NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

seriouslyfrugal

hi shipmates

just to let you know that the Rspb big bird watch is going on weekend 24 & 25 th January you need to register on the website but it's free to take part and only takes an hour :j

have a good day everyone

[Deleted User]

I very happily said goodbye to some furniture bits yesterday. All in fab condition but no longer needed, including an electric single bed. I love the idea of my furniture being re-used. We have a county re-cycling unit, they re-cycle electricals as well as all sorts of furniture and everything is checked, cleaned, mended etc. What an amazing facility and not just for the poorer people but anyone who would rather have second hand than new. Well worth looking in your county for a similar facility

I have a great skirt but it is long and weighty, so I have been wearing it right down below my waist and I thought it was me losing weight, haha I wish. I just took the elastic out and that only needs 3 inches taken off to make it snug. Doh the weight of the skirt is pulling it down. Oh well 3 inches is 3 inches. It took a long time to unpick it as it was one of my good outlet buys, years ago and it will take equally long to get it all back together neatly, minus the 3 inches


I am really scratching around for the main meal today, a bit of this and a bit of that and nothing co-ordinated. Meat is easiest but we try not to eat meat more than 3 times a week and even then only a small amount. I still have some fresh veg to use and that has priority, so it is fresh veg and a bit of protein on top, healthy if not actually inspiring

I have been looking at the news re A&E. What a flipping frightening scenario. A&E used to be for serious stuff like crash injuries and heart attacks. We have minor injuries units all over our county and I looked them up, they are open from 7am to 11pm and wait is usually about 30 minutes. They deal with plaster casts, splinters, stitches, burns etc. I don`t think people know about them and just don`t know what to do or who to turn to. I remember working in a pharmacy 50 years ago, saturday/holiday job as a reliable 6th former and I was given jobs like dealing with a badly cut face after falling on glass. I cleaned it up and made the butterfly plasters to hold it all together and then the mother was advised to take the child to hospital. I don`t think enough people know first aid, not the life saving stuff but basic cuts, burns etc. My tiny village has a group of 16 first aiders all versed in using the defib and basic stuff and it was all down to one pro active keen first aider. My dh is now trained too says I with a sigh of relief

mrsscattercushion

Good morning and Happy New Year to you all, as first post this year!

Have been slowly reading through this thread and formulating my own Guiding Lights for the year, both on a OS level and also some important daily rituals.

As said before, this year is a huge change for us. I'm the main age earner in the family, but am stepping away from my stressful job to take a career break to get my fibro stabilised. OH was made redundant in August (thank god for a great pay-off) but is due to start his new job next week, after projecting managing the much needed house renovations. We've got a good savings pot and no debts aside the mortgage so although things are going to be very tight and dipping into our saving inevitable, at this time my health is more important than a fat pay cheque.

So far, it has been a year of contrasts. On one hand, I've been doing an OS overhaul, such as cancelling unnecessary expenditure, unsubscribing from all shop and business emails, switching energy tariffs, sensible food shopping, signing up for comps and deals etc.

On the other hand, a lot of at least planned spending, such a OH's birthday, car service and MOT (not nice having it in January :eek: ) and due to pay for the remaining plastering and wood burning stove! However, these are at least planned and budgeted expenses that hopefully should pay dividends in the longer run. The car won't need 3 services a year as I won't be running up the work miles and the in-laws very generously gave us money for the house work.

I'm not someone who generally enjoys shopping....I can be in between sizes in clothes and don't do shoes or handbags, nor make-up and perfumes...my weakness is camera equipment (I do wildlife photography as a hobby) and music/gigs as a joint hobby with OH...we spent a fortune last year on gig tickets

So I can sit by my fire and continue planning the year ahead...stripping back the unnecessary excesses and enjoying nature and life's simple pleasures....over a lovely cup of tea and resisting adding cake!

Back to catching up, think I'm only at page 30 so far

Have a lovely day everyone x

suki1964

Natnat, I feel your pain on zero hours working. I too have the same contract and due to a clash in the kitchen I've been surviving the past year on 10 hours a week on average, and with hubby not working it's not been easy. You can sign on and you can claim HB. We are lucky we are mortgage free so we can survive ok on such a low income but I do urge you to check what benefits you can claim

Luckily the person who cut my hours has now been sacked and I'm back at between 20 and 30 hrs a week now

Frugal, that's so true. I'm thinking ahead. I don't have children, half my nieces and nephews I never see ( different countries) and on hubby's side, although he has a large family,well a family rift occurred on the death of his mother, all over who got what from her personal possessions. :eek: And it seems like the rift will never be mended . So I intend not to be hoarding stuff as treasure to be handed down and will leave instruction that the whole lot is for the charity


Vet bill wasn't as dear as anticipated so my wages covered it and hubby has just had a word with the digger driver who's levelling the plot on the corner and we are getting 6 tonnes of top soil delivered for the princely sum of £20 :j. That's needed to fill the veggie plot. Next door neighbour has horses and a big pile of well rotted manure we are free to take as we want. The raised beds he made out of bits of timber he's scavenged around and about so other then seeds, our veggies that we do manage to grow won't be costing a fortune

Meal planning has gone haywire ATM. The soup became tomato after finding the parsnips were past soft and more like runny :rotfl: Then mum took a turn for the worse so hubby had to rush up (I was in work) so ended up with a takeaway and what with vets, hospital, sorting out mums shop, didn't get time to cook yesterday so hubby came up to work and got dinner there - how many other hubby's PAY to eat their wife's cooking?:rotfl: :rotfl:

She may be home this evening so the cottage pie will be made today. I have a works party tonight, secret Santa night, so that will be hilarious ( we party hard when we can) and I'm actually looking forward to it. I fell off the dry January wagon on day one:rotfl:

So I will probably just lurk tomorrow as I have a sneaky feeling I will have a bad case of sea sickness about me

AnimalTribe

Hi
Apologies but I’ve had to skip loads of posts as the thread moves so quickly and I haven’t logged on over the holidays. I’ll go back and read them all bit by bit, but I wanted to keep up with the current posts now that I’m back. Happy New Year to you all.
I try to find new homes for as much as possible. Usually with a bit of research I can find a new home for most things and Freecycle is great. I had to use Freecycle myself just before Christmas as we were ‘sofa-less’ courtesy of my young ‘eat anything’ Labrador. I managed to get two sofas and three chairs from two different people. One of the sofas needed new covers (which they advertised), so I’ve spent most of my time making new covers and slip/loose covers. It takes a while to do a couple of sets for that much furniture, but with a multiple animal household things need at least minimum protection. I managed to use up 3 bolts of material my mother-in-law gave me a couple of months ago, they still had the pre-decimal price tag on (so pre 1971 stuff). So she’s had them for over 40 years and they’re only now seeing some use. I’m happy I got second-hand stuff, it saved it from landfill, it’s saved me money, and with a bit of effort I’ve turned something that isn’t my style into something that is – so I’m pleased with myself. If only I could break my dog’s incessant chewing habit I’d be sorted (any suggestions gratefully received).
My resolution is that by the end of the year I will have made use of all the resources that I own, or I will have found a new place for them elsewhere. I will only bring something into the house in the case of absolute need as it would be too hard sorting through my mass of old stuff while accumulating even more new stuff. Food wise I will shop in my cupboards until I’ve used up a lot of the stuff I’ve bulk bought – although I need to maintain a basic stock in case of bad weather, incapacity or unemployment.
I’m looking forward to Not Buying It in earnest.

Stoodles

[QUOTE=grunnie;67123066_I_have_sent_all_my_fiction_books_to_a_charity_shop_and_downloaded_the_ones_I_will_read_again_to_my_kindle._[/QUOTE]


Does this mean you have to buy them again? Or is there a way to get them free if you already own the hard copy?

Butterfly_Brain

Another NSD today, but will need to get a small shop tomorrow.
8 days avoiding the shops is a real achievement for me

We are going out to a retirement party at a rather up market country pub on Friday so I expect we will spend a few quid on drinks, luckily DH refuses to drink anything when he drives, he would rather have a cup of coffee or a soft drink.
I will take a couple of bottles of his fave pear J2O in my handbag because pub prices are a total rip off I bought 4 bottles for £2.42 in Morrisons, in a pub they would cost more than that each :eek: I have a bottle opener on my keyring so we will buy one get two from handbag every little helps and I can make one pint of lager and lime last a very long time

I have to be careful on what we spend as DH is on such a low wage and I can be tighter than a meeces squeak when I have to :p:p

DawnW

AnimalTribe wrote: »

Hi
If only I could break my dog’s incessant chewing habit I’d be sorted (any suggestions gratefully received).

I confined mine to a crate at night / while not being supervised at this stage - with plenty of exercise and play times in between, obviously. But if you work all day I can see it would not be feasible to do this.

grunnie

Stoodles wrote: »

Does this mean you have to buy them again? Or is there a way to get them free if you already own the hard copy?

You have to buy them again - though quite a few were free. I have a huge wall of bookcases all non fiction and just don't have room for more. My son and DIL flitted recently and she had over 100 boxes of books most of which are still in my loft. So I think I made the right decision.
Have discovered the library on line has a list of books they are getting which are published this year. I have been reserving some as I love to read a real book especially a new hardback and at 70p each seems a worthwhile expense for me. It is saving money if the book casts £12.99 + :rotfl:

cydney65

Exhausted .com after cleaning out the cupboard. Found a lot of DD's study stuff so that is all packed and ready to go to hers this afternoon. Also found a lot of my family history information and photos. I will pack them all up and put in the loft as it's dryer there and I will probably take it up again this year.

Will splash out on bananas later but that's all we need really. I checked our grocery/petrol spend this morning and altogether it's at £140 for 15 days. We put groceries and petrol on the cash back credit card and pay it off in full each month, but because of the statement dates, we run from the 23rd of the month to the 22nd of the next month. Petrol is the killer as we are rural so having the price drop over the last few weeks has been a blessing. Next month we will get the cash back so we should save about £110 on Febs grocery bill!

Received some more vouchers from a lovely friend. I'm going to save them up this year to help with birthdays or Christmas.

Love to all

CydneyX