Filed under: Clothes, Tips and Tricks, discounts, lifestyle | Tags: Clothes, lifestyle, money
If your finding yourself increasingly short of money, and with no new fun things to wear, have a go fannying around with stuff you already own. Cut the sleeves off old tshirts and sew lace around the armholes for example. It’s a lot cheaper than going out and buying something new.
You can also make your own printed tshirts by recycling a plain old one, designing your own motif, printing it off onto transfer paper then ironing it on to your shirt. Bish bash bosh.
One thing I’ve started to experiment with recently is making accessories. There are heaps of places on the internet that sell beads, buttons and trinkets at really low prices. All you have to do is stick them together in an original kind of way and you’re sorted. You could even make some money on the side by selling them at boot sales or from an ebay store. Genius all around.
Some of my most highly recommended crafty stuff retailers:
Tongue tied- apparently lacking in stock at the moment but the basics are there.
The Bead Shop- does exactly what it says on the tin.
E-Beads- SO much stuff.
And it’s always worth going to a textile shop to have a look at the material remnants on offer to see if they’d be useful in creating anything fun.
A lot of my favourite clothes come from second hand shops. There’s something I like about knowing that what I’m wearing has been worn by someone else before me. Also, generally speaking, second hand stuff is pretty friendly on the pennies.
Unless they dress it up as vintage and charge you double what it’s really worth. There are a lot of places in London that do this- as much as I hate it I fall for it time and again when I see something particularly pretty. HOWEVER there is a way around this. Charity shops for a start are run by people trying to make some money for a good cause, rather than making a fat profit. In Farnham there are two particularly good charity shops; The British Heart Foundation, and Oxfam.
With charity shops, finding a good bargain is never a certainty. You really have to look; and even then you might not find anything. Also any money you spend there is automatically donated to a good cause, which is nice.
A couple of my favourite second hand shops are in Notting Hill Gate in London. Retro Woman is one if my favourites with some really really old pieces and some incredible finds. This is one of those places where you are guaranteed something awesome. They stock all kinds of things, from Gucci loafers, to Jimmy Choos to designer handbags, to really beautiful dresses from decades ago.
And just next door is Retro man; the men’s version. This is definitely worth a look. You can buy a 3-piece-suit here for about £25 if you’re lucky.
In FACT, I took the liberty on doing a search of second hand and charity shops in London; so here is a link to 1,000 different second hand and charity shops all over London. No excuses!
Shopping second hand will save you money, and could provide a completely original, beautiful addition to your wardrobe.
Filed under: Clothes, internet, lifestyle, money | Tags: internet, lifestyle, money, shopping
What is this? An easy to navigate online market-place swimming with other people’s crap? Hook. Me. Up.
I’ve been an e-bay addict as long as I can remember. (One of my) favourite pair of shoes was 99p on ebay from a very nice person named Furry_Strawberry. Happy days.
Ebay is ideal if you’re running low on funds, if you’re looking for something you can’t find on the high street, or if you just can’t be arsed to get up out of your chair, and physically LOOK for something. Ebay is the reason my bank balance suffers less, the reason why I can often find exactly what I’m looking for, and the reason that there is a progressively pronounced arse indent forming in the flimsy seat of my desk chair.
By now you have probably gathered that I have a ‘thing’ about online shopping. This is because:
- It is SO much easier to type in an item description on a website than it is to go out and look for something you want.
- In Farnham, there are very few places to shop.
- Additionally, travelling to places where you could POTENTIALLY find what you are looking for requires hard cash. I can’t spare the sterling.
- Internet shopping means you can shop anytime, anywhere. I ended up buying an amber bead necklace from Tokyo about two years ago. The postage was around £6, but it’s cheaper than getting a flight out there.
- It’s a lot easier to find bargains online. Melikey.
Filed under: Clothes, internet, money | Tags: Clothes, internet, money, Shoes
Online shopping is superwellgood and stuff. The majority of my stuff comes through the mail in parcel form, and I get inconceivably excited at the prospect of having something to unwrap. Which, come to think about it is weird.
ANYWHO, just a short note to remind you to ALWAYS CHECK THE SALE SECTION.
A few of my favourite online shopping links:
I MAY HAVE (I did.) accidentally fallen onto the counter with a few SMALL items at the Topshop in Guildford, and managed to walk out £82 lighter. This kind of splurging is inexcusable. I am wracked with guilt, and will not be doing it again. Probably. And in such instances, it’s depressing to think that the dress you just bought for £40, probably cost around £15 to make.
It’s well pretty though, so screw it.
Anyway. going off on a tangent just a touch. Always check the sale link.
The whole shoe obsession? Can’t get rid of it. I’ve tried. Believe me. (lies.)
But on the subject of discount/sales links, this site is superb for bargains. The ‘Faith for less’ section is pretty darn good. I bought these pretty little things for £20 down from £40, and they make me happy.
For guys and girls alike, As seen on screen has a delightful assortment of bargainous goodies, ranging from clothes, to shoes, to accessories, to beauty products.
This little piece I think is beautiful, and perfect for the summer.
It’s delicate, it’s girly and it’s flattering. Beware of over-accessorising something like this though- too much jewellery paired with fussy fabric detail can look a touch too busy. Just ignore the fact that this dress is in the “As seen on Peaches Geldof” section. That’s the kind of detail we don’t need to know.
For the guys there is a whole clearance section dedicated to men’s fashion and grooming; including hair products, aftershave, and at the moment a 3 piece styling grooming kit.
Now, I don’t know what kind of a person is tickled by such gadgetry- to me it looks terrifying.
Whatever. It’s under thirty quid, and promises
“Soft touch elements and ergonomic shape,” and “Powerful quiet operation and self-sharpening steel blades.”
Jubbly. Who wouldn’t need something like that?!?!???!
…..
Ok, one more link because I’m hungry. Boo Hoo is an online store with impressively low prices, and some quite nice stuff. You do have to look for it, but a couple of items are really worth looking at.
Got to go, need to eat.
