Not Buying It- A Consumer Holiday 2016

Bathory

What mainly appeals to me with the NBI thread is finding like minded people who were just fed up with mindless consumerism and got more out of life by calming down, spending less and finding pleasure in other things in life.

The NBI ship has meant a lot to me since it got ready to 'set sail' around December 2014 and obviously the month of December is the most hyped up time of year for spending. I mentioned in previous posts that I was once nothing like I am now with regards to money. I use to not give a second thought to what I would spend my wages on and always ran out of cash well before payday. There is nothing wrong with treats but it went past that with me and the more I bought the more I felt that I appreciated nothing. I was questioning myself to what I was getting out of running around in pursuit of all this stuff. Also, I am a minimalist at heart and whatever I bought just sat around and became annoying clutter.

So, the ways I personally cope with bad habits that try to re-establish themselves are questions that I will ask myself if I can't avoid the temptation of nipping in and having a look in a shop. These questions will be do I really need it? or, will it come in handy for the near future or just sit lying around? If I can't answer either of these then I walk away to have a think and have learn't that it is rare that I will go back and buy it simply because:

a) I didn't need the item in the first place but it got my attention because it was either in a sale or it was some newly launched product screaming 'Buy me!!!!! You really need me in your life'.
or -
b) I simply can't be bothered.

Frugal_gem

Hi all :j

I have been following this thread since it started as well as loads of others and want to (hopefully) permanently de-lurk!

I have been reading the boards for years and had my light bulb moment a few years ago. I made a profile at the beginning of this year but want to join in more now to help keep me on the straight and narrow :rotfl:

I'll post more and join in, but wanted to introduce myself.

ETA: Got rid of those weird question marks!

Happytravelling

I'm currently restoring an old bench that I think used to be a train station bench, the seat and back are each made of a piece of wood that looks like a long railway sleeper, with a cast iron stand. I've had it for about 5 years and this is the second painting its had since buying. There have been times where I've thought I should have just got a cheap plastic bench and replaced it whenever it inevitably broke (several hours sanding with seemingly little progress does that to you!) but when its finished and I set it between a couple of plant pots in my garden, I know I will love it again

As you can tell by my username, I love holidays. I remember as a child complaining that my friends all got to go bowling, to the cinema, ice skating, theme parks, etc, all through the school holidays, whilst we mostly did bike rides, picnics and low cost/ free stuff (or as I put it "we never do anything"). My dad asked if I would prefer to go on holiday abroad once per year or have days out throughout the year instead, it was one or the other. I plumped for holidays, and that's still what I prioritise, so we set a budget for a holiday each year and see what we need to not spend to achieve it.

We also have a yearly mortgage balance reduction target (I know- its a barrel of laughs at our house! :rotfl:) which is achievable but doesn't have a specific area of the budget covering it, so we have to look for savings or income elsewhere. If we get a payrise or a bonus or the car insurance comes in under budget, we know we've got our target we both want to hit, so some of this goes towards the mortgage. We don't always hit it, but we wouldn't make anywhere near the progress we have if we didn't have a target at all, so we don't beat outselves up over it.

We're both in the habit of limiting impulse purchases and daily/ weekly costs from the practice of keeping an eye on what our daily mortgage interest is, but now we're in that habit, we tend to use the above 2 methods to avoid spending money on things we don't really want to spend on.

Also, I made the mistake of learning how to make my favourite chinese dish and prefer my version to that of our local takeaway place, so it takes the shine off ordering when I know I could make it better myself and for less money. Its a lot to pay just for the benefit of less washing up!

Oh, another thought I have is "where am I going to put that if I buy it?" That puts me off quite a lot of stuff, especially kitchen gadgets. :T

Aril

I've had a rather unusual case of NBI today. The teenogre's wooden curtain pole has disintegrated and can't be fixed. Thankfully we had a free spare one in the garage....one which was jesttisoned into our garden by drunken sots several years ago source unknown. I cursed the little beggars at the time but am pleased to say it has exactly fitted the holes left by the other one. On another note I discovered that you can get into the gardens at Hampton Court for free. The roses were spectacular yesterday. Arilx

[Deleted User]

Aril how lovely to be so near to Hampton Court, and to see the roses , I remember going with my late Mum years ago as she was an avid prize rose grower and June was always spent visiting different gardens.My favourite of all is Prince Albertine which is a gorgeous tea rose and the smell always reminds me of my Mum. Back in the 1950s there used to be a spectacular rose garden in Bromley but sadly its long gone now..My Mum always sprayed the roses with washing up water to kill off the greenfly she wasn't keen on pesticides even back then before their dangers became known Her home made fertiliser was a bucket with rotted down dandelion leaves which smelt disgusting but worked beautifully, and soot was also used ,especially on Rhubarb for some reason.Nothing was wasted if possible .We kept chickens, so their muck was used as fertiliser as well :):) Plants and seeds were shared with neighbours in exchange for some of our eggs.My Mum would have loved this site she was really OS in everything she did :):)

JackieO xx

Happytravelling

I've discovered a new delight in my days! The petunias that my dad kindly gifted to me were just a mix of colours but hadn't flowered. It seemed a bit of a nuisance at first because I'd normally plant specific colours in specific places. But I've found that I love heading out into the garden each day to see if any have bloomed and what colour they are No new flowers today, but it looks as though there could be 2 tomorrow... Just hope the rain doesn't knock their heads off, if we get what's forecast.

RicardaRacoon

Evening folks

Should actually go to bed, but not tired yet, so could as well post here... :-)

Time flies at the moment, in no time I will be on holiday and we're in the midst of planning and organising.
Plus we currently try to rehome my aunts dog which isn't that easy... She had to go to a nursing home and noone of us can keep the dog due to various reasons but at least we now found a place for him to go on a holiday while my sister and I are away which is one animal less for our parents to look after (they will have to look after a total of five cats...)

I had a little accident on Tuesday... Twisted my ankle quite badly... it didn't really started hurting/swelling until a couple of hours later, so obviousely I didn't cooled it or anything as I thought it wasn't that bad and so it is still very swollen. Not hurting much but still very big and I'm not sure if I should go and see a doctor or if it is normal to take so long... When I think back to the last time I twisted something I think it was also badly swollen for a week or two.

Jackie, enjoy your new telly. one big spend once a year sounds reasonable :-)

Lynn, well done on focusing on the positive side of not having a home :-)

Spendwise I'm doing quite good, besides a very big spend for a pair of prescription sunglasses and a few small bits and bobs. Went on an all-afternoon shopping tour with two friends lately and bought --- nothing! They both had 10 bags in the end and had spent I don't know how much on random stuff... I enjoyed spending time with them, playing style advisor, helped with all the bags and enjoyed a big bowl of pasta afterwards, which was my only spend of the afternoon.

by the way, have I told you about my new approach to clothes shopping? Although I improved quite a bit I still bought loads of things I didn't really liked last year so I decided that a new approach was needed so that I think more of what I need/want and only buy things I really like and wear. Well, I now create a capsule wardrobe for each season and for any new purchase I'm using the rationing system from wwII. I found a list in a book which item "cost" how many points, but I will allow myself 1.5 times the points from the first year rationing was introduced so that, while I still have to plan and economise, I won't have to go to work in make-do-and-mended clothes. So far I bought two pairs of much needed shoes, a pair of jeans (old ones beyond repair) and one cardigan which used 22 of my 11 points.

So, I'm off to bed...

Happytravelling

Ricarda- where are you off to? I love the excitement of planning although I know its not everyone's cup of tea! I hope your ankle swelling reduces before then (I'd add a fingers crossed smilie here if I could find one)

Prescription sunglasses, to my mind, are essential- the UV filters now are such a high quality, its basically another way of looking after your health. Plus, because you don't use the frames too often, they'll stay nicer and you'll more than likely be able to just replace lenses in future- thats where NBI comes in, if you ask me

blackcatsx2

Evening all, I'm enjoying reading the thread and find the posts so interesting and inspiring. On Saturday I decided I needed a new jacket, shoes and bag to wear to a family celebration. Actually, I already had a cardigan that matched my dress perfectly, some posh shoes (in pristine condition cos each time I've worn them they have hurt my feet). I didn't have a perfect bag but had a perfectly nice bag which I tucked by the side of my seat so the fact that it didn't match went unnoticed (honestly no-one would have cared anyway would they?). So instead of traipsing round shops and spending a fortune we went for a nice walk and enjoyed a coffee and cake - much, much nicer way to spend time and cost a fraction of what I might have spent. Thank you all for this thread and your continuing inspiration.

Kerry_Woman

I have to jump on board again. Have to try harder and not impulse buy. Had 2 occasions recently that I brought things and afterwards wished that I had not spent the money. Most of the time I seem to manage ok. Am still making a note of what I have spent. Had to get a new shopping trolley as the old one broke. Had enough points on a loyalty card to buy a new one at a certain catalogue shop, so saved money there.


Still managing to do the odd decluttering. As I want to move out of the area where I am currently living hopefully in the next 5 or so years, I have to really try and save more money. There are a few more things that I have to do to achieve this goal.