NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

vulpix

Good evening shipmates,

We had an impromptu night out tonight with some friends from Leicestershire.We went into Manchester for a curry to the same place I have been going to for 40 years.Good food and company and not expensive.

My son who lives away and just split from his girlfriend is prone to depression.I find it difficult to help him at times too.I phoned him last night and he said he was in a restaurant.I was heartened by this as I imagined him sat alone in his flat.I slept better last night.I sound like some bunny boiler Mother but it is hard to see your children in distress.

I must count how many clothes I have.At the moment I think I don't have many in comparison to previous but I bet I will shock myself.The only clothes I will need in the near future is smaller underwear.I put some trousers on tonight and they were too baggy to wear so they are on their way out of the house.I keep a charity bag in the garage and I fill one every couple of weeks but the house never looks any different.

I had some washing out today,first time in ages and I had a tidy up in the garden.Bulbs coming up.I have lost some pots to frost so need to keep an eye out for reasonable price replacements.

I second looking for dates on gift cards.Mr V was given some love 2 shop vouchers or something like that and they were not really for the shops we use.We found a shoe shop he could use them in but by then they had run out of date.It was such a waste for the person who gave them.

Got our visitor to help manhandle another big part of the wardrobe into the kitchen.The end is in sight now.

night night.Vx

suki1964

calleyw wrote: »

I wish I could thank you more than once for this.

its so true. You never know what is around the corner.

One day I had fit and healthy husband next day he had a stroke!!!

Yours

Calley

You know it was the same situation for me in a way. My best ( and only real ) friend was killed by a hit and drive. She was 42


We had been close friends since I was a teen this special lass had a hard life and she scrimped and saved every penny she had, going without to secure her future


She left a fortune to her estranged family. They cleaned up because she scrimped. Her death helped me in looking at my future life

I live in today. I do save as much as I can but I refuse to get paranoid about it. All the lovely things I've been gifted I use- daily. I wear my clothes, I don't do major special days or nights out. I I've posted that I " need" a certain bank balance to make me feel safe. Other then that it's down to the g*ds I hope I have loads of years in front of me, but I can't escape the fact I've a huge lot behind me So the things I'm keeping hold off I'm enjoying by using/wearing. I DESERVE IT !!


I'm so sorry to hear your hubby is in bad health. I send healing thoughts to him and strenghtening thoughts to you. You will survive and get through these tough times, different yet wiser


Take care xx

calleyw

suki1964 wrote: »

I'm so sorry to hear your hubby is in bad health. I send healing thoughts to him and strenghtening thoughts to you. You will survive and get through these tough times, different yet wiser


Take care xx

Thank you he was 44!!!

It was 8 years ago. Sadly we separated 3 years ago.

Yours

Calley

Effyb4

I enjoyed a cycle ride with DH and some friends yesterday. Before we would have gone to a town centre and mooched around the shops, spending money we don't have. We did buy a sandwich and coffee, but it wasn't an expensive day out.

The exercise also helps when I am feeling a bit down. I have been mulling over something said about me at work and I really need to stop thinking about it.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Yesterday was a lovely day weather-wise(and otherwise). The sky was a flawless blue, the sun shone all day. Due to rain overnight which cleared, there was a late and light frost only, circa 8 am-ish, which didn't last. It air was crisp, the catkins were bobbing on the hazel trees, the earliest shoots of the cow parsley were breaking the leaf litter and I had a sense of unseen forces moving this part of the planet towards Spring.

So I went to garden on my allotment, enjoying the cold breeze and warm sun, and then did a run on the pushbike into the tip just before 2 pm.

My first astonishment was that there wasn't a queue of cars waiting to get into the tip. A weekend always sees the queue going down the slip road but there was me just and two other vehicles offloading. The crew had got the place swept spotless and looked bored with waiting for someone to assist/ some mess to clean up.

Then I wended my way back into the city centre where I live, and the roads were crammed as if at rush hour on a weekday. Dropped my bike and popped right into the shopping streets on an errand to the library. There were queues going into the carparks and people everywhere clutching shopping bags and it was hard to make your way down some streets.

It was much busier than it was in the run-up to Xmas. All I can assume is that for many people it was the first payday of 2015, plus they may have had presents of cash/ vouchers which were burning holes in their pockets.

Makes me wonder how many of the things they will have bought this weekend will give joy and how many of them will quickly become clutter. I was just so glad I was able to spend a chunk of my Saturday enjoying myself in nature with catkins, and robins, and buds on the trees, rather then milling about overheated shops with my Primitive Brain (which I have chosen to imagine as a demanding toddler) going Gimme GimmeGimmeShinyShinyShiny incessantly in my head.

Aril

Morning
It's been a bit full on here at GBT this week so am behind again with the thread:o Lots going on some good some bad. Some lowlife stole my son's bike yesterday:mad:but I have to say the reaction of local people on FB when I put a message up on our community page has been amazing:j Some kind soul has even taken the trouble to ring me to say she'd seen a bike [it wasn't his but it was a kind gesture] Anyway I wanted wine and takeaway because I was stressed....byut obviously with it being dry January erm no. So a cuppa and Mr GBT made some burgers with the reduced YS mince and jacket chips just goes to show that although the impulse is there I am learning slowly:D

Other news...wig trimmed yesterday in the town. It was a fine day so I took my camera with me and photographed everything that caught my eye from interesting shop window displays to signs I'd never noticed before. Didn't spend any money beyond the haircut but came away feeling energised.

A few pages back people were discussing freezing mash. My son doesn't like the texture so instead we cook potatoes and then slice them before freezing. When we come to using them we drain them in a sieve over a bowl and then pat dry in a clean tea towel. You can then fry them or bake with a little oil brushed over.

I'm another one whose mind churns over at night time. I completed a CBT course a couple of years ago and learnt some useful techniques. I like this quote: Be mindful not mind full.

Arilx

[Deleted User]

you have made me thoughtful today, about my clothes. I have lots of things that I don`t wear but they fit me and I can see myself wearing them. I already did a clear out for the cs and I want to keep what I have but I need to wear more than just the same things that I wear through the week. Maybe I can start by just adding two sets to my daily wear things, perhaps putting them in sets so that I don`t have to search for tops and bottoms. I have a few nice sets from when I had a couple of good holidays, posh hols when dh was well, they will never date but they just hang there in a wardrobe that I rarely visit.

A funeral could well happen, at my age, friends and family will start to pass. What clothes should I have just in case? That is the time I would not want to be buying in a rush. I am not good with clothes, my size is difficult hence me hanging onto things and I don`t have natural chic. I have a black skirt but what else should I have?

I have discovered stearin candles, they don`t smoke or smell, so are perfect for my house with a dh who cannot cope with strong candle smells. He was out yesterday so I had 4 yankee candles on and suddenly I am thinking why? I have about 30 yankee votives, so they will be put into my cs bag and my large yankees will go to daughters. I am just burning them to remove them from the house and there is definitely a better way.

Nargleblast

For years I thought my habit of replaying situations and having imaginary conversations in my head was part of my eccentric nature, but now I find lots of people do it. Either we are all bonkers or it is normal human behaviour, part of the way the brain makes sense of experiences.

So, a suggestion. You know how you often feel better after a good cry?
Then let it all loose. Next time something that happens winds you up, get yourself on your own at home. Set an alarm clock for, say, fifteen minutes or so. Then let rip. Replay that scene in your head, this time adding the bits that should have happened. Let your inner drama queen loose, see your enemies grovelling at your feet after you have attacked them physically and verbally, see everyone watching and admiring you. Let the tears of anger and frustration out, think of it as poisons being released from.your body with every tear.

Thoroughly enjoy that period of self-indulgence. Then the alarm will sound. Stop immediately and relax. Don't feel stupid, tell yourself you feel better having got that out of your system. Dry your tears, blow your nose. Make a cup of tea and take several deep slow breaths. Light a candle and meditate over a cuppa, remind yourself of all that is good in your world. Tell yourself that you will not brood on what happened any more, what is past is past and cannot be changed. Remind yourself that those who hurt you are not worth wasting your energy on. Put on a cloak of serenity - make it a ritual, imagine this cloak protecting you from negativity.
Then get on with the ironing or washing up or whatever, just get on with your life. If you find bad thoughts intruding again, tell yourself firmly to stop - you are serene, you are invincible, you are a nice person.

Remember the words of Albert Einstein, "Great spirits often face opposition from mediocre minds."

dND

Just popping up to say I'm still here and will hopefully post an update later today!

Islandmaid wrote: »

Hmm.... Row with DH..

Started clearing the kitchen, we,re getting a new one fitted so its the ideal time to be ruthless....

Last year DH was given a second hand enourmous pasta pot, we,ve never used it and I said we should get rid of it as its way too big and takes up space for no reason - que rant...... Its the only thing he,s asked to keep etc, it,s his, he was given it... Bloody childish was waiting for him to lay on the floor and kick his feet... Phahhhh.....

So much for the peace and harmony of decluttering - i,ll put the bloomin thing in his wardrobe....

Moan over

I have one of those - never worked properly for me as it always boiled over. However, I've discovered it makes the best stock pot as you can just lift out the insert with the bones and veg and hey presto, strained stock. OK you do need to put it through a finer strainer but it stops the bones and bit falling out all over the work surface

GreyQueen

Hi kittie, would adding a white blouse, black jacket and black shoes/ tights to your black skirt give an acceptable funeral outfit? Possibly you have these things already?

If I didn't have a job, I would have fewer clothes. I have some things for work which don't get used for anything else, and have another 17 years in the workforce to look forward to, so shouldn't be too crazy to junk stuff used for that aspect of my life.

Apart from that, I am by both temperament and lifestyle a low-key, casual sort of person, and my modest social life isn't a dressy one, it's mostly hanging with pals at their homes, the odd cinema outing, a pizza place etc. Gala occasions are once/ twice a decade.

Plus I need unspecial or retired-from-general-service clothes to use at the allotment. In the height of summer, when I'm up there several times a week and it's hot and mucky, I have 2-3 sets of lottie clothes on the go at once. This time of year, not so many changes, but only up there at the weekends, so using one pair trousers and one top for the weekend's gardening.

Hmm, I can see some further winnowing of the wardrobe in the future months, I'm presently on the warmer, darker side of the work-wardrobe, will be shifting into lighter things in a few months' time.