NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Slowdown

Shiver me timbers! Ive only been out on shore leave for a couple of days and I return to find the decks swarming with activity in readiness to set sail! Marvellous. extra rum rations all round!

I have read through all your posts since i was last on and feel honoured to be in your presence. I really think a thread like this brings out the best in people. Maybe its the feeling of camaraderie, or that you have an extended family propping you up. I dont know what it is but by jingo, it works.

I was interested at the mention of Scrooge in an earlier post. It is essentially my favourite tome and if I could take only one book on my voyage it would be this. I have read it many times, try to every Christmas and it always gives me the shivers. Aside from Dickens' beautiful language and inspirational names, the message contained in this tale is of the highest order. It's not about the money, it's about each other. It's about acceptance, sharing, understanding oneself and others and most of about selflessness.
Dickens was a Victorian reformer, sticking up for the poor and destitute, those taken advantage of by the wealthy and powerful. It would seem we could do with him now could we not? Or maybe he has been reincarnated in the form of Russel Brand!

So, here am I, a lover of Scrooge's tale, a believer in Dickensian ideals. And yet.....I do not embrace it fully enough in my own life.
Generally speaking I'm not a bad person but as many a school report of mine said, "Could do better!"

So this leads me to Guiding Light #5 Stop and look around at those who have less, before imagining I need more.

Well done me hearties. It's nearly time to set the main sail in readiness for departure!

Kind regards
Slowdown:)

Butterfly_Brain

Found this here :
http://babybudgeting.co.uk/the-one-shopping-list-that-will-always-save-you-money/

edwink

Can I jump on board please before you set sail??!!!

I have spent the last week reading through all the posts. What a fantastic bunch of friendly people you all are!!!

I am a bit a of penny pincher myself and have been for quite some time now. Still I think with encouragement from everyone on this thread I could do more!!

All but one of my Christmas gifts I bought this year came from car boot sales. Admittedly I do not have many presents to buy but I have only spent £18.00 so far on 11 presents as I got all of them from summer car boot sales except for a new puzzle which I paid £5.00 for at my bring and buy sale at my Macmillan coffee morning!!

My husband and I have had second hand clothes for years and years now. Mainly from car boot sales or charity shops. I can honestly say I can not remember buying anything to wear from the shops except underwear for ages now!!

I am currently having a wardrobe clear out (big time) and have sold quite a bit of it on eBay and some I have donated to charity shops. None of this was brought from new!!

Forgot to ask is it ok to bring some hens on board? like 14 of them and a very handsome cockerel? Also 8 ducks please?. I would happily share the eggs around for breakfast every morning!!

I grow my own veg too to help with my food bill costs and of course food for my feathered friends. Plus it tastes nicer too!!!

Hope it is not too late to join!!


Edwink

GreyQueen

Dee2 wrote: »

Yes yes and yes GreyQueen - what you said! The paragraph about hype leading to unrealistic expectations and efforting. (I WILL work out how to do quotes) I know I've been guilty of that - when what really is important is spending time with family and friends and making them welcome.

If you hit the 'quote' button under the post in question, the whole thing will appear. As long as you make sure to leave the square brackets [like this] intact on either end of the post, you can delete until you reach the bit you want to quote, and it should appear on the green background. HTH.

tori.k

Can I jump aboard please.
This is something i've been focusing relatively unsuccessfully for the last couple of years since moving into an open planed property with very little built in storage space. I constantly feel like im drowning in carp.
I find it hard to get across to other's that I just don't want the clutter much to my families annoyance I still have a pile of gifts from my birthday unwrapped my heart just sinks at the thought of opening them. my immediate family is on board but my mother is a nightmare I don't think she has ever visited without bringing a bag of clutter from her own home into mine of things I might need or want.
I've made some great progress this will be our last traditional Christmas with the youngest almost 17 we decided as a family to use the money we would spend at yule to have a winter holiday rather than gifts im also doing min-game in January with a couple of friends I will get on top or drown trying

CAFCGirl

I must admit that I LOVE Christmas, but I love Christmas at Christmas time, I utterly hate putting trees up after Halloween, or even 1st of December. 12th Night is the absolute earliest for me, and even then I try to make it to the 20th. Ours is up now this year to give the puppy time to get used to it - last thing i need is to be taking him to the emergency vet on Christmas eve because he's swallowed a bauble!

Today I plan on creating some more salt dough presents, baking a chocolate cake and taking our lovely over excited puppy for a long walk. There is something primal and pure about watching the sheer abandon by which the dog runs about the field, like its the most fun he could ever have in his life! I need to think more like our dog.....

fuddle

Unfortunately some clever person has already thought of that as an advertising slogan and is most probably earning mega bucks (because of our spending) for it... be more dog. :cool:

vulpix

What a collection of lovely thoughtful people you all are;I don't want to get into personal replies to every post (aint nobody got no time for that),but by gum you manage to articulate my ideas to a tee.

When we move house I hope that I can keep hens again,I loved them but gave them away when I was poorly 'cos nobody would clean them out!

My aims for the New Year are to meal plan to enable me to make better use of having the oven on.I made mince pies yesterday whilst cooking dinner and thought,I could make a quiche too but to be honest I was too tired.I still have some residual fatigue from cancer treatment.

Off to aldi later for a few bits,hope its not a bun fight.

Vx

Goldiegirl

I had an email from QVC this morning, blaring

'Spread the cost of a perfect Christmas'

Again it's the pressure of having this so called perfect Christmas, and the only way Christmas can be 'perfect', is by having lots of money thrown at it.

I was only subscribing to QVC in case they had a daily deal on Yankee Candles. I'll unsubscribe today, and there are cheaper candles out there!

[Deleted User]

Why do we need a PERFECT Christmas, come to that why so we need a perfect anything? I like OUR Christmas, which is by no means perfect but it's ours and we enjoy what we do have and give and receive to the full. I can't see and never will why we need a new sofa, a new dining room, new perfume, new 'this years' colours and fashions in time for Christmas. My Christmas is warts and all, but they're home grown ones and no one has ever said I need PERFECT WARTS!!!