how do my fiancé & I afford to live our slow life in 2024 as Canadians? to give some context: my fiancé & I run a singular photography / videography business (essentially 1 income), while prioritizing free time, travel, our style, and having a comfortable home. I know times are tough, so I thought I’d be a little transparent as to how we achieve this…and no, it’s not hustling & Im not trying to sell anything haha. to be honest, we sat down, had a hard look at our life, and defined what we wanted our life to look like on the daily, and cut the rest out. here are the ways we save money to prioritize what we do spend our money on: • we don’t buy new - all of our clothes & home decor, etc is purchased second hand. For us, this wasn’t even a sacrifice as we both love to thrift, as we live the uniqueness and the quality it brings. We get things for a fraction of what they’d cost new, and this saves us a lot of money. • we almost never eat out or order in - I would say this is a once a month occurrence for us. We save a lot of money by eating home-cooked meals and no pre-made convenience food. • we don’t buy meat or alcohol - while my husband-to-be grew up mostly vegetarian, I only recently went that way because I simply could not justify the cost. My health has also benefitted from adding more greens, beans, and variety to my diet. We also cut drinking as it’s just not doing anything for us anyways, and costs a lot of money. We also recently switched to shopping local, as after a cost comparison, we found it was more affordable in our area. My fiancé also recently started his sourdough journey, which has actually saved us a lot of money on bread, bagels, baking, etc. • we sold our cars - living downtown, we can get around without vehicles pretty easily. Paying for parking and insurance was quickly adding up so we chose to forgo the convenience of vehicles at the moment. • we travel in the off-season - our yearly trips to europe are only made possible by traveling outside of the busy and expensive summer time. I am a travel deal hunter and only book if I feel it’s good value. • we cut our hair at home - thankfully my hair training comes in handy as I cut both Calin and my own hair. I also save a ton on other beauty things like wearing minimal makeup, wearing perfume only for occasions, and sticking with more affordable brands while it may look like we’re giving up a lot, it doesn’t feel like it. We’ve traded off for things that make our life tailored to us. Saving in these areas allows us to spend in others, and prioritize being present and having more time together. Do you have any frugal tips?

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner as a sewist: womens’ sizing has changed a lot over the years! Anyone who is interested in vintage sewing patterns (I have quite the collection) will know that sizing was not the same back in the day. I can be a size 16-20 in old patterns from the 30s-90s, even though in today’s sizing I fit a size 6 on top and an 8-12 on bottom (depending on the retailer). So what has that got to do with thrifting? Well, most stores sort by the tag size, which means a lot of vintage clothing that would fit me ends up in the plus size section. For years, I would sort through the straight sizing sections and never find any pants that fit my body, so I pretty much just gave up thrifting pants. But soon after I began my sewing journey, it finally clicked! If I wanted to find vintage pants that fit, I had to look at vintage sizing. Normally when shopping at non-thrift stores, I had learned to not pay attention to sizing, and just see what fits best; and obviously I am privileged to not be completely between sizes and can get all of my clothes at straight-size retailers, which is not the case for a lot of women. Even at second-hand shops, they typically have “plus” sized clothing in a different part of the store, which is why I never thought to check there. I think it would be helpful if stores didn’t segregate plus and straight sizing; this fight for more inclusive sizing still has a long way to go - even when shopping second-hand. All this to say, if you’re someone like me who struggles with clothes, I share a lot about that, as well as thrifting, sewing, and slow life in my heritage apartment. #thriftedfashion #vintageaesthetic #scandistyle #coastalgrandmother #thrifttips #midsizefashion #redshirt

how cute are these 🥹💙 I recently sewed this set for a friend’s baby shower and my heart was melting every step of the way. I can’t handle how adorable! I had thrifted a 100% cotton sheet and it was soo soft so I picked it for this project. Not going to lie, making a baby bonnet without a pattern or fit model was a little challenging, as I had to look up stats on how large their heads would be (I made this to work for a 2T size) so I hope it works 🤞 The reason I chose to make it a bit large was I hoped this outfit would grow with the little one, the top could be more of a dress and then a blouse, and the bottoms could work as pants before they become shorts. let me know what you think! I don’t have much experience in this area so I tried my best haha. #babyclothes #sewingproject #memadeeveryday #thriftedfinds #sustainablestyle #canadianinfluencer

the benefits of slow travel: you can actually savour views like this! During my early travel days, I use to rush around to jam it all in, and now I’ve learned to let go of the bucket list top tens, everyone else’s must sees and just focus on what I love to do and see. We take our time in each place, instead of hopping from city to city, spending time to get to know a place by foot. We have coffee, we walk, we people watch, take photos, because that’s what we love to do. We don’t have fomo for the big sights or museums. We’ve gotten into the mindset that we won’t see it all, so we might as well just enjoy and that’s so freeing! what do you wish you had more time for when traveling? #wearetravelgirls #wanderlust_tribe #mountaingirls #dametraveler #travelgirlsgo #slowtravel #slowtraveller

i think people often think that crafting a timeless wardrobe or having your own personal style means you can never wear trends or be trendy, and that’s just not true. Here’s how I navigate trends and decide whether or not they’re for me, and will be sustainable in my wardrobe: 1️⃣ does it fit in to your lifestyle: this one is probably the most important. If realistically you would never wear it, or have the natural opportunity to wear it, why would you even bother? Save yourself the money. For example, I just don’t wear heels anymore, unless their platform. So any kind of stiletto that’s trending is an automatic no for me. 2️⃣ is it in or adjacent to your aesthetic: this one you really need to know yourself and define your style. I know a lot of people have different methods for “typing” and figuring out what your style is, but keep in mind your style is likely to evolve. My style has evolved from 70s inspired, to true classic, to coastal grandmother to now more cottagecore or romantic; but all of these are adjacent to each other in that they are vintage inspired aesthetics. 3️⃣ you’ve thought about it: I mean really thought about it. If you find yourself still thinking about a trend a month or two down the road, it probably wasn’t just a fad for you. If you find yourself thinking that X will look good with different outfits you put together, you’ve thought about how it will work for you, so it probably will. For me, these red ballet flats were a trend I committed to. I don’t wear heels, and I’ve been needing a solution for the rare occasion I have an event to go to and need a dressier shoe. These checked that box, but also worked for an everyday comfortable shoe. They also blend well with my vintage inspired, grandmacore closet. I also thought about them for about 6 months before I actually hit ‘add to cart,’ but I’m an over thinker when it comes to new purchases haha. do you have a trend that you’ve been thinking about jumping on? #romanticstyle #cottagecoreinthecity #slowfashion #slowlivingforlife #sustainablefashion #linenblouse #denimoutfit #redflats #balletflats