Not Buying It- A Consumer Holiday 2016

mirry

Managed to spend on a few things today that will save me money in the long run. A pair of clarks boots from the charity shop for £4, they are perfect and look new

Then I picked up 5 bottles of 400ml Herbal essence shampoo in poundland (3.99 in superdrug) and 2 carrier bags of YS food in m&s for £7.20.
Spent the afternoon on the sofa watching The Sound of music and loved every min of it, lol

pathtofreedom

I went to aldi today to look at some storage draws they had. I decided not to get a trolly on the way in, incase they didn't have any left. In the end they were smaller than I wanted so didn't get them. Had a walk around the shop looking for a couple of things I needed but they had run out, so rather than change my meal plan ideas I left without buying anything which must be a first. Especially as they had wool deals in, but that is what I needed the draws for so I couldn't buy more wool when I don't even have enough storage for my stash as it is.

[Deleted User]

Good evening and welcome to all our new friends and de-lurkers, nice to see the NBI thread carrying on from last year. I really enjoy reading what you all get up to when doing your best not to spend and the reasons why.:)

Mine are easy, I am just a frugal old Grandma who would rather treat her grandkids than waste cash on daft things.

I save my surplus dosh for our family holiday, when I go every August to the IoW with my DD,son-in-law and four boys, two dogs, the hamster and myself .

We rent a house and have a very OS famliy time.Because money for DD is often a bit short, even though they both work full time, with four growing lads who eat like horses DD and I are pretty good at feeding the hungry hoardes.

We are a close knit family, and I look after three boys of the after school and during the holidays, the eldest is at Uni in Norwich.

He goes back next weekend and I have already sorted out his 'Ben Box' of staple food stuff to get him through until Easter. Rice ,pasta, tinned bits and pieces that I find when I shop.

He came home before Christmas with a pile of socks,none of which matched:rotfl: I think all the boys in his student house just grab what's dry when they empty the washing machine, so he had extra socks in his presents this year:):)

I have managed to not buy anything at all foodwise since before Christmas as I have been away shuttling between both DDs houses over the holiday period, and only have had two days at my own house in the past fortnight I am at last back at home.

I have done a quick inventory of my frige and won't need to buy much until the middle of next week as I came home even tonight, with several left overs from eldest DDs house. a beautiful half a ham that she said she didn't need to use up and knew I would no problem

So tonight, back at my own house for good for awhile, and sitting down catching up on menu plans and inventories of my food stocks.

I had some nice left over brie and crackers with some grapes for supper,very yummy and quite filling.

So I am hoping that with all the odds and ends I have in store I won't need much in the way of food shopping at all.

Great to see so many new folk on here, I was listening to the weekend Womans Hour this afternoon on Radio Four and they are going to have a phone-in on Monday next about what sort of changes you would like to do or try in 2016

So come on chums, what's your hopeful ambition or goal for the New Year, nothing that's set in stone, but perhaps your little wish-list.

Mine is to make some more actual 'Me time' I do so many things every day, clubs and interest groups etc that I often by the weekend am worn out with all the socialising :):) there are times I could do with a 36 hour day and I've been 'retired ' since 1995 !!!

So I am going to try and just find some 'stop and stare time ' if I can.

I am pretty good at frugalising my cash so that's not a problem and making do and mending isn't too bad .

Does anyone else find that even though they perhaps no longer go out to work you seem to be doing more, than when you did ?? or is it just I'm just a gal who can't say no when asked if I could perhaps just do this as a favour, as the working folk seem to think that as your retired then you must have lots of time to spare.

I know a lot of people on here are busy Mums and also work,how doe find 'Me time' or perhaps you don't

Perhaps Ishould be Not doing it instead of Not buying it :):)

Anyway welcome, and I wish you all a frugal and happy New Year
JackieO xx

fiftyeighter_2

Xi think I'm the opposite to you JackieO, I'm thinking this year I must get out and about more, do things, join clubs etc. Only trouble is there isn't an awful lot going on in my very small town. Unless it's the pub of course and apart from playing dominoes the pub bores me and I can't afford it anyway. How can a very small town have so many pubs? 9 yes 9.
The nearest largish town is 12 miles away. But I am not a defeatist and I will do more with my life. I WILL. I'm 66 next May and I'm too young to just roll over so 2016 is going to be the year I start to live.
I wish everyone a happy and fulfilling new year.

[Deleted User]

fiftyeighter wrote: »

Xi think I'm the opposite to you JackieO, I'm thinking this year I must get out and about more, do things, join clubs etc. Only trouble is there isn't an awful lot going on in my very small town. Unless it's the pub of course and apart from playing dominoes the pub bores me and I can't afford it anyway. How can a very small town have so many pubs? 9 yes 9.
The nearest largish town is 12 miles away. But I am not a defeatist and I will do more with my life. I WILL. I'm 66 next May and I'm too young to just roll over so 2016 is going to be the year I start to live.
I wish everyone a happy and fulfilling new year.

Investigate the U3A you will hopefully find a local one to where you live I live in a very small part of the Medway the nearest town is Chatham but we have over 300 members and 41 different interest groups I would recommend it to anyone looking for an outlet , I could be out 7 days a week if I wanted to there is even a Sunday group that does lunches and socials I am a few years older than you and our youngest member is around 50 odd and the oldest is pushing 90:rotfl::rotfl: I help run the local pub quiz team for our U3A on a Tuesday night which is a hoot and the pub lays on a supper and included in the price of £2.00 you get fed as well win-win ):)

Life is for living go out and grab it by the horns Look on you local area website most place have one and see whats around what sort of interests do you have

At the moment I go to a Book club,Knitting group,Craft group,Coffee morning History club, quiz night,sociology group once a month and a walking group every Monday morning from the local library They often have things on and they are usually free.That's apart from my genealogy interests, and swimming and looking after my three grandsons and visiting some housebound friends with their library books and sometimes helping out at the local primary school who are always looking for people to help with reading with the children

No wonder i'm short of time :):)

candygirl

jlhmd666 wrote: »

I was tempted by an Approved Food email today, logged onto the site and started browsing but talked myself out of it as we already have more than enough food here without adding to it just yet.

Me too! I filled my basket up, got distracted by a visitor and couldn't even remember what i'd ordered.Hence I deffo don't need it

mirry

wow Jackio, I'm exhausted just reading everything you do & wish I had half your energy, lol.

My new year list is to try & get out more which I find challanging because I have eds3 & pots. However this past week I've managed two social events, and have been invited to a birthday bash

I'm also going to pay full attention to my diet/health.
I'm going to eat high omega 3,seeds flaxseed/linseed/fish/veg/fruit/nuts & almond/coconut milk.
I've even got some soya chunks to try.
It will be interesting to see what effect this will have on my health....and how much it's going to cost me

Skint_yet_Again

Hi mirry - I buy almond milk for my DS he likes the alpro one. I check on mysupermarket first to see where it is on offer and bulk buy as it can be quite expensive - I usually manage to get it for £1 each or 2 for £2


DS went out for lunch yesterday and was on night shift last night so he took a pre-cooked batch frozen meal with him. I had cheese and crackers for lunch and managed to resist the urge to order myself a takeaway for dinner and used up roast dinner leftovers instead. The rest are now portioned up and frozen another day.


I've started my meal planning and shopping list for tomorrow. Monday is my shopping day and I'm planning to only shop once a week to reduce the possibility of overspending


I've got to get some birthday and anniversary cards for this month so I'm going to go to the cheap chemist we have near ald! - they sell cheap cards / cheaper than card factory too - and plan to stock up so I don't have to dash last minute to the nearest shop and pay £2-£3 for a card !


Also need to get 2 last minute Christmas presents which were already planned but will not see the recipients before end Jan so hoping to maybe get something in the sales.


Planning another NSD today. DS is home from night shift and has gone to bed. I'm planning to take down all the Christmas decs and wash the front bay window inside and out. When he's out of bed later (about 4pm) I will put the hoover round.


Need to look in the freezer and get something out for dinner. Breakfast for me will be the remaining crumpets with butter and I will eat up the cheese and crackers for lunch - maybe with some homemade soup.


Hopefully that lot will stop me sitting on my backside all day scouring the net for sale bargains !

Larumbelle

Hi all :-) I have been lurking and would like to join you all!

Due to illness etc I have very little money to spend, but what little I do have has to be spent carefully. I have always thought of myself as a careful spender and fairly frugal, and have never exactly had much money anyway, but guess what? Having to cut right down to the bone has made me realise that half of what I spent before was not necessary!

I hope not to be this broke forever, but once I have a little spare before I want to make sure that I don't go back to my old ways. Just because I get my clothes cheap at charity shops doesn't mean I need twice as many! And things like that. Because for somebody who has never had much money I still seem to have rather a lot of STUFF. And as I declutter and prepare to move home (to not even sure where yet) I realise that a lot of it is not needed and doesn't even make me happy. In fact right now it is making me very stressed!!!

Happy new year and good luck to all taking part xxx

Caterina

Good morning,

For all of you who are planning a health drive and use almond or other nut milk, make your own, it's so much cheaper and better than the shop bought ones. Look at your favourite and see what's the percentage of nuts to litre of water, it says on the label, usually it's around 7%. This means 70g of nuts per litre of water. I use 10% (100g) as I like my milk quite rich. Soak the nuts overnight in a litre of water (almonds and hazelnut mix is lovely and both are reasonably priced in L!dl), put in a blender and blend until completely pulverised. If you want to sweeten it healthily , add a dried fig or a couple of dates or dried apricots, or even a few raisins before blending. it keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days, so if you don't use much milk make half the amount. I don't bother filtering it as I like the fibre in my cereals, but some people filter it too. The pulp can be used in biscuit making, or bread, or vege burgers.

Yesterday I spent £10.50 for a christening gift for a little boy and £2.90 worth of salad stuff to take to my friends as contribution towards dinner. Also £5.40 parking (blooming Norah) at Stratford Westfield because we went with DM who cannot walk far because of her bad knees so could not have done it on the tube.

Until DM goes back home to Italy there will be more spends than usual because I want her to have a nice time, good food etc. She is not very mobile so we have to drive everywhere, also she eats meat so I am buying stuff like slices of ham and roast beef, but it is ok, I am glad to give her what she likes. One BIG expense while she is here is heating, she suffers the cold so the house has to be kept to furnace levels. Upstairs radiators are all off, naturally, so every now and then I have to go upstairs to my room to cool down, or even pop into the garden! I know that she will give me a gift in euros before she goes, to compensate my spends, but I would gladly spend anyway even if she did not give me a bean. She is 83 and even if at times she drives me nuts, I am very glad and lucky to still have her with me.

Overall I hope to be frugal this year but it will depend on a lot of things, principally the state of DH's health, I am not going to quibble on giving him a good time, outings etc, while he is still able bodied! However I also need to be realistic about what we can and cannot afford, as in a couple of months we will be living off DH's pension only.

Thankfully I am part of this lovely OS community so I know we will manage!