I bought rather more than I intended to this month, but, because I'm taking part in Slow Fashion Season, it's all secondhand.

THIS YEAR



Stripe crop top £2.00
I bought this to wear under my navy jumpsuit which I hadn't worn much due to the weather not being as consistently scorching as last year. It's perfect for it's intended use and will hopefully mean I wear my jumpsuit more often.

Mantaray shorts £2.00
Comfortable and a nice length, I can't pass up shorts that are my preferred length, they're not easy to come by.

Joules trainers £10.00
Purchased to wear at Latitude. When I was deciding what to pack I didn't want to take any of my footwear because it's so flippin' dusty and anything I've worn in previous years has been ruined. So I bought these. They still had the original £35 pricetag on but I decided I liked them too much to take to Latitude, so I continued my search.

FootGlove sandals 5.00
I tried these on when buying the Joules trainers because they're the sort of thing I've been looking for. They are so comfortable there was no way I was leaving them in the shop.

Bracelet 50p
It's cute and it made me smile, so why not?

Sunglasses £3.99
Bought to be back-up in case I lost my other pair, and it's a good job too because a few days later I misplaced them.

GEEK t-shirt £1.49
I like a slogan t-shirt.

Crocs £3.00
Love them or hate them, I brought them for the garden.

M&S trainers £6.00
These are the ones I ended up taking to Latitude and whilst they did get really dusty, the metallic finish meant that I could wipe them clean and they're still wearable.

Heart sundress £2.00
Worn in the garden. It's too short for public wearing but gets worn when I'm pottering about outside and no one else is around!

Sequin bag £13.00
I wanted something cute and sparkly to take to Latitude (yes I feel into that trap), but I didn't intend for it to be single use, even though I purchased this for a festival it will, and has already been, used again. It was preloved on ebay but came with it's original pricetag.

Navy bag £5.00
Another Latitude purchase, and again one that will be used again. I needed a zipped bag, not too big, wipe clean, not leather and this was perfect. It had a horrible chunky chain strap so I swapped it for a yellow fabric strap I already had - it looked so much better.

It's been my spendiest month so far this year. But I like everything I purchased and have already worn / used every item. Most importantly it's all secondhand.


LAST YEAR

Fat Face denim shorts £4.25
These are really comfortable but I've only worn them once. Writing these posts certainly draws attention to how often buy things and wear them only a few times.

Khaki cropped jeans £10.99
I've worn these a number of times but they're not something I'm drawn to, they might be on ebay soon.

Jigsaw sequin top £3.20
I was annoyed that the ebay seller didn't mention a mark on the back of this (handwash only) top, and that some of the sequins were missing, but it was still a nice top. That is until I pulled at a loose thread and unraveled a whole line of sequins. I gave up and put it in the charity bag having only worn it once.

Total for July: £53.98

Total so far for 2019: £273.23

Total at this time last year: £242.66

Left of £500.00 budget: £226.77

Items purchased: 44 (pre-loved: 39 / new: 5)

For this first time this year my total spend has crept above that of last year, but I don't intend to buy much over the next few months so I might reverse the situation, and if I don't it's hardly a huge sum of money. I do hope to stay within my budget for the year though, so I better stay away from the charity shops - they're just too tempting!


For the fourth year running I'm keeping track of my spending on clothes and accessories with A Buyer's Archive.

I return home, plug in my phone so that I can tell my husband that I’m back, I put the kettle on and say hello to the cats.

I eat two Chunky Kit Kats in the time it takes Andy to get home. He’s pleased to see me, as I am him.

He laughs when he asks to see my photos and I tell him I haven’t taken many. I hadn’t, it's most unlike me.

Andy goes back to work but only after we discuss the acts, the weather, the food, the cats, my tomato plants, and the weather again.

I make another cuppa, eat the pasta pot snack I’d taken all the way to Henham Park with me, and brought all the way home again.

My luggage stays in the hall, I don't want to unpack.

I wander around not wanting to turn on my computer just yet. I feel like I’ve been unplugged for a while and I like it.

I always return from camping feeling very calm, I love the simplicity of living with just the things I absolutely need. I look at our accumulated stuff and promise myself that I won’t add more to it, I’ll sleep under canvas more often instead.

After a few days of being surrounded by people and noise, it feels oddly quiet, there is a low ringing in my ears. There is nothing to do, nothing to see, listen too, or be entertained by. There is a distinct lack of smoke filled bubbles.

I eat my supper in the garden, listening to music. I grab my book and sip another cuppa while I acclimatise to being home again.

Normal life will can wait until tomorrow.

Photo An Hour fell on the Saturday I attended Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Suffolk. It's the 5th year I've been, the 3rd year of camping for the whole weekend, and this was possibly the best one yet!

We opted for Pink Moon camping, which whilst expensive, offered a spacious pre-pitched tent, non-communal showers, vanity stations with hairdryers, nice(ish) portaloos, and it's own fenced off camping area with security guards (or at least people who checked your wristband and refused entry to anyone without one).

My friend came along for the day on Saturday and I met her in the morning, full of excitement for seeing the Stereophonics later that evening.

I didn't take many photos throughout the day, it's most unlike me not to take many more photos than is actually necessary, but I just didn't feel the need. I unplugged, not intentionally, I simply didn't think about reaching for my camera.

But this is how the day went, with photos were possible.

7am I was up and straight off to the showers, they were private and had plenty of warm water, and no queue! I washed my hair - at a festival this is unheard of.

8am Back at my tent I was tucking into a porridge pot, and was enjoying my first cuppa of the day, made with hot water kindly provided by Sophie.

9am I sat in the sunshine reading for a while, my friend wasn't due until 10:30am and, as the weather forecast was a bit grim, I made the most of the little sun we were going to get.


10am Gathering anything I'd need for the day ahead - waterproofs, sun cream, and a jumper for when the temperature cooled, I set off to meet my friend on the bridge, in the middle but to the side, near the Latitude sign (with the crowds I felt the need to be very specific).

11am My friend arrived! The time I spent waiting was used for people watching, and taking photos for people who wanted the obligatory Latitude sign photo. We made our way to the comedy arena, and sat in the (not forecast) blazing sunshine.

12pm After watching, chuckling and cheering to London Hughes (v. funny), and Katherine Ryan (even funnier), and applying a generous amount of factor 50, we headed off in search of food. We opted for pork carnitas which, whilst very small for the £8.50 pricetag, were utterly delicious! I could've eaten another portion, or four. We decided more food was required and chose pakora, and a Pukka three camomile tea (at £1.50 it was the cheapest tea I found on site).

1pm A short stop in the Speakeasy tent listening to a chap talk about his book (not very memorable and lost on me as he was talking a lot about Love Island - which I've never watched).

2pm With the savoury courses out of the way we found ourselves at an icecream van. We sat for a while watching the world go by, noticing the sky turn a very ominous shade of grey. The temperature dipped and the heavens opened. My large poncho came into it's own, allowing me to sit cross legged on the grass, completely covered as the rain lashed down. Some people hurried to find shelter, others carried on as if nothing much had happened. The downpour was short lived, the sun came out again, and I laid out my poncho to dry, within a few minutes it was as if nothing had happened.

3pm We settled ourselves in the Obelisk Arena (the main stage) and waited for Walking on Cars to start their set. Again the heavens opened for a short while, but it failed to dampen our spirits.


4pm I'm not really sure what I was doing at this time, possibly still listening to Walking on Cars and meandering a bit. We were approached by an Oxfam representative who asked us to join the Say No To New campaign, and give up new clothing for a month. I pointed out that the shoes on my feet, the bag I was carrying and the t-shirt I was wearing were all secondhand. He said 'you're the sort of person we need to sign up' ... surely they need people who don't shop secondhand to sign up. I signed up anyway, he clearly had a quota to fill, it was getting late, and it was hot.


5pm Maisie Peters had just finished her set and we'd grabbed a cheeky glass of Prosecco and wandered about in the woods looking at the art installations, before heading the the Lake Stage to see The Northern Ballet perform.

6pm With my friend still reeling from a brief encounter with Charlie Brooker, I bought her a cuppa, and admired the selfie she'd been brave enough to ask for. Could you do that? I wouldn't have the guts.


7pm We'd been watching Tom Greenan for a while. He was very entertaining and worked the crowd, promising to be back at Latitude as a headliner soon. I hadn't heard of him before but enjoyed his set and found his songs kinda catchy. He might just be added to my iTunes sometime soon.

We then went in search of food before the Stereophonics came on. The shortest queue was for Cajun chicken, with Cajun fries and Cajun slaw. It was tasty but could've done with an alternate flavour in there somewhere!


8pm Stereophonics time! They. Were. Awesome. My friend and I went to see them years ago at a charity concert in the Albert Hall and we both hoped they'd be as good as we remembered. They were! I sang and cheered until I almost lost my voice.

After this I walked my friend to the exit and she made her way home. I caught up with Sophie and her husband at the tents and sat under the stars drinking beer and chatting. I'm not sure what time I went to bed, but I knew I'd had a great day and was looking forward to the next...

I hope you had a lovely weekend. Thanks to Jane and Louisa for hosting #PhotoAnHour.   

For this set of outfits I decided to wear items that I still owned from 2011, when I did the Wearing It All challenge the first time around.

We'd just moved, everything was chaos, and as I unpacked my clothes I wondered if I really needed so many, that's when the Wearing It All challenge was born.

Below are the first three items, 2019 on the top row, 2011 on the bottom.

The white jeans have recently been rescued from the charity bag. After I read that it takes 1,800 gallons of water to make just one pair of jeans, I vowed to wear all my jeans until they literally fall apart. They're good for summer afternoon BBQs, family gatherings, when you just don't know what else to wear and need something semi smart.
The grey cardigan was from New Look, cheap and cheerful but it's worn really well and is showing little sign of age despite being worn a lot over the years. I took it to Latitude recently, it's always been the perfect thing for layering, and it's great for wearing with dresses as it's waist length.

The grey skirt isn't something that's been worn a lot but I love it. It's a really soft material, and has pockets! I wore it last year, probably for the first time since 2011. A few hours after the photo was taken back then, Andy arrived home and told me that his Grandma had passed away. We hadn't been together many years and I'd only met her a handful of times but she was lovely, and deeply loved by her family. She'd been unwell for some time and we'd been to see her a few days before, and I'm so glad that we did. This skirt always makes me think of her.

Next up I wore some shorts (below) that I never thought would see the light of day again. I really like them, which is probably why I hung onto them for so long, but as I stepped into my late thirties I had a wobble about what I should and shouldn't wear. These shorts seemed too short, but now that I'm in my 40s I just think 'stuff it'.

Perhaps my legs aren't as slender as they once were, they have a few wobbly and dimpled bits, and they're as pale as porcelain but they're strong and part of me, and I don't give a stuff about what others decide is appropriate for 'a woman of my age'. If I like it, I'll wear it, and I like these shorts.

I've had the jeans for a long time, I bought them before I met Andy, which makes them over a decade old. When they were new they were a dark wash, even back in 2011 they'd lost a lot of their colour.

They've been patched many times, the first hole appearing after I accidentally stuck them to my leg with super glue. It wouldn't wash out, it cracked and the first hole of many was created. More are soon to follow as they continue to grow thinner in places, but I'll mend them until they can be mended no more.

I cringed when I noticed the ballet pumps worn with bootleg jeans, I wouldn't do that now, ballet pumps are worn with skirts. It seems I've been subconsciously developing my own rules on what I should and shouldn't wear.

The black shirt dress has been worn occasionally, it's never been a go-to item but it's earned it's keep. In 2011 I was embracing hosiery for the first time in my life. And those boots. I loved those boots, I haven't stopped looking for a similar pair.

It occurs to me now that I should've taken these photos in the same locations as their 2011 counterparts, you'd see a much more organised wardrobe, a new bedroom carpet, the house painted a pale yellow instead of white and a different front door. Oh well... an opportunity missed.

It's been fun to look back over these items. They all hold so many memories, and have stories to tell. Clothes are never really just clothes are they?

Having full rein of my wardrobe after a few years of utilising capsule wardrobes is actually really rather nice. After the first few days of the Slow Fashion Season I decided to put together a series of outfits containing at least one item of clothing that rarely gets worn.

Everything below, with the exception of the skinny jeans, has either never been worn, or has only been worn a few times. The first outfit is made up of entirely second hand items (with the exception of my under garments), and every outfit has at least one secondhand element.

The weather hasn't been as glorious as I'd hoped for. I was fully expecting this summer to be the same as last year with day after day of beautiful sunshine. But as you can see I've had need of a jumper or a jacket on occasion. The weather hasn't been awful, it's been warm enough, but overcast and a bit breezy. I'm going to need some more shorts weather if I'm going to succeed and wear as much of my wardrobe as possible.

As for making no high street purchases, I was in town and noticed a sale in Accessorize, I spotted a straw bag similar to one I've been looking for. I was in the door, admiring the bag and checking the price tag (£7.00) before I remembered the challenge. I put it back on the rail and left, wondering how many more times I'd temporarily forget signing up to Slow Fashion Season before the three months was up. It would've been so easy to forget and make a purchase, and I would've been so annoyed with myself. At some point in the future a similar bag will turn up in a charity shop and I'll buy it then.

Are you taking part? How are you getting on?

I've got a fun series of outfits planned for the next installment, (well I think it's fun anyway...)
x

A few days ago I convinced my husband to spend £160 on toilet paper.

"Has this got something to do with reducing plastic?" he asked.

 "Yes"

"Gimme numbers" he said "don't come at me with a half baked idea"

"Well, the one we have now costs 17p per 100 sheets, if we buy in bulk this one is 13.5p per 100 sheets, it's recycled and has no plastic packaging, it has over 4,000 five star reviews, and 50% of profits go to non-profits to build toilets and stuff"

*short pause*

"OK, get them ordered" he replied.

That was somewhat easier than I expected.

You can read a more eloquent explanation about the 'toilets and stuff' here. The company I'm speaking of is Who Give A Crap - a most excellent name - and now I can go back to not giving toilet paper a second thought, which is exactly how it should be.

So summer arrived a few weeks ago, but with one thing and another I didn't get around to posting this. Here are a few things I'd like to do over the summer...

1. Tucking in
I want to eat in a restaurant every day for seven days, be it for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. This is something I tried to do during the week of my birthday last year. I failed, partly due to lack of planning, and partly due to eating waaaaay too much on day one!

2. Getting crafty
Make use of the bag of fabric scraps I've been collecting. I have a plan, I now just need to execute it.

3. Going Coastal
Spend a day at the beach, I'm talking 9 to 5 - fish n chips followed by ice cream, a morning stroll on the promenade, and an afternoon reading on the beach, interspersed with a little paddling in the surf.

4. Rocking it
I found @stonesofjoy1 via Ann, who's recently joined Instagram - Welcome Ann! - they paint stones with pretty things and write inspirational messages for people to find, and I want to paint my own stone to be found. Maybe I'll leave one on the beach...?

5. Day tripping
Take a trip to Snape Maltings and Marlsford Mill. Snape Maltings have art exhibitons that are always worth a look and Marlsford Mill offers a collection of furniture, antiques and curios that I always enjoy perusing, I don't buy something every time I go...

6. Finishing off
The bedroom redecoration needs to be finished, the time it's taking has gone beyond ridiculous.

7. Visibly mending
I have some jeans, a parasol, a picnic blanket, and a large bag that all need attention. I want to put my hours of scrolling through the #visiblemending hashtag on Instagram to good use.

8. Baking goodies
Make a giant Jaffa cake, and Bourbon biscuit brownies

What's the summeriest thing you can think of doing?

I signed up to Slow Fashion Season last month, it's a pledge to avoid purchasing any new items for the summer, to encourage shopping your wardrobe, shopping secondhand, and making do and mending.

I knew it'd be easy for me to do as I buy brand new items so infrequently these days. It's for this reason that I decided to make it more of a challenge for myself and take the 'shop your wardrobe' idea to it's extreme. I've abandoned my usual capsule wardrobe and plan to wear a different outfit everyday if I have enough clothes, which I suspect I do.

It feels a lot like my Wearing It All challenge of 2011, remember that? I wore all of the clothing items I owned and wasn't allowed to wear anything twice. I still have a handful of those clothes in my wardrobe. This challenge is a little different though as I will allow myself to wear items more than once, as long as it's in a different outfit.

It's a good time of year to do this as I have more summer clothes than anything else, so as long as the weather behaves I'll be able to wear a good portion of them. I'm actually rather enjoying it. I'm rediscovering things that I haven't worn in a while, and finding new outfit combinations by teaming new-to-me purchases with old favourites, and long forgotten items.

Here are the first outfits of the challenge.



Do you think you could avoid buying new clothes for three months?

You've seen this skirt many times before. It's appearing on the blog today because it's earned it's #30Wears Badge of Honour.

Given that I purchased this in January 2018 I'm surprised at how long it's taken me to reach #30Wears (40 at the time of writing), especially as I wear it all year round.


One of the reasons for keeping a tally was to find out how long it would take me to wear an item 30 times. It's almost impossible to predict. It doesn't sound like a lot but it can take a while if you don't wear something on a weekly basis.


It only took me two months to wear my new jeans 30 times, but that's not surprising as I live in jeans during the colder months, and skirts are worn less often.

The point of #30Wears is to ask yourself if you'll wear something 30 times before you buy it, and to only buy it if the answer is 'yes', but unless you keep count you'll never know for sure. I was interested to find out, especially as this skirt was new and not secondhand.

It still has a lot of wear left in it and I know I'll continue to step into it periodically. My favourite way to wear it is with any of my 3/4 sleeve jumpers, they make great outfits for the autumn and spring seasons. If it's on the chilly side I can add tights and boots, or stick to bare ankles and brogues if the weather permits.

This skirt was most definitely a good buy!