NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

merzal

Had a little spend in Mr S earlier on fruit and a couple of presents to put by for next year.
I have a friend coming to stay on Monday night, we were going to go out for dinner with another friend but I have said I will cook. That will save quite a bit of money.
This thread is really helping, thank you all!

emslovesmickey

nursemaggie wrote: »

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.

Well I was thinking along the lines of papercraft items with regards to myself - it's easy to forget precisely what papers you still have in your stash. Not to mention the little embellishments that go with them - ribbons etc. I'm not that bad, honest!

Possession

So glad DS was paid back nursemaggie, although he should never have been put through all that worry!

purpleshoes_2

nursemaggie wrote: »

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.

I love home bargains, its seen me through many a skint time. I live in a poor town that has that and every other low cost shop and home bargains is right next door to aldi. Its a fabulous shop. I buy a branded cat food from there that weighs 125g less than the tesco packs but its £1.49 as opposed to £2.29 in tesco and thats just one item. I do tons of shopping in home bargains, its fab. B and M is good too but I think HB is just slightly cheaper overall.

I cook but I dont bake, thats because Im rubbish at cooking anything sweet and you could bounce my cakes off walls. Anything savoury I can more or less make from scratch with no recipe, anything sweet, forget it. Even my brother can bake cakes, me, absolutely not.

natnat13

I am about 10 pages behind on this thread, can't keep up!
I am so pleased with myself, this is my 3rd NSD. Went to friends today and stomped round her woods, the children had a lovely time. The dropped them off at their dad's for the weekend. Normally I would have gone and got a takeaway for probably around £10 but I came home bunged some frozen prawns and peppers in a wok, boiled some pasta, bunged so leftover Christmas cheese on top, lovely!
My friend text earlier to see if I want to go out tomorrow night, I explained I'm trying not to spend money and she said its her treat if I drive which is lovely. So hopefully a 4th NSD tomorrow and Sunday should be ok too. I will need to food shop at some point next week but am going to string it out as long as possible.
Rewinding a few pages now to catch up.

yellowbear

Broomstick wrote: »

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

Love this idea! I have a tall cupboard on the landing. At the moment it has coats in it. Coats we don't wear. No idea why we have them.
This would be such a useful thing to have. So simple. Thank you!

purpleshoes_2

Today was actually another no spend day for me, as my mum was going out shopping so she got me some cat food while she was getting some for hers, she has cats, a rabbit and an urban fox to feed so Ive spent a pound since hogmanay and my mum isn't on here but shes also on board with the use whatever you have in the house before buying more, she just texted me to say her dinner was the soup I made last night, plus oatcakes and some YS hummus I bought a few days ago.

Ive been more or less flat broke for a few years now. Im a fitness instructor but Im a qualified addiction/community worker but suffered badly from bullying in the workplace and my health suffered so much I asked to get out of the last contract I was in, was heartbroken, but a manager I knew from way back had joined and he was bullying me, badly, not in your face, but I know the signs, have suffered on and off for 15 years. I earn now maybe around a tenth of what I did then, am a fitness instructor, hopefully I'll earn more this year as Im now a PT, but I get up every day now, I work for me and no one is bullying me, you cant put a price on that. My previous jobs were also very badly paid, long hours, lots of unpaid overtime, ridiculous working conditions. All my family are or were teachers so I know the pressures they face too.

I think this year thanks to this thread will probably be the most frugal one Ive had in a long time and Im pretty frugal as it is.

katkin

Ahoy :A

Still no shopping here. Instead of a tempting wander around Ikea for "I'd quite like but don't need" new bedding we went for a hike instead wrapped up like Michelin men Took backpacks with flasks of soup, coffee, fruit and sarnies. Although it was brisk (to say the least :eek:) It fair blew the cobwebs away and my skin is all fresh and pink now - feeling good! :cool:

The packed lunch was so filling neither of us are ready for dinner.

? Does anyone weigh out their food ingredients /portions? When I look at the packet suggestions they say things per person - like 40g for porridge, 80-100g for rice etc. I'm weighing now and finding we need half suggested. Not only are we getting lighter and fitter but its saving a fortune.

New me rule:

• Pay no attention to the manufactures recommended portion sizes. Adjust to suit.
• Keep the scales out on the work top and measure everything.

I've being doing this with cleaning products, washing power etc for a while but didn't quite realise how much was going past me elsewhere. I've started using a pea sized amount of toothpaste and brushing for longer too.

Less is more! :T

We're not needing to declutter having moved twice in 3 years or so it got culled already - but I'm going to launch on a reorganisation. I'm sure I can use the storage space I have better.

Keep up the good work Mateys

maria3104

Just spent £60 on lots and lots of crafting quilt stuff. Feeling very rash. All on e bugs. includes everything I could require to make baby quilts and shabby chic quilts. It will all take about 10 days to be delivered, so I intend to spend the weekend decluttering to clear room for this stuff. I am also going to go through my knitting left over part balls and probably recycle to charity shop. There is method in this, whilst I am crafting and gardening I am NOT SHOPPING.
I am already very frugal, do GC and batch cook from scratch etc, but I do love a saturday spin to the world of shops and generally pick up some stuff. This new activity should save me a fortune. (I hope). Love reading the thread and seeing what everyone else is doing.

tori.k

emslovesmickey wrote: »

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.

emslovesmickey I used to work for Asda despite my discount I actually saved more doing the bulk of my shopping at Aldi I agree some of Newquay independents like The Pantry are more geared to the tourist price wise, im out in the clays and have a similar issue I use a local fruit and veg wholesaler already but St Austell nearest town is pretty much just chain stores & charity shops. I like Liskeard for shopping and it's quirky little shops but it make little sense to tie up half a day and the fuel to able to shop there regular