Not Buying It- A Consumer Holiday 2016

angela110660

Aril wrote: »

Day 46/366 Another NSD. My Mum's given me a book of Weight watcher recipes and some magazines. Shall look to see if any of the recipes take my fancy.
Arilx

Hope they are a good read and you try some of the recipes out.
I have had a slip case of 4 WW recipe books called The Essential Cookbooks for several years - bought on Ebay. They are very good books and the recipes in the curry one especially are faves of all the family. I have to also give a mention to the Hairy Biker Dieter books as their recipes are also amazing! Esp their take on Chicken Cordon Bleu and Italian Meatballs.

yorpington

Off to London for a long-planned weekend away. This is exactly what I want us to be spending our money on - trips and experiences. Hotel, train and event tickets all bought weeks/months ago. Just got to watch the pennies at meal times and definitely Not Buy loads of crap at the event! Have a good weekend, ship mates

chirpycheap

I seem to have settled into a routine of doing a supermarket shop fortnightly rather than weekly. In between I'm topping up locally with fruit and veg and bread. When I do my big shop it is a lot cheaper than it used to be.
I've tried out some of the basics ranges and found some that are perfectly fine and will continue buying them. The only thing I haven't found a substitute for is my favourite coffee brand. I managed to find it more cheaply in B&M Stores for £2.99 so bought four jars. It lasts us about a month and I don't think I'll be changing my brand.
Is there any little luxury that other people find difficult give up?

I went into town today to meet up with family. I was very disciplined and came home with just a Dime bar from the cheapo shop for DH and some labels from Wilko. I walked the three miles into town and saved myself the £2 bus fare. I enjoyed my walk as the sun kindly popped out to say hello.

I'm doing a free course on Future Learn on mindfulness and I'm finding it really helpful and interesting. So glad I found out about this website from these forums.

Aril

Day 47/366 Another NSD. Perhaps this is bonkers but did pick up a couple of elastic bands that the postie had dropped in our road on my walk to work. Thought it saves me having to buy any and it stops them from being litter. We've enjoyed hotdogs tonight with some reduced priced sausages and a half baguette I had frozen.
Arilx

pm2326

Evening all

Not had a good week health wise, had a really painful headache for 4 days and today is first time I've felt like myself

Being unwell means I've not been near a shop so pennies have been saved but I've also not stuck to the meal plan as I just ate what I could stomach whether it was healthy or not, a heck of a lot of carbs when I think about it but that said, I've still been eating out of the freezer and cupboards.

I'm going to have a relaxing weekend indoors so I've done all my chores tonight and called into aldi on the way home from work for top up shop and spent £10.79, this will keep me going until the end of the month so I've totalled this month's food spends at £43.69. Well chuffed :T

kittydfw2012

DawnW wrote: »

Sorry to hear this Jackie. I am with LV too, and have found them similarly helpful (my car was hit by a bus while stationery in a queue of traffic :eek: The bus drove off without stopping :mad:).

LV are also very reasonably priced, and so long as they remain so, I shan't worry if they are not the absolute cheapest, as good customer service is in itself valuable to me.

Delurking to say I think LV brilliant too. I reversed into a colleague's car at work (mortifying!) and LV have sorted it out to suit him and fast so I don't have the shame of him being messed about also. I agree, it's worth paying a little bit more for fantastic customer service.

[Deleted User]

Aril I too pick up any rubber bands I find that the postie has thrown away,I have a pot which I keep them in and I always think if a bird or small animal got hold of them they could do some damage Can't understand why they never take them back to the depot !!

I did my second shop of the month yesterday and was pleased that it came to just over £15.Lots of veg for my soups and plenty of fruit as well.Some YS stuff as well which has gone into my freezer had to play freezer tetris yesterday to get it all in but just about managed it
I have my courtesy car from the insurance company and its a Seat Alhambra and huge I think I have got it for about a week while my car is being repaired. DGS Ben phoned me yesterday to say he wants to go on Camp America next year in the summer with his pal so we are setting up a separate Camp America account for him.He is enjoying Uni so much, and was really bubbly about all he is doing and the people he is meeting.
I can't wait to see him at Easter.

Right time for a cuppa, NSDs for about the next week I think as I have enough in the cupboards and freezer

Cheers chums
JackieO xxx

ThriftyJeans

A good few weeks of NSDs. Had a potluck supper at work the other week so decided to make savory pesto palmiers (basically spirals of puff pastry filled with pesto!). I got the idea from the programme Superscrimpers when it was on a good few years ago, they were making them for a christmas or NYE party. I already had the pastry and the pesto so just had to buy the Parmesan which was on offer so a grand total spend of about £1.50! They went down a treat! Everyone commented on how tasty they were and there were none left by the end of the night! Just goes to show you don't have to spend loads on ingredients to make something enjoyable. They tasted even better knowing how little they had cost to make! I shall definitely be making them again in the future.

I also discovered later on that week that my card had been cloned. I'd logged onto Internet banking just to check my account and found a transaction for £38.78 for fuel at a petrol station in Louisville, USA! Now I'm all for saving money on fuel but I draw the line at going all the way to the U.S. just to get a couple of pence off a litre! Rang Nationwide straight away and they had said they'd stopped another transaction going through earlier and that this one must gave slipped through, bloke on the other end of the phone was very helpful and refunded me straight away. I can only think that one of the machines at the supermarket petrol station had been tampered with as that was the last place I used it. Thanks to being more mindful with spending I check my account several times a week just to make sure things are as they should , and was able to rectify this problem promptly. Whereas before I may have only checked once a month or so, and this is what the criminals are hoping for, that small transactions like that go unnoticed/or people think it must have been something they bought and forgotten about and before you know it hundreds of pounds has been taken. Well I know it may be a small thing but I feel it's another victory for being mindful with your money and NSI!

On a more lighter note, my brother came back from uni for the week and wanted to go to the new all you can eat Asian buffet place in town. My and my frugal ways managed to find a voucher that the local radio was offering for £40 worth of food all for £20, it would have cost 40 quid just for the 3 of us to eat anyway. My brother enjoyed it and I enjoyed it even more knowing we'd saved money!

Having a NS weekend as I'm spending it revising for an exam next week and eating my way through the contents of the fridge. My MOT is due on Monday so will do all the prechecks tomorrow and will hopefully pass.
Have a good weekend everyone! Lou

Aril

Day 48/366. I jumped ship and headed for shore leave today in the NBI stakes by purchasing a very zingy and unusual cardy, an olive green skirt and a jumper:j Panic ye not though for I have not totally taken leave of my senses. They were all from the CS- the skirt replaces a pair of trousers of the same colour which I spilt bleach down and have been consigned to housesparkling/work clothes, the jumper was reduced to £1.99 and will enable me to pull together a stack more outfits from what I already have and yes the knitwear was a whim but it's fantastic and has given me a huge boost. Other than that I've been keeping out of mischief by helping out a local green show and making a batch of black treacle flapjacks to fill the oven alongside the mixed veg meal I had cooking in there. Mr GBT has meanwhile been experimenting with a cheese bread recipe in the BM. So having had a marvellous £4.99 splurge I am back reporting for duty!
Arilx

nursemaggie

Blimy Aril If £4.99 is a splurge the £11.97 I spent on 15 pairs of knickers yesterday was pure extravagance!