Doin’ it for Charideee!

After Christmas I do tend to find myself quite poor, as I’m sure a lot of us do. But this year’s even worse as, technically, I don’t have an income! For the past year I was aware of this pending situation of doom and – get this- stopped spending and started saving. I’ve always spent too much on stuff. I have designer handbags, fancy costume jewellery, and a wardrobe bursting at the seams. And this is after selling off the excess on a ‘well-known internet auction site’ (as they say on TV). And if you read my blog regularly, you’ll know that I have a penchant for fancy wool and the stuff in my house could is more Selfridges than Argos lol! To be fair, I’ve worked extra hours for the goodies and have not had other things such as holidays (carbon footprint – hello?!?) and meals out (I’m on a diet anyway). But despite this terrible shopping-based affliction, I managed in January 2007 to cut the umbilical cord and separate myself from the plastic inside my purse which had been feeding my spending. I stopped going to shops, and I started to buy all my clothes second-hand off eBay. Then I stopped this and actually sold a tonne of stuff! Such sacrifice! Such willpower!

Last year I also discovered charity shops. If you haven’t been in one in years, do try them again – they’re ace! And most of them now use air freshener too (although perhaps too much – a hazard for us asthmatics!). You would not believe some of the bargains I’ve found over the years. My digital camera (Nikon Coolpix 5000) was found broken for £3 and only cost £25 to repair. The vintage B&O radio in my bathroom, £8 broken, with £50 of repairs making it worth £140 (that was a real Antiques Roadshow moment, I tell you!)!!! The glass bottles in my kitchen a tenner for the lot. Tons of vinyl, personal favourites including Gazza’s Fog on the Tyne and Anita Dobson’s Anyone Can Fall in Love (to the Eastenders theme tune). Honestly the list goes on!

You have to be patient with charity shops as there’ll often be nothing but novelty mugs and royal memorabilia. But this patience does pay off, as yesteday’s haul shows!

Wonderful CDs (Guns n Roses, Supergrass and The Doves) and an amusing book about the perils of Labour Party activism (of which there are many, let me say, lol!). But best of all, this wonderful, fabulous, super-duper Miffy Stationery Box. Isn’t it brill?!?

It’s jam-packed with writing paper, envelopes and greetings cards!

As much as I love the World Wide Wait, there is something to be said about an old-fashioned letter and I can’t wait to use it. Although it might be like when you’re given fancy soaps, staying in their wrappers because they’re just too lovely to use… But best of all, all this stuff came to a tenner. Now that’s how I like my spending to be nowadays!