Want Less

Thank you to those who helped choose my second 30-day challenge of 2018. After spending January battling with a shopping ban, I was ready for something fun. So I put a few options together and let the people of Twitter decide. Option one was spending a month trying to get to grips with Japanese: I’m […]

Well, I’m glad that’s over. My first ‘shopping ban’ was only a mere 30 days long, but I’m embarrassed by how hard I found it. I’ve written in the past about how years of paring down my belongings and adopting a more minimalist lifestyle has helped me develop a healthy scepticism towards shopping. It’s not […]

There’s something dreary about this time of year. The party season, with all its excesses and its pressures, is coming to an end. In its place comes the prospect of months of long days at work, dark evening commutes and cold, wet weekends. If an image comes to my mind, it’s the photo I took, […]

Hi everyone! Sorry I went off the radar for a bit there, my wife wasn’t well and had to undergo surgery, so I was a bit tied up playing nurse. All’s well now, you’ll be pleased to hear, and I’m ready to get stuck back into some blog posts. But there were points over the […]

If you’re familiar with The Minimalists, you’ll know they’re all about keeping hold of what ‘adds value’ to your life and letting go of the rest. But if you have a pile of unopened cosmetics, how do you know what will add value and what won’t? I’ve been turning that question into a bit of […]

This is a guest post by Ali Cornish of the fantastic blog, Everthrive. You should check it out. Many centuries ago, Rene Descartes coined the phrase: ‘I think, therefore I am.’ He believed that the first defining aspect of humanity was that we are creatures of thought; the only reason we know we are truly alive is […]

Well, you spoke and I listened: I’m reviving my snarky cosmetics reviews. So many readers said they’d like me to reprise the series, so after a brief break (for my own sanity – I can’t stand being this high-maintenance!) they’re back. This month, I will be trying out four neglected beauty products from my cupboard […]

Could you get by wearing the same handful of outfits for the next few months? Courtney Carver’s wildly popular capsule wardrobe challenge Project 333 asks people to do just that: wearing only 33 items, including clothes, coats, shoes and accessories, for a three-month period. I’ve reached the end of my Project 333 challenge and if […]

I’m a little tipsy as I write this, so please bear with me. I have had a few celebration drinks this evening because, as of today, July 1, 2017, for the first time in my adult life…I am debt-free! I’m still not sure how I did it, quite frankly, and don’t ask me how I […]