2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

Today should be the last of our cold snap, over here - it will feel very strange if, as forecast, Monday does go to 10C (50F), after a week when it's gone to -5C (23F) most nights and barely gone above freezing in daytime! 

But in my own personal calendar, February is the month when spring starts. Every year I have the same arguments with friends, but they never change my mind. I go by what the bulk of the plants are doing, you see. 
May, June, July: most plants flower now, so it's summer
August, Sept, Oct: most plants fruit now, so it's autumn
Nov, Dec, Jan: most plants are dormant now, so it's winter
February, March, April: most plants come into life now, so it's spring! 

Not always the 1st of the month, but February is when spring starts... and my word, we will need to do some spring cleaning in this village hall once we get some dry bright days. When *was* that floor properly waxed and polished, I'd like to know? It's just had the mud mopped off it and nothing more, I'll be bound - and those windows! Jings, you can't see through the upper ones! 

thriftwizard

Oh dear, fetch the whitewash, spring cleaning has broken out!

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

Oooh, I have a coupon spend to declare! 5 coupons spent on a new pair of slippers. The DDs have insisted that I buy some new ones for indoors, relegate my current ones to outdoors (letting the chickens "out" etc.) and throw the old outdoor ones away. To be fair, on the old ones, the sole had not just parted company with the uppers, they'd worn right through underneath as well; no wonder my feet kept getting so muddy! But I'd had those for about 10 years (Celtic & Co outdoor mules)  and the newer ones (Kirkland Shearlings) for 5, so a purchase was perhaps overdue. I've bought some of the lighter-weight Celtic & Co ones, as there don't seem to be any Kirklands available in the UK in a 6 just now. Next up - new walking boots, when I can finally try them on!

At least you’ll know the new ones will last for a while @thriftwizard.  I am a fan of Celtic & Co, as you may have gathered.    My regular slippers are 3-year-old sheepskin moccasins from there and they probably have another year left in them.  I have a pair in reserve - had to use-or-lose a gift voucher a couple of years ago - while my “slippers” for work-days are 17 year old knee length Celt boots, which keep my ankles toasty while I’m stuck at my desk.  

(It’s only during the current cold spell that we’ve put the heating on during the middle of the day.  While the thermometer is struggling to get to 0C, the wind is bitter and much colder; it strips at least another 6C off the temperature.  It was effectively -10C when I got up this morning.  You know it’s cold when my DH is the one who suggests putting the heating on.)

@Laura_Elsewhere, we’ve got bulbs sprouting in the front garden.  They are a bit confused, though; some of them started coming up in December, when it was so mild.

When do the bees come back?

- Pip

maryb

I have to have proper shoes on my feet even inside, I feel really uncomfortable in slippers.  It hurts my back if I don't wear shoes with some support but it's not just that. I've noticed that people are very firm in their views about what they like on their feet - some hate wearing any shoes at all and go barefoot whenever they can.  That makes me shudder, literally.  Still, it saves on coupons for slippers

Laura_Elsewhere

maryb said:

I have to have proper shoes on my feet even inside, I feel really uncomfortable in slippers.  It hurts my back if I don't wear shoes with some support but it's not just that. I've noticed that people are very firm in their views about what they like on their feet - some hate wearing any shoes at all and go barefoot whenever they can.  That makes me shudder, literally.  Still, it saves on coupons for slippers

I have old-fashioned black cotton lace-up plimsoles that I wear around the house in winter. Comfortable, and they stay on and are safe on stairs (I haven't forgotten that terrible fall down the stairs a year ago when a slip-on shoe flew off as I ran carefree down the stairs; I am very lucky not to have had far worse injuries)

TwibbleDee

maryb said:

I have to have proper shoes on my feet even inside, I feel really uncomfortable in slippers.  It hurts my back if I don't wear shoes with some support but it's not just that. I've noticed that people are very firm in their views about what they like on their feet - some hate wearing any shoes at all and go barefoot whenever they can.  That makes me shudder, literally.  Still, it saves on coupons for slippers

I'm definitely in the second camp - I own boots and tennis shoes, but they're really only for when it's freezing or we're doing something that requires them.  I grew up being told that I had to have orthotics, my feel were going to hurt no matter what, foot surgery is definitely in my future, etc.  I'm rather convinced that it's because my feet were never given the option to build up the proper musculature because I always wore shoes.  If I wear proper shoes with good support, even custom orthotics, my feet hurt, my joints feel wobbly, and I feel off-kilter.  If I go barefoot or wear very minimal shoes, I can still feel what's underneath me and feel much more stable, plus my feet don't hurt.  I can only really go fully barefoot during the summer and indoors - we live in a mobile home so our floors are cold, and I am not going to go step on a goat's head barefoot or on pavement when it's 110F out...

thriftwizard

Those are the plants our hosts worried about us walking on - in good shoes - in Oklahoma! We only wanted to walk about 50 yards, from the church to the store on the corner, on grass, but our hosts were terribly anxious about it, and several cars stopped & offered us a lift! Bless them, walking just isn't part of their lives. In the end we just explained, "We're English. Eccentric, you know?"

TwibbleDee

They'll go straight through the bottoms of lots of shoes.  I end up chunking my tennis shoes when the thorns have worked their way up to the footbed, as I'm never going to get them back out!

Laura_Elsewhere

Is it helpful of me to point out that Dunelm have 50% off lots of their fabrics? Click and collect from your local store. 

Just... y'know... just sayin'...  

https://www.dunelm.com/category/fabric-and-haberdashery/fabrics?orderBy=price_asc&page=1

fiwen30

In regards to slippers, I’ve been staunchly in the barefoot camp all my life - indoors & outdoors where possible - but in the last 5 years I’ve really felt the cold in my feet. I caved and bought my first pair of slippers last year, spent several months in comfy, warm-footed bliss, before they fell apart and I’m back to cold feet again.

The idea of having to buy another pair seems like so much hassle, since my regular bare feet served me so well for so long and my last pair were a target of opportunity rather than a planned purchase, but they were also warm and snuggly?  Decisions, decisions.

My weighted blanket arrived this morning, 5 days early and in a snowstorm too. Have spent the afternoon under it whilst partner watches the rugby, and it is lovely. If it keeps me this calm and relaxed when it’s on the bed at night, I may never wake up again! It took a lot of effort to extract myself to make lunch.

Also got ourselves a pair of thermal curtains for the front door, after a few bitterly cold months of putting up with the draughts, the ice in the inside of the letterbox, and the snow blowing into the hall. The whole door needs replacing if I’m honest, but it was far cheaper to get curtains than to get a new door right now! With a gift card we got as a housewarming present, they only cost about £20 from Next, and the hall and upstairs are now significantly warmer. Thank goodness for those extra coupons!