Monday Savings

Now here’s something to warm your heart on a rainy Monday morning. My friend Katherine has just been on her first clothes shopping trip for a year. She went cold turkey this time last summer when she realised that, not only could she not squeeze another thing into her wardrobe, but her credit card was full to bursting point as well. She decided there and then to forgo new clothes, bags and shoes for a year and put the money towards a car. Today she is the proud owner of a Peugeot 207 and a capsule wardrobe so dinkily streamlined you could mistake it for a Tictac. It wasn’t easy she said, especially when she wore out her last pair of decent work shoes and had to totter into the office in her party heels. So where did she draw the line, I asked, thinking how easy it would be to nip into M & S for a pair of tights and come out with a pair of tailored black trousers. After all the line between a 70 denier pair of tights and a decent pair of leggings can get very blurred – as anyone who has the misfortune to follow a hoard of 15-year-old girls to school will attest. Katherine’s answer was to go the whole hog – to avoid any wavering she bought nothing – no tights, no underwear, not so much as an American Tan pop sock tor twelve months, pointing out that she had squirreled away more than enough untouched lingerie to keep her going.   That’s not to say she didn’t savour this weekend’s shopping spree all the more sweetly. Determined to stay on the straight and narrow she armed herself with a list, ensured that everything she considered was not only a classic which would last, but was also on sale. Then she went and tried it on – twice, refusing to open her wallet till she had had a cool down coffee in between. She came home with three dresses, two tops, some new undies, and a pair of pyjamas – less than she would normally have bought on the way home from work a year ago. So if she can do it we can do it…let me know what you would be prepared to give up for a year and what you would put the money towards. Amanda  Scary statistic of the day: According to Elderly Accommodation Counsel, a financial charity,  the combination of falling house prices, low interest rates, and rising consumer prices means that, should you manage to ever get on the housing ladder, by the time you need to cash it in to pay for a nursing home we will, on average, be about £14,900 a year short of the wherewithal for  a cushy room with wall to wall Scrabble and an honesty bar. Deal of the day: Treasure your memories with Photobox, and 50% off all Photo Mugs – use voucher code DADSMUG