{mally powell}

Project nifty thrifty - the revenge

I have been trying - and quite spectacularly failing - to take my finances in hand for a while now. Big events like Christmas and birthdays blow me out of the water, mainly because I don't do the sensible thing and save for them throughout the year.

Pathetic, right? I'm old enough now to be a sensible person and save some cash. I want to be able to feel relaxed and in charge of my finances, and of the sea of stuff that surrounds me. To that end I've been reading Girlynomics by Kate Battrick, better known as Ms Make Do Style. I need to dedicate some time to doing some proper hard core budgeting, but there are already some simple tips that I can get on with right away.

First up: no more online shopping! Basics - groceries and essentials such as (some!) books or emergency gifts, fine. But if I need clothes, or homewears, shoes or a gift-in-good-time then I need to plan ahead and get to a shop. A proper, bricks and morter, shop. Ideally a local one.

It is too easy to click the button online. Too easy to chuck a couple of extra things in the basket that I don't really need. Too easy to order things thinking 'I'll send one back...' which I never do. Or to get something that doesn't really fit, or isn't really me, or doesn't sit well in my wardrobe (ha! That is a whole world of weird in itself!), or even something that was not what I ordered in the first place... and never send it back. And suddenly I'm a couple of hundred pounds poorer and surrounded by even more STUFF. Ouch!

So. To the shops! The fact that I really have to be in the mood for shopping, which coincides increasingly rarely with opportunities to get to 'proper shops', is an inbuilt bugetary factor. More often than not, recent shopping expeditions have involved me wandering from shop to shop in a growing cloud of frustration and dis-interest. The trick is to avoid coming home with something random and sparkly (emerald green sequined cocktail dress anyone? Hanging in my wardrobe after my last London shopping trip and so handy for any home-working, seaside town dwelling, mother of a small boy...).

Next up, a spending fast (or maybe diet)...

(Speaking of diets - those coins in the picture? Chocolate. Munching through that stash is another bad habit I need to give up!)

wish list: sexy storage

This ticks just about every box for me: hand made from sustainable materials in the UK? (tick) Slightly scandi feel? (tick) Funky retro styling whereby I could pretend to be in an old-style grocery store (a la our local, rarely resistible, Jones Dairy)? (tick) Lush north-european colours? (tick) Kitchen storage to give my baking gubbins, under contant threat of eviction from precious cupboard space, a happy home? (tick)...

Now if only I had a few hundred pounds to spare right now. Pesky Project Nifty Thrifty!

I'll just have to keep playing Dorset Cereals Spin the bottle game this week and hope extra hard that I get (very, very) lucky!

Image copyright Ellas Kitchen Company

 

wish list: educational loveliness

How fabulous is this poster by Mogu Takahashi? Its the first of an exciting new Pikabooks venture from the always inspiring Pikaland, and teaches basic Japanese. And for only $20. So cool.

I'm sure that I need this, curse Project Nifty Thrifty. Still, I must learn to live lightly (must live lightly, lightly...) not least because we have no space. Literally: I spent the best part of an hour today trying to find a laundry bin to fit in the only minute scrap of floor space we have for one. Just as soon as I find somewhere to put the suitcase currently occupying it.

We do have a laundry bin, I hasten to add, but since the bedroom was rearranged this weekend (so I can actually sit on a chair at my splendid executive desk rather than perch on a pile of cushions on the edge of the bed for eight hours a day, mangling my spine in the process) the only place we could fit it has been on on top of the chest of drawers meaning it is above head height. Handy.

Still, the loveliness will remain on my wish list. After all, who knows when I'll need to be able to say 'shoes' in Japanese...

aren't friends the best?

This gorgeous scarf is a gift from a wonderful friend - who somehow knew that they were my colours. And that it would go perfectly with a fave cosy cardi. I love it! Unfortunately it's from Adolfo Dominguez. I say unfortunately because I was blissfully unaware of this particular store until I was presented with the beautiful bag containing this little beauty... and now a whole new world of temptation has opened up just in time for Project Nifty Thrify (PNT)!

As a key part of PNT I have sworn off clothing purchases until the spring. By which time I need to have lost a stone (14lbs); given I'm going to be so trim there's no point buying more clothes now right? Exactly. A pair of ankle boots and some new black ballet pumps are the only exceptions, though my budget is small, so I need to choose them carefully!

Any tips?

salad days

 
This was the first harvest of the summer, all the way back in June. Those first shoots of fresh green salad from a few little grow bags on our shared terrace made me so happy! Now the last few golden cherry tomatoes are waiting to be harvested. I'm finding myself reluctant to pick them and admit that the summer - our first with Titch - is almost over. The weather seems similarly reluctant, treating us to the most glorious autumn sunshine this weekend.

Which reminds me, I really need to plant some winter salad leaves...

learning to live lightly

Having spent the year to date on maternity leave, and facing the prospect of an imminent return to work at a wall cupboard 'office' in the bedroom as Titch takes over more and more of the flat, I have become increasingly preoccupied with living lightly.

I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that my child-of-the-80s penchant for retail therapy provides a short lived high with a whopping double-whammy downside of taking up even more precious space in our small flat while further dwindling my already ravaged bank account!

So I'm doing a bit of reading (online and in library books, naturally!) and trying to learn some new habits. I need to find my thrills in ways that don't cost money or, ideally, add to the general morass in the flat even as I spend hours trying to de-clutter.

Current reading includes The Happiness Project, India Knight's The Thrift Book and The Moneysaving Expert site. I'm looking forward to comparing and contrasting their tips to find a plan that works for me and my lifestyle, then putting it into practice. I expect - perhaps obviously - to have a multi-strand approach that essentially boils down to:

• Declutter... and sell what I can to make some extra cash.
• Stop spending on unnecessary desireables! A ridiculously big challenge for me, online spending is a particular weakness so I need something else to fill the gap.
• Shop smarter on essentials.
• Increase my income. Other than the selling side of the decluttering project, this is probably the biggest challenge given my job and small boy. I have some initial ideas which I will share as and when they become a bit less nebulous.

I thought posting some of my plans and progress here might be a good way to keep me honest. Are you feeling a similar need to rationalise life? Have you already been there, done that, got loads of tips? I'd love to hear them!

Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted. Wish me luck!