A sign from Ye Economy Gods

After realising I was seriously on an economy drive and that stupid pointless clothes buying was out, I was nose deep in Net-A-Porter and then My-Wardrobe flitting between 2 yellow tops one priced £70 and the other £159 - WTF springs to mind. I lost 30 minutes of my life fighting a typical reaction to reality. There was the red devil on one shoulder saying 'oh it won't matter if your overdraft is dented a bit more.' And on the other was voice of reason pointing out 'I was bonkers'. Reason won of course, it always does but for one moment of madness I wanted a yellow top in a way that was ridiculous. I have no money, I'm writing a film script and don't go out much!

Once I had recovered from my brief flirtation with my past addiction, I felt so much better and felt immediately richer. I'm now in the midst of compiling a mood board to inspire me to ride out my period of hardship. It is the classic case of when you make a plan to diet you suddenly want to stuff your face with cake. The mind needs motivation not deprivation, so goal setting is key. I've worked out the basics of a Christmas ski holiday, it entails no birthday and Christmas presents, a certain amount put aside every week, all changes put in a tin plus a car boot sale. I'm going to buy our family Christmas presents asap - I've set a budget for this and a deadline to do it all by. I'm going to ask them not to buy us presents for birthdays and Christmas but give us the cash instead. My family are used to being given hints or directives so they won't be offended. I think their favourite year was when I said we could only spend £10 on our Christmas presents per person. It was good fun and made for some hilarious buys.

So yesterday was all planning and being organised. But I also had an errand to run, namely some speedo swimming briefs for the petit garcon. He's started swimming lessons at school, they have a small 15metre outdoor pool which is a complete gem for a primary school. However the regulation stipulations are swimming cap and speedo briefs for boys, no shorts allowed.

On the way to the sports shop, I walked past a charity shop and there in the window was the brightest yellow top - ever! I nipped in, tried it on and got myself what I wanted for £4.50. I'm sure it was the Vix and Sharon Rose effect. I was channelling both when I turned my back on conspicuous consumption for better things and found the perfect top thanks to the Economy Gods.

The offending Speedo briefs so beloved by those who shouldn't wear them!

The £4.50 top

Petit garcon unable to resist a pose!

The imagined outfit completed! Yellow top £4.50 charity shop, Zara trousers 2 years ago, Topshop bangle 5 years old, Zara gold clutch 6 years old, Marc Jacobs heels 4 years old bought in Matches sale

Closer view of the MJ heels

The Make Do barometer is high

The recent high of walking away from a magpie shopping moment continues. Why I even dug out some khaki shorts I was giving to charity to dye them a coral colour so I can wear them this summer.

I was sent an email which I deleted by mistake which was an offer from a company for me and petit garcon to plant and grow herbs from seeds. How sweet was that and how annoying I pressed the delete button on my iphone when I was intending to press the home button.

The bread making continues, after 3 years we have graduated to a bread making machine and Mr MDS is in charge of its operation. He does very fancy pants things with it including adding seeds and setting the timer so we wake up to fresh bread. I like it when Mr MDS uses Doves Farm wholemeal flour, it produces the best wholesome bread, but he sneaks in a white loaf every now and again.

Another new money saving effort in these hard times comes in the form of alcoholic beverage. Not that I'm advocating drinking! However should you fancy a tipple then we recently tried Crabbie's alcoholic ginger beer and I have to say, not only is it cheaper than wine, less alcoholic (4% proof) but it is also refreshing. I couldn't imaging being able to drink alcoholic ginger beer in the manner in which I quaff white wine down so I'm thinking good for the hips too.


And the MDS purse strings are fairly blossoming with my spring summer bag purchase costing me £10.49 on eBay. It is a vintage (possible late 50s early 60s) woven handbag and is in a cheery turquoise blue . It also has the addition of a plastic wallet on a chain which is incredibly handy for my oyster card.




What with more sunshine I can almost smell the roses.

High Street Pick of the Week

I was slightly loathed to post on trenches as you know what they look like, have your own preferences etc. Then I spotted these in M&S last week and thought how good they were in cut, price and versatility. I don't think this trench is an everyday piece but it is perfect for weekends away (remember mini breaks!) and exceedingly useful for the city on a wet day. It is made of that material which allows you to fold it up and stuff in a bag and it sort of un-creases itself.

At £35 it falls into bargain! Whilst not wishing to be prescriptive I would opt for the pebble or black as a colour choice with blue and aqua as alternatives if you want colour. The green, hot pink and lime are a bit hideous in my view.