PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING
Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday
Comments
-
What a great idea! We are fairly thrifty anyway but I do sometimes look at things and wonder why I ever bought them. I am however, able to look at some of the adverts and see the marketing ploys, things like 'you need a new sofa so Granny can be comfortable when she comes to visit' we have enough manners here to give Granny our most comfortable chair so why do I need a new sofa? Same with dining tables, sideboards etc, why do they think we 'need' them to be able to enjoy Christmas! Some of the best Christmases I had were where we were all sat around a table with 'makeshift' bits added on, yes we would all be sitting at different heights with different chairs and at very odd angles but how I look back and love remembering.
We only have one measly salary coming in now and with 3 adults at home and one away at Uni belt tightening is certainly going on here. My 'emergency fund' is half of what it was so I will need to work really hard to increase that as soon as I can.
I will certainly be joining you all and my mantra is going to be 'do I NEED it or do I WANT it'. Unless it is essential, kettle, washing machine, oven, microwave breaks nothing will be bought!0 -
I want to join, too, please. I have been living on a very low budget for the past five years but would like to share ideas and gripes with like-minded people.
Our rules are:
1. Do not buy it first time you see it. This year, we saved at least a hundred quid by saying "we will come for it tomorrow, if we still want it." Guess what - usually we cannot even remember what it was we hadn't bought - obviously we didn't need or even want it that much. However, saying I will get it tomorrow makes me feel better - I am just postponing the purchase and not banning it outright. Sometimes, we do remember what we wanted to buy and read the reviews concentrating on the negatives - perfect cure.
2. If it's broken, fix it. There's lots of info online about how to fix things. If it can't be fixed, does it really have to be replaced? Eg I won't be replacing my waffle maker when it breaks. We only use it a few times a year so might just as well buy ready made waffles and free up some cupboard space. It is also cheaper than paying for the machine, ingredients and electricity.
3. Careful with spend to save: I find knitting and sewing very expensive hobbies. I think the electricity monitors a waste of money (tho I did get mine for free). Same with spend £40 to get £5 off - it messes up my budget and shopping list.
4. Treats: once a month or so, we have a charity shopping spree with a couple of quid each to spend. We bought games for our old consoles, some stuff for the kitchen (bowls, posh cutlery, steamer) and records. It makes us feel like we are "rich" and allows us to buy things we don't quite need but that come in useful. It's too hard saying no all the time.0 -
Hi
I had my lightbulb moment about 2 years ago and put in place lots of big things. I now do the "what small debt free things will you do today" regularly and the grocery challenge. The 2 seem to be keeping me on track. I am deterred from bidding on ebay for stuff as it will prevent a NSD(none spend day) and being highly competitive this motivates me. Sad but true!
So in 2015 I aim to clear business overdraft, clear one zero% credit card for DD car and NOT GET INTO ANY DEBT AT ALL. We have a mortgage, but I am leaving that out of this.
I also want to put £2880 into my new Grandsons pension fund and this matters to me far more than any new trousers would. However, good intentions and a wander round town on a day out...hmmmmm tricky!
So good luck, write lists, stay focused and enjoy the journey. I know I am making progress, but would also like to travel faster.0 -
Hi
I'm going to join you, on a month by month basis if that's ok? Do you think that might be a good way forward for people who aren't sure? Maybe a monthly challenge post?
I am guilty of buying far too much for my 3 (almost 4) year old and have already started selling on stuff that I had put away for him for Christmas and his birthday, I've also started a box for his 5th birthday and could probably get away with not buying anything to add to it even though it's not until January 2016!
Subscribing to this thread. I also like the look of #minsgame - might try and start that today (will get rid of 3 things!).My debt free diary | Post Office loan: £5,000 | Virgin Credit Card: £4079.190 -
I have come quite a way in the past 3 years due to a massive drop in income changing jobs. I feel richer now than I did when I didn't think about where I was wasting money and was on a much higher income.
I have gone from wanting to pay off the mortgage, to focusing more on early retirement instead now and how to fund that. I have been using ynab this year which has helped a lot to show where all my money is going, and what areas I still have to work on (food mostly). It shows how far I've come though as I couldn't think of one thing to even go look up the price for, in the black friday sales this week as there was nothing I needed.
I have trapped myself in a prison of my own making, by buying this house at the wrong time. I am finally at the point I am thinking of cutting my losses though as I am just working to over pay a mortgage in a house I don't like, just in the hope it goes up again. It is looking though more likely the price will need to drop even more to sell any time soon, as there are 4 empty houses round me already that aren't selling so the recovery is a long way from my neck of the woods.
So in 2015 I am going to go on a declutter mission in earnest, and look at new places to move to downsize. As with some savings and the little equity I have now, I might be able to get something where I'm nearly mortgage free straight away instead of having 10-15 years still of payments on a house I don't like and is too big for me, just to sell it and move then.
The more I can get used to living in a more mse way, the lower salary I will need, so I could go part time or even stopping work altogether is much more of an option then.[STRIKE]Original Mortgage 07/07 £160000 LTV 100% [/STRIKE]Remortgaged 10/13 £118000 LTV 84%
Outstanding 02/12/14 £107652.40 LTV 76%0 -
I did this for the first three months of this year (while being on flood alert) but we had a bit of a crisis when our LL gave us notice and then I was in hospital for a big op so I stopped worrying and dealt with the immediate things, still pretty frugally. I'd intended to begin again this new year so this thread is very timely. I'd already updated my list of things I could spend money on very carefully in 2015 under the following headings:
- Food for cooking main meals from scratch
- Snack food within limits
- Basic toiletries
- Household basics
- Rent, utilities, essential insurance policies, PAYG mobile, internet - we don't have a telly.
- First aid supplies to cover self-sufficient emergencies
- Emergency supplies (prepping for power cuts/dire weather etc)
- Basics to keep the car on the road safely including fuel for necessary journeys or public transport if car not possible
- Essential resources for self-employed work
- Things to enable mending or using what we already have eg DIY tools if borrowing was not an option, sewing kit etc.
- Garden/allotment expenses for food growing only.
- Birthday and Christmas presents for other people in a pre-costed budget per person with a £25 contigency pot to buy little presents for my elderly parents if I spot something they'd love or need to keep them happy or comfy.
Everything else is out of bounds in terms of spending.
No money to be spent by me on clothes, drinks/meals out, books or magazines that don’t relate to work (and can’t be got in a library), theatre, cinema, car wash, charity shopping, impulse buys, extra kitchen hardware for cooking, new fabric or wool for sewing, treatsy toiletries, bought flowers, unnecessary stationery, calls to mobiles on the landline, hairdresser, cosmetics - I don’t wear make up or have holidays anyway, alcohol or cigarettes since I’m tea-total and a non-smoker anyway, no gym membership or paying for other leisure activities. My sons have their own incomes and are careful with spending. As long as they can pay their share of the bills their money is up to them.
I am pretty frugal anyway. No clothes will be the hardest thing because I’m intending to keep losing weight for another year.
Use what we have. Look after what we have. Mend what we have. Make stuff with what we have. Borrow, recycle, improvise and do without.
B x0 -
All aboard HMS NoBuy! Still recruiting so up you come.
Marvellous to see so many crew members. And I thank you one and all. I quite simply don't have the time to reply to one and all (to busy checking the weather maps) so just a few comments.
It's amazing when you really analyse the advertising marketing ploys. They are clever and unscrupulous. From a recent course about children with autism I learnt that the colour yellow is a brain stimulant. Apparently, schools and buildings where large numbers of people move around, corridors are painted yellow to keep people going, keep them moving along. It's also why shops such as Mr T use bright yellow labels on their offers. To draw us in. It stimulates the brain into action. Sneaky, sneaky.
Also on the point of advertising the sofa for granny. They often aim at our sense of responsibility for other people's happiness, not just our own. How many times have you heard "make your loved one smile this Christmas, or "get them what they deserve"? I'm pretty sure they'd be a lot of upset people this Christmas if they actually got what they deserved!
Shopping channels? Now when did that happen? I feel really sorry for the people working on those stations. Trying to find something to splutter out after 15 mins of sales patter is desperate. I was put off these channels by my MIL who bought lots of items that were either rubbish, unnecessary or uneconomical. Sometimes all three. I'm always happy to hear it when people say they have broken away from it's addictive draw.
And the word "sick" is right when you stop and truly examine the excesses. Christmas simply enhances and highlights what actually happens most of the year. I feel slightly nauseous when I look over at the ridiculous pile of stuff I have bought for people this Christmas. But like I said at the start I am not true to my own feelings. And this is what this thread is all about. It is not meant to be a lesson in suffering and misery but a lesson in honesty, freedom and being true to oneself.
Guiding light 2: I will purchase any clothes necessary for myself second hand.
Guiding light 3 : gifts will be second hand or homemade but not on false economy basis such as buying expensive material to sew a gift.
And with that I shall leap (actually looks more like an unsteady wobble) into the shower to ponder on my next guiding light and leave you with the words of The great philosopher, Socrates, who on wandering around a market one day was heard to mutter the words "What a lot of things I do not need!" And that was Ancient Greece!
Kind regards
Slowdown0 -
Good morning shipmates!
I'm so happy to have read your original post Slowdown as you have written exactly what has been in my head (and heart) for months. And its not just about the money, its about the sheer waste, landfill, natural resources and anxiety that we create for ourselves in thinking we need "stuff".
My efforts to reduce my own consumerism have been-
Only buying what I need in my wardrobe to cover me for the winter - and it was surprisingly only a couple of things (knickers and socks actually). How often do we buy something on impulse because its pretty only to find we haven't anything to go with it?
I've also bought quite a few Christmas gifts that have been handmade either from Christmas Fairs or Ebay - carefully crafted items, made in someones home and each one individual.
I'm on the voyage with you lot (if you'll have me) - how lovely to be with a like-minded crew!Not Buying It! 20150 -
Can I just say that there's absolutely no need for people to buy expensive supplies to sew with? I sell much of what I make, and work with reclaimed materials virtually all the time. Old bedding & curtains are fabulous resources; acres of fabric for pennies, usually! And it's amazing how fabulous a simple dress made from a 1950s curtain can look; the fabric is often much better quality & easier to work with than anything easily-affordable available now. Also, as many people have discovered to their cost, an old hand-cranked or treadled sewing machine will do 90% of what most people need; you need to spend quite a lot of money to buy a new one that will equal an old one in terms of reliability & strength.
A bit of hunting round charity shops & jumble sales will also reveal plenty of jumpers that can be unravelled to re-knit or crochet. Not fuzzy ones, though, as they're a nightmare to undo! Much cheaper than buying new yarn. For the fundamentalist yarn addicts, of which I'm one, there's always the idea of spinning your own; a good spindle is an inexpensive but very useful tool and far cheaper & more portable than a wheel.Angie - GC April 24 £356.14/£480: 2024 Fashion on the Ration Challenge: 10/68: (Money's just a substitute for time & talent...)0 -
Hi all thanks for this great thread slowdown please may I join as my hubby and I are already frugal and live on a limited budget but we are looking at hubby retiring early as he has never been the same since his cancer treatment 3 years ago and although he only works part time at moment he worked 34 years in a factory full time and now is a lollipop man he is struggling with the weather so is looking at finishing and we would then live off an even more limited budget but hopefully I can win any presents and also have a really good de clutter and maybe make some money into the bargain then carry on doing my surveys and keep the vouchers for big spends and only buy if something needs replacing after trying to mend it we have all we need in general and have no debt as house is paid for so hopefully we can get through 2015 without buying nothing other than essentials and paying the bills
Nellie xx0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 343K Banking & Borrowing
- 250K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.6K Spending & Discounts
- 235.1K Work, Benefits & Business
- 607.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173K Life & Family
- 247.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards