmas buns I'm taking with me.

Hope to catch up with everyone's non-consuming later this evening. Have a fun afternoon everyone.

Ches

I e.mailed Mr S last night to complain about a joint of beef I had for Christmas - tasty but with a big band of gristle. Today I received a voucher for the total amount spent, £13. 20p. Thank you Mr S for good customer service.
I still haven't spent since before Christmas. OH went to post a letter and bought tissues but as its him with the snotty cold I didn't offer to reimburse.

Honey_Bear

I'm still catching up with the thread, so forgive me for not joining in local discussions but I've been thinking about the Not Buying in supermarkets. There are things I just can't get from anywhere else, like bread flour, sugar, breadmaker yeast and my tipple of choice (non-alcoholic lager). I can downshift to the local Chinese supermarket-style for some things but I think a more realistic way of tackling this is to set myself a relatively low budget for supermarket shopping (say £1 for each day of the month) and go there after I've been to the market and other suppliers. I might be able to do that for a whole year, as opposed to just January. We'll see.

Someone mentioned queuing behind another customer in a supermarket who paid about £150.00 for two geese. Just a quick idea for those who are planning next Christmas's shopping - we buy our turkey every year from a localish farm, and the day we go to collect it is an absolute pleasure, with a pub lunch and where Christmas starts for us. This year we also picked up a bag of spuds for £3, and the reason I'm mentioning it is that her geese were £50 a piece, so a lot cheaper than the supermarket mentioned. So, less food miles, cutting out supermarkets, supporting British farmers, keeping your money in the local economy and thus supporting local jobs, and for us the biggest bonus of all, all of her poultry is free range. Most of the people who produce turkeys in this fashion have a simple website promoting their produce and are well worth a quick google. I pre-ordered next year's while I was there this year, something I've meant to do every year since I started buying the bird from her and finally remembered this time around. For those who are interested in knowing about prices, our bird was 14.5lbs and was about £52.00.

moneyistooshorttomention

Health food shops (of the non-chain variety) are a source of supply for things like flour/dried yeast (or it would be possible to do sourdough bread instead)/non-alcoholic booze/etc.

The things I struggle with buying more outside the grasp of supermarkets is things like loopaper/coffee/etc, as these can be either unavailable or a lot more expensive from these shops. I've not been able to find cheese even in my local healthfood shop and so its T*sco's organic cheddar cheese, followed by more T*sco's organic cheddar cheese, ad infinitum (with that being the only organic cheese this rural-ish one stocks so far:(:mad:).

lilian1977

A couple of purchases today, but money neutral - picked up a needed foundation for £2 worth of Superdrug Beautycard points, and a needed packet of 48 Tampax for £3 worth of Boots points. These were on offer down from £4-something, and worked out every so slightly cheaper than the own brand ones.

Also passed on a full McDonalds coffee card to a homeless gentleman - it expires tomorrow (I made sure to tell him) and if I'd have redeemed it myself it would have been for the sake of it rather than need/want.

purpleshoes_2

I spent less than £6 today, 2 bags of cat litter, some half priced xmas cards for next year (I only sent two this year but my mum will make use of them), packet of crisps from H and B (trying to kid myself on they are healthier than ordinary). Pack of rolls that I fed the pigeons with when I was out and about, small bottle of spring water and some frozen spinach from farmfoods that was marked down, all frozen stuff in my local shop is now 79p instead of a quid. 2 pineapples from the fruit stall, got 2 for a quid.

The town was heaving, worse than yesterday. A lot of scots have steak pie for their new year dinner so the butchers were queued out of the door, loads of people shopping in the sales.

Was very glad to get what I needed and go. I also made it to the gym, have done nearly 4 miles in total today according to my garmin. Gave some small change to a nun collecting for the poor, while I was giving her all my small change a man came along and gave her a 20 pound note, that was amazing.

Also had a look in another charity shop but didnt buy. I actually have a lot of stuff I could use up in January food for me, stuff I bought from approved foods ages ago so in theory if I got into making lots of thai curries, (because I seem to have about 30 packets of thai paste left), I really wouldnt need to do much supermarket shopping at all.

So far this week Ive used up two cartons of soya milk that my mum gave me ages ago (think April, but tasted fine, not a problem), to make smoothies and Ive got some other packet stuff in my cupboards that Im going to use up before I buy more stuff, Ive also got stuff in the freezer too. Apart from the crisps/spinach combo I bought no food for me at all today and none for the cats either (they still have enough to be going on with).

Tonights dinner will something I manage to cook up from whatever I have in the house, same as last night, will make a different meal though and I have a huge pot of leek and tattie soup sitting waiting to be eaten as well.

GreyQueen

Hmm, just has a mini LBM about what I refer to as my 'work diary' just a skinny handbag diary which lives in my workbag, and which I buy in Jan for 50p reduced from £1.

Thought about picking one of those up next week then decided no to; can use my regular diary and can have my important log-ins in the back of my notebook which goes to work anyway.

It's not that saving 50p will mean much but that I will have one fewer item to keep track of, which will add slightly to the convenience of life.

As I get older, I find that I'm less inclined to enjoy fiddling around and more seeking after simplicity.