NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

cydney65

IWAB take good care of yourself.

rosyq how many GGS girls are on this thread? It's mad. I was last in Gravesend 8 years ago but am now settled up here in 'sunny' Cumbria. I had a great time there.

Off to my bunk now. Another adventure tomorrow.

CydneyX

[Deleted User]

Hi All,

I've spent the past four or five evenings now reading pages 1 - 51 but given up and skipped to the end to write now as I've so many other blogs, forums, websites to read due to everyone's recommendations.

From a lot of what I've read it's clear to see I'm the junior on-board this ship aged 22, but don't be too phased by the number I bought my own home this year and I'm in the process of a complete renovation so it's safe to say I will be buying it in 2015. However what I am going to be buying are things I purely NEED, stock piling the essentials and only the essentials to save as much as possible in the later months of 2015 when I move in.

However I'm already paying mortgage payments, and planning my pension and retirement fund. My OH studied historical and theatrical costume at University, and can sew the most complex items so HM gifts are certainly our thing.

OH is movie mad, having made it back from Uni she is currently living with her parent's... Also movie mad they have around four of those large plastic tubs full of DVD's & I hate them! Space, clutter, I studied Computing in Business so everything in my life is digital including books (to which some of you may think is so wrong I agree but my clutter free life can get a little OCD at times, much like me organising folders, files and photos on my computer) so the rule when she moves in is simply. No DVD's. Not one. She almost had a break down at this. Haha.

Right. Finally finished work after a twelve hour shift so my time for bed!

fairy3

IWAB - please take care of yourself and get plenty of rest.
Good wishes to anyone feeling poorly and hope all hospital visits are speedy and painless.

Heard the prog on R4 and thought it was interesting listening although would have liked her to have been a bit more enthusiastic (maybe spoilt by this thread and all the brilliant work going on).

Went to work today and listened to all the 'bargains' being bought, diets started and broken, holidays being booked, consumerism is alive and well whilst adding to the CC's and bemoaning how skint everyone is til payday. They all know my views and we enjoyed some banter about their blatant neediness. Any small and big spends on here seem to be mindful and in most cases needed so think we should not be beating ourselves up too much.

Home to SC beef casserole which was declared delish and no money spent, first shop tomorrow since mini shop on 31st and the list is quite small but am aware my stocks are high and this will change as year goes on and become more challenging.

Totally inspired by this thread and look forward to everyones posts each day, on lotions and potions am not a massive user but haven't done an inventory as everything is upstairs and decluttering not got up there yet! Will not need makeup as have enough and am often recipient of DD's mistakes so not complaining. For winter hands a good way to exfoliate and soften is to take a small amount of olive or other oil, mix it with a teaspoon of sugar and massage onto hands, pop hands in rubber gloves and get busy for about half an hour, remove gloves and rinse well, slather with cream for soft lovelies.

Perfume wise I like to smell good and use perfume every day - not wanting to encourage anyone to spend but discovered this smell alike retailer based in Leicester http://www.perfume-parlour.co.uk/product-category/perfume-oils-for-women/ from MSE and have a collection of the tiny ones which are easy to travel and the bigger ones (30mls) for everyday at a fraction of the price. I love them as the quality is excellent and they have a FB page.

Well this has turned into an essay and need my bunk - sleep well shipmates

Liliyanna

Good Morning Shipmates :hello:,

Hopefully you’re all wrapped up snugly in your hammocks whilst I write this. If any, like me, are on nights I hope they went as smoothly as they could.

Tori.k – I took ill with my Gallbladder in 2012 so I know exactly what you're going through. I didn’t even know I had any issues till one of the smaller stones blocked one of my ducts and I developed a massive internal infection. This happened in a matter of hours the night before my OH had a very important exam. I thought it was food poisoning so stayed in another bedroom vomiting all night in the en suite, waved them off in the morning for the exam and phoned an ambulance as soon as they were out of the street. Got rushed straight in and told if I’d left it any later I would have been critical, I was absolutely petrified till they gave me the pain meds then I really didn’t care about a thing :rotfl: Still took them months before they would operate though!

Bunbun2 – I’m slightly in awe of teachers myself, it’s not a job I could ever see me having the mental strength to do. Having to deal with the more disruptive little darlings would test my patience too far I think. I have a few friends who do teach and they say it’s changed so much in the last 5 years or so they don’t think they can carry on. I’m glad your OH has such a supportive partner who values his health and happiness above material things, as they say ‘you can’t put a price on happiness’

Buterfly Brain, Caterina, Bexter, 117 Pauline, good luck with your upcoming medical appointments.

Mumto2monkeys – Well done on making your first hurdle, I hope it becomes addictive.

IWAB – Fingers crossed baby IWAB stays put for a good while longer

Like another poster I used to buy my perfume at airports thinking it would be cheaper, I love Hugo Boss Femme. I found this website last year ‘allbeauty.com’ and it is the absolute cheapest I have found it so I’m chuffed.


In other news…..my OH has said they’d like to go to the pub tonight when I get up. I haven’t drunk for a few weeks now as I found I was becoming a bit maudlin after a few and it’s not somebody I want to be, IYSWIM. It’s a little difficult to stick to as my OH tries and tempts me. I’m more than happy for my OH to drink and will gladly pour them in the car and take them home at the end of the night but I feel as if my OH can’t enjoy their drink if I don’t drink as well. It’s like I have to drink to give them permission to drink? Does anyone else have this issue or am I being a bit sensitive?

Anyhow, I’m rabbiting on a little, apologies. I hope everyone has a good start to their day


Lily x x

thefrugalflirter

Finally just about caught up!

I'm full steam ahead for 2015, Christmas is fully packed away and I'm making a start on the de-cluttering.

Hoping this year to have a 'cash-neutral' Christmas and birthday gifts by making extra money from survey sites, making homemade gifts for friends and family and not buying over the top presents because I feel like I have to.

This thread must be rubbing off on the rest of my family too - my dad just 're-gifted' me 2 bottles of alcohol he got for Christmas that he didn't want!

I managed to avoid the usual January sales - I did take a look at the Boots online sale, and was considering buying some fruity shower gel gift sets, until I worked out that even with 50% discount they were 3 times as expensive as my usual cheapy shower gel!!:rotfl:

Lily - I had the same with an ex-boyfriend, I think he just felt that I wasn't 'having fun' if I didn't drink along with him, my solution? I went to the bar to get the rounds in, and just got a coke - he assumed it had alcohol with it and was none the wiser that it didn't, and he didn't make any comments about me 'not having fun'!

emslovesmickey

Take it easy I want a baby - hope you're feeling better today

Spent £24.16 this morning but that was the phone and broadband bill. If I pay it within 24 hours of getting it instead of waiting for the direct debit I save 10%. I'm not planning on spending anymore today.

Today is three weeks till payday and I'm still not feeling like spending any money. Usually by now given the fact the bills go out early in the month and I have a prepensity to spend before it burns a hole in my pocket means I have far too much month at the end of my money. For once I'm going to have money at the end of the month! The plan every month from now is to transfer all remaining money to my ISA the day before payday, then start all over again.

[Deleted User]

GQ well done on getting your WM.My DD always gets hers from JL as their aftersales service is brilliant.
Well the dgc have all gone back to school this morning so normal service will resume I actually have a morning at home today for a change so will be pottering around catching up on things .Day six and still not been near a shop for food.
Tonight is Quiz night so I get something to eat there so only have breakfast (porridge ) and lunch (crackers and soup ) to prepare.

It looks as though the ship is filling up nicely with lots of people eager to hang on to their pennies.Sometime its having someone else along with you makes you concentrate on what you NEED rather than just buying stuff without thinking.
My main aim this month is to shift some of the food mountain that's accumulated in my kitchen cupboards and freezer.Plus by staying away from the shops I will stop buying YS stuff quite so much.Nothing wrong with it ,just have no blessed room anymore in the freezer.I seem to be playing freezer tetris every week :)
Right onwards and upwards chums ,let the pottering begin :):)
JackieO xxx

dND

Yesterday was a spend day as planned. 5€13 on veg at the market. My pork butcher is still on holiday, (the pigs are raised about half a mile from me) so no spend there.
I did have an extra spend, 20€ into my lottery account. I don't smoke, very rarely drink, I don't buy magazines etc. etc so it's my one 'vice' and one luck dip ticket for the draw allows me to dream a little
I'm planning on staying at home today and make soup for the freezer with yesterdays purchases and will probably turn the duck stock from the Christmas duck into onion soup with some of the onions I grew this year. I'm aiming for a quiet day as well as a NSD

dND

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi All,
OH is movie mad, having made it back from Uni she is currently living with her parent's... Also movie mad they have around four of those large plastic tubs full of DVD's & I hate them! Space, clutter, I studied Computing in Business so everything in my life is digital including books (to which some of you may think is so wrong I agree but my clutter free life can get a little OCD at times, much like me organising folders, files and photos on my computer) so the rule when she moves in is simply. No DVD's. Not one. She almost had a break down at this. Haha.
!

How about a compromise - all my DVD's are on a shelf in alphabetical order and logged into Access so they can be sorted by owner (done when my children lived at home) genre, director.....:D

[Deleted User]

After reading this forum, and many surrounding references one thing I have learnt is that minimalism and particularly not buying 'stuff' comes from adequate planning.

Recognising the need for an extra loaf of bread this week due to this, this and this.

Packing sandwiches' knowing that your going to be going to ____ and will otherwise just pick something up less tasteful at an extortionate cost.

Forgetting about xxx's birthday or christmas, or valentines day so having to pick up a last minute gift and card, spending more than you usually would and getting something less personal and more for the sakes of just having something to give.

This year me and my OH plan to HM all birthday and christmas gifts for family and friends, we wrote down a list of the people in date order and were working backwards to give ourselves enough time to adequately plan and create for everyone.

Now I want to look at doing the same for cards, I've only a small network of people I hand birthday cards to mum & dad & OH. This year I sent one christmas card to the OH, one valentines card and one anniversary card. (OH family is larger so while I only send around 6 cards per year her's will be double so we'll call it 18 cards a year) so I'm looking to buy a card making kit, something with the essentials in for the beginner and I'm going to be looking to Pinterest for idea's on designs etc... While buying this kit will be spending money (Budget is roughly £10 - £15 based on the few kits I've seen) I think this investment will manage to earn it's money back should all cards be made using this set within the year, hopefully only needing top-ups such as more card next year.