Wednesday 27 August 2014

Slim pickings - the August charity shop bargain round-up

I'm posting this early as I am determined not to buy anything else until September.  Who knows, maybe by that time I'll be too busy sorting out my new house!

Trying to buy very little is mildly annoying when I've been used to having whatever I fancy as long as it meets my budget.  However, now the house is sold, and I am madly throwing out things I no longer need, or will need in the future, I have to show restraint.  At first it was quite difficult, deciding what to part with, but now I think, oh, what the heck, just get rid and wipe the slate clean!  We are moving from a high ceiling Victorian terrace to a low ceiling detached cottage in a village, with no loft space, so getting rid of stuff is necessary.  Most of my furniture and belongings were bought or sourced (cheaply or just free!) to fit into a high ceiling house so will just not go in our new cottage.

I actually managed to fill two cardboard boxes with knick nacks that were adorning the shelves in the kitchen.  When it was all gone I was unable to spot the difference, there was still stuff on the shelves, just not as much, so I could see the bits and pieces I still had.  

It does make you think about what you actually need in your life.  I vaguely remember a programme a few years ago where they analysed life at the turn of the 20th century, comparing it to life at the start of the 21st century .  The average person back then had 200 possessions, sounds a lot?   Mmm, not if you think it included furniture, linen and kitchenware, all clothing and footwear, toiletries, the odd book, maybe a couple of pencils and a pen, hairgrips and possibly an item of jewellery!  I think I have over 200 cooking implements alone, and don't even think about looking in my shoe cupboard and glove/scarf storage area, eek!  Apparently, nowadays we average around 20,000 possessions each, I can agree with that!

Anyway, aside from that food for thought, I have purchased some bargains this month. Although the weather here has taken a sudden Autumnal dip, I did manage to steer clear of jumpers, as I have too many, and jackets, although all the lovely wintery things do appeal to me, I love snuggly clothes.

A local charity shop is still getting rid of stock for £1 or less and I managed to grab this delightful bias cut and embroidered Laura Ashley white linen fully lined skirt for £1, woohoo!



The next whoop was for this gorgeous Coccinelle pink and brown leather handbag, found in the reduced basket of my local animal rescue charity shop, also a pound.



Next, literally, something I have been after for an absolute age, a cute short denim skirt from Next, which fits both my hips and my waist, hurrah!  Another pound from the closing down shop.



Couldn't resist this silk and rayon mix devore scarf for just 50p from the same shop, amazingly my only impulse buy of the month.



There we are, a total spend of £3.50, aren't I a good girl!! 

Saturday 16 August 2014

An appeal to all bloggers!

Does anyone know what happened to Style over 60? 

I was happily following this blog after spotting a picture of Louisa on Stylecrone's July hat attack.  I realised recently there had been no new posts and on clicking the link, found the blog account had been closed down.

If anyone out there knows what has happened, please leave a comment!


Sunday 10 August 2014

Packing it all in at Packwood House


The other day we popped over to nearby Packwood House, which is a favourite haunt of ours, and where the bugs find OH tasty, he always gets bitten at Packwood!  It was mum's birthday, so we took a picnic and had a wander around in the house and outside through the trees, avoiding the scorching sun.. Afterwards, we had a cream tea in their new tea rooms.




Those lovely new blue and white tiles were made by Fired Earth and feature Packwood scenes. They are in the new cafe area.  

I'm wearing; charity shopped M&S linen trousers £1, Matalan top, 50p, slightly tatty Furla leather bag, 50p, old BHS straw hat and crocs slides, sale bargain.  



I never tire of taking photos of Packwood, it is so beautiful.  Hard to believe that the clipped Yew trees here date back to the 17th century, and there are over 100 of them, laid out to represent the Sermon on the Mount.  More info here on wikipedia 

The gardens are so pretty, so nicely laid out.  There are lots of sundials at Packwood, I've never counted them but they are everywhere




















































I would just love a walled garden, with a tower at each corner, and doorways through to the outside.
The inside isn't bad either.


This huge tapestry hangs in the hall

The guide in the dining room told us they once had over 100 guests for dinner, must have had lots of separate sittings!


All the rooms are well proportioned, you can easily imagine yourself living there


Can you see the huge (fake) spider in the plughole?  Eek!

Thanks again Packwood, for recharging our batteries in such a beautiful and relaxing environment.

Monday 4 August 2014

July charity shop bargain round-up, just a bit late!

All guns are blazing on the selling-the-house front and so I have been rather tardy with sorting out a blog post or two.  

Having rather a lot of junk high quality belongings to carefully pack away means I am having trouble finding some of the bits I bought last month.  To be honest, everything has been shoved anywhere that it can't immediately be seen when you walk into a room!

So, let's begin with the lovely wool skirt I paid £1.99 for from Barnardos because I love the fabric.


Vans for a pound!


Tie dye skirt £1


H&M wool and angora hat, 50p



BHS shorts, 50p


Toast jacket, £1


Country Casuals top, £1


 Another lovely tie dye skirt, originally Dorothy Perkins, just £1


Falmers top, Cancer Research £1 rail


Brand new Spirit cross body bag, £1 in local Global Care closing down sale


Vintage crimplene Mary Hames dress £1 Global Care closing down sale



...and Vintage Eastex crimplene jacket, also a pound, from the same shop! 



It's quite interesting to note that the size 18 Mary Hames dress does not look too big on my size 12 mannequin,eek!

I can't see me buying too many bargains for a while from now on as we are trying to streamline what we have and get rid of anything we don't need.  Of course, I did need those vintage crimplene treasures!