New year, New me (finally)

little_h_2

this probably isnt helping but there is quite a good looky likey of the Marchesa frock in your link, on the Coast website! for much less money!

I have got project wardrobe tomorrow, lots of sorting out and working out to keep! sounds like you have had an exhausting few days!

thrifty_fifty

Todays task is to get some more coat hangers and hang the rest of this stuff up. Shredding etc can be done throughout the rest of the week.

More planting at the allotment tomorrow. Glad I booked the rest of the week off or I'd be going back more tired than I left. But still, all those things that have been nagging to get done, are now done.Well, almost

Still going back with the 'do I sell all the stuff, have nothing, pay the debts off early', no stick with it, blah, blah, blah. And so it goes round and round. Mind you I have to say if I did go back to just the highstreet I'm not terribly impressed at the mo. Bought a v neck jumper from Dotty P's a couple of months ago, and it already looks like I've had it for years and wants throwing out. It looks tired, bobbles everywhere, and my Debenhams and Wallis skirts that I've had for a year and worn maybe a handful of times are both looking faded and tired too, and I use colour care washing powder. Anyway rhe debate will continue in my head for some time yet.

Got a few more bits to ebay, need to raise some cash for that brooch (sooo wish I hadn't done that now, but head was filled with romantic notions of going to Paris at the time).

Anyway must get out of my pit and go get those coat hangers.

See you later. x

Shoe_Gal

The dress is gorgeous - very Carrie

thrifty_fifty

Just a pause for reflection and to say a big thank-you to everyone I have met on here so far, even though it has only been a couple of months, I can feel I have changed almost overnight.

We share our highs, our lows, diary land really is an amazing place.

Love you all.

xx

thrifty_fifty

The wardrobe is still a work in progress. Now I've put everything together in there (matching colours together, I can see that I have a complete mismatch of things. I have all manner of crazy coloured flowery garments, to go with a pair of jeans. Alarm bells are ringing here that perhaps I should have planned a wardrobe (mind you when I was buying these things I didn't have a wardrobe to put them in to see them all together). Instead of spending all that money on loads and loads of different items I should have had a wardrobe plan (basics, neutrals etc etc) and saved a wad of cash and built it up from there.

Now my current wardrobe would be ok if I had acres of space, but I don't. I don't even go out hardly ever-being in the country, and there are not that many nice cocktail bars and the like round where i live to warrant being so nicely turned out.

I'm still struggling emotionally with coming to terms that I have chosen these things and that I should really wear these things. They've been safely shut away, just like the real me, and I'm scared to get both out. It's been quite an exhausting day again not just in terms of actually lumping the stuff around, but just seeing it all in front of me. I was getting quite panicky at one stage and was close to tears.

Maybe I should get rid of a lot of it, clear the wardrobe out, and use the money to pay off these debts. Hang onto a few key items, like a black dress, black jimmys a white shirt, and just wait then until I'm settled in a house of my own, can get some wardrobes of my liking an build a small but tailored wardrobe.

Ideas are

A white shirt
A black Jacket
A nude vest with some kind of sequin detail (can be worn under jacket to dress up at night, or worn dressed down with jeans in the day)
a black large bag
a brown large bag
Striking cocktail dress
1 pair black plain shoes
1 pair sparkly shoes


and so on.

Might email the fashion advisors at net a porter for some advice. I know this isn't a crisis as such in any great terms, but it's all part of the figuring out who I am, where I'm going thing.

I love Charlottes sense of style, simple and sophisticated. I kind of like the flowing white linen trousers for summer sort of looks. At the minute I have too much stuff and trying to store it, work out how to wear it, etc, etc is just giving me a headache.

Think I need some time off so going to take a bath with a book and a nice glass of vino.

Bliss

thrifty_fifty

Think I've pretty much drawn a conclusion for the above. Get rid of most of it, apart from a few key items. The rest is stuff to wear everyday, only flaw with that is.... lots of the items are silky or delicate materials. I spend most of my time at work and wouldn't dream of wearing them there. Wearing them as everyday clothes means they are going to need to be cleaned regularly, which = hefty dry cleaning costs.Constantly watching jagged nails surfaces etc etc so as not to snag them. The end result is a wardrobe full of stuff I daren't wear that is making me unhappy living in a junked up house.

I don't know, maybe I'll change my mind tomorrow. Enough for now. Sorry to bore everyone.

Nighty night.

thrifty_fifty

OK,

Todays tasks are to get all the washing done and dried, and to make more progress on the bedroom, and sort out ebay things. This is not going to take me all my week off. I'll need to escape the house at some point.

So plans for this year are to be around 75% debt free, next year will be about house deposit saving, but I will be throwing in a holiday for 2011, I haven't had nearly enough of those. I've just calculated that my total holiday time-actually going away somewhere, not just taking the week off work and spending it round home, either studying or catching up on house stuff, is 6 weeks and 1 day in 10 years!!!!-
2 weeks in 2000, 1 week in 2003, 1 week 2004, 4 days in 2006, 1 week in 2007, 3 days in 2008, 1 day in 2009, 0 days 2010, and I can't really count the 1 week in 2007 as this was that prebooked holiday pre official breakup. So wasn't exactly a break as such.

Ok so next year I NEED at least 1 week of walking in sand, feeling warm rays beating upon my back and listening to the gentle sound of waves lapping the shore. The last ten years have been, work study, work study, catch up on housework, debt stress, moving out of home, moving back into home, moving out again.

ENOUGH!!!!!!!

So today I will sort out things to ebay. I need a full length mirror too so going off in search of one of those. Budget of no more than £20, then need to find that money so I'm above board this month (I'll be overdrawn anyway, but the overdraft is the last debt I'm tacking, I'm currently £50 into it). According to my calculations, if I sold absolutely every shoe, bag and coat, and got what I wanted for it i'd have about 3k. I'll be hanging onto a few bits, but its a nice thought.

Anyway must get on...

thrifty_fifty

Some highs some lows today.

Couldn't find a bloomin mirror anywhere. Drove round for ages trying to get a parking spot, and left disgruntled and empty handed.

Ebay dramas continue. Bought a dress on there a couple of years ago, didn't fit, decided this year to try and get my money back by selling it. Sold it, received positive feedback. Buyer puts it up for sale same day as received claiming doesn't fit. Well they were wearing it in the picture and it seemed to fit them ok, plus they used my description for it. Sorry to see it go etc etc.

Anyway their buyer claims its a fake, and now wants to send it back to me for a refund. Ruddy typical!!! The person claims that this is on the basis that it doesn't contain a hologram (I have more for certain genuine articles and they don't have a hologram), and the stitching is poor (absolute rubbish).

I was all set to list some more stuff today, but not so sure now. Firstly because it is a ruddy nightmare and it takes around a month to know what money you've actually made out of it, trying not to be fleeced, and people have up to 60 days to raise a dispute with the item (you don't even get that in a shop), so things like this could come to bite you on the behind up 2 months plus, later. Secondly I have more items bought off ebay, and dare not sell them now, just incase they are "fake" too. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Well here lies the lesson peeps. Don't develop a penchant for luxury items.

Had enough of this carp now, going to go and dig some tatties in the allotment.

Buffythedebtslayer

You always catch me just on the way out or in this case off for a nap, I started going through my wardrobe. God I am boring!!!

I know what you mean about E bay, completely lost my mojo for it.

Hope you found lots of potatoes xxxx

thrifty_fifty

Thanks sweetie,

I know I'm just being a wingey wine bum, but the idea was that ebay would provide some much needed funds, and it isn't exactly working out that way. Mumble, mumble. It's just making me a bit more selective about the stuff I put on there. If it means anything to me atall, I'll deal with the stress of being cluttered up. And really this is a very small cottage, so when we buy somewhere there will be acres more space, it will probably be a terraced house or an ex council one in the country which will have a big garden for planting home grown stuff and big rooms. Have to remember that this is a temporary thing.

Anyway after much digging potatoes have been planted, and we can see the first signs of the onion and garlic shoots, that we planted the other week.

Must keep reminding myself that progress will be slow and steady. We knew that the next 5 years would be hard going and tough, trying to establish a career, studying, clearing our debts and saving a deposit for a house.

Keep positive and look at the end picture we will have bought a house, be looking to move, have had several successful years of growing home grown veg. OH will have qualified as an accountant, and I will hopefully be starting a PHD (If I havn't gone insane with studying, working and debt busting).

Head down and charge Thrifty, head down and charge.

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