How to look after your clothes, according to The Thrift Book

If, due to the current economic climate, we have to shop less (or in my case, not at all) then looking after, mending and generally not ruining the clothes you currently own is surely of utmost priority. 

So below are my top ten tips to looking after your clothes, generally borrowed from The Thrift Book:

1) Stuff shoes and boots with crumbled newspaper to help them keep their shape between wears.

2) Buy a very good unscented deodorant, which doesn't leave marks. And don't get a too aggressive brand, as these eat away at the fabric.

3) Learn how to iron properly! You have no idea how this gives old clothes a new lease of life. I won't go as far as to advise starching spray but apparently that's good too. 

4) Use a clothes brush, you know, like your gran did, to combat fluff and shave off bobbles.

5) Sew buttons back on to clothes as soon as they start to dangle. It's so easy, just three stitches and you're done. 

6) Learn how to darn tears, patch holes and re-hem. I have chucked out many a pair of decent trousers just because the hem came loose. If you can't do this yourself many dry cleaners have services to do this on the cheap. 

7)  Most 'Dry Clean' garments can be washed by hand. Clothing manufacturers only say this to cover themselves should you have a shrinkage issue. If your 'Dry Clean Only' garment has a horrible stain then do take it to your dry cleaner. However if it just smells a bit, you can save some pennies by washing it by hand. 

8) When hand washing, swirl your garments and leave them to soak, do not rub them, twist them, scrub them, wring them. This will damage the material. I admit I am very guilty of this when I have a huge amount of hand washing to do and not very much time. But if you want your clothes to look nicer for longer you're gonna have to take a little time over it.  Soak and swirl my friends, soak and swirl.  

9) If you do have dirty spots rub them very gently, with one finger. If the stain doesn't start to come off immediately, it needs to be soaked for longer. 

10) Dry everything flat, pressed between towels. Do not wring the water out, press, press, press the water out. 

Those are my ten most important tips, but for more handwashing info, do grab India's book. This woman knows how to handwash. 

The Thrift Book

When I'm really serious about something, as I am paying off my overdraft and saving money, I generally always buy a book about it.
Buying a book about it makes me feel much more ready to deal with the challenge. I have a set of instructions, rules and tips! I'm halfway there! That and I also get the buzz of, er, buying something.
Anyway, while moseying about in Borders for a book I very much need for work purposes I spied The Thrift Book by India Knight. Apparently full of great ideas to live beautifully but cheaply. Excellent.
Sadly it seems if you want to live beautifully and cheaply there is rather a lack of buying anything. In fact, it's not just The Thrift Book but also the how to live beautifully, organically, healthily, environmentally friendly and not harm or offend anyone in anyway book. In the clothes section this India Knight woman bangs on about Primark using child labour so it must be avoided at all costs, advises shopping twice a year rather than every Saturday and tells us to buy expensive classics that will last a lifetime.
It's the shopping only twice a year I am most upset about.
And aren't 'expensive classics' generally the territory of older/fatter women? Or am I being a complete youth/skinny snob?
Another concern is that I'm too fickle to wear the same dress for ten years. BORING.
She has given some interesting advice on mending and hand washing though. I shall post some of these tomorrow as I find them extremely useful. Looking after and mending my clothes is something I already do, so advice on how to do it better is always appreciated.
She did witter on for quite a while about making your own clothes. The idea of this is in theory, a romantic notion. The prospect of my seeing an expensive dress on Kylie in a magazine and then making my own version for far fewer pennies is, well, rather delightful and very empowering. Can you get more self-sufficient than making your own clothes? It's a tremendous skill, far better to say you can make a dress from scratch than boast about your shopping prowess, in which all you are really doing is handing money over a counter and the money won't even go to the poor child in Africa who made your new dress, but the fat white men who own the shop. (Yes, she has got me feeling really guilty)
Sadly I know the reality of my making clothes is a badly constructed black shift dress, which will have one arm shorter than the other, fray at the seams after one wear and I will probably break the sewing machine in the process. I'm too slapdash for such artistry.
However, part of the reason I took up this challenge was to change my mindset toward money. To stop the obsession with compulsion and learn to save up for something I really want and appreciate it, rather than smack it on the card until I reach my overdraft limit. I have got into this mess before, got myself out of it with loads of hard work, and then got myself into the same state all over again. It's like a diet, the best way to keep the weight off permanently is to change the way you think about food rather than deny for months on end and splurge again.
So maybe 'expensive classics' with a few up to date accessories (i.e. hot shoes) is the way to go... does this mean I can shop designer without guilt?! Suddenly that option seems far more appealing!
And with the sewing machine? Ok, I shall try and then post it up here so you can all laugh at the hideous results.

Current Overdraft total (minus the savings): £1,155.04

Fashion insults and exploits women...

"...it is all about extravagance, and consumption, and a sort of camp depiction of femininity that isn't about empowerment, but about a cartoon version of how women should be, how we should look."

Thank you Liz Jones, for squishing my  shopping cravings with one sentence. 

Hot hot heat

Has anyone else noticed how heat makes people pull out their best frocks? The sun is out, it's an event, an occasion! Those beautiful yet totally impractical for a cold country items we buy in a frenzy of lust and longing are suddenly useful, and ba boom, the women of London are dressed like it's the bahamas.

Cute little halterneck fifties dresses, nautical sailor inspired playsuits and indian summer floral prints have all become de rigueur on the tube.

Oh and about a hundred different types of sandal are newly coming into play. Gold ones, studded ones, metal ones, glittery ones, fringed ones, multi-strap ones. The list goes on.

Firstly, this made me very glad I did eventually splash out in Vienna on the metal sandals pictured for just forty euros, in the sale at Zara down from fifty. Total bargain. And I have discovered they go very well with many items in my wardrobe, especially my summery blue wrap dress. And I gave my other gladiator sandals to Beth, so I really feel no guilt for my purchase, technically it was a forty euro present for Beth.

Secondly, I want to buy more sandals. I also want to buy some more high waisted shorts, the shorts I currently have are just not quite high waisted enough and I have totally fallen in love with a pair worn by newbie pop star Pixie Lott in Look magazine.

But thus far, I am being very strong. I have not purchased any beautiful new summer gear. I did have a wander into Dorothy Perkins and River Island but I assure you it was totally by accident. You see, this thief ran away with my mind and my purse and obviously I had to follow the clothes obsessed little slag into both shops to get them back. I had to wrestle her down in front of the most beautiful pair of pink and zebra print sling back heels in River Island. But I'm very pleased to tell you I won and left the shop sans heels with both mind and purse intact.

I have also been playing around with different outfit options, today putting together my navy striped nautical vest with an old fifties style skirt from Primark. This Gok Wan capsule wardrobe thing is working better than previously expected.

When I first got back from holiday I admit I had a terrible shock. Perhaps naively, I thought that as I had been away for two weeks not spending any money (well I was spending money, but that had already come out of my account when I changed it for foreign currency) I would suddenly have shitloads of cash in my account. I was wrong, it was still pretty much the same as ever.

But I have also been doing some calculations. I have worked out that if I put a certain amount into a savings account every month and don't touch it for six months, I will have saved up enough to pay off my overdraft by Christmas! That means I can shop in the January sales! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Now this is something to look forward to.

Current overdraft total (minus amount in savings account): £1,295.40

Shopaholic goes on holiday

I have been on a fortnight tour of Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava and thus far, haven´t bought any clothes!
No offence to the Germans and Eastern Europeans but, fashion sense here is rather rubbish. My travelling buddy Beth and I even hunted out a shoe shop that the guide book said is Vienna´s veritable shoe paradise. Well Austrian people have shit taste in shoes. They were all so ugly! The lack of Top Shops, Miss Selfridges, River Islands and Faiths has made not shopping pretty easy for me too.
However, it seems I have supplemented clothes shopping with buying souvenirs for everyone I know. Well, I´m not technically shopping for me, they are presents for other people, so it really is totally guilt free! I get the shopping buzz and a feeling of supreme generosity as I am only really thinking of others. Seriously my dear friends and family, expect a lot of souvenir crap when I get home! (Well, actually some of it is very nice so please be grateful.)
Also, I´m not sure I can hold off on the clothes shopping for much longer. Today Beth and I went to the main shopping street in Vienna and I went into H&M, Mango and Zara. According to Beth the look of delight and relief on my face as we entered H&M was like a dying woman being given a second chance at life. It is just wonderful and also quite worrying how being in a shop can make me feel so happy and content with the world. I just feel like I belong under that strip lighting.
Amazingly I didn´t buy anything but a very cute polka dot umbrella with frills, which I do really need as it´s really raining in Vienna and my brolly had broken.
However, I did spy a very cute little black nightie, some cool converse trainers with tarten lining and an amazing pair of fringed white gladiator sandals in Zara (I really don´t like the ones I currently own.) So tonight I will count how many euros I have left and tomorrow I may purchase one of the above. I figured that´s ok, I´ve budgeted for those euros already, I´m just going to spend them on food, alcohol and souvenirs anyway, it´s technically money I have already spent at the post office and it will be such a pain to change any left over currency back.
And I´m holiday! I´ve been so good, surely I deserve a little reward?

Current Overdraft total: No idea, haven´t looked at it since I left.

One month down, several more to go!

I haven't shopped for a whole month. That's four weeks of no new clothes and shoes. 

And today, I went into Accessorize to buy a present for a friend. I bought her present, I very nearly bought a clutch bag and some cute knickers for myself but then I PUT THEM DOWN. I paid for her present and left, left, left! 

Now I was worried that Primark the other day was a fluke. But being able to leave two shops without buying anything for myself is a much more concrete achievement. I know I'm well on the road to shopping addiction recovery! 

And such is the extensiveness of my wardrobe, friends think I haven't given up shopping. For example, yesterday I wore my red Galaxy rip off dress purchased in the January sales for a mere £30. My friend Hannah commented on its general lovelyness (I agreed) and then made a face as if to say, 'when did you buy that, have you broken the ban?' It took me a couple of minutes to convince her that I bought it ages ago! 

So thus far, I'm doing Gok proud, I'm wearing rather than buying.  

However, methinks it may get harder. This may be a shock to some people but I have in fact gone an entire month without shopping before. Ok, this may not have been recently, but I have done it. The second month is another case entirely. The last time I did that I was that penniless thrifty student. And I still have a long way to go before I get that overdraft paid off. 

Unlike a chemical addiction such as smoking, this shopping ban will only get harder the longer I carry it on for. You see, I do actually need clothes. Maybe not quite as many as I own but I do have to wear something. If I don't, I get arrested/molested.

However, drugs, fags, etc. You don't actually need those things. They don't actually enrich your life in any way. No one says to a smoker, 'wow, that pack of cigarettes is so pretty, where did you buy it from?' No friendships or common interests are established over drugs. There is no artistry in a line of coke as there is in that perfectly cut dress. 

And when the toxins are out of your system it gradually gets easier. 

Shopping addiction is not about toxins, it's a psychological desire. Much harder to kick people! 

But if this ban teaches me anything it's to buy what I need, rather than what I want. I just need to keep it up rather than fall back into the sloths of irresponsible spending. 

Current overdraft total: £1,819.13. Much worse than last week. Eek. 

This week had been hard.

Despite my earlier success, in week three I'm now really starting to feel the pinch. 

At least ten things this week have made me utterly desperate to shop.

1) I looked through Look magazine. Big mistake. 

2) I've realised I don't actually much like the gladiator sandals I bought in my final splurge. I would like to buy new ones. Most specifically a white pair with gold studs from River Island.   

3) My housemate went on a shopping spree in River Island, she not only bought the cutest little floral top, she also got the white gladiator sandals with gold studs. She's so lucky!

4) I have finished the unbelievably absorbing saga of books I was reading. The book I have replaced them with is a bit pants. My mind is no longer occupied with vampire duels and love stories (yes, my taste in books resembles that of a teenage girl) and so it is wandering once more to shops. 

5) The women in my bikram yoga classes are all so trendy. So frustrating, I'm doing sweaty yoga to keep my mind off shopping, not to make me want to shop more! 

6) This morning I pulled a beautiful pair of red heels out of my wardrobe that I haven't worn for ages, as I've said in previous posts, part of this shopping ban is to appreciate the many facets of my wardrobe that have been forgotten. So I decided I would wear them today. As I hobbled off the tube and to work I realised why I haven't worn the beautiful red heels in ages. They fucking hurt! And that's from a woman who can handle heels. Anyway, this hobbling from the tube meant that I wasn't able to walk very fast. This meant I got a very generous look into H&M and at a very cute yellow sundress that is the perfect shape for my figure. This made me want to go inside H&M and buy it. 

7) I had a check up at the dentist this morning. It cost me £70. I could have bought at least two new pairs of gladiator sandals and possibly a floral playsuit (a woman was wearing one at Bikram yoga, she looked so amazing) with that £70 instead of wasting it on my fucking teeth.  

8) I'm bored. When I'm bored I shop. 

9) I'm not feeling particularly sexy at present either. Usually, when I feel a bit dowdy and unsexy, I would just nip to Miss Selfridge, shove on a figure hugging dress and instantly feel better. Currently I am not allowed to do this. Boooooooooo. 

10) The Bravissimo catalogue came in the post. The model on the front looked amazing in a multi-coloured striped bikini. I want to buy the bikini. This world isn't fair. 

My current overdraft position: £1,522.33. Still a long way to go. :(