Simplifying Life

alyth

Jillinoz wrote: »

A thought-provoking read from The Guardian on how shopping around can be a euphemism for yet another demand on our time...

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/consumer/story/0,,2243072,00.html

Jillinoz

Interesting article, thanks for posting that. I absolutely agree, whilst I lead an extremely simplist lifestyle, I shop in Asda for everything- I have a full-time job, I study, I don't have time on a Saturday afternoon to trawl my local town shopping at a fishmonger, butcher, etc. I can stop at Asda, get everything I need (and as a Scot I despise spending/wasting money!) and come home again. There comes a point I think when you have to ask, is it worth spending hours searching for car/house/pet insurance just to save a couple of pounds - of course it's worth it to save larger sums of money, but at this stage in my life I'm only going to save £30 or something similar a car on car insurance, but this would mean either calling or spending valuable time searching on the internet, my time is more productive on other things.

More importantly in our quest for a frugal and simple lifestyle is the mantra do not buy unless you absolutely require it!

Charis

moanymoany wrote: »

When she asked me where she could take it to get it mended I realised that we don't mend things.

When my Dyson ["Never loses suction - ever"] became completely clogged with dust, I decided to take it apart to clean it out. When I unscrewed the logical screws and wrestled the thing apart the little door that opens at the bottom would no longer open because the flimsy connecting device had snapped in two. So I had a cleaner I couldn't empty - ever. I took it to an "agent" to get it mended and it cost me £20 for the 'inspection fee' regardless of whether I decided to get it mended, and another £46 for the new cyclone head and labour. :eek: I should have sued Dyson for false advertising since the only reason I tried to fix it was because, being clogged, it had lost suction :mad: My father used to mend everything. Fridges, TVs, shoes. You can't any more because you often have to get a replacement part which is obsolete by the time you attempt the repair. I am slowly simplifying so I just have less of all 'things'. I once heard someone say that the number of frown lines you develop is in direct proportion to the number of keys you carry (i.e. things you have to safeguard) There might be a lot of truth in that.

Aril

It's a very interesting article about time spent checking prices of things. I tend to do this with more expensive items like with the breadmaker recently and OH is off looking at digital camera prices as we speak but on the whole I only price check 2 or 3 times and then take the risk that possibly somewhere might be cheaper still but my limited spare time is also valuable. I use the internet initially to get a rough idea of what I might expect to pay before even taking my search any further [sometimes the price is too high and unless it's something absolutely vital I add it to the wish list or forget the whole idea] Even on a price checking foray I will use it as part of a planned shopping trip anyway. Other prices I tend just to mentally note if I happen to be in the store anyway and passing by.

With regards to repairs we do try to fix things and extend the life of items. Fortunately OH is fairly practical and takes the approach that if the thing isn't working then we don't lose anything by him taking it apart and having a tinker. If he can't fix it then we haven't lost out on anything [note this doesn't extend to items where you have to a professional in by law to mend it:eek: ] Other than that I try to limit the number of machines I have in the first place. Due to lack of space and not requiring the items for my small family we don't have a dishwasher or a tumble drier but then I am fortunate in that I have a spare room and a garden which I appreciate is not the case for all. Our family car is also a fairly basic 2nd hand Punto. We had bigger company cars pre redundancy [probably bigger than we would have chosen had we had the choice] and particularly with the later ones they were regulars at the garage for problems caused by all the complicated electronics and this was very soon when they were quotes "new". My simplistic approach is the less complicated the machine perhaps the less there is to go wrong with it. Could be completely wrong on that of course but then all my knowledge on this topic is theoretical!!
Decluttering is still continuing apace and the small person has now produced a load of art/science kits that he no longer wants...I've put all of it on freecycle. Another freecycler has saved me from myself by asking for a set of cups and saucers...when I checked I had a mere 18 and we've only got room in our little mud hut to entertain a max of 6 bods at any one time. They must have all got caught in my blind spot when I checked that cupboard...shall shortly be down to 12 so shall now be able to have a beverage in each hand simultaneously. Handy:D
A couple of slightly sharper quotes today:
No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.
Bertrand Russell.
Egotism: usually just a case of mistaken nonentity.
Barbara Stanwyck.
Aril

mary43

We always opt for the less complicated goods Aril. Long as my washing machine washes, the fridge keeps things cool and the freezer freezes, oven cooks...........what else do we need really ? Ive always working on the principle that the more complex an item is, the more things there are to go wrong with it and need repairing.
I've never trudged from shop to shop to save a few pence, although I can see how the pennies can soon become pounds but if it means using petrol to save a little then it doesn't seem worth it anyway and often that's the case -well with us anyway. We do compare prices with the bigger items -even that can be very confusing and its just our luck, once we think we've got a bargain there's a sale on a couple of months later !

I've come to a standstill on my de-cluttering - well for today anyway. After coming back from seeing Mum I need to get my head a bit clearer first before starting on anything else.
There's always another day...........

miecherox

Now there's a thought! i too am new to this site but have been thinking both consciously and sub consciously about simplifying/downshifting etc for a long while now.
I have a a trawl through the many posts on this thread and would love to put a few things into practice.
I already bake my own bread since doing the grocery challenge and have cut my monthly outgoings from approx £600 to £250.
This said I would like to go further and get rid of anything that costs us money that we could do without or downsize.
The only thing that could go that costs us money monthly is our television and media package. Does anyone know how I could go about doing this, DH is visibly pale so I have agreed that the tv could be used for dvds only also I want to keep the internet connection but preferably not the landline. I will switch my mobile to Pay as you go - I believe orange do some good deals... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thankyou in advance Mx

Ellidee

Hi miecherox there is a thread started by greyster called 'My gift to MSE 21 ways to save money....' which may help you. Sorry can't do linky things.

do_it_today!

Hi :hello:
the bracket on our fridge door has broken so limiting the amount of juice we can store on fridge I really want to find a replacement but fear this wont be possible its seems like an obscene waste of money to get rid of fridge just because the bracket has come off!!! our kitchen where we live is a bit knackered and we do need more storage space before christmas I was toying with the idea of getting a new one which would involve a whole load of upheavel and a couple of grand!!! - especially as we are not really sure how long we will be here! soo I decided to get rid of some unused appliances and buy 1 wall cabinet from B&Q to put on a blank wall - ok it doesnt exactly match whats there but it is an easy and simple way to satisfy the need for more cupboard space in the short term - we also changed some of the plinths/kickboards so it looks a bit tidier and solves our space problem

D&DD

http://www.futurefarms.org.uk/

Finally got round to finding that place that grows as much of their own produce as possible.:D Really interesting project

Dan29

Ellidee wrote: »

Hi miecherox there is a thread started by greyster called 'My gift to MSE 21 ways to save money....' which may help you. Sorry can't do linky things.

My gift to MSE: 21 ways to money save/improve your life.

do_it_today!

Hi :hello:
so finally the cupboard is up and I have started moving things in! I have had 3 major declutter sessions in the last six months but there is still more to go! anyway I've got this little dressing table thing which I bought and sprayed silver some years ago and started stripping it to repaint again but really havent got anywhere to put it!!! and have lost enthusiasm to finish off the project tonight I have decided to get rid of it.

I am determind to get rid of things that I no longer use - there are things I have been holding onto to ebay off but now the debt has been cleared this isnt necessary really and for some reason I am finding it difficult to put things on ebay (sounds silly I know)
In fact I have also decided Im gonna burn my journals too - I write in them but never look in them afterwards plus its all usually full of whinging anyway......

The juicer can go to the charity as I have used it only once in 6 months! and is taking up precious room in space pressured kitchen!

Cant think of anything else and I think that is enough for now anyway