The penny pinching grinds to a halt..

I've touched on our financial troubles on this blog before. We are not in serious financial difficulty and for that I am very grateful.

Nevertheless things could be better. And by better I mean, my bloody husband could get on board with me a little bit more. Whenever I read blog posts sharing tips or stories about the various ways the writer saves money, I find myself turning in to a bit of a green eyed monster.
They always appear to have the support of their family. Their partners are on the same page as them and it's a joint effort. I've yet to come across a blog written by someone trying to sort out their finances whilst their partner scuppers their best efforts by overspending, not saving and relying on overdrafts. That right there is the position I currently find myself.

If we were both on the same page, Dan and I could sort ourselves out in a matter of months, we could put money aside for a rainy day and start making a real dent on our joint loan.
Instead however, we have nothing put aside for a rainy day*, the loan continues to be paid at the minimum amount each month and we are left often bickering about money.

We have made changes. We shop at a budget supermarket, we're selling stuff we don't need (well I am) and we both agreed that I should look after his bank card to stop him spending money when he's bored. Unfortunately, he often goes off and does his own thing anyway. Like when he took his card to buy some contact lenses, something he needed admittedly....and then proceeded to buy himself some new football boots.
Or like today when he came home saying he may have been caught by speed camera. Only a couple of months after being caught by the same one on the same fecking road!
Also this month we have a washing machine that needs fixing, a car that's going in for a minor repair, two weddings (one that includes travel and hotel expenses) and a trip to Wales to see my family who I haven't seen since last Christmas...you get the picture.

Nope. I have never seen a blog written by someone who badly wanted to sort out their finances, but couldn't because their partner was rubbish at budgeting.

So maybe I'll be the first.

*Not strictly true, we have the piggy bank in the photo above. It's a start I guess.

DISCLAIMER: Whilst this blog post sounds like I'm annoyed with my husband..well I am. Come on, TWO speeding tickets??! Nevertheless I love him and his heavy right foot very much. That is all.

Summer catch up

I've left it far too long since my last post as we haven't got up to much. We're incredibly skint at the moment so there's been no summer holiday or festivals for us this year *cries*. So far my summer in a nutshell has consisted of keeping Pip entertained and cool, sewing and stuffing my face with fruit, Pimms and ice creams. That and wishing that we lived somewhere else, but that's a post for another day. For now here is a quick photo dump of my summer so far.

 Personally I am loving this heat. I think I'm the only one, but we so rarely get decent summers so I refuse to complain about it.

Although, sometimes it got too hot to play so collapsing is the game of choice.

Having given up on ever being able to sew in my sewing room, this desk has become my portable studio.

One of the dresses I've made, to be listed soon.

Watching Alessi's independence grow everyday. Running and exploring are her favourite things.

Having a visit from my favourite Dutch girl. Come back E!

Watching Alessi make friends with the animals at the local farm. We need a goat.

Car boot sales. The one this morning was an absolute bust, but sometimes you can unearth the odd treasure.

Ice creams, lollipops and..

Eton messes!

Pumpkin peeking.

They'll be pumpkin pie this year. So happy.

The penny pinching begins..

We're skint. I've been living in denial for too long, but I can ignore it no longer. I have no pennies with which to play. When I returned to work part-time, we both knew that we would have to tighten our belts, and tighten them we did. However we seem to have underestimated just how carefully we would have to count the pennies and so we now find ourselves using our overdrafts and come pay day, wondering where all our money has gone.

Time to nip the money drain in the bud. I hate, hate, HATE being in debt. Any kind of debt. I like to know that the money I have is my money, not borrowed from the bank and incurring interest with every breath I take.
So it's time for a wardrobe cull I think. And here it is, if anyone is interested in buying my clothes (or if you just want to have a nosey at the sort of things I once wore), you can do so here;

Shop My Stuff

I'm going to keep adding things over the next few weeks, so keep checking back as you might spot something you like. If you have any questions about an item just email me at thedresstree@yahoo.com.

Thanks for looking!

I'm baaack!

Well that blog break was a little longer than I'd expected.

My absence wasn't down to becoming jaded or bored with with blogging. Quite the opposite really, I missed it. I'd simply banned myself from posting until I'd sorted myself out work wise.
Back when I wrote my last post, I had gone a month without sewing a thing and it was starting to stress me out. One of the reasons I took the plunge and registered as self employed in the first place was to ignite in me the urgency that's needed to keep things moving forward, even when I felt like I couldn't be arsed. And yet there I was, very much erm..."arsed" and yet going absolutely nowhere.

The problem was that although I have this wonderful room upstairs full of my sewing materials, my large sewing table and mannequin, I simply couldn't get in there to work. Alessi's room is right next door so working while she slept was out. And I tried every tactic I could think of to keep her entertained long enough so that I could get some sewing done while she was awake. None of them worked.
Luckily the shitty spring weather we'd been having sorted itself out and it became warm enough for me to sew in the conservatory instead.
It's not ideal by any means. This is also a room that she plays in so everything has to be moved before she wakes. My machines are temporarily being kept in a kitchen cupboard and as soon as I put her down after lunch, I lug each one out, sew like a demon for an hour and a half, then quickly tidy up before she wakes up. It's a faff, but for now it's working.

The question remains of course, what am I going to do when autumn comes around again and the weather gets colder?
This room is lovely during these warmer months, but as soon as the weather turns cold, it becomes a freezer. So I won't be able to do this forever which is a shame, because these past two months I've made real progress and I don't want it to stop.

Ah well, I have a few months to work something out. And until then, I can spend time on this blog again guilt free. Yippee!