NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

vulpix

I want a baby,if you were my daughter i would ask you to phone the midwife today.Take care.

I have a confession.I wantonly spent money yesterday.

As you may know I have fairly recently married after 15 years on my own.My husband works very early shifts so is generally home by 11am.I have also left work fairly recently so it is lovely to have hours together before our teenager comes in from school.

He needed the bank yesterday so we went on a jolly.(no banks in my town,Daughter invited to friends for tea.)

I haven't had a mooch in charity shops for months.I bought a lovely raincoat in burbury stylee and a monsoon blouse.All for £6.THEN ,yes it doesnt end here.I bought a new bra from sm for £8. OOOOO its so comfy,will get some more.

It doesnt end there!!!!!! we bought a takeaway curry from the SM 2 for £5.Grand day out.

My problem is with clothes.I need to have a look at what I have and see what I need.I have lost 4 stone and do not need to dress as smart anymore but I don't seem to have anything to wear.

So in recent times without bills and food (generally @£35 pw)I have spent:-

. £8 bra
. £6 coat and blouse
. £150 ipad
. £17 garden furniture

Take away Christmas money I have spent £66.

He has to go to even bigger town this pm so I will go to the shops whilst he is in his meeting.Purse closed unless I see something suitable for dd2 birthday or a black vest which i think will answer all my wardrobe dilemmas!

Laters Vx

Aril

Vulpix hardly wanton spending:D Your voyage your guidelines remember...it's human nature to rebel once in a while. Listening to that radio programme yesterday on Woman's Hour some of them were rather "saintly" and if I'm being honest one or two got right on my pip. Must remember horses for courses. I am naughty and here to enjoy myself but to also practise mindfulness to lots of different areas of my life. I haven't given up spending just reining it in and spending differently. Nobody's failed...just a minor diversion. It's the refinding and getting back on the main track that's the trick to making lasting positive changes.

Arilx

Tillytrotter1

I too have a confession. I stated previously that I hadn't spent on anything other than food but I had forgotten about the yogurt maker from EBay. I bought it from Christmas money but all the same probably shouldn't have bought it. We eat a lot of yogurt and my thinking is that I can make it cheaper and save in the long run. Oh well, we shall soon see.

[Deleted User]

dND wrote: »

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

Going to see how she copes with clothes cutting, and go from there.

She works in Leeds City Centre & when we first met she was in Primark on every lunch break guaranteed. She has a wardrobe full, chest of draws full, and has now moved into the shed with clothes that can't fit anywhere else. Cheap throw away fashion I am very much the opposite I pay more for clothes, but I have a much smaller range to choose from & the quality means that many of the T-Shirts I have purchased have seen five years and will see another five.

To fit in with this thread and the challenge one of my five New Years resolutions is to buy no items of clothing in 2015. I would like some new jeans, but I don't need any. I've lost weight so I'd like a new belt to keep the jeans up, instead I'll just notch a tighter hole in this one. I challenged OH to get her bank statements for 2014 and tot up the amount spent in Primark. She laughed and she actually daren't a severe case of what you don't know can't hurt you I hope me doing this challenge will mean that we spend less time shopping together as a leisure activity, and the results of my happiness and appreciation for what I already have will rub off on her. Here's hoping anyway.

Bambywamby

Deleted_User wrote: »

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.

If she has kept a previous birthday/anniversary/Valentine's/Christmas card, take them back and write a new message in for 2015. And do this for years to come because... A) They make lovely keepsakes Less cards so less clutter c) You only have to buy the cards once.

DianaMattos

Yesterday was pretty spendy for me, food shop and fuel and osteopath, but had a lovely surprise when looking through the budgets that I had not kept on top of over the last couple of weeks it seems the shopping at Aldi is paying off, however much I dislike the way you are treated at the tills, and with the cost of fuel coming down (and hubby working from home three days a week), there are a few pennies more leftover at the end of the month

So that's more to put in the 'gifts' pot, and more in the summer fund. Which we never end up spending much of anyway, coz who wants to be inside or at an attraction with thousands of people when the weather is gorgeous?!

And even a little more left over to buy my 'thing', essential oils. They are expensive, but I really think they make a difference to our health in many ways. Currently saving up for the oils to make a headlice potion, as I remember the shampoo from my childhood stinging like mad. Not that we need the lice lotion yet, not bad for 18months in school and the plethora of texts we get home about it!

Anyway, off to clean the bathroom with my oils and vinegar spray

falady

Hi everyone,

I'd like to come on board if I may!

I've read the thread from beginning to end over the last few weeks and it is brilliant. There have been so many ideas and thoughts articulated here that have spoken to my heart. I have decided that I want to get control of my spending and get our finances in order. Hubby and I both have good jobs and we earn a reasonable amount. We're comfortable. However I shop too much for unnecessary things to fill some sort of emotional gap. Of course 'stuff' doesn't fill those kind of gaps, so all I have ended up with is a cluttered house and some debts.

Since reading the thread I have noted down my own guiding lights from the many wonderful posters on here. I can already notice the changes happening in my attitude and the choices I make.

My initial aims are to:

1) use up much of our food stocks before buying more. We have a very well stocked kitchen and it is ridiculous! There will always be food bargains, so I do not need to buy them now. They will still be there in a month or two.

2) use up my toiletries stock before buying more, even the stuff I'm not keen on!

So those two are basically about shopping from home and using up what I have already.

3) focus on saving/using money for precious family experiences rather than on stuff. I really want to go abroad before DD starts school in September.

4) Declutter our house and minimise stuff coming in. Thank you for your useful tips on decluttering, especially those about letting go of things which cost a lot.

So, hello to my fellow sailors and good luck to all on our ship! I'm here, ready to throw a life ring to any who may fall overboard and would be very grateful for the same should I decide to go 'paddling' in my old ways :-)

Alison x

115K

I have to make sure I have done some housework before I try and catch up with this thread as it's growing so quickly.:D Vacuuming downstairs is done and laundry is on a hot wash.

I'm having jacket potatoes for lunch but not sure what with salad and something else. I did feel like making some home made veggie burgers so that might be an option.

I had to top up the groceries with an online order but only spent £55, it was about £75 but I removed some non essential items. I find you always have more food in the cupboards and freezer than you think.

Off to vacuum upstairs and then grab hold of my pets to put flea stuff on, sigh. That is always a palava.:rotfl:

edwink wrote: »

Just thought I would say that I tried purple for curtains and from a selling point I would personally not waste money on dye. This is only my opinion but purple curtains can make the window of the room look a lot smaller than it is. Also the purple will make the room itself look a bit darker. For dying curtains you would need maybe 2 or 4 packets of dye to reach the desired colour!! I would honestly think about it seriously!!! Maybe you could think of something else to change the room, like painting a lampshade or moving things about or having a bit of a declutter!! It would be much cheaper that way!!


Edwink x

Oh no, I'm keeping the curtains beige but just colouring the bed covers. I was thinking that it would be easier when we get viewings if I have matching bedding so I know even when I'm washing a set that I will have a backup. I do think I will buy a lampshade as well to tie it in.:)

Butterfly_Brain

Caterina good luck with the op and Bexster best wishes for your hospital visit today.

Another NSD day for me as well because I am at the hospital as well for a 2 hour appointment.

I_want_a_baby

Vulpix - thankyou for your concern, I almost phoned but just as I was going to I started to feel a lot better, I've been closely monitoring the baby's movements too which all seem good.

So feeling really good today, my son is at school and daughter was at nursery this morning. I really wanted to rush around and get lots done but embraced the uncomfortable feeling of doing what I 'should' do. This meant doing anything I could do whilst sitting down and resting.

Phoned the child benefit and tax credit offices and changed our address (we moved in September).
Registered my husband and I for self assessment tax returns (rental property income started in oct).
Sent a very important letter I've been putting off for 5 weeks.
Updated my address on 8 websites.
Updated my bank/budget spreadsheet.

I did get up from my seat on at least 5 occasions as I really didn't want to do these jobs but I persevered and feel so much better for it.

Other little 'not buying it' wins:
Received the bag bought with Christmas money, I'd been eagerly awaiting. It's not what I expected which means it will be returned and £44.99 will be credited back into my spends!
I did what I should have done initially and looked in my wardrobe, of the two bags in there one isn't big enough and the other doesn't have the over body strap I wanted but I will try using this first to see if I can't put up with it before looking at buying another.
Not a slice of bread in the house but that just meant that we used up a small amount of our massive cracker stash form Christmas.
Grated the last of the block of cheese to make it go further.
Pudding was a mince pie from a pack given to me from mum today.
Worked out our week 1 grocery spends were £27.21 from a budget of £40 (excluding milk delivery). The balance will roll over to next week.

Cup of tea time now :-)

IWAB x