From Hauls to Finds: Changing How I Shop

There is a moment—usually somewhere between your third parcel arriving in a week and the clothing bringing you no joy, when the shine starts to wear off fast fashion. For me, that moment came courtesy of shopping with Shein. 

One day I realised that it was nothing more than cheap thrills, quick fixes, and clothes that felt cheap and regretted almost as soon as I’d cut the tags off.

I started shopping with Shein for holiday clothing and cheap accessories.  For that, Shein is perfect.  A swimsuit that you will only wear for the holiday, cheap summer jewellery that is disposable and you don't mind losing by the swimming pool or a beach bar.

But then I started to buy more.  A pretty dress here, and there, and there again.  A pair of shoes.  Another dress.  More and more.  But what I realised was that “more” wasn’t actually delivering better.

The Fast Fashion Fatigue

Shopping on sites like Shein is engineered to feel like winning.  Every click is a dopamine hit, by design.  The clothing is unbelievably cheap, vouchers are applied in every basket. Everything looks good in the photos. The quality looks great and for a moment—click, buy, confirm—you believe it.

But then the packages arrive.

The fabric is thinner than expected. The fit is… optimistic. The colour isn’t quite right. And suddenly you’re left with a pile of clothes that don’t feel like you—they feel like a rushed decision. Yet each purchase is so cheap that half the time you no longer bother to send back.  You donate or lose in your wardrobe.  Never worn.  

The Shift: From Quantity to Curiosity

The move to second-hand was not an intended lifestyle change. It started with curiosity.  There have been items that I have wanted to add to my wardrobe for years.  Brands that I like but cannot afford but would like.  Something with a bit more character.  Some pieces that will last.

Enter Vinted

At first, it felt like work. You have to search. Filter. Scroll with intent of what you are looking for. But what I found is that the more specific I got, the more I liked the pieces that appeared.  I could narrow down to brands, and then again to whatever category of clothing I was looking for.  Not just reacting to what the algorithm picked for, but actually choosing pieces for myself.  My own taste.

The Unexpected Upgrade

Here’s the part no one really talks about: second-hand shopping can quietly upgrade your entire wardrobe.  On Vinted, you’re not limited to what’s currently being mass-produced. You’re browsing across seasons, styles, and prices. That especially works for me as I do not follow trends, I just like what I like.

That means, netter fabrics, better longevity and occasionally? A designer piece at a fraction of the price.

Shopping on Vinted has made me excited about clothes again.  About what I can find, specific to my need and for a great price.  There’s a story behind each purchase “I hunted for this and found it.”

The Financial Reality

Buying second-hand means that you are still getting a bargain.  It doesn’t always mean spending less on a piece, but it about spending smarter.

You learn how to shop more carefully.  Checking the photos, checking the description (designer pieces often have more information that you can double check online).  Checking the reviews of the sellers and the other pieces that they have available.

I make sure to only buy items marked as "very good" and so far, everything that I have received has been in perfection condition.

For cxample:

Michael Kors Large Cindy Bag - Retail £180   Purchased for £20

Marks & Spencer Blazer - Retail £70   Purchased for £6

Ted Baker Purse - Retail £70   Purchased for £13

Ted Baker Sunglasses - Retail £95    Purchased for £30

Little Mistress Dress - Retail £75    Purchased for £9

For £78 pounds I have purchased six items (that would have cost me £490!) that will last me a long time, are better quality and are still within my budget. 

Letting Go of the Old Habit

The hardest part isn’t learning how to shop second-hand—it’s unlearning the fast fashion mindset.  Shopping with Vinted is not a see and click buy within five seconds experience.  Shopping with Vinted takes time, but it is so worth it.

The dopamine hit of a £10 dress is real. The convenience is addictive. But now when I receive an item I have found on Vinted, I love it because I searched for it, because I have been wanting it.  The joy is back and I am discovering my taste again.  

When you start buying things that you really love, you stop needing so much.

Budgeting Tips for 2026

 I have talked about money saving tips before on this blog here.

Today I wanted to talk about the basic budgeting techniques that I carry out every day in order to make the most of my money and make it work for me.  I have one budget for my personal money and another for the joint account for my partner and myself.

I have a monthly budget for every month for the next year.  Sounds excessive?  Probably, but it works for me.

The biggest things to factor in are the things that you don’t think about at first glance.  For example, some months of the year have five weeks in them.  There are four this year.  So what does that mean?  An extra weekly food shop at a minimum.  A five week month will typically require an extra £150 to my budget when you look at all the extras.

What I do to counter this is at the beginning of the year I look at the number of months with the extra week and work out the extra money needed.  So this year, an extra £600.00 was needed.  This equates to £50.00 per month.  Every month as part of the budget, I transfer £50.00 to our savings account, using when needed on the “extra months”.

Another thing to look at are subscriptions services like Amazon.  We have regular subscriptions set up for things like coffee, pet food etc which are all set to different frequencies.  Some can be every six weeks, every three months, etc.  So at the start of the year I check the dates (Amazon helpfully projects the dates for you) and I incorporate these figures into the appropriate month.

When it comes to food, make sure that you have the store clubcard.  With mine, I pay an £8.00 per month subscription, but this saves me 10% of two of my shopping bills.  On average, after taking the subscription payment into account, I usually save at least £20.00.  Over the year, that is a saving of £240.00.   Every little helps!

Other things to think about are things like home and car insurance.   It is usually cheaper to pay annually for these things, so I set aside an amount every month (based on the previous year’s figure with an increase of 10%) to go into a specific savings account to pay for them when the time arises.  This accrues interest and means that when the time comes, the money is ready and waiting to be paid.

I tend to use a cashback site when arranging the yearly insurance too, which can gain you around £100 if you shop around.  I use the cashback sites for many things, but the big earners are home insurance, car insurance and pet insurance.

I also incorporate a “slush” section into my monthly budget.  There are the inevitable things in the month that come up that you need (or want) to buy and having some extra money available helps.  I account an amount of money every month and anything we don’t spend is moved into a savings account.

Forward planning for the year ahead means that I am never surprised by the extra food shop in the month, or when the bulk orders from Amazon come out of the account.  It is there, ready.

This type of planning absolutely takes time and I am much more vigilant than I need to be.  I update the budget when bills come out, food is bought etc every few days so I always know where we are at any given point.

Here is an example of the accounts I use for our joint account in order to keep everything running perfectly.

 Current Account                      All bills are paid from here

Insurance Savings                    Money is transferred here by standing order each month

Regular Savings                       Any money left over from the “slush” money goes in here together with     the monthly “five week payment”.

 These are just a few of the ways that planning out your budget for a year can save you money.  I would estimate that doing everything the way that I do saves/earns me £400-500 a year.

What top tips do you have for your budget?

Year Round Ways to Save for Christmas

We have reached the middle of October now so it is perhaps safe to start to use the C word?  Combing the C word and the P word often strikes fear and terror into the eyes of people you talk to at this time of year, but I am going to say the words.  Christmas presents.

Christmas is a time of year that I love.  Finding the right gift for people is something that I enjoy and I take as much pleasure in locating the perfect gift (hopefully) as when it is received.  But presents take planning, not just the planning of what to buy for your loved ones, but also making sure that you can afford them and not break your budget.

With food costs and energy prices soaring in the last year(s), it is more important that ever to plan ahead for Christmas.  There are various ways that I plan for Christmas presents and making sure that I can afford to buy what I want.  So here are my tips for things that I do throughout the year:

Getting Your Cash, Back

It is something that can be easy to forget, but one thing that I do year round is use a cashback site.  As this is not a sponsored post, I won’t give you a link, but the one that I use is Topcashback.

I use this site as much as possible for my spending as well as searching out the best deals for home insurance, car insurance, vehicle insurance, travel insurance etc etc.  You can easy use it for things like food delivery, Ebay, there is much more on there that you realise and even the smaller amounts add up.  By doing this I usually manage to get £200 in my account by the end of the year.

It should be noted that you need to do this intelligently.  If you are using a discount code on the website you are buying from, then you generally will not also be given cashback.   So clothes shopping etc will generally not track for me as I usually only buy when I have a discount code that I can use.  

Keep Your Receipts

I also use a receipt scanning app where you scan in your receipts for points.  It only takes a couple of minutes to scan your receipts in for the day and by the end of the year I usually have £40-45 which can be transferred to my bank account, used as an Amazon voucher to buy gifts with etc.

Save Your Points 

One thing that most people have is a Boots card.  But there are definitely ways that you can use your Boots card intelligently in order to stack up points.  I keep an eye on the offers and try to buy in bulk when there are offers on for a few hundred points when you spend X amount.  I also buy my lunch there and all my beauty and hair products.  By the end of the year I usually have around £50 - £60 worth of points, which comes in handy for gifts and stocking fillers.

Double up on Rewards

Although this one only applies for people who are with EE, not many people seem to know about this (or use it), but EE have a rewards programme.

I have linked my current account and my credit card to the Rewards programme which gives you a percentage of what you spend.  Greggs at the moment for example gives you 10% back on what you spend there, places like Boots generally gives you 5%.

So by using this programme, I not only gain Boots points and points back on uploading my receipt (as discussed), but I also get cashback which turns into money that I can knock off my phone bill.

I have been using the rewards programme since January and I have been knocking £10 from my bill every other money, which equates to £50 - £60 per year which I save towards my Christmas shopping.

 By using the above and integratiing them into my daily life, overall by the end of the year, I have managed to save around £350, simply by making some small changes to the way that I shop and scanning receipts.

What ways do you save for Christmas throughout the year?

5 Ways to Save Money for the Non Saver!

There are so many phrases that are flung around when it comes to talking about money and saving. None of them sound much fun, which I think is half the problem when it comes to needing to save up or cut down on your spending.

Tightening your purse strings, cutting corners, every penny counts, waste not want not.  I’m bored just by typing them out.  

I think it was Sophia Amoruso who said “Money looks better in your bank than on your feet”.  Clearly she has never owned a pair of Louboutins.  (Never have I TBH, but one day…….)

What I wanted to do today is share some tips that you can incorporate into your everyday life that will save you money and also cut down on your spending in the long run.   

So let’s start with the fun tip to begin:

Go shopping to save more

Yes. I did tell you to go shopping in order to save money.  

Every day on my lunch break I walk into town to look around the shops.  

Whoever you are, there are always things in your life that are the staples that you use time and time.  Skincare, haircare, makeup.  It can be anything really that you use on a regular basis.  The rule is simple, regardless of whether you need one or not, if it is on sale at a great price, buy it.  But only if it is something that you use regularly.

That does not mean that new shade of nail varnish that Sally Hansen brought out that you are convinced you will wear all the time.  This means the moisturiser that works for your skin that you use every day.  The BB cream that brightens up a tired work day face.  The expensive shampoo/conditioner that you love but is now on three for two.

This will not only save you money in the long run.  It also enables you to continue using the products that you love, keeping that extra luxury, but at a more affordable price.

For example, I love John Frieda products (not a recommendation, everyone’s hair works better with different products.  I like the range for what it does to my hair, but also that there are a wide range of products).

So, my staples from the range are the regular shampoo, conditioner, the blonde shampoo and conditioner, the hair serum and the frizz ease product (I do recommend that last one for anybody, I love it).

All of that costs £37.00.  Not cheap.  Buying them in bulk on three for two means I buy two of everything (£74.00).  Averaging the price of each item at £6.17, knocking four products off I get for free, means the price goes down to an average of £4.11, £49.16 total.  A saving of nearly £25.00.

I can justify a price of £4.11 per product much more than £6.17.

Store Advantage Cards

Get them.  Get them all and use them.  But don’t just get the card, download the app.  Stores like Boots regularly have an offer such as extra points when you spend a certain amount of money, or things like double points on certain products.

But again, only buy what you need and ideally, try to use these offers in conjunction with the offers already on in store, such as three for two.  

I try my best to save these points for Christmas year which I can then use to buy presents, perfume, that Clinique moisturiser I love that is NEVER on sale.  Last year I had saved £90.00 worth of points.

Go Through a Cashback Site Online

Every time I go online now, even when I am not intending to purchase something; I open up a tab with my go to cashback site provider, in my case, TopCashBack.  A lot of the cashback you get can be minimal, like 2% on purchases at a clothing store; but it does add to your total.

What you can really make money on are the larger purchases that you need to buy every day.  Home insurance, car insurance, holidays.  Everything you buy on the internet, you can usually get some form of cashback on.

Recently I needed to renew my VPN.  Instead of paying £120.00, I ended up paying £60.00 with the offer, plus 55% cash back.  Meaning that instead of paying £120.00, I will have spent around £36.00.

Over the past couple of years, even with forgetting sometimes to use the site, I have got £275.00 in cashback.  That’s nearly one Louboutin right there.  Or a good payment towards a holiday (whenever we get to go away again).

Save Your Change

When I first thought about saving the cash in my purse, I started with saving pound coins and fifty pence pieces.  Don’t do this.  Because at the end of the month I inevitably opened up my savings jar to raid the money to pay for my lunches for the week before payday.

Instead, do this.  Save only silver.  Every few days when you come home from work, open your purse and spread out your coins.  Put back the pound coins and the fifty pence pieces (unless you have a lot).  Put away in your savings any tens, twenties and fives.

Today I put away 85p.  Not a lot, but it adds up.  Every few months I accumulate around £40 - 50.00.

For the Product Lovers

Again, another fun one.  Subscribe to a beauty box.  There are many out there, I am currently with Glossybox and pay £11.75 a month.  

Most boxes have a minimum value of £50.00 worth of products, sometimes I have had a box worth over £100.00.  Last month I got a face serum worth £43.  Another month I received an Illamasqua highlighter worth £27.00.  

My skincare has definitely improved with the products that I have received and saves you buying items at the regular price.  I can’t remember the last time for example I needed to buy face serum.

What I love is that they also put up regular short surveys for the products that you receive. which then gives you credit to spend.  Again, it all adds up.

If you use all of these tips in your life, you will save a decent amount of money in the long run.  That first pair of Louboutins may not be that far away!

I was not paid to write this piece, all comments and suggestions are my own