Lifehacked earrings

Posted on May 21, 2013 by

At the Colette sale, I found some ‘classy crystal earrings’ for $3, which was 75% off the regular retail price:

They’re a bit OTT for my little ears but they make the perfect kind of bridal bling for my ballroom heels. Cheap Geek helped me remove the studs so that the backs of the earrings were flush. I then lashed the earrings onto the shoes with some invisible thread*. A glue gun would probably be an easier/neater way of doing things, but I thought I might want to de-bling my heels at a future date.

And voila, now I have some sparkly heels for the wedding:

When looking for earrings to convert into shoe bling, bring your shoes with you. If you plan on using invisible thread, choose earrings that offer a few gaps or holes for you to loop the thread through. Avoid earrings that are too smooth; invisible thread has its limits! 

Check out my previous post, for more reversible shoe bling.

*Available from your local haberdashery/crafts store. Usually costs a couple of bucks.

Posted in Dress to Impress (for Less), Gen DIY-er, Thriftster weddings | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Paying off a different kind of debt

Posted on May 14, 2013 by

Last Tuesday, the RBA’s 25bp rate cut brought the official cash rate down to 2.75%, the lowest it has been in fifty-three years (via The Australian). I usually make a voluntary repayment into the fixed portion of my loan whenever RBA makes such a mortgagee-friendly announcement. But with 1st of June fast approaching, I thought I’d attend to another kind of debt, the student loan.

Prior to the economic blip of 2008 and the mortgage in 2009, a less mustbethrifty me decided to do a degree for the fun of it. A couple of years later, I ended up sixteen grand poorer; for the last oh so many years, I’ve been paying for it through my tax return*. Continue reading →

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Secondhand dressed

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

The other day, I eavesdropped on a conversation between two mothers. One was telling the other how hard it was to find a decent wedding dresses for under a thousand bucks. Yep, it’s common knowledge that wedding dresses are expensive, a fact that the wedding industry tries to perpetuate with its talk of ‘couture’, ‘bespoke’, and ‘chantilly lace’.

For a mustbethrifty bride, however, the wedding dress is an opportunity for some genuine savings. Unless you DIY, it’s hard to skimp on food, drinks, and entertainment, whereas it’s relatively easy to be parsimonious with wedding dresses, especially if you’re not afraid to wear something secondhand.It also makes sense. I MEAN, IT MIGHT BE A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME DRESS, BUT YOU’RE ONLY GOING TO WEAR IT ONCE, SO WHY SPEND HUNDREDS/THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON IT IF YOU’RE ONLY GOING TO WEAR IT ONCE…YOU’RE PLANNING ON WEARING IT ONLY ONCE, RIGHT? Continue reading →

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Going vegetarian without going hungry

Posted on April 30, 2013 by

According to Sandra Reynolds, ‘[t]he easiest way to reduce your food bill is to have two meat-free meals a week. You will save a minimum of $30 or even more, every week, by doing so’ (via The $120 Food Challenge).

My main beef with vegetarian, however, is that it doesn’t make me full. So how do I make a vegetarian meal more satisfactory? Continue reading →

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Shoe bling

Posted on April 23, 2013 by

Need some fancy-schmancy shoes for a special occasion? Instead of buying a new pair, why not invest in some shoe bling?

Thanks to the T-bar design, I’m able to add some sparkle to my ballroom shoes with brooches from Diva:

For T-bar-less shoes, try shoe clips from eBay or Etsy.

If brooches and shoe clips are too big an investment, make your own shoe bling. Continue reading →

Posted in Dress to Impress (for Less), Gen DIY-er, Thriftster weddings | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The best things in life are freecycled

Posted on April 16, 2013 by

My local library has given me access to a lot of mustbethrifty resources. One aspect of thrift that has been cropping up in my reading is freecycling, ‘the act of giving away usable unwanted items to others instead of disposing of them in landfills’ (via Wikipedia). First conceptualised by freecycle.org in 2003, freecycling is a form of hand-me-down via online groups or forums.

A couple of months back, I signed up to the local freecycle group’s mailout in the hope of finding some old sports trophies as wedding decorations, but my first foray into freecycling was a failure: no one replied to my WANTED post, and I spent fifteen minutes every day clearing my inbox of Freecycle spam.

I continued subscribing to Freecycle, however. There was something appealing about nosing through other people’s junk. Continue reading →

Posted in Beg or Borrow but Don't Steal, Going Green, Secondhand Scavengers | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

A warm winter coat

Posted on April 9, 2013 by

The end of daylight savings heralds the start of the cold, wich means it’s time to drag out the winter coat from storage.

If you haven’t got a winter coat, start looking for one. Invest in a good-quality woollen coat that is lined so that it lasts for a couple of seasons or more. Continue reading →

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