NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

grunnie

7_week_wonder wrote: »

Oooh - fudge made in a slow cooker sounds interesting and hopefully idiot-proof! Any chance of a recipe?

I got the recipe from this thread and went and bought slowcooker for £10 from Tesco
500 g of chocolate
1 tin condensed milk
1 tablespoon of butter
1 desert spoon of vanilla extract
put all into a slowcooker on low with no lid on and cook for 2 hours. stir every 15mins or so. then pour out into a lined tin and put in the fridge
I used plain cooking choc from Lydl and it tastes like a cross between chocolate brownies and fudge:j

seriouslyfrugal

hi

hope everyone is well

not much to report here just doing every day things. although the weather has been dismal so not very inspiring.

on a sad note got told last Friday that one of my walking group died between Xmas and new year it does remind you to make each day count .

I haven't spent anything this year yet just been using up from Xmas although that will change tomorrow as I need to pop into town for a few bits and pay the car insurance :eek: although I have got it down as much as possible it makes you remember that you need to check out every bill you pay otherwise they get complacent and think they can charge what they like.

catch up soon - have a good week everyone

emslovesmickey

seriouslyfrugal wrote: »

hi

hope everyone is well

not much to report here just doing every day things. although the weather has been dismal so not very inspiring.

on a sad note got told last Friday that one of my walking group died between Xmas and new year it does remind you to make each day count .

I haven't spent anything this year yet just been using up from Xmas although that will change tomorrow as I need to pop into town for a few bits and pay the car insurance :eek: although I have got it down as much as possible it makes you remember that you need to check out every bill you pay otherwise they get complacent and think they can charge what they like.

catch up soon - have a good week everyone

Sorry to hear your news, you're right, it does make you think of the limited time we all have.

Today has been a NSD. I've also read and reviewed another book, only another 92 to go! I was gonna relax and paint my nails tonight but I think I'll leave it till tomorrow as I'm planning on cleaning the kitchen tomorrow, which will just undo the work. So instead tonight I'm going to put together one of my christmas presents.

sjprmc01

There is some reading in this thread, I can't see much need for any new books to read any time soon, lol

I don't buy paper books though, I have kindle and prefer it. I do subscribe to kindle monthly thing but am considering cancelling soon although I'm not too sure if it still then let's me read what I've downloaded as part of it?

I haven't been consciously trying to have NSD's as such but I have been conscious of what I'm buying rather than just grabbing. I'd wanted a no7 set in b00ts sale and then decided that I didn't need it as there was only a few items out the set I wanted (the body wash and bath creme) so I then decided I could buy those and a no7 cleansing water on the 3 for 2 and also £5 off voucher but, truth be told, washing products and toiletries in general are the last thing I need: I have the hugest hoard EVER and truthfully don't think I'll have to buy any for at least 5yrs.

Anyway, was in a b00ts today, they still had loads of sale bits too but I bought none. I went in and got my cleansing water (something I use every night but don't have a stash of) on its own with the voucher and will buy another with the voucher I got with my purchase today (do they let you pay in points if you've part paid with a voucher?) and that will last me the year as I have one in use too.

I did frequent the 'no more toiletries' thread but found it a bit detrimental as it tempted me to buy more!

Another thing I'm being conscious of is having less food waste and using up things which are almost OOD etc. we are really bad at food wastage usually, buying the shopping and then deciding we want 2-3 takeaways (through sheer laziness although it doesn't help as really don't like cooking/preparing food and cannot touch certain foodstuffs in the 'making' process)...I digress... So, we'd have takeaways and a lot of the groceries would be forgotten aboutand end up in the bin.

[Deleted User]

[QUOTE=thriftwizard;67370794 Our garage is full of bits of furniture that no longer serve any purpose inside the house,... But we can't part with them because we "paid good money" for them, .
.[/QUOTE]

that was probably the most difficult thing to cope with when we downsized from our family home of 30 years. Immaculate ercol furniture in perfect condition but dark and no-one wanted it. We ended up paying £50 to have all of it taken away to a second hand shop. 9 pieces in total. That plus our dark sleigh bed, very heavy and so well made. You live and learn and any furniture since is light oiled oak and modular so can be re positioned in any room anywhere and in several different combinations. I cringe when I think of the amount of hard earned money that we spent on the ercol but hey ho, water under the bridge

[Deleted User]

Thanks 115k. I downloaded this book. Looks like my kind of read. And its free :T
Peony40. I also have loads of free DVDs from the newspapers. Gone With the Wind being one of them. I liked playing them on my laptop rather than the TV. My laptop has broke need to get a quote for repairs. Wouldn't mind one if those laptops that have a detatchable keyboard but not sure if they do one with a built in disc player.
Also to the person who said about having a book and writing EVERYTHING YOU SPEND DOWN. I second this and and I've made one.
SOA finished and im quite impressed with myself. I came in £201.04 under budget with petrol this year. Admittedly I haven't been out and about much as I've had to help relative out moneywise last year and the money had to come from somewhere. I'm also £67.83 under budget for food last year. I bought mainly YS food and will continue to do so. Although I must keep in mind its no good buying cheaper food if its not healthy food. So more YS fruit and veg is needed this year.
My spends budget frightened me but there wasn't many luxuries more necessities.
So since 1/1/ 2014 to 31/12/14 I wrote EVERY SINGLE PENNY I spent down. And ive started my new Diary/Notebook on 1/1/15. Only spends being £1.55 on food. Have so much left from Christmas so now will only be topping up with fruit/veg and necessities.

GreyQueen

Evening shipmates, hope everyone is well.

I am now back at the homestead and oh! the joy of one's very own keyboard.......simple pleasures. Have been a bit poorly these last 4 days with a lurgy which has seen me with splitting headaches, all-over muscle pain and a Muttley-laugh/ tickly cough combo. No runny or blocked nose, mercifully, so I assume it's some variation on a cold. Have been running a temperature, too.

Tomorrow will see me back at the salt-mine and then I shall go to the library to access the Which? magazines to see what are the most energy efficient washers atm. This is what I did over 9 years ago when I bought the B0sch which is 111 months old and does about 11 washers per month. It's cost me £2.59 a month to own, so that's pretty reasonable, certainly compared with a launderette and the nearest one of those is over a mile away.

So, will be cranking open the bank account to buy me a new w.m. tomorrow, other than that, I haven't bought anything since Xmas which wasn't food.

I did think about getting a 4-pinter of milk on the way back from the bus stop but then decided to keep the purse closed and use some UHT which I have in the cupboards for emergencies.

Well, not wanting to go into a shop when already heavily laden is an emergency, isn't it?

Will be buying some food in the next few days but aiming to use as much of the cupboard stuff as possible, shouldn't need too much else.

natnat13

I spent some money!! Bought some soap nuts, my washing powder has nearly run out and people seem to rate them so I thought I'd give them a go. I live in a soft water area so I'm hoping they last a while.

ArthriticOldThing

Good evening all.
Well I've had 2 NSDs here - today was lucky as I got a lift to church and back so no bus fare required.
This thread has already saved me money. I intended to buy new black trousers in M&S sale but remembered you lot and instead took up hem of pair sitting in wardrobe since last Christmas.
That is exactly how I hope this year will go so looking forward to your continuous inspiration.
Also made soup with bendy carrots and bottom of fridge veg - lunches next week sorted.
Feeling very pleased with myself!

GreyQueen

I should add, lest I seem profiligate, that I have been pondering on the wisdom of replacement vs repair of my washing machine for the past 10 days.

My initial thoughts were to repair. It has an electrical fault which will require professional attention to even find. It will cost me £60 to get an engineer across the threshold and it's extremely likely to need a new part (probably a motor) which, with VAT, leaves me seeing a bill north of £100 to get this 9.25 yr old washer up and running again. Until the next problem..........and there will be a next problem, as it is on the downward slope of it's existance.

Versus an expected replacement cost of 2.5 x the repair. This washer cost £289 back in 2005.

I detest buying appliances but I also have to rein in my desire to always be repairing stuff when it gets to be un-economic. Sometimes, with appliances and vehicles, you have to know when to fold.

But I did mend my watch's wristband with gaffer tape instead of buying a new one.:p