In praise of ....

THRIFTINESS.

I admit it.  I'm a charity-shop hag.  A bargain hunter.  An anti-consumer consumer.  A freecycler recycler upcycler rejigger, make-do-and-mender.  So what's new I hear you ask?

Well.  I've been doing this all my life.

When I was a teenager we lived out of town, so getting a Saturday job was difficult. I had a paper-round, and was no stranger to 6am starts.  But, it was good experience and meant I had a little cash to spend in town, and Saturday day time to myself.

Still, the pay was meagre, so shopping as such meant being inventive.  Also, I had that rebellious streak, so back in the 1980s, when I was a teenager, fashion to me was found in the charity shops, where the 1960s winkle pickers could be found....

I would wobble around Blackburn precinct thinking I looked the 'bees knees' in shoes such as these...

Since having children, and thus, less/no disposable income as such, I've continued in my quest for the bargain.  I've reasoned that since babies have no concept of designer this and designer that then second-hand will be absolutely fine.  And, since children grow so quickly there's no way I'm spending £15 on a pair of jeans that will be out grown before they're outworn.

And, the charity shops benefit from my spending, which is much more to my liking.

I've also continued to shop for my own clothing items from charity shops, the only exception being underwear (ditto children).  I can't remember the last time I paid full price for anything clothing wise, and when Phoebe's been given vouchers to certain clothes shops and I've seen the full price of things, or even if I steer her to the sale rail, I've winced at the tags....

So allow me to shock you, and then let you into a little local(ish) secret.

On the hunt over these Xmas holidays for Phoebe to find her some new winter boots.  We think her feet have finally stopped growing.  Size 8.5 and size 8.  She's 12....  Her last year's boots were flapping at the toes, and apart from looking scruffy they're also dangerous.

We have now discovered that most UK high street shops stock ladies adult size footwear in 3-8.  So finding the half size above that Phoebe needs is difficult to say the least.  No matter what price bracket we looked at, regular shop or in the sale, we couldn't find her size.  Her school shoes are thankfully available in sizes to fit her (at Clarks, so no cutting corners there then!), and the same goes for her sports shoes, although the sports shop man had to go to his store room 3 times to find hockey boots to fit properly...

So to the hunting.  Whilst in Matalan in Newbury I bought myself  (SHOCK!!!) a pair of simple black leather 'Mary Jane' style shoes for work.   Thought I'd splash out.  They cost £18.  Matalan, is after all, quite a cheap shop.  No joy for Phoebe though, so I thought I'd try my favourite bargain hunting ground in Newbury to see if the Gods were on my side.

30 years later this is my shoe of comfort for work...  how times change!

This is the SECRET:

Off the Hambridge Road in Newbury is a warehouse called, quite catchily, 'The Clothing Warehouse'.  It buys second-hand clothes (I asked them, they told me) by the ton(ne) from wholesalers.  These clothes may  have been donated to charity, (so funds have been raised), or may be seconds, end of season lines, or bankrupt stock.  Either way, they sell them as cheap as charity shops and sometimes you can really find a bargain.  Sometimes new items are mixed in, but they price them to sell, and usually only add 50p as the premium for it being new.  There's Tesco own lines mixed in with Next, M&S, Monsuno and Matalan and more. You have to keep your wits about you, and there's not much of a display ethic. The clothes are crammed together on hangers so tightly that you think you might lose your wedding ring.

This is the antithesis of a retail experience.  But if you want a bargain this is where you come. And if you're trying to save money in these austere times I recommend it.  Especially if you've got children.

They actually do have one part of the building laid out more to meet a shop-style expectation. This is the expensive bit where the higher end, smarter, nicer stuff is to be found, but it's still cheap by comparison. It's also the charity shop experience in that there's only one off of each item, so what you see is what you get, and if it's not there in your size then they've not got it.  Once you've got used to shopping like this you can have a lot of fun.

So this weekend, after I'd spent the extortionate(!) amount of £18 on a new pair of shoes (for work) (first new pair of shoes for me for at least 4 years, may be longer come to think of it), I got at the Clothing Warehouse, a nice pair of 'Geox' summer shoes £4 (as new, still had their price tag on the underside of the shoe between heel and sole £29.99), an 'East' silk blouse £5, and a green cardigan to go with £7(expensive!).  £4 + £5 + £7 = £16 for blouse, cardi and shoes.  There's no wear (like you see in the charity shops) and I'm chuffed as you like.  Beat that Matalan. Oh, you can't.

I then managed to find (this took a good search) for Phoebe, some Next brown suede boots knee height with a zip, 6cm block heel, square toe, size 9, as new condition....  £5.  What's more, they fit her and she likes them.  I completed her outfit with as new condition Next black boot cut jeans, £3.

This is nearest image I could find for Phoebe's boots.  Hers are chocolate brown suede with a  squarer heel.  Height about right, though.  These ones cost £75 on the Next website at the moment.

I hope you don't all go rushing down there tomorrow, taking all my best buys. Maybe I should have kept quite...

Keep it sweet. ;)  Kat

New Year Revolutions

I don't make resolutions - they would inevitably get broken into.

But I will try to be better.  By that I mean more positive. Which is difficult for me.  I've always been negatively motivated. In that I know what I don't want, but I've never known what it is that I want.

I finished reading Lady Chatterley's Lover....  I was more impressed by the overall anti-war tone of the story than the supposed scandal of the sex scenes.  Yes, it's ambitious in the description of how the physical sex act feels, in trying to explain what effect it has on the participants. Yes, some of the language is absolutely filthy, and to my mind it didn't add much to the story. What I felt was more interesting was that it was written in 1928 and Lawrence died in 1930, and it's prophetically, overwhelmingly about doom and gloom, the hardships of the mining community, the downward spiral of the marriage of the Chatterleys for obvious reasons, and obviously the mood of the time was of incredible pessimism.  I'll have to look up on Wikipedia the reason why it was banned.  Interesting. I'm pleased I've now read it.

Since then I've 'slummed it' with non-fiction 'The Doctor will see you Now' by Max Pemberton. Humorous medical memoir of junior doctor in modern times. Eye-opening and eye watering in equal measure.

I'm now reading 'One Day' by David Nicholls, which is easy going, easy reading and quite enjoyable so far. I want to know what happens to Emma and Dexter.

The Christmas break has been busy, of course, with quite a lot of travel.  We learned that taking the dog with us on the 200 mile trip to Lancashire to collect the children from grandparents' house, and then return home was quite difficult in my new Skoda Roomster - not a roomy as the Honda CRV, but much more economical to run.  However, the children's bickering means fewer long trips, or  leaving the dog behind - either way it's expensive.

We also learned that a 'quick trip to Ikea' takes on average 6 hours.  This is because it's 1 hr to get there/come home.  Then queueing for the car park, and finding a parking space takes an extra 40 minutes. Then queuing for a quick lunch is tricky if you get in the wrong queue (we didn't want meatballs...).  Then the usual let's walk you round the store/display area via the longest route, find your items in marketplace and guess what, let's queue again to pay for the things.  

That said, Phoebe's bedroom is much improved, and the new desk in the study is a triumph!

I'm really looking forward to getting back to work on the 3rd, and even more looking forward to the children returning to school on the 8th.  Just how are you supposed to be a working parent if you're not employed in education???  

On a lighter note, it didn't rain today, and I'm going to clean the oven.  

Happy new year to one and all

keep it sweet  :)  Kat

Grrr... brrrr!

All this driving's making me mad!  For the split seconds that I feel like Steve Wright's 'Mr Angry' character when I'm behind the wheel, I wonder what sort of person I'm facing as they pass towards me in flagrant disregard of the rules of the road.

Give way to oncoming traffic when the obstacle is on your side of the road.
Observe safe lane discipline - i.e. don't veer towards the white line in the middle of the road.
Dip, don't dazzle.

I'd have to look them up in the Highway Code, but that's what I was taught.

I was also taught to remember the three 'C's:  Care, Courtesy and Caution.  Not necessarily in that order.  And these also apply well to most situations in life, not just driving...

So I reported the white van man in Faringdon the other week.  He was turning right in front of me whilst I gave way at the roundabout.  As he passed in front of me I noted (i) he'd not indicated and (ii) he was talking on his mobile phone and consequently was steering with one hand on the wheel (the other hand was holding his phone).  OK.  we've seen it before, and we'll see it again, but I thought a few choice words to myself, and noted his tagline on the rear of the vehicle 'Brian Hall, The Complete Builder'.  'Complete idiot' or words to that effect I thought to myself.  I proceeded to follow him as the break in the traffic had allowed me in.  A short way along the road he turned left abruptly, and I further observed (iii) his left indicator wasn't working, or he'd failed to use it, and (iv) two of his brake lights were out (his vehicle was equipped with three brake lights, the only one which worked was the smallest one at the top of the van)....

The above combination of poor driving provoked me into reporting his actions at the police station.  I didn't have his licence plate number, as I was driving, and it was mostly obscured by dirt, but I had his name, and knew he was 'the Complete Builder'.  Job done.

But what irritates me about this is that all the above was absolutely avoidable.  It adds grist to the mill of the argument in favour of a system of re-testing drivers at regular intervals throughout their driving lives.  Say every 10 or 15 years you re-take the driving test / a version of the test.  If you fail or don't meet acceptable standards you're allowed to continue driving on a provisional licence and have to re-take the test within a certain timeframe, say 6 months.  You could have further tutoring during this process.

I think this would (i)  improve general driving standards (ii) provide employment - more tests = more testers required to examine the drivers  (iii) improve safety of other road users as test failure would result in licences being revoked.

There, got that off my chest!

This morning whilst walking Roly in the park the moon was still high in the sky.  Although the sun had got up, it looked like it wanted to go back to bed.  The shadows of the trees were long in the tooth, but in this hemisphere at this time of the year that's what we get.

When I get home from picking Tom up from school, it's pitch dark and the hens have gone to bed.  Well, they normally have.  Tonight one of them had got separated from the rest - she'd broken into the area I've fenced off as it's been so wet - so she was still out when I went to close the pop-hole.  All hands on deck, I got Phoebe to help, and Simon to hold the torch, and we went to catch the hen and put her to bed.  The sky was clear, and the stars were all out, and I don't know how she'd have got on if I'd not noticed she was missing from the coop....  b r r r !

Paint your own impressionist lake!  The wonders of zoom on a digital camera....

That's it for now,  bed and hot water bottle beckoning.
Keep it sweet!  Kat