NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

suki1964

Good morning shipmates

Woken to a winter wonderland ....again, so confined to hammock till work tonight

Shame because I wanted to spend a few pennies on bird food, ran out yesterday but the roads are just too bad to make unnessary trips

Spending wise have been very good, nothing other then needed food supplies. Even hubby was on board this week and only snuck one extra in the trolley

The sore mouth situation has worked to our advantage. I'm still on soft food so took advantage of it and made a veggie dinner last night which went down well with both mum and hubby. A dhal made from a bag of lentils I have had forever, and a Persian aubergine dish which cost just a £1 for the aubergines. A packet of half price fish pie mix made a pie for Friday and hubby is definitely converted :j. Believe me this is a break through of mammoth proportions as he's always been a meat and two veg man. So now checking out other veggie dishes that they may be prepared to try


Shop wise, we live outside a small town. It has a tesco and a lidl. However the town still manages to support 6 butchers, one green grocer, two bakeries, and a weekly fish van. We also have a hardware shop or three that sell everything The local mini marts are more popular then tesco. And their prices are on par. I think we still have a good balance here. For us I tend to choose to shop local, rather then do a 35 mile trip to use a multinational. Mr t still gets a good share of my housekeep, but that's only cos I use their reduction section as my main shop. Scratch cooking means I can shop just about anywhere else, I'm not reliant on one place. Quite often I don't see the inside of a supermarket from one week to the next as the local shop ( 4 miles) sells bread milk eggs etc and whilst a few pennies dearer, I just pick up needs so saves me money, time and diesel


Oh a big spend coming up. But it's spend to save. Oil. When we moved here 9 years ago oil was 38p. And went up and up and up - reached 80p. Now it's down to 31p so although I have enough oil to see me till March, I'm topping up now and cutting back on the coal. So it really is a need ( kind off) lol

Anyway, back to my cook books for inspiration

Stay warm and safe everyone

pollys

Good morning

I read but don't often post. No unnecessary spending for our household. I'm really pleased as we will be able to add to our savings this month. I also feel that we are eating better. I'm not buying any treats, I'm baking instead using stock cupboard items. Much tastier.

Have a really good week. I'll be reading along.

Polly

seriouslyfrugal

not much to report here although I did get my Amazon trade in money accredited yesterday :j

need to do some sewing over the weekend and tidy my bedroom although I'm not looking forward to the tidying I know I will feel better afterwards

I'm with slow down I bank with nationwide for the same reasons

hope everyone keeps safe over the weekend

katsu

Aril

you posted about needing 2mm needles some pages back. I might have a spate metal pair. pm details if you would like me to post them as the thread moves so fast!

I'm 99% certain I have a pair. I switched to Karbonz.

purpleshoes_2

Spent around £50 on equipment for my fitness classes, but necessary as they are growing.

Apart from that, no unnecessary spends, think I spent £2.70 yesterday, didnt go near a supermarket. Popped into B and M today to buy a big bag of cat food for the cats and will need some porridge and some soya yogurt later but that should be it.

Also bought fruit from the fruit stall this morning, 2 packs of blueberries and 2 pineapples came to £2.70.

Going to make a charity shop donation today, clothes, books and magazines and have 5 bags ready for a local charity shop to come and collect from me as well.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

I went to my allotment this morning and on the way up it started to snow and it started to lay (bitter frost last night and ground is frozen to depth of about 1 inch). Decided not to linger so checked the place over and lifted some leeks and a turnip to eat later and then went to a supermarket on the way home.

Picked up a pkt of choc biscuits on offer in a basket in the aisle. Then I thought, I had no intention of buying biscuits, why have I got these in my hand just because they're half-price? That's still money I hadn't intended to spend and contrary to my wish to lose some weight.

So I put them back and got a chicken which will feed me for the best part of a week.

I'm having a sandwich and a cuppa to warm up before going out again with the shopping trolley full of donation bags which are getting in my way in the flat. Be so good to get them from underfoot.

I have been briefly in 2 charity shops today already (bought nowt) and will check out some more this afternoon. I am pretty disciplined, but there are one or two things I have on a long term 'wants list' which I keep my eye out for esp books not in the library system.

My Mum has told me that it is possible to buy things new but I'm not sure that I believe her.

purpleshoes_2

We have snow here as well, I walked home from town yesterday, about a mile, it was quite nice walking feeling the snow crunch under my feet. Oddly enough it feels quite mild compared to earlier in the week.

Im actually someone who doesn't mind supermarket shopping, maybe because I hate clothes shopping with a passion. But its been quite nice not going anywhere near.

Good not being tempted to spend when food is all around you and I have plenty to keep me going. Currently have a pot of leek, parsnip and onion soup on the go and I have enough of the same to make at least one, if not another two pots.

I also had some cheap veggie chicken style nut roasts that I bought from approved foods ages ago, just mixed them up with water and fed them to the birds, the stuff I put out last night, all gone.

Found a stray pack of tofu and I'll also give it to the birds, again bought it cheap ages ago, don't eat soya anymore apart from yogurt so its not going to be wasted.

Slowdown

I have popped back onto decks to distract myself from eating too much flapjack!

I think perhaps the lurkers who post occasionally could be the stowaways. Listening from below decks and popping up when no one is looking? Hooray for the stowaways, all are welcome aboard.

I think the weather facilitates NBI days as no one wants to go out. Im at home with several layers on and I keep making cups of tea. I don't like putting the heating on in the day time. Evenings maybe, but we have the log burner too. Perhaps I will fire her up soon. Trouble is Im the one who makes sure the logs are in and feed it throughout it's burning time as no one else stays around long enough. Or they just plain forget and it goes out.

Asked DS what he wanted for his departure supper tonight. I said he could have a free choice. He chose steak! I don't really like it so I will have something else. DH and DS2 will join him I suspect, so I will put a smile on the butcher's face later to be sure! At least the chips won't be expensive!

This morning DH showed me the reduced hampers from Waitrose's website. It really highlighted the inflated prices and the ridiculous amount we are prepared to spend in the name of Christmas. A hamper was reduced from 100 squid to 40. A bargain perhaps until you see that the contents is definitely not worth it and you don't even get the wicker hamper to go with it. Madness. I love Waitrose. But not at that price!

Well, I'm off to make some carrot and coriander soup for lunch. Need to balance out the flapjack with a few vitamins!

Kind regards
Slowdown:)

vodkawitch1

I posted off my box of books to Amazon then went to Waitrose to get some of there half price stuff. Came away with 2 large chickens which will feed me for nearly two week £3 plus some apples and tomatoes all on my list. Spent £8.20 and got my free newspaper.
Did fall of the ship a little yesterday as I bought two books in cs for £4 but once read they will go to daughter then off to Am@zon.
Was snowing here earlier but it has all gone now and the sun is out.
Have a good day everyone.

115K

I'm making a big veggie coconut curry today. Yum. Just off to have a bath before I start cooking.:)

kittie wrote: »

I have had a bad back for days now, also a bad shoulder and hands so I started rebounding in ernest today, having figured that my lymphatic system needs to get moving to get rid of waste products. My problem is boredom, I mean I move almost all day but exercise is boring. Anyway I am loving the rebounder, it is the rolls royce bellicon and I started with a 3 minute session, getting me puffed. Then an hour later I did 10 minutes gently with no silly flips and felt good, the very strange thing is that my back isn`t aching now. I think stuff was getting stuck and not draining away. I need to remember to use it every day as I need to encourage my osteoblasts to build bone and at my time of life the osteoclasts (bone wasters) are rampant

I have a rebounder too, I tried to use it over the past two days and I am so unfit I could only do 5 minutes at a time.:o It is very good exercise.:)