Not buying new in 2015

[ina]

I had another unsuccessful trip through all the charity shops in Montrose, too... Well worn jumpers for £5.49? No thanks! I have plenty of stuff like that myself (and I wouldn't give it to charity shops, because I don't think it's good enough).

[Flo]

I think, ina, that there's a lot of it about. Stuff gets given to charity because "the poor will be able to use it". Well it's not cost effective for the poor to buy Primark, T***o, Asda and well worn in the way of clothes or to collect a greenhouse with half the glass missing. If you can't afford to replace the glass, neither can the poor. Sometimes I think that the local paper free ads, Craigslist and similar have joined eBay in offering not a lot for a lot. Freecycle seems to have become an area for shed and loft clearing which is mostly for spares or repair and out of date computer parts.

I've come to the conclusion that buying very little and very well (if possible in the sales of course) is the answer to out of control consumerism.

[ina]

I've come to the conclusion that buying very little and very well (if possible in the sales of course) is the answer to out of control consumerism.

Quite agree. Doesn't help when you need something halfway decent, and you need it NOW - as in for work, a job interview, or a funeral... Seriously, I now know so many old people (through my job) that I have already thought - heck, what would I wear if I had to go to a funeral?! So I'm looking for some decent black or dark grey clothes.

Another problem - I have been given a jumper I really can't wear (pure acrylic, and far too ladylike for me). So who do I offer it to? I'm sure the charity shops would love it - but I've come to the point where I don't want to give them anything, 'cause they never have anything for me. I won't offer it to a friend, because why I should I give friends something I hate myself... (And I don't know anybody who'd wear it, anyway.) So anybody know an old-ish lady who likes to wear mid-blue jumpers in acrylic? I know people in care homes prefer that kind of material, because it's easier to wash...

[Flo]

You know the original list of exceptions to buying new doesn't really cover a lot of the stuff I do on the internet/computer.

Sorry but the rest of allotment committee all uses MS Office including Publisher for news letters. You can get yourself in an awful twist working between formats and none of the free offers such as Open Office or Libre Office include Publisher. It costs to create a pdf whichever way you go if you want or need to upload one to a website (I do). At least the blogging/website software is free (long live Wordpress/Weebly).

And then there's the small matter of internet security. Costly if paid for. What is a girl to do but take great care of what she does and where she goes or pay up. Sigh. If only web use was just email and forums.

I hope I don't need anything for the computer for the coming year!

[Green Aura]

Cute pdf writer is free, Flo, I use it all the time.
Page plus strata edition and Scribus are Publisher type free options (I don't know how good they are).
And there are lots of free anti-virus and anti-malware options, although you may have to change them occasionally.

[diggernotdreamer]

A techy friend of mine put me onto Microsoft Security Essentials for anti virus, seems to work ok, touch wood, have had no issues and used it about 4 years, used to have lots of issues with Norton Anti virus.

[Flo]

Yes I have Cute pdf, had it so long I thought it must be paid for from my silly days of buying things. Oh dear. Must be losing it!!

I shall investigate PagePlus. I need to be able to save it so that MS Office users can amend it. I remember PagePlus as being cumbersome to use, clunky but it's one for having some fun with. Scribus I don't know at all so will also have fun with that. Thanks for the heads up on both of those.

At present I do have Publisher from the days when I had more cash than sense and bought the whole caboodle from Microsoft. I hope in days to come to avoid updating that. I see that Libre Office does allow saving documents in an MS format so that's one to remember. One day I shall be out of the world of sharing things with committees and be able to do as I please.

As to security, I'm back in the world of free or else I'd have had to pay out this week. After much head scratching between Avira and AVG I went for Avira and added two old friends from long time back - Malabytes and Spybot. Avira did well in the latest techy reviews and came out better than a lot of other things.

[Flo]

I've been downloading stuff as recommended to try it out and see. And in my travels I discovered that you can have Kindle software on your PC. So that's downloaded and installed for future fun. Has saved me getting a Kindle then as I mostly read at home. I believe there's a good bit of free stuff for Kindle too so things look good.

[Flo]

PagePlus caused my PC to throw a paddy - not the first time either thinking back. I got it from a site that normally does clean downloads so not sure about that. Scribus is useful if I don't have to use it for others to share. One to keep.

I now have an upcycled coffee table to replace the wobbly old computer desk type table that came to me third hand. Will that do?

I threw out two pairs of gardening trousers on Tuesday due to them having come to the point of rags. Traveled the charity shops but only found beige which isn't a gardening colour now is it?

So I've pulled forward the second hand trousers and bought a couple of pairs of new. Some of the second hand from last year are coming to the point of only being gardening trousers anyway and not fit to go to parish council meetings in - I mean members of the public sit in the gallery!

[ina]

I threw out two pairs of gardening trousers on Tuesday due to them having come to the point of rags. Traveled the charity shops but only found beige which isn't a gardening colour now is it?

It could soon become a gardening colour if you wear them in muck often enough...

Anyway, I've bought a few new things, too. I've been doing the stocktake in the shop where I work, and I have unearthed some wonderful things - decades old, had been stuffed away because they didn't sell (and then forgotten about, because I'm sure I could have sold them over the last year...) Jeans (and other work wear) made in Scotland, of a quality they don't make any more. Well, they don't make any jeans in Scotland any more. And oldfashioned thermal underwear in wool. All thick and hardwearing. Those jeans will see me through the rest of my life!

[Flo]

Did you get a decent discount ina?

[ina]

I get my 10% staff discount.

[Flo]

Hope they didn't put the price up to the modern ones before you got the 10% off.

[ina]

Flo - this is a misunderstanding that many customers don't get. These jeans were from the times when clothes still cost money - they weren't throwaway goods as today. I'm going through a lot of old invoices (shredding etc); jeans in the 70s easily cost at least £20 or more - whereas these days you pay a tenner in the supermarket. But those jeans lasted a decade or more, the ones you buy today are made for a season, if that at all. So really, if you want to pay the same for the old goods as for the rubbish you get today, you'd have to lower the price considerably.

I'm happy to pay what they are worth. When customers ask for a discount "because you won't sell that old stuff anyway", it's always people who very obviously aren't short of the bob or two. They recognise quality when they see it, but they think that because this is an oldfashioned shop (of the type which are closing down at an alarming rate, because they are killed off by supermarkets/online etc), they can just take advantage of us; quite obviously, we aren't in it to make a living - you can't make money with a shop like this these days - so we must be living on something else, and just be working for fun... Well, that's the impression I get of what they think. I still have to pay the rent at the end of the month, and I want to eat, too. Why do they think we should be giving our stock away below the price we bought it at - even if that was some time ago? I always tell them they should really be paying extra, because they are buy antiques... And this might be their last chance to get this particular item!

[berry]

having the same problem here with charity shops although my local sells blurays for £3 and Ive found it quite lucrative to buy them all and then trade them in at those high street stores to pay for my media/gaming fix (I use an app that you can scan the barcode on the disc to see how much its worth for trade in)

anyway... Clothes are terrible. mostly well worn and unusable although I did buy a genuine ladies kilt for a fiver. 4 metres of pure wool tartan thats slowly becoming a whole host of new items. Thats been my only bargain. everything else is primarni rubbish that barely lasts a season so Im having to buy brand new (on sale mind because of budget) but I am being silly careful to buy quality items and fewer of them. not quite how I intended to do this but theres little other choice these days.

For me I used charity shops used to be a way to save money, a buffer for those with little to spend and they barely do that. all Im finding is bad better ware microwave tat from the 90s and really bad xmas gits! Freecycle is just as youve said. The back end of a car boot where folk try to offload cr*p! ebay is overpriced. gumtree not so bad although again folk want something for nothing.