NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

suzybloo

Evening folks! Thought Friday would never come! I haven't posted since last Saturday and never had a chance to read back, that's to be done later this evening with a glass of wine in hand! Upto now I am really pleased with how things are going. I was at £30 last Saturday for my grocery spend. That has now increased to £42, for 2 separate visits at z£4 and £8 for bread and odds and ends, I will have to do some shopping this week but it will be minimal. Menu planning has gone really well, we have had everything I had planned when I had it planned for, in the past i would've fell by the wayside, so all in all if we can keep this up I will be really pleased :-) I haven't bought any incidentals or extras so that budget I still quite healthy.

Good luck peeps and stay focused!

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone, I hope you don't mind me joining in?

I'm quite good with money, but I have got a problem with buying toiletries and sweet treats which I need to rope in! DH and I have just booked a lovely holiday for later in the year, so the more that I can resist buying unnecessary things now, the more I can enjoy our holiday later.

I'm still working through all of the posts but it's very interesting to read each of your stories!

[Deleted User]

Walk on by... great sea shanty for all of us aboard the good ship No- Buy

NSD today but will possibly stick my head into my local greengrocers tomorrow morning as I need some cabbage My local little shop actually does them cut in half and wrapped in clingfilm which is great for a 'singly' like myself.He's a great chap and realises that lots of people old and young don't always need a whopping great cabbage to feed an army with

I am down to my last three sweet spuds so I may get a couple of 'bakers' while I'm in there. The g'grocers is opposite a Tesco metro and they only seem to do big bags or packages of stuff I don't need a box of mushrooms at a quid if I only want a few for a casserole or a 4 baking spuds for a pound if I only need to have a couple for next week.So I'll be scouting his shelves to see what I can get it will be the first shop this year !!! and I'm really pleased that I have got to the 10th before cracking open my purse :):)will have to re-solder it afterwards though :):)
minimilist beware of Borough Market lovely stuff but Oh so expensive and tempting
Have a good evening chums
JackieO xxx

sjprmc01

Re: the tv subscription thing......I get mine free, I think I'd struggle to pay for it if I had to, but now the rest of the family are used to having it.

If I DID end up in a situation where I'd have to pay for it, the movie and sports channels would be the first thing to go (OH wouldn't be too happy about the sport, but there's rarely a match he's interested in that isn't available on 'council telly' as we call it here)

purpleshoes_2

Im decluttering as well, took a big pile of magazines to the charity shop to be told if I call them they'll arrange for uplifts of books, rag, saleable clothes so that's good given that I don't drive.

I spent 2.80 sending my instructor friend the cds and dvds I had lying spare from the dance fitness brand I used to and no longer teach. Around 600 quids worth but we arent allowed to sell them or use them in any other class, plus I have the music on my Itunes, anyway, gone now and not gathering dust in my flat

I had two slimline tonics in the pub. Still well and truly on the wagon.

meanmarie

Am having a problem keeping up with this thread....lovely to see so many people standing back from the spend mentality.

.Not doing badly so far....spent €74 on foodlast week but had a huge (if small IYKWIM), am down to my last Pink L@@y but resisted the temptation to go into sm for top-up.....as cant drive at present it would have meant a lot more than the €1.99 for the 4 apples, OH has no concept of running stocks down!

Had a little boost just a while ago, dear brother rang to say that he has brought me back some monkfish from his trip to Cork....dinner sorted for to morrow, have been wanting fish for ages, best price too.......free!

Keep up the good work and keep posting so that we encourage each other......there is an Irish proverb which roughly translates as "people live on each others shadow"

Marie

Aril

Evening:D

Spendy day but on groceries and on holiday/business travel arrangements. Managed to divide the weekly shop between Tesco and Sainsburys [I pass the latter on the way home from work so no extra fuel] and pick up the fairtrade basics from Sainsbobs and a contribution to the food bank at Tesco. Also dropped off 3 carrier bags full of textiles and shoes for recycling whilst I was there:j

Decluttering activities have resumed. I am nosing about in my craft stash and sorting it out into some sort of order so I know what I've got. Have added in various ribbons and pretty pieces of card and paper that I snaffled from Chrimble:D Have started to read the pile of mags a chum passed over in the autumn. They will be passed on as they're read.

Not finding the dry January too bad so far. Tomorrow I'm going to do the 5K parkrun. It's been a while since I've tried running that far but have just entered a 4 mile fun run with friends later on in the month so need the practice:eek: The running is good for keeping my anxiety at bay and helps with the fitness level I need to maintain for my morris dancing.

One new item crossed the threshold today- the ceramic poppy that my parents bought for my son arrived. I'm sure you'll agree though that it is important for what it represents and the number of charities it is helping.

Small pleasure- on a Friday afternoon the place I housesparkle backs on to a nature reserve. Lovely to watch all the geese grouping as they do every January.
Arilx

Minimalist

JackieO wrote: »

minimilist beware of Borough Market lovely stuff but Oh so expensive and tempting

Thanks for the warning, Jackie O - I'm glad you've got my back!

As we are travelling light, I definitely won't be picking up any items for the larder...although we might do a spot of sampling, the stallholders can be very insistent! Thinking is that we will pick up some street food for lunch, as cheaper than eating in a cafe or restaurant. Well, that's the theory!

ArthriticOldThing

Good evening.
Well I had a spendy day today after 6 NSDs in a row.:) Have to admit have been confined to house for that time with a chest infection but this afternoon I managed a v short visit to a local 'corner shop' to top up on basics - bread & something to spread on it. Not an inexpensive place to shop but was the nearest and most I could manage.
All the talk about work v health rings bells with me. I had to stop work in 2013 because of how the travelling affected my Psoriatic Arthritis. Wasn't the job - employers made no problems getting special equipment - although the distance from my home to work was no more than a 15 minute car ride, it took an hour by bus as had to change in between. That was on the way in but as we didn't finish til 9pm the return journey could take 1 hour 30 minutes as the buses only run every hour after 6. I was physically exhausted all the time.
So now I live on a small private pension until I reach the magical retirement age - which should be this year if they don't change it again!:eek:
I can empathise with GQ as my job was in a call centre - supposedly customer service - which could have been quite interesting but for the constant monitoring and time targets.
How can you help a customer while being aware that you only have 95 seconds to do so! And will be criticised it you take longer - no matter how complex the query is.:eek:
I'm really grateful for all the helpful and supportive people on this thread. I enjoy reading all your posts and am taking in all the good advice well trying to anyway.

maria3104

Done it £17 of traded in books uploaded to amaz0n. Thanks for the link and hope this will be the first of many trades.

Off to bed now in readiness for another day of fly lady action tomorrow.