3 things for Autumn
The Row-esque handbag, a game changing notebook and the best High Street lighting (from someone who really needs lights)
September is somewhat bittersweet for us. This year, our youngest finally started reception, nursery fees are fully behind us and we have space to breathe, literally and financially. But September will also always be the anniversary we never wished to have, that of our twin baby loss (I have written about our experience here) and their missed school years.
Yet I still love the feeling of September: fresh notebooks, stationery (I recall begging my mum for an entire Harley Davidson set - ringbinder included - despite having no clue what a Harley Davidson was), routine and beginnings. It feels fitting, then, that we have handed in our notice to move into our new home next month (!). Of course we don’t yet have any flooring, any kitchen walls or any windows on the ground or first floor but it’ll be an adventure, right?!
I wanted to share some links I loved this week:
Laura Jane Williams interviewed me on all things ‘How To Build A Life’, her brilliant newsletter on work, life, parenthood and refiguring everything out. I rated my life as a 10 and then immediately felt a bit awkwardly smug about it. But I know that life hasn’t always been that way and it’s important to appreciate where you are right now. I feel so lucky to be able to move and renovate our dream house for our family, it’s tiring and expensive and hard to juggle but what! a! privilege!
Excellently researched as always,
’s article on red lipsticks for all is a great start and end point for anyone looking for their perfect shade.I loved this article on Boots - not all Boots branches were created equal (but that’s kind of what we love about them?).
And wow, Anna’s post on what she uses AI for really blew my mind. I don’t even use Siri or Alexa and slightly feel I’m going to be left behind? I am a total AI pessimist but this post made me rethink it. I would love to know if you use it and what admin it helps you cut down in your life? Consider me fascinated!
3 things this Autumn…
I like to keep these short and (somewhat) snappy, as I find trend reports exhausting. I buy far less than I used to and hate the thought of people feeling they ‘need’ something just so I can make money from an affiliate link (by the way * denotes an affiliate link but I don’t use them on Paid newsletters).
So here’s a mixed bag of items I think are interesting/worth it:
Yes it’s a tiny notebook for £14.50 but hear me out! Firstly, one thing you must know about me is I will always overpay for stationery. I once got criticised at my magazine job for recommending a neon Caran D’Ache pen as a ‘frugal’ buy for an online article. But guess who still owns and uses that pen, but doesn’t own most of the same clothes she wore and recommended back then? You guessed it.
But again, it’s not the actual notebook that’s the thing I’m recommending, it’s the change of mindset it represents. Like everyone else I have an online calendar and frequently forget what is actually happening on any given day. I have to write things down for them to enter my brain. I love a paper To Do list and I currently use this (I’m sorry this link is Amazon) but I still end up writing everything I need to do as one giant overwhelming list.
Step forward my Weekly Schedule (I did buy mine from Our Curated Abode but she doesn’t seem to have them online, do pop by her store if you’re ever in Ramsgate!). It’s diddy, it’s pretty and it enables me to focus on what I need to do THAT day only. It helps me accept I can’t do everything but I can break down my To Dos into achievable daily tasks instead.
Gosh that really was a long sell for a notepad.
I always struggle with bags, they need to be useful and sturdy and good quality but I don’t want to spend a fortune on them, either. So this feels like a nice compromise - it’s chic, it’s not enormous but would still hold a decent stash of book, wallet, phone, keys and make-up bits. So maybe it’ll be a little overstuffed…but isn’t that a sign of a bag well lived?
My pal Louisa Hatt posted a really useful, sensitive video comparing her ‘Park’ tote from The Row to the Cos ‘Paradigm’, by way of looks but also quality and fixtures. As a consumer who will never own (or probably even touch) a bag from The Row, I found it really helpful to hear from someone who chooses to buy one, and what they look for in a bag.
And if chocolate brown feels a little too trendled this season, it comes in black leather, too.
And lastly: lighting! From someone who has spent a lot of her free time looking at lights, I can confirm that La Redoute is the winner when it comes to the High Street. I have bought no 2 for one of our loft rooms (chic flush lights are surprisingly hard to find!), no 7 for our living room and have been seeing more and more chrome lately (no 3). I’m convinced it will soon become the new brass.
As a reminder, the film for this month’s Frugality Film Club (a no pressure film watching club featuring films the algorithm won’t tell us about) is 45 years on Channel 4. I will recap on my end of month newsletter (24th September) and we can discuss!
Next week’s post will be a big renovation update - we have stairs to the loft and we move in 44 days!
Thank you so much for your content. I really delete most of all Newsletters - because no time! But I always make time to read yours. So thank you. 💜
AI is a huge part of the conversation in my industry and I am increasingly looking out of step for my feelings on it but most use cases I’ve seen don’t justify the huge resources used and I’d be even more concerned about if I worked in a creative industry.
I also don’t use Siri or Alexa so I’m probably not the target audience, to be fair. I do think there are some legitimate uses in eg medical advances but I’m pretty uncomfortable about the way a lot of people are using it today.
Exciting re house move - we also move in 35 days so looking forward to seeing your reno update!