NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

greenbee

purpleshoes wrote: »

Theres a few mining villages near me and my mums house is built on top of a mine shaft, she nearly didnt get her mortgage due to that

Chocolate coins and satsumas and maybe a chocolate santa, I loved having a stocking at the bottom of my bed, was fab.

... and it was a stocking, not a pillowcase...

In my case, one of my dad's knee-length rugby socks. So a satsuma, nuts, chocolate, underwear, a couple of toys (my mother still remembers the year she rashly put pop-guns in ... after that they were silent toys) and a book made an excitingly full and knobbly stocking to wake up to on the end of the bed!

purpleshoes_2

Was a knee length sock in my house as well.

greenbee

They make the BEST stockings don't they?

[Deleted User]

I went for a walk to my local presinct today not to buy but to just lookI was suprised at how empty the shops were.Another sign of the times was the Sense Charity shop(there are two in the same presinct almost opposite each other !) and they were having a half price sale !!! and even the books were down to 20p instead of a quid .So even the chazza shops are feeling the pinch.I looked through the book bin, but wisely left before I was tempted to buy.

Came home with my purse still unopened :):) what a result even a half price charity shop can't tempt me to spend. But it gave me a chance to stretch my legs and drop some stuff off at the recycling bins before they get crammed full with cardboard/paper next week.Tomorrow is my youngest DDs birthday, 45 bless her, and I bought her presents back in September when I came home from holiday with left over holiday cash :)I am at history club in the afternoon then at her house from 4.00 onwards bearing gifts :)I always try to give her a little extra on her birthday as being so near to Christmas it gets forgotten in all the rush often by friends and family. well done everyone for doing without all the hoo har of commercialism.We really don't need it and the best Christmas's I have had were when we were a bit broke anyway .The kids still had a lot of fun and remember how daft their late Dad was at Christmas more than any presents we ever bought them.

tru

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]It seems there are more non-drivers than I thought I'm lucky here, I'm on a bus route that starts just before 6am and finishes at gone 11pm. Buses run 10 minutes apart til about 7pm, then it's every half an hour. Most routes in Glos go from town to the local suburbs and back, but mine runs all the way to Cheltenham so I don't have to change when I get to town. If only the farm shops were on the route [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I absolutely love Christmas. The lounge looks like a mismatched grotto, there's lots of decorations that the kids made or chose when they were little. We always have turkey because we like it, plus we don't really eat it at any other time so it does feel a bit special. I have a budget for each person (me, mr tru and the two mini-mes) and I never go over. They are allowed to choose whatever they like within that budget, even it's completely pointless and silly We all have stockings – satsuma, cracker, chocolates and novelty socks.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Some years the budget has been generous. Other years it's been almost nothing so I would buy essentials for presents, that way they had presents to open but it didn't really cost anything because it was things I'd be buying anyway – pants, socks, pyjamas etc. They don't remember that though, they remember things that made them laugh, like our pet house rabbit sitting under the Christmas tree one day, or someone's paper hat falling off into the gravy [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]We have family round on Christmas Eve afternoon, I do a buffet and it's very predictable – my nan falls asleep after an hour, me, my brother and dad drink a bit too much (tipsy, not drunk!), my mum tries to help clear used dishes away and I tell her off There hasn't been a littlie in the house for years at Christmas so I'm looking forward to my 10 month old nephew coming round. I'm already mentally rearranging the candles, glasses, etc. We made a rule years ago – no presents for over 18s. My nan breaks it sometimes and buys a posh box of biscuits, nicely wrapped and with a gift tag but insists it's not a gift, it's for the buffet She just likes to give something, I think. Late evening when everyone's gone home, we sit and watch The Muppet Christmas Carol while munching on leftovers. I like to have a shower and put my pyjamas on first, the kids nag me to hurry up, lol. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Reading that back, it sounds like I have young-ish children. I don't – they're 23 and 24 :snow_laug
[/FONT]

YORKSHIRELASS

tru wrote: »

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]It seems there are more non-drivers than I thought I'm lucky here, I'm on a bus route that starts just before 6am and finishes at gone 11pm. Buses run 10 minutes apart til about 7pm, then it's every half an hour. [/FONT]

You really are lucky. This is one reason why we have thought about moving back into town. We literally have no shops and no public transport, unless you want to go into town on market day and come back again a few hours later. With teenagers its a nightmare.

I am another that buys my kids practical stuff for Christmas that I would be buying them anyway. I have always done this so they are quite happy with clothes and trainers, plus a few extras.

Slowdown

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am so appreciative of this crew. I pop off on shore leave and then have so much to catch up on I love it. I really want to quote everyone and comment on it all but that is impossible so here are but a few comments.

On the subject of going grey - I have coloured my hair for the last 30+ years. It's been all sorts of colours and lengths etc including he most hideous streaky mullet in 1980! What was I thinking? However, of late I have thought a more natural greying might be the thing to do. I hate the chemicals in dyes and when a shipmate discussed the seeping into the body thing....No, I thought. This is not for me. I'm going to give grey a try. If it really gets to me then I will seek out natural colourings from now on. Maybe it's why my brain feels so scrambled these days!

On the subject of people with little money to spend on Christmas this year - I am trying to think of Christmas as being about the Spirit and not the Spend. I have done my average Christmas present buying but I have realised this year that I overspend. Partly it's because of societal pressure, partly to make sure no one is unhappy, partly because my family will buy bigger and better, partly because I am in that trap.
So I have made a vow for next year and it becomes 'Guiding Light #7' - gifts are all about the Spirit and not the Spend and will be given in accordance during 2015.

on the subject of personal promises/vouchers - I have both given and received and love them. On my birthday this year my then 18 year son gave me a shoe box of vouchers. He stated that if I wanted him to do something I should hand him the voucher and he would stop what he was doing and carry it out. And true to his word he has been. It included car washing, lawn mowing, dishes, hoovering etc. Grea gift. One year the kids and I wrote 52 things on pieces of paper for my husband. They were all things we loved or admired about him, fun reminders of stuff we had done together or things he had said and done for us that we appreciated. We folded them up and popped them in a jar with a label saying ' A little pot of love'. Each Monday morning he would take a piece of paper out and pop it in his pocket. On the train to work he would read it and he said it really helped him start the week on a happy note. He would read it each day that week on his way to work. It was a very lovely experience for all of us.

and now for something completely different......
Did anyone watch Panorama last night on the subject of 'Apple's broken promises'? What did you think? I was shocked and appalled and thought this is definitely the result of rampant capitalism.

So with one eye on the weather charts and one on the Christmas turkey, I shall leave you to your musings shipmates.

Kind regards
Slowdown:)

CAFCGirl

Good morning all,
I have a mission today.......

I need to get over my sorrow about money and make do.

Slowdown

CAFCGirl wrote: »

Good morning all,
I have a mission today.......

I need to get over my sorrow about money and make do.

Ahoy shipmate,

If we can assist you in your mission, give us a shout. We are here to support you on your way up the slippery mast to the crow's nest, from where you can see the horizon on which contentment sits.

We are also here to catch you if you fall. We're your shipmates after all!

Kindest regards
Slowdown:)

CAFCGirl

Aww thankyou Slowdown,

My mission is to create the gifts I am missing, thats as far as Ive got atm. Not sure what im making so Im hoping the internet is going to provide me with the answer, and my house has all the materials required....