NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Butterfly_Brain

purpleshoes wrote: »

I dont shop in boots either, the only time Im ever in there is if I fancy having a quick squirt of their tester perfumes.

Much prefer superdrug.

I don't shop in Boots because they are tax dodgers

purpleshoes_2

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I don't shop in Boots because they are tax dodgers

Im sure vodafone are, that's who my phone contract are with, but they are getting the big heave very shortly. And I'll be making sure the company I go with next does pay tax.

Think there's quite a few UK companies who don't pay tax. not sure if amazon are one of them, but I try not to shop from there because they apparently treat their staff very badly indeed, some really poor working conditions as far as I know. I also believe argos don't treat their staff very well either.

Its actually getting harder to go anywhere and buy stuff from companies who don't use cheap labour to make the goods or don't have staff on workfare.

My mum knows a man who has been sanctioned by the DWP for over a year I believe, hes living on a pension (149 a month) he had from a job plus handouts, because he refused to go back to a job he had been let go from and work for nothing on workfare.

I buy a lot of second hand stuff for a reason but sometimes even when you think you are making an ethical purchase, you read something and find out big chains have staff on workfare.

Ideally, Id like every purchase I make to be from a company who doesn't use sweatshop labour to make the goods and who also gives their staff decent working conditions. Having been treated like crap in so many jobs I honestly hate to think of people suffering.

115K

I realised I had run out of bin bags last night and went to the local shop and did spend a little bit more than I wanted to. I bought some peanut butter, cream cheese, bread and a bottle of wine. I have had 11/16 no spend days this month though so I'm still doing pretty well.

It was freezing and windy on the walk there too. I was still tucked up in bed at 10pm last night. I started to watch Location, Location, Location and then Blade Trinity but I was too tired.

There was a programme on last night about how to save £1,000. I think it was Watchdog? I taped it so will watch it in a minute to see if there is any tips I don't already know.:D

mumto2monkeys_2

Oftsed came along and scuppered my NSDs - I am firmly blaming them . DH had to go and pick up quick fixes for tea as I have been working solidly for past two days.

However, this means that what we would have cooked is still in, so I might not need a shop next week.

[Deleted User]

Good Morning everyone wide awake this morning as I woke up feeling a bit cold so got up and made a cuppa.Once awake I find thats it for the rest of the day,I'm no good at turning over and dropping off again
Thanks fairy3 and elona for the recipes.I shall try to get through my red lentil mountain :):) It seemed at the time to be a good purchase last year at £2.00 for this big bag I normally buy around a 500gm one .I'd forgotten it was at the back of the cupboard.Still it will help to streeetch the meals out a bit this month and probaly half of next month as well :)

Well I had my pre-op medical yesterday and now only have to wait for my op.date letter ,fingers crossed it will be soon.

I went and bought all of my fresh fruit and veg yesterday as I was out and spent a whopping £13.97 but all the veg box and fruit bowls are full so no more stuff to buy for at least 7-10 days hopefully.

Soup making this morning as I love thick warming soup on really chilly days (inner central heating ) will use some of the lentils as well

I have to try and get a hair trim today if possible, I don't think I can go
another week at this length.

History club this afternoon and we are studying 19th century artist which should be interesting.The £5.00 comes from my entertainments budget

Looks like we are all doing well with the de-cluttering and hanging on to our pennies

I watched the Watchdog programme last night One couple said they just paid the bills as they came in and hadn't though of shopping around !!! and another young couple with two children, their food bill was £165.00 per week !!!!. They had after Jack Monroe had looked through things got it down to a more reasonable £87.Just shows that thinking before you buy does save you cash.

Right I'm off to get another cuppa

Have a good day everyone
JackieO xx

GreyQueen

Ahoy, shipmates!

I was sooo busy yesterday that I didn't go anywhere near a shop. Actually, that's a fib, I live and work in a city centre, so am surrounded with shops, but didn't darken their doors. Another NSD.

Did nip into the library to return a couple of things and get a few more out. Excellent thrifty entertainment for a bookworm like me.

Re B00ts, on the few occasions I have gone in there, I've thought WTH?! at their prices and walked right out again. My preferred shop for this stuff is Savers, they are all over the country inc Scotland and N.Ireland and I find them very economical.

Not that I spend a lot on toiletries, and when I've come out the other side of the menopause (bring it) it will be even less.

Today will be another too-busy-to-shop day, then it's the weekend. I need to establish whether what the gang are doing Sunday is potluck supper, as may have to shop for that, and buy milk, but not planning to part with much more than that.

dND

Planned spends were made and I kept to just the 2 spends; 70€ on filling the car, which should see me good for a month excluding any unforeseen long journeys and 16.99€ on fruit and veg which should keep me going for at least a week (and longer when I use the stragglers for soup). :j


I see this thread a bit like a diet for life. It’s hard to stay on the straight and narrow but if you slip up one day and then give up, you will never succeed. But if you pick yourself up, deal with what tripped you up and then continue on the road, you will eventually get to where you want. So happy travelling everyone. :beer:

Thistle-down

This morning I was able to donate $50 (£33 ish) to a crowdfunding campaign for something I really believe in. Had this been last month or the month before, I would have been sitting here feeling angry at myself for having no money to help.

I will still be able to make an extra payment on my cc. Who knew life could be this good? :j

thriftwizard

A cautionary tale for you all:

Earlier this week, I was further down the West Country with DD1. We'd planned to do some serious walking, but the weather was foul on the first day, so we visited some new-to-her towns instead, and bought some bits & bobs for our respective market stalls/online shop. The first town we visited was one I knew well as a child & teenager, back in the Dark Ages. It used to be very posh & prosperous, with a long twisty high street wending its way down a steep hill; my grandfather's tailor was at the top and his cobbler/bootmaker halfway down. It's very different now.

A big modern shopping development has been attached to the High Street. It has several stories of parking, then two of big High Street "names" - all the biggies are there, in large, clean modern units. It was hardly bustling but there were plenty of people wandering about. And it's completely sucked the life out of the old High Street; every second little shop was empty, and there were beggars sitting in the doorways, empty hats on the pavement, staring hopelessly out, poor souls. Hardly anyone was passing that way to see them.

Admittedly the big local industry has also withered away and died, but it was very clear that the shopping centre had completely replaced the High Street for day-to-day stuff. So all the money spent there is draining away to shareholders in London & further afield. If it's anything like this town, the advent of the shopping centre will have pushed up the High Street rents beyond anything a genuine local small business start-up can afford, too.

We then visited two smaller towns, also haunts of my youth. The only big name shops had been there for many years, in little eccentric premises. Both towns were bustling, with people carrying baskets or pulling trolleys, cheerily greeting each other and stopping to chat or go for a cuppa in one of the pretty little independent, reasonably-priced cafes.

Next day we called in to a seaside town that has attracted a lot of posh-chef attention. We found the interesting-looking little shops clustered around the harbour were nearly all big names, exactly the same ones that infest our own small but upmarket town. We were actually looking for a butchers or (sensible) fishmongers, but the lass in the tiny convenience store told us that "the big T&sco up top of the hill" had "done for" anything like that.

The moral of this story being, if you are lucky enough to still have small family-run shops where you are, please support them. And resist the siren voices that tell you that big name shopping centres & supermarkets will attract more business; maybe it will, but only to itself.

vulpix

Thriftwizard,a cautionary tale.All independent shops in my small town died with the arrival of a tesco in the area 10 years ago.All we have now are takeaways and estate agents.The government in their wisdom are MAKING the area build thousands of new executive homes.The schools are full,no facilities at all.It will just result in thousands more cars on what in effect are lanes.:(