Friday 29 January 2010

What I bought this Month...

2 books from the charity shop (1 was for my mum though!)
'The Art of Crochet' Magazine
A kit to make and frame casts of babies teeny hands and feets - a Christening present for my friend and her new baby to get messy with.
A new winter coat - £2.99 from the chazza, I've been looking for a new one for ages - I've had my old winter coat since I was 15!
2 gemstones - a bloodstone and a blue agate
Another book
A LAPTOP!!!!!

I felt it was going quite well until the laptop! It had to be done though really as my old one had died of brokenbatterybrokendiscdriveanddeadharddrive-disease! It was a really cheap one too and had been not-working ever since I got it, so I decided not to get it repaired and just get a better quality one this time (but I'll be researching how to recycle old laptops so it can be got rid of the in best way possible) My new one is shiny and beautiful and I love it!
The crochet magazine was wrapped in a LOT of plastic, which didn't have any markings on so it went in the bin, I shouldn't of bought it really, I know logically that there are millions of resources online to teach me to do just about anything I like, but I think seeing it advertised on TV so much and the combination of getting a magazine, DVD, two balls of wool and a hook for 99p overwhelmed me! I won't falling for that again though I hope!
Also, I STILL need to start going to the library!

5 comments:

  1. A winter coat for less than 3 GBP?? Are you serious?? (Where? 2nd hand or new?)

    A laptop - I might get one too, though I resisted it for soo long! (uhm, researched!) Which one did you get? And does it 'smell' much? (Sister's Lenovo does smell iffy a bit after it heats up, wondering if there's anything better while still affordable out there?)

    We'll be adding and extension to the terrace - more trash! - well, Dad & Mom will be, as the balcony is 'leaking' now into Sis's room!) So if I do any assignments or anything writerly that needs concentration I suppose it will be better to be portable to go into a quieter room or elsewhere entirely.
    Hope your new one will last!
    There are charities that repair it and refurbish it, maybe you could give it to such a scheme? (A reliable one, of course. And possibly if you didn't do any e-banking/credit-card buying etc on it. Or maybe if you give the hard drive elsewhere. Do get informed though, how they erase data.) Otherwise, the WEEE scheme?
    I'm still hanging on to old e-tech stuff cause I have doubts where this stuff ends up! (There was an article about it ending in Africa etc, even when local UK councils said otherwise) So, hm? Research well and maybe check the BAN site too.

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  2. Yeah, I am serious! lol! It was from the charity shop - so 2nd hand and the money goes to a good cause. The coat actually has a broken zip, but it's easily mendable. Nearly all my clothes are 2nd had and a rarely pay more than a couple of pounds for them - I'm lucky though becuase we have about 10 charity shops in my town so I can find all the bargains!

    I have too mnay distractions when I'm using the family computer - it's in the same room as the TV and anytime I want to use it someone else is on it! Which isn't helpful when my council lists job vacancies and application online and I'm doing an online course too! I figure I'm allowed one extravagance! My laptop's a Samsung R519, it has an energy star and says its 'Eco RoHS compliant' (I'm not sure what that means but it can't be bad! Well, unless it's greenwash!) It smelt a bit when I first go it, but it seems to be less smelly now.

    Thats a good idea about finding a charity to make it better and use it, maybe if I can get it to come to life one more time I can work out how to wipe it myself, or I have a clevercomputerycousin who might be able to. I did wonder about WEEE but it doesn't say specifically on my council's website if they take computers, so I'll have to get in touch with them..I've not heard of BAN, so I'm off to check that out now :)

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  3. Thanks for the brand name - I'll check it out! I was thinking about a Lenovo maybe (or HP or Asus, or Acer cause it's cheaper, Macs are pretty but too expensive, methinks!) Not many Samsungs here locally.

    This is BAN http://www.ban.org/ I've come across some articles on recycling old computers last spring, so I may post those too someday - there is a lot of info online..

    You're soo lucky to have 10 charity shops with good stuff near by!! (We don't have any in Slovenia. Weird, I know!!)
    It's either 'charity' (for poor people, for free) or nothing! (Okay, some fleamarkets in bigger cities) I've gotten or given some good stuff from/to relatives or friends or known people, so that's an option too.. Limited choice sometimes, sometimes I get very FUN outfits too! :)

    Yeah, I've kept wondering about a laptop too, it seems like 'work necessity' if you want to write anything or in your case have an online course etc!
    Most laptops use little energy, less than big brothers, and so have the energy star logo. The real question is what they are made of, how much can be recycled etc. It seems the RoHs standard is for non-toxic and safer stuff.. I just briefly googled it though, would be interesting to know more about it :)

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  4. I can't believe you don't have charity shops, I get literally alll my clothes (except undies!) and most of my other stuff from them! Poor you! Have you tried ebay? I have to stay away from ebay, too much temptation!

    We don't have lenovo's here, we'll maybe we do but it's called something else, but we hae acer and hp which I reckon are both pretty good options, macs are beautiful, but my friends brother has one and none of us can work out how to use it! It's really different from PCs! It's hard to know what to get isn't it, I don't know much about computers so I have to guess and hope its a lucky one!

    I checked out the BAN site, it's really interesting, thanks for pointing it out. I'm glad my laptops got Rohs less toxic stuff then! thats nice to know! Although I do try to compute with the window open and my plants around me to try and disperse some of the fumes it must be giving off! Hopefully by the time this one dies (in the far far future I hope!) there'll be more recyling options about for computers!

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  5. I've worked with Macs (not laptops though) and they are gorgeous!
    It's good if you have people who can explain stuff to you at first!
    (Windows are much more 'unlogical' in some ways - the only program where you have to press 'start' to press 'stop', as it has been pointed out!:)
    I'm still scared to try ebay, lol! Want to try this year. We get some stuff from neighbours or such, friends or when I was smaller from relatives etc. I sometimes dream about having a thrift shop, he he. Not sure if it would be any profitable lol!
    Lenovo used to be IBM, I'm sure it's worldwide, maybe under the old name still?
    I'd love to start a charity shop or at least local 'exchange of goods' - am afraid I'd want to stash everything in our attick though, lol!!

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