Selfsufficientish.com

That was probably the cheapest way of clearing the premises Skippy. And it sounds as if you had a good deal out of it.

doofaloofa wrote:I'm sure the towel dispenser came in very handy

Very handy as she had the towels to go with it. Slightly less handy now as we've used them all . The dispenser's still on the wall in the downstairs toilet though.

In case you get some more of the right size free?

Yep , although we have found that it will take the rolls of green paper towels. Now what do do when those run out ............

Phew - took stuff to the village jumble sale yesterday evening but didn't tell them that I've been asked to sit at the desk in the allotment association hut up road over river and take rents this morning so can't go and buy anything back!

I believe that I have now cleared out all the bits and pieces that I don't need and that I don't need to buy anything except food for ages! Well not until something breaks or wears out.

You know the shops will be closing down with the spending that I'm not doing buying anything.

I'm afraid I've spent your share this last couple of weeks, Flo. We had our annual trip down south to see relatives and hit the shops quite hard - partly because we don't have any shops up here and partly because I foolishly invited a friend to stay so pootling along with the renovations was no longer an option.

Still the kitchen/living room is now finished (I'll just blindfold her if she wants to go anywhere else in the house. When I come back from Finland I'll take some photos and show you all what I've been doing for the last few months.

I went through the wardrobe in great detail and put in the bin one pair of trousers that was beyond rags. Then I went for a trying on session of stuff that I haven't looked at since last summer (we did have one didn't we?) and found that some of it definitely didn't fit. Also found a number of bad buys that no longer fitted and a couple of raffle wins that I couldn't find a use for as they wouldn't even do for Xmas presents (family has gone off candles for some reason). So it was all bagged up and taken away to the charity shop (well that which was fit to pass on).

I then joined those who have hit the shops. And bought carefully but nicely. Good stuff that will last for years that I like and will wear and which look smart. Oh and I bought good standard tea towels for drying up with - none of your cheap ones that don't last! My last ones wore a Spode label which lasted for years and which are now cleaning rags where the bits are fit.

There's a moral here somewhere. It's that I haven't been buying well as the the second hand industry isn't supplying good standard gear in my size or mostly stuff that I don't want. Perhaps all the locals are my size? Mind you - we have had two charity bags through the door for collection this week - one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday whilst one charity shop is begging for donations.

I'm sure this shopping new is a reaction mind you to years and years of buying second hand or acquiring used gear due to lack of income.

Hi Flo,
Sorry I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Are you saying that it's a bad thing to donate unwanted goods to charity or sell them secondhand? What should we do with them? If you're saying that we must keep everything until it wears out (apart from unwanted gifts) what happens if our circumstances change? I changed jobs recently and my new office has a much more relaxed dress code. The old smart suits aren't really right but they're too good to downgrade for gardening clothes. Should I keep them in the wardrobe until the moths have eaten them. If I give them away, someone else can use them who maybe couldn't have afforded them new.

When I started commuting to Bristol, the car I had wasn't particularly economical so I traded it in for one that was a lot more fuel efficient. Should I have stuck with my old polluting car until it fell apart?

I bought a house that had belonged to a man who had died. The garage was full of tools but I already had an extensive tool kit. Must I keep all those tools as well as my own. How long for? Hammers and spanners will probably never wear out, surely it's better to give them to charity so someone else can have them?

Apologies if I've missed the point of your original post.

Zoe

I think the point was more that it is really difficult to find decent quality goods in second hand/charity shops - at least that's my experience, too, and particularly in my size. So often there's no option left except buy new - and then it certainly makes more sense to buy good quality that's durable.

I've not got to the stage yet where I "de-clutter" my wardrobe, though. Still hoping I'll get my size down to a more healthy one (unfortunately, that's mainly a mental health problem, and the outlook is bleak there); should that ever happen, I won't have the money to buy new (or even second hand) stuff, so I keep what I have in the hope I'll be able to use it at some point. Some things I've had for decades and not worn. So what? I suppose I'm also hoping that owning these items might give me some incentive to develop towards the stage that I can make use of them.

Zoe I have no problem with handing second hand gear to charity shops, selling it on eBay, taking it to a car boot sale, putting it on freecycle, gumtree or whatever. But as Ina says ....

My food processor is second hand as someone was clearing out their shed and it's far better than the one I bought new years ago. Sure most of the pots and tubs I use on the allotments are second hand from people clearing out. Some of my plants are second hand - cuttings taken from ones that were being cleared out elsewhere. These are going back some years.

But as Ina says - at the moment there seems to be a dearth of good standard gear - well in anything over a size 8 which rules us both out it seems. If I want to replace second hand even for gardening it seems to be a no go at the moment. And who wants to buy new for gardening trousers and shirts?

I think I was trying to make the point that it's hard to buy second hand at present. Well for what I want.

I think a lot of the better clothes now go to companies that pay for the stuff. Have done that myself - well, I need every penny.

I stand surprised. Having composted the old cotton gardening shirts that were beyond even donating, I've been walking the charity shops for good class tee shirt type tops. Hurrah. Three for £8.50! And one is a good brand which may be kept for the days when I go out and it's not to the allotment. Funny that they should appear out of season when you'd not expecting people to be going for anything other than the "nice blouse that will do for Christmas day" type shoppers. Yes there are a good few of those doing the rounds at the moment.

My computer ran out of satisfactory working two weeks short of its 7th birthday. Does anyone buy refurbished computers? Well not me having been down that road with a local firm and had to take all offerings back for refund. And I'd not buy off the internet unseen from firms I don't know. You don't even know if it was working well before it was beaten up in transit. I think I'd want a lot more technical know how than I have to be that courageous.

At least the new box came with keyboard and mouse (had to replace those anyway - you don't want to know about the ones that were due for replacement). New screen required (that was to replace one a good nine years old and had strange fittings). The 14 year old speakers died of a nasty smell yesterday. Don't feel bad about replacing those.

But it was a case of do I need a computer? Yes unfortunately if I'm going to carry on doing the voluntary stuff I do like keeping up blogs and Facebook pages. Our local library won't let us use blog software anyway for security reasons. Do I need a computer that allows me to use a digital camera? Well yes I use that for the voluntary stuff as well as for leisure activity. It's a hobby. Can't plug one of those into the library system. Could get the pictures onto disc with a card reader and the desk in the local supermarket. But that's extra cost and not fast enough to use them same day. Would still need software for editing though there is still stuff free at the moment for that but I have a paid for programme that came over free onto the new computer. And so did the office suite - obviously 1 licence for 2 computers. Oh goody good.

As for buying online and paying bills online, putting in meter readings for power ... Not stuff that I would do in the local library.

I suppose that I've built up a life around having a computer on the desk after working from home for money in the past. After having my first computer available since Christmas 1983 and going onto the internet as soon as it was commercially possible I suppose it would be a whole change of lifestyle not to have one. But not refurbished. And no I couldn't do a lot of my stuff on a mobile phone - long discussions with family to know it wouldn't work for me. Even the son-in-law has a digital camera for fun and work though he runs a lot of his business off his phone.

But at least the old computer is in a cupboard for emergencies for one of the family.

Flo wrote:I suppose that I've built up a life around having a computer

I think that applies to most of us these days, Flo. We certainly couldn't live up here without good computer and internet access (OH is a programmer and works remotely).

We've had a couple of secondhand laptops from Ebay and done very well with them but it's always a risk and I certainly wouldn't do it - that's definitely OH's area of expertise.

I think you've done fantastically with the age of your old hardware - I'm surprised they even work with new software so buying in new is not only not a problem but advisable I think..