NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

purpleshoes_2

I tried to cut down a lot on spending in 2014 simply because I dont have lots of spare cash. Hopefully I'll have a bit more in 2015, Ive also lost weight in the last 18 months and many items of clothing are too big for me now. I think Ive bought 2 new things all year, a sports top and a pair of workout trousers, everything else has been second hand. My local barnardos sells all their clothes for 99p so Ive been pretty much able to kit myself out for around £40 or so, so my total spend on clothes this year has been £50 and for that Ive had dresses, tops, several pairs of workout trousers, T shirts, a couple of coats, a waterproof jacket. Next year, if I buy, I'll buy second hand only.

Im currently having a clear out so the clothes that dont fit anymore are being given back to charity, anything thats not wearable, I give as rag or donate to one of the textile bins you see around on your travels.

I only have a couple of people to buy for at christmas and I always know more or less what Im going to get them. My mum is quite arty and poundworld have a great selection of arts and crafts stuff so most years there's something I manage to find for her in there.

Im also giving books back to charity, I gave 50 to the PDSA earlier in the year and Im just about to donate a bag of books and magazines to a hospice charity shop.

Im also going to try and use things more, by that I always end up with candles and bath sets lying around that take me ages to use, so Im going to use what I have before I buy anything new.

I also cut down on my alcohol consumption this year as I was losing weight so got to the stage no point eating healthily and drinking lots of wine calories, spent the first 6 months of this year teetotal and then had the occasional drink when out and about, but next year Im going to try for more alcohol free months.

Im also going to get rid of clutter, Im doing ok just now but a few bags to go, no more hanging onto stuff that I never use just because I dont want to part with it.

I make use of groupon/wowcher and kgb deals for eating out, which is occasional. I also get my hair cut and coloured at a local college, works out at £10 for a cut and two colours.

Butterfly_Brain

I have been sorting out the carp in the house and taking it down to the chazzer bit by bit, I always give my stuff to the local hospice shop and they take everything.

DH with the aid of very tall DS is patching the ceiling, guess who is holding the board up

Today I thought brilliant a day to get downstairs sorted, just as I got into it DS came in with my broom head in one hand and what was left of the handle in the other hand aaaaaaaaaargh.

vulpix

I like the expression "living pure" which someone said further back,very fitting.

It does take guts to step off the merry go round.I will admit to being very upset and offended a couple of times in the past.Once at mother and toddler when someone said my daughter was wearing a nice dress and her daughter had it last summer.be -atch.

Clothes! I love em.I too have lost weight in the past year and have had to buy new to me.I only buy good brands,and look after them well.All the too big stuff I have sold on ebay and Facebook.Often for more than I bought it for in the first place.I don't have a lot of clothes and don't really keep stuff for best,I wear it,no point in saving it ,it usually cost less than £3.

My big expense next year will be to replace my laptop.this one was 2nd hand 6 years ago and it is showing it's age.Anything with a right click is a nono as are capital letters sometimes and we struggle with the letter e.

My cunning plan is to wait till after Christmas and take my pick on Facebook when all the youngsters are getting rid of their old models.:cool:

Will leave you all in peace for a bit now.Laters x

CAFCGirl

I most definitely need to make better use of charity shops this year. I haven't bought very many clothes this year but what I do have is starting to show its age so material is thinning to the point of holes! Things may need replacing this year, but I'm planning to be much more organised with a list of what I'm looking for as opposed to browsing and finding things I like....

DS (4) is mostly dressed from charity shops and bootfairs. Luckily some nearby only charge 99p/£1.50 an item and I'm often bringing him home Next trousers/jeans etc. I plan to continue that this year and again working to a list of what he needs as opposed to thinking 'oh that's cute', because frankly he doesn't care.... LOL

I've made my cinnamon salt dough decorations for HM gift, and they are currently drying out and smell phenomenal! I still have half the dough left over so I'm pondering what to do with that tomorrow.... perhaps some decorations for us to keep

We're on a winner today. DH got given £5 as a thankyou gift from a friend he helped out and he bought himself 2 scratchcards (as I cut the lottery from our spends this year). One the 1st he won £4 - the cost of the tickets back, and on the second won £10. So he's happy with himself...

Dee2

Afternoon shipmates!

I was working this morning (in a shop in a shopping centre) and let me tell you it was mental! And people were spending-really spending. Long queues, cross faces, not many manners or smiles - whats that all about then? (that was the customers not me!)

I finished my shift and headed for the market for my fruit and veg. A cheerful lady served me, not a lot of money spent, nice recycleable paper bags no plastic, but by gum it was heavy! I'm off to blanch copious amounts of brocolli now!

Mrs Lurcherwalker - your post earlier today brought a tear to my eye .....

GreyQueen

Well, I'm a happy bunny as have been over the common with the wheelbarrow, picking up fresh deposits from the ponies and one old feller from the traveller site came over for a natter and ended up pointing me out to a pile of two year old rotted manure.

Darlings, I don't know if you garden, but well-rotted manure makes a gardener's eyes light up with glee in much the same way as a gourmand's would if you said would you like this white truffle? :rotfl:

Have shifted three barrows-ful today (each round trip taking 30 mins) and can do no more barrowing until I have recharged my batteries. But I shall be up there again tomorrow with my shovel.

And also found another Sandford novel for 50p and some fancypants soaps in the chazzer which will be secreted until Spring as a wee giftie for a friend's birthday. She's an older lady who likes fancy soaps.

Today was nose-achingly cold but the frost made everything a winter wonderland. I was transfixed by a pile of leaves of mixed species, in every shade of brown and dull green, with each leaf's edge picked out in light as the sun caught the frost. And a park bench was lit up as if someone had chucked glitter all over it.

There are lots of gobsmackingly beautiful things to see in nature, even in the urban/ suburban bits of nature which I've been wandering through today. And narry a Christmas carol was heard, what bliss.

cydney65

I have just visited The Minimalist's website and watched one of their videos-WOW it really resonated with me, especially the bit about community.

Charity shop was closed but I will pop in on Tuesday. We did go to our 'general store' in the village though. It's the kind of shop you used to see about 40 years ago with all sorts of things crammed into every bit of space, and cheap as chips. Bought some tinsel for 50p and a ton of crayons for a pound. The tinsel has been made into a star for the tree. With the crayons, I'm going to sit down with GD on Wednesday and we shall make a xmas card for mummy and daddy.

CydneyX

moments_of_sanity

This thread has saved me from wasting money today by making me stop and think about my actions! We have had a hectic day with DH & DD's moving furniture and putting the Christmas decorations up and in all the chaos I forgot to get anything out for dinner so stupidly said 'let's have take away'.......after about 2 minutes I remembered this thread and have now rushed to the freezer and grabbed some chicken so we can have HM Panaeng chicken. A few weeks ago I would have said it, bought the take away and thought nothing of it so thank you to everyone who posts here, it really has made me question myself and what i spend my money on :T

purpleshoes_2

When I was in tesco today a couple of people in front of me in the queue spent £115. I spent £5. I know some people have big families and as such their shopping bills will be big but just about everyone I saw in there today looked as if they were shopping for dozens of people. Some of the shelves were bare and some of the shelves in home bargains were also bare.

I said to my mum Im going to stock up for the cats and then Im going to go out only when I really need to. Ive bought a lot of YS shopping this year, I also use aldi for the super six fruit and veg and I shop in home bargains a lot.

Another reason I prefer buying second hand is that some retailers pay the people who make the goods a pittance and some people work in appalling working conditions. It makes me feel better knowing that I buy something thats been used by someone already and I give something to charity at the same time.

On the subject of next, I got a pair of next jeans from barnardos a few months ago and I love them, they fit really well. But around 15 years ago I bought a dress for a christmas night out, it cost me a fortune, think it was £100, I rarely buy clothes that cost that much but one wear and it fell to bits, I got my money refunded.

My mum also shops in Barnardos as well, she said to me the other week she cant remember the last time she bought something full price.

Im not the girliest girl on the planet so I can take or leave make up, but when I do buy it I buy from superdrug, their MUA range is cruelty free and its a pound an item.

For christmas day, my mum and I just get a takeaway, same on boxing day and new years/2nd Jan. I dont eat meat and neither does she so pointless slaving over a hot stove (those are the days of the year that I have takeaways, the rest of the time I dont).

Ive had some fab stuff from charity shops, I used to volunteer for the red cross and got staff discount.

I can fritter money away with the best of folks, I just dont have tons of spare cash (Im a freelance fitness instructor just qualified as a PT).

Sometimes its good to have a think about what you need v what you want. Ive tried to do this over the last few years, but always room for improvement.

Next stop for me is when my phone contract expires is to change providers, Ive just spent 2 years paying for a tablet thats hardly worked since I got it, so Ive bought myself a cheapie from ebay for 29 quid and its working fine so far.

Im also with plusnet and got a discount for the first year, plus 70 pounds cashback from quidco as well, but even after the discount is done I'll be paying £26 a month which isn't too bad.

[Deleted User]

I had to go into town on the bus today as Lidlly didn't have a couple of things I've plumbed into the christmas meal plan and I needed to go to Alidees instead where thankfully they did have what I needed. The bus was packed with people muttering crossly about many different ills, the town was thronged with cross parents and unruly offspring all being cross, the checkout assistants were cross, the bus drivers were cross the charity muggers were out in force in the high street and the 'Christmas Market' was just cheap clothes and tat and I was fed up with the whole thing when I had a thought.......It might be Christmas but everyone is only going through the motions of what they expect to be the build up to Christmas Day, there is no emotion behind it other than spend because it's expected that you do so, spend because people expect a present and you try to buy something, anything as long as it's cheap, you go to the cheapest food shops and buy ready made 'party food' which tastes of nothing and puddings that are mostly air and fluff and the cheapest sweeties that come in the biggest packs, not because you like them but because you get lots. The feeling of Christmas is NOT THERE any longer and that make me so sad. I'm not religious but for me Christmas is about family and the love we have for each other and being together and laughing and walking the hound and talking and sharing time, caring, long loved stories and old corny jokes not the presents or alcohol or posh food. This is a day that has really been hijacked by commercialism and as a result the majority of the population are so lost in the getting and 'show' that the real message of christmas is lost. I'm reclaiming the love for us as a family, this year isn't about presents it's about watching the magic happen for our little grandson Ezra and seeing through his eyes that though it's all pretty and there are nice things to be had all that really matters is that you are loved and looked after by those who you love more than anything in this world. Merry Christmas everyone xxx.