Dress code - the hard line on women's clothes written updates:-
SEX and the City allowed women to talk about their lives with honesty that had never been heard before. But among all of that fooling around you may have missed the valuable and fashionable financial advice that Carrie Bradshaw bestowed on the likes of me.
It was that moment when our heroine realises she cannot afford to buy her own home because she has spent a fortune on designer shoes.
"I've spent $40,000 on shoes and I have no place to live? I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes!" Oh, I hear ya sister.
Back in 2009, in a desperate bid to save money, I set myself the New Year's resolution that I wouldn't buy another item of clothing or footwear until I had worn absolutely everything already in my wardrobe.
The only exception to the rule was underwear (even on a budget you need to have good knickers just in case you get hit by a bus).
I allowed myself to wear separates more than once as long as they were mixed and matched in a new way each time. I kept a diary and every day wrote down what I wore - "white V-neck T-shirt, blue silk skirt, black ballet flats" and so on.
I made it to October.
Yep, nine whole months of clothes. Nine months of never wearing the same outfit.
Have you made a pledge to shop smarter in 2013? Is your closet overflowing? Tell us your clothes story
I felt disgusted at myself for wasting so much money and space in my life.
The money that I did save thanks to my New Year's resolution bought me a three-week holiday to Africa.
And if camping in a Third World country doesn't kill your greed, nothing will.
I gave up on my project the day I left for Kenya - heaven knows how long it could have gone on for, but I had learned my lesson.
And just to ram home the point even further, my wardrobe literally collapsed under its own weight just days after I returned.
Now, as I prepare to buy my own home this year, I have reached the point where I go for quality over quantity, and I especially love a good story to go with it.
Whether it's because I met the maker and was impressed by their creativity, or it's a trinket that I've picked up on my travels, saying "I bought it at a market in Istanbul" is so much more fun than "it's from Topshop".
I want whatever I spend my hard-earned cash on to last a lifetime, so that my treasured possessions grow old with me and I can pass on the stories behind them to the next generation of would-be shopaholics.
