Charity Begins At Home (In Your Wardrobe)

The recession is leaving many of us feeling cautious about cash. So how do we look like we've just walked off the pages of a glossy magazine when the shrapnel in our purse barely adds up to £20? More to the point, how do we do it without having a negative impact on our bank statement or our conscience?

Conscience can kick in in a variety of ways...we all know that sinking feeling when we open our bank or credit card statement and realise that the 'to die for' dress and the handbag we 'had to have' made more than a little dent in our pay cheque! Or when we see a documentary about sweatshops or global warming and the amorality of our apparel becomes glaringly apparent.

So what can we do about it and is there ever an ethical way to look ethereal? Beyond just more ethical ways to shop, is there a way to help others by updating your wardrobe, as opposed to harming them by buying clothes that may have been manufactured in sweatshops? Well follow the tips outlined in this blog to find out!

We all know what it's like, we've got a hot date and we open our overloaded wardrobe, yet have nothing to wear! We open our bulging purse and find it full of receipts rather than cash and there's just a crumpled £20 note to fund the all important outfit! So what do you do? Well straighten out that crumpled £20 and head to your local charity shops and browse of the biggest array of sizes, colours and designs that you'll find in any high street shop. Where else can you designer clothes, bags and shoes from just a couple of quid?

We all like the idea of being able to help others but it's fair to say that when the recession bites, the phrase 'charity begins at home' is on the minds of many of us. So is helping others something that should fall by the wayside when we're broke or should this be just the push we need to change our habits and help others by helping ourselves? The truth is, helping others doesn't have to be a totally altruistic act. Take the example of the hot date and the crumpled £20: If we head to the charity shops to find the perfect outfit for our hot date, then we could get a whole outfit for that £20 and be helping others in the process. So can we really get an outfit for £20? YES! Won't it just be old threadbare Primark seconds though (hardly hot date material)? Absolutely not!

So what can we get for our £20 and how will it benefit others? Well here's my latest finds for a completely glam outfit. Firstly a gorgeous Joseph little black dress for just £9.99 from Scope (worth around £200), Shelly's of London beautiful shoes from Oxfam for just £5.99 (worth around £50) and a DKNY handbag from The British Heart Foundation for just £2.99, (worth around £50)! So that's around £300 of gorgeous glamour for the price of a jumper from Peacocks! FABULOUS! And I still had £1 to put in the charity pot!

How does £20 really make a difference to anyone else? If we buy our whole outfit in Oxfam, that £20 is enough to supply safe water for 20 people, whether in a school or village for the first time or to restore supplies after an emergency. There are 2.6 million people living with heart disease in the UK. Research shows that people live longer when they receive nursing support at home. If we spend our £20 in the British Heart Foundation, we could help pay for a BHF nurse to visit a family and provide specialist care, help and support to a patient and their family. For just £20 the cost of 3 calls to Scope's support and advice service can be covered, so spending your crumpled £20 note in Scope can make all the difference.

If we can get a whole new outfit for our hot date then how do we find space in our wardrobe to hang it when it's bursting at the seams with things that no longer fit or we no longer wear? Well the British Heart Foundation alone prevent 25,000 tonnes of textiles going to landfill (and contributing to global warming) every year! So spring clean your wardrobe and let someone else fall in love with the items of clothing you 'had to have' but never wear. Your clothing donations can make a real difference to the lives of others in the UK and all over the world.

So when we look at the bigger picture, that new outfit for the hot date just became a way to look great on the outside and feel great on the inside!