No Buy Year

Worlds_Worst_Superhero

Had a good look through the cupboards, fridge and freezer on Wednesday and made a meal plan for the following week.
This meant I had quite a small grocery shopping list this week.
Grocery shopping this week was about £25, but that did include some deodorant and toiletries for my partner. I'm using up the stash of toiletries I already have.

No spend Friday,
Saturday- bought a weekend newspaper for £1.60. A lazy morning with a pot of coffee, cinammon toast and the crossword is my weekend treat.

Worlds_Worst_Superhero

I'm wondering what everyone here is doing for Valentine's Day.

Are you buying cards or gifts?
Going out for a meal?

The shops are piled high with a huge array of Valentine's items, most of it (imho) is absolute tat!
I'm already compiling a mental list of all the stuff I have absolutely no wish to give or receive.

I worry that I'm turning into a right old miser!

weenancyinAmerica

I went in one of my stores Thursday - and not only did they have multiple rows of junk for Valentine's Day , the Easter stuff was out already!  But that is the same store that puts out the bikinis the day after Christmas. Try to find a sweater for winter now - impossible.

SecondStar

Worlds_Worst_Superhero said:

I'm wondering what everyone here is doing for Valentine's Day.

Are you buying cards or gifts?
Going out for a meal?

The shops are piled high with a huge array of Valentine's items, most of it (imho) is absolute tat!
I'm already compiling a mental list of all the stuff I have absolutely no wish to give or receive.

I worry that I'm turning into a right old miser!

This will be our first Valentine’s Day together, and even at the ripe old age of 33, having had relationships before, there is still the teenage commercial pressure around the day. I expect we’ll exchange cards with more than just names and a 1 sentence platitude in, and then cook dinner at home together.

Rosa_Damascena

Worlds_Worst_Superhero said:

I'm wondering what everyone here is doing for Valentine's Day.

Are you buying cards or gifts?
Going out for a meal?

The shops are piled high with a huge array of Valentine's items, most of it (imho) is absolute tat!
I'm already compiling a mental list of all the stuff I have absolutely no wish to give or receive.

I worry that I'm turning into a right old miser!

No, you have developed a carapace to rampant commercialism. The idea that any man / woman / other loves you because they have bought you flowers on a single day yet has fallen short on the other 364 days of the year is just inane.

bouicca21

My only unnecessary spend last week was my posh sausages.  The coming week for some reason has turned into an unaccustomed social whirl.  I’m going to be out every day bar one, and on the day I am at home, a friend is coming to lunch. Pretty sure that means only one NSD.  I did have socialising down as a necessary expense, but didn’t expect to be socialising quite so much.

as for Valentine’s Day, bah, humbug.  

Watty1

I bought two flasks. I got fed up of taking hot water to the yard to defrost a water bucket or something similar. The flasks arrived yesterday. The thaw started yesterday.  Thanks accepted

undecided to keep or send back. I might keep them though.  Freezing weather is a thing and I think they will be useful.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all 

I have been invited out with a friend who always looks amazing.  Then I found myself on social media where I saw an ad for a final clearance sale for a shop I like and before I knew it I had ordered a pair of jeans and a top.  I rationalised this by telling myself it's my birthday soon and Mum will give me some money which will cover it.

Someone told me recently that thinking about what makes you spend is a really good idea and clearly social media is a danger point for me!  I am not beating myself up, I will decide whether or not to keep the clothes when they arrive.  I am also making myself keep a running total of non-essential spends. 

Otherwise it's been a very low cost weekend.  We have spent £18 on a new fire grate because ours has a big hole in it but that's about all.  DH and I both have colds and the weather is awful so we won't be going far today. 

Gem-gem

Monday - Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday - no spend. 

Thursday - meal out with two friends. We had a bogof voucher on pizzas. Bought some chocolate (over 50% off) in JL sales.
Friday - went to RAH to watch Cirque D'Soleil - it was DH Christmas present - it was fantastic. DH then paid for us to have Chinese buffet. Yum, yum!
Spent today cooking made:
Sunday roast dinner
loaf of bread
7 servings of tomato and basil soup (tomatoes and basil from the garden)
Blanched and then frozen two bags of reduced parsnips (13p per bag) and two bags of reduced carrots (7p per bag)
Carrot cake (reduced carrots and eggs)
Lemon drizzle traybake cake (reduced lemons and eggs)
apricot and pumpkin seeds flap jacks.
The remaining bits of lemons that I had zested and juiced were placed into iced water and enjoyed by DH.
Carrot cake has been frozen whole. The lemon drizzle and flap jacks have all been portioned up and frozen - take to work - packed lunch. 
Valentine Day - nothing - we do not need to wait for a 'consumerism day' to tell each other that we love each other. In the early years we used the same card and wrote new messages in but now we celebrate our love everyday including our wedding anniversary. 

Worlds_Worst_Superhero

How is everyone doing so far?

So far this month, apart from all the essentials like food shop, utilities etc my spending has been:

Nail polish remover- £1 
Laundry pegs- £2.99
3 weekend newspapers- £3.80 (used a money-off voucher for one of these

Bus travel to eco-event - £2 (too far to walk, too much stuff to carry to take my bike)

Total spend so far this year- £9.79

I'm evaluating all the stuff I already own- I have so much stuff!-  decluttering anything I do not want or need. These will be sold, Freecycled, taken to a charity shop or swapped at the next eco-event.