Uckfield Matters Magazine - August 19 #144

communitymatters
My journey:
Living with less
by Nicki Richardson
Or 'gifting' with less... learning
lessons from Last Christmas.
Don't panic - I've not forgotten it's
August. But a big clear out has got me
thinking about what lies ahead for the
rest of this year. Last November, money
was tight and Christmas was just around
the corner, my children were making
whisperings of what they
would like to see under
the tree come the 25th
December, and panic was
starting to set in.
Looking at their lists I
realised the majority of
things could easily be
preloved. No adding more
‘brand new plastic’ or
unecessary packaging to my household.
My children would be absolutely
thrilled by their gifts whatever, so I took
the plunge and started searching.
Eldest daughter asked for k’nex and
youngest daughter wanted Buzz and
Woody.
"I make it a habit
that when we
need something
new I also check
to see if a second
hand or preloved
version will do. "
I’ll admit I checked how much it would
be to 'buy new' and was stunned to see
that I'd be spending well over £100 to
have these for my children to open on
Christmas morning.
We just didnt have the extra money to
spend on presents, so my
next stop was a search of
the Facebook selling pages,
eBay and then of course the
local charity shops! Hurrah,
Buzz and Woody along with a
bonus slinky dog were listed
just round the corner and at
a 10th of the cost of one of
them new. Just imagine my
delight when I went to pick up my new
purchases and the lady had a Paw Patrol
tower which she said I could have for a
£1. (this little gem was sneakily added
to my youngest daughters list just 2 days
earlier… win win.)
Now comes the reason for filling you
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