NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

bexster1975

So, today was my first spend day of 2015 so am quite pleased with that. Even still only £21 at Lid! so only needs bought. I must admit I have really saved on groceries since I started shopping there. I began in September ( can't really remember why?) I think I have cut grocery spends by about 40% and have tried to work out how. I think there are fewer offers to tempt which helps, also fewer choices so less decision making. Most items are cheaper than main SMs or at least the same price. Also I was worried about fruit and veg quality but I have no complaints so far. The packing is wierd, but I confess I pack straight into my bag in the trolley and have never been told off ( I know you are meant to throw it in your trolley and pack on the side once you are done ( I think not). A bit of chat with the cashiers whilst they serve and a nice smile slows them down sufficiently :rotfl:

I hope the potential escapees post their inspirational stories. I will certainly update on my escape plans throughout the year. I hope we can encourage and support one another.

Bexster

Islandmaid

Thanks Purp,s

Thats 6 weeks a year just on sweeties and wine :shocked:

Re: the work stress thing - I went PT in September as if I had carried on FT I don,t know what would have happened.

Same thing, great job, carp Management - not actually their fault they are tring to work the cuts, cuts and cuts - you know when its bad when your senior management start going off with stress too....

ejbg2001

Afternoon all!

Its taken 5 days to read the thread end to end and I finally made it, so I can paddle the consumer seas in my little lifeboat to hop on the SS No Buy if I can?

I am a bit of a hoarder and a little ocd but till I read the thread I had no idea the two could be linked. Go figure! Anyway I need to control both my spends and where possible my OH's (not always able to depending on where his head is at) and to declutter so I can invite friends round without them risking life and limb stepping over the threshold and so we can get a new cat (last loved moggy went to last vets visit in September much missed, she was over 15 yo ).

My bad spend areas are food, clothes, craft mags (esp if they have "freebies" on) and crafting supplies like fabric and wool. Last time I visited a shop which is selling off fabric I spent £50, and the time before was £90. Now I justified it by saying I wouldn't buy extra clothes, but I then I wafted by a couple of cs's and I found I had spent £25 on winter jumpers. Oooops!

I don't work as OH has moderate to severe mental illness and I am his carer, so we live on his ESA and DLA/PIP and I get carers allowance, so not much spare cash to play with.

However, since reading the thread I resolved to try reducing buying and it seems to be helping. Yesterday I went to the local shop for milk and I came out with just milk! I looked at the ys bits, but for once didn't buy. Today we went to a nearby town and got £50 of meat for the freezer from the meat van at the market, a couple of other bits of groceries but only spent 75p on an eggcup/saltcellar so OH can have non-soggy salt on his food and an office chair for £5 in a shop clearance sale. I looked and OH was very impressed I didn't get anything at the craft stall in the market. So was I!

Keep strong ppl, workplace bullying is a be-atch that hits at any time, keep healthy and feel good about who you are and who you are becoming.

EJ

I_want_a_baby

Well done islandmaid! Those little changed make a big difference over time plus you get yummy homemade treats instead of shop bought!

A couple of little extras from me:
Hubby might have a little extra job one evening helping someone with their PC I think they normally give him some beers to say thanks so I see this as money saving as it will stop hubby visiting the shop!
On the drive to school through the village there is a man who sells kindling and logs at the bottom of his garden. Every few weeks he sells a large sack of wood for kindling (that just needs splitting) for a bargainous 50p a sack! He only puts out two sacks every few weeks. I snaffled both bags in mid December and got two more today! We now have enough kindling to last us till summer (having only used half of one of the previous sacks). I think this would have saved us another £10ish pounds compared to buying kindling rolls at the local shop possibly more compared to garage prices!
If husband does his little job tonight I will investigate switching our electric supplier now the supply is in my name.

We have agreed to pay all of the council tax and 70% of all the bills in lieu of rent. However my mum in law said they will pay £50 a month electric which is more than I budgeted so that will save us a little bit too!

IWAB x

PenguinOfDeath

Afternoon all!
Just checking in and giving a bit of an update, for myself more than anything!

Homemade cereal bars were a success, sort of! Gathered together some muesli which I eat intermittently and some dried fruit, nuts and pumpkin seeds, toasted the dry stuff in the oven and mixed with melted butter and golden syrup. Think I overbaked it however as the greaseproof paper stuck to the bottom at some parts, and it was a little overdone at the edges and when cutting it up it broke up quite a bit so I have some bars and what can only be described a muesli brittle, still tastes good though and a way of getting rid of some of the cupboard contents. I (usually) love cooking but I just cannot get on with baking so this is about the limit of what I am prepared to do without getting stressed out.

A grocery shop between two stores done, got a lot more than a usual weekly shop to stock up, still only spent around £60 so hoping to come up with some new yummy meals for the next few weeks. I was going to go and get a couple more food storage boxes from Morrisons too but I’m going to wait until I ‘need’ to go there for other things too, either a regular item on offer or when I fancy one of their salads…

Had a planned spend on some clothes to replace a couple of things that had worn out, sales meant I spent £30 on two ‘branded’ items which I call a win as they are good quality and should last years, and they actually fit me which I’m more excited about as I’m such an awkward shape I struggle to find anything that fits sometimes. :rofl:

Going to have to spend again on fuel today or tomorrow but it wont be quite as painful on the purse as it was a couple of months ago.
Thanks again to the link to the Amazon trade in, I have previously tried a few sites who seem to not be taking the books I have but with a quick look last night I think I might be able to send them some in my ‘not going to read again’ pile that add up to the £10 mark…shame the recycling was collected yesterday with all the Xmas delivery boxes in it

purpleshoes_2

I have a couple of recipes for protein balls (sounds a bit rude), they are £2 for one in H and B but even I made them without them being a disaster.

I'll dig it out and post it up.

purpleshoes_2

Chocolate and Hazelnut Butter Protein Balls.
1 35g scoop Chocolate Protein
2 Tablespoon of Flaxseed
1 Tablespoon of Hazelnut Butter
1/2 Cup porridge oats.
Mix altogether in a blender adding water till it goes doughy. Then roll into individual balls and cover in dessicated coconut

I have another couple of similar recipes, will post later on, these are good for a pre or post workout snack much cheaper than the H and B ones.

I dont eat products with whey in so I didnt use the choc protein powder, substituted for another protein powder.

Picklepot

AnimalTribe wrote: »

I just wanted to say that I too used to be stressed out by work. given all the difficult jobs because I could do them, but not really appreciated especially financially. As you can see from lots of others on this thread you are not alone and some of us have managed to escape. Think about going to your GP and seeing if they can help. Mine was really good and gave me enough space to work on an exit plan.

Thank you for your kind words. I am watching my colleagues leave all around me ,good hardworking people who have had enough and moved on... like minded people who have just banged their head against the same wall as me and finally given up.


My plans are a foot thanks to all you lovely people

dND

Oops, that was a bit more of a spend today than I thought I was going to make. In my defence, not much was frivolous and rather a lot of it was for the cats

I'd popped over to L*dl's with a few 'must get' items on the list but because it can be random whether things are on the shelves or not here, (nearly all the SM's are franchises so things aren't ordered until they been sold out), I do decide on what I'm going to have when I get there.

L's had one of their XXL promotions going on; soooo, I now have enough loo paper to last until June or July or maybe longer. The wet cat food was also XXL so instead of the 3 or 4 boxes I was thinking of getting, I picked up 6 which is in effect a free box of 12 sachets. Braeburn apples were 3kg for the price of 2kg so those are bought to wean me off the cake and biscuit type diet that has been Christmas. I thought I can also bake them for puddings and if they start to go wrinkly then puree them and put them in the freezer.

I've also decided to try making my own food for the cats - been reading some unsettling stuff about the dried foods I've been feeding the cats - and as luck would have it, chicken thighs were also on XXL promotion so I bought 4 packs of those, (4.4Kg total) The chicken was less per pound than the whole chickens and even if the cats don't like what I make for them, I will have enough chicken for the next few months, (I am just about out of chicken in the freezer) The chicken, 11.96€, and the cat food, 16.74€ accounted for over a third of the 70.52€ bill :eek:

I did slip a bit and treat myself as I didn't get myself anything for Christmas:

1. A replacement mat for the shower so I don't slip and do myself a nasty, (6.99€)
2. some antiperspirant for when I don't use my home-made variety, (0.79€)
3. Some Miso soup base for my fast days, (1.50€)
4. My current favourite chocolate, dark with almonds (1.35€)
5. Face cream as just finishing my L'Or**l one, (2.99€)
6. and finally perfume to ring in the new me, (4.29€)

A total of 17.91€ around £14. So not feeling too bad about it overall. The shower matting was going to be on the shopping list before long as I'd washed the old one yesterday and noticed that it was cracking and also discolouring. I kept thinking I hadn't had it long but once I really started thinking about it I realised it was 2 or more year old! so I could probably take the 7€ off as it wasn't really a frivolous spend even if it wasn't a real necessity until I put the house on the market.

Right off to do my penance and do a bit more decluttering and will try to catch up with the thread tomorrow morning.

Karmacat

I'm just reading all the posters who wrote about their health on page 108 - Slowdown, Aril, purpleshoes, Primrose, Caterina, thank you, thank you. I need to listen to these, and I really appreciate people taking the time to write them.