The Inspired Shopper

I’m thrilled to announce that my new book, The Inspired Shopper, is now available! You can get it now on Amazon as a Kindle ebook.

The Inspired Shopper teaches you how to become a precision shopper, quickly and efficiently locating the goods that are right for you – at the right price. It’s the culmination of many years of research and practice as I refined and developed the techniques of Inspired Shopping.

At only $5.99, it's a real bargain.

You don’t need a Kindle to buy and read this book. You do need to download a free Kindle app first. It’s very easy and doesn’t cost a cent.

If you buy the book, please consider including a short review for the Amazon website, and tagging the book.

More info about the book is available on the Inspired Shopper website.

One of the reasons I became an inspired shopper was because, around the time I became a uni student more than two decades ago, I completely lost the ability to find and choose clothes that suited me. It was partly my increasingly radical political views, which assumed that anything vaguely feminine was oppressive to women, and partly that I had no money to buy clothes. They simply stopped being something I wore for aesthetic purposes.

It would take decades to regain the strong sense of style I had when I was growing up, helped by my mother’s above-average sewing skills (which sadly she never managed to pass onto me, although she tried). I’d have the odd fashion bulls-eye, say for a one-off outfit for a wedding, and then, spurred on to greater confidence by that fluke, would buy something perfectly horrible that did nothing for me.

All during this sartorially challenging period of my life, my older sister stood before me as a beacon of classic style. While all my four sisters have what I consider good taste in clothes, my older sister has better than that: ‘a good eye’. She can pick something a mile off that will last for seasons, and she seems to instinctively know which colours and styles complement her looks, and which to avoid. Nor does she spend hundreds on designer threads, although she’s capable of choosing the occasional expensive outfit for a super-special event; she mainly buys high-end chain store fashion and has been known to wear the same piece for up to four years. With an eye like hers she really should be working in retail.

Anyway, apart from a one-off event during the worst of my particularly bad dressing period when she bought me a pair of fashionable culottes as a Christmas present, and her bequeathing me some decent cast-offs from her own collection over the years, my sister doesn’t normally give me wearable presents. But at my recent birthday she made an exception to this rule because she happened across a bargain that was so outstanding she couldn’t pass it up.

I give you, ladies and gentlemen, one of the bargains of the century - brand-new sandals that are exactly 95.9 per cent off the original price. They were priced at $5, down from the original $120. My sister found them in Myers, a large department store. She was going to buy a pair for herself but the sizing wasn’t right so she bought a pair for me instead as part of my birthday present.

Now, I’m not the sort of person who wears heels every day, but I can certainly handle them on special occasions. There are some instances when heels and a fancy top are just enough to make a pair of skinny jeans or denim flares look something special. And these sandals feel pretty comfortable; they have platform soles, so they don’t result in the excessive arching of the feet that a pair of stilettos necessitates.

Oh dear, it sounds as if I'm rationalising my love of these high heels, a fashion item that is normally not high on my priority list. Let's put it this way instead - like all good presents, these sandals are something I wouldn’t have bought for myself, but I’m extremely glad my sister bought them for me!

While I’m a fan of small business retailers, I don’t normally use this blog to promote individual businesses - that’s not its aim. But when I stumbled upon Second Edition bookstore recently I was so impressed by the stylish fit-out and store concept that I had to include a plug in this blog.

Second Edition is a secondhand bookstore run by the Brotherhood of St Laurence, a Melbourne-based organisation that combats poverty through research; advocacy; and hands-on, innovative programs.

The store, at the quieter end of a well-established shopping strip in whitebread suburban Malvern, boasts a cafe selling Fairtrade coffee, loads of great books, vinyl records and magazines, iMacs on which to check out the associated online bookstore, and a sublime, retro-stroke-nerdy- atmosphere that Gen Ys should flock to.

Wooden display shelves creating a bold, assymetrical pattern perch high above a groovy round table smack in the centre, anchored by slats rather than conventional legs. Behind that you’ll find a comfy seventies lounge suite on which to lounge as you sample the merchandise. The seductive smell of freshly brewed coffee wafts through the air.

This store could become something of an oasis for those who feel a little out of place among the area’s conservative baby boomers and the hundreds of younger, four-wheel-drive-owning families who perhaps once aspired and have now reached their aspirations. And I'd hope that some of the older and cooler of the private school kids who stream down Glenferrie Road at around 4 pm on weekdays might adopt it as their own.

Not only is this groovy place raising money for the work of the good old BSL, but it offers traineeships in retail and hospitality. They’re also looking for volunteers.

So please, if you live in Melbourne, pop in and check it out. And if you don’t, consider buying from the online bookstore.

Second Edition is at 215 Glenferrie Rd Malvern. The opening hours are Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm.

Disclaimer: In a previous lifetime I worked for the BSL as information officer. So sue me!