Thrifty Wife, Hearty Life | 3 for £5

In both of our families we kind of have this general rule that when its a siblings birthday the budget is £5! Occasionally if it is a “big” birthday some of us may stretch to a tenner, but that is a very rare, flush move!

Whenever I have discussed this with others there are always 2 definite camps in response to it. The first is one of “wow that’s so good, I wish I could get away with only spending a fiver”! And the second is along the lines of “hmmmmm okay then” with a look of “your tight”! Either way when you have 10 siblings plus spouses to buy for just on one side and 3 plus spouses on the other,  2 sets of parents and like 12 nieces and nephews (and counting) the cost can quickly accumulate. So in order to avoid bankruptcy and still buy lovely things for one another we all hover around the £5 mark!

As you know (if you read my blog regularly) it was my birthday earlier this month and so aside from some lovely gifts, I also received some “birthday money” (I still love opening cards to some cash don’t you?)…the first was from my husbands parents, which I haven’t spent yet, but leaning towards a lovely coat from TK Maxx which I saw the other day (watch this space) and the other was a fiver from my sister and Brother in law! So here are my 3 purchases for £5…
Hearty Life

Last week I met a friend for the morning to wander around the charity shops, I was in search of a couple of new to me things, though at the time I wasn’t sure what specifically. But I came away with some very pleasing items that came to the tidy sum of £4.75!!

1. £1.50 Checked Shirt
For some reason at this time of year I really love to wear shirts…I love them with skinny jeans and boots and knitwear. It makes me happy to see a selection in my wardrobe of shirts and blouses and I just love the colour and pattern varieties. This one caught my eye because it was black and white and the sleeves are a little puffy and come above the elbow with little buttons – its just cool!
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2. £2 Boyfriend Jeans 
The only jeans I have in my wardrobe are skinny in varying denims. I have seen A LOT on instagram lovely people wearing either mum jeans or boyfriend jeans with ankle boots and think it looks MINT! So when I saw this light washed pair with rips reduced to £2 in the charity shop, well they had to be mine. I wore them yesterday and they were so comfy and it was nice to have a fresh, alternative look to my usual skinny scenario.
boyfriend jeans3. £1.25 pencil skirt 
This skirt caught my eye because of its lovely print. I am certainly into animal print and wearing patterns and I like stretchy skirts for fat days and because they look good on my skinny legs!
I like stuff like this that will look great with sandals come summer, but look funky with various coloured tights through the winter too. When I saw it was only £1.25 I may have gone a little nuts “whhhhhhaaaaaaattttttt”!! Yes, even I get the occasional surprise at a charity shop!
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Soooo…If you think giving someone £5 isn’t a great gift or even tight, then I hope you will reconsider. To me this most certainly was a lovely gift, because it holds so many possibilities –  it meant that I could choose to buy not just one, but 3 new wardrobe pieces (and still have change for a freddo frog), but in past years It has bought me new Jewellery or a Dvd or CD from Amazon. At times if several siblings pop fivers in cards then I’ve put it together with other £5’s that show up for something a little more pricey.

Alternatively when buying £5 presents I buy in advance in the sale, look at offers and hang out at a local outlet. Either way round, don’t be fooled that £5 cannot enable one to have a lovely gift – why spend more??

Do you have budgets for your families for Birthday’s?

4 Comments

  1. November 23, 2015 / 10:25 pm

    Love your thrifty posts and what absolute bargains you managed to get. You always look so stylish Mary. Hubs and I have a strict budget of £10 for Christmas. The rules are you cannot just go to Poundland (other pound shops are available) and buy 10 items, and it has to be exactly £10. Certainly makes you think when I have 37p left to spend lol. That reminds me, I really must get a move on as only spent £1.99. I need to get to the charity shops too xx

    • November 25, 2015 / 6:31 pm

      Awww thank you Tracey – I have my own style, rarely on trend but occasionally I surprise myself haha. I love the idea that you and your hubs have, what a great thing 🙂 I might suggest that for our stockings this year haha and see what surprises he comes up with.

      I hope one day we can have a charity shop sess together haha x

  2. November 25, 2015 / 3:12 pm

    Wow amazing bargain hunting! Do you ever make gifts as well? Next week I’m doing a blog post on how to make £3 pyjama sets which I’ll be making for people’s xmas presents 🙂

    • November 25, 2015 / 6:29 pm

      Thanks sounds brilliant! I am almost finished making a pair of PJ bottoms for my nephew actually haha x

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