How to shop without buying anything

[ina]

(although almost fell when I saw a 3 Daft Monkeys CD on play.com for £5.99!)

Stick it on your birthday or Christmas list - maybe you'll find somebody who'll do the deed for you...

(If you, like me, don't have a list - start one! )

[Annpan]

I've got a fun filled day ahead of me at Braehead shopping centre (it's an enormous shopping mall) I need stuff, and E needs stuff (underwear and shoes if you must know).... I am dreading my M+S excursion... here are a few thing s that will go through my head

Me in M+S underwear dept. getting more hot and bothered by the second...
How much
a 3 pack of pants I don't like is cheaper than one pair I do like
the 34C is cheaper than the size I really need
Where are they made
What are they made of
Oh, fairtrade cotton, not in my size
Oh, organic cotton, not in my size
Eugh polyester... but they are in my size
I don't NEED to be comfortable
(Most trips I have to M+S include another trip a week later, to take all the damned stuff back )

And with E's shoes...

But will they fit with different socks on
How much
She'll be out of them in a few weeks
Does she NEED shoes
Will they go with any of her clothes
What if she's wearing a skirt


I am really dreading the day I'll need to take my self to whittards to look at the crockery and cheer myself up (NB. LOOK, not buy, just LOOK)

I am not good at spending money on stuff, but sometimes you must.

I HATE SHOPPING!!!!! - Bad when you have morals, bad when you have no money, bad when you take a baby with you, bad when you take another adult with you.... just bad basicly.


[/rant]

[ina]

I'll need to take my self to whittards to look at the crockery and cheer myself up (NB. LOOK, not buy, just LOOK)

I do that, too! And no, I've never bought any of their stuff... (Might do if I found any in a charity shop.)

Btw, I buy all my undies at Greenfibres. Not cheap, but good value. Fit perfectly (OK, I know your figure is rather different from mine - but they do have smaller sizes ), and they last a long time. And they have elastics that you can replace when they wear out...

[Wombat]

not going to the shops in the first place helps a lot...

Yup!

That is the way that Mrs Wombat looks at things. Me too except for my bookshop addiction......

Nev

[ina]

Me too except for my bookshop addiction......

Nev

Is there a cure, do you know?

[Wombat]

No cure that I've found Ina, I just treat it by regular bookshop attendance

In the words of Oscar Wilde "The only thing I can't resist is temptation"

Nev

[QuakerBear]

'Where the hell am I going to put it when I get it home'.

'What else could I have if I saved the money instead'

[ina]

'Where the hell am I going to put it when I get it home'.

I the case of books - anywhere on the floor. If I do put them on a shelf, the cats will throw them down anyway.

At least those on the top shelves...

[Earth Nat]

I hate shopping too!
If I "need" anything I trawl the local charity shops, freecycle, ebay etc and then if I really have to buy new I use the internet. I spend at least a couple of days searching every corner of the net to check and double check that I've found the best price and then make a purchase! If I am buying new I try to make sure I buy ethically and ecologically sound stuff and with this at the back of my mind I rarely buy something that I don't actually need!

[theabsinthefairy]

I hate shopping, I hate the designed layout of the stores, the fabulous offers that you just can't resist in garish mind numbing colours, I hate the plastic packaging, the plastic baskets, the trolley mania in the aisles, and I especially hate the people.

Right that's the physical aspect of going to the shops sorted.

But I like stuff .....

I like car boots and charity shops and am missing them with a vengance here in France.

I like sitting drinking coffee from my thermos cup (from home not one of those overpriced coffee places) watching the people go by.

I like ebay - joy of shopping without the hassle.

BUT - now live on such a tight budget that there is no room for luxuries so everything I buy has to have a purpose - so land rover parts are a necessity. Have indulged in some wools and jewellery beads to create the obligatory birthday and christmas pressies.

When you have to focus on EXACTLY how much money you have, and it is the difference between some fuel in the car or something useless but pretty, that really helps to curb your spending.


And of all the things I really dislike - it is CREDIT!

Sorry - rant over - knew I should of had that second cup of coffee before booting up the 'puter.

[mrs slocombe]

What about looking at it in terms of how many hours you'd have to work to be able to pay for it?

Andrea
NZ

I tend to do this although I admit that books can be my weak point.

I probably have enough stuff for now but I always have a really good think before buying anything clotheswise

[ocailleagh]

Buying stuff is fun, its true, but like most of you I also have a near-pathological 'dislike' of other shoppers...not to mention the shops. But as I'm out of work and have to depend on that damnable government for money, I mostly find that buying useless items is rarely an option. That said, I did recently have a bit of money come through-compensation for a (non-serious) car accident I was in about 18 months back-and, after paying off a few bills and the like, I did go a little crazy with the spending! Though to be fair, some of it went on things like new shoes (Blackspot Unswooshers-vegan, recycled, fairtrade, made by elves) which I was desperate for, since my only other pair of shoes were quite literally falling apart and had been for *months*! I did buy myself a Skype phone too, for keeping in touch with my boyfriend for practically free (he lives up North) and a mobile broadband dongle-thing, but since thats allowed me to discover this place, I think that one's ok.
A fair amount went on books too, mostly edumacational ones-I rarely buy fiction. And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one here with a serious book habit lol...if there *is* a cure, its not in any of the books I've read!

My plans now involve weaning myself off T*sc* (byebye my beloved clubcard points!!!) by getting involved with a veggie box scheme! Unfortunately, I just don't have enough room to grow much, just a bit of salad and fruit mainly, and thats at my parents' house! (my own personal allotment lol)

And now this novella of a post is at an end!

[laverne]

I work on the principle that 100 years ago being poor was not having a pair of shoes whereas the trend, thesedays, appears to be not having the latest pair of Gucci shoes which you saw advertised on the latest bells and whistles TV.....we THINK we need stuff that's totally useless and impractical.....and todays society forces that notion upon us: HAVE A COMFORTABLE LIFE BUT DO BU**ER ALL FOR IT appears to be the norm for the majority of the nation. Our expectations about life and comfort are all wrong.
My Grandad lived in a little terraced house with just a table a chair a couple of pans, knife/fork/spoon/tin cup, an organ he managed to wangle from the local baptist church (imagine - this must of been a 30's version of annoying the neighbours etc!). a bed, 2 sheets, 2 blankets and a coupla shirts and a jacket...... his one luxury was his pushbike, which he upgraded every year. He was as happy as a pig-in-poo as he had everything he needed.

[Archie]

Yes..Lav your granddad was right....find at age 72 need less, just the basics and a bit of heat.
Actually giving up things because can't be bothered with the sorting of it.
Like freezers and vhs and dvd players recorders whatever.

[mrs slocombe]

Slightly off topic a bit but I moved house in Feb of this year and due to the sheer amount of stuff we had , I had to rent a storage unit. I'd wheedled out a load of stuff which went to charity shops, friends, recycling and to my shame landfill ( alhtough that was very little)

Not once in the two months we've been in the flat have we asked where such and such is or don't we have a such and such somewhere.
I don't think that we are Olympic standard shoppers ( mark my words that will be a demonstration sport in 2012) but I was appalled how much stuff we had.

Having said that my biggest downfall is books. Have too many there also.

I do hate shopping quite a bit and it annoys me that amount of useless gadgets and items that the shops stock so well esp. at Christmas