NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

seriouslyfrugal

:wave::wave:hi Hms nobuy

permission to board please

this challenge appeals on lots of different levels I have had a relapse this year since I started my simpler life in 2011 still have a lot of decluttering so I'm sure we can support each other on this voyage

catch up soon

enthusiasticsaver

I try and be frugal and budget (although Christmas and Holidays are difficult for me) but try to not subscribe to sales fever. I never do the January sales and watched the Black Friday antics with some amusement but I think I would struggle to spend nothing. I only tend to buy clothes twice a year ( springtime for a few summer bits) and autumn for usually new shoes for walking to work but haven't bought a new coat in about 8 years. We only buy kitchen gadgets, white goods when our old ones are past repair and as my husband is an engineer there is very little he cannot mend! I would struggle with no haircut though so will watch your journey with interest. Good luck.

I_want_a_baby

Enthusiastic saver

Buying nothing is far too frugal for me! I am making my own rules that suit me and my family.

My aim is to be more mindful, to think before purchasing (instead of piling a basket up and handing the plastic over). To consider each purchase and see for me if it's better to make do or buy second hand before buying new, and if I do buy new to ensure I use any vouchers or codes, get cashback where I can and shop around for the best price.

IWAB x

Slowdown

thriftish wrote: »

A couple of years ago I read "Not Buying It" by Judith Levine and found it very interesting. She spent a year without purchasing any non-essentials.

Excellent. I have also read this book, hence the title of the thread! It is an interesting read. She is an American and lives a lifestyle unlike mine. However, I think she has many interesting things to say and struck many a chord in me.

She talks of falling prey to the idea that she will be younger, fitter, better in the right skiing gear towards the start of the book. Her friends are moving faster, leaving her behind in the snow in her older skis and boots. It's strange because something similar happened to me this morning. Every Thursday I attend a yoga class. I have been practising yoga for many years as a means of relaxation and for health reasons.
I wear a pair of old joggers and any t shirt that doesn't display the fact I haven't shaved my arm pits for a week or two. Teamed up with an old sweatshirt off I go. I changed groups this sept because of work commitments and this group is slim, bendy and well dressed. If it wasn't for my retired work mate I would feel quite out of place. They have varnished nails, stylish hair and tight, patterned leggings.
I stare with wonder. I wonder if I would look better in those leggings. If I would bend further, for longer, with younger looking legs in those leggings. If those leggings would, in fact, transform my yoga practice.
Get real!
Of course they wouldn't. My knees would still protest in the chair position, my wrists would still ache in the plank position, my bum would look just as big in a downward facing dog position. Who am I kidding? But I still toyed with the idea. I could buy them before Christmas and my ship sets sail for real.
No. I won't. I'm NOT BUYING THEM!

Hooray! I can already feel the scales falling from my eyes! The shackles of emulation are beginning to loosen.

Cheers me hearties. You're already keeping me afloat. And I'm still tied up at the dockside! You are all doing a grand job.

Kind regards
Slowdown

Slowdown

Can I just say that I have no intention of buying nothing.

As I said earlier this is not a quest for misery and deprivation. It's an awakening, an awareness of what I'm doing and why im doing it.

I intend to spend a year buying the necessities. I am not asking my family to deprive themselves if they want more and I'm not imposing rules on myself but Guiding Lights. I don't want to be a victim of consumerist bullying by massive money spinning monopolies, where they try to make me feel better by taking my money and then leave me feeling miserable and them feeling richer.

Not only am I not buying it in the literal sense of handing over money for things I really don't need but I'm also not buying the sales pitch of those who want me to want more.

I'm delighted to welcome anyone and everyone aboard no matter how much or how little you want to spend.

And as for the haircuts? I have hedge trimmers you know!!

Kind regards
Slowdown:)

FLA27

Hi Slowdown, Obviously buying nothing is extreme and I don't think you actually mean it literally! I have always tried to take the view that if I walk into a shop and see the Bargain of the Year, I can afford to buy it. This means for most of the time, I am saving my money. Even when I first had my mortgage I aimed towards having enough spare money in my account to comfortably afford most things if it was truly something i needed, wanted, and it was a great price.

Spending money on frivolous things just to impress the unimpressible has never been a thing for me.

Having said that, I am still on board. I have been slipping into bad habits and that has got to change! Thank you so much for starting this thread.

Caterina

Regarding Country Living et al. mags, I remember once watching an episode of the Simpsons (amazingly accurate social commentary, that programme!) and Marge Simpson was reading a magazine called "Better Homes (Than Yours)"! LOL how accurate an observation is that?

thriftwizard

I nearly fell into that Country Living hole yesterday! For very good, sound reasons we have just had a multi-fuel stove installed, to replace a woefully-inadequate open fire, which was somewhat better at setting fire to the (oft-swept) chimney pot than at heating the living room. And as the fireplace is now rather bigger than it used to be (though still smaller than it originally was) the fireguard doesn't fit any more. Not a serious issue, as we have no small children, but we do have cats & I don't want them thinking the stove-top is a good place to jump up to. So I started looking at fireguards... well, I had no idea just how many accessories a stove seems to need! Wrought-iron log baskets, fire guards/screens, fans, matching fire irons - oh, how inadequate our motley selection of random fire tools & moth-eaten willow baskets suddenly seemed! What about a multi-coloured jewelled fire guard? How on Earth have I managed to get this far along in life without one?

And I was even working out how I could re-balance the budget to buy it... aaaargh! I'm a "vintage" market trader; I regularly go to all sorts of places where I can pick up a perfectly decent & properly vintage fireguard for a sum that won't dent my bank balance, and which will look right at home here, probably before the render has dried out & we can actually light the stove!

And there wasn't even any advertising involved - just my own mind telling me that what we have isn't good/pretty/expensive enough!

Nargleblast

I have a subscription to Country Living. It was a free gift for upgrading my bank account, and the subscription expires next spring. As nice as the magazine is, I don't think somehow I will be rushing out to buy it at nearly four quid an issue.

mynellie

Hi I am getting right into this already went to town today and replaced my rather (very) grey knickers at m&s as they do wash well & last ages before the end of this year
I have a built in aversion to shopping thank goodness bought about by being dragged round shops by a shopaholic mother when I was a kid and I will only shop when essential can't stand the crowds of people pushing and shoving much rather be at home baking or reading or comping.So all we really have left to do big money wise is get our wills rewritten as our son is now an adult it will have to be updated so fingers crossed next year we can really save loads and get hubbies retirement dreams well and truly a reality it will be so nice to spend quality time together and hopefully see him relax and enjoy life more and play with his pigeons even more
Well I am drinking my Horlicks then going to hit the hammock night night

Nellie xxx