NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

DawnW

JackieO wrote: »

I have some pears that could be used up as well so I may do a pear crumble instead of apples to use them up.They have been supposed to be ripening off in the conservatory for the past week and still seem a bit hard although they are the squat william type pears.Can't think of what else to use them in really and I don't want to waste them They were YS at 6 for 30p but were rock hard
I suppose I could poach them, Any one know if pears freeze well ???

I generally peel, slice up and stew hard pears, either on their own or with apples or other fruit. It makes a nice crumble, and if you don't want to use them straight away, they freeze well as stewed fruit - or as crumble, come to that

savingqueen

Hello everyone

I have really enjoyed reading about everyone's successes - decluttering, doing up furniture, buying sensibly, enjoying well earned and saved for treats, clearing debts, boosting savings.... the list goes on and on! Also thanks for all the fab recipes, advice and tips. The best changes to read about are the change of mindset re spending attitudes. I already had the NBI attitude but this has deepened and widened and I feel part of a large friendly crew and not a lone sailor. Thank you Captain Slowdown. Thank you everyone.

I am in the middle of stocking up on food supplies using Allydays vouchers and plan a Farmyardfoods run soon. Then the plan is to make these, plus what I have in previously, last as long as possible. I will need to buy fresh milk frequently as we get through silly amounts with 2 growing lads and some fresh F&V. Also need to buy a month's supply of cat food elsewhere. I haven't kept up with noting down all my spending properly, have rough budgets but not detailed logs as I wanted. So I need to start with this week's shopping and continue. I am doing ours payday to payday.

The other thing I am going to do is go through any loyalty points, coupons etc and see what can be used or kept for another month. I have found a couple of giftcards which I think have a couple of pounds on so will investigate. Basically anything that has a cash value to stretch my money further.

I have a few gifts stashed away and need to do my annual birthday list. Allocate pressies against names and jot down the gaps so I can keep an eye out for suitable things. I have only ever made homemade cards for kids and DH but I have found a pack of blank cards so will try my hand at making some for friends. The kids have their own stash of blank cards and crafts which they use to make cards for each other, DH and I.

Lastly children have outgrown a lot of their toys and would like me to have a go at selling them. I give away old clothes, books, jigsaws, games and toys to friends and their school but these latest toys are more expensive bits that have been looked after better. We have agreed that kids will take 25% each of any profits and the remainder goes into the pot for changing from a shared bedroom to 2 bedrooms (utilising our store/junk room aka box room.) Boys need to be involved too by gathering, sorting, cleaning etc and furnish me with names and descriptions. Gawd knows how long all that will take!

enough rambling, I need to get laundry on, slowcooker on, a pile of dishes washed and that's just for starters

vodkawitch1

Morning shipmates

Miserable old day here in Herts, makes staying away from the shops even easier. Just a pottering day for me today, will do a little sewing and baking after dog walking.
Very pleased with February as I done well thanks to this thread with NBI. Planning to be even more careful in early March as I have a DS who will be 40 this month. That means a trip to North Wales were he lives and a suitable pressie. I will enjoy a bit of time there and will house sit for him and Dinlaw so they can get away for a weekend.
Two months gone of the year already! wow time flies.
Have a lovely weekend shipmates

[Deleted User]

decided to do a crumble with them as they are still too hard to munch,so they will be stewed first in honey as I usually stew my apples in honey and water instead of sugar,dash of cinnamon adds a bit of oomph as well .
Have just put some biscuits in the oven so Id better fly as they only take 12 minutes
Cheers chums keep warm its rainy and windy here in Kent just seen someone walk past with an inside out umbrella I'm glad to be inside on days like today
JackieO xxx

eandjsmum

edwink wrote: »

Hi eandjsmum


Not sure if you have an Ald* near you but they have Organic compost for 2.49 for 40litres and Organic seed compost for 1.49 for 20litres.


Like you the contents of my compost bins go on my veg beds so I do by compost for the seeds and for potting plants on!! Thought the Ald* price was really good compared to other shops. Best price I have seen anyway!!!


I hope this info will be of some use to you and others on the ship!!


Edwink x

Thanks I'll investigate that one I have a branch on my way home from work.
As Jackie O says its miserable here so I am catching up on indoors work as there always seems plenty to do. On the plus side I have a strong cardboard box to continue with my decluttering and I am now planning a baking session this afternoon.


Have a good weekend and Happy St David's day

edwink

JackieO wrote: »

NSD today as I shall just pootle about doing odd jobs indoors. All the ironing is done and put away(I even folded some stuff up and just put in the airing cupboard to save work )

Good idea as it not only saves on work but also saves on a little electric too!!


Have others on our ship thought about their electricity usage??? What we use we are having to pay for so it still comes under the not buying it if we cut our usage down.


Who would be brave enough on here to admit that they fill their kettle right up even though it is just them having a cuppa??? Kettles are one of the highest consumers of electricity we use in our homes yet people fill them right up!! If you do this and stopped from today you would save a little on your electric costs each day.


Does anyone know on here how many units of electric that their house consumes in a day??? Has anyone ever worked it out from their bills??? You would honestly be surprised how much you could save if you just took a few simple steps to help reduce the amount you use. Light bulbs can consume a fair bit of electric but changing to low energy really does make a difference. If you watched your electric meter dial going round when you switched your light on with the old style bulbs you would obviously see the wheel spinning at a certain speed or the digits going up if you have a digital meter. Do the same with an energy efficient bulb and it would hardly make any difference to the speed of the meter wheel or the digits. If you are able to why don't you give it a go, you have nothing to loose.


We keep seeing adverts for changing our suppliers to save us money but changing the amount of electric we use in our homes could save us just as much!!


Nearly forgot to mention that the Back To Front Hanger Challenge starts tomorrow for those that are starting in March. On your marks, get set, go. :rotfl:


Have a great day all!!!!


Edwink x

115K

I had a nightmare with my barking dogs at the vet and was out in horrible and drizzly cold weather and had washing to do when I got back.

I put on my PJ's and thick jumper when I got in and we ordered a pizza too. I don't feel guilty as it is a treat because even with the pizza and the £110 vet bill we have upped our savings from £13,950 to £15,150 in February.:T

Not spending is certainly helping! It also helped that it is a short month.:cool:

edwink wrote: »

Who would be brave enough on here to admit that they fill their kettle right up even though it is just them having a cuppa??? Kettles are one of the highest consumers of electricity we use in our homes yet people fill them right up!! If you do this and stopped from today you would save a little on your electric costs each day.

I will try and start doing this.:) I haven't been feeling well the past few days and haven't been able to sleep on top of it so I'm cutting out tea and coffee to see if that helps. I will only have green tea or herbal from now on so I will just make one cup at a time in the kettle.

edwink

115K wrote: »

I had a nightmare with my barking dogs at the vet and was out in horrible and drizzly cold weather and had washing to do when I got back.

I put on my PJ's and thick jumper when I got in and we ordered a pizza too. I don't feel guilty as it is a treat because even with the pizza and the £110 vet bill we have upped our savings from £13,950 to £15,150 in February.:T
I haven't been feeling well the past few days and haven't been able to sleep on top of it so I'm cutting out tea and coffee to see if that helps. I will only have green tea or herbal from now on so I will just make one cup at a time in the kettle.

Hi 115k

Sorry you are not feeling well. Sending you ((((HUGS)))) and a get well soon wish!!! Glad you did not feel guilty about the pizza. None of us should feel any guilt over buying ourselves a treat, why should we?

Well done regarding the kettle I think most of us are/were guilty of filling it right up. My Sister in Law makes tea and before she puts the kettle back on it's stand she fills it up again right to the very top ready for the next cuppa!!! It's Madness!!! There are only 2 of them in their house.

Edwink x

boultdj

I admit to filling the kettle up, but I then do a flask, the kind you get in hotel's at breakfast time, and take it into the room with me, it make's sure I remember to drink enough, some times it's normal tea[OH has coffee in his] or fruit tea, the other week when I had the horrid cold that's been going around I just had hot water with a bit of lemon juice in it.




Well it's a definite no-spend day, been to work and the only thing planed is NCIS afternoon, recorded from yesterday, the LA one from dinner time, and the New Orleans & orginal double bill from last night, don't worry if you see me glassy eyed and drooling........

nursemaggie

Surely there can't be anyone on old light bulbs these days. I changed over to them 24 years ago. Yes! they have been around that long. The first one I bought was horrendously expensive but lasted 21 years. I have been given so many free ones over the years I have about 20 spare bulbs.

I have never filled my kettle completely. It is a problem though as it says I must put in 600mls which is two cups. This kettle cost me £10 but one that would boil just 300mls was £65 so I figured I was better off with the £10. I did once get one that only boiled 250mls free with something. It was a B nuisance when we had visitors so got the old one back out.

The other thing with the 250 mls one was if you went away and left the kettle boiling someone would come in and pinch you hot water. They are well worth having if you are on your own. At least now when DS pinches my hot water there is enough left.

I don't know how much we use a day but we use £2.65 worth in 2 weeks. I don't think that is bad considering there are two computers on up to 18 hours a day. We are heavy users of the internet.

Kettles are only heavy users of electricity because we boil them so often. There is also no need to boil them again if they have only just turned off that wastes too.

I have one really annoying thing about this house. Where the light switches are. It does make for wasted electricity. Hall light is in the porch so tends to get left on when we come in in the dark because no one can find it. Living room is a corridor through from front to the back of the house and switch is as you come in from the hall. Remember where hall light stitch is.

Going to bed. I use the front room as my study come craft room so leave that light on to get through hall switch living room light on, go back switch off front room light, cross living room and put kitchen light on to see way back to go back to switch living room light off, switch on stairs light is just outside the kitchen, and switch off kitchen light, go upstairs, cross landing to switch on bedroom light, make sure bathroom door is shut or you walk into it when you come back to bedroom, go back and switch off stairs and landing light. Very little light for the landing so if you have not made sure the bathroom door is shut you walk into it and hurt your nose.

I hope you got all that. It took me weeks to automatically go back switching lights out and I frequently ended up going upstairs with the living room light still on. It is a rented house so I can't do anything about it.