Things I am not going to buy - Day 13: Travel size toiletries

Alongside the need to have the perfect travel bag, perfectly packed with everything required for a particular trip, with nothing missing and nothing taken along that doesn't get used, is the quest for the perfect size toiletries - little bottles, tubes and tubs with just enough of the lotion/potion/cream/paste for the length of the trip so that the containers can all be thrown away before returning home, leaving me less encumbered on the return journey (and with extra space in the luggage for any additional purchases).


It is only in recent years that it became possible to purchase pretty well every toiletry requirement in doll-size packaging.  Mini tubes of toothpaste, little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, bath/shower stuff, mouthwash, mini deodourants, shaving stuff, wipes for everything... Partly driven by the change in policy by airlines to only allow containers of liquid holding a maximum of 100ml, and by the fact that pretty well all airlines now charge for hold luggage, with the result that travellers all try to manage with only carry-on bags. 



This is, in theory, a good idea, however, as with most things, there are a few potential flaws:

Firstly, it is very expensive to buy items made in small quantities. For example, whilst a 250ml bottle of Sanctuary body wash or body lotion costs £5.50 at Boots (2.2p per ml), the 75ml "travel size" bottles cost £2.50 each (3.3p per ml).  Don't even THINK about buying these items at the airport, as the mark-up is even more obscene:

Secondly, it is wasteful and bad for the environment to use lots of items in small packaging and then dispose of the packets/bottles. 
Thirdly, it is impossible to buy items in exactly the right quantity for a week-end/week/fortnight trip.  You either end up with not quite enough of a product, or too much.  Do you chuck the rest?  That is wasteful.  Do you bring it home?  You then have to remember to use it up. 

Quite apart from all this, I have a bag full of little miniature size toiletries and cosmetics, that I should really use up, because they aren't meant to be kept once opened.  In future, I am going to resort to what I used to do before it was possible to buy all these mini-products, and use the empty plastic bottles that I bought for just this purpose, and refill them for each trip with enough product from the larger sizes that I normally use.  OK, this isn't going to work for toothpaste - don't fancy decanting that into a pot to take with me, so I might just allow myself to keep buying those miniature sizes. 

Things I am not going to buy - Day 12: Heston Caramel Popcorn Ice-cream

There's not a lot that can be said about this.  It is something that didn't exist up until about 6 months ago, and I was persuaded to buy by my son, who adores popcorn.  My son didn't like it.  I have absolutely no reason to buy it - especially as I absolutely loved the taste, and manage to eat the whole of rest of the carton - in ONE go!  Don't think the "calories per portion" quoted on the carton covered a portion of that size!  I think it must contain a drug as it is so addictive.

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy

I must not buy



Things I am not going to buy - Day 11: Black boots

Along with the black trousers (see yesterday's blog) goes the black ankle boots.  For the 48 weeks of the year that it isn’t summer, If I am dressed and not in my house, chances are I am wearing black ankle boots.  I usually do my boot shopping in secret, as I know my DH will ask me if I NEED another pair of black ankle boots.  I have always answered that a girl can never have too many pairs of black ankle boots.  Not true…

I should take this picture everywhere with me (perhaps as a background on my phone...) and look at it every time I am anywhere near a shop selling boots.  Seriously!

Things I am not going to buy - Day 10: Black trousers

Clothes feature in a number of my 31 items not to buy.  This is because, like many women, I have a wardrobe full of clothes but can never find a thing to wear!  Well, OK, I can ALWAYS find a pair of black trousers.  I am very comfortable wearing trousers, and black trousers appear to be the most readily available in most shops - recent attempts to find some "anything-but-black" trousers have not been very successful.  The shops that sell slightly more trendy clothes (including interesting coloured trousers), insist that trousers are made with a waist that is about 3 inches below where normal people have their waist.  I would not exactly describe myself as large (following my successful attempts that have been previously blogged, to get rid of a little over a stone) - I now take a size 8-10 in trousers, so, in theory, shouldn't look too bad in most trousers - however, as soon as I pull on a pair of trousers with a zip that is only 2 inches long, a huge mound of flesh pours over the top of the trousers in a most unattractive way.  I don't know where it comes from - when I zip myself into a tight pair of size 8 skinny jeans, it seems to disperse quite nicely, but not so when there is nothing there to hold it all in. 

Here is a picture of the trouser section of my wardrobe.  The 2 pairs of coloured trousers on the right are actually jeans, so I can't wear them for work.  The only slight variation from black is the two pairs of dark grey you can see on the left hand side.  Other than that, it's black, black, black!              



I would really love to wear something other than black trousers (a nice dress perhaps?), but can't break out of it.  I really mustn't buy any more for a VERY long time!

Things I am not going to buy - Day 9: Apps

How excited was I when I received my first iPad and, shortly afterwards, my iPhone?  I can’t begin to explain the state of pure ecstasy I was in when I discovered all the exciting apps in the Apple “App” store.  A kid in a sweet shop would be positively SAD in comparison!  Those lovely little icons, and all of them a gateway to a new and exciting app that, well, DID something!! 

I am an obsessive-compulsive list maker – I make lists of all the things I must do, should do, want to do, could do, may do, will do one day…etc..etc  Over the years, my lists have taken many forms, from little notebooks, to post-it notes, to typed up documents – each time I come up with a new way of recording my lists, I carefully transfer all the old items to the new list.  My excitement at trying out as many different task management and list making tools knew no bounds.  I downloaded hundreds of free apps and set out to find the absolute ultimate app in which to manage my life and finally get around to actually DO’ing all the stuff on my lists (learning foreign languages, writing a book, going to the North Pole, etc…).  Apps that involved actually typing into the bloody iPhone on-screen keyboard, were quickly scrapped – I really didn’t want to transcribe that amount of data using the one-finger tapping approach!  Apps that either had web front ends or ability to load data from a spreadsheet or text file were all tried and tested.  I finally settled on a few favourites:

Evernote - used to store anything and everything!  I scan documents in, send emails to it, take screen shots and web page copies, etc

ToodleDo - main task list

Springpad - I mainly use this to capture web stuff that I want to come back to - I would use for a lot more if I didn't use Evernote

Awesome Note - general lists, tasks, notes that I have on my phone - syncs with Evernote.  I use to manage tasks and lists that aren't as top priority as the ones in Toodledo

Other things I use apps for are
- singing - recording and practising
- remote controls for devices in the house
- eWallet - manage all my passwords and important info
- banking
- tracking my son (when he's on the school bus)
- Viewing our home CCTV cameras when I am on the move
- central heating control - I can turn our heating up/down/on/off remotely - that is truly awesome!
- reading (on iPad - iPhone is too small)
- cook books/recipes (iPad)
- watch TV (iPad)
- radio stations and music to listen to




I could go on and on (and on and on...).  I don't know if I will ever stop being excited by the amazing things that can be done on a phone/tablet.  The thing that never ceases to amaze me is how many people have iPhones (or other smart phones) and they only use them to make phone calls!!

Despite the fact that I have tried and tested HUNDREDS of apps before settling on the ones mentioned, I just can't resist browsing the app store and looking for new apps to change my life.  All these lovely little icons! 

Things I am not going to buy - Day 8: Fitness equipment

There are some things in life that are absolutely guaranteed, like death, taxes, and the fact that a piece of equipment designed for home exercise will not be used more than 10 times (being generous!). It’s not just me – it’s everyone. Oh how many more handbags could I have bought with the money I have squandered on useless devices that are meant to make exercise easy(!) and fun(!!!!!!!)?

• Steppers – I think I’ve had a couple of these over the years at various points
• Nordic Track skiing machine – A HUGE piece of equipment that was bought at vast expense, and which took up almost the whole floor in the spare bedroom for about 8 years. 
• Re-bounder – nice little mini-trampoline, which actually was quite fun – well at least for the first couple of goes. It was just a bit repetitive, and, although I bought a nice little video to watch whilst I was bouncing, I never actually got to watch it as I couldn’t see the telly from the garage, which was the only place I was allowed to bounce in case I damaged the floor. It did, at least, get some use as a fun toy when my son was small tho’!
• Weights – hubby bought a set of dumbbells, I have various hand and kettle weights purchased over the years. They fill up the floor area in the spare wardrobe and never get to see the light of day.
• Rollerblades – I have two pairs. I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to do this – how cool does it look to see people whizzing around the streets, effortlessly gliding along on their blades? The reason I have two pairs is that I started with a cheap pair, then DH bought me a fantastic pair of top-of-the-range, horrendously expensive Roces blades from a shop in Sweden. I got rid of the cheap pair, ready to glide effortlessly on my new pair. I couldn’t even stand up on them, and if I started to move, there was no way of stopping other than crashing into a wall or falling over. I bought another cheap pair so I could continue to improve before using my super-duper pair. This was 20 years ago. I got them out once, about 3 years ago, hoping that I would be able to glide effortlessly along. It didn’t happen. I can’t bear to part with either pair, because when I am a pensioner, and have more time than I do now, I WILL learn how to skate!!

• Tennis racquets – bought when DH and I decided to have some private lessons. Used for the 5 or so lessons, then never used since.
• Badminton racquets – bought when DH and I were invited to play with some people I used to work with. I left the firm shortly afterwards, and never saw my ex-colleagues again (or the badminton court)
• Surfing machine – this definitely ticked the “fun” box – it consisted of a board that you stand on and try to balance whilst it moved around. You were meant to do it for 15 minutes every day for a simple, fun way to stay fit. Yeah, right!
• Mini-bucking bronco – Actually called an iJoy ride, which sounds a bit like something you might buy in Anne Summers, but is actually a horse (without the head, tail or legs) that you sit on whilst it jigs about. Fun – yes, but same comment applies as for the previous item.
• Wii – this doesn’t come into quite the same category as other items on the list as it has had plenty of use over the last few years – my son and his friend have had many happy times playing various games on the device. What DOES come into the category are all the other bits bought when mum seriously considered this as a possible contender for regular exercise – the board, the various racquets and batons, the hand weights and bands, and the numerous sport/exercise games that were purchased to make exercise “fun”. Ha!
• Fitbit – the little clip-on device that tracks your steps and other activity. I wear it all the time but other than tell me how inactive I am, it doesn’t actually help! Tell me something I DON’T know!
• Treadmill – this is the latest acquisition. I bought it about 6 months ago – it was second hand, from eBay, as I knew there was a possibility that I wouldn’t use it very often. I haven’t. 

Things I am not going to buy - Day 7: Kitchen appliances and gadgets

Supporting the delusion that by spending money on things for the kitchen (see cook books blog), is the urge to buy shiny new appliances and gadgets that will turn me from a “ready-meal” kitchen slob, to a Delia Smith/Mary Berry chef extraordinaire!  If it has a plug on it, it must, therefore, do something that I don’t have to do myself, or it will do it far quicker than any other method.  If it is in shiny chrome, and looks stylish on the worktop, then that’s a bonus!  (Not that it is allowed to live on the worktop, as everything has to be put away)!  These devices usually have good intentions, and are, on the whole, very good at doing what it says on the box.  There are, however, a number of very good reasons why most of these items never get to fill their full potential.  Firstly, they lurk at the back of a cupboard, usually with other articles in front of them preventing them from being easily extricated without taking everything else out.  Too much like hard work.  Secondly, they are, in the majority of cases, a bummer to clean!  The “George Forman” griddle/grill is a prime example.  True, you can pop in a nice steak, sausage, salmon, etc, but the nightmare of cleaning the filthy black plates on a device that is far too big to fit in the sink, means that it hasn’t come out of the cupboard for the past two years!  The normal grill pan is easier to clean – especially if you line it with foil.  Finally, they often have to be used with recipes that require some planning!  Breadmakers, slow cookers, food processors/mixers/blenders, fall into this category.  They need ingredients/shopping/planning – I refer, once again, to the Cook book scenario!

None of the gadgets I have in my cupboards have managed to stop me coming home from work in the evening wishing I had planned something, and resorting to desperately rummaging through the freezer to find something that will defrost / cook quickly.  OK, so twice a year I get organised enough to put the slow cooker on in the morning and come home to a lovely casserole in the evening, but putting it all together at 6.30am in the morning is not something I wish to do very often!