Our Money and What We Buy

[LovelyLadyLux]

Given these bad economic times is there anything that you will buy regardless of the price? Is there something you will buy (be it weekly or once in a lifetime) that doesn't matter how much it costs?

The opposite of this - is there something that you absolutely refuse to buy unless it is "on sale?"

[Grandad]

Petrol (Gasoline), as long as I am able and competent to drive, I will continue to fill the car.

Nothing springs to mind that I WOULD NOT buy. I always question the annual bills like insurances that tend to increase way above inflation each year. Most times I get it at last years price....always worth asking, especially as you can always take your business elsewhere

[Morgita]

I could never be without reading material but I find I haunt the bargain bins for remaindered stock and I have been revisiting the classics free on my kindle. I will pay almost any price for a book I really want but I resent paying £6.99 for a rubbishy paperback I'll finish in an evening. I tend to economise on potions and perfumes and solicit those as Christmas or birthday presents. I'm also finding it hard to justify the outlay on my hair! I have been paying about £60 every six weeks or so but I am getting more and more bothered by this. The stylist I go to has a bevy of trainees all very young and, I imagine, getting the minimum wage. They wash my hair and colour it. The stylist then cuts it. It takes him all of five minutes as my hair is fine and straight. He is getting a premium rate for a service that falls far short of special. I will definitely be revisiting that one.
Another relatively recent money saver was changing my car. I no longer need a large car to ferry around the offspring and tote their worldly goods back and fore from university, so I purchased a much smaller, more economical car. It's cheaper on petrol and cheaper on road tax. It's much more fun to drive and easier to park. I am reasonably good at cutting my cloth to suit my measure but my all time extravagance is clothes, (and shoes.......and bags)

[Ruby Slippers]

Quilting fabric and sewing machines - whatever the price, although I'm baulking at £9000 for a mid-arm quilter! Not sure that I'll live long enough to warrant the expense!

Can't think of anything I'd refuse to buy offhand but I'm sure there are a few things!

[Horus]

Some interesting answers folks, but I am dying to know what a 'mid-arm Quilter; is? but I have led a sheltered life.

Morgita, do you know how to put a .Mobi file onto your Kindle?

[Ruby Slippers]

[youtube][/youtube]

Horus, this little clip should show you what a mid-arm quilter is far better than I can explain!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Oh my good heavens RS - that is a quilter? I can hardly thread a needle and sew on a button. You'd have to a total artistic genius to be able to operate a quilting machine like that. Is that lady doing it all 'free hand' or is she subtly following a pattern?

I love quilts, have a bunch of hand made ones but I have never myself even attempted to quilt. GORGEOUS!!

As regards to money management I've found over the years I can be super penny pinching cheap or ridiculously extravagent depending on what I'm wanting or buying. Same same grandad I'll buy gas regardless of how high it goes. If there is some place I'm going to then I'm going and nothing is going to stop me. On the other hand I've found that when I was reading paperback books I tended to have a .50 maximum and scrounged all the thrift shops and boot sales however now that I have a Kindle I'm buying more and more books than I ever did before. (Guess their advertising is working on me).

I rarely buy.......well.........probably more like "never" buy new jewelry. I love the treasures I find at boot sales, thrift stores and pawn shops. I'm either spending a pittance or top dollar for my jewels (not that I have anything even remotely close to the crown jewels) and most things electronic I buy NEW and probably pay top dollar as I'm really stupid about electronics and never trust anything second hand. On the other hand I've purchased quite a few other second hand items for the house and never batted an eye about it.

What bothers me most is when I'm in the grocery store and I see all the young mom, mostly on welfare or, at least, looking like they are financially struggling and I see them walking the aisles of the stores buy such things as pre-made jello, pre-made pudding cups, juice boxes etc. All the small tiny food stuffs that in my day were purchased and made 'in bulk' and either frozen or canned into jars. The prices of all those little food things are soooo expensive and advertised so well to kids I know it makes moms and dads lives miserable if they can't purchase these for their children. I have a feeling these types of products are marketed to the poorest and those most willing and least able to part with their money.

@ Morgita - I decided to grow my hair long and get my daughter's to colour it. Got too expensive at the hairdressers so I still go and get it cut/layered but perming is now finished but colouring is my daughter's chore.

[Morgita]

@ Horus, I wouldn't know what a mobi file was even if it jumped up and bit me on the behind I'd be all ears for an explanation if you are game @LLL, I think our generation were brought up to be more economical with our food shopping. I rarely bother with processed foods and prefer to make pasta sauces, pesto etc from scratch. However my son and his girlfriend wil phone for take out at the drop of a hat. The one that really annoys me is the famous pizza one, overpriced, overpackaged and oozing with oil and fat. The boxes are a biohazard and usually left in the kitchen for me to get rid of. Grrr, and all this while maintaining how poor they are.

[DJKeefy]

Well with living in Egypt I have become quite tight I think (I hope that's the same word you use in the US) I wont buy any exported stuff except cat bits though I think they are outrageously priced at about £8 for a 2 kilo bag. (maybe im out of touch with UK prices now) I was looking at a SMALL box of quality street at xmas time in KZ supermarket (Luxor) it was 250LE thats around £25, JOJO daid the BIG tins in the UK at xmas time were £3.99p each or 3 for £10.

I suppose its where you live to what we buy, I think that cigarettes are expensive here now when they only cost from 60p to £1.30 (last year they were half this price) in the UK im told they are about £6

Diesel is around 12p a litre and petrol up to 18p a litre so fulling my tank up is not a problem, maybe in the UK I would just put £5 to £10

[Morgita]

Crumbs, Keefy, I think you would have a shock if you came back to Blighty! £5 in your petrol or diesel would hardly be enough for a trip around the block, about 3.5 litres. I have no idea how people afford to smoke nowadays. A two pack a day habit would cost not far short of £100 per week. Cheap sweets once a year wouldn't balance the books

[Horus]

Morgita, I sent you a PM about .Mobi files on your Kindle, did you miss it?