Not Buying It- A Consumer Holiday 2016

PasturesNew

nursemaggie wrote: »

For all of us shorties M&S do short lengths and Bon Marche do leg lengths
from 25in inside leg ....

I once desperately needed a petite suit for something important.... HAD to get one, without fail. I found no shops had anything and at the back of my mind there was always that thought "M&S will have something, they always do".

Finally, I went into M&S, having only seen 3 suits in the whole of the town in petite - and they were in funny summer colours like cornflower and light pea green ...not colours that'd look good in my age group/for the purposes of a job interview situation.

So, into M&S. Defeated, deflated, but I knew I'd get one in there. So I looked... nothing; looked again ...nothing. Finally I asked where the petite rail was - and the assistant said "Find a suit you like and we'll order it in". That wasn't any good, I needed one THEN - and, it's not until you get it on that you can see if it suits/fits at all.

So that was useless to me.

Depending on the cut and the shoes I'll be wearing (proper heels or just 1" ones) I need a variable 25-27" inside leg. And I can't even wear a "proper suit" as my bottom half fits 8-10 and my top half is more 12-14 (depending on the cut). How the top/bottom look together is something you can only tell when you fit it on.... top heavy can be a bizarre look in the wrong stuff; I mostly wear tops that swamp me as, although top heavy, there's only those two perky bits that are that large, the rest of my top half isn't as large.... so clothes mostly drown me, just in an effort to get my boobs into stuff. And "fitted" wouldn't work due to being disproportionate to the bottom half.

I always look at charity shop clothes, but very rarely find anything that fits. I look, say, for jeans, every time - and in all the many, many years of constant keeping an eye out I've only ever managed to find ONE pair of petite jeans.

PasturesNew

For shoes, I vary from a 3-4½. I've one foot wider than the other too. I wear fake crocs all the time. One pair costing about £5 and worn daily, I expect to last me 2-3 years. I've stocked up and got 4 pairs or so. Even when the soles split I've kept them as they're still "fine for pottering around the outside/garden, or even going shopping so long as it's not raining".

For work shoes I was forever keeping an eye out for "regular court shoes" in C Shops ... and then stumbled across two completely brand new/unworn pairs in two different shops over the course of a month, each pair costing me £4. They're leather too! Only owned them 3 years now, so not had a need to wear them at all. With those and the older work shoes I've retained I wouldn't expect to ever need to buy more in the next 10-12 years.... although hoping that any job won't involve a suit/shoes to be honest. Better to be comfy

For summer/posh shoes, I've got 3-4 pairs gathered/kept over the past 10-20+ years that are still passable.

Mostly I just slide the fake crocs on for simplicity, ease, cost, comfort.

pm2326

pm2326 wrote: »

I'm also reducing the food mountain and meal planning.

Having worked out next weeks meals it looks like I need only buy fruit & veg again so looking like a £2 or £3 shop at most :j

My shopping came in at £1.60 :rotfl:

Too be honest I could have spent more as I have other things on the list that I've used up and need to replace, but I cycled to mums so limited to what I can carry. Besides I was very cold and shop was busy so couldn't be bothered to stay more than a few minutes.

Primrose

Confession time! I spent £3 on a quilted body warmer in a charity shop today. However I reckon it will soon repay its cost in the amount of central heating saved when I'm sitting reading in winter and reluctant to turn the central heating back on, or turn up the thermostat to avoid getting chilly.

pm2326

Primrose wrote: »

Confession time! I spent £3 on a quilted body warmer in a charity shop today. However I reckon it will soon repay its cost in the amount of central heating saved when I'm sitting reading in winter and reluctant to turn the central heating back on, or turn up the thermostat to avoid getting chilly.

Well done, that's a bargain buy!

Never mind reducing your heating bills, just think how much it would have cost had you believed the hype that only new would do!

GreyQueen

Well done, Primrose. One of my best buys in the past couple of years was a fleece gilet for 50p which I virtually lived in for months. Very useful and efficient garments.

I've spent £1 on veg and £1 on elastic to mend a pair of trousers, but a girl's gotta eat and mending them will get them back into use and save buying more.

[Deleted User]

Indeed a brilliant buy and well worth the £3.00 I think Primrose, I have just come upstairs to turn my heating on as its really getting more than a bit nippy I have been under a furry throw that my DD gave me a couple of years ago and even with that there is a definite nip in the air.Lovely lazy day reading,knitting and watching a programme I had taped about the Leningrad orchestra during WW2, not spent a penny at all as its far too cold to go out and anyway there is nothing I need.just going to make some dinner now lamb chops,mash,cabbage and a few brussels with stewed apple and yogurt to follow.Then its feet up and knitting and tv tonight I may even have a small glass of the ginger wine I brought back from my holidays in August as its a nippy night,(with a splash of the 'water of life' to spice it up a bit :):) I really know how to enjoy myself on my day off :):)

GreyQueen

Oi, Jackie0, stop copying me; I've been stewing apples this afternoon and will be having mine with some custard. The furry blanket here is spending the night on the bed and the day folded on my metal desk chair, which strike a bit cold to the fundament at this time of year.

Clear sky outside with a half-moon and going to be baltic - will go put the heating on I think. Keep warm and keep well, everyone.

candygirl

Love that tip re only shopping, when you need at least 7 items JACKIEO,so apart from buying bread, I will stick to that
Got back home yesterday, n when I got my doorkey out, there wax only half of it there, the other half was in the lock , from the night before :eek: I rang a locksmith shop, n he said to take the bits of key there, n he managed to make a new one for £3! Bargain :j

RicardaRacoon

Evening everyone

Been on tour with my sister today, she had to pick up her new glasses at the optician where our cousin works 1 hour drive away and so we made a little trip out of it. We pick up the glasses and drove home via a small stop in the shopping centre where we mainly browsed and had some cake. I bought some fabric flower for a door wreath and my sister got some sock yarn and toothbrushes :-) So that was almonst NBI...

I'm also too small for most trousers but found a brand that is just the right lenght and they have both regular leg and skinny and that is all I need since I wear dresses most of the time anyway. So trouser shopping is quite easy, problems are shoes as my feet somehow have an odd shape... But I found now that I can find shoes that are comfy and so am not too tempted anymore to buy shoes that don't fit too well and then throw them out again... And when I now find shoes that are comfy I wear them till they fall apart, trips to the cobbler for new soles included.

Did my weekly groceries round, all I needed were 6 items. Actually had a pizza dough on the list too but crossed it out again as I still have some fresh yeast and will just make the dough myself and freezer since I know I will be too lazy to prepare the dough when I come home from work. All I will need until next Friday are some mushrooms.

I'm currently looking for very small jam pots, like 50ml or so which will be handy to take salad dressings or parmesan with my packed lunch and my sister and I have a holiday with her campervan planned for summer and it would be handy to pack small quantities of things like mustard or so. So little inventive me now came up with the idea of buying some posh jam in small glasses. Don't think that costs more than buying the glasses and I have the jam too :-) Jam bisquits here I come!

Have a nice evening everyone