Decorations without buying for Christmas

We've been a bit late with putting up our Christmas decorations this year, but with two days to go, we've finally got it sorted. Normally we love having a real Christmas tree, but I had a problem with that for two reasons. The first is that I would have to buy it and I can't really claim that it's a necessity, but in any case the second reason is that I think the Puppy would try to eat it! So instead of a real tree, we've dusted off an artificial one and put it in the dining room, where the Puppy is only allowed under supervision. But that left the problem of what to put in the sitting room? We had some sprayed silver twigs, but needed something a bit bigger, so I went into the garden to seek inspiration, and there I struck gold. We have two beautiful dogwood bushes with lovely red stems, so I cut half a dozen stems, popped them in a large gold pot on a small table, added fairy lights and decorations, and hey presto - we have a stylish (sort of) Christmas tree that's free, and out of Puppy reach!

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas!

Green Christmas tips - Wrapping Presents

Having finished my Christmas cards last week, I've now turned my attention to wrapping presents without spending any money on wrapping paper or ribbons. I've never been very good at beautifully wrapping presents as some of my friends do, so last year  I made an effort and added ribbons to all the presents. Not only did they look better, but I made sure to hang onto all the ribbons I had used so I could reuse them again this year. I have also got some paper that was left over from last year, so I could have just used that, but having enjoyed making Christmas cards, I thought I would try a little harder with the wrapping and show that it could be done stylishly, without the need for bought wrapping paper. So here's the results!

 

 For the men in my life, I used pages from an old Asterix book. The cover was torn, so it was too scruffy to give to a charity shop, but the pages make great wrapping. The ribbon was saved from last year, the bow saved from a present someone gave to us.
 

  For the other presents I used magazines from Christmas time last year. There was especially good photography in a homes magazine which I glued onto a shoe box to create a patchwork effect of Christmas images. 

For the smaller presents I just used a single page from one of the magazines. My favourite was the big reindeer picture in the top photo which was an advert in one of the magazines.

I am quite pleased with the results, now I will just have to wait and see if my friends like them too!

The art of not buying Christmas cards

This week it's been time to write Christmas cards. So I've turned my attention to how to do this without buying any new cards, and trying to be as green as possible. Having thought about my approach, I realise it's a new interpretation of that well known phrase, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Reduce (but without shedding friends...)

Firstly, I have used email to send a Christmas letter where possible. A couple of years ago I experimented with doing this and asking friends for feedback - did they mind not having a Christmas card and getting a letter by email instead? The majority of my friends were happy with this approach, a few said they preferred a real letter, so I will post to a few, but most of my friends who live a way away have been emailed, or sent a letter via Facebook. One of the advantages of this was that I found quite a few of my friends emailed me back, with news of their year, so it was more interactive than just posting a card into the void.

Reuse (last year's leftovers)

Secondly I have used up Christmas cards from previous years. Every year I normally buy or make some, but there's always a few left over, so they get put back in the box with the Christmas decorations. This year, I dug them all out and used them - hopefully no-one will mind if I've accidentally used the same design for them two years running! Surprisingly, I had almost enough cards, but did run out before I'd finished so I had to turn my attention to the third option, which is making my own.

Recycle  (new cards from recycled materials)

I've always enjoyed making Christmas cards, but it can be quite time consuming, so I was trying to find a way of producing simply made but effective cards that didn't take too long to make. So I spent an hour armed with card and glue that I already had, last year's John Lewis Christmas catalogue and some John Lewis stickers that I bought last year. I experimented with a number of designs, in the end my favourite one involved cutting out a square of text talking about Christmas, sticking it onto coloured card, then finishing it off with a penguin sticker or a smaller image cut out of the Christmas catalogue. In an hour I had produced about 15 cards, and was really pleased with the results, plus I had a warm fuzzy 'I've been creative' feel. My only regret was that I hadn't made more of the cards myself, as I'd already written a last years card to a lot of my best friends and it would have been nice to give them a handmade one. Never mind, there's always next year!

Green gifts for Christmas

As the present buying season builds up into full flow, several people have asked me how I'm doing my Christmas shopping this year whilst trying to avoid buying unnecessary 'things'. Two months ago I had a chance for a trial run at present giving without buying things when two of my teens had birthdays. My son was happy with the promise of driving lessons and a big bag of Skittles (sweets) so no problem there. For my daughter I wrapped up a couple of books that I had bought for her already, and we gave her money to spend as we were planning a trip to London on her birthday. She liked the freedom of spending the money, but she did confess that she does like the excitement of unwrapping something that was chosen specially for her. So for Christmas I'm going to have to try a bit harder.

So here's my thoughts on what I could aim for this Christmas.

1) Experiences.  Driving lessons, vouchers for the cinema or theatre, a promise of a meal out. These all fit perfectly into the doctrine of not buying physical stuff and focussing on doing rather than having.

2) Things that you know people need or are useful. Without giving the game away here, I've bought things for my teens as stocking fillers that I know they will use, plus little luxuries that I know that they will love which are consumable in some way - either edible or toiletries, either way they are useful and won't just be useless clutter.

3) Clothes. Again I've tried to make sure that these are things that my children want and are useful. No Christmas jumpers that only get worn once!

4) Books, games and music. I reckon that here you are mainly paying for someone's creativity, rather than something physical. In the era of downloads, this could be completely virtual, or even if it is a physical CD or game, it is easily reused if passed on to a charity shop afterwards, or even better, buy second hand in the first place if you can.

5) Buying ethically. So where I have bought actual stuff, I can try and direct my money well. So fairtrade chocolate from Oxfam, toiletries from Lush or Body Shop.

6) Buying second hand. Generally this is a good principle, although I haven't done any hunting round the charity shops this Christmas, that's mainly because part of the exercise for me is about not spending as much time shopping, but doing other things instead.

So that's the aim. I will report further on progress as the festive season continues!

Not buying things in London - Lunch at the Savoy Grill and three free things to do in London

Even before I started my year of not buying 'things' I had already started asking for experiences rather than having more things for my birthday. So earlier this year when my birthday came my husband promised me a day out to do something special. It sometimes takes us a while to get round to organising things, but seven months later we finally headed up to London for lunch at the Savoy Grill. 

Expensive! I hear you cry - well, yes it is, but not as expensive as you might think - set lunch of two courses is normally around £28 per head although at this time of year the set menu is three courses for £35. A quick look at the menu of Pizza Express round the corner shows that 3 courses could easily come to £25 or more. 

So what did we get for the extra? 

Lunch in a beautiful Art Deco room. The amber tortoiseshell walls almost appear to glow they are so highly polished, there are beautiful Art Deco style chandeliers and wall lights and mirrored surfaces reflecting the light. The service was exemplary, the food delicious, and for a couple of hours, we were following in the footsteps of some of the hotel's famous guests, Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe to name just a couple. A friend of mine went a couple of years ago to the Savoy Grill for lunch for her birthday and sat next to Robert Redford and his entourage as he was in London promoting his latest film. No celebrities appeared beside us, but a lovely lunch nevertheless.

The rest of the Savoy Hotel is also refurbished in a beautiful Art Deco style, so even if you haven't the time or money for lunch, come into the black and white marble foyer and venture down to the little shop in the centre of the hotel to admire the beautiful handmade chocolates and just take in the atmosphere.

So what else did we do in London that didn't involve spending money on 'things', or indeed spending money at all?

View of Tower Bridge from the Sky Garden

Firstly, we visited the Sky Garden on top of the 'walkie talkie' building or 20 Fenchurch Street as it is properly known. This amazing public space sits under a huge glass dome rising three stories from the 35th floor, and has an indoor garden and the most amazing 360° views of London. It was a grey day when we were there, but we could still see the Olympic park to the east, and Wembley stadium in the West. There is also a snack bar selling drinks and refreshments and plenty of seating, so you can sit and relax once you've taken in the view.

Entrance to the Sky Garden is free, but there are limited places and you have to reserve your ticket beforehand, so see the Sky Garden's website for more details.

Liberty's Christmas Window

Secondly, we went to Oxford Street to look at the lights and Christmas windows. Liberty and Selfridges are famous for their Christmas windows, so we went to check them out. 

I wasn't sure about Liberty's Windows. Richly decorated and alive with pattern, it was definitely a case of more is more! It rather reminded me of an upmarket version of how Charity shop windows used to look ... but worth a look anyway.

Scorpio - Selfridges' Christmas Window

 

My favourites were Selfridges' windows. Based on a zodiac theme of reaching for the stars, they were definitely out of this world.

Thirdly and lastly, to enjoy London at it's best, we did what I always love to do in London. Ditch the tube and get out and walk. Some of the best finds are down tiny side streets, and the more you walk, the more you see. A couple of years ago whilst walking from the British Museum towards Oxford street I came across one such gem. A tiny artist's shop called L.Cornelissen and Son reminded me of the description of Olivander's wand shop  in Harry Potter. A narrow creaking shop full of all types of artists materials crammed into wooden shelves and drawers, the shop was established in 1855 and obviously hasn't been changed since. The very friendly and helpful staff stand behind a lovely old fashioned wooden counter in front wooden numbered drawers topped with glass jars full of rainbow pigments. The next time I was passing, I took my daughter in to show her the shop. The shopkeeper came over and asked if we were looking for anything in particular. 

'No', I replied, 'I just wanted to show my daughter your beautiful shop.'

The shopkeeper lit up with a huge smile. There are some lovely warm and friendly people in London, you just have to know where to look.
 

 

Not buying things - the story so far

At the beginning of September I set myself a challenge to not buy unnecessary 'things' for a year. I'm now seven weeks into the challenge and I thought it would be good to review how it's going so far.

Has it been difficult?

So far, it's been easier than I expected. As someone who likes shopping and bargain hunting, I thought I might miss being constantly on the look out for a bargain, the thrill of the chase, but so far I haven't. When I enter a shop, or help out in Oxfam, I am normally on the alert for the perfect dress or a necklace that would be useful. But now I can just look and admire, without 'would it suit me?' or 'should I buy it?' It feels more relaxing and so far I haven't felt at all tempted to buy anything.

It also has made shopping with my children more pleasurable. A couple of weeks ago I went shopping with my youngest son, who needed new shoes and a coat for school. One of the shops that we went into was  TK Maxx - normally I leave him browsing for a bit to dive off and rummage through the dresses to see what I can find. However, on this occasion I gave him my full attention and browsed with him for the things he needed which made it more enjoyable for both of us.

What did I buy that was necessary?

Food, some toiletries for the family, cleaning stuff. School books for my older children, school shoes for my youngest. Crate, lead and a couple of toys for the dog.


Have I saved money?

As I mentioned in my first post, saving money wasn't the main objective of the exercise, but it would be interesting to see how it pans out. Looking at what we spent in September this year compared to last it's not that different, but we have spent quite a bit of money on the puppy (food, vets bills, insurance), so I think the pattern of spending has changed. I also feel I'm getting through less cash, so I think probably spending on all those unnecessary little bits and bobs has reduced, but it will be clearer over a longer time period.

Any downside?

Very little so far, but I can see a challenge coming up as birthdays and Christmas approaches. My idea is to extend my not buying 'things' as presents which limits me to things I have already, experiences and money.  So far I have had one friend with a birthday - luckily I had something tucked away in my present cupboard which I thought she would like. The teenagers in my life won't be a problem as they will love having cash to make their own decisions, but as we come up to Christmas I can see that it will be a challenge to find gifts that my friends will enjoy and appreciate without buying them more 'stuff' that they probably don't need. 

So the story so far ? 

So far, so good. I feel more relaxed, have probably spent less money and have avoided accumulating more possessions that I really don't need. Just another ten and a half months to go...

When 'not buying things' leads to more shopping...

I'm just over a week into my year of not buying 'things', so time to reflect on how it's going so far.

Strangely enough, one of the conclusions is that a decision to stop buying unnecessary stuff can lead to buying more stuff in the short term, but with a more positive outcome! When I decided to set myself this challenge, it was the beginning of the summer holidays and I decided that it would be better to start from the beginning of September, once things were back to normal and the kids were heading back to school. Also we were going on holiday and it felt a bit harsh to say I wasn't allowed to buy anything while we were away. So I had a few weeks of knowing that this was the last chance to spend.

I'm pleased to report that I didn't go too overboard in those last few weeks, but it did focus my mind on all those things that I'd been meaning to do but hadn't quite got around to. For the last eight months I'd been promising myself a new pair of running shoes, but hadn't quite got around to it, as it meant setting aside some time to visit a specialist running shop. Knowing I had a deadline meant I made it it a priority, and before we went on holiday I bought my new running shoes. 

Another question we'd been debating for a few months was whether to buy new blinds for the bedroom to replace the rather faded curtains and a blackout blind that wasn't working. Again, I made it a priority to visit Laura Ashley and pick up samples, and work out the cost of new blinds. In the event I decided that it would be too expensive, so in the end I bought a new black out roller blind to replace the broken one - job done. I also bought a new rotary washing line to replace the one that was falling to pieces, and ordered some bulbs for the garden to be delivered in September. Normally I get around to ordering bulbs in November, then scrambling to get them all planted before it's too late. And finally over the bank holiday weekend with the deadline looming, I ordered a new running jacket with money given to me for my birthday in the spring.

So the first conclusion that I've come to is that a decision to stop buying stuff for a year can lead to a focus on what you really should be buying in the short term. Or maybe I should conclude that normally I'm just not very efficient...



 

Not buying 'things' - the rules

Day 2 of my challenge of no buying 'things' for a year - what are the rules?

I've started my year of not buying 'things' - but what are the rules I've set myself? Basically it boils down to no unnecessary purchases. And no, I won't be justifying 'needing' a new dress for a party, I intend to be strict with myself, but without making life impossible.

So I can't buy clothes, shoes, bags, accessories.

No cosmetics, basic toiletries only.

No 'useful' or decorative items for the house - only essentials.

No art materials that I might do something with one day, or chairs from the dump that one day I will get around to painting....

No buying books, magazines or newspapers.  I can use the library instead, or read online.
 

So what will I be allowed to buy?

Food obviously, medicines, basic toiletries, replacements for stuff that's broken if I can't mend it and I need it. So for example, if the washing machine breaks, or my running shoes fall to pieces, I can mend or replace them. 

Cleaning materials & anything essential for house maintenance.

Fuel, tickets, experiences, holidays. 'Doing' rather than 'having'.

Necessary stationery, glue, sellotape etc. If I do actually get around to painting that chair I bought from the dump a couple of years ago, then I will try and use materials I've got, but if I run out of something essential, that's OK.

Stuff for the puppy. Having just (a few days ago) acquired a new cockapoo puppy, and not having been dog owners before, it's a bit like having a new baby and I am currently getting to grips with what is essential, and what we don't need. So rather than rushing it, there are a few things like a carrier for the car, which I know we will need but haven't bought yet.


But what about the family?

So I think that covers most things - but there is one area that is a bit more complicated. When I have mentioned to my teenage children that I might stop buying 'things' for a year, I could see a look of panic sweep across their faces. From a teenage point of view, buying 'things' isn't just about consumption, it's all about reflecting who you aspire to be. For my youngest son, his collection of 'band merch' as he calls it (T shirts with logos from obscure punk bands) and his collection of Vans shoes are highly important. My daughter loves her make up and her eclectic clothing collection which is mainly sourced from Oxfam, (so not too bad really?)  So I hastened to reassure them that this is my project, not theirs. Panic was replaced by relief.  But it does beg the question as how to handle birthdays and Christmas? And what about friends birthdays? I need to think about it some more, but I think I can deal with it by a combination of buying experiences rather than things, giving things I've already got or made myself, and if all else fails, teenagers love cold hard cash. That way, at least they are making their own choices and not having me buy something I think they'd love, when actually they don't.

The first challenge - not buying 'things' for a year

OK, so we'll start with the biggie.

Starting today, 1st September, for a year - no more buying 'things' that aren't essential. No more clothes, make up, shoes, things for the house, things that might come in useful, things that are a bargain. No more charity shop finds, no more browsing in White Stuff, no more googling on Amazon or Ebay.

To be fair to me - I'm not a spendaholic. (Or am I just in denial?) I see myself more as a modern day hunter-gatherer. I'm always on the look out for bargains, quirky dresses, stuff that might be useful, stuff that someone else doesn't want that I might have a use for. (Now I'm sounding like a hoarder...)  I love charity shops and volunteer in Oxfam which is great fun and has the added advantage of getting a good look at everything in stock once a week. And given that it's a charity I feel passionate about, I can always justify a purchase. ("Well if I don't wear it, it counts as a donation to Oxfam anyway...") With three children, the ability to sniff out Boden dresses and dungarees for £3.50 at the local NCT sale has been of huge benefit when the children were young. Not only were they colorfully dressed, but I really didn't care if chocolate ice cream got spilt down the front. But I have come to the point where enough is enough. It's time to reign it in for a bit.

So why - what are my reasons for this challenge?

The first and most obvious reason for me is that I'm a bit of a greenie. I am concerned about climate change and the embedded emissions in all the 'stuff' we consume and even setting that aside, I don't think we can carry on using up the world's resources at the rate we are going.  But given my love of dress-hunting, I have a bit of a conflict going on. So I think it would be good to challenge myself to step out of my little hamster shopping wheel, and to just do without for a bit, to give that bargain-hunting instinct a bit of a rest.

Secondly, after 16 years of children and 13 years in our current house, we've got rather a lot of stuff. Not being the organized super-mum type, I always struggle with tidying up and keeping on top of the house, so it does occur to me that if we had a bit less stuff, it might be a bit easier. For years when  the children were young, I blamed my untidiness on not having enough time, but now I have more time, I find I actually don't want to spend all my life tidying up after 3 teenagers, and I'd really like to tidy less and get out more. So maybe if I stopped buying, and continued decluttering, it might actually help.

The third reason is both more subtle and more profound. As a psychology graduate and mother, I have spent a lot of time over the last few years thinking and reading about what makes us happy, healthy and well adjusted. There's a lot of evidence that money spent on experiences makes us happier than money spent on things, so I want to try that out and see if it's true. So I'm not necessarily aiming to save money,although it will be interesting to see how a change in spending habits affects the bottom line. But rather, I would like to readjust my attention on to doing rather than having. It will be interesting to see what difference it makes - will I feel happier? Will not buying things free up more time for other activities? 

So - that's the challenge ! Next time I will set out the rules, but for now I have my challenge and my reasons for doing it. And lastly, I'm amused by the comment that my lovely fellow Oxfam volunteer made to our manager - "A year? She won't manage more than a couple of months..."