NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

alfsmum

Haircut here averages £21.50 for a dry cut with the one hairdresser I like and who won't faff around too much with my hair. I hate going but my hair is very thick and I would struggle to keep it tidy. I'm looking for a mobile hairdresser who might be cheaper and could also trim DD1 and 2 hair (they are 20 & nearly 18) and rarely go for a cut.

Like GQ I'm planning a trip to Aldee for TP, veg, cat food and also Lidly as Dd prefers their ketchup. Dropped DD in town yesterday- or on the edge of town as traffic was manic and crowds of people everywhere.Not for me!

Agree W@itr@se is good for YS if you time it right - got loads of veg for pennies after Christmas and a good stock of biscuits at silly prices. Also take advantage of their free tea/coffee whenever I am passing - love freebies :)
I won't be avoiding SMs this year as it wouldn't make me more frugal. I support local businesses as far as I can but some prices are crazy so I will pick and mix the SMs for things I can't get elsewhere.

Agree with fuddle who posted about 'stuff' and 'anxiety' often going hand in hand. I have a large CS bag outside to be collected today and even have OH on board to donate as much as possible to clear the decks. Today I will be having a wardrobe sort out - anything I haven't worn for ages will go to CS or if I'm really struggling to get rid of it, will go into a 'consideration' bag for a couple of months. Then that bag will also be on its way out if nothing from it has been used.

For me 2015 will be a year of all round mindfulness, both in buying/not buying but just generally in life. I will not be setting resolutions as such but have lots of little plans in mind such as doing something nice for someone everyday.

CAFCGirl

lobbyludd wrote: »

I've thought about it a lot and won't be joining you on the no supermarket challenge. It wouldn't simplify my life, wouldn't save me money and I end up buying more "aspirational" stuff if I go to more independent shops than if i do my tried and tested online once a month order.

One of the greatest positives of this thread (in my humble opinion) is not that we're all doing the same thing, to the same extent etc, but rather that things get posted and we actively and consciously consider them, how we feel about them, if it would be a positive in our lives etc.
One of my most favorite phrases in life is:
"If it doesn't serve you, it isn't for you"

I'm planning on considering that a lot more this coming year.

Islandmaid wrote: »

As you can see I,m up late - OH is having another snorathon night (manflu) and I was thinking.....

How do you all shop, daily, weekly, ad- hoc, monthly?

Until recently I worked the traditional 5 day week and food shopped weekly, using a meal plan and shopping list - now I work 2 long days a week and have been considering shopping more frequently, but I,m worried that with my hording and feeding tendancies, I would just end up spending more. We have an Ald! About a 10 min walk, 2 min drive away, this is where I do 90% of my shopping - I would love to just be able to buy food a couple of days at a time but not sure my psyche would cope - any thoughts greatfully received

I'm embarking on the no supermarket challenge for january so i'm anticipating i'll be shopping maybe twice a week, but main shop once a week (as in butchers and veg stocking) but then with potentially a subsequent trip to bakery & greengrocer for top ups).

natnat13 wrote: »

Can I ask your opinion on something if allowed? Someone on fb was talking about musclefoods. They do a meat package for new customers, meat is good apparently, it's £75 with free delivery and does look good but I'm not sure about outlaying that much. I'm rural so never in the supermarkets to get YSs. Has anyone else used them?

Not that company but we did use the well hung meat company. Started box was £99 and in all honesty I didn't feel like i'd got £100 worth of meat, nor did i notice a big change in quality between that and local butcher - which either means I have a good butcher :T or that it simply wasn't any better

yellowbear

Morning . Nothing like a visit from Hyacinth Bucket and her family to concentrate the mind! oh well, if nothing else, it's kicked my procrastination into touch!

CAFCGirl

I have scored a triumph in the manner in which I intend to continue 2015.

I've used a few vouchers in the past, but they've never featured prominently. DS is getting a bit cabin fever-ish and as we home educate we generally do things in reverse - enjoy days out/trips etc when everyone else is at school and are quiet home bods during school holidays - when everywhere else is packed and charging a premium.

Anyway, DS showed signs of wanting to see Frozen (saw the music video). Turns out Odeon locally have it on their Kids Club today, £3 a ticket - so already a good discount and I was thinking I'd happily pay that for us to go. Including our bus fare, its £10 for the trip out.
Thought I'd chance an Orange 241 code. Turns out they work! So now I've paid £3.56 for two cinema tickets (inc the SMS and online card fee). So now our day is £7.56 instead.
That's not a huge saving but it represents (to me) that a small action on my part, small amount of awareness, and conscious behaviour has resulted in a positive.

Today feels like the first day of the rest of my (newly improved) life

DawnW

yellowbear wrote: »

Morning . Nothing like a visit from Hyacinth Bucket and her family to concentrate the mind! oh well, if nothing else, it's kicked my procrastination into touch!

Oh dear - who needs visitors like that

natnat13

I used to be really house proud and although my house is generally pretty clean and tidy I've now given up caring what people think! Take me as they find me.

GreyQueen

Hi Islandmaid, I run a singleton household and shop in a way which makes sense to me, bearing in mind that I have no car and that I have ME so don't want to make additional trips anywhere.

This coming Sunday afternoon, when I get off the bus in the home city, I will have been away from home for 10 days. I plan to get milk and bread and possibly YS bargains on the way home, the timing should be approximately correct, but sometimes there are lots of YS and sometimes little or nothing, so I can't rely on it.

On Tues after archery class, I'll be passing a supermarket at YS time and usually pop in for quick look. On Wednesday after work, I'll swing by the greengrocer and pick up some stuff there. I have apples in the fridge, plus HG veg and blackcurrants in the freezer, so won't take any harm until then. I'll pick up eggs at a FF during the week when my activities take me within a few yards of them after work.

I'll also be on the allotment at some point Fri-Sun and will harvest some more leeks there, and will probably dive into a Liddly as I pass for storecupboard items. I also go passt a Tosspots on my way to work, so tend to nip in there. And I have a big bag of breadflour from the windmillers via a farmers market, but won't want to bake bread on a Sunday evening after being away for so long and also having a busted washing machine to deal with.

Typing it out makes it clear that I am a frequent small shopper, what the trade calls a small basket, mostly well south of £5 a trip. This pattern works for me because I am on foot in an urban area with a lot of retail around me and walk past lots of different places as I go about my business.

My friend and neighbour SuperGran, a single pensioner with a car, shops very differently. She takes her car about 4 miles out to one of the big peripheral supermarkets beyond the city's edge and buys most of her stuff there with top-up shopping at M & S.

My family (pesnioner couple with adult son at home, 2 cats) shop about 3 times a week at a mixture of supermarkets and an indy butcher in the town centre. Mostly they shop on foot, about once a fortnight, they get the heavy/ bulky stuff in the car, by consolidating errands into one trip. We shall be doing this today once the frost has gone off. They also buy their spuds in a 25 kg sack from a farm gate stall they pass on a weekly basis - each sack lasting several weeks.

[Deleted User]

A good start to today. Bought 12 months bt line rental for the price of 10 months. Am expecting some sun later so have started washing the flannel bedding and both duvets are out now. I know I will have to finish them indoors but have a good combo in my heated airer plus the dehumidifier, which has a setting for drying indoors. The washing will all be ready to pack away by tonight. Used my white knight spinner too as it is 2800 rpm compared to 1600 on my washer and every round counts at this time of year

Later I will be brave and delve into the back of a cupboard in my craft room, I have hidden chocs in there, only too hidden because I forgot about them and got them from AF far too long ago. The bags will be quickly slit and chocs dumped amongst the bin nasties or I might do a Dawn French and eat them. While I am at it, I will resurrect 2 jars of hm chutney and will dump the contents of one green bean variety, the other beetroot one will be opened for lunch. I know exactly what went in them and honestly far too much sugar, so a bit a time and will be down to zero, one day

Two large tins of marmalade oranges are out for the dd`s. I don`t know why I bought them as I love the hm from seville orange marmalade that I make and I have at least a dozen jars left. I have to walk, eyes firmly fixed ahead, past the seville oranges this year and they will be on sale in january

No shopping at all since before christmas. I only do online at waitrose or riverford and I usually get very good savings at waitrose and brilliant customer service. An 8 mile round trip to sainsbury`s otherwise and I so easily get sucked into buying more than I go for, even with a list. My only resolution this year is to make inroads into my big big stacks of stored home dehydrated foods, excess allotment produce on the most part. Great in soups though and thick soups are lovely with rice as a sort of risotto, also kind to gerd and reflux sufferers like me

dND

OK I’m in too.


Living in France is a little bit different to the UK so I suspect my version of this challenge may be a little different.


I live in a rural part of France, (at the moment), so NSD’s are important to cut down on running the car – a major town/ supermarket is about 20 miles in each direction. We get ‘publicity’ delivered with the post each week so I get to see what the promotions are at the supermarkets without having to go there. I’ve started using my local market, with local suppliers, each week and combine that with a coffee or two in the caf! having a weekly chat with friends. Coffee is only 1€ there so it is a very low spend for an hour of chatting with friends, something I think is really important when you live on your own in the middle of a field!


I’m also making tentative steps in the de-cluttering direction; my possessions represent my home and security so it’s hard work but I have an incentive. I’m looking to sell up and move back to the UK. Not a decision I’ve taken lightly as I love it here but a move I feel I have to make and sooner is better than later I think.


As I have a smallholding and animals I suspect posting will be rather random with more during the bad weather and less over the summer, but I will do my best to contribute.

patentgirl

Can't believe how quick this thread goes just caught up on just last couple of days! Still not done any food shopping yet doing my upmost to make do with what we have instead of popping out for that one item you need but somehow pick up two carrier bags worth at the same time! Definitely not my friends supermarkets!!! Will do me and my purse good to keep out for as long as possible. Resisted sales so far I keep telling myself I don't need anything which is true trying to downsize everything, get rid of clutter also trying to get my wardrobe down to only few chosen pieces that mix and match ideally 40 pieces but struggling with that been reading up on this for few months now just need to put it into practise.
On topic of haircuts if anyone over 50 have you tried your local age concerns /UK's I get mine cut in my local one very cheap with as much teas coffees biscuits etc as you want.