For me, the credit crunch happened two years earlier than for most.  With boundless optimism, I had handed in my notice as a US equities fund manager to embark on my new journey into the world of entrepreneurialism: big world, small pay cheque.  Actually, that would be no pay cheque.

Before I can make bold claims of penury and Victorian workhouse conditions, it is only right to admit that I did have a supportive husband to fall back onto; a husband who, thankfully, had no immediate intentions of abandoning concepts like financial security, mortgage payments and Sainsbury’s bills.  However, one can never appreciate how things change until they do. Two salaries became one: my status in our consumer-driven society vanished, my shoe habit woefully neglected.

However, after eight year’s of conspicuous consumption, I wasn’t quite ready to wave the white (Primark) flag.  So, armed with a shameless desire to save face and a propensity to spend money, I learned how to maintain the former whilst reducing the latter.  This website aims to share that wisdom.  Borrowing from the words of Marie Antoinette: when you’re too poor for bread, make sure you can still eat cake.