2026 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81866173#Comment_81866173

My Grandad was in the South Staffs regiment… that was long ago but he did get a mention in the regimental museum. I don't even know if that still exists though we visited once.

What I need instead of thermal leggings at the moment are DH's waterproof over-trousers!

Floss

Just got back from visiting The Longest Yarn at Blackburn. It was very interesting & skilled.

Nelliegrace

“What I need instead of thermal leggings at the moment are DH's waterproof over-trousers!”

@Cherryfudge, if this rain goes on much longer we will need waders and an ark. It is a real February Fill Dyke!

I had a generous birthday gift from Uncle E.R.N.I.E., so I ventured into the second hand shop, Messrs E Bay, in search of bargains in vintage linens. I found some pretty appliqué linen hand towels which came with a tray cloth and tea napkins, embroidered cotton pillow cases, and an Etamine Linen tablecloth and napkins. £40.04 spent, including the postage, an extravagence. They will all be laundered, used and enjoyed. They have lingered, stored away, for far too long.

I like textured pure linen table cloths as soft, absorbent bath sheets, 48 to 54 inches square is ideal. They are so easy to dry this time of year. I iron linen straight from the washing machine after a fast spin, then hang it to air.

Linen huckaback towels are quite pricey new. https://givans.co.uk/collections/luxury-linen-towels-uk/products/pure-irish-linen-huckaback-towels-with-hemstitched-borders?variant=8274226446423

Gem-gem

@Nelliegrace well done on your ERNIE win and for finding the vintage linens.
A spend to declare: 2 bras 2 coupons; 3 knickers 3 coupons. Bras - had a wire snap in the week, second bra to go. Knickers - had put my finger through the material!! I also got a thermal vest and two pairs of woolly socks with my Christmas voucher - from my brother. They will not be counted - came out of his rations.
Total spend today: five coupons.
Total spend for the year: twelve coupons.
Left: 54 coupons

PollyWollyDoodle

Nice linens, @Nelliegrace - I couldn’t be bothered with all the laundering, all credit to you for actually using them.

I’m another one who lives in top-to-toe thermals through the winter months! I really feel the cold. I have basic M&S ones, I can’t wear wool and I think even merino ones would make me itch so can’t help with any recommendations.

diminua

No more coupons spent but I did purchase two pairs of tights - warm ones, so two of my 'forces' allowance gone.

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81874642#Comment_81874642

Ooohhh….. I’m glad you enjoyed it, @Floss !

@Nelliegrace those linens are beautiful. I always imagine you to have a beautifully set table, with an embroidered cloth and matching napkins.

Love the reference to “February fill dyke” particularly as I spent the last week of January in Norfolk, driving there-and-back on the A10 beside the Great Ouse, where it is effectively a dyke with the land around it 3 metres or so below river level. Spotted a few left-over concrete gun emplacements from the War, including one which had a muzzle projecting from it! The fields they are in had been ploughed, but it wasn’t hard to visualise them as Wartime air bases.

I have a spend to declare. Decided to get another two thermal bodies from M&S. They have two varieties on sale, both “heatgen” but one is “sculpting” and the other is not, so I got one of each. The latter has a silky finish, while the former is thicker and tighter fitting. (NB: last month, I purchased one of the silky ones.). I’m still debating whether to keep the sculpting one. On the plus side, it’s thicker, it’s warm, has a better set of snaps that the other style, and has a nice neckline. On the downside, at the side, I can see my bra line. Hmmm….

8 Coupons spent, taking my total to 24 out of 80.5 coupons, leaving me with 56.5 for the rest of the year.

• Pip

PS: Is it just me, or do you also find the new forum text editor clunky? Seems like we’ve gone backwards, with less functionality than before - I can no longer underline stuff - AND it’s harder to use on a tablet/phone, because all the buttons are smaller/more crammed together. Can anyone share a link to where we can leave feedback?

Floss

Pip, it's here (and I agree that it's not the greatest, especially on a phone!)

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/rich-editor-feedback

Nelliegrace

“I always imagine you to have a beautifully set table, with an embroidered cloth and matching napkins.”

I wish, @PipneyJane, It is unbelievably cluttered, but I do keep an enamelled wire basket of clean table and tea napkins on it, and use one for meals. They are so useful, I grab one to wrap things, like my china mug to take to WI, and use it there for cake crumbs.

DD’s school uniform list included a napkin ring with her name on it. They collected their fabric table napkin on the way into the dining hall. I had forgotten.

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81875476#Comment_81875476

Thanks @Floss. I've complained about not being able to underline, either with contol+U or via HTML.

I have some good news to share. Saw my consultant today, as a follow-up to the PET scan I had in October, which showed inflammatory processes in my lungs (but no lymphoma, thank God). Well, the follow up CT taken on 9th January was clear of that inflammation. It did show signs of the cold that I succumbed to the next day, but that was in a different place in my lungs so ALL GOOD 😀

My bloods are good, too. I've been warned that as a side effect of one my chemo drugs, Rituximab, I will be more vulnerable to infections, but that vulnerability will lessen over time. My next appointment will be in June.

• Pip