question time: what was on your frugal christmas list?
Hope you all had a nice Christmas time readers!? 🙂
We’ve had a great one this year with lots of merriment with family and friends and I even managed to squeeze a round of golf in the sunshine on the 28th of freakin’ December of all things!!! I remember just two years ago playing in the snow so if there was any doubt climate change is not real, now there ain’t 😉
One thing struck me as I came to write up my Christmas list to Santa this year 🙂 and that was after two years of mild frugality a.k.a. “not buying shit that I don’t need” I did actually start to “need” some stuff from the jolly old white bearded one. This is a marked difference from even just a year when I was saying “I don’t want any presents!!!” to everyone, which mainly fell on deaf ears!
Going back to my old post on Xmas present system to avoid waste… which to recap was this:
Rule 1. Make a list of presents containing things you need and distribute to people who want to buy you something.
Rule 2. For the few months running up to Christmas (6 months is even better) if you think you need to buy something… Go to rule 1
…I found that this year I did actually need quite a few bits.
The other strategy I had this year was that each thing I asked for had to be for a frugal type pursuit, in the realms of creating something, building or fixing something, or personal growth such as health/fitness, in a similar vein to weenie from Quietly saving getting her beer making kits for Christmas (which has been very much noted for my next birthday 😉 ). See it’s a gift but it is also an investment of a kind and not just a bit of toot! Genius!
Without further ado then here is my frugal christmas list haul:
1. New Squash racket: This ones obvious, it will help me get fitter! I’ve been playing with a (literally) broken racket for about 4 months now so thought I deserved a new one (see pic below)
It probably doesn’t look as bad as it really is and just looks like some broken strings. If you look closely the whole right hand side of the frame is split in half!
2. Mini green house: OK so it’s not the most exciting present ever (although it did excite me quite a lot! 🙂 ) but this will help me produce a lot more delicious home grown vegetables, salads and herbs next year!
3. Socket set: Just when you thought it couldn’t get any less exciting, oh yea, I just dropped this one on ya. Well you know what…? I don’t give a rat’s arse!!! 🙂
These little bad boys will help me do a lot more car stuff a lot quicker. In fact I’ve already done a small repair to the car over the christmas break and so they’ve already “paid for themselves” so to speak as I managed to do it in half the time I would have done without them.
4. National Trust Membership: This was actually a surprise present from my parents, we were going to get one anyway next year anyway and my mum picked up on the hint. Nice one Ma TFS! So now we can look forward to many frugal days out next year.
So there you have it, my boooring yet awesomely frugal christmas list. Yea, so I took a bit of flack for being a boring old git but I can take that in good stride and laugh it off as the intentions are clearly not malicious.
I’d much rather have the above lot of stuff than designer shirts, aftershaves and the latest shiny iGadgets that won’t even get used after the first couple of weeks.
So… what was on your frugal christmas list?
Oh and Happy new year of course! I’m looking forward to totting up the 2015 yearly budget next week 😉
I had no list (we don’t exchange gifts) but still received a scarf, a grocery gift card, chocolate and wine. We ate the chocolates, re-gifted the wine as host gifts when attending a number of family gatherings, used the gift card to host 24 people for a Christmas dinner and I’m keeping the scarf and donating a 1/2-dozen of them I haven’t worn in a while. We’re lighter than when we started the Holiday Season. Just how I like it ;). The ultimate gift is time with family and friends and we got plenty of both. Christmas 2015 was very nice indeed.
Wow 24 people on a gift card… that’s pretty good going F2P! 🙂
I agree with you on that, it’s all about the time spent with people we love. The presents are just the icing on the cake I guess but would not be necessary to have a good Christmas if you ask me!
Cheers!
Huh. I try to make a piggy bank party on my birthday in January. Let’s see what happen.
I’m intrigued George, what is a piggy bank party when it’s at home?!
I’m glad we’re not the only ones that are into receiving what I like to call practical presents. Xmas 2015 included a steamer, an airer and socks…
Practical presents has made it very hard for us to buy for friends and family though, as you find yourself trying to gift practical presents to people who have very little understanding of a frugal or need / want lifestyle.
Hope 2016 is good to you TFS.
Practical presents, that is a perfect name for them isn’t it!?
Socks are always a great fall back item if you can’t think of anything else 🙂
Yea, I draw the line at trying to give frugal/practical presents unless I really think the person would like it. Obviously you just have to judge each person on what they generally like.
Cheers and hope you have a brill 2016 as well!
Mrs LCIL got me a book about brewing classic beer styles, so that should pay dividends for years :-).
Our haul of the season has to be a new TV, which my mate GAVE US a nice bottle of wine to take off his hands. We’ve had our existing TV since 2002: it was one of the old original “flatscreens” that was as deep as it was wide. Whilst it still worked we had been reluctant to just buy a new one, so it was quite a result to get a new-ish TV for free. It’s not an “internet TV” like the brand new ones are these days, but it takes a chromecast/HDMI inputs alright so we can now stream interesting documentaries etc from YouTube onto it.
My only worry is that it will die sooner rather than later, as i understand from neighbours that pixels start to fail on these newer TVs within 5 years or so. Time will tell i of course. Happy New Year btw!!!
Wow, that sounds good. Let me know if it’s any good (and the name) and I might put it on next years list?
Haha, new TV! Brilliant! Sounds new enough to me. Why on earth would you ever want to browse the internet on your TV… I have no idea. Ours is an “old” one probably similar age to yours and we chromecast stuff into as well, it works brilliantly.
We bought ours in early 2009 from memory so it’s been going 6 years, and survived a house move without any picture degradation. It’s still better quality than some other newer TV’s I’ve seen in fact. It’s a Panasonic, would definitely recommend them to others for pic quality and longevity (next time someone is donating a TV try to make sure it is a Panasonic… haha!)
Cheers and happy new year!
Hiya.
Our gifted TV is in fact a Panasonic!! Seems good to me! http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/televisions/plasma-and-lcd-tvs/panasonic-tx-p42s10-tx-p42s10b-609444/review
This brewing book is pretty serious: it’s about designing your own beers rather than just following other peoples recipes, so there’s a LOT to read.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Great-Beers-Ultimate-Brewing/dp/0937381500
Wow, that’s awesome! It says around 2009 on that review so it could even be the model after our one came out as ours was an older model. So I reckon you should be fine for a good few years, fingers crossed and all that.
Thanks for the link, I’ll stick it on my wishlist for next year 🙂
I hooked up the Chromecast yesterday & tested the screen somewhat with this very moving (free to watch) film… if you’ve not seen it then find some time…. something very special
What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight ? That we laugh ? Cry ? Our curiosity ? The quest for discovery ?
Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness.
Hey TFS
Hope you and Mrs T had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!
That’s a great load of frugal presents. I didn’t make a list as such but among the gifts that I received, the ones that I found ‘useful’ are a beer kit (hehe!), a wine-growing kit (ok, so it’s grapes!), skiing goggles for my impending trip, stuff that I will use (eg toiletries, a mug), stuff that I will eat and drink (wine and chocolates) and a cool Lego Foo Fighters t-shirt, haha!
I’d love to be able to tell my friends not to buy me presents but it wouldn’t go down well!
Anyway, all the best for 2016 which will be a big change for you with the arrival of little Miss T!
Sounds like an awesome haul there weenie, nice one!
Hmm growing grapes in the freezing cold 😉 Manchester climate… I’ll be interested to see how that pans out?!
Thanks ever so much and good luck to you too for this year. Little Miss T… I like that one! 🙂
Does golf gear count as a fitness/self-improvement gift? I know to us golfers that’s a definite “yes”, and I envy you the Christmas outing. Due to flooding here in York my course has been closed for two weeks and no date yet to re-open. I forced myself out a five mile jog/walk today as a substitute and just missed the rain lashing down yet again. Pretty knackered now and thinking I’m at the age where sticking to golf is the better fitness alternative!
Haha, I would say yes Jim!
It was the first year I didn’t get any golf gear since whenever I can remember, I’ve been that frugal on all my gear I still have tonnes of second hand balls left from last Christmas (plus loads I’ve found over the course of the year in my many trips to the rough/bushes haha). It was nice to get out although very, very boggy. I heard you had it way worse up North!
Well done on the jog! Five miles is not too shabby.
I think golf gets a bad wrap in terms of being a lazy mans sport. You walk at least 5 miles per round, often up and down hills and not on paths so it’s not easy underfoot. I think it is really good exercise especially if your bones and joints are getting a bit weak for higher impact stuff. I would challenge anyone who thinks they are of average fitness to play a round of golf and not feel just a little bit knackered at the end of a round, I always do anyway (maybe it’s the number of shots though!) 🙂
Happy new year!
On my list this year were… socks! It doesn’t get more frugal than that I think. My wife got some Japanese knives to replace some of the old ones (the oldest one she has was bought more than 10 years ago)
I almost exclusively get my socks at Christmas time now, so in a few years I will be very near a 100% novelty sock ratio 😀
Replacement of kitchen gear is always a good one, as it’s the sort of thing you don’t generally need “right now” – you can make do with slightly old and blunt knives for 6 months and wait it out until gift time.
All the best!
Happy New Year TFS,
Well done on being frugal enough to “need” stuff! I’ve disliked Christmas presents since the age of about 14 (bah humbug) because the pressure of appearing grateful was always greater than the pleasure of receiving. Fortunately, the family feels much the same way, and we just buy each other stuff we were going to buy anyway – none of this pleasant surpise on the day bullshit for us 😉
Have a cracking 2016
Freedom Soul
Happy new year Freedom Soul!
We also ruthlessly employ the list system, which I agree just stops wasting money and disappointment. My in laws even make a joke out of stuff that people don’t like and those get put “on the back of the couch”. We all have a laugh when something goes on the couch, but there are no hard feelings and the gift receipt is handed over so the recipient can get something they actually like. I guess this is harder with less close family and friends to pull off though! Sounds like your family are of a similar mind frame.
Good luck in 2016!
Cheers!