NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Bobarella

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Update, it was the pipe under the bath and I now have a big square hole in my kitchen ceiling, DD thought it was brilliant when she could see the ligh from the kitchen in the bathroom

To top everything off the plumber missed the front door step and went flying :eek: He was ok and was really nice about it and told me not to worry, but I was mortified :eek:

thriftwizard, the plumbing was under Homeserve insurance, but it doesn't cover the ceiling damage, and as I have a £200 excess on my house insurance, it is going to be a lot cheaper to do the ceiling ourselves

I will be glad when today is over

really sorry to hear about your leak.

GreyQueen

((((((((((BB))))))))))) what a blinking palaver with your leak and ceiling, hope you've managed to get some sleep and not laid awake fretting about it.

As someone who books a lot of repairs, I'd recommend leaving it some time to dry out, perhaps even a week plus, before re-boarding that ceiling or you could end up with trapped moisture and a subsequent damp/ mould problem. Appreciate it's not ideal, but then, it's a non-ideal set of circs. If all else fails, decorate the area with tinsel and put it down as a story for your anecdotage.

Interesting thoughts about culture, inclusion/ exclusion. I've always been a bit of a square peg in society as I never bought the line I was supposed to buy, to the extent of thinking And what has all this got to do with me?! I'm passionate about some things which never apparently cross the minds of many, but am indifferent to many things which others get themselves into a tizz over.

Grinning at the family history stories. Dad, and a few others, are the family historians. We haven't found anything too horrendous (yet), but there was a snarky note on a church's birth register in the Victorian times alongside an ancestor's name - 'father on a prison hulk in Portsmouth awaiting transportation to the colonies'. Snidey beggar. Some others didn't bother to insinuate and just put 'baseborn' on birth registers. Lovely thing for an educated cleric to do to uneducated and illiterate farm workers, hey? Mostly, in our family, the parents of the 'baseborn' child married later on.

Today I have a half-day's leave and will pick up a few bits of Christmas-specific shopping (edible treats for family who only like consumable gifts) and that will be that for Christmas spending. Not looking forward to it, but it won't get any more pleasant the closer we get to Crimble.

I've always been a bit of a rubbish consumer. If I want somethings, I tend to research it and make a considered purchase, and then keep it until it breaks and is beyond economic repair. And then be ticked off about having to buy another one. Sometimes I make misguided purchases, of course, I'm far from perfect. The trick for me is to try to recoginise the things which caused them to happen; the insecurites, the unrealistic expectations, the chinks in the armour of unshoppingness which normally coats me from head to toe........:p

Righty, all a bit thoughtful for a wumman who hasn't even had her breakfast, so I better crack on.

Dee2

Morning all!

Hope you have a better day ButterflyBrain - I like GreyQueens idea of dressing the hole with tinsel!

One of the little (many) things that makes me jump up and down at the moment are those shiny sticky bows that go on presents and the curly shiny ribbon to go with it. I know its to make gifts look appealing but other than that-what's the point? They end up in landfill even when they've been used a few times. So last night I googled how to make your own. Let me tell you shipmates, my efforts were rubbish! Then I remembered that at work we get a lot of deliveries with screwed up brown paper as packaging which always gets thrown in a skip. Today that paper will be wombled home with me, duly ironed (I know I'm not alone in this) and I'm sure I've got some ink and stamps squirrelled away. Who needs a shiny bow anyway? (not me)

Have a good day everyone.

Minimalist

Slowdown wrote: »

McDonalds has long chips, standing in a red carton, apparently for our satisfaction. It is one of their main advertising strategies. These chips have an unbelievable 19 ingredients, at least one of which is marked as hazardous for ingestion. 19!!??!! They're chips for goodness sake.

Worse still, these chips can only be this long if you grow a particular potato in the States, which are tricky little numbers as they are prone to a specific blight. This little blighter of a bug puts long brown trails through the potato which means McDs won't buy them.

So rather than spoiling their advertising with shorter chips from easily grown potatoes, they cure this problem by spraying the crops with an insecticide so dangerous the farmers refuse to visit their fields for many days afterwards! The potatoes have to be stored for ages after picking to allow these chemicals to seep out.

Don’t get me started on MacDonald’s, what a hateful company. They disregard their customers' health, employees' wellbeing and the planet's natural resources in their blinkered pursuit of profit.

Not sure which site you saw that information on, Slowdown, but there is a campaign started by the communities affected here, http://www.toxictaters.org/ - including a petition people can sign. (I’ve not posted a direct link as I’m not sure whether board rules allow that kind of thing - but I think a spot of armchair activism is a no-spend pastime of interest to the HMS No Buy crew!)

Interesting / scary article for anyone feeling tempted by takeaway - scroll down for a pic comparing McD’s to KFC fries - after being stored in lab conditions for 3 years:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/fast-food-truths_n_4296243.html [Hint: not that I'm a fan of KFC, but the McD’s ones are largely unchanged :eek:]

As Goldiegirl said earlier, best to avoid the mega-corporations and support your local chippy (as part of a balanced diet, of course ). Or better still, grow your own and get the chip pan out.

Butterfly Brain - Sorry to hear of your plumbing disaster - hope it’s all fixed up soon.

GreyQueen - thanks for the fantastic term UNSHOPPINGNESS - definitely word of the day! :rotfl:

I hope all the crew are weathering out the storm - take care and stay safe everyone!

thriftwizard

Dee2, that's an excellent idea! But for those of us with no access to repurposed brown paper, you can take it one step further & not use paper at all: some time ago I discovered the Japanese art of Furoshiki folding, which involves using squares of fabric to make gift-wrapping, or bags, or even items of clothing. (See furoshiki.com/techniques/)

They do tend to use specific cloths, but it's very easy to make your own out of old headscarves for gift-wrap or duvet covers/curtains for bags. The cloth can be part of the gift, or given back to you; it's up to the recipient and all part of the fun.

Lina_T

Just wanted to climb aboard to say that I've been reading your posts with interest and would like to join the crew, if you'll have me?

I wont be buying nothing but I'll be keeping it to a minimum of what I need, considering purchases carefully, noting down every penny which leaves my pocket and trying to be as money-neutral as possible. You've even inspired me to start a blog where I'll keep a diary of my efforts but I'll be sure to check in here as well! :beer:

AnimalTribe

Hi

I just started reading this thread last night, so I've still some catching up to do, but I'd like to join too please.

My house is so full of stuff. I’ve done a massive Christmas food shop, and extra in case of bad weather, so my freezer and cupboards are full. All the Christmas presents are bought. Thinking about it last night I can’t really think what else I need. So my goal for 2015 is not to buy anything other than food. I have enough ‘wants’ in the house in terms of books, dvds, and craft stuff to keep me going for years.

The only thing I thought I might need was Christmas cards. However, inspired by the thread I got up early this morning and pulled out the Christmas chest from the loft to see what cards I already had. I have boxes of them bought in the sales last year by my husband. My cards are now all written and stamped with 2nd class. Normally I’m so late in doing this job that all the cards have to go 1st class. I’m feeling very virtuous (or I’ve gone nuts) as I’ve worked out the difference in stamp value and put that amount into an under-used savings account.

I’m looking forward to a less commercial 2015 and an emptier house.

FLA27

Minimalist & Slowdown - Thankfully I hate fast food and always have ever since an unfortunate KFC experience when i was a child in the early 80's. Goodness knows what I bit into but it was hideous and i spat it into the nearest waste paper bin and refused to eat any more. My Nan was not pleased! I'm not just concerned about pesticides on potatoes but I am also concerned about how potatoes are stored and sold nowadays. Potatoes used to be stored covered in dirt and sold in brown paper. It was always advised to keep them in the dark at all times. Now they are fully clean and sold in plastic bags and left under light in supermarkets for days. I don't really think this is good practice as light increases the Solanine levels (the stuff that makes them go green I think).

Anyway, I've been doing a lot of Unsubscribing this week, I am still surprised at how many 'buy this now' emails that are still coming through. Good riddance to them.

I have also decided to make my own twig Christmas tree this year. So far it's looking ok but the twigs might need to dry out for a bit and I am not sure how long it will take. I have almost everything I need to finish it apart from spray on snow!

cydney65

Hello I'd like to join please.

This thread has really struck a chord with me. I was even thinking about it when I was at the hospital yesterday! I had to have a 'dry eye' test and while I was sitting there with bits of cardboard in my eyes I was mentally going through my budget, trying to see where I was spending unnecessarily.

We have bought our GD her first birthday present in the Ama*on £5 off a £10 spend thingy ready for January and I will get other birthday presents in the Jan sales then that is it for the year. We do tend to treat our GD most months to little things, but I will scour the charity shop in our village (the proceeds of which go back into the local community) for bits for her instead. I also need to stop buying clothes; I am a terrible hoarder of jeans!

So basically the conclusion was that we need to cut down on our grocery shop and I need to stop buying useless tat, music and clothes!

I hope things get back to normal for you Butterfly Brain and a big HELLO to everyone.

CydneyX

lilian1977

Lina_T wrote: »

You've even inspired me to start a blog where I'll keep a diary of my efforts but I'll be sure to check in here as well! :beer:

Don't forget to post the link to your blog here when you're ready - I've done the same! https://afrugalmonth.wordpress.com/ - thanks to everyone that's already subscribed and commented!

No spend day yesterday, today won't be as I'm taking DS for tea with his friends as a pre-christmas treat, but hey - at least I won't be bringing anything new into the house!

BB god, what a nightmare with your ceiling Hope you can get it dried out and sorted soon x