Not Buying It- A Consumer Holiday 2016

butterfly2507

Just had pasta with cream, parmesan & ham. (I know it sounds weird but it tastes delicious!). Basically the parmesan was almost gone anyway and the ham was close to its expiration date.

The whole family is full and we didn't spend money on takeout! Woohoo

DuranGirl

Yay! Shiny new thread for 2016. I'd like to carry on my "no shoes, clothes or accessories for 12 months" challenge. I've completed three months and it's been easy so far. Have put aside some money I had for Christmas for "smalls", but am planning to resist everything else until October.

Superdopsa

I am coming aboard for 2016 if that is okay? I have been lurking for most of 2015 and have found lots of inspiration from this thread.


In 2016 I am aiming to continue overpaying my mortgage (not by a massive amount - but every little helps), saving what I can when I can, and saving my £2 coins. I emptied my 2015 pot last night and have £198 in £2 coins which I need to pay in to the bank.


I have to stop/reduce buying books (charity shop books are my downfall), craft stuff (I have more than enough) and toiletries (again I have more than enough to keep me going for the foreseeable future).


I have to start eating my way through my freezer and it needs to be de-frosted.


I also need to lose some weight this year - I need to get back to the gym, and once the weather gets better and the days get lighter I will cycle to work when I can.


My only spend today was on bus fare for work. I have been good today - before Christmas I was being lazy by catching the bus at the bottom of my hill. That bus runs every 20 minutes, and is usually late and full. However, today I walked to a different bus stop (about 10-12 minutes walk away), at which every bus goes in to the city centre (where I work). By doing that I have saved 80p - which all adds up!


Tomorrow I will be spending again on bus fare, and a very small shop at Mr M. I do have some £5 vouchers to use there so I will probably use one of those.


Have a good evening folks!

mirry

Made use of the cheeseboard I got in the sales for £1.
I made 22 pastys, just added potato,red onion,spinach. Worked out £3 the lot :j

Superdopsa, I also counted out my piggybank....I had £16.80 in 1ps & 2ps. Made me smile thinking how that will buy the milk for the rest of the month.

Skint_yet_Again

dND well done on the 5kg loss :T


Get well now suki !! Flu is terrible. I have had my flu jab this year so I'm hoping I wont get it but I had a chest infection before Christmas and it knocked me off my feet for 3 weeks


Well today was shopping day for me. I managed to stay in budget at Ald1 - £40 a week for me and DS (who eats a high protein diet) including toiletries and cleaning stuff.


I also got the last Christmas presents for people I will not see until end of Jan half price in Ald1 - welly socks 99p and hand warmers £1.49 and some half price chocs in Asda £1.50.


I started looking at the clothes on the sale rail in Asda but managed to tear myself away, but I did buy a new bath mat in the sale £3.50. Its one of those microfiber ones that I've wanted for ages - really soft but thinner and supposed to be quick drying. My old one is really thick but impossible to get dry in the winter and always needs an extra long spin after washing - so hopefully I will save money on electric to cover the cost.


They also had packs of 6 champagne flutes and 6 tumblers by the tills for 50p !! Don't need new glasses so managed to walk away :A


Have been batch cooking all afternoon- shepherds pie and chilli, satay chicken, piri piri chicken, courgette fritters. sweet potato and feta wraps (wrapped in parma ham)


Am sick of the sight of food - I hate cooking lol


Back to work tomorrow

nursemaggie

Welcome Superdopsa I don't think I would save much saving £2 coins I have only had one in the last two years. Perhaps they have not got up north yet.

Skint yet again I would have bought the glasses, given someone the champagne flutes next Christmas and kept the tumblers I am down to one very scratched one.

pm2326

WeeMidgie wrote: »

Commiserations Suki. I had flu last winter and it was dire. I hope you start feeling better soon, but don't rush back to full activity, you will be tired and it's important to take it easy and get back to full speed gradually. It took a few weeks before I felt really well again.

pm2326, the oat pancakes sound fab. Would you be able to share the recipe? They sound good for packed lunches as well as as a breakfast idea.

I posted about a free printable download elsewhere, it's a handout which lets you evaluate the year past and also plan how you want the year to come to be, not just for goals but to set the tone for the year ahead. It's at yearcompass.com

If Santa didn't bring you a calendar this year, there are good websites for printing off month by month. No need this year, as I've been given two. One has gone into the office at work, and the other is cheering up the kitchen.

I'd happily pass on the recipe but I kind of went off piste as the one I was using didn't look right i.e. It looked far to thin for pancakes so I just started adding oats until I felt it was thick enough, so dont know the weights now :rotfl:

I'm going to try a few different recipes so once I find a good one I'll pass it on.

Went back to work today and sat and listened to the office chatter....it appears that nearly every woman has bought into the idea that they must start a diet today. It's amazing the amount of money they are spending on pre made supermarket salads or fancy ingredients for the HM ones. Or they're preparing to do a cleansing diet and have ordered the gels they need to drink and tablets at a cost of £100's :eek:

Whatever happened to just eating better, cutting the fat and reducing your portions? Surly this is better as you're more likely to make a permanent change and better for your purse as you're not shelling out on expensive ingredients and products?

The men aren't much better, the last hour of the day was spent talking about their BMI and what they should eat, whether they should join the gym etc etc

The diet/ gym industry must be rubbing their hands in glee at this time of the year with the amount of money people spend.

Lynplatinum

Ahoy there

Have spent day doing tax return and will take to accountant for checking and input thank goodness the blessed thing is done! Phew! :j

Superdopsa - doing the reverse of Martin's demotivator calculator to put you off mindless spending (it adds up, say, all the costs of a coffee a day over a year!) your 80p per day means: 80 x 5 days per week = £4 per week - if you work 50 weeks a year that means £4 x 50. In other words you will save £200 per year!! now that little walk is really worth something! Well done you for saving! And getting fitter into the bargain!!

I wonder if any of the rest of us can do something similar??

Another NSD for me as i ve had my head in paper work and the computer all day!! However, I would argue that it is in the spirit of NBI - not letting the big organisations get the better of you!! I am happy to pay my fair share of tax but obviously claim what i am entitled to!! If large coffee chains/bankers can get away with massive tricks - whereas i am just trying to get it right!!
Anyhow off to bed - keeping up my plans of bed by about 12! Tc

GrannyKate

Lynp - I have always read a newspaper every day and not the cheapest one at that. Last February I stopped buying them and put the cost each day into my savings pot - around £40 a month and saved about £450 in the year just from that. This went into my holiday savings ISA. I still allow myself the odd paper for rail or plane journeys but can often find free ones in hotels.

butterfly2507

Good morning all! :j

I just found out that I won a make up giveaway So I don't have to buy make up for quite a while. Well that's a way to keep your money tight :rotfl: