Life in the 21st Century. Full of the blessings of modern conveniences. Cars, dishwashers, remote controls, SMS, microwave meals. Live life with more time, more energy. Get things done with less effort. Or at least that’s the promise. And yet all these conveniences represent the paradox of modern times.

Modern conveniences are meant to save time. Yet we have less leisure time than ever before.

Modern conveniences are meant to save us energy, yet result in us consuming more energy from the environment. And we are more tired than ever.

The standard of living in the western world has never been higher. Yet we have never been less happy that we are today.

In an attempt to make life easier, we have become detached from our physicality and by extension the physical world around us.

We are disconnected, disengaged, disillusioned, dissatisfied and living in disharmony with ourselves, with others and with our natural environment.

I’m not advocating that we surrender all modern technology for a ascetic life reminiscent of the middle ages. Just that we need to pause for a moment and reconnect on a physical level.

There is only one way to connect with our physical selves, and that is to be physical: to work and to play and to use our muscles. And by connecting to ourselves on a physical, in the moment level, we are also connecting with our minds and the natural world.

So let’s get sweaty. Enjoy the feeling of not being in climate controlled comfort. Savour the effort. To truly feel relaxed, to appreciate the rest a comfortable bed brings, we must first feel tired after a busy day. But busyness in itself isn’t satisfying, the satisfaction comes from accomplishing something meaningful that you can be proud of.

Put away the modern conveniences every now and then. Knead bread. Use the stairs. Walk to the shops. Hang out the washing. Dig the garden.

When employing time saving devices, make the most of the time saved. Don’t fill it with minutiae. Make the most of your energy saved. Do something meaningful. And if, despite all these modern conveniences, you have neither time nor energy, maybe it’s time to ask: ‘are you happy about that?’

Appreciate the value of repetitive, boring tasks every now and then. They can be meditative, allowing for quiet contemplation. Have you enjoyed quiet contemplation lately? The mundane, everyday tasks allows the mind to be still. In the stillness, our intuition and creativity unfold. It is often at these times we have our best insights and ideas. Many of my ideas for this blog come when I’m washing the dishes or doing the ironing.

Doing things for ourselves, with our own hands is also a source of pride and satisfaction. In the attempt to satisfy every want with stuff, we have stolen from ourselves the very thing that makes us happy. ‘Retail therapy’ can never replace the joy of eating your own produce, wearing your own creations with pride, or giving a gift to a delighted recipient and declaring ‘I made it myself.’

And yes, as the picture suggests, our modern conveniences are costing us not only our health but our hard earned wages as we attempt to replace our lack of physicality at the gym. Everyday activity equates to incidental exercise – easier and cheaper than slogging it out on the treadmill.

Have you read these articles?:

1. what is the simple life?

I’ve been thinking about what aspect of frugality I could write about today.

I could write about 101 ways to reuse dryer sheets, how to save money by feeding your family beans and lentils, I could calculate the savings of squeezing that extra morsel of toothpaste out of the tube.

But…

…sometimes what we don’t do is just as important as what we do.

So today to be frugal: do nothing.

Don’t buy crap. In fact, today avoid the shops altogether.

Leave the car at home if you can.

Leave the TV and the computer, the Playstation and the iPod switched off. Instead, spend time talking with your family, reading a book, or savouring the silence.

Relax, regenerate, reengage, revive, regroup.

People talk about having ‘frugal fatigue’. This frugal tip won’t tire you out. It won’t take any extra effort, drain your energy or use any concentration. If you’re used to a fast paced, burn out, over consumed world

then today

do nothing.

Have you read these articles?:

1. 10 skills for a frugal life
2. you know you’re frugal when…
3. What does it mean to be frugal?

What are your fond memories of childhood?

Most of your favourite childhood memories won’t be about things. Your most poignant memories will be the most simple. A single smell will transport you back to a moment that makes you stop and smile. The most sentimental memories won’t be about perfection: they will involve flaws, mess, calamity and fun. Your childhood memories will reflect your unique family environment and the adult you grew into.

Our homes are the heart of our family. Today, there is a lot of emphasis on creating the ‘perfect’ environment for our families. Entire magazines are dedicated to having designer looking houses. There are TV programmes with the premise that life will be better when we make-over our lounge rooms. And once we’ve established the perfect look, we have all sorts of  machines and concoctions to maintain it, clean it, tidy it and ensure it is germ free.

There’s nothing wrong with having a comfortable home to live in. In fact, it is the job of the ‘homemaker’ to make a house a home. I wonder though, if in our attempt to recreate perfect, cookie-cutter lifestyles we are robbing ourselves and our families of our own uniqueness and personality at the same time.

In our attempt to cushion our lives, insulate ourselves from experiencing the true nature of life: feeling hot or cold, feeling pain occasionally and the sweet, satisfying fatigue that comes after a day of productive toil; in our attempt to avoid any feeling of ‘deprivation’ from not having what we want when we want it, from not having what the Jones’ have, I wonder: are we stealing away the very challenges that build character, that provide opportunities for growth, that mould us into independent, responsible adults?

When I think about my childhood, I think about times I laughed, times I cried, conversations with friends and family, the games we played, the new skills we learned like fixing punctures in bike tyres, baking cakes and learning to sew. And then I think about what kind of childhood memories I hope my children will have. I don’t want their childhood to pass by in a monotonous blur of XBox games and TV. When they think about the home they grew up in, I hope they remember the quirks and characteristics that make our family unique.

As parents we want to give our children as much as we can. Our children may not grow up in a designer home, have all the latest mod-cons, toys and games, they may not have all the things that their friends have. But in the absence of perfection, in the space that is left when not filled with things, there will be a gift more precious than anything tangible we can give them: character, strength and memories that shape and reflect their own individual identity.

Have you read these articles?:

1. Branded. Capitalising On Our Children
2. how to give your savings plan a quick boost

Despite the fact that I take care of all aspects of our household budget, I assumed that DH also knew about the important aspects of our finances. I was wrong.

We recently decided to make a few changes to our home loan. As it is a joint account, both DH and I had to answer a few questions for identification purposes. Questions like: What financial products do you have with us? Have you recently made any transfers to your account? As DH doesn’t handle our finances he couldn’t answer the questions, failed the identification test and we were not allowed to make changes to our loan as a result. While I’m glad that the bank doesn’t let any old person have access to our banking details, it was also very annoying.

It made me realise that if, heaven forbid, something happened to me, DH wouldn’t be able to access our savings, would have trouble making changes to our mortgage and wouldn’t know where our financial and other personal information is filed.

It was exactly this type of situation my mother found herself in when my father passed away a couple of months ago. My father had a habit of hiding important and valuable things when they travelled, in case the house got broken into. It took mum weeks to find the things that dad had hidden.

There are a few things that you can do to keep your partner in the loop and ensure that should anything happen to you, your other half will be able to take over the household finances with minimal difficulty.

• Take time to discuss your finances on a regular basis. Things like upcoming expenses, financial goals and financial health.
• Organise your financial documents and information well. Have a place for important papers and ensure that everyone knows where they are filed. Clearly mark them so that they are easy to search through if necessary. I know that it may be a security concern, but have a safe place for bank account details so that everyone knows how to access the household accounts if necessary.
• Inform your other half. I’m not suggesting that you prepare an entire PowerPoint presentation for your spouse (although you could if you wanted to) but if you’re the one tracking the bills, watching the debts and the savings accounts and keeping a budget, it’s a good idea to sit with your spouse and go through some key points on a regular basis.

One person taking on the financial responsibility in a marriage can ensure bills don’t get forgotten or double paid and the household finances run smoothly. If you do have sole responsibility of the household budget, ensure that your spouse is kept in the loop so that they are able to help make financial decisions and if something should happen to you, they don’t find themselves at sea with the household finances.

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This organiser is flexible, you print out only the pages you need. It also allows for lots of lists or your info condensed into a single page as part of your daily diary, the choice is yours. Click here for more information.

Have you read these articles?:

1. Evaluating Your Financial Position
2. Surviving A Financial Crisis
3. Review: Quicken Personal 2009 – Personal Financial Software

If just the thought of all those nasty germs is making you reach for the spray and wipe, then the advertisers have done there job well.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for cleanliness and health, but we seem to have reached an extreme bordering on obsessive compulsive when it comes to cleaning, no thanks to advertising.

And the irony is, I have seen the same people who will religiously spray their benches with these well advertised chemical concoctions, wipe grot off the floor with the dishcloth.

A few kitchen hygiene tips

Following a few basic kitchen hygiene tips means that you are protecting yourself and your family from illness without needing to resort to anti-bacterial soaps and sprays.

• Don’t wipe the floor with the dishcloth.
• Wash out your dishcloth well. After washing up, rinse the dishcloth in cold water, wring it out well and put it where it can dry completely. Bacteria thrives in warm, wet environments, so you don’t want to leave the dishcloth in a warm, wet ball in the bottom of the sink. If you use knitted dishcloths, clean them regularly.
• Use different cloths for different jobs. For example, one to clean the benches, one to wash up with. To make this easier, use different colours for different jobs. I admit though, I don’t always do this.
• Use a separate handtowel to the tea towel (dish towel).
• Wash up in hot water.
• Drip dry dishes. It saves time, work and means you’re not wiping wet, dirty tea towels all over clean plates.
• Avoid cross contamination by using separate boards when cutting raw meat to when you cut vegetables or cooked meat. I usually cut all the vegetables first and then the meat on the same board. I don’t have a designated meat board, I find washing it in hot water makes it clean enough. Avoid placing cooked meat onto the same board you cut raw meat on (unless the board is clean).
• Give your cutting boards a good clean every now and then. Soaking them in a little bleach and water gets right into the cuts and also gets rid of food stains.
• Defrost meat carefully. Ideally, you want to defrost the meat in the fridge or microwave, not leave it on the bench. I admit though, that I leave the meat on the bench (except in Summer) and have never had a problem. Dad used to put the meat in a plastic bag and hang it outside on the Hills Hoist in the sun to defrost, so maybe I have a strong stomach.
• When storing raw meat in the fridge, store it at the bottom on a plate with a high lip or in a container so that it doesn’t drip onto other food in the fridge. 
• Wipe down benches and stovetops at night to discourage insects and mice. The homemade cleaner I use has tea tree oil in it, which does have anti-bacterial properties, but without the chemical nasties.
• Keep food in sealed containers to discourage insects and mice.
• Check used-by and best before dates, but also trust your nose. I know this is controversial, but milk (for example) doesn’t know it is supposed to go off on a certain date. Sometimes it will last longer, sometimes it will turn bad before the used by date. It depends on how it has been stored and used. There is no confusing off milk, it’s gross. I don’t think there is any need to automatically throw it out just because of the date – taste it and make your own judgement. Best before dates are there as a suggestion that the quality might not be as good as prior to these dates, however it doesn’t mean the product is bad or necessarily needs to be thrown away.

Why avoid anti-bacterials anyway?

What are bacteria and germs? Living organisms. And anti-bacterial soaps are designed to kill these living organisms. And kill they do, not only bacteria found on the skin but they have also been shown to kill human cells¹.

Apart from in hospital, killing all bacteria is not only unnecessary, it can be harmful. Bacteria outnumber the cells in our body 10 to 1. Most of the bacteria are either harmless or beneficial. Without the bacteria that line our digestive tract, for example, we would not be able to digest food. Ridding our hands of all the good and harmless bacteria leaves more room for harmful germs to take hold².

This excerpt from the Environmental Working Group website sums up the issue relating to anti-bacterial soaps.

Many consumers may have misconceptions about germs and infections. Many may think all germs are bad, or all bad germs need to be killed to prevent infections, or all infections need to be avoided, or use of antibacterial soaps can kill all the infectious agents. The fact is that not all germs are bad, there is no need to kill all germs or even the bad germs to prevent infections, some infections are actually beneficial, and anti-bacterials can not kill viruses which cause many infections. These are a few points for the consumer to ponder:

1) Germs, including bacteria and viruses, are ubiquitous. You can’t kill them all, no matter what type of antibacterial soap you use. Your hands get germs on them soon after you wash your hands with an antibacterial soap, unless you wrap your hands with sterilized paper, or keep washing your hands all day long with regular soap or antibacterial soap.

2) Not all germs cause infections. Some harmless germs can even compete with the harmful germs to make it harder for the harmful one to grow. Harmful germs may not always cause infections either. An infection may not occur if the number of infectious agents is not big enough and/or the immune system of the host is strong enough to protect against the invasion of harmful germs into the body.

3) Antibacterials cannot kill viruses, thus they cannot help fight viral infections [the flu is a viral infection – ed].

4) A so-called hygiene hypothesis says that children need to be exposed to some bacteria in early childhood in order to strengthen their immune system. Studies found that children with no exposure to common bacteria may be more prone to allergies and asthma. Some studies also link infections in early childhood with a reduced risk of cancer in young children.

5) The manufacturers do not have to test the safety of any soap with anti-bacterials, there is no guarantee that the antibacterial soap is safe. The EWG quoted the FDA office of Cosmetics and Colors as saying in a Feb. 3 1995 statement, the "FDA cannot require companies to do safety testing of their cosmetic products before marketing." This is an extract of a longer article found here at the Environmental Working Group website.

For more interesting articles on anti-bacterials see the American Chronicle and this post from the Environmental Defence Fund. There is also an interesting Canadian documentary about cleaners in our homes, which you can view here.

Notes

1. Avoid anti-bacterial liquids, soaps, kill good and bad bacteria, The International Reporter
2. War on bacteria is wrongheaded, Live Science

Have you read these articles?:

1. A Cleaner Home with Eco Cleaners
2. Cleaning The Toilet – Naturally
3. Homemade All Purpose Cleaner

If you click on the area on the map where you live, the guide will bring up a list of vegetables appropriate to plant in that month. Select another month if, say, you’re wondering what to plant next month.

From the drop down list, you can then select that vegetable and it will bring up planting and growing information.

The website also has factsheets going back for years on all sorts of things.

Another useful guide is Adam Rees’ Organic Gardening eBook. His book includes information on how to set up an organic vegetable garden in a couple of hours and to grow a steady supply of vegetables year round for less than 2 hours work per week and for little or no money.

There’s a lot of information in this eBook and it’s specifically tailored to Australian growing. I especially like his idea for composting food scraps if you live in an apartment (it’s free and doesn’t involve a Bokashi bin). He also includes plenty of links to further resources. For an idea on the type of information Adam includes in his book, you can sign up for his free six part e-mail course.

Our formula tin garden is very slowly expanding. I’ve planted some parsley as well as the rosemary. I think that they look quite nice there on the fence. Like everything these days, I do a little bit now and then when I get the time. I have plans for spinach and beans and peas – we’ll see how we go.

Have you read these articles?:

1. Gardening For Free Part One. Seed Saving
2. Gardening For Free Part Two – Taking Cuttings
3. gardening in an urban landscape

Brown Owl (aptly named, her brown bodice stretched over ample bosom) marching up and down the ranks, inspecting the work, barking orders. She had narrowly escaped an encounter with a king brown on the way up Hangman’s Hill earlier that day and she had developed a new found sense of exuberance. Under her watchful eye, we learn the correct way to wash and wipe the dishes.

Do they still have Brownies? I think they’re part of the Girl Guides now. And I think the emphasis is more on community, leadership and outdoor activities and less on the finer arts of washing the dishes, folding hospital-corner bed sheets, sewing on buttons and pouring tea. Probably not a bad thing, I suspect.

There is an art to washing up, but in a world of dishwashers (of the electric kind), it’s a dying skill. I’m not going to tell you how you should wash up (and I try not to tell DH too often), instead I though I would share with you the way we were taught that afternoon at Brownie camp.

In a nutshell, the idea is to wash the cleaner items first, the dirtier items like pots and pans last. And to stack the larger items at the back of the dish rack, moving forward to the smaller items.

Simple. I can stop writing now.

But to elaborate, we were taught to wash up in this order:

1. Glasses
2. mugs
3. crockery
4. cutlery
5. pots and pans and everything else

Begin by scraping plates clean of food scraps. I like to give them a quick rinse with the aid of a brush, you can do this in a little water in the sink rather than running the tap to conserve water.

Use hot soapy water. The hotter the better because it helps dissolve grease, lift burnt on food and kill germs.

I also like to rinse the dishes afterwards. Again, if you have a two bowl sink, you can rinse them in a little water in the sink to save water. I read once that the average person consumers over a litre of detergent a year from un-rinsed dishes. Hmmm.

Place glasses and mugs upside down on a tea towel on the bench to dry if there is not enough room in the drainer. Stack the plates, largest at the back, smallest plates and bowls at the front. Large pots and colanders etc can be placed over the smaller items to drain. Leaving them to air dry is somewhat more hygienic (and less time consuming) than drying them with a tea towel, but if you prefer to hand dry, leave them to drain sufficiently so the towel doesn’t end up wringing wet after the first plate.

All done.

We tend to think of menial chores like washing up as something to rush through or to avoid altogether, in order to be doing something better. We consider chores like washing up a distraction from spending time with our family, rather than considering them an opportunity for quality moments.

Another memory from my childhood is at my grandmother’s house after dinner, the women would wash up and chat while the men would sit in the lounge and smoke (I know, it sounds like I grew up in the 1950’s, but anyway). It was a time I felt less like one of the children and more like one of the adults.

On the other hand, doing the dishes was a constant source of bickering between my brother and I, but what family moment would be complete without the odd butter knife being hurled at one and other?

The other thing about washing up in company is that people tend to talk more readily and more candidly when they don’t have to make eye contact and they have something to do with their hands.

I knew a man once who spent an hour washing up with his father after his daughter’s christening. He said it was the first time they talked man to man – the first time they really connected. The next day his father died. There probably would not have been the conversation without the chore.

So next time you’re faced with a pile of washing up, consider it as a boon rather than a bother, grab the guests, your partner or your kids and give the dishwasher a holiday.

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Have you read these articles?:

1. Don’t be a Drip when it comes to Saving Water
2. housework hacks: how to have a tidy house without the effort
3. Homemade Laundry Detergent

Personally, I’m not in support for a national curriculum. I know this is not a popular opinion. If you get the curriculum ‘wrong’, then everyone is wrong. Nor do I believe in a lemming society. National curriculum can lead to national brainwashing. Just some of the quotes from the introductory video makes me raise an eyebrow: “…teachers now know what to teach – it’s really quite explicit…” and “…there should be less in it…”

On the other hand, I teach computers at an Adult Education centre where the main classes are for adult literacy and numeracy. The centre manager noted that most of the students in these classes nowadays are 18 year olds straight out of high school. So in our state at least, something needs to change.

Anyway, rant aside, if we are going to have a national curriculum, then it is a good idea to go online, check it out and have your say as to what you feel should be included.

Even though I originally studied to be an English teacher, it was the Maths curriculum that I was most interested in today. Particularly, I wanted to look at whether they intend to teach money skills. I have to say that I thought the proposed curriculum looked pretty impressive.

I’ve included the PDF of the Senior Maths curriculum below (or you can look at it on the website) but here is a brief overview of what money maths they intend to teach:

Essential Maths: Finance 1

• Wages and Income
• Income Support and Benefits
• Taxes and Deductions
• Buying and Paying for Goods and Services

Essential Maths: Finance 2

• Consumer Credit
• Budgeting
• Payment Plans
• Investments

General Maths: Price Index Numbers

• Price Index Foundations
• A Price Index in Practice
• Use of the CPI to discount the general effect of price inflation over time

General Maths: Financial Modelling

• Reviewing and Extending Simple Compound Interest Computations
• Valuing Assets Over Time
• Simple Annuities and Perpetuities
• Adding to an Investment

That’s pretty comprehensive stuff. I didn’t learn much at all about finances when I was at school. I took Commerce in years 9 and 10, I guess I learned some financial stuff there. A lot of the above I had to learn when I studied accounting after school.

If you’re interested in looking at the specifics of the finance programme, you can look at the Essentials Maths PDF and the General Maths PDF, or just log on and check out the website and don’t forget to have your say on the National Curriculum.

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Have you read these articles?:

1. Australian Online resources for money management
2. choc caramel and almond slice
3. Buying a Home in Australia

“Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and with them everything.” Benjamin Franklin

Adopting a frugal life, becoming more independent and relying less on others to provide for you every need results in an industrious life and the need to develop a broad skill set.

To some this may seem tiresome, after all why learn to cook when you can buy ready-made, why learn to mend clothes when it’s so cheap to buy new ones, why clean your own home when you can hire someone to do it for you.

To others like myself, a life of independence is not only something to work towards, but something to take joy in and something to be proud of. We reject to some degree the modern lifestyle of convenience, specialisation and cheap, readily available commodities and yet embrace the modern notion that life is all about continuous learning.

Below is a list of skills, some of which I would consider essential, others less essential for a frugal life. What frugal skills would you add?

Essential skills

1. Planning and organisation

Planning and organisation are the most important skills underpinning a frugal life. It is impossible to be frugal without the ability to plan ahead and be organised. Even financial management relies on the ability to plan ahead, set goals, organise your finances, monitor your progress. Budgeting, saving money, shopping around for a bargain, menu planning, frugal cooking, household maintenance all rely on your ability to plan and be organised.

I was reminded of this the other day when I wrote a post about convenience foods. Readers shared their convenience foods for days that they didn’t feel like cooking and some of the suggestions included frozen homemade lasagne, homemade sausage rolls and pizza and stews and casseroles, all of which require planning ahead and being organised. 

2. Financial management

Frugality is all about saving money, so it comes as no surprise that financial management is an essential frugal skill. What does financial management involve? Budgeting, saving money, prioritising expenses, debt management, financial goal setting, retirement planning and investing. This seems to be an undervalued skill these days.

3. Creative Thinking

It’s easy to go out and buy something to fill a need or solve a problem. It’s less easy to create a frugal alternative. A frugal alternative to buying something new might be to reuse and recycle available materials like my peg basket or it might be to find an alternative to a problem like making a table extension rather than buying a bigger table. Creative thinking is useful for frugal entertainment ideas or for how to feed the family on a bag of carrots and a pork chop.

4. Cooking

Groceries are one of the major household expenses and so if you’re looking to reduce expenditure, then focusing on the groceries is a good place to start. Convenience foods and takeaway all cost more than fresh, healthy produce, so learning how to prepare and cook fresh food will go a long way to saving money.

5. Smart shopping

Knowing how to bag a bargain is just as important as knowing how to say no to impulse buying. I don’t think shopping is evil, but it pays to be smart about parting with your hard earned cash.

Less essential but useful frugal skills

6. DIY

Do it yourself covers a range of things from making your own cleaners and soap to doing your own home renovations. Depending on your experience, sometimes it’s smart doing jobs around the house yourself, sometimes it’s better to get in the professionals (which is where smart shopping comes into play). The more skills that you learn and practice, the less you have to rely on others to do these tasks.

7. Sewing and crafting

Even if you’re not a sewer, knowing how to darn a sock, sew on a button and take up a hem are good skills to have. The more sewing skills that you have, the more money you can save on clothing and household linen. Sewing isn’t the only craft that is useful. My husband likes to do woodwork and has made furniture for our house at a fraction of the cost of buying ready made furniture. Other useful crafts may be knitting and crocheting, painting, card making, jewellery making to name a few.

8. Gardening

I believe that you can be frugal without ever doing a jot of gardening. But being able to grow your own vegetables, even if it’s only a few herbs on the windowsill, will save you money on the groceries.

9. Maintenance

Maintenance covers a lot of ground. I’ve listed a few maintenance skills but the list is not exhaustive by any means nor am I suggesting that you need to have all of these skills, it just gives a few ideas. I’ve added self to maintenance, after all you need to be healthy and ‘maintained’ just like any inanimate possessions.

Around the home

• Change tap washes
• Clear drains
• Clear gutters
• Weeding, pruning, mowing
• Pest control
• Clean carpet and upholstery
• Repair appliances, toys, furniture and other household goods.
• Pet grooming

Car

• Change oil and oil filter
• Change spark plugs
• Change tires
• Wash and wax
• Change wiper blades

Self

• Cut hair
• Facials, manicures, waxing etc
• Exercise
• Eat healthy
• Mend clothing

10. Bartering

Skill swapping or good old fashioned bartering can fill a skill deficit without having to fork out a heap of money for a service. I haven’t tried bartering, but I remember reading about an elderly lady who advertised to wash and iron clothes in exchange for electrical and plumbing work. There will be skills that you have that others don’t that you can use as currency. If you have bartered in the past, why not leave a comment explaining how it worked and how it went.

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Creating hours isn’t the usual time management strategy of calendars and schedules. Instead it provides tips and tricks that help you gain control over your time so that those extra minutes here and there add up to extra spare hours over the week, spare hours to read, relax, do hobbies or whatever you please. More than that, this downloadable eBook is tailored to parents who have to deal with the everyday ‘unscheduled’ little emergencies that happen when raising children. For more information click here.

Have you read these articles?:

1. what is the simple life?
2. The Little Things In Life Making Cents
3. Frugal and the art of planning

As a frugal writer, it’s here that I’m supposed to extol the many virtues of op-shop clothing. But I have a confession: I don’t like shopping for clothes in op-shops. Firstly, let’s be honest, they’re smelly. Secondly, I don’t like rummaging through a tangle of odds and ends looking for that one great buy. Thirdly, I really don’t like clothes shopping altogether so the quicker the better, which is why I shop like this:

I find a cheap, plain, cotton knit tee (long sleave in Winter, short in Summer), get the size that fits and buy several of the same top in varying colours. And wear these with jeans. Yearly clothes shopping done in less than 2 hours.

Which reveals my final confession: I’m a fashion failure.

One of the other common recommendations for saving money on fashion is to invest in the ‘classic’ wardrobe essentials and supplement these with a couple of latest trend items and accessories for a personal look.

Ok, but what are classic essentials? I did some research and came up with a list of wardrobe basics and it seems that I already have some of them: jeans and casual tees.

Wardrobe basics to build on include:

• Jeans
• Casual khaki pants
• Black tailored pants
• A-line Skirt
• White shirt cotton or linen
• Casual tees long sleeve, short sleeve and singlet top
• Black woollen cardigan and jumper
• Casual jumper or sweater
• evening dress
• jacket
• tailored suit for work interviews etc

I would probably add shorts because I live in QLD and tracky-daks because I’m a dag and live in these around the house. Many of these ‘classics’ can be bought quite cheap in discount stores without the need for spending up big in designer stores.

And while I was looking around the net, I came across Chic Fashionista, a website full of fashion advice for fashion failures like myself.

What are your fashion basics and how do you save on clothing and stay fashionable?

Have you read these articles?:

1. Shopping Online for Bargains in Australia
2. Low Cost Maternity Wear
3. Guerrilla Tactics For The End Of Year Sales