Recommitting to Thrift

If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know I've always been a massive fan of Thrift. Back in the day I was all about Frugal February and op shop buys, but recently we've become a little estranged. I still love op shops, but I also love outsourcing chores and personal grooming activities, and have developed a bit of a fondness for getting a taxi home after a night out. And sometimes getting a taxi there too. Even though I live six minutes from a train station with frequent services and limited dodgy characters.

My twenty two year old self would be sick at the very thought.

After reflecting on how much of our house we own vs how much interest we have forked over to the bank, I have decided to recommit to thrift. 

James and I have been eating sensible homemade meals instead of buying dinner five times a week.

In a dazzling display of adult responsibility, we often cook these on a weekend and keep them in the fridge for quick weeknight meals. I know.

Lately I've been spending a lot on entertainment, but now I am getting into community theatre.

This was Legally Blonde The Musical by Engadine Musical Society. Actually it was very good (and hello to my talented telekinetic friend if you are reading). I had seen it once before: James took me to see Lucy Durack and Rob Mills at Star City once. But those days are OVER.

So are the days of cafe brunches on weekends. Now I go to the Kim Le Bakery on the highway for Vietnamese rolls (banh mi for the cultured people) and mock-cream-based desserts.

They also sell those awesome Lipton sparkling iced teas in miniature cans, even the diet one which I can not find ANYWHERE else. (If anyone's seen it in a supermarket please let me know!)

I've been getting back into baking too. Here is a boring old chocolate cake I made for my mum's birthday, jazzed up with a Nutella buttercream icing. It was pretty hectic, if I do say so myself.

It's just 226 grams of butter (that's two sticks in the USA), 2 cups of icing sugar and 2/3 cup of Nutella. That would be enough for one layer cake, or two regular cakes. Or you could just do one regular cake then invite a friend over to eat the remaining icing from the bowl while you get your drink on. Either way.

Baking is super thrifty, because it's not only a really cheap hobby but also a great source of affordable snack foods.

That's a maple bacon cupcake. I thought it might be a sort of Emperor's New Clothes thing that only a dumb hipster would make or buy, but surprise it's actually super tasty. The wrappers were $2 for a pack of 24 at The Reject Shop.

What did everyone do for their long weekend? Take a little trip away, host a family lunch, maybe go to the movies? Good for you, Rockerfeller. James and I went for a drive down the coast. In a borrowed car with free fuel. 

We went over the Sea Cliff Bridge and stopped for lunch in Coledale. Terrible food but a pretty glorious day. I haaaaate the cold so it's lucky I live in a place where Winter days can look like this:

Annoyingly, I was pretty sick for most of the long weekend so apart from the tiny road trip I just stayed home and practised Thrift. I did my own nails instead of going to the salon and ironed practically all my clothes instead of sending them out.

I also let James drag me to Bay Vista where he had a giant sundae and I, having just eaten an ice cream at home in an attempt at thrift, chose a savoury crepe instead. 

Big mistake. Big. HUGE.

Last night's dinner was much better - a picnic of roast chicken rolls, cheese and crackers and red wine.

The wine might seem like a bit of an indulgence, but James made a thrifty casserole for our weeknight dinners and the recipe called for a splash of red wine. He had to open a new bottle, so we were just being sensible in finishing it off. Waste not want not.

I'm off to combine slivers of old soap bars into one big new bar now.

Dinner Party

Ben invited us over for dinner the other night. 

Momz handled the cocktails but Ben cooked everything. 

It was all delicious. 

Everyone dressed up. Jim and I came straight from work but at least we were matching. 

I remain committed to thrift: my purple wrap dress is from The Smith Family in Rockdale. I think Jim bought the tie at Myer, la di da.

It was a lovely evening, thank you for having us Ben!

Boots

I am trying very hard right now to recommit to Thrift. We drifted apart for a while but I'm ready to settle down now and get serious about saving my money. 

In pursuit of this I recently gave up my search for a new pair of boots and had the broken heel on my old Court Couture "Pearly" boots fixed. It cost $17.50 and the guy even polished them for me, they came up a treat!

On one hand it seems crazy to spend that much money on two tiny pieces of rubber, especially when the boots were only $69 in the shop. On the other, it is still cheaper and less wasteful than buying a brand new pair - and anyway, I couldn't find any that weren't miles too big around the calves. 

Does anyone else have this problem? I'm not confused with intentionally slouchy boots either - I'm talking about smart fitted boots that are so loose I look like a toddler in Daddy's wellies. I am certain I don't have abnormally skinny calves so why is this always the case?

Anyway I am delighted to have some boots in rotation again!

I celebrated by wearing them with fleece tights and my Plus Size Top dress last night to eat pho at The Meridian in Hurstville. 

It wasn't as good as the pho in Vietnam, but I liked it anyway. It got me thinking about whether it is necessarily better for food to be "authentic"...

In other thrift news here's what I wore to work on Wednesday: a black wrap dress purchased from Dotti in 2005 for $60. 

It was a lot for me to spend on a dress when I was 15 (it's a lot for me to spend on a dress now!) but I wanted something nice to wear on a date. The boyfriend wasn't much chop but the dress turned out to be The One. I can wear it anywhere, with anything, it's as comfy as all get out and it's still standing - and fitting! - after eight years. What's not to love?

Today for work I wore a Barbie watch my Dad bought for me in Europe circa 1997 and this jade bangle James's parents gave me for my 21st. It's from Hong Kong. 

A wise woman once said that the only thing separating us from the animals is our ability to accessorise. I'm inclined to agree. 

Purchases, Melbourne, Thrift

I did declare another Frugal Feb at the beginning of last month but I wasn't so involved this time around. After all, my main expense - stuffing my face at every opportunity - was already covered by work while I was in Melbourne, and I'm trying to cut down on shopping.

Having said that, here is some stuff I acquired during Frugal Feb:

 

Windsor Smith black patent wedges, $64 (was $129.95) - DFO

Witchery pink jeans, $40 (was $99.95) and Witchery Kids leopard print belt, $7 (was $19.95) - DFO

 

I have wanted a skinny leopard belt like this for ages but the adults' ones are too big for my waist. I was so happy to find this one, especially at that price! From now on I'm doing all my accessories shopping in the kids' department.

This bracelet was a Valentine's Day present from Jimmy so it was free! Thanks James, I love it!

 

Our Man In Havana is borrowed from Jim and thus also free.  Watermelon came from the Salvo's store in Altona, I think it was $2.

 

Cotton On Body bras, $5 each - DFO. 

 

The Cotton On shop at DFO South Wharf appears to sell things from their stores overseas as well, because unlike the regular Aussie stores, this one had heaps of size 8 bras.  So if you're always searching for them like I am, you know where to go!

 

Target leopard print dress, $8 I think - Salvo's Altona

 

Howard Showers black dress, $40 (was $189 or something equally crazy) - DFO (Charlie Brown store)

 

I wore this dress three times while I was in Melbourne, i.e. once a week - cost per wear!  The first time was with black peeptoes and silver & diamante jewellery, to dinner with James.  The second was with the same shoes and the leopard print belt above, to Rockpool.  The third was with gold & black enamel earrings and my leopard shoes, on our awesome last night out.

 

You can't see it in this picture, but I'm pretty sure I wore my bee ring as well.  Buzz buzz.

 

Alcohol was another of my few expenses - I wasn't that restrained, but I did buy this on special!

 

Pilgrim navy camisole, $4, and Jacqui E raspberry knit, $6 - Salvo's Altona

 

Trying to pack light meant I bought most of my toiletries down there, then left them behind when I came home.  All of these were on sale, especially the body scrub ($3 I think, from DFO), the OPI You're A Pisa Work polish ($10) and the Hair Academy products from The Reject Shop.

 

I really liked the smell of the Herbal Essences shampoo.  The Taft hairspray is a new favourite, as is the Hair Academy pump action hairspray.  The Nivea lotion was like applying sunscreen, but gosh it worked well!

 

The body scrub smelled like the air fresheners in a shopping centre bathroom.  The John Freida hair stuff works pretty well but doesn't prevent static at all, and as the most expensive of the lot I really do not think it is worth a repurchase.

 

I bought these Kmart earrings for $6 (not on sale, that's just how much Kmart charges for earrings!) to wear with my black dress on our last night out because I was sick of all the jewellery I'd packed.  The J necklace is from Gloss, my favourite cosmetics and accessories chain - I think it was about $2 on sale.

 

 

So that's the lot! I am pretty happy with my purchases. I think I was pretty restrained considering, and quite practical too as I've worn/used almost everything already.  The total cost of all my clothes/accessories/cosmetics shopping plus two bottles of gin, three magazines and a few other sundries was about $330-$350 for the month.  It wasn't exactly the Struggle Street scenario of last year's Frugal Feb, but I'd call that pretty thrifty!

 

I was less thrifty with club entries, taxis and drinks when I went out, but I still reckon I would've spent about $300-$400 at the most.  It's a lot more than I'd spend normally but $100 a week for socialising isn't very much really, and for the amount of fun I had it's an absolute steal.

 

Last year I had lots of thrifty tips.  This year my advice is get a job at my work! (Disclaimer: the partying to working ratio will end up being like 1:100 - still beats most jobs!)

Malbourne

Hello! If you didn't already know, I am working in Melbourne, or Malbourne in the local dialect, for the first month of my new job.

It is brilliant! There are a whole bunch of other people here too so it is heaps of fun.

And also frugal, because pretty much everything is provided.

I flew down on a free flight, eating a free cookie and reading a book my Nana (hello Nana if you're reading) passed on to me.

 

I came to my free share house, which is v lovely and full of rad people (hello rad people if you're reading!).

 

 

 

 

My room - the best one!

 

 

It's in Williamstown, which is quiet but nice, and full of good restaurants. The first one we tried was El Burro. We had tapas and paella. I liked it all. It was decent value, not super thrifty but we get a meal allowance, so it's frugal for me!

 

 

 

This beef was less blurry in real life.

 

 

 

Our first day of work was just induction stuff, like have good posture at your desk, don't hit on each other, get a super fund. And we got lunch, which in addition to being free was mega tasty.

 

Dinner was tasty too. I actually didn't love either of my dishes but I just ordered badly, the restaurant itself was great.

Girls' Night etc

On Friday I went out with the ladies! We ate at Banana Leaf Thai. It was really nice, and not too expensive at $16pp including corkage.

 

We had spring rolls, calamari, prawn stir fry in cashew nut sauce, chicken pad Thai and fried rice. All delicious!

 

I brought some fancy wine but Dad bought it for me (thanks Dad!) so that was extra thrifty.

Afterwards we went to the Kings Head for Wiggy's birthday drinks (hi Wiggy! Happy birthday! Thanks for organising a fun night!), feat. $5 Vodka Cruisers (as sweet as ever, but the bottles got fancier since high school) and lots of dancing.

It was the most fun! Thanks girls for coming and being so much fun! I will miss y'all.