NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

edwink

suki1964 wrote: »

Been a long time since I last made bread but hubby helped with the kneeding so fingers crossed

Hubby has cleaned out a couple of cupboards this morning and has tidied up the " greenhouse " ( think a block built shed with lots of windows and plastic roof) We have the veg plot dug over and are deciding what we are going to grow. I said for him to find what seeds we have and perhaps get them started in the back bedroom

Hi suki1964

Sounds like you and your hubby make a great team!! I loved reading your post!!

I hope your mum is ok!!

Edwink x

Primrose

We have started drinking V8 vegetable juice as part of our Dry January 'no alcohol' detox and my OH who enjoys cooking is currently experimenting with making a homemade version from vegs in the fridge and various home grown vegs. Am looking forward to seeing how it works out tastewise and as a cost comparison.

dragonlily

We have had a big spend of £75 today. Our kitchen has halogen spotlights (x 9) built into the cupboards, which recently stopped working.

We have just spent the money on new LED fittings and bulbs. So expensive but hopefully our kitchen will be properly lit and they are apparently far more cheap to run long term, so hoping will be an investment as will pay for themselves in saved electricity.

Has anybody else gone LED and have you saved money?

x

suki1964

dragonlily wrote: »

We have had a big spend of £75 today. Our kitchen has halogen spotlights (x 9) built into the cupboards, which recently stopped working.

We have just spent the money on new LED fittings and bulbs. So expensive but hopefully our kitchen will be properly lit and they are apparently far more cheap to run long term, so hoping will be an investment as will pay for themselves in saved electricity.

Has anybody else gone LED and have you saved money?

x

When replaced the kitchen 3 years ago, lighting was a huge issue. We used a mix of fluorescent and LED , the fluorescent over the cooking/prep area, and the LEDs on the dining table. I'd say I've seen a drop in bills, even with the huge price hikes we have had year on year, there hasn't been a huge increase in bills. I'm not one that saves bills or keeps records so can't quote figures but I noticed this winters bill was no more then what we have generally paid over the years

Also we went from 16 halogens to just three LEDs and one fluorescent

suki1964

edwink wrote: »

Hi suki1964

Sounds like you and your hubby make a great team!! I loved reading your post!!

I hope your mum is ok!!

Edwink x

Aww thank you

He's a good man. Can't cook to save his life but he's great as a KP :rotfl: I cook and he cleans up around me and climbs up to get the tins etc I might need. And he's very appreciative of the end results :T

Mum will be grand thanks She's just an old grouch and not a good patient. It's hubby that will suffer the most as it's him on visiting duty as I'm working and it's too short notice to get cover for me

suki1964

Broomstick wrote: »

Thanks, oceandreamer, for that idea. I think I might start my list of 60 things to do before I'm 60 (and afterwards), I passed the 50 point quite some time ago!

B x

I think I may have to join you with this, I too passed 50, so 60 by 60 sounds doable

My big one is to visit my little sister down under. She emigrated 31st Aug 1997 and I've only seen her twice since. Think it's about time I start saving hard for that trip

rosiepup2000

Hello and a Happy New Year all, I have been reading this thread backwards (!) from about page 40-something and would like to come out of lurkdom and join you if I may, although it's such a fast-moving thread that I will probably mostly read and inwardly cheer you all on.


I'm redecorating/renovating my home and hopefully will get a new kitchen and bathroom fitted this year as well as other essential repairs (almost nothing has been done on this house for about 40 years or more so it is all essential). I've been saving to have these things done for the last 3 or 4 years and finally have enough to make it feasible. So 2015 isn't going to be a no-spend year for me, but my mantra is going to be, if it's for the house - yes; if it's for me - no! And in particular, after spending several hours over Xmas chucking out old clothes that no longer fit me and filling several charity bags in the process I am determined not to spend any more money on clothes for the foreseeable future. How many blue t-shirts does one person need, for goodness' sake?! I can really identify with the person (sorry I can't remember who!) who goes shopping in their cupboards - I found a couple of brand new pairs of jeans which still fit while clearing out, plus other stuff I'd forgotten I'd even bought.


I thought I was being frugal in 2014 and yet I bought DVDs and books that I never had time to watch/read and which are just sitting in piles, not to mention enough toiletries to last me pretty much the whole of this year. This thread has encouraged me to think, NO MORE BUYING USELESS STUFF!


I'm another person with a chronic auto-immune condition that I've had for 35 years, plus other health issues. I work full-time so my energy is limited during the time when I'm not at work. I know from experience that doing lots of little shops is too exhausting for me, plus I spend more that way. I do one supermarket shop, but I've changed the way that I do it - for years I shopped religiously at Sainsbobs every Saturday morning, when I had plenty of time and consequently spent far too much time and money each week. Now I do my shop on a Friday night after work, when I'm tired and I just want to whizz round and get out. I'm fortunate in that I can easily reach any of the main supermarkets including Aldi and Lidl, and I check each week which store has the best offers for the main things I buy each week such as cat food (2 fussy cats who only eat Gourmet), and then do my shop there. I also use vouchers and coupons wherever I can. I've saved money this way, but I think I can do better this year and try and cut down the amount I've got hoarded away. So I'm planning to live mostly on my stores for the next few weeks and just get things like fresh fruit/veg, milk and bread etc and see how much further I can reduce my spend.


Right, back to clearing out!

pollys

Good afternoon

It's lovely reading about what we are all doing on a daily basis.
I've spent an hour or so making a start on our bedroom. I've managed to recycle a few plastic toiletry bottles, some cardboard for recycling and half a bag of general rubbish. I find it liberating getting rid of stuff. With the help of this thread I'm hoping to stop it coming into the house in the first place.

Polly

1of3

Hi All

Another NSD for me

Unfortunately my PC has decided to be uncoperative and has decided to stop working.It is to old to fix and will need replacing.I was thinking of amybe getting a tablet as it would be

A) Cheaper
Take up less space
C) Can be used for downloading the odd magazine I might read

I dont use it for anything specific computer wise except reading various sites/Blogs.Anyone any suggestions?

Hopefully will have a lot of NSDs to pay for this!

thriftwizard

I've been to our local market this morning, where I bought two items for my business, but nothing else. And I went to the library to return a book, and walked home via a "clearance" charity shop, where I did buy three 100% cotton sheets for £6; I don't need sheets as such, but my January de-stress will be to make a nice simple quilt. I have plenty of floral fabrics, all reclaimed or pre-shrunk, but desperately needed a plain colour and some stripes to make the quilt that's hovering in my mind, and the sheets, which are pretty good quality ones, are perfect for the job and much, much cheaper than buying "proper" quilt fabric. I already have a sheet that's perfect for the back, and some old good-quality cotton bump to use as batting, and enough thread to sink a battleship. So hopefully this will be a very inexpensive project!

Then DD2 & I went for a walk along the riverbank; it's wet & windy out there but we've come back with a lovely virtuous glow and are chilling out over a nice cup of tea & the last of the Christmas cake. Half the decorations are down, sorted & packed away & the others can come down tomorrow; DS3 has started his journey back to France now - I had a clear impression he didn't actually want to go - and normality is beginning to descend on the house like a familiar and much-loved blanket.

I do love Christmas, & having them all home, but I've had enough now!