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