Friday, February 28, 2014

Sew for a change - revealing my February Scorecard



The theme for me this month, at least the end of it, has been s h o p p i n g! You didn't see that one coming, huh?! In a week I'm going back to work and I need formal (or at least well fitting) clothes and, despite all the sewing, this is/was a gaping hole in my closet.

I have lots of good clothes waiting for me in a box, I just need to shed the baby fat first. Just to be clear; I am actually not sitting around on my ass waiting for it to happen, no no no,  I have been working out pretty intensely for over 1,5 months. In fact, I've done it nearly every day, even during the holiday! Soooo, I got back from the holiday and happily jumped on the scale.... only to find out that I had GAINED 2 pounds!!!!!!! Darn. (And how is that even possible?!?! I eat well, mind you!) So there was nothing else to do than to get out there and try to fish out a new work wardrobe.

Now, since the points are precious (hear the Gollum voice), I needed to find as much as possible secondhand. I went off on a big thrift shop crawl and scored quite a good bunch of wearable, totally new-looking, items (see the list below). I bet most of these things haven't even been worn!

This is what I found secondhand:

1 crisp white cotton shirt, Boomerang
1 black rayon top with built in silk tank top, Esprit
1 black short sleeved wool cardigan, Sitcoknit (whatever that is...)
1 grey suit vest, Monki
1 flowery tunic, Rosebud
1 pair of black jeans, Replay
1 pair of blue/almost black jeans, Denimbirds

 This is what I didn't find and had to buy new - costing me 21 points (*gulp*):

1 nude rayon tank top, Å
1 black long sleeved wool cardigan, Å
2 pairs of organic stockings, Swedish Stockings
5 pairs of black bamboo socks, Greentex

This is what I've been sewing (I've had NO time this month!):

1 Colette Sorbetto tank top in cotton (haven't shown you yet but will do soon), cost me 0p since it used fabric I already had in stash.

***

Phew!!! Thank goodness that I managed this month's de-clutter challenge!!

Apart from the stuff already mentioned here and here I have sold a bunch more clothes and given away even more baby things and clothes. I stopped counting after passing the finishing line, but I suspect I have passed this challenge almost twice. Proud!!! Especially since I've been away from home more that half of the month. I really wasn't sure I'd make it until the last few days.

Lessons learned:


  • anything you don't need - give if forward straight away, it takes effort to handle big piles
  • even if you don't think you have anything you don't use - you have plenty, trust me
  • it is a tremendous joy to see that stuff you don't need is valued by someone else, totally worth the effort
  • you can find really good things secondhand. Give it a go if you aren't already convinced!


Now, tell us how you guys did! And if you aren't on board yet, it's not too late. Tomorrow the March challenge is presented and also adjustments in points for any newcomers. Be sure to check it out!!

/Alexandra



2 comments:

  1. I met the challenge! I managed to freecycle a whole bunch of stuff -- even broken items! Who knew that somebody would want my non-working space heater? And the magazines that have been piling up? I could have tossed them in the recycling, but there's an organization that collects materials for school art classes who happily took them off my hands. It's a bit addicting -- I'm still looking around for things to get rid of.

    Good thing, too, since I kinda bought some seamed nylons and got bullied into buying orthopedic shoes. So much for that high score I was hoping to maintain...

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    Replies
    1. Good going!!! And I love the expression that you got bullied into buying orthopaedic shoes!! Haha, that's a sentence I don't think I'll see often in my life :-D

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