NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

purpleshoes_2

Last year I was turning a tap off and it came off in my hand, it was like a scene from, well all I can say is, gallons of water pumping through your flat to the flat below is not a good look. Thats the short version, the long version would take a year to tell everyone.

Chin up to anyone going through a hard time, financially or otherwise. Ive spoken about it elsewhere on the boards, but my gran had a massive stroke and died 4 years ago, her funeral was december 23rd and we didnt have a christmas that year, we just about hung together, so as long as you can keep hanging together through rough times, then hopefully there will be brighter times at the end of it.

The weather is horrendous here, its poured and been like a hurricane for over a week now and I want to go to the local shop for some juice, but I dont know if Im brave enough, its a 3 min walk but I'll get soaked, hopefully it might stop pouring enough in a bit to be able to walk over.

seriouslyfrugal

hi ship mates

this year I have made sewn items for all the adult members of the family they range from lavender bags, fabric bowls and a sewing cottage

I love to walk as it's free and belong to my local health walks scheme so most Friday mornings that's where I am including boxing day it will be good to walk after a day indoors :rotfl:

I'm sewing tomorrow I believe I'm making another type of bowl so guess what the family are getting next year for Xmas although I do have other ideas too:rotfl:

catch up soon have a great weekend everyone

YORKSHIRELASS

katkin wrote: »

Hubs and I are off to a xmas social tonight - our only one of the season.

Really? Its not just us who havent been partying for weeks? Hubby is self employed and my employers dont have a works do so neither of us have been out yet. I am going out later for my one and only night out. I will be driving just because its easier - I live in the middle of nowhere. And I will take everyone else home at the end of the night to make sure they are all safe so I will probably get a few drinks bought for me. It will be a very cheap night!

Oh and I bought a lovely top for £4 in the charity shop the other day so might wear that.

purpleshoes_2

Well inspired by this thread I have spent £6 in the last 2 days, some of that on the cats food (and some on junk type food Ive not eaten in months ssshhhhhh)

So when I want to spend I am going to ask myself

1 Do I need it
2 Do I want it
3 Do I already have similar in my house (even if its buried under a pile of rubble)

I am also going to

reuse
recycle
sell
freecycle or charity shop
repurpose and as a last resort bin

And continue buying clothes second hand

purpleshoes_2

Well I made it out to the shop during a brief respite from the lashing rain. Now to see if I can move two cats from my bed (I have 6, all waifs, not all rescues, 4 are, 3 rescues and one street cat, the other 2 needed a home when their owner was moving house and wasnt allowed to take them). They could all stay there all night, but ant and dec (brothers) are lively wee souls, even though they are 9 they still act like they are 2 so Id get no peace. 4 stay in the living room overnight but 2 of them (ant and dec) like to go a wandering during the day to be with their daytime pals (beans and smudge).

So when I get ant and dec moved into the living room, Im off to bed, its freezing here.

Quite proud that todays spends were £2.68 and I have enough cat food to last them for a week or so

My dinner tonight was some leftover curry that the cook at the school my mum teaches at gave her, so all in all, its been a very frugal few days.

thriftwizard

Katkin, shampoo-wise - don't know whether you have a branch of Lush near you, but their shampoo bars work really well & last for months. I goggled at the price to start with & nearly had a fit, but if I leave a bottle of shampoo in my bathroom, it'll be gone within a week, irrespective of cost. One bar, though, will last me about 6 months, even though younger daughter will also use it when she runs out of all other options. So although it seemed like a lot to pay to start with, it works out cheaper in the long run & it works on my menopausal hair really well.

Bought nearly all our Christmas goodies at our local market this morning; I'll have to go back tomorrow for veg as my trusty 4-wheel Sholley died last week, ten years after I rescued it from the bins up the road, so I was limited to the smaller 2-wheel trolley. Into which I managed to pack a (properly-reared) 15lb turkey, an 8lb gammon, a whole roll of local topside, 5 good lumps of "artisan" cheeses, a vast quantity of local-grown apples, 2 pints of raw milk, 2 pots of cream, 2 "artisan" loaves and quite a few other exotic/festive bits for less than £100. Which may seem like a lot, but I'm feeding 8 for the next week, 9 on Christmas Day & Boxing Day, and I suspect it'd have cost quite a lot more in any supermarket.

I'm buying from the parents of my own kids' friends, trusted traders who have fed us at a reasonable price for over 20 years, and I'm proud to be able to help support them. It's possible, in fact probable, that I could feed us all for less if I haunted the big supermarkets at YS-time, but they're 5 miles away or more & I'd rather keep what money we do have in our local community. And I always come out of a supermarket with more than I went in for...

Aril

Hello:D

I got up horribly early to do the final weekly shop but managed ot miss the crowds in the supermarket that way. Somehow I've managed to keep within my grocery challenge but we've still got plenty of naughty stuff in :j Usually I go over but then spend far less in January. One thing we're doing differently this year is making all the party food rather than buying frozen party snacks for our friends who always pop by for a light snack lunch with us on Christmas Eve. I was a bit more mindful as I strolled round. Didn't automatically put the parsnips in a plastic bag and chose fruit and veg with the least airmiles where possible. I've made my first contribution to the foodbank and this will now continue each time I go.

Having been a smarty pants and done as much for Chrimble as possible I had a day off today. Mr GBT and I took off to our local nature reserve for a walk round. We have annual membership. Saw my first ever Reed Bunting:D

We did have a bun and a cuppa but it made me realise/remember how important it is to try and support the local cafes rather than the chains if we do decide to indulge. Some are far more reasonable than Costalotta. I will not buy service station coffee- the last one at Oxford I looked at they were charging £3.45 for a coffee,....I'd be expecting an Irish coffee at that price thank you:eek:

purpleshoes_2

I never got 6 months from lush shampoo bars sadly but bought one from eBay, vegan, cheaper and lasted ages, will need to re stock. I do like lush though and Santa is bringing me some lush vouchers I believe. Solid shampoo is the way to go I think, the one I used from lush was called karma. I'm also using super drugs dry shampoo in between washes. I usually wash my hair every 2 days, its almost at my bum and it's curly so daily would drive me mad.

I usually run into lush, spray myself with perfume and run out. When I make my fortune I'll shop there more often

suki1964

Been a few days since I found the time to post so I've a lot of catch up to do


Re the grey hair. Now I've always been a dark brunette till lo
I hit my mid 40's then it started to lighten. I'm 60% grey in the front. None on the back. How do I allow myself to go grey without the high lights and whatever lights they are selling? Right now the last colour in was dark blonde

Make up, I don't wear daily. When I do wear it it's mineral and all skin care is liz Earle ( I've tried the cheaper stuff and the pretend stuff and it don't work for me ) so that's all staying

As for fresh fruit and veg, the last of it hit the suppliers today's. No matter what you buy next week, it hit the depots this morning

Charity shops. Now I'm working for one Just the past few weeks but wow what an eye opener. The shop I'm in has to take £1200 a week just to break even. It's no wonder pricing in some stores makes your eye water


Today we hit town and the shops were empty of buyers. Noticed a lot of store had sales or discounts on but there was nothing at all I was willing to part my jars on cash on. In fact the only spend I done was 8 whole chickens for two quid at the chicken plant. And I dished out four for two Christmas pressies

Ches

Shopped at L1dl today and after seeing their turkeys at £35+ bought 2 large chickens for £9.32 instead. OH doesn't like turkey much anyway and I am not bothered enough either way to justify spending that much. There will only be 3 of us for Christmas day and I already have a large gammon and a beef joint so it will be plenty.