Wednesday 3 December 2008

Just look how I fell off the wagon!

Now if you'd spent a whole month trying to avoid buying nothing new, what would be the first thing to encourage you to part with your cash? Bet it wouldn't be a tub of dishwasher powder! Something with a touch of luxury would probably win the day and who could blame you.

But for me it was pure unadulterated minimal packaging that broke the financial fast, a tub of Bio-D dishwasher powder, a gleeful alternative to packaged tablets that are not just fiddly to open, but make it difficult to be more economic with measures, especially those with the plastic wrappers that dissolve in the dishwasher.

By now you probably think that I'm either jolly sensible, satisfactorily frugal, or indeed barking mad. A combination of all three might be appropriate. A Buy Nothing New month, in November, just before Christmas...perhaps bonkers might spring to mind.

But with the exception of some new pyjamas - bought to cobble together an elf costume for the Defender of the Bin's Christmas play - we did it! And oh boy did we save a decent amount of cash in the process. Mr A avoided the departments stores down in London and rejected the temptation of a brand new extension set for his Warhammer hobby. That alone saved us a whopping £100. I denied myself a couple of books and avoided all my usual retail haunts. Altogether, I reckon we saved ourselves about £200 from our usual whimsical spending.

So what about Monday...the first day of December and the end of our month's challenge?

Did I rush to the shops? No

Was I itching to treat myself? No

Was my credit card burning a whole in my pocket? No

So I got away with it for another day then....a whole new me?

er..............hum......................No.

Well, I would have got away with it if it hadn't been for those pesky kids, er I mean the most wonderful people over at Natural Collection with their fabulous range of goodies.

You see, all I did was innocently log on during Monday evening to buy a a tub of Dishwasher Powder. Yep, the one shown above, which is refillable and a super duper Zero-Waste winner.

But with my Christmas browsing head on I happened upon this....



a solar powered lamp that would be perfect for the kids' playden, which means they can hang out there after school even in the Winter.

Then this...


a solar powered multi-gadget recharger, ideal for charging up Mr A's phone and other gadgets. Never will his Blackberry be out of juice again.

And just as I was closing down, I saw the most delicious present for the kids...



Mr Robot Head, a wind-up toy which looks like it could prove an interesting challenge for the whole of the family and no doubt will create a big buzz this Christmas.

Look at him....how could I say no!

Kerching!

The best bit for me is that I covered most of my Christmas shopping in just one evening and even remembered the wrapping paper, recycled of course. And with all that's on offer, I may be revisiting Natural Collection very soon to finish the task in hand.

So there you have it. The end of the challenge and the credit card put to work again.

I just hope Gordon Brown will be pleased with my efforts as I'm always a good barometer for the economy you know.

So it's now feet up and rest until I welcome my delivery!

This is my kind of Christmas shopping.


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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gosh, you're such a devil splashing out on dishwasher powder, Mrs A :D

Love your choice of goodies, esp mr.robot head. I considered getting him for DD, but she;d probably end up throwing him in frustration LOL!

Enjoy your purchases.

Mrs G x

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Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Well I think you did remarkably well to be so restrained for a month, especially with a husband and children in the house. Not sure what my first purchase might be should I find myself in similar circumstances, which, thinking about it, I probably will in January. Will keep you posted! Must go now and check out Natural Collection.


A x

Margaret's Ramblings said...

And isn't great getting those packages through the door. Even if it's only soap powder I feel ike a kid again when the postie arrives with a parcel,
Margaret
ps. what's with the Moneybonanza comment - is this a new thing or just spam rearing its ugly head in a new format

Anonymous said...

Hi Mrs A,

Well done for the November fast.

Solar power is a great idea but very expensive for the home enthusiast. Trinkets are fine but my interest is the free electricity which can be delivered when the systems are more affordable.

Almost Mrs Average said...

LOL Mrs G. I know how to live. It was a hard choice between dishwasher powder and a new scrubbing brush :-D

Oooh I can't wait for Mr Robot Head. Of course I am going to HAVE to test him out myself :-D x

MoneyBonanza - wouldn't mind $5000 for giving away free bonuses. Thank you for thinking about me but I'm happy with what I've got :-D

Hi Anne - hope you enjoy a browse around Natural Collection. It's funny, but it was a lot easier than I thought. Shows how much I've changed in the last year. My own mother doesn't even recognise me these days. When i told her this week that I was no longer interested in shopping, she almost dropped the telephone. Have fun in January :-D x

Hi Margaret - it's alway fab getting a knock at the door followed by a lovely box. I love it. As for that MoneyBonanza comment, yep it is the new type of spam. I get the odd one now and again. The only way to avoid them appearing on blogger to monitor the comments, but if I did that, I'd never get around to vetting them for ages, LOL. :-D

Hi John - I can't wait until technology becomes so affordable that it will be easy to integrate into the home. One day it will come (ever the optimist) :-D

Layla said...

Hi Mrs A!

Just came across this post!
How does the dishwashing detergent do? /am still looking around for better ones../ - a review might be nice? (or maybe there is one already?)

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