Not Buying It- A Consumer Holiday 2016

imataloss

As a long time lurker of this thread I`d like to say Good Luck in your new home to Lynplatinum. Hope you`ll be very happy in Cornwall.

I love reading this thread and often think of the people on here before I make a purchase.

Thank you all.

Primrose

Couldn't resist a bargain today.. Local garden centre closing down. 50% off everything sale so bought six bags of composted manure for my vegetable garden for £15 instead of £30. As that saves us money I reckon keeping the soil in good fertile condition is a legitimate expense. However husband not too happy about the pong and mess it left in the boot of the car. :eek: Hope I'll be forgiven when the nice free tomatoes, beans and other goodies start arriving on the table !

Primrose

lilian1977 wrote: »

. I've just found out I'm personally in the top 2.5% on the Global Rich List, and as a family we're in the top 0.29% which really is food for thought. If you'd like to do the same you can look here: http://www.globalrichlist.net/

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Lilian. Thank you for this link. We in the UK have so much to be thankful for economically when we look around other poorer countries in world. Even on the "bad grumpy days" perhaps we should do this exercise and remember to count our blessings. There are so many things in our lives we take completely for granted like living in a country free from armed conflict, having a roof over our head, food in our stomachs, education and a free health service, even if sometimes we have a long wait to get a GP appointment!

[Deleted User]

Tried to click on the link and it just kept saying 'You sure about that ? try again, but then I am a pensioner, yet I don't feel as though I am by any means poor or hard up I budget carefully,own my own home outright,owe no one any money and have a rainy day fund with modest savings.

My cupboards are full, am reasonably healthy, albeit I need to use a stick to walk with and I have a loving family who live nearby, I am rich in comparison with a lot of other people, and never forget that richness is not always about money its about quality of life not possessions

RicardaRacoon

Evening folks

Back from my holidays and it was lovely! We changed our plan a bit and travelled much further West than we had planned, which is lovely about travelling in a camper van. We started in Broadstairs, went down to Brighton where we stayed a few days, than down to Devon (a bit south of Exeter), up to Minehead and then on to Bath.
The whole thing was by no means NBI though... Bought a lot of lovely things, a nice dress and cardigan, a few things for my flat like buntings and pictures, books and stationery and of course yarn and knitting needles. But since I don't shop much when I'm at home it was ok.

No big spends planned for the rest of the month beside food shopping, rubbish bags and probably tights (will see how many of them will come out of the wash in good condition, managed to tear a few during the holidays)
Oh and a present for a friend who will marry in August. It is all short notice, didn't had time yet to talk to another friend about giving something together but found two lovely cups while on holiday, one sais "The boss" and the other "The real boss" So they will get these as a funny gift with a note that it is up to them to decide which cup belongs to whom :-)

So back to work tomorrow, not that happy about it, could do with more holiday... Plus I will have to fix a doctors appointment as my foot is swollen again... Twisted my ankle a couple of weeks back, swelling was almost gone before holidays but came back... Probably all that walking, uneven ground like pebbles and cobbled streets and a very high step into the van were a bit too much for it...

Lyn, congratulations on finding a house!

Jackie, you really are a magnet for bargains!

Mirry, sounds like you too managed to find a few good bargains!

So, I think I'm off to bed, have a nice evening everyone

nursemaggie

JackieO Been thinking about what you said about income, not what you spend.

You said you put your income in the Global Rich List and it kept saying are you sure? Well I spend more than you on food but there are two of us and we both eat all our meals at home. We don't even have a coffee out more than two or three times a year. I know I can't afford a Happy Stash it all goes on bills.

I worked out what with your happy stash, your gardener, your subscriptions etc you spend more than my income so how come I came in the top 15.8%?

[Deleted User]

I guess roughly my income is around £12k and my outgoings are around half of that give or take. I think perhaps their data base is up the creek. I certainly don't feel particularly hard up, and I'm happy with my lot in life :) perhaps thats what gives me my optimism and fairly happy outlook, which is worth its weight in gold if nothing else :):) I think I get good value for what I spend,we were all chatting about this at coffee morning this morning (£10.00 per year for a Dobbies card gives you 2 free coffees per month for a year) All of the ladies there are around my age and we all have 'loyalty cards' for various businesses but use them to our best advantage.We swap ideas to make things last or recipes for cheap or reasonable meals.We also recycle lots of bits between us and one of our interest groups at U3A is a 'make do and mend' group. I read Ilona's blog with interest and she seems to manage on even less than most of us

Enjoying the small things in life is what makes my life good, picking free blackberries with my grandchildren is great as we enjoy foraging.if you live in a big city then its probably harder to do this. even growing your own rhubarb in a small part of the garden is a doddle as it needs virtually no care (I picked some of mine last week) and already new growth is spring up to replace it. the new stuff I will pick and freeze for the wintertime.

JackieO xx

RicardaRacoon

Evening folks

Have finally managed to tidy up the last mess from unpacking, haven't been home much this week, working long on Monday, meeting on Tuesday evening and yesterday was a friends birthday but since I wasn't home much it also didn't annoyed me that it was a mess...
Best was that I found a brand new hover when opening the broom cabinet... Called my parents to ask if my old hover had packed up while I was away (my parents are so nice and hover the worst catsand and cathair mess away when I'm on holidays) and how much the new one had costed. Turned out that my sister had asked if she could have the brandnew hover from our aunts house (aunt moved to a home and we now have to sort the house) and then Dad saw the very same hover on offer last week and decided that I might like one too and bought it for me, taking my old hover to the holiday house where the current one is last leg anyway.

Jackie, I tried it out with your 16k $ and it came up with 6% something if I'm not mistaken. But as you said, it is also a lot about spending and not only earning as we all have different needes and wants. And it also depends on the general price level where you life. 1 $ will get you a pint of milk in one country and a whole cow in another.

It just occured to me that I need something to wear to my friends wedding... I do have an elegant blue dress which I bought 4 years or so ago but never really got much wear out of it as it is too elegant for day to day. I actually really much fancy the thought of buying a new dress but then it is just ridic as there is no other occassion coming up all summer where I need something really elegant. And since for me clothes are on ration this year it would be silly spending precious points on a dress I don't need... A dress was 7 to 11 points during WWII depending on material and I allowed myself 100 points for this year (much more than it would have been during the war, but I have to cater for 21. century needs and can't go to work all make do and mended, so allowed myself more)

So dress it sortet, stays the problem of finding a good present... If I can't come up with something I might just give them a voucher for something they will need for their baby which is due in January.

Have a nice evening everyone!

tighteningthebelt

Can i join you guys?
I'm a long time old style lurker, and want to start joining in a bit more.
I'm generally quite frugal, but next Wednesday I move house, so I've had to do a strange combination of decluttering and.acquisition and spending to get the new place up and running, both within a short space of time.
I've had altogether a rickety sort of year, and things are coming together now, and I want to emerge with a smaller, yet more wholesome life.
So at the moment I'm feeling quite adrift, and I thought this thread seemed friendly and supportive, to help me get settled down, and meet good peeps who have their priorities in the right places.
So tomorrow another day betwixt the two places, also to sort out all utilities, which I have been putting off. And a small shop to see us though to the move day.
Love the ww2 clothes rationing idea. Will have a proper look when I'm settled in.

Primrose

tighteningthebelt wrote: »

Can i join you guys?

I'm generally quite frugal, but next Wednesday I move house, so I've had to do a strange combination of decluttering and.acquisition and spending to get the new place up and running, both within a short space of time.
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Good luck with the move. Quite a stressful time, but hopefully once you're in your new place you can cope with the next stage at your leisure.