My frugal clothes.

Dear reader,

Thank you to my new followers, Jo, Nim Scutt, Scarlet and Finn. It's lovely to have you visit my blog. I have only been blogging for a  few months and its all new to me. To get people actually following the frugal living of my life and debts repayment is extremely motivating.

I can thank the blogging community for the following.

Seriously sorting out our debts-sitting down and listing the exact amounts
Arranging repayments that are manageable yet effective
Finding Approved Foods
Building up a store cupboard with a small stockpile
Knowing the price of items I buy and shopping for the best deals
Budgeting for things we know will happen- gifts, car maintenance, insurances
Growing our own vegetables
Making do and mending what we already have instead of throw and buy again
Cooking all our meals from scratch
Taking packed lunches and drinks to work
Cutting down our energy bill by using log burner
Realising that we have enough
STOPPING SMOKING- big letters as we are so pleased and this has the biggest benefits to us.

Back to realising that we have enough has made me look all through our house as the things we have.
We have an awful lot of books. Big man has a huge collection of DVD's and I have an awful lot of clothes and shoes. The trouble is we don't like getting rid of them. There is only the two of us and we have plenty of storage so that's not an issue. Big man watches the DVD's and we both love to read, we lend our things out too so they get lots of use.
The major thing I have done is not buying any clothes or shoes. I have two huge bags of clothes that just don't fit as I've gained weight. So at the moment I have a very frugal, basic wardrobe. It consists of
1 black jeans
3 blue jeans (one slim fit, one smart, one just plain ugly-good for dog walks)
Various tops-smart and casual

I have several pairs of flat shoes, highs, walking shoes and boots. Luckily I have not "grown" out of these. I refuse to buy clothes and I'm hoping this will spur me into losing weight. I've done it before and I've kicked the smoking so I'm hoping the fat is next.

It's payday for us both today. We both put a set amount into our joint account to pay all the bills, food shopping and car fuel. After that there is nothing left to play with. No treats, no days out, no clothes. Anything we want has to come out of our own accounts and we have set aside a frugal amount this month for treats.
We decided this was just a bills account. I also started my car account which I will put £100 into every payday as I had big bills in the last few months for car tax, insurance, and servicing.
I also put £100 into another account for gifts and general emergencies. Other than that we have no other savings. If anything goes wrong with the house or cars we will just have to find it.
I have a credit card which I have had to put an unexpected bill of £3,000 on. I never have anything on it, if I do, I pay it off straight away. This time, we won't be able to do that so I got onto Money Saving Expert and found the best interest free cards. I have now swapped this onto my new card so we can pay if off with no interest.

We have eaten all the food in my parents house so will have to go shopping today so they have full cupboards when they return from holiday.
This month I am going to try the envelope system, which some of you use with great success. I will have 4 envelopes each with £50 in. This will be our shopping money and I will take each one out with me and it will have to be enough. This does all our food and packed lunches and household cleaning items.
We have also decided that each of us will have £40 for the month for us to spend on what we like.
Treat money-yippee!

We have saved £225 now by not smoking for 15 days now.

Do you store clothes you are waiting to fit into? How frugal is your wardrobe?