Another month of shoe saving has whizzed by! Granted, February is always shorter, but after what seemed like an endless January it feels as though someone changed the settings to warp speed and here we are on the brink of Spring! Absolutely no complaining about over here, to be clear, but it does make me feel a little breathless. not a lot has happened, of course. It may be my birthday month, but let’s face it, February isn’t known for being the most exciting time of the year – all the merriment of Christmas is over, yet warmer weather seems so far away, so all there is to look forward to really is maybe some cut price choccies after Valentines day! But despite that I managed to have a bumper month with another 27 pairs under the belt – almost one for every day, thanks to a spot of warm, dry weather and some fun social plans!
First things first, there have been a couple of changes to the collection! First was a swap. I’ve had these battered old leopard flats from Matalan for an age, but despite the print being one of my favourites for accessories, these, I’ve always felt, were a little dull and not the attention grabbers they should be, so I’ve been on the look out for a replacement pair for a while. I’d had my eye on these lace up, ponyskin beauties from Zara for a while but never come across a price I was happy with, but this month I found a pair for a bargain price due to thre fact the laces had frayed – £4 for the shoes and a couple of quid for new laces later and they were mine! And I love them. I have a particular penchant for lace up flats as it makes them easier to wear with tights in colder weather, meaning you get more wear out of them, so I now have the perfect pair and expect them to be saved any time now! The old ones are still in wearable condition so they are off to live in the boot of the car for emergencies – waste not want not, afterall!
I also got myself a naughty little birthday treat! I fell in love with these Boden wedges a while ago, but as much as I love Boden shoes I just couldn’t justify nearly £100 for such a frivolous pair. But as luck would have it I spotted a pair on eBay the week before my birthday starting at just £25! I jumped straight in with the opening bid, promising myself I wouldn’t persue it if it kicked off a bidding war, but as the final hours of the auction crept closer things remained eerily quiet. I really thought someone would swoop in and steal them from me at the last minute, but they didn’t, and now they are happily nestled in amongst my other treasures on my shoe shelves! Obviously this means my already vast total to save is pushed up by one to 181, but they make me so darn happy, I can’t see me having trouble getting them worn as soon as the sun comes out!
Onto the saves themselves, and obviously boots took centre stage again. We had another heavy deluge of snow which stuck around for a good few days, making it impossible to go anywhere in anything other than the most sensible of footwear! That isn’t to say a few of my fancier boots didn’t get worn though – I’m very pleased to see my green suede, pink suede, embroidered and blue velvet ankle boots make the cut this month! And with only 7 pairs left to save by the end of the year I’m feeling pretty confident they will all survive the challenge – even though two of them are my sequinned and silver glitter ones!
The snow wasn’t the only surprise weather we faced – we also had an early but very welcome warm spell which meant I managed to get a head start on my flats, numbers of which grew exponentially once I found out I was pregnant! I have a terrible tendency to reach for the same ones all the time so it’s pleasing to have made some headway here. Other than the gold ones, which get worn pretty much constantly during the warmer months – so much so they are definitey on their last lags and overdue replacing – the others don’t get chosen nearly as much as they should despite being very neutral and easy to style. I don’t know why exactly, but I suspect it’s because I still haven’t quite moved on from the notion that my flat shoes are my ‘boring’ ones when compared to my heels, which is daft, because these days some of them are my favourites!
Of course the drier weather also meant I got through some of those pesky heels (I say pesky like they aren’t the love of my life!) Despite my bemoaning earlier that February is a dull month I actually had a number of social occasions that gave me the opportunity to dress up a little. A virtual baby shower, Valentines Day and a number of birthday treats meant another 7 pairs have been ticked off the list! I found that when the sun came out I made an extra effort to pick out a pair of heels rather than the boots I probably would normally have been wearing so the effects of the challenge are definitely taking hold! And they need to as there are an awful lot of heels left to save….
One thing there isn’t a lot of though are trainers, because I’ve officially saved them all! Admittedy I only own three pairs so it was never going to be too big a task, but it still feels good to have completed a whole category even if it was the easiest one! It’s been interesting none the less, because much like my flats I have a tendency to view them as functional above anything else so wear them because the situation requires it rather than because I specifically want to, so it’s been fun actually styling them as part of an outfit!
Save of the Month
The save I’m most pleased about this month has to be my beloved Carvela ‘Kiki’ pumps. Much like last month’s special save I always knew I would have a challenge on my hands getting them worn. I mean, look at them. They’re utterly ridiculous. The huge platform. The massive bow. The rainbow coloured polka dots – they are basically clown shoes! But I love them. I love all their silly, whimsical charm, and when I bought these it was the first time I’d found the confidence to buy something I really loved without worrying about what other people thought, so they are very dear to me and on my birthday evening I jumped at the chance to wear them. They aren’t the easiest to style, but I managed to find a dress that was almost the perfect shade of cream and then used pink accessories to match that glorious bow.
And that was February! Still feeling pretty pleased with the total saved so far – at 52 its well ahead of the 15 per month average I set myself, but I’m really going to need that headstart later on in the year so I’m not getting complacent yet! 129 to go!
Don’t forget you can keep track of my journey at the following Pinterest boards:
Shoes still to save! – 129
Saved shoes! – 52/181
Love,
Picking the Day 