NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Superdopsa

Evening shipmates. Not checked in for a while but read all the posts every day. Hugs and best wishes to those who are going through difficult times at the moment.


I am another one who uses the 'sniff test' and has no qualms of wearing clothes more than once. At the moment I change my bedding every 2 weeks - and the only reason is that it is so difficult to get it dry at this time of year. I washed a load of bedding tonight and have had to dry half of it in the dryer and the rest on a radiator. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather so I can get my laundry dry on the line!


I've had a good week spend wise - bus fares to work, settling up for tea club in work, a couple of drinks in the pub on Wednesday night. I will be having a spendy day tomorrow - but more details to follow over the weekend!


I watched the 'Eat well for less' on catch up tonight and could not believe how much they spent on food! I got the impression the wife did not work - I know she had 4 children but surely she would have had time to cook from scratch?


I was impressed with myself tonight. I fancied a chippy tea - but remembered I had fish in the freezer, so bought some frozen chips from Mr Ts on the way home from work, and had 'homemade' fish and chips - with enough chips for a couple more portions. I do need some more food over the weekend so will probably go to L!dl.


Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and the weather is not too bad where you are - it is very cold here but we have been lucky to not had any snow that has settled.


Will check in over the weekend.


Night all!

rosiepup2000

I'm another singleton and I usually do two clothes washes a week (one for whites and one for brights) and two for bedding (one for sheet/pillow cases and one for duvet cover). Towels go in either with one of the clothes washes or with the sheets. I do all the tea towels together in one go once every so often.


But having typed that, I'm wondering why I bother with the two clothes washes...I'm looking at my sorted piles ready for the wash tomorrow, and neither is anything like a full load. The only actual white things in the 'whites' pile are knickers and a bra. I don't really care if the knickers come out a bit grey, and I could handwash the bra. Soooo....maybe I will break the habit of a lifetime tomorrow and do ONE clothes wash :-) I could probably get all the bedding in in one go too. Machine-loads halved in one fell swoop!


I only wash clothes once a week because I'm working, so my work things are clean. If I wasn't working I would probably just save the laundry up until I had a full load and do it maybe once every 10 days or so. I do the same as GreyQueen and change out of my work things as soon as I come home, and put on jeans and a t-shirt/fleece, etc. Then I have a bath in the evening and change into jammies. So the jeans are only worn for a few hours a day, and one pair lasts the whole week unless I spill something on them, or I'm going out and want a clean pair. Glad I'm not the only person who doesn't automatically wash everything after one wear.

emiai

Evening all, just caught up with most posts from the 26th January. I love reading this thread, for both inspiration and tips.

I've been trying to note no spend days, but am struggling as I often have low spend days, single veg or bread.. I'm not that worried, as our food shopping budget has never gone over so far.

On the Mylene topic, I usually give a tenner anyway, as most invite both my youngest to parties, which is lovely. They get two hours of fun with friends, cake, junk and games.. for less than it would cost to pay for else where, and the child can buy something they want, rather than have some random gift. I guess I can understand why the parents requested it, we certainly ask family to pool resources, like when gran need a new chair for her birthday.

I need to buy two new coats and two new pair of school shoes for my little ones this weekend, my son has picked the leather off his and they are beyond repair, their coats have lasted 18 months, so I'm very pleased with that, and they are good enough to keep for the car boot sale.

I have to make sure I don't buy anything else other than what's on my shopping list!

vulpix

Edwink ,it never occurred to me to freeze elderflower cordial,what a good idea.I freeze the flowers until I have the time to make the cordial,just use from frozen.

I am happy to send a nice gift to a child's party,I agree,worth it for an afternoon of fun for my child.I have the same view on school trips,a great experience that I couldn't have afforded to do as a family,zoo,etc

I think it is rude to ask for money as a gift,same as GQ never expect a gift and accept one with good manners.Mylene Klass is attention seeking.

Vx

edwink

vulpix wrote: »

Edwink ,it never occurred to me to freeze elderflower cordial,what a good idea.I freeze the flowers until I have the time to make the cordial,just use from frozen.
Vx

Hi Vulpix


Would freezing the Elderflowers close the flowers up on them? I just wondered about this because when making Elderflower Cordial it is best to pick the flowers on a warm sunny day because their flowers are open when it is warm and sunny. I was just wondering if freezing the flowers would make them close up because it would be so cold in the freezer!!! I may have to look in to that!!! Good idea though!!! Thank you!!


Have a good weekend everyone and keep hold of those purse strings because if the sea gets a bit choppy the money could fall out of your purse!! :rotfl:


Edwink x

lapis_lazuli

Ahoy there! May I join this ship? I've been somewhat of a spendthrift over the past five years and I'm trying to put a stop to it. I have $20 (equivalent of ten quid back in blighty) a week pocket money and the rest is spent either on bills, necessities, or put into savings. The theory is not that I can never treat myself, but that I look after my money a bit better and don't just spend willy-nilly. At the moment I'm trying to decide whether to have a holiday back in the motherland this year or save up and do it next year when I'll have more cash, amongst other things. I'm also looking hungrily at a few treats. So far my spending on bus fares to and from work has been halved (I walk back as often as possible - training myself up for walking the Queen Charlotte Track here in New Zealand at the start of April). I also sold a bunch of stuff I wasn't using three weeks ago but I've fallen off that waggon of late. I still have so much clutter to get rid of. *sigh*

GreyQueen

Rosiepup, I don't own white clothes, not even undies, so the only things which would go through a white wash at my place would be the bedsheets and some of the paler towels, the teatowels and the mattress and pillow protectors. If I just have teatowels needing a hot wash, I sometimes boil a pan of water with a little detergent on the stove and cook them like that. Brings them up a treat.

Everything else can go into a 40 degrees wash together. I attribute this habit to back in the day when I had to use a launderette and could barely afford to run a load per week. Even now, because of space constraints, I have to dry laundry indoors, so one wash must be dried and put away before a second wash can be done, and I wash the bedlinen in stages, with the coloured duvet cover bing done separately from the white sheet. Pillowslips are changed twice weekly, bedsheets every 2 weeks or so.

Today's weather is grey and presently dry. I'll head out in a couple of hours, if it stays dry, to play on my allotment. I'm slowly working through what I consider to be my 'winter work' which involves prepping all areas which don't have a standing crop ready for spring sowing. It's easy enough to be ready for spring if you peck away at it a little per weekend over the cold dark months, but gawdelpyer if you leave it all til March.

Hopefully, this should involve zero shopping, although I am planning to buy a coach ticket and a book later; the book being bought with view to resale for considereably more than I paid; it should fund the coach ticket and then some, if I'm lucky.

ETA; Oooh the QCT, I walked that in spring 2006 (your spring, our UK autumn) it was fab.

patentgirl

Morning shipmates

Another one here who now does the sniff test, I hang my work clothes up within minutes of getting home, they easily do two or three wears, DH shirts need washing after one wear as he travels in the car for sometimes 6 to 7 hours a day to meetings and tends to build up a sweat when sat in traffic for hours !
I am another one amazed at the three year old portion size and the pizzas didn't they have one each for a 3 year old quite extreme!why did Gregg keep making excuses she has no time with 4 children my blood was boiling.
Going well with spending this month, have meal planned to extreme so no wastage at all this I am so pleased about. DH Pay day next Friday we will easily have enough left in pot till then first time for ages, all this because of everyone on here encouraging and supporting each other, It keeps me on the straight and narrow apart from basics food petrol s/o's couple of birthday presents have had no unwanted spends this month.
Have good weekend everyone

vulpix

Edwink,The flowers froze open and just poor the boiling water straight on them,made no difference in taste to doing them fresh as far as I could taste.
Vx

Karmacat

I like that, Vulpix.

Erm, did I miss the elderflower recipe ... I've collected the detergent and fabric conditioner recipes from edwink, and the washing powder recipe from busymumofthreeplusdog ... I've got to get to grips with this!