Not Buying It- A Consumer Holiday 2016

wildthing01

Ricarda - am so going to make your peanut butter cookies, they sound amazing! Plus my lot are right fusspots who won't eat nuts, so I'll have them all to myself!!!!!!

We are currently watching Harry Potter DVD, with DS wearing home-made wizard's outfit - he loves dressing up and has a variety of costumes (mostly presents or hand-me-downs), but he tends to mix and match and use his/his sister's clothes too, to create wonderful new costumes - he's very creative. I had to turn his vampire cloak into a wizard's cloak and sew some ribbons at the neck so it can be tied on (usually velcroes onto rest of vampire costume) and he's wearing that, black t-shirt and his sister's black tights!!!! Am getting him trained in the art of NBI nice and early by encouraging his creative side!

DD's birthday party this am at bowling alley - we took own coffee and ate the kids' lunch leftovers and cake for late brekkie/lunch, so no additional spends on food while there.

getting some small bits of money in from current ebaying spate, but on the other hand, DH's MOT is due soon and car may be beyond saving (it's 14 years old now), so we're investigating cheapest way of getting new (to us) car - we both travel a lot for work so each need a car. Will ideally not get brand new car as they depreciate a huge amount in first 6 mths, so you're just paying for nothing.

[Deleted User]

Good evening everyone I had a great weekend with my sis-in-law and last night we had a really lovely meal at The Limes in Faversham and she insisted on paying as its my birthday next Sunday and she said she hadn't a clue what to buy me as like me there is very little I want or need.

So we had a nice nosh and a bottle of wine .I had taken a couple of bottles down with me, left overs from quiz night winnings, so when we got back to her house after the meal it only seemed right to open one :):) We managed to get to bed around 1.00 a m this morning.

Having sat and put the world to rights This morning after several large coffees we took ourselves off to Whitstable for a bracing walk along the front then as I still had my Happy Cash Stash from last night I treated us to lunch at a small cafe there The coffee came up fairly soon as we sat and ordered it, but the meal had been overlooked ,but they apologised and said we only had to pay for the snack and our coffee's were free :):) so lunch for the two of us came to just under a tenner.

Now I am just about to go to Dds for dinner tonight so i have done virtually no cooking this weekend at all :)
Tomorrow is the start of a new month so I will be doing my accounts and banking in the morning.
Have a good evening chums whatever you are doing
JackieO xxx

Aril

Day 31/366 Another NSD. We walked across to the garden centre to price up making some raised beds for our back garden. Roast dinner with ys pork joint and do the roasties in the leftover chicken fat saved from the last roast a couple of weeks ago.
Arilx

PS All are welcome and can jump on board anytime! If you jump overboard anytime we're excellent at responding quickly to distress calls. Lifeboats are manned at all times and we will be along in just a jiffy to save you!

HOWMUCH

Evening everyone last week I bought a large upright freezer second hand, I've been transferring food into it today from my large chest freezer. The chest freezer has been sold via a Facebook selling page so the exchange has only cost me £5. I may have been able to get a little more for my chest freezer but wanted it gone fast so took the fit of £5.

Happytravelling

Pm2326- sometimes you have to give yourself a little break, especially when you’re under the weather. At least your little break is most other people’s normal! Is the cold any better?

JackieO, I have family is Faversham too, how peculiar a thought that we could have passed by each other and would never be the wiser… I do sometimes forget to remember that everyplace I go will have MSE ers hidden in the midst of the cash splashers, that I’m walking past them and possibly talking to them, and neither of us is the wiser! Sounds like you’re weekend worked out really nicely, you were brave to face Whitstable at this time of year.

A number of previous posters have hit the nail on the head for me, my journey is about focussing on the experiences (and admittedly the occasional material items…. You can’t go through life without an excellent couple of dressing gowns, for example).

Got a text from my hubby one day last week asking if I wanted to go on a date on Saturday… After checking my schedule, I gladly scrubbed out cleaning and ironing and off we trotted to the cinema mid-morning followed by lunch out. (I know, 2 treats in 1 day!!) It was such a lovely way to spend the day and all the more special for its rarity, and for less than the cost of a dress!

I’m not sure I’ve yet tested my NBI will power as regards branded toiletries and cleaning products as I’ve not actually needed to buy anything yet. I suppose that’s not a bad sign in itself, at least I’m not adding to the collection! :A

pm2326

Hi Happytravelling, the cold is a lot better thank you. I agree a little break is needed sometimes and as I don't intend to carry on in that manner it's ok.

In fact I've already made up the sandwich filling for Monday & Tuesday lunches. I'm off the rest of the week so I'll eat out of the cupboards.

I had a good day yesterday, haircut in the morning and then out for birthday lunch with mum. Ended up spending £10 on 2 new pairs of slippers, I've worn the soles out completely on my last pair and it was getting uncomfortable. I find I need to wash slippers every now and then so like to have 2 pair on the go.

Today started out good, I did the ironing, hung a load of washing on the line, stripped the bed, even went for a walk to the beach with a friend.

However, at tea time my halogen oven decided it would no longer work, good job tea was actually cooked at this point. I've let it cool down and plugged it back in but no joy, tried changing the fuse and checked all the wiring, but no joy

Will have to replace it at the weekend, I'm lucky that my meal plan this week is based on using up food from freezer which mainly involves eating HM ping meals, will only need to change Friday's meal as that involved the halogen.

Lynplatinum

Hiya

Aril and Jackie O - sounds like bril days out for very little! Awesome! :j:j

Happy Traveling - what a lovely thing for your OH to do!! Sounds like you too had fun!!:)

Welcome new folks/returners!! Its a happy ship here with lifeboats at the ready should you fall off or be knock overboard by the storms of life!! :T

Gathering together the threads of several people's comments:-

The point of NBI is to live the life you want, doing what is important to you - without being taken for a ride by big business/advertising. We all have our own indulgences!! Mine is beer and nice food out - for some it is dresses or travel. We all have to use big business but we can do it with fore knowledge - so am going on the train next weekend - I know Im gonna get fleeced but what I am doing (house hunting with a friend in Cornwall) will be well worth it!!!

Wildthing - when my old car gives out - if I no longer live near my current friendly mechanic - I shall go to the K!a web site and 'rent' a car - with this you get a brand new car and servicing for 3 years - but you do not own the car - you give it back after 3 years or you can buy it at that point. They were the first company to do this for reasonably priced cars for ordinary folk. Haven't looked into it for a while and needed to check out insurance situation but it might be worth looking into! :cool:
Nite all

patentgirl

Morning everyone just managed to haul myself back on with help of the lifeboat been reading when I can but not posted much lately.

Lyn hope all goes well with biopsy.
Jackie O I am not to far from Faversham and Whitstable either, love walking along beach at Whitstable to Seasalter unless middle of summer when everyone got same idea.
RichardRacoon those biscuits sound yummy got GD here today might make them with her.
Saving pennies very envious of you about to start on retirement that is our dream again not big spenders but we do still want to be able to go on holidays couple if times a year quite happy with this country so at the moment every spare penny is going in retirement fund with no unnecessary spends so far this year pleased have squirrelled away a third of our joint incomes this month into our retirement account looking ahead to 4 years when I will be 60 DH 63 . Started well so hoping to keep it up throughout year being on here hopefully keep me on straight and narrow!

[Deleted User]

Good Morning everyone and pinch punch and white rabbits and all that :):) Start of a new month and banking and bills all sorted and paid and a nice wodge put away towards our family holiday in July

Lyn, my eldest DD and OH and two DGC all lease their cars and my youngest DD does as well Her OH has a car but rarely uses it unless at the weekends as he has a KCC vehicle that comes with his job.It seems to be the way to go now and more and more folk lease their car as its cheaper than actually owning one.By the way DGS Ben joined his Real Ale society at Uni in Norwich and he is off to Amsterdam for four days this weekend to taste some of the dutch beers so he obviously is enjoying himself and his new found interest

I have a nice crisp set of notes in my old brown food budget purse this morning, and no shopping to buy at all this week so fingers crossed I shall have some more cash to stash in the holiday fund at the end of February.

This morning have been soup making as well so enough celery soup for this weeks lunches just cooling ready to go into the fridge in my two tupperware soup jars. my sis-in-law gave me some jars of berries that she had bottled up, so I have enough fresh fruit and bottled fruit to last all this week, and still a good bit of salad in the fridge as well.Tonight I have some haddock and a poached egg for dinner as I really had a fancy for it having seen the fish market yesterday in Whitstable and remembered that I had some in the freezer so another dinner from the freezer :):)
Hope every one has a good NBI week and keeps warm and dry as at the moment the weather is looking decidedly grey and grotty looking
Take care everyone
JackieO xx

chirpycheap

Great to read everyone's comments. It really keeps me motivated.
A pretty productive day today.
I sorted out my jewellery and have put a lot into a bag for the charity shop. It was virtually unwearable as it was all a big tangled mess.Is jewellery actually alive? How does it tie itself in knots in my jewellery box? After untangling it all I put up a couple of hooks to hang the long necklaces on and put the more delicate necklaces into little voile bags that I acquired several centuries ago and had up until today failed to find a use for!

This morning I made a vegetable stew using up some mushrooms and peppers and beans which I will just 'ting' at teatime. There will be enough to feed the freezer too. I seem to have a custard mountain so we will be having bananas and custard for dessert for the forseeable future!

I started my very first online course today (Literature and mental well being) with Future Learn. I read about these free online courses in last years NBI thread but I can't for the life of me remember who it was that mentioned Future Learn but if you are reading this thank you. I am absolutely loving waking up my tired old brain and doing something different with my time.