NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

[Deleted User]

Morning chums and a brand new month for us all to get our teeth into I am very happy that I had 25 out of 31 NSD in January and hope for as many for February, fingers crossed.

I have had lots of ideas posted on the Make do and Mend forum re my walking stick strap, lovely friendly folk on there who have really got my grey cells working again :) and I'm going to try and find my old camera case to see if I can 'cannabalise ' it for my stick,evry penny saved is more in the pot after all:)

Slowdown if you like wild and remote spots to walk have you been to Mersea Island off the coast of Essex.I lived there back in the mid 1960s and its a beautiful place for walks but be careful of the tides rising Great pub down on The Hard by where the boats moor up The do a spectacularly huge plate fish and chips ,much needed after a long walk along the beaches.The lifeboat station is brilliant and a small museum Last year we took my grandsons there as they wanted to go 'crabbing 'off the pontoon.The RNLI chaps take the children around and answer all their questions wiith such patience.West Mersea doesn't seemed to have changed much since I lived there in 1965.Lots of local history as well re the Romans and Boadiccea was supposedly there before she attacked Colchester Castle.In the summer you can watch the surfers flying around by the 'Strood' the road that connects the island to the mainland It doesn't seem to have been spoiled by tourism too much thank goodness

Well the only thing I have to do today is go to the ATM and extract my £60.00 for February's food purse,no shopping at all to buy.
Hope everyone has a great day and keeps warmwe had a dusting of snow yesterday afternoon but luckily it didn't settle
Cheers chums
JackieO xxx

Mint1955

We are also decluttering our entire house for very different reasons lol

Two houses into one 16 years ago two moves and no decluttering done until now!!!!!!

Diary tells the story of what's next https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5105296

Good luck getting space for new baby xxx

weesmiler wrote: »

Hi all,

I think I need to join you all if that is ok?

I am currently attempting to declutter my entire house, use up stuff I already have and minimise buying more rubbish that will just clutter up the place! My husband and I combined two houses when we got married, so there are a lot of doubles of things, and OH won't part with anything...and in general my stuff is of better quality, so I'm a bit stuck with these things.

However, we have our first baby on the way, due in June, so this has been a great reason to clear one of the bedrooms. Also, I'll be on maternity leave for around 10 months, so income will drop, and although we have savings to cover our bills etc, I'd still like a bit of spending money, so anything I can save between now and June will be most welcome!

I look forward to getting lots of hints and tips from you all, here's to a frugal 2015 (even if I'm a month late in joining) xxx

Mint1955

JackieO I think we are within waving distance you talk of local riverside park and Strood xxx

Local MSE people now I am leaving the country lol!!

JackieO wrote: »

Morning chums and a brand new month for us all to get our teeth into I am very happy that I had 25 out of 31 NSD in January and hope for as many for February, fingers crossed.

I have had lots of ideas posted on the Make do and Mend forum re my walking stick strap, lovely friendly folk on there who have really got my grey cells working again :) and I'm going to try and find my old camera case to see if I can 'cannabalise ' it for my stick,evry penny saved is more in the pot after all:)

Slowdown if you like wild and remote spots to walk have you been to Mersea Island off the coast of Essex.I lived there back in the mid 1960s and its a beautiful place for walks but be careful of the tides rising Great pub down on The Hard by where the boats moor up The do a spectacularly huge plate fish and chips ,much needed after a long walk along the beaches.The lifeboat station is brilliant and a small museum Last year we took my grandsons there as they wanted to go 'crabbing 'off the pontoon.The RNLI chaps take the children around and answer all their questions wiith such patience.West Mersea doesn't seemed to have changed much since I lived there in 1965.Lots of local history as well re the Romans and Boadiccea was supposedly there before she attacked Colchester Castle.In the summer you can watch the surfers flying around by the 'Strood' the road that connects the island to the mainland It doesn't seem to have been spoiled by tourism too much thank goodness

Well the only thing I have to do today is go to the ATM and extract my £60.00 for February's food purse,no shopping at all to buy.
Hope everyone has a great day and keeps warmwe had a dusting of snow yesterday afternoon but luckily it didn't settle
Cheers chums
JackieO xxx

Mint1955

I have been following the no buy in 2015 and it really makes me think about day to day spends but also how we think about money.

Our budgets will be in upheaval shortly as it's all change for us but the basics I have gathered from MSE since 2005 (where have the years gone) are being used for planning our new life.

Not buying is also in action to finally clear the whole house as in three weeks it all needs to be gone. Stockpiled toilet rolls are great but not sure we really needed that many lol

Just buying a few fresh bits to make meals is saving me loads since Christmas and sorting clearing packing means no ad hoc spending through boredom.
Happy February everyone xx

eandjsmum

Jackie O and Mint


I like to walk along the Medway from Upnor to Kingsnorth,(depending on the tide of course)


I am intending to try to walk more of the Medway River Path this summer.


I also love the Riverside Country Park . When we lived in Chatham we used to go to Capstone a lot.


Greyqueen another one with a Henry here. It took years of nagging to get that as OH would only have heritage Vaccies.
Even a visit to a museum where we saw a hoover constellation and my 2 year old climbed onto the display shouting to all and sundry " I know how to turn that on. Look I'll show you" didn't persuade him we needed a new one.

vulpix

Amaretto and Tia Maria are nice in tiramissu though not together.

All this talk about Henrys is making me regret getting rid of mine more:( We also combined 2 houses and I chose to keep Mr V's wet n dry pullalong and then bought an upright which turned out to be even heavier and more cumbersome so my son now has that one.Just to say I never used a bag in my Henry as I was too tight to buy replacements when the originals eventually died.He didn't mind at all.

I can't wait for the car boot sale season to start,I have filled box after box of stuff and if it doesn't sell after a few outings it can all go to the charity shop.I was going to earmark any earnings for a short break but Air Ram it is now!Thanks Edwink you are the only real person I know who has one.;)

Laters Vx

GreyQueen

(((7WW))) feeling for you with the car spends. Hope it tapers off for a while.

Can I ask, have you ever considered going car-free? The reason I ask is that I recall reading a newspaper article about a family with two children who did this after crunching the numbers.

This family had a pretty regular life but didn't need the car to get to work. They used it for the weekly supermarket shop, running kids to after-school activities a couple of nights a week and a few visits a year to family who weren't accessible by public transport.

They worked out that they could do everything by taxi, hire a car for the long journey to family and still be £££ ahead over the year. And now, with supermarket deliveries possible, it could be even easier.

Perhaps you and yours would like to price up car rental (I can hire a small car for £23 per 24 hours here) and other things and see if this is something which might be viable for you?

I appreciate that it's a bit of a leap in the dark for a lot of people who have grown up in car-owning families, and who may well have had a car all their adult life, but the costs are getting ridiculous, and the endless worry of things going wrong and blowing the budget is something I don't miss at all - car-free since June 1997.

Slowdown

Slowdown if you like wild and remote spots to walk have you been to Mersea Island off the coast of Essex.I lived there back in the mid 1960s and its a beautiful place for walks but be careful of the tides rising Great pub down on The Hard by where the boats moor up The do a spectacularly huge plate fish and chips ,much needed after a long walk along the beaches.The lifeboat station is brilliant and a small museum Last year we took my grandsons there as they wanted to go 'crabbing 'off the pontoon.The RNLI chaps take the children around and answer all their questions wiith such patience.West Mersea doesn't seemed to have changed much since I lived there in 1965.Lots of local history as well re the Romans and Boadiccea was supposedly there before she attacked Colchester Castle.In the summer you can watch the surfers flying around by the 'Strood' the road that connects the island to the mainland It doesn't seem to have been spoiled by tourism too much thank goodness
JackieO xxx

Thanks a lot for the recommendations JackiO I like to explore off the beaten track a bit. It often means the not so beautiful parts as the general public's preferences, but it really makes for some interesting trips. It wouldn't be too far to go, we live on the edge of Epping Forest. Also love the idea of walking the Medway River path. I will look into that one too.

Bought a couple of stomach friendly foods this morning. Some years age I was prescribed anti inflammatory meds for fibro. They made my stomach lining bleed (sorry if that's too much info) but I have had a certain sensitivity ever since. Made broccoli soup for lunch and bought hummus which is very good for calming inflammation . Also bought Turkey for my sandwiches next week as I try to eat blander stuff when tummy's on the blink.

On Friday I really fancied a desert so made a ginger cake, banana, pecan and toffee bake. It was seriously delicious and now my problem is keeping away from the fridge where the leftovers are!!

DH did the accounts today with a forward projection for this month. If we are carful we should be £200+ up at the end of the month. Then we can buy a side gate and have my car serviced. Woohoo.

Keep it up deck hands, you're doing a grand job of sailing this ship towards the spring tides!

Kind regards
Slowdown:)

115K

Rainy-Days wrote: »

The one thing that I kind of flit in and out of is making meal plans. I am more into it now, especially after the house move as I have more chance to sit down and get things done. I find the meal planning side easier and less of a chance of food being wasted - not that we waste very much anyway, maybe the odd onion!

I started doing that and then stopped and really noticed the difference. I am waiting impatiently for my groceries to be delivered as I don't have much to eat, I usually keep crackers in the house but I have even run out them too. After I eat my lunch I am sitting down and doing a meal plan for the week.:)

Bathory

Hi everyone on the first day of a very frosty February over here. I like the autumn/winter seasons but it is very cold today with patches of black ice everywhere - unless its me getting nesh in my old age.

January went well spend wise apart from OH replacing old car with an even older car (cheaper insurance as it comes under classic). I hope February to be pretty much the same. We don't do Valentines day so there is nothing to spend on that and the upcoming gas and electric bills shouldn't be too bad, as we have the heating on averaging about 2 hours in the evening and then wrap up well for the rest of the time.

Hope your stomach settles down soon Slowdown.