Hosting a House Sale

A couple of months back after my break-up I had a double fold problem, I had way too much stuff and way too little money. The logical solution was to sell my stuff and try to make some cash. Easier said than done sometimes! A friend of mine said they had organised their own house party clothes sale to much success and I decided to give it a shot. I had lots of really good vintage clothes in varios sizes and styles from when I used to do clothes upcycling. I knew it would be a fair bit of work but what else did I have to lose, the rent had to be paid.

At the time I had an empty second bedroom downstairs beside my living room, so this was a perfect location for the shopping room. I borrowed some clothes rails, a changing room screen, and a full scale mirror to help with this transformation. I also used a large bookcase to display the shoes and bags in a boutique style manner. Just the day before I decided to put out some of my craft stuff in the living room in case anyone took a fancy to my own handmade pieces. I used some of my market shelving and suitcases to make the display look more appealing. I also had some bunting left over from my birthday to add a festive atmosphere to the evening. My friend Dee even painted a large paper dress to hang on the front door to with some cute balloons to make the house stand out on my street. 

In the lead up to the sale I photographed all 200 and odd outfits on a mannequin and uploaded them to Facebook with all the prices and sizes. This way I drummed up lots of excitement about the evening and also made about €150 in pre-sales. This took tonnes of work between taking pictures, coordinating outfits, and also writing the descriptions, but it was really worth it. I also invested in beer and wine for the evening, trust me, people shop more when they are a little tipsy and they have some tasty food to nibble on. It cost me about €70 to provide this, but it was worth the extra outlay. If you are thinking of doing something similar I would recommend that you undertake this with a friend, both so you can divide the labour but also so you have a greater variety of clothes on offer, most people would not have the type of collection that I had.

All in all it was a successful evening, I didn't sell everything but I got rid of a lot of unwanted clothes that went to better and happier homes. It was a really fun night, and it's something, space permitting, that I would do again. If it was something you wanted to do yourself, maybe look into using your local bar or community centre and a group of you do it together.

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Do it yourself hair do

My new do! Sorry for the cliche iphone pic

As you probably already know, I'm quite the fan of being frugal, not out of meanness, it's usually because I'm broke to be honest! For years I've been cutting my own hair, it all started in college when I was too poor to maintain my short hair. After one major disaster when I bleached my hair, dyed it purple and loads of it fell out it's been plain sailing since then. I even shaved my head for about a year too, which I loved, but sadly everyone thought I was gay; nothing wrong with that except it led to a very uneventful sex life. I actually grew my hair back out of sexual frustration! 

The day I handed in the keys to Limerick Craft and Design I came home really angry, I was filled with energy, and I didn't know what to do with it. Punching a wall just leads to a sore hand, and drinking it away just leads to a sore head. I had been toying with the idea of doing something a little different with my hair, but over Christmas I didn't have a spare minute. What better way to deal with anger then to get a new hair do, usually people do it after a break-up, but in many ways the shop closing felt like one. 

My hair before(credit to Claire Waters for the photo)

Cutting your own hair is not as hard as you think. The key is to be brave and accept that you are willing to get it fixed by a professional if it all goes arseways. You'll need a comb, a good scissors, two mirrors and a steady hand, oh and a pair of balls too! I'm happy with the result, although I am tempted to go shorter on one side, maybe even an undercut, but since I'm visiting lots of auctioneers at the moment that probably isn't a great idea.

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What I'm Wearing: Check Shirtdress

This is a bit more casual and sloppy look than my normal outfit posts, but I was quite hungover and I just wanted to wear something really comfy. Also wearing the headscarf meant I didn't have to wash my hair, this made for a pretty good 'feeling delicate' outfit. I know it's not the most flattering shaped shirt in the world but I'm not always concerned with the idea that I should look like the slimmest version of myself at all times. There is a really great article that discusses this pressure to always look 'your best', often times at the expense of self expression or feeling comfortable. I like dressing the way I want, on some days that might be a waist hugging dress, other times it's my knee length Beno jumper with clompy boots, what's important to me is feeling happy in my own skin and having fun with my clothes.

I got the shirt for only €5 in a mad 'everything is a fiver' sale in The 'Design Outlet' on William street. They also had jeans for only €10 that I very nearly bought, but after reading this article on how to get great pair of jeans I didn't give into the temptation of the bargain. When I was really honest with myself I could see that they were nice on the ass and legs but the waist was way too low for my shape, I never would have been comfortable in them. 

Runners- fake converse from Pennies €8

Sunglasses- Pennies €3

Shirt- The design outlet €5

Belt-Pennies €3

Nail varnish-L'Oreal (602) free from my friend Casha 

Ring- from the Milk Market, it crazily only cost €1!!

Head Scarf- free, I made it from a scrap of fabric and I made the button clips myself

Earrings- free to me as I made them, but I normally charge €10  

Whole outfit only €20( or €30 if I was to buy the earrings from myself??!)

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Glasses, n' Hats, and Bargains, Oh My!

I caught the bargain bug earlier in the week on my pound shop shopping spree. I was wandering down Cruises Street when I bumped into my friend Dee who works in Claire's Accessories, in a super nice moment she shortened her lunch break to accompany me on a little browse around their sale. You can get 10 items for €10, how could I pass up an offer like that??! At first glance I thought I wasn't going to see enough that I liked but after a bit of rummaging and trying on every hat in the shop I found lots of hidden goodies.

It's kinda embarrassing to admit that I bought hipster glasses but I fell in love with these so I bought them, and a little part of me died on the inside. I do actually need to get real glasses quite badly, I just need to save up a few quid and make an appointment. I'll ask if I can get lenses put into these frames, apparently that's something that they can do. I lost my large brown sunglasses last year, I already have a great pair of duck egg ones but they don't suit brown clothes so I needed a new pair. These are large and fabulous but don't have any bling on them, which I really dispise.

I also got these two hats, they are not the normal style that I go for but I thought I could risk being adventurous at that price. The larger brown hat will go really well with a floaty Summer dress. I'm not so thrilled about the monstrous bobble on the beige one, but I can replace it with something much nicer very easily.

On top of all that I picked up some plain hair bands(10 in total), I've been meaning to order a bunch online for ages as I want to make button hair bands. I also got a pair of laces black tights(you can never have to many pairs of tights!) and two bottles of crackle nail polish. I've never tried using them before, but I've gotten into painting my nails lately so I thought I would give it a bash, they are lovely shades of cerulean blue and lime green.

As I said I got all this for €10, the sale price would have been about €40 but Dee said that the total original price would have been over €90!!

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What I'm Wearing: 90's Flashback

After my marathon of watching My So Called Life I put together this homage to the Angela Chase look (I'm not really young enough or brave enough to dress like Rayanne Graff). I picked up these denim shorts on sale in A-Wear for only a fiver, they are somewhere between nice and old lady, but they are in fashion so I kinda get away with it. As soon as I put them on with some black tights I knew they had to go with my Docs, hence the MSCL outfit.

At heart I'm still a grunge girl so this aesthetic might be making a reappearance in the near future. It brought back memories of watching my video of Singles repeatedly, making mix tapes for my friends(and drawing artwork for them), saving up my pocket money so I could buy posters, docs, new cds, and books. I was one of those teenagers that hung around Central Bank near Temple Bar every Saturday, it seems like a million years ago, I suppose it kinda was. 

Shoes: Free, I did a swap with a friend

Shorts: A-Wear €5 on sale

Vest: Dunnes €2

Top: Pennies €7

Belt: Free with some trousers

Necklace: a 30th birthday present from a friend

Bag: tweed satchel Pennies €4

Ring: button ring made by me €5

Jacket: checker jacket charity shop €10

Hat: Claire's Accessories €2

Outfit Total: €35

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Beating the Recession One Shopping Trip at a Time

I'm a big fan of pound shops(I know we got rid of punts years ago but I just can't bring myself to call them euro stores, it's wrong!). Back when I was in college I had a love affair with Mary's of Limerick, then they closed their doors forever and the bargain hunters cried for it's loss. Then we got the €2 Store, where everything is, you guessed it, €2; my thrifty love affair was rekindled. Then when Dealz (where everything is only €1.49) opened William St got an even bigger boost in becoming a bargain hunters Mecca. From there it kinda snowballed, with loads of tacky homeware shop popping up, add into the mix 4 charity shops and it now one of my favourite shopping streets. Although there is the a really dodgy bus stop that seems to attract very scary people, I usually cross the street at that point(which gives me a good excuse to go into Awear).


On Sunday I popping in to get some tape, but due to my chronic hungover stage I went a little mad and got loads of other stuff too; there is nothing like a bit of low budget retail therapy to make a girl feel better!!


My booty:
100 sheets of sticker paper
24 sheets of canvas paper
4 sheets of magnetic paper
10 laminating pouches
4 rolls of cellotape
19 padded envelopes of various sizes
sesame oil
terry's orange chocolate(it's not terry's it's mine!!)
36 large stickers(perfect for card making)
I save the best til last....
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters unabridged on audio book (only €1.49 wtf???)


Total: €31.23


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What I'm Wearing: Brown Floral Dress

It's been a long while since I did a What I'm Wearing post, so I thought I would take a pic of this outfit while I had it on. As you know I love clashing prints, so I jazzed up this dress I've had for years with this wide sleeved blouse I picked up last week. I used to wear loads of brown, but now looking at my wardrobe I don't have that much of it anymore, looking at this rusty mixes I must keep an eye out for some more as I quite like it with my hair(which went a shade redder last week).

I'm sure you saw the button necklace post I did already, well this was it's first airing, I'll probably wear it against something plainer in the future but I just couldn't resist the colour combination.

The shoes were a great find, I got them at the Milk Market from my friend Sarah for only €5, aren't they yummy? Herself and another friend Malou did a clear out of their wardrobes and sold their finer pieces, I picked up lots of great goodies from them.

Dress: A-Wear €5, I got it years ago, it's super comfy

Blouse: Pennies €5 in the sale

Belt: Free with another top

Shoes: Milk Market €5

Necklace: made by me, this is the prototype, I've no idea if I'll make more or what I'll charge

Outfit total: €15

Recessionista brownie points: 1,000 000

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How Strawberries Taught me Two Lessons

During the week I decided to made lots of the strawberry keyrings that I blogged about last week. I couldn't help myself after getting that beautiful fabric in Vibes and Scribes in Cork, strawberries and polka dots are meant to be bossom buddies!

Firstly I broke the number one rule of 'measure twice cut once'. Instead I barely measured and cut out 20 circles, all way too small. I then proceeded to waste 3 hours sewing while never really noticing the tiny size. I blame complete exhaustion for my total lack of wits that day. Eventually I noticed I was making lots of miniscule strawberries, but I'm way too stubborn to give up so I went back to the drawing board, remeasured and started again. In the end after much post watershed language I got this bunch of key rings finished.

Another lesson I learned on this project was to shop around. I needed to buy the rings to go on the keyrings, I priced some at my local shoe repair shop, I was quoted 50 cent each, or wholesale 30 euro for 100. I thought this was a bit prohibitively expensive so I tried somewhere else instead, where I got a whopping 100 rings for only 4 euro. So don't be afraid to say no, always ask for wholesale price when you are buying in bulk, and it never hurts to flirt a bit too!!

Note: After timing myself making them I decided to charge 4 euro each for them. They take longer to made then I had originally estimated, and these are larger than the first prototypes. I still think it's a fair price and it's a handy small handmade gift that won't break the bank.

Recessionista Fashionista!

I really shouldn't be spending more money but I went into A-Wear yesterday on my way home...'just to have a look'...and I came out with two pairs of pants and two dresses!! I have never in my life done that strange thing of buying two of the exact same garment but there is a first for everything. I bought two pairs of black harem pants, I've been looking for a good pair for AGES and these are lovely cos they are fitted at the waist like suit pants, and they tie in a bow at the calves, which is a look far more forgiving on me. They were only 5 euro, and I figured I would wear one pair to death so it seemed to make sense in my head. I also got a great denim dress that buttons up the front with cute pockets, and then strapless knee lenght dress made out of grundgy check...oh so very Pearl Jam. I figure this dress was also only 5 quid, and I'll customise it with some denim and make it look a bit more Miss Westwood. I usually wouldn't go for this style of dress, being a DD cup, but it looked surprisingly good. Not a bad shopping spree for only 25 squids?!?

Another notch on the recessionista bedpost me thinks.

Recessionista Brownie Points

I was sitting down the other night watching the fantastic Brideshead Revisited, and I got the urge to trim my hair. 'An inch, two max' I was thinkng. No folks I did not do the sensible thing and go into the bathroom where there is a mirror, instead I curled up on the sofa with Jeremy Irons and a scissors. In the end I took off about 5 inches and layered my hair. I'm really shocked at how well it looks. My hair is wavey so I get away with the fact that it's uneven. My recessionista brownie points have just gone up another notch me thinks.