New Year Treasures

Well my year of living even more frugally than before has got off to rather a decent start I'm pleased to say. Thank you so much for all your wonderfully encouraging and supportive comments. I've been really overwhelmed and can't explain how much every word has helped me and made me smile. Blogging is truly a wonderful thing and I am especially grateful to be in touch with such special people. Again I'm sorry I takes me an age to get around to saying hello so I hope you'll forgive me and accept this thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Getting back into the office this week wasn't quite as hard as I'm imagined but it has been tinged with sadness with the departure, via redundancy, of some very good colleagues who I've really enjoyed working with over the past couple of years. Things won't be the same without them but fortuntately they have also found new jobs so it could be much, much worse.

At home I have begun to truly practice what I preach. We have cut down our portion sizes (good for the healthy diet too!) with one leg chicken portion, plus plenty of veg stretching, to make our Friday night curry and one for the freezer too. And I managed to bring the weekly shop in for £10 less than usual by really thinking about what we will truly use in 7 days.

But its not all Tom & Barbara self-sufficiency here, try as I might I can't deny myself the odd treat. Even though I rarely bought anything full price anyway, now I'm doing it for even less.

First up is this lovely, lovely dress. I can't describe how skippy my heart goes when I look at it. I almost succumbed and bought it (in a size too small!) in the summer because I loved it so much. But I listended to my purse, put it back and went home.

And now it looks like patience really is a virtue, because there it was on the rail earlier this week, in the actual size I need, for £6! £32 less than the original. It fits like a dream and I already have plenty of cardigans, shoes, beads etc to go with. Oh happy day!

Then second is my new skirt, bought with my Christmas Laura Ashley vouchers kindly given to me by my darling mum-in-law. Now I am rather partial to LA but can never, ever afford anything in there, apart from the odd mug. So imagine my joy, seeing this summery number sitting prettily in my size with £40 off. (£55 for a skirt - really?!). One day this summer I shall be sitting outside the Golden Lion in Port Isaac, sipping something chilled, wearing this with a cosy cardi and my trusty pumps. Can't wait.

On market day I had a little whizz around the charity shops too and turned up some unexpected treasures. A fabulous, puffy, salmon pink eiderdown (just like one my grandma had) for £3, a pretty blue flowered vintage apron to add to my growing collection (£1.20) and the pretty Pyrex dish which is well worth fifty pence of anyone's money.

So I'm rather chuffed and feel a little like these furry pair - literally the cats who got the cream (that we didn't use in the curry!).

 Hope the sun is out for you this weekend. Sxx