NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

peaceandfreedom

pm2326 wrote: »

Does anyone know if dried yeast with a best before date of October 2014 will still work?

The stuff I used to make bread recently had a best-before considerably earlier than that and it worked fine, just took a bit longer.

I use the Artisan bread in five minutes a day method, not sure if it would work for regular bread-making. It's only a little bit out of date though, so I'd say it's fine.

BTW, I highly recommend the 5-minutes-a-day method - it is very easy and perfect for the lazier baker like me. Absolutely lush made with some chopped olives and sun-dried tomatoes mixed into the dough.

peaceandfreedom

Possession wrote: »

Not a NSD day today. Paid to unlock a phone, but only so I can go on giffgaff for lots less money.

I use Giffgaff - coverage is a little dodgy at home (rural village) but they are excellent value. My usage is so low that I've given up on the goody bags and just pay as I go - bills are less than a fiver a month.

Wanted to add that my previous mobile provider refunded me the cost of unlocking the phone. I pointed out to them that I'd been a customer of long-standing and was only leaving because they'd hiked their prices up to an intolerable level. They are the company whose name used to be a bright colour. It's always worth asking for these things.

It's also always worth firing off a quick email if you are unhappy with recent service in a shop or supermarket. Never fails to get you a voucher or two. Include as much detail as possible and also your till receipt details so they know you're not just making the whole thing up. I now have some vouchers to spend at W@itr0se thanks to an unhelpful sales assistant just before Christmas.

[Deleted User]

Evening All,

Spent the entire day reading more and more into personal finance, this forum and MSE as a whole has given birth to something bigger, and unexpected. Slowdown I thank you for this thread!

All of this makes me want to ask you all the following;

A. How much do you think you'll save Not Buying it in 2015.

B. Are you tracking what you would of usually bought to see if your rough figures compare to the reality*

C. What will you be doing with the money you've saved from NBI in 2015?
Paying off debt? Paying off the Mortgage? Saving it? Other?

* My OH likes to shop in Primark as I said a few posts back now, when I asked her how much she said roughly £30 a month, I made her start tracking her purchases a few weeks ago... Surprising to her, but unsurprising to me she's hitting more than double that. Her relationship with money & Primark has changed for the better.

I thought these questions could spur us all on for bigger and better savings!

purpleshoes_2

How much will I save? Maybe 2000 quid or so, but Im on a low income so Im not sure I'll save it as such, just not spend as much. I do put money away into a couple of savings plans, but anything saved will probably go on debt first, I save enough just now, so don't need to save anymore.

I'll compare this years spends with last years

I'll treat myself to a weekend away and maybe pay for a GP referral fitness course.

The spends I need to cut down on are food. Clothes spending is minimal and everything else is cut down as far as I can get it. I spend far too much on food when I have food already. Or I did.

nursemaggie

That's just how I imagined the ship Slowdown she was always under sail.

GQ I am sure tomorrow can't come quick enough. I had to do the same in November. Sympathy with the smell it one of the worst ever. Spray some vinegar in the air if you can't get rid of it.

I was lucky the delivery man was a plumber, actually I bought it off the plumber he only sells Bosch and only when a machine is not cost effective to repair. He disconnected my old machine and took it outside, removed the washing that had been their 5 days. He put it straight in the new one and we rinsed it several times plus with vinegar.

Both of the plumbers, I saw both partners said they only recommend vinegar for softening and to keep the limescale. They both said vinegar was the best thing for limescale. I have also had it recommended for limescale at the hospital.

I have sleep apnea. I have a modern CPAP machine which has a chamber for water so it does not dry your mouth and lungs. They told me to use vinegar to clear the limescale.

Went to Aldi tonight not long before they closed. It was so quiet DS said I would like to come at this time again. We changed our minds after spending half an hour looking for a cucumber.

I was not so good, spent £124. I did say to DS we will not need to come again until after your birthday. That is not until 21st Feb. 9 large balls of yarn did fall into my trolley so not all food. I don't count yarn as "buying it" as most of my knitting is presents. What I knit for myself usually wears much longer than shop bought, like 3 times as long or more.

I hope "not buying it" will save me enough for DS and I to visit DD in Malta in the summer. May be wishful thinking as only on a very low pension.

mumto2monkeys_2

Another NSD yesterday and today should be too. I'm just amazed that I'm still well within my grocery budget with only one big shop still to do in this pay cycle. I've never managed it before! I will be doing a little dance on the 26th if I make it.

Fibro is bad at the moment. Got in from work yesterday and could hardly move so had to go to bed with painkillers. I don't normally take pills for it as I don't feel I need to. I realise it is a spectrum and I've been lucky to be able to function okay without them. I'm worried that this is starting to change... It has a knock-on effect however as I had a pile of work to do, couldn't even make a start and now it will add to the pile that I will get today. This adds to stress, adds to pain. It is never-ending! My NY resolution was to try not to work at a weekend, but I don't think this will be sustainable. All in all, I feel fed up and crappy.

I am certainly motivated not to spend though. There is talk of a family holiday to Florida in 2017 - all of us, with parents and Sis and her kids. That would be lovely. We did it once, years ago, when I was the only one with children. It would be lovely to go again. I need to divert what I would blow in the supermarket each month on tat into a holiday fund. With 2.5 years to go, should be achievable. We don't go on holiday normally as I'm debt busting, but the bulk of that will be gone this year if I keep up the current attitude.

Another poster who is very pleased to be on the ship!

GreyQueen

pm2326 wrote: »

Does anyone know if dried yeast with a best before date of October 2014 will still work?

I've used dried yeast about 2 yrs out of date and there was no appreciable difference in quality. I use the kind in sachets, Mr T's own or Allins0ns, whichever is on offer, and buy on 3 for 2, hence having a little stockpile. Have never ever had it fail on me.

I've been awake since 3.30 am in pre-washer excitement mode. Didn't get up til 6.30 but have been awake fizzing with anticipation.

nursemaggie, my washer died 4 mins into a cycle on 23rd Dec, and I drained the water out with the hose things by the filter and it mercifully released the door, otherwise there was going to be grief as all this melodrama happened in a 2 hr slot between me coming in from work and heading out to the bus to go to family for 10 days. I was sooooo relieved to be able to get the soaking stuff out.

The old washer and the new one are both B0schs, we tend to favour this brand in our extended family, and it is a Which? Best Buy, as was its predecessor.

N6CNH, I've been keeping my numbers since 1997 so have a lot of data about my cost of living. Have had one change of address and one change of job in that time, plus 3 changes of utility provider and 3 of mobile phone. Because of the changes in prices, an exact year-on-year comparison of spending over very many years isn't too helpful; what I like to do is put my expenditures in a spreadsheet and turn it into a pie chart, so I can see the proportion of spending going on whatever. It's an easy and very intuitive way for me to understand what takes up the lions's share of my spends.

I have costs which I can't control, such as the rent increase due to happen in April, which I won't know about until a month beforehand, and the service charge increase to be applied in October, ditto. So I have to have slack in the budget for those things.

What I want to do is bring the various strands of my interests together so that I am not living in a snarl of contradictions. I'm into moneysaving, old styling, minimalism, increasing personal satisfaction and decreasing Stuff.

I_want_a_baby

N6CNH - we already live pretty frugally and yet I still think we will save in the region of £100-200 per month extra by not buying it. I am keeping track of what we spend and what we have saved. I would find it hard to measure what we have saved by not buying it but I am sure that 2015 savings will be higher than last year.

Plan for today:
Son to school/daughter to nursery
Head to local town
Visit market for the first time, buy all I can off of the shopping list then head to waitrose for the rest.
Back home, put shopping away.
Tidy kitchen properly.
Bake some bread (if turns out ok put the loaf I buy in the freezer).
Spend rest of morning starting to sort office out - such a mess!
Pick daughter up
Have lunch
Possible more office sorting if she is 'helpful' if not might start filing the mountain of paperwork.
Pick son up.
Stick to meal plan for tea.

IWAB x

emslovesmickey

N6CNH - I'm not tracking my spendings against last year per se, but as last year I had the grand total of nothing in my savings account due to overspending I will be able to see how much I have underspent compared to 2014. My overall plan is to save a third of my wages this year, hence the target I have in my ten tasks.

Off to the library on the way to work today to pick up some more books. I have to admit, these tasks are doing wonders for keeping me on the straight and narrow! Not to mention being more productive. It took me three months to stitch the first page of this cross stitch, and it's been less than a month on page two and I'm well on my way to completing it. I've also made one birthday present, halfway to making the second and started designing a third. The only thing that I'm lagging on at the moment is my writing.

DawnW

GreyQueen wrote: »

I've been awake since 3.30 am in pre-washer excitement mode. Didn't get up til 6.30 but have been awake fizzing with anticipation.

nursemaggie, my washer died 4 mins into a cycle on 23rd Dec, and I drained the water out with the hose things by the filter and it mercifully released the door, otherwise there was going to be grief as all this melodrama happened in a 2 hr slot between me coming in from work and heading out to the bus to go to family for 10 days. I was sooooo relieved to be able to get the soaking stuff out.

The old washer and the new one are both B0schs, we tend to favour this brand in our extended family, and it is a Which? Best Buy, as was its predecessor.

Enjoy your new washing machine GQ Hopefully you will be able to sleep better tonight after all the excitement :rotfl:

I like Bosch appliances too, and always buy them if I can. My washing machine is about 13 years old, getting a bit rusty here and there but still going strong. It has had some serious use, with OH working on the farm and DD bringing tons of washing round every few days when she didn't have one

When we moved here I didn't have room for a full width fridge freezer, and had to settle for a narrow model. Shock horror, Bosch didn't make one :eek: So I had to buy a Hotpoint - but I have been quite pleased with it. It has been fine for the past 3 years, and is still going strong.