NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

fairy3

Not a NSD today but only bought petrol and found free parking in town. Visited bank and moved sums of money around as part of retirement plan - don't know which is scariest having money or not having it but hopefully now can settle into a financial plan that works much better with reduced incomings.
Have borrowed the idea of the second purse which will have the weekly sum of £50 in for food and staying SM free. To IWAB and the Sainsbugs/Waitr*se dilemma - IMHO Waitr*se works on a more ethical principle so will be my back up emergency if required. First shop via locals tomorrow so can try it out although don't need much.
Looking forward to the allotment challenge tonight and thanks for the radio programme tip.
Having an easy tea as cooked yesterday and very frugal.

7_week_wonder

Greetings from Yorkshire! We've brought my mum home today and it isn't a no spend day as we treated her to lunch on the way down and OH has just gone to the shops for some milk and provisions for tonight's supper.

Alas it looks like we may have a fairly major expense next week - our clutch has begun to slip quite badly and as we need the car to get up and down to mum's I think it will have to have a trip to the garage next week. Oh well - it's a good job we have a freezer full of left-overs to get through!

Thanks again for all the gardening info - I especially like the sound of the garden pearl tomatoes Dawn W I've started a set of notes using Evernote so I can see them on both my phone and computer. That way I can remind myself what I need to do when!

Enjoy the rest of the day everyone.

purpleshoes_2

CAFCGirl wrote: »

Oh you are beyond lovely. PM to follow


First day of no supermarket challenge here too, and been out and done the food shop, found a butchers but wasnt bowled over with choices, still got more to try next week. Veg went very well in asian grocer.

As for the boursin - pasta sauce, stuffed chicken, toasted sandwich filling, on jacket potato or in a potato gratin is lovely too


So jealous of your fitness purchases. I cant justify anymore as I still have a gym membership (being cancelled), and a set of Kettlebells, dumbells, yoga mat and blocks.... I did however get two of the books as theyre come in useful for my Open Uni degree longer term, as I'm studying Sport and Fitness

I get a lot of my fitness stuff off ebay, found kettles very cheap there and a set of skipping ropes cost me around 2 quid.

Im not cancelling my gym membership as it only costs me 21 quid a month and I do bootcamps as well that are well worth the money. Plus my brother is my gym instructor and he'd kick my backside if I left. I go 5-6 days a week and make use of all the facilities so its worth it to me. Left to my own home exercise devices I wouldnt do very much.

I also got some very cheap anatomy books from ebay when I was doing my pre and post natal fitness course and studying for my PT course.

Ebay and play.com can be really good, I also get my coconut oil from ebay and its a third of the price than in tescos.

Bobarella

Hi All
So far this year our mission is going well. Have had a few pangs for a nice coffee but resisted and made it at home. We are working hard to eat up every scrap & stretch every penny. My son saw someone drop a coin today and called after him to point it out. His answer 'you have it' since when can anyone afford to throw away their hard earned resources especially right after Christmas. His loss.
Bob

RicardaRacoon

Hi everyone

I just made my meal plan and shopping list until next Friday. Will only need to top up on fruit/veg, eggs and milk, rest will be from freezer/cupboard/christmas sweets tin.

Just got rid of the first christmas stuff and neatly put it into the basement. The tree is still there though as collection day is Wednesday and I can't put it outside just yet. So I can just as well keep it until Tuesday evening and then it will fly out of the window. Quite literally.

Synonymous, about the shampoo bars; don't keep them in the tin you can buy there! They will stick to it and it will be very hard to get them back out. I have them on a small plate at the far end of the bathtub so that they don't get wet when I don't use them.
Most of them are really long-lasting, I can get about 80-90 washes out of some of them and I have quite long hair. The chunky ones don't last that long though, only about 30, 40 washes probably.

Thistle, well done on not going to McDs! I found out in the past that it is only tempting to go in and get something, as soon I'm sitting down to eat it I already don't like it that much anymore.

So much else I've read but already forgot. What a buzzing and inspirational tread!

emslovesmickey

Spent the first night of the new year back in my own bed - and slept better than I have in a long while. Just makes me realise how silly I was sleeping on the sofa.

Today's been an NSD. It's also been a quiet day. I've spent it either reading, stitching, or making shrink plastic butterflies (part of one of the birthday presents I'm making)

I know loads of you are doing no supermarkets at the moment, but I'm afraid I can't join in for two main reasons. The first is that there are no independant food shops in Newquay to speak of and the second is that I get 10% discount at Asda, and any penny I can save is one more penny in my piggy bank. I applaud those of you who are rising to the challenge though.

I'm still feeling the pull of consumerism, and I have been shopping. You may have noticed that's at odds with my NSD but the reason is simple. I've been shopping my stash! I did a post on this last year, about how we buy things, forget we have them, and then buy more things. So when I spot something I like the look of, be it clothes, or more likely craft stuff for me, I instead look through my stash and discover things I had forgotten I had, which is a little like receiving it anew!

pollys

Good Afternoon

Popped to the shops this morning with my list. I did purchase washing powder (not on the list) but it's on offer and this is the lowest price I can get it for, I took the two packets that were on the shelf. This has saved me £6 so a good buy.

I bought ingredients to make turkey burgers, these are made and will be soon going in the freezer.

No unnecessary purchases made.

We have had a bit of a mishap. Whilst I was out DH put the gammon in the oven, and sometime later the oven tripped out. The fan part doesn't work now. Problem is we don't know when the oven tripped. Thankfully the conventional part of the oven still works. We are now playing a bit of a guessing game as to when the gammon will be ready. We are going to have it with salad and homemade chips to use up some potatoes.

The rest of the day will be spent pottering around tidying up, there's a lot to do.

Have a lovely evening.

Polly

Broomstick

emslovesmickey wrote: »

I've been shopping my stash! I did a post on this last year, about how we buy things, forget we have them, and then buy more things. So when I spot something I like the look of, be it clothes, or more likely craft stuff for me, I instead look through my stash and discover things I had forgotten I had, which is a little like receiving it anew!

You've reminded me of the house we were living in about 7 years ago. We'd cleared a tall cupboard on the landing, fitted it with shelves and used it to store all the non-food surplus consumables in the house everything from new stationery to light bulbs. When we needed something we used to say we'd check in the supermarket (ie the cupboard).

B x

Possession

Interesting reading about the greenhouses. The house we are meant to be buying (meant to be because neither we nor our buyers have had our mortgages approved yet) has 2 greenhouses in the garden. I haven't properly inspected them but with a cursory glance they looked to be in OK shape. I've never had a greenhouse and am NOT green-fingered. Just the opposite! But we do want to grow more ourselves. We may have to take down one of the greenhouses anyway to fit in our rabbit shed and run but we can keep one. I need to have a good research on what one grows in greenhouses.
Shopping trip definitely needed tomorrow for the one thing we cannot do without - toilet paper!

nursemaggie

I can't imagine buying something and forgetting it. I think I am not OS enough because I do not bake, but we do not eat cakes and biscuits. My oven is not reliable and as we live in a rented house we get the one that is built in.

I don't make soup but then we don't eat that either. I don't batch cook. I do prefer my food freshly cooked. I have very rarely eaten out or had takeaways and the thought of McDs horrifies me. Never have liked burgers not even home made ones.

I think I have gone overboard a bit on having such shops as Home Bargains and B&M but have cut them down now. CS are also my weekness.

Having got very worried about DS being sanctioned for going on a course the job centre sent him on and still having not got it sorted, I thought I was not doing very well.

I checked my bank account on 31st December and it was only £4000 down on the same date in 2013. As we have moved house from one end of the country to the other I don't think we have done bad at all.

DS has now been paid back his housing benefit so will put that in my savings account as he pays me back for paying his rent. We are hoping to move into a council house this year. The savings account will pay for the move again. Won't be as much to move locally. Won't have to worry about losing our home or being priced out of it.

All this getting rid of Christmas decorations has made me make up my mind to give most them to DD. DGS will love the musical ones.