NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

missyrichards

A New, Minimalist Economy

Interesting.:)

Lynplatinum

Evening All

Well son got here at about 5 and then had a house viewing so what with all the baking and cleaning up after me self and getting read for viewing I havent had the time to buy owt!! :-)

Perhaps this is the secret to true NBI - be too busy to shop - for anything - at all!!!! :-)

Tomorrow will be different I feel a trip to Wickes or B&Q comming on! :-(
Heigh ho - gotta be done!
Nite all

[Deleted User]

missyrichards : i read the article about minimalism with interest. I guess I am more of a 'dump the junk' sort of person today than I ever used to be.I am finding it increasingly liberating not to have to have half the junk I have accumulated over the past 70 odd years.
I am even using up as much of the food in the cupboards as I can before buying anything else if I can,apart from fresh fruit and veg or things I have actually run out of.I cannot see the economy crashing and burning because I don't want or need more rubbish that will probably end up on a landfill site. I remember the mantra do I want it,will I use it if the answer is no then I don't buy it.My 'things' that I used to find important I now find another home for .
I had my sitting room redecorated about 18 months ago and all the ornaments had to be removed and put away because of the builders being in.Since then I have returned very few to the sitting room.most ended up in a CS for someone else to dust and care for.I didn't miss them and I am quite happy that my children when I shuffle off won't have to have the job of 'getting rid of Mum's stuff' Most of the stuff has gone already.I am all for minimalism whether for items in the home of food in the cupboard.I am hoping to reduce my food mountain to a reasonable state by Christmas.Then it will not only be manageable,but hopefully I will have a larger bank balance to use towards next years holidays with my family :):)

pm2326

Hello :hello:

I've had no internet since Sunday afternoon as I forgot to buy my top up card! I buy it online as it's the cheapest option and it arrived in today's post.

Having seen the weather forecast for this week I decided to go supermarket shopping on Monday so I could make up some more meals using items already in the freezer and spent £30 on top up goods. I also managed to get 2 packs of neck of lamb at 50% off which went in the freezer :rotfl:

So Monday afternoon was spent making a wholemeal loaf, chicken casserole, savoury beef mince and sausage meatballs in tomato sauce. Have stopped again as I have filled spaces up and according to my list I have enough meals in freezer to last me until November payday again so we'll see.

Oh I also plucked up the courage to go to the cinema on my own yesterday afternoon to see Spectre, I have to admit after booking the ticket online I nearly talked myself out of going, convinced myself people would notice and laugh that I had no friends etc etc....But I went and once I was sitting down and realised that no-one was taking any notice of me I thoroughly enjoyed myself...will be doing it again I'm sure!

GreyQueen

pm2326 I was recently a fascinated eavesdropper on two twenty-something male colleagues chatting about this very subject; going to the cinema on your own.

Both of these men have steady relationships, wide circles of friends and are deservedly popular and socially-skilled. And, they sometimes wanted to go watch movies that 'the lads' or the g/f didn't want to see.

They admitted that they liked going to the cinema on their own but wouldn't do it for a main evening showing in case they were seen solo and thought to be Billy No Mates (they are both about as far from a Billy NM as you could imagine).

Interesting that we've become so conformist that an adult out on their own is regarded as a saddo. But no one is watching you in the cinema, anyway.

Have hustled up a supper from cupboard supplies as will be away for a long weekend with family (decluttering a loft) and don't want to have stuff here spoiling.

The debate about what would happen to the consumer society if significant numbers of us became frugal or minimalist is one which has been well-explored.

Would it really be the end of the world is smaller quantities of oil by-products were turned into fewer items of plastic tatt in (mostly) Chinese factories by people working hard for a pittance to enrich big business? That there were fewer poorly-paid jobs in shipping, transporting and retailing carpy bits of proto-landfill stuff around?

We used to have economies which were prefectly viable without hyper-consumerism. We could do so again. There's a lot of sense in the pre-owned section of the economy, too, as resources recirculate into new hands.

Heck, we might even decide to pay more for fewer and better-quality items and keep them maintained and repaired.

DuranGirl

I know exactly what you mean about solo cinema trips. It's taken me over 2 years of Unlimited card membership to go on my own, but I did it for the first time a couple of months ago, and now I'm hooked! I've even been to some of the live theatre screenings (quite difficult to find a friend who's interested in those), and it doesn't bother me at all now. Of course it's still fun to go with friends, my kids or my chap, but if I've got a couple of hours to spare and there's something I want to see, I book my ticket and off I go!

Towser

The debate about what would happen to the consumer society if significant numbers of us became frugal or minimalist is one which has been well-explored.

What percentage of the population do this or is it hard to tell because there are different ways of shopping and people combine different ways?

Can you point me towards a thread where this has already been discussed as I think I am a relative newcomer to these forums.

Call me a saddo but I am interested in this. The government must be too as it must skew their figures/statistics. They are probably happy because people are voluntarily recycling. Such as carboots some people must make a good living under the government's radar as they are not regulated yet. Are they?

GrannyKate

Very impressed with myself today and DH - went into Aldi and spent £4.54 only. Milk and tea which were planned, some yogurts to try out and a few cooking ingredients for DH's cooking.

Taking mil shopping tomorrow so I will get a few things but cannot think of much we need. Some stuff to drop off at tip and CS if I get a chance.

pm2326

GreyQueen wrote: »

pm2326 I was recently a fascinated eavesdropper on two twenty-something male colleagues chatting about this very subject; going to the cinema on your own.

Both of these men have steady relationships, wide circles of friends and are deservedly popular and socially-skilled. And, they sometimes wanted to go watch movies that 'the lads' or the g/f didn't want to see.

They admitted that they liked going to the cinema on their own but wouldn't do it for a main evening showing in case they were seen solo and thought to be Billy No Mates (they are both about as far from a Billy NM as you could imagine).

Interesting that we've become so conformist that an adult out on their own is regarded as a saddo. But no one is watching you in the cinema, anyway.

Must admit that I chose to go yesterday afternoon for two reasons, 1. my friends were at work, therefore reducing chance of being seen, 2. it's cheaper on a Tuesday ...however, now I've done it I would be happy to go on a weekend, not necessarily evening showing though due to safety aspect as buses only run hourly between cinema and my house.

I do wonder why and when society started to consider someone attending events or going out for the day on their own as a sad thing. Because I went along with this concept I know I've missed out on several opportunities/experiences in the last 5 years and that's what makes me sad

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Towser, I'm working today and a bit pressed for time over the next several days and away from home, but here's one for starters:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/04/09/what-if-everyone-became-frugal/

If there has been an MSE thread debating this issue I don't personally know of it, although others might. It comes up on most minimalism blogs at some point or other, so if you check out those, you should read some thought-provoking articles. HTH.

Actually, I've read the MrMoneyMustache blog from cover-to-cover in the past 16 months and there are plenty of worse things a body could be doing with her time.;)