NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

maria3104

Morning all,

Yesterday a friend called in with some free food. Trays of veg were being sold off at a wholesalers for £1 a tray, DD and DS home so we were delighted and spent the next 2 hours blanching sprouts, making 8 pints of brocolli and stilton soup and 8 pints of mushroom soup. I hope they freeze well. I will put portion size bags in freezer for lunches. Really pleased. 32 at least free lunches and 16 lunches with sprouts, Kind friend.

Did not declutter yesterday as was on veg. Hope to restart this tonight

GreyQueen

Oh, you guys do make me chuckle, with your wisdom and good humour. I crashed into bed at 8.30 pm last night, full of cold, feeling as if the plague mark should be put on my door to keep the unsuspecting away.

Ten hours sleep later and I feel sooooo much brighter. Not 100% cured but a corner definately turned on the road to recovery. Love my bed; sleeping, it's the new rock & roll.

FrugalWorker, love that quote. I'm middle-aged (well, 20 inside, 50 outside) and you definately have a change of heart towards Stuff, don't you? Also, some of us will have had the experience of clearing up other people's homes at the end of their lives and been given food for thought.

Yesterday evening, I would have gone to my weekly archery class, but was so poorly that was out of the question, but there will be another week. Shame to miss it, but I'm sure they didn't need my germs.

I like some Things a lot, other Things a little, plenty of Things I am completely indifferent to, do not engage with, and wouldn't be upset if they ceased to exist.

What makes me happy is time with friends, hanging out, time in nature, books to read, pots of tea, my daily MSE fix . I even like my job; some customers try the patience of a saint but most are lovely and it's so nice to talk to people and help them out, makes me feel all warm on the inside.

Bambywamby

This morning I treated myself (out of my Christmas money - I received £200 and have banked £190 of it, £10 is the total of my treat money) and I bought the book Housewife 49 online.(£2.25 including P&P.)


I recently watched the drama on TV with Victoria Wood and I loved it. The make do and mend ways, the war come together spirit and most importantly the way Nella Last grows in confidence and happiness as she finds herself a new role in society other than downtrodden wife and devoted mother.


I am sure a lot of you will have seen it and will have read it as I imagine it's very much up the Old Styler's street (yes I know, you smartypants lot will have got it from the library.) But I had one of my 'I want that now!' moments.


Those moments I am working on... thankfully the book was only £2.25 and it wasn't a new TV that I fancied on a whim. However I am very much looking forward to reading the diaries, such good online reviews. And I do think it will help keep me on track and feel more thankful for many things I have and the era of time in which I live.


Have a productive, peaceful and loving day all. xx

nattykins

Woohoo!!! Finally managed to find a maternity coat that a) I like and b) is cheap enough!!!! Fed up of my current coat making me feel like I'm being strangled by an anaconda!!! I don't feel bad about buying it as it's something that, like Slowdown said, I will get my use out of and *should* be good quality.

Hope everyone has a lovely day

115K

With all this talk of dry January I just amended my grocery order and removed the two bottles of wine. £10 saved.:T

I listened to the Woman's Hour talk someone put on here about being more mindful about consuming, thanks for whoever put the link up.:)

Last night I got into bed to watch TV for a while. The TV had been in the office but we very recently moved it into the bedroom and it only has the basic channels but I watched a few programmes that I wouldn't normally have seen. There was one on Channel 4 about a new weight loss challenge where two people with contrasting ideological beliefs go head to head with a weight loss competition. They had to bet their own cash if they didn't lose enough weight and the other person would take the money. It was quite good.

It was nice sitting in bed watching TV for the first time in ages, I felt like I was in a hotel lol.:o It's the simple things in life.

No spend day today, in fact I was thinking of looking at the Fiscal Fast thread to see if I could do it for 7 days.

FrugalWorker wrote: »

Hi all, I've been following you along with interest over the last few weeks. I read this today and thought of you all.

There comes a point, when you’re staring down the barrel of middle age, when you realise that almost all of the stuff you’ve spent your life amassing is going into a skip when you die. That realisation is very liberating.

Very true.

mirry

Morning shipmates. It's been a busy week here but avoided some near collisions in the shops. Spent most of my Xmas money on some sensible much needed items. New fitted bed sheets, because the ones I had kept pinging of the mattress at night. And a new breville blender to make smoothies for my weight loss plans 👍

Yesterday I decided to count up the penny's in my pig and made £8.
So we went into sainsburys and I spent £9 on the alpro coconut milk thats on offer 3 for £3. Then managed to get very large packs of blueberrys £2, strawberrys £2 and bananas 68p from Iceland.

I was reading an article this week about consumerism, and it said
"do you own your items or do they own you"

Today I'm putting my last bit of money into my bank. There's nothing else I need. Plenty I want but nothing I need :rotfl:

dND

FrugalWorker wrote: »

Hi all, I've been following you along with interest over the last few weeks. I read this today and thought of you all.

There comes a point, when you’re staring down the barrel of middle age, when you realise that almost all of the stuff you’ve spent your life amassing is going into a skip when you die. That realisation is very liberating.


My husband calls me the anti-consumarist. I don't shop for pleasure, I read, walk, talk, play, share food, listen, jump or skip for pleasure. There are so many things, but it takes a bit of effort to figure out which ones are really enhancing your life versus pulling you down.

Good luck with it - FW

I think you've summed it up for a lot of us there - thank you :beer:
Another NSD – easy when there are no shops – and Monday’s purchase of veg is now soup; enough soup for a month! Should be another NSD today too as not going out as my craft shop, (just a room in the house) is open this afternoon.

I’m also on the decluttering thread: I’m a hoarder but after many years of trying to understand myself after a breakdown, I think I know why and am beginning to deal with it. So through decluttering I’ve re-purposed some small jars which has stopped me from buying some.:T

Natnat13, no problem with moan, that’s what friends are for. As the saying goes, a problem shared is a problem halved, and there are so many diverse people on here that lots of possibilities are shared.


Not much of a post today as I have to tear myself away from the computer and actually do some work :eek:

Well done everyone, it's so reinforcing to read all your successes and if you do fall off the wagon occasionally, knowing that you have and why and changing your future habits is actually a really big success. :A

I_want_a_baby

Morning all,

I've had a bit of a spendy day yesterday. Had the supermarket delivery which was £65 (less a few £ I'll get back for unwanted substitutions). This was approx £27 for food shop which i had stuck to the list and the rest was nappies/wipes/cotton wool and items for my labour bag. Glad to say no treats or unneeded items though!

Then I ordered the last of the baby clothes we need. I've bought as much as I can second hand and after unpacking it all we were still a bit short on a few things in the first size. This summer, when the baby is here and we don't have to buy unisex I shall hit the car boots and buy ahead to see us with enough clothes in the sizes ahead as they grow so fast during the first year.

I think for me I need to remind myself that as long as I am a mindful spender (buying needs not wants, getting the best value etc) and a mindful consumer (using things up, not being wasteful, recycling as much as I can) then I am doing well.
When you have children like it or not you do need to spend regularly. For example my son has almost outgrown his car seat and will need a booster seat, his trainers have also fallen apart, these are essential but these things crop up all the time. Plus all the requests from school and nursery - I do like to support them.

One aim for me is to embrace feeling uncomfortable. It's ok to only do a weekly shop and run out of a couple of things, I don't 'need' to have a stock of everything. It's ok to want something and wait for it, to give myself a month to find it second hand rather than instant gratification.

Today's plans:
- gather up all paperwork from around the house (there are piles everywhere). Sort into file/recycle/burn/action. DONE - Also burnt all the burning pw.
- write dates on calendar so husband can put it up. DONE
- continue tidying and organising baby things.
- finish packing hospital bags (put a label on top with any items still to be packed.
- tea will be homemade meatballs in homemade sauce with spaghetti. DONE
- get items out of freezer for tomorrow's tea. DONE
- get handbag out of wardrobe and put purses, diary etc in it - will use it for a week or two to see if it is fit for purpose. DONE
- make sure husband drops bag off to be returned for refund.
- remind husband to pop to Wilkos to see if they have a couple of £3 underbed storage boxes for some of the baby things, no nursery for the baby so everything has to fit in our room.

Right off to make a brew and get started.

Happy Wednesday all, stay frugal, mindful and happy :-)

IWAB x

[Deleted User]

Good morning chums,bit nippy this morning but dry at least .Sitting here listening to the Womans Hour programme as I type.
Youngest DGD Holly had a de-clutter of her handbags and I managed to snaffle a couple .One gorgeous green leather one which I really liked So my old red one got binned as it was very scuffed and well past its best .

I made 3 litres of leek and tattie soup yesterday and its all potted up and in the fridge for lunches for this week.At the moment I have some Christmas smelly candles burning to clear the house of the slight oniony smell. Love the soup but hate the smell it leaves behind
I have some wrinkly apples to peel and stew today which I will use mixed with some plain yoghurt for puddings.
I may make some biscuits to take round for my DGS for after school this afternoon.
Day seven and no shopping to get :):) doing my best to use what I have in stock already.
I too believe that self -flagellation is not very helpful If you need something and its going to be of use then buy what you need and enjoy it .A new dress which will be used for work for £9.00 sounds like a great bargain to me and buying a small chopper for under £7.00 is also better than paying out a hundred quid plus.So well done on getting your bits.

Right time to sort out a bit more bits and pieces.Have a great day everyone and ENJOY the ride
JackieO xxx
P.S. I'm a bit like my wrinkly apples clapped out on the outside but inside not too bad. Not so much looking down the barrels of middle age and probably at the top end of the gun :):) But inside I am no more than around 22 inside :):):)

Kerry_Woman

The only extra things I stocked up was a certain brand of ethical washing up liquid from a supermarket as mine at home was running out and this particular supermarket stocks it. It will save me an extra trip on another bus to get it and next weekend I am busy. At least it will be used and not wasted.


My fibre optic Christmas tree lights died on me. The problem was the lead. It was passed onto me free from my Sister and her husband. We have had it for over 10 years and rarely put the lights on, so my Mum said that she was just happy just to have the Christmas decorations on the tree. Did look up to get an replacement, but took note of what my Mum said and did not buy another tree. Do have some other lights to put on this year if needed, won this with some other things in a competition.


Still trying to be mindful and still doing the odd bit of decluttering.


Hugs to those in need of them.