NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

I_want_a_baby · 3 December 2014 at 5:42PM

Yes yes yes!

This is exactly what I have been thinking of doing for the last few weeks. To find it all written down and a supportive group is just fab.

My current situation is that baby no 3 is due in march. It is so very much wanted and a heart rather than a head decision as it will be tight financially.

We owe my in laws (interest free) approx £10600 which I would like to halve by the end of 2015. We also need to save the following:

£400 to cover my husband having a weeks paternity leave.
£100 as a contingency for extra fuel/parking etc as I will prob have extra 'unplanned' hospital stays during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy.
£70 for a new cot bed mattress to go in the 2nd hand cot.
£100 for the last bits we need for the baby and for my labour bag (true essentials only)
£65 for a new tyre for the car
£175 for new brake discs and pads for the car
Plus I would like to increase our emergency fund from £800 to £1000!

I intend to do much the same as many of you have mentioned. Make do and mend, buying as much 2nd hand as I can and just generally not spending.

However I want to start the focus now.
Christmas is budgeted for and I WILL stay within budget, hopefully under.
I want to focus on food over the Christmas period, we have some lovely treats during this time and I want to try not to binge for the sake of it and also to use food wisely, remembering to wrap up things well after use, store them properly and freeze as many leftovers as possible. That way I can take comfort in the fact that there isn't loads of waste, we have some treat leftovers to see us through January and we have appreciated all we have.
I am also going to start a 'want/need' list for things needed for each member of our home plus house/garden items. I will put things on there as I think of them, cross them off if I change my mind and then spend as long as possible trying to make them/source them free/buy them 2nd hand before buying them new as cheap as I can. I hope this focuses the mind and means I only buy the odd new item.

Will be back again for more ideas and inspiration from you guys :-)

IWAB x

Broomstick · 3 December 2014 at 6:00PM

Thanks, Thriftwizard, I'd forgotten that I have a massive cream linen tablecloth that I was thinking of turning into a couple of shirts for me.

It was being used as a curtain in our old house but isn't being used in the new one.

Everyone's posts are reminding me about other things too. Last year, whenever I spent money on something that wasn't on my detailed spend list, I made a note in a document I kept on my computer with a very honest reason to myself as to why I had bought the item. It kept me accountable to myself about my decisions. In the three months I was doing it I actually only bought a handful of things over and above what was on my list and only one second hand book just because I fancied it.

I also kept a list of things that I wanted, or thought I needed, to buy so that I could mull it over and not rush into purchasing. It also helped me to keep an eye open for freegle, cast-off or second-hand versions of if there was another way I could get them.

Bx

Tamara_2 · 3 December 2014 at 6:35PM

I like your thinking, Broomstick!
I also keep a list of things we need/want with me all the time, so that I can keep an eye open for a bargain (or eventually decide not to buy it at all).

FLA27 · 3 December 2014 at 6:37PM

Hi All, I am very much in favour of this thread and I am glad I found it! I've just been turned down after a job interview so it's definitely a must for me to be frugal.

My New Years Resolution (started already) is UNSUBSCRIBE. By this I mean, unsubscribe to all those spam emails telling me how urgent it is to buy now! Black Friday, Cyber Monday, The day after Cyber Monday, Advent offers, Only so many days to go emails. I am so sick of them, they are designed to make you feel bad for missing out despite the fact that I didn't need any of their stuff anyway!

The other thing I need to do is stop checking 'deals' websites everyday. Can I join? I like to think I do really well with the consumerism problem but I'm not so sure....

Primrose · 3 December 2014 at 9:09PM

It would be an interesting challenge to keep a little notebook and write down the amount you are saving every time you look at a consumer item, are tempted to buy it then decide to keep your wallet closed. I suspect by the end of the year you will be surprised. And also pleasantly surprised if every month you bank your surplus cash in a savings account or perhaps use it to pay down your mortgage?

nannygladys · 3 December 2014 at 10:32PM

Ahoy there HMS Nobuy can I come aboard please.

Like others I do try to follow a frugal lifestyle, but sometimes I do go a little mad!! So 2015 will be on a 'replace only' basis, I have a contingency fund for larger items and I budget each month for all other things from elec to car stuff. I don't normally get sucked into the advertising thing but I find all the reasons behind the adverts ref colour really interesting.

So I will look out my sailors suit and deck shoes and hope we set sail for somewhere warm.

Nannyg

Butterfly_Brain · 3 December 2014 at 10:34PM

Can this include things like overpriced coffees in Starsucks and costalot for coffee.

parsniphead · 3 December 2014 at 11:10PM

For the past few months I have felt very strange at home with all the stud around. I'm not saying I've become a strict minimalist as I would hate to live with nothing around but the excess clutter is making me feel claustrophobic. I have been slowly working though it all, making space, finding some air around me but need to do more. Luckily I break up a week on Thursday for Christmas so I have a week where DH is still at work and DS is at nursery for two and a half days so I Intend to make a massive dent in the stuff. Once it's out I don't want it cluttered with stuff again so this should get rid of any want to spend....not that I want to.

One thing I may do is sort through my fabric stash and make myself some clothes for the coming year. I'm not a big clothes shopper but could do with some new stuff as it's starting to fall apart.

I have been thinking of setting up a spreadsheet to keep track of all expenses next year and see how low I can go and how much can be saved.

Thanks for the inspiration slowdown.

Slowdown · 3 December 2014 at 11:25PM

We potentially have a bigger crew than the cash strapped Royal Navy now! And I'm loving it.

Welcome aboard thrifty sewers, Mrs Lollipops, mums to be and anyone else who fancies walking the plank of HMS NoBuy. Grab a lifebelt and jump on.

Lots of useful suggestions pouring in already. I have opened up the Captain's log and started jotting down your ideas for future reference. A lot of them will come in handy when the seas get rough.

Today I was pondering on the concept of "emulation". Our desire to emulate others is probably the route of much of our spending and what the corporations rely on to keep their tills ringing.

We want to emulate the neighbour by extending the house like they have, our friends by wanting a different sofa because theirs matches their curtains, our workmates because they look so smart with their hair and nails done. And so it goes on.
What I realised today was that the advertisers play on this big time, giving us imaginary friends on the telly to emulate. But boy do I do it to myself too! I truly set myself up in the envy department. And the main target of my emulation? My sister.

My sister lives in a detached house in the county of Hertfordshire, which she has extended, decorated, extended, decorated, extended and decorated. One has to admit it's rather lovely, with acres of kitchen, four reception rooms, 5 bedrooms and four bathrooms. But at the end of the day....why? Six children? Nope. Live in parents? Nope. Twelve dogs, five cats and a guinea pig? Nope. So...why?

I don't know. She has friends in high places with tons of money. She has always needed bigger and better, and whilst I could never keep up, I have emulated. I have desired and yearned and turned green from time to time. I love the girl to bits, I really, really do. But I also find her a too close for comfort advert for the buy, buy, buy culture.

So this inspired my "Guiding Light" number 4: I will not try to emulate anyone, most of all those closest to me.

We rarely try to emulate intelligence or skill, kindness or reticence. Perhaps a revaluation of what I should be admiring in others is needed. The saying that goes "We know the price of everything and the value of nothing" . Perhaps it can be turned on its head this year, so I end up knowing the price of only what I need, and the value of what is important.

And with that I shall hop into my hammock and be rocked to sleep by the ripples of realisation.

Kind regards
Slowdown:)

Caterina · 3 December 2014 at 11:38PM

Hi all,

Two years ago almost to the day I started a blog (sadly very badly neglected at the moment) just with the intention of recording my decision to reduce my personal consumption.

Here is a link to the post with the rules. http://paringdownlondon.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/the-rules-first-draft/

Some have changed (e.g. I am now no longer tinting my hair - DH came to terms with it LOL, and I still struggle with reducing cheese in my diet, but for the most part I have loosely stuck to it, on and off.

Recently, after a bit of a dip in commitment, I have picked myself ip and restarted my OS commitment, I write about my renewed OS lifestyle elsewhere in this forum, but I love wandering from thread to thread, picking up lovely ideas and reading about other OSers' experiences.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

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