Friday 13 February 2009

Self-help and shopping

I recently picked up Mary Portas' book on How to Shop, out of curiosity - I had watched some of the TV programmes on which the book is based. The book, like the programmes is well presented, but does it really tell you how to shop for clothes? I've been shopping for clothes for decades now, and I feel that it didn't give me much in the way of guidance, probably because I don't actually spend that much money on my wardrobe. I'm still not sure about which shopping tribe I belong to, but I can't say I'm really worried about it - never did like being one of a tribe anyway, I'd rather be independant and make up my own mind. I thought the when to shop section quite useful, even though I'm unlikely to follow the advice.

More to my taste was Danielle Proud's House Proud: Hip Craft for the Modern Homemaker. This is about how to achieve a quirkily stylish home on a budget, and includes all sorts of ideas for furnishing and decorating a home. As I've been doing this most of my life, some fresh ideas were very welcome - my ancient copy of Jocasta Innes The Paupers Homemaking Book is almost unusable because of its disintegrating condition. Danielle's ideas are fresh and modern with quite a lot of emphasis on the current recycling trend.

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