NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

edwink

cydney65 wrote: »

I slipped up on Saturday. I bought a duvet cover on sale in Dunhome. It was definitely a case of heart ruling the head. In my defence it had dachshunds on it
Please don't make me walk the plank Cydney X

Hi Cydney

It is nice to treat ourselves from time to time especially if it is something that has dachshunds on it. So no plank for you this time!! :rotfl:

Edwink x

Live_laugh_love

Well had a unnecessary spend on Saturday, a big slab of Lardy cake!!!But in my defence the cold is getting on my pips and as we ate it over 2 days, that was 2 lovely warm sticky treats for a couple of quid!!!!
find myself scrutinising packet sizes and unit prices more than ever!!! One thing I noticed to day,went to grab Dr.O bicarb and saw Mr A one next to it, half the price but looked a lot smaller. On closer inspection both same weight, Mr A tall and skinny Dr O short and fat!! Bit sneaky!
Have a good non spendy week peeps. Off for lunch with a group of friends to a local garden centre where they have a meal deal 2 for £10 if you're a club member. Food,couple of cups of tea and a good chinwag!!!!

System

I agree, we still need little treats, and so long as we're mindful about them that's OK surely? It's the mindless spending on tat that I want to curb, I don't want to stop spending altogether!
For example, on Saturday I had a lovely long walk with OH in the Chilterns, which involved bus fares and a pizza on the way home - but days out like that are priceless for our relationship and health so I won't be stopping them!
Rx

PS - yes sneaky packaging, I must watch that. I bought a big box of bicarb in Wilko last week, it was in the cleaning section but I'm sure it's the same thing!?

emslovesmickey

rosyq wrote: »

I agree, we still need little treats, and so long as we're mindful about them that's OK surely? It's the mindless spending on tat that I want to curb, I don't want to stop spending altogether!
For example, on Saturday I had a lovely long walk with OH in the Chilterns, which involved bus fares and a pizza on the way home - but days out like that are priceless for our relationship and health so I won't be stopping them!
Rx

PS - yes sneaky packaging, I must watch that. I bought a big box of bicarb in Wilko last week, it was in the cleaning section but I'm sure it's the same thing!?

You're absolutely right - everyone has their own idea about what this thread means but personally I don't think it means cutting out treats completely, but simply putting more thought into whether or not we make a purchase. If we restrict ourselves entirely we are more likely to fail, as it will feel more like a chore and less like a lifestyle change.

weesmiler

Agreed!

I think it's important that we are mindful about what we buy, and a lot of us on here are trying to avoid cluttering up the home as well, but that doesn't mean we can't spend some money on things we enjoy! After all, we work hard to earn money, so there should be some reward!

vodkawitch1

Hi everyone

NSD for me today, just been for long wark in the park with DS dog Archie. It is really warm here today I ended up taking off my coat. I agree some rewards are needed, mine are usually going to cinema on a Tuesday or getting cheap (in the gods!) theatre tickets.
Like everyone its the things that I just don`t need (like another top!) that I am trying to cut out. Also the siege mentality I have around the freezer and cupboards. Thanks for all the info about Anti-virus software .

purpleshoes_2

I got rid of 10 items today, 3 posted for ebay sales, 4 books given to a charity shop and 3 to a girl who is looking to get some info on healthy eating, Im also going to give her my back collection of health and fitness magazines as well.

Did my good deed for the day by reporting that someone had had their windows smashed, two different flats, but surprised a few hours on that theyve not been boarded up.

Got a phone call from the task force team to say they are investigating. All I want is for the woman and family to stay away from me, no more than that, so I can get on with living my life quietly, which is exactly how I like it.

Still feeling a bit overwhelmed on the decluttering front, not because Ive got tons of stuff still to go, its not that, just that some days I deal with what I want to let go of by putting tons of it out at a time, at the moment, its going at the rate of around 10 items a day.

Stuff that I don't need, don't use, but hopefully someone else will. Im not really a treat myself kind of person, not because I dont think Im worth it, just that Ive got really sensitive skin, so a lot of beauty treatments are out, my one treat used to be getting my highlights done, but Im colouring my own hair now. The odd cheap week abroad is enough for me. I have enough clothes, shoes, perfume and toiletries to last me.

My fitness tracking band was the last thing I bought but I love it. I actually thought I walked 2 miles a day or so but its nearer 5.

It helps that Im on a restricted diet as I would probably treat myself to more takeaways if I weren't. One thing I am going to do is have a takeaway after this bootcamp, 4 weeks down and 4 weeks to go. I may not get to the end of it, but I'm going to give it my best.

GreyQueen

For me, the issues with Stuff are made more obvious by living in a very small flat. Because it's so small, everything I own is very much in my face, rather than lurking in cupboards, lofts, spare rooms etc. Although we all know that the lurking items can exert a powerful malign influence, and that out of sight is not out of mind.

It's also an age thing. I turned 50 last autumn and you realise that your strength and vitality will wane in the coming years, and do you want to be dealing with Stuff or do you want to be Living with a capital L? Plus I see my parental home being stuffed to the gunwales and the stress and aggravation which that causes. And I see my ageing parents slowing down, and the opportunities for them to deal with their Stuff themselves slipping away, and can see it ready to land on my head at some point when I will be older, tireder, and living 30 miles away with no transport. It's exhausting to think of, and to realise that it will have to be done at a time of bereavement, too.....:(

In my work, I enounter those who have left it too late to downsize from the large family home into something appropriate for an elderly widow or widower. They have an 100 ft garden they can't go out into, never mind maintain, 2-4 bedrooms they cannot use, sometimes an upstairs they cannot even access, whilst people who are at the opposite end of their family life live jammed up in small flats with their children and badly need that council house and its big garden.

I see people of all ages decline home improvements because of their Stuff being in the way. I've encountered householders who have refused a new central heating system because they'd have to move a cabinet and other things as bizarre, to my mind's eye.

I also book pest control treatments. The amount of possessions being damaged by vermin is shocking. Sometimes the vermin is secondary to having the garage or the shed rammed with Stuff.

If you become sensitised to Stuff, you realise that most of life's woes are either wholly caused, or muchly-worsened, by our obsession with Stuff. We grasp and grab to have more than we need and spend our lives like fussy little hamsters in our fussy little hamster cages, rearranging our bedding, stuffing our cheeks with more stuff and busying ourselves with little-little things, when we could be doing something so much better with our time.

A relative of mine dropped dead of an anueryism aged 83, at her home, in front of my Mum. That afternoon she'd had been talking, as she had been talking for many years (over 20 years), about sorting her stuff out. She hadn't even sorted a Will out, and several distant relatives had to sort her into a wooden overcoat, her Stuff into chazzers and landfills and her home onto the market. The human cost of that was a lot of exhaustion, sleepless nights and for one poor soul, a relapse into a chronic health condition.

candygirl

Did an approved foods order for £36, lots of sauces n veggie stuff, n. Went to ALDI today n spent £16:D This list makng is saving me a mint:D Also got a couple of books from the lbrary, instead of buying them.Aren't I an :A ? Lol :rotfl:

purpleshoes_2

My flat isn't massive but its not tiny either. I have very little storage space, shelving etc, so for years everything went into my (huge) electrical cupboard, the cupboard of doom. I had to empty that when my new kitchen went in so after that was emptied, I thought, the rest has to go, the spare room of doom. I sleep in my box room and any surplus crap went in my big bedroom, but its getting decluttered too. I'll never be as minimalist as some people and Im happy not being so, but I really do want to get rid of excess baggage as it were.

The not buying it is good for me, because what on earth is the point of having too much stuff and then buying more. Its amazing what one person can accumulate in 20 years of being in the one home.

Ive given lots to charity over the years and am continuing to do so and Im being ruthless with stuff, if I havent worn it or used it in a while its getting sold or given away.

Compared to what my flat was like this time last year, even after the room of doom got decluttered, Ive shifted a lot. Its very easy to be tidy on the surface and have tubs and boxes full of stuff, its given me massive satisfaction getting rid of some of the stuff Ive cleared out and not buying anything to replace it.

Ive also emptied what was my food stock cupboards, almost and Ive almost emptied my freezer as well.

The thing that gets me sometimes, isn't being tempted, its sheer boredom. Not that I dont do anything with my life, I work and I do a lot of fitness stuff and I go out, but in down time, I used to spend a lot of time mooching about the shops, even if I didnt spend much it was always the drip drip drip.

I just need to put my energies into getting rid of the clutter and think about what I can do to replace the mooching time. I have a cineworld card and Im going to make more use of it than I have been lately, that's a start.