NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Heffi1

Happy New Year shipmates!

Well I have not been in a shop or spent any money since the day before Christmas Eve and I am setting myself a challenge to see how long this might last, the house has plenty of food so might only need fresh bread and milk in the coming days. Although I am going out with my daughter on Saturday to Morpeth, so may have a coffee with her at some point. I have had a lovely quiet Christmas and New Year and do not want to buy anything.

It is my 50th on the 16th so my daughter will ask what I want and I feel bad about saying nothing, she really wants to buy me a gift, but there is nothing I want, so I may suggest the same as last year and say we can go for a meal somewhere (cheap)

This thread has kept me enthused to not buy into the rubbish again, I am like a lot of you sick and tired of all the advertising, I decided last year at some point that I wanted something different, so after a little windfall I booked and paid for me and my mum to go on a cruise, I have been on a couple before, but the price always seemed to be so far out of reach, we had not been on holiday anywhere for over 7 years so I treated us and I have to say it was money well spent.

I also decided that I wanted to do a degree, partly so I could look for a better job one day and because I waste so much time doing 'nothing' with my spare time, so I enrolled and I am now a student at the age of 49! It is a long term plan, as with the OU I can take my time over it and not feel rushed, with a view that when I am 55/6 I will have achieved a dream that I thought was not achievable when I was younger and raising the kids etc. so this is my way of taking back my self and doing what I want to do.

then I happened upon this thread and it all makes sense, so any savings I manage will be to better myself, I have some debt that is being slowly eroded, but not as quickly as I would like.

Happy sailing one and all, and we can take turns manning the lifeboats for those that fall overboard from time to time. I hope this will be a journey of discovery and we all benefit from it, I know I have already :T

sashanut

Hi all :j


Permission to board Please - I am definitely up for this thread, having finally got DF last year, I find myself buying more & more STUFF that is overwhelming me & it has got to STOP NOW. So hopefully you will have me on board, a very happy NEW YEAR to you all and here's to a year of NOT BUYING IT - which is my NY resolution btw:j

dND

First NSD started, bread dough is on its first prove on top of the stove. Leftover butternut squash is about to be turned into today's lunch soup and the duck carcass is well on the way to becoming duck stock, (probably to become duck and orange soup)

So time to pop on my other 'hat' and get on with the decluttering :-D

Nothing like starting the new year as you hope to go on. Happy New Year everyone. :beer:

suki1964

HAPPY NEW YEAR SHIPMATES

Wow what a lot of catching up I've had to do, around 12 pages, so much written I can relate to

GreyQueen, so love reading your pearls of wisdom. You have such a way with words, always bring a smile to my lips

Floxxie, I too sold up in London to move to NI. I'm way out in the country and things are certainly different. Like you I also couldn't do any of my former jobs so now I'm a " chef " lol. I use that term only because I'm cooking professionally in a resturaunt where people pay good money for food cooked my me . It's challenging. It's hard work. It's unsocial hours. But I love it. I love seeing empty plates and getting the odd compliment:)

However it is low paid so I like others here tend to price anything I'm spending on in terms of how many hours it took me to earn Soon knocks any ideas of frivolity out of my head

Yesterday was my first day off in ten days so we went into town to exchange a gift, have lunch, and do some shopping. Gift was from a shop I wouldn't shop in myself and so found nothing I liked for myself, so exchanged for a couple of items that I will gift on. Out of habit I went to Boots to see what they had left in their sale, and came out empty handed. Even half price couldn't tempt me this year. Even when in sainsbobs, I walked away from the sales aisles as nothing was cheap enough to consider Last year I got a cast iron pan for £9, this year they were reduced to £25

So other then lunch I spent a total of £10 on a few items I needed. Never saw any wants at all

For those of you in stressful jobs feeling you are stuck (((hugs))). I done 14 years for the NHS and burned out and crashed in 1999. Yes it was so scary not bringing in a good wage every month and not having a good pension to look forward too, but quality of life means so much more. We soon adjusted to one income for a while till I was well enough to return to work. Since then I've only ever worked part time/casual as my health is still pretty poor and I just can't cope with the pressure of full time hours. This Christmas period has had me on my knees yesterday ( had to work extra shifts as one chef down) and all I wanted to do yesterday was sleep. Indeed I was in bed sparko at 9pm

Looking at the shifts I've got next week, it looks like my charity shop days are numbered. I love working there as well but hubby is complaining I'm doing too much and is nagging me that something has got to give. I'm thinking I will get him in to help out one day next week as he's no work on ATM and hopefully it will encourage him to volunteer himself

Hairdressers are a place I avoid like the plague. I did get talked into having highlights last year but although they were lovely, the expense of keeping them was more then I was happy to pay, so back to the home dye and I'm going to trim my fringe myself again. Back to once yearly all over cuts me thinks.

This month is dry January and both me and hubby have signed up for the challenge. Now this is something we both spend on, drink. We both like a drink and a lot of socialising is in the local. Going to be interesting to see if we can do the social without slipping and having a drink. I'm also a smoker. I have stopped in the past but started again summer before last. I now need to stop again. I'm hoping that's something else I can achieve before the end of the month

Anyways I'd best get a shuffle on. Dinner is turkey left over pie ( turkey, stuffing, ham, leeks, chestnuts) which is already made and ready to go. That's the last of the left overs now so will need to think about cooking from scratch again tomorrow. I'm going to get the ironing board out and catch up on Mapp and Lucia whilst wading through the accumulated pile

Xx

yellowbear

Happy New Year all!

I have plans other than a couple of dog walks to blow the cobwebs away and a trip to the corner shop to get some milk as one of the boys drinks it like his life depends on it!

Bigjenny

Happy New Year Shipmates.

I don't need any food shopping till next thursday which is my usual shopping day. Have plenty in freezer and fridge us use.

May go to Dun*lm today to make a purchase which the money has been put away for.

peony40

Heffi1 wrote: »

Happy New Year shipmates!

I also decided that I wanted to do a degree, partly so I could look for a better job one day and because I waste so much time doing 'nothing' with my spare time, so I enrolled and I am now a student at the age of 49! It is a long term plan, as with the OU I can take my time over it and not feel rushed, with a view that when I am 55/6 I will have achieved a dream that I thought was not achievable when I was younger and raising the kids etc. so this is my way of taking back my self and doing what I want to do.

then I happened upon this thread and it all makes sense, so any savings I manage will be to better myself, I have some debt that is being slowly eroded, but not as quickly as I would like.

Happy sailing one and all, and we can take turns manning the lifeboats for those that fall overboard from time to time. I hope this will be a journey of discovery and we all benefit from it, I know I have already :T

Congratulations for your forthcoming 50th. I turned 50 recently too. Very interested in hearing about your studying for an OU degree. i started one back in 2011 but had to withdraw due to fibromyalgia fog, some days I was fine and could write an essay, another day I couldn't even remember my name! What subject are you studying? I hope to one day be able to restart as I think the OU is wonderful. I am interested in their history and art history courses.

7_week_wonder

Heffi1 wrote: »

I also decided that I wanted to do a degree, partly so I could look for a better job one day and because I waste so much time doing 'nothing' with my spare time, so I enrolled and I am now a student at the age of 49! It is a long term plan, as with the OU I can take my time over it and not feel rushed, with a view that when I am 55/6 I will have achieved a dream that I thought was not achievable when I was younger and raising the kids etc. so this is my way of taking back my self and doing what I want to do.

Enjoy studying for your degree. I am a huge OU fan - I did a degree with them about 10 years ago and as a result of that I went on to do a PhD (I was old enough to be a mum to most of my fellow students) and have completely changed careers.

I have a question for our gardening gurus: how do you "plan" your veg/fruit growing. I usually end up sowing stuff shortly after it was supposed to be sown, or buying baby plants cos I've left it too late - and then just putting them in whatever bit of soil I can find. This year I'd like to try a more planned and, hopefully, more productive approach. Do people write out plans on paper or how do you do it?

dND

Hi 7WW, I usually go through all my books, plan like mad and then life takes over and I sow too late.....
The one thing it has taught me is to concentrate on what you really like and what you can't buy at a reasonable price. So heritage tomatoes are always there as they taste good but potatoes are limited to growing in a large pot and I will probably grow a purple variety this year.

ArthriticOldThing

Good morning everyone and a Happy New Year to you all shipmates!
Will be having a NSD today with many more this month I hope. I do have some necessary purchases to make this year but they will be budgeted and planned for - and I'll hunt around for the best deal I can get.
My plan is to use up the large stash of yarn I have somehow accumulated by making gifts for friends and family - thus killing two birds with one stone - no spends on gifts and some decluttering!!:j
Also intend to explore some of the other threads on this site about making food and drink gifts. I have plenty of time just need a kick up the b**ks**e - hopefully this thread will supply that.:rotfl:
Must get on now as son and DIL coming to visit.