It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

YoungBlueEyes

We have a few near here, attached to petrol stations and a couple of supermarkets. They're majoritively used by people to wash stuff they can't/don't want to wash at home  - workmen's greasy overalls, horse blankets etc....

I'd sooner use an actual laundrette, even if it was further away, cos they don't allow that kind of thing. 

elsien

Just took a watch in for a new battery and a new strap. Unfortunately, my local independent chap has retired. Quoted price £17.99. I can get a new watch for less than that.
Have to be honest, it’s less about the money and more about it being not economic to repair things. I think I mentioned before that my barely used iron had died after four years, during which time  it was probably used once every couple of months.
Took it to the repair café and it has built-in obsolescence because the repairable bits are firmly sealed where you can’t get to them.
We really need to be moving away from the disposable culture that we are living in at the moment. 

All this “you are now eligible to upgrade your phone” when it’s working perfectly and got a few years life in it yet. Yes it’s the money but it’s also the environment and how can we protect that when everything is disposable? I know people who bin perfectly good clothes because it’s not on the radar to take them to the charity shop.
Or people who post furniture Facebook and say “need gone today or it’s going to the tip.” They knew they were getting new furniture. Why make sure that no one’s got time to come and fetch it?

Rant over. As you were. 

Pollycat

elsien said:

Just took a watch in for a new battery and a new strap. Unfortunately, my local independent chap has retired. Quoted price £17.99. I can get a new watch for less than that.
Have to be honest, it’s less about the money and more about it being not economic to repair things. I think I mentioned before that my barely used iron had died after four years, during which time  it was probably used once every couple of months.
Took it to the repair café and it has built-in obsolescence because the repairable bits are firmly sealed where you can’t get to them.
We really need to be moving away from the disposable culture that we are living in at the moment. 

All this “you are now eligible to upgrade your phone” when it’s working perfectly and got a few years life in it yet. Yes it’s the money but it’s also the environment and how can we protect that when everything is disposable? I know people who bin perfectly good clothes because it’s not on the radar to take them to the charity shop.
Or people who post furniture Facebook and say “need gone today or it’s going to the tip.” They knew they were getting new furniture. Why make sure that no one’s got time to come and fetch it?

Rant over. As you were. 

I have a Citizen eco-drive watch with a metal strap.
It runs on light (solar & artificial) so never needs batteries.
Been running since 2007 so has only cost me the purchase price (which admittedly isn't that cheap).
But I have bought a couple from eBay that were great value.

I don't understand the phone upgrade culture.
We buy our phones upfront and have the cheapest, most suitable-for-us sim only package.
We only upgrade when the phone has died.

And I buy our clothes from charity shops, eBay or Vinted.
And dispose of our unwanted stuff the same way.

[Deleted User]

Although it is quite a long three bus journey (free with my bus pass). I can go to big market where there is a watchmaker.  He renews the battery and fits a new leather strap, on the spot without appointment, just a queue if busy, for £6 for both.

That was last December and I'll be going again next week.  I expect it will cost more but a lot less than £17.99, Elsien.

I hope you find somewhere cheaper - especially if you can get to a good sized market.

Floss

elsien said:

Just took a watch in for a new battery and a new strap. Unfortunately, my local independent chap has retired. Quoted price £17.99. I can get a new watch for less than that.

My battery-powered watches all have Timpsons lifetime batteries - when they were first changed I paid a few pounds more to get a card with the watch details & free replacement batteries for as long as required. I got my silver dressy watch done last month & the card was dated 2004.

London_1

I gave up wearing a watch in 1995 when I retired, and I have four watches in the drawer upstairs . I don't need one as I can find the time on my phone and being retired I'm never bothered about the time now I'm lucky I don't have to rush around anymore so I can relax and do things in my time instead of someone else's but I agree the idea of scrapping stuff is absurd.

Anything of mine thats finally given up the ghost is usually pretty ancient anyway I lent one of my grandsons my iron about 9 months ago, and realised after a couple of months I really didn't miss it
 Stuff dries on hanger so doesn't need ironing, and the hours of my life I have wasted doing it is beyond belief.

I gave my large Belray Ironing board to one of my other grandsons.  it had been saved for in the 1970s and got with my  Green Shield stamps so after almost 45 years it was still in good condition, and it saved him buying one. It had a pretty good cover on it and was still serviceable so he was pleased to get it, and I was pleased to find a good home for it He will probably still be using it long after I'm gone  

JackieO xx

YorksLass

London_1 said:

I gave up wearing a watch in 1995 when I retired, and I have four watches in the drawer upstairs . I don't need one as I can find the time on my phone and being retired I'm never bothered about the time now I'm lucky I don't have to rush around anymore so I can relax and do things in my time instead of someone else's but I agree the idea of scrapping stuff is absurd.

Same here.

As for mobile phones, I'm still using a basic Nokia with a PAYG sim card and only top up twice a year so very cheap.  I can make and receive calls and texts and that's all I need it for so it suits me.  I know eventually it will become obsolete but, until then, I'll bimble along with "the brick".     

Siebrie

We had a technician come and do the annual check of our water softener machine. There only was a small wheel that needed replacing, which he did. Then, when he was ready to leave, he said: 'your machine is 9 years old now, and I'm supposed to persuade you to buy a new one. But your machine is still running just fine, so I won't. Goodbye.' Hurray for honest technicians!

DaveTheGeordie

So recently what I've done:

Bills:
Formerly paid £8.66 monthly very basic Tesco Mobile contract + £24 monthly for home broadband. That's £32.66 per month. I cancelled both of those, and in their place I got a single unlimited data mobile contract for £21 month. That's saved me £11.66 month by effectively merging the two. I'm quite proud of myself.

I learnt to drive very recently and figured I wanted more data for when i'm using maps and not home and such. Not watched TV in a decade, no sky etc in this house. Home phone's never been plugged in (obsolete now with mobile phone age). I'm writing this on a Chromebook in my flat. Just tether everything off the mobile phone's network, very easy to do these days. Plus I now don't have to worry about data outside. Really worked out great.

Not new but will share this one. Bought a load of candles and stayed in 1 room most of the time at home. I spread them out in little tealight holders which radiate some heat, and light a couple of larger ones for ambient light and comfort. This is my old cheapskate way but i put the heating on too these days. It's just me alone. If i had guests or a GF or whatever I'd not be so tight. I'm just a tightwad.

Food
Other thing I started a couple months back was to eat more carbs. Most my diet was previously meat and dairy, and fasting, which I'd still do but carbs are just so much cheaper. Work in a kitchen, I can take home food that's been wasted and eat off of that mostly. Mostly pastries, deserts, pies and some pizza's to freeze, then some other random stuff once in a while like fish, crisps. Aside from my shop for veg that I'll talk about in a second I spent probably not more than £20 over 6 weeks on food. Mostly just buy bread, butter, milk, pop, coffee. I still fast a bit (in a shorter window) but quit that too because it kind of makes you cold in the winter. So i had a week off of work this week. Bought a load of wonky veg (carrots, potatoes,chillies) some garlic, turnip, sweet potato, butternut squash, frozen peas, sweetcorn for like £8 and bought 45p bread a couple of times since. Probably used a 10% of the veg and ate well. The veg will probably go off before I use it all. I've been making chunky soup most days.

joedenise

Don't let the veg go off - chop it and freeze it.  Can use it for stews as well as soups.   Thinks like butternut squash will last months in a cool place - I can them in a spare wardrobe.  Think I used the last one around May this year which I'd bought the previous year!