NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Crochet_Teapot

Pinksteps wrote: »

Ditto with your post, DM if you ever need someone to chat to x

That's really lovely of you.

I_want_a_baby

Well, these times are sent to try us!

We have just had the roof done on our rented out house. Had the batten and felt renewed and tiles out back on.

We were expecting to pay £1500, just been told the final bill is £1660. I'm going to have to take the £160 out of the savings pot we had started to cover my husbands paternity leave. This will have to be resaved next year before the baba makes an appearance.

Whilst we are paying off the debt we can't really afford to have the house really although it will be much more comfortable once it's paid off!

I'm going to be thankful for this thread and for this 'reminder' to focus on all we have been talking about.

On the plus side at least it is done now and we don't have to worry about leaks and wet tenants!

I only had three hours sleep last night so this makes me want to cry, I'm sure it will seem more manageable in the morning.

I'm going to stop saving to pay of debt in January and save to cover paternity/essential car repairs/essentials we still need for the baby.

We will still pay the standard £300 repayment and once the above is covered we will start saving again to repay the debt.

An early night is calling!

IWAB x

moments_of_sanity

IWAB, you are braver than me. We rented out DH's Mum's house when she passed away but decided to sell it as the maintenance costs were too high for the return and the final straw was a £2,000 bill for the boiler! :eek:

I sometimes wish we had either kept it or moved into it but it wasn't to be

I_want_a_baby

I can tell you we wouldn't have rented it out if it wasn't for the fact that

A) my in laws were very against us stepping off the property ladder.
we live with our in laws and once we have repaid the loan to do up our side of the property it will be rent free and we will have the £300 left per month spare (to build an emergency fund/OP the mortgage).
C) they have told us is the SHTF we could borrow more to tide us over or have a payment break for a few months.
D) when they are no longer around we will have to vacate this property as we would never be able to afford to buy it so at least we will have something to move back to.
E) the house is rented to my sister.

A very unique set of circumstances. Which give great comfort when we step back and look at the bigger picture but doesn't make the day to day life easier for the next couple of years.

It doesn't matter who e money is owed to or how blaise they are about getting it back. I hate being in debt and can't wait to have the debt gone!

IWAB x

[Deleted User]

well everyone seems to be on the good ship 'not buying' and I do hope it carries on.Today I went to my U3A Christmas party and we all had a great time food and tea's/coffee provided .I even came home with a dozen Mr Kipling Mince pies rather than see them binned. Nothing wrong with them ,even had the boxes still so I have spent nowt and came home with a 'freebie'
Not the slightest inclination to spend ,even though I parked across from the social club hall in the big Tesco's car park for a couple of hours (another freebie )
I think I'm turning into a Mrs Scrooge :):).
Tomorrow night I have two complimentary tickets for the local panto in Chatham which were freebies as well so I'll be taking my youngest DGS Mikey to see it.
I think my purse has become welded shut this week as I've not spent a tanner :):)
Keep up the good work chums, I'm off to put my feet up and do some knitting which I do for the Linus Charity while watching some catch-up t.v.
Cheers
JackieO xxx

Butterfly_Brain

Borrowed a friend's spare transit van and spent the morning at Wickes getting plasterboard and finishing plaster, which is now sitting in the utility room :eek: DH is just going to patch it until after Christmas and then he will replace the whole ceiling.
I am trying to talk him into new kitchen units from Ikea as well as a bathroom refurb

It cost a total of £25 and we felt it better to do it ourselves because we have a £200 excess on our house insurance, so no point in phoning them. It is a good job the kitchen is small, not that I am always moaning that it is
The plumber cost nothing because it was on our Homeserve policy which doesn't have an excess charge. I have had the policy for ten years and I have never had to use them before, all in all I am very happy with their service.

Lina_T

I sold a freeview box on my local Facebook selling site which the guy has just picked up. £2 made and a bit of clutter gone from the house. It's one we bought when we moved into our house to tide us over before we got a proper tv/phone/bb package set up.

Was going to throw away a couple of memory foam cushions I bought a few months ago. I thought they'd be lovely but turns out we just don't get on with them. However, I had a better idea and put them on the shelf in the boiler cupboard where the cats sometimes sleep. Both cats now curled up on memory foam and looking very spoilt!

mothernerd

I'd like to join you all please. I think I am generally quite good at not spending but could do better. My income is so miniscule that making further savings is necessary.

Have just moved back into my old (2 bed terrace) house (middle son was 'renting' it until recently although 'rent' disappeared every time he had problems. Big house is now up for sale (need to change Estate Agents - made a rushed choice). Sale of house should make me debt free but still need to be careful as I am still ten years away from retirement and have had health problems for the past 7 years.

I am trying to do the reverse advent thing of giving away something for each day of advent but am slightly hampered because I had a total hip replacement operation on 13th November, am on crutches and can't carry very much and have only walked as far as the post box.

Am waiting for a local organisation to respond to my e-mail asking if they can collect a number of kitchen items (DS2 left me with duplicates). I don't want to give away the things I have promised them until they contact me, so am collecting alternative donations, hoping DS3 will put them in the big red wheelie bin at the library. Sent him last week with overdue library books, a bag for the charity bin and a bag for the food bank (they have a collecting box for that as well.

Knew before I went in hospital that I would be on crutches for 'at least six weeks' which took me to Christmas day - so I cooked and sliced my turkey the weekend before and have enough shopping in the freezers to get me through January and possibly February. Only allowed £25 for food this month to buy more bread, salad etc - was just desperate not to be dependent on DS3. When I was filling in the hospital form and asked him about meals he said he would buy me pizza.

Looking forward to sharing all your ideas. In addition I need to work on resuming weight loss and increasing fitness - hopefully by mid- February I should be better than I was before the op (already in a lot less pain) and from that point on should continue to improve. Must be better than the constant struggle just to keep going and not give in to depression and despair (until I was diagnosed in August there was always the suspicion that maybe it was just me not coping).

nursemaggie

I think this thread is in danger of being the most popular on the OS thread.

GQ I think you and I are a lot alike. I can't write like you and much as I would like to, grow my own. I have no garden and not the health to do it.

Even for the last 20 years of my career we even shared similar work, just different local authorities. Agree about bows, never bought any though have reused. It you have to post the gift you flatten it when you wrap it in brown paper. If you didn't the post office would finish it off anyway.

I never buy anything but the cheapest wrapping paper and only in the sales in January. I buy my cards in January too. I think one year I bought about 100 cards for 30p.

Agree with GQ about the hole and drying out I would leave it until at least the new year you could really have problems otherwise.

I love GQ suggestion of tinsel or how about a large piece of white paper over it stuck up with drawing pins and cove with a wreath. You could be the first people in history to have a wreath on the ceiling. Good talking point.

Minimalist I am sure you can post petitions on the boards I have signed others before but not on the OS I don't eat fast food anyway can't understand what anyone sees in it. I will eat if someone buys it for me but I really do not enjoy it. In fact quite the opposite.

Lillian1977 I think that quote could read send 10% judging by what a lot of people spend on their children. Try googling free things to do with kids. Doing it on Google maps and you will get things for your area.

Aril

OK I'm in:D This is very close to the personal challenge I have set myself for 2015 and it will be good to share experiences with others aswell as having a place to record my progess. I've been living this type of life for a long while now but have paid far closer attention this last few months. I will buy new if needed though....things break and sometimes second hand is not practical. I've just been looking at whether it's possible to make your own cream cleaner....it is and it doesn't look hard so I shall ad that along with making my own window cleaner as a first project int he new year.

I'm already pretty frugal and lead a very simple but happy and I feel fulfilling life. My approach these days is not living a life wearing a hair shirt but a new to me silk one:rotfl:

Arilx