NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

GreyQueen

I do most of my shopping within a quarter-mile of home (I live in the centre of a small mostly-medieval city) and have developed friendships with a few of my regular shop-keepers. I do only tend to buy utilitarian articles these days from new shops, and everything else from the charity shops.

This past Saturday I put £25.25 through the till of a local, long-established sewing shop (stocking up on threads) rather than through a national department store's haberdashery department, plus have bought fruit and veg from my independant greengrocer.

I love the idea of locally-made artisan foodstuffs and apparel from the boutique outlets which we have around here, but they are laughably beyond my pocket, so that is a dream to live another day. I get my breadflour from a farmer's market which is milled at a windmill which is run as a heritage attraction; the flour is a by-product of the demonstration milling which is sold at a few local places. At £1/ kilo, it isn't extortionate and is extremely flavoursome wholemeal, rich and nutty. I sometimes pass 'my' windmill in that part of the region, and am always happy to see its sails spinning away.

Just got my bank statement today and the balance is pleasantly higher than I thought it would be, with another payday this month, so this thrifting is paying dividends.

Perhaps Santa will be kind and I will be able to pop to the local sporting goods shop (locally-owned and selling British-made stuff) and get an accessory for my archery. I have a longbow, y'know, made in near Sherwood Forest. Could've got a cheaper one from China, but where's the sense in that? It's signed by the bowyer and buying it helped a bloke earning his living doing something he loves. Win-win.

seriouslyfrugal

HI shipmates

been into town this morning and it was really busy I'm not keen on it when it's like that I managed to spend what I had planned to and avoid any extras:j

popped into the library and picked up a book by Mary Lambert called living with less so I hope it will help with the decluttering although she prescribes going down to 100 objects that is too extreme for me but also covers things like letting go of things sounded interesting

catch up soon

Caterina

Would any of you kind people please lend me (or even sell me) the book "Not Buying It" by Judith Levine? I cannot find it on any of the libraries I searched and would prefer not to buy it from am@zon if at all possible. If you lend it, all postage and packing expenses will be gladly refunded of course! I hope someone can help. Thank you!

EDITED: found it in Interlibrary catalogue so please ignore above request.

GreyQueen

Caterina wrote: »

Would any of you kind people please lend me (or even sell me) the book "Not Buying It" by Judith Levine? I cannot find it on any of the libraries I searched and would prefer not to buy it from am@zon if at all possible. If you lend it, all postage and packing expenses will be gladly refunded of course! I hope someone can help. Thank you!

I'd lend you it gladly if I owned it but alas, I had a library copy.

Check out ABE books, where small independant booksellers have it from 0.64p. http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=judith+levine&sts=t&tn=not+buying+it

Lots of these will be peeps like my brother, independants working on a shoestring out of their own homes, so you're not supporting big biz. Kid Bruv sells both on ABE and Ama...but he doesn't have this title on his inventory. HTH.

Caterina

Thanks GQ, I managed to order it via the Interlibrary catalogue!

DawnW

Goldiegirl wrote: »

We have done a similar exercise in 2014. We were hoping to early retire around September of 2015. The year was a test run for living on our projected retirement budget, and we've been delighted with what we've achieved.


Because of the success of our experiment, we've been able to bring forward our retirement date to ...... 10 days time!:j

Congratulations on your retirement GG :j I took the leap earlier this year, after considerations similar to what you describe, and I can honestly say no regrets whatever

Ilona

parsniphead wrote: »

I was clearing out my bedroom yesterday and getting rid of loads of stuff and rubbish. Half way through I realised I hadn't replaced my bin. It was a little wicker one but the bottom fell out months ago. I had just started to think about going to fetch a new one from the shops when I thought of this thread.

So now I'm going to get on of the big , black pots I grow my tomatoes in and cover it with some fabric which I have lots of. Sorted free bin.:)

Good idea, use what you already have. I had an electric shredder which gave up/conked out. Chucked the shredding part, think the motor had gone, and covered the grey bin with pink fabric. New waste bin.
Ilona

[Deleted User]

WeeMidgie wrote: »

I too stopped watching tv some years ago, and don't miss it. I have a low-cost and greatly enjoyable social life via my local U3A.

I'm delighted to be joining in with this adventure!

I'm another U3A fan brilliant and worth every penny of our yearly subs I think,so many things to have a go at and at the moment even though I have been retired since 1995 I have to 'ration' my time as I seem to be doing so many things now :):)

Butterfly_Brain

Goldiegirl wrote: »

We have wondered about that, but we don't think it'll record, which we would like. Will investigate further, but even if we do buy a new freeview box it'll pay for itself within a few months.


Thanks for the tip, though:)




We have done a similar exercise in 2014. We were hoping to early retire around September of 2015. The year was a test run for living on our projected retirement budget, and we've been delighted with what we've achieved.


Because of the success of our experiment, we've been able to bring forward our retirement date to ...... 10 days time!:j

It won't record, pause, f/f or r/w once it is cut off, it just resorts to a basic freeview box.

The man at Sky told me that when I cancelled last week

Knit_Minion

Primrose wrote: »

I was sharing the decluttering dilemma with a friend who has a massive declutter to do, aiming to selli stuff on eBay but who works such long and tiring hours that there never time to get round to it. So the clutter remains permanently in situ getting her down.
I think sometimes you have to go for a quicker fix to get the stuff out of your hair and taken to a charity shop. Job then done, even if you don't raise any money in the process. Somebody else perhaps more deserving eventually gets some benefit from your action and you're at least you're not staring at a daily irritant which can feel quite liberating.

I read similar advice from a decluttering expert in a magazine article few years ago. She said that people felt they ought to sell their unwanted belongings on eBay or at a car boot sale but never actually got round to it, so should just donate it.