Put away your purse & become debt-averse

amber03

There was an article on the radio the other day about people buying Xmas jumpers every year. They said about the amount of jumpers that are worn for just that year and then either dumped in the wardrobe or sent to a charity shop. I was just going to go and buy a second jumper when I realised that I would be only wearing it for two weeks then it would be put away. So wearing my one and only Xmas jumper again and enjoying the compliments for the next two weeks.

Onebrokelady

I felt complete dispair when I got up on Friday morning to the elections results, I work for the NHS and feel let down by the public, happily my city is still Red

foxgloves

1LL - It's nice to hear about other people's traditions. I think your Christmas Eve sounds much more affordable than many, & every bit as enjoyable.

Amber-I've also been reading about what a throw-away item Christmas jumpers are. Such a shame. They get worn for such a short time that I can't see why people would get a new one each year. I bet charity shops get inundated with them.
At least my vile triffid top (it had a Christmas themed diary post all to itself a while back) was theoretically wearable at other times of year, whereas something with a Santa or similar isn't.
You are definitely right that re-using makes environmental as well as financial sense.
F x

foxgloves

OBL - Once the exit poll had been announced, I was so fed-up I could hardly watch. I live in Toryville so never any change here, but yes, I share your pain & worries. Solidarity, Comrade!
F x

foxgloves

Oh my chilly feet... they are like ice cubes! The lovely Mr F has just brought me a hot water bottle to thaw them out!
Well m'dears, I have not been lured into Festive Spendyness today, despite the best endeavours of shiny twinkly things. We have crossed the county borders (didn't see any bandits!) to visit a rather upmarket place which has a big pop-up Christmas decorations shop each year. Now yesterday, I decorated our tree & I put back 3 boxes of surplus decorations which simply wouldn't fit on our good-sized fir. It is still lovely & festive to look round, so on our way in, I said to Mr F, "Don't let me buy anything!" He said, "Well surely you can just have one new decoration?" I said no, because we have heaps of them, more than we can use even if we had a second tree. We got inside & oh, it looked so lovely... A piney smell (probably sprayed on) & such an array of every kind of Christmas tree decoration imaginable.
Was I tempted? No! I enjoyed perusing everything very much & I did find several things I liked, but some of those, I could make myself from natural materials & odds & ends from my craft stash. There were also a great many decorations I wouldn't hang on my tree because they just seemed weird! Each to their own, I know but.....
A big chunky pink resin pig wearing a crown?
A 30cm high glitter kingfisher?
More bloody unicorns?
A plastic llama in a jumper?
A glass basset hound wearing a party hat?
Bright pink feathered flamingos?
We ended up having a good chuckle about how bizarre & un-Christmassy so many of the things were & I'm sure this helped me not to spend anything.
There was one item I considered... a neat little wooden serving board with 4 small glass containers each with a spoon for serving condiments. I imagined that on my Christmas table but was then struck by the reality that most of my family guests could snarf the contents of one of those little containers on a single sandwich, so I'd be having to keep refilling them. It's also more washing up, as jars can simply go back in the fridge. And I have a wooden board plus plenty of pretty ramekins at home already if I ever decided I had to have an item of this type.
Of course, back in the day, it would have been in my basket with half a dozen decorations with never a thought as to the state of the never ending overdraft.
You see, before the LBM, looking WITHOUT BUYING was something I simply seemed physically unable to do. I'm happy that cash-spraying attitude is firmly in the past.
And it goes without saying, of course, that if anyone reading has a fir tree liberally bedecked with large crown-wearing pigs, I mean no offence.
Wishing you all a cosy peaceful evening,
F x

Blackcats

Christmas Eve tradition when children were younger was "Christmas Lemonade" and a video. Christmas lemonade is actually cream soda but for whatever reason we only had it at Christmas and they thought it was a festive variation of lemonade. I might have had a glass of grown up Christmas lemonade in the form of a glass of wine while watching the video. We didn't really watch Christmas themed films but watched the traditional favourites like The Railway Children, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang etc. Lovely cosy Christmas Eve memories.

foxgloves

HHoD - I do remember 'Past Times'. They had some lovely things. They could sometimes be a bit expensive but they had good sales. It was a useful shop for presents. I quite missed it when it folded, actually.
We have a cloth advent calendar Mum made for us ages ago. It hangs on the wall & at the end of November, I fill the pockets with sweeties or chocs. Mr F has the even numbers & I have the odd ones. The calendar comes out every year. I did have to mend one of the pockets one year but that was my own fault as I rammed a massive jelly snake in there.
I don't think Mr F would ever buy me one of those expensive box advent calendars full of beauty products. If he did, of course I'd use them, but I know I'd be cross that so much money had been spent when it could have been put towards something we need, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't buy one as he enjoys doing our little chocolate one & is very nearly as sensible as me with money these days, lol.
F x

1LuckyLady

On the subject of Christmas Jumpers - we popped into the Ymca charity shop in town at the weekend and they had a rail in the door way with at least 20 of them. All looked like new, I don't understand this "can only be seen in it once" attitude.
I was talking with a friend who I thought was quite sensible and she was telling me about the specially bought xmas eve boxes and how big they were and listened as she listed what each child was having in there, Then she moved on to what was in each of their stockings!! I think it was at least £40-£50 worth of stuff in the box and maybe another £20 - £30 in the stocking - All this before the main event! Your word "stuffmas" is spot on!

wishingthemortgaheaway

We are not ones for throwaway Christmas clothing here:
Pickle is about to celebrate his 4th Christmas:
His 'reindeer slipper socks' are on their 4th (and last) Christmas - they really are a bit small - but he's loving them again, and socks stretch.

His only Christmas jumper is on it's 3rd (and last) Christmas - definitely no growing room left in that one.

Hubby has bought him a new one for Christmas, but it's at least two sizes bigger than all his other clothes, so I imagine it will last the next few years.

In our local parental online community, we have a variety of 'swaps' threads - Wellies - incredibly useful when we need two pairs at a time (one for home one for childcare) and children's feet grow so quickly.

We've also had a 'nativity/Christmas play' costume thread. I don't think we've had a Christmas jumper one this year, but I think I'll start one for next year.

Also- our tree was rescued from being skipped by a large supermarket chain who had it displayed at a conference for
About 6 hours!!! Hubby rescued one (pre-lit & all decorations included) I hope the other ones found a good home.

Christmas Eve - no Christmas Eve boxes here. Although, there is something going round book face at the moment that says, In Iceland, on Christmas
Eve you eat chocolate and read books - I think I'm going to participate in that tradition!

Wish.

foxgloves

Aww, that sounds lovely, Blackcats. I remember being taken to see 'The Railway Children' by my grandparents when I was a little girl. And now you've mentioned 'Chitty Chitty bang bang' & I'll be singing 'Toot Sweets' all night! I love that the cream soda was seen as a special festive drink because it was different.
F x