Latest news with #valueformoney
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
How we get dressed for less than £100
What is the secret to shopping on a strict budget, when you're looking for quality and value for money, as well as a snippy price point? The truth is most of us mix it up in our wardrobes all the time, combining pieces we've owned for a season or two with new purchases, so we seldom go shopping for a full head-to-toe look. However, the challenge from one of our Telegraph readers – How would we put together an outfit for £100 or less? – was one we wanted to address. Of course, there are always great high street finds out there, if you shop with discernment. Even supermarket own-brand clothing ranges have come on in leaps and bounds. The rise of resale platforms and the proliferation of modern, well-curated charity shops on our high streets mean that the stigma which was once attached to second-hand shopping no longer exists (as you can see, me and my Telegraph colleagues took to Vinted in a bid to eke out our shopping budgets). Interestingly, I've looked at the shops slightly differently since researching this feature – call it a renewed sense of purpose seeking out pieces that truly justify the price tag, as well as an openness to different fashion hunting grounds. Just this weekend I was in my local gift shop (Susan Wainwright in Hampstead, since you ask), where I noticed cute own-label pyjama shorts sets, made from Indian cotton for just £45. Too good for bed, they looked like perfect beach holiday co-ords to me. Just add a pair of spaghetti strap Teva sandals as worn by Mary-Kate Olsen for £35, and voila: a vacation outfit with change for £100. Let us know what you think – we would also love to hear about your under £100 fashion tips. Sarah Bailey Total: £95.85 Straight leg jeans, £35, Uniqlo Cotton T-shirt, £14.90, Uniqlo Jacket, £16.45, Slingback kitten heels, £29.50, M&S The way I dress is very high/low – I'm always pulling things out of my closet that I have kept for years. When I add to my wardrobe (whether a high street find or a special designer piece I've saved for) I want the things I buy to be keepers. For this challenge, I wanted to put together an easy day look that I would feel confident enough to wear to the office, without compromising on personality. I planned to eke out my budget with a couple of basics, and hopefully bring in a little pizzazz with a vintage find. I started at Uniqlo with these JW Anderson collab jeans. If I'm honest the straight leg cut felt a little basic, but for the bargain price I could hardly argue. The Uniqlo Airism T-shirt though was a revelation – I loved the modern, boxy cut, and since I have now bought two of these I am happy to report that they wash brilliantly. I'm a confident vintage shopper. I've scoured second-hand shops for years, so I felt sure that I could find a statement jacket on Vinted if I looked hard enough. I typed in various search terms – 'boucle', 'tweed', 'Chanel-type jacket', 'vintage' – and eventually hit the jackpot with this Betty Jackson beauty in pollen-yellow textured tweed with sweet, black lace trim. Shoes? I knew that would be the hardest part. I was drawn to the design of these M&S woven kitten heels – a snippy bargain for sure, but they seemed to slip off when I walked. If I were to repeat the experiment, I would finish my look with spaghetti-strap black Tevas instead. Sophie Tobin Total: £95.60 Cotton T-shirt, £14.90, Uniqlo Pleated Cos skirt, £21.70, Leopard block heel shoes, £59, M&S I buy most of my clothes from Cos, so the first thing I did when given this challenge was to search for a Cos skirt on Vinted. The seasoned Vinted pros search for specific brands and items to narrow down the offering, which can be overwhelming if you're a relative newbie like me and can't face hours worth of scrolling. I know what size I am and the pieces that suit me in Cos so hit gold with this pleated skirt that was on offer for only £21.70, a good chunk off the original price of £65 and in perfect condition. I've paired it with one of my T-shirts from Uniqlo, choosing a boxier shape with split hems to complement the shape of the skirt. Uniqlo's staples are great quality and the T-shirts have a good thickness to them despite their low price point. Growing up, it was drilled into me that shoes should be supportive and durable (no trendy ballet flats for me in the school yard) so I was wary about the flimsiness of high street shoes. I was impressed with these leopard-print shoes from M&S and they added some much needed interest to my two-tone outfit, but I think I'll stick to something sturdier considering how much walking I do. With a few extra pounds I would like to add a jacket, and have been inspired to find a second-hand bomber that would make this outfit work for cooler temperatures – I've got a leather option from Cos that I've set alerts for on Vinted, so here's hoping I can track it down. Jessica Burrell Total: £97.48 Mesh beaded skirt, £44.99, H&M Cotton poplin shirt, £22.99, Zara Bow ballet pumps, £29.50, M&S Putting an outfit together for less than £100 was more of a challenge than I expected. The key, for me, was finding a hero piece on the high street: an embellished skirt from H&M, which I think looks more expensive than its affordable price tag. It's the kind of skirt I would love to stumble across in a vintage store or find online after hours of scouring second-hand platforms, but unfortunately I can rarely find the time for such endeavours. The H&M piece is a good alternative, and I've worn it a lot with an oversized white shirt from With Nothing Underneath. The problem with that outfit is that the shirt alone would have surpassed our £100 budget, so I swapped in a cheaper option here. To be honest, I think you can tell, and the issue with scrimping on staples is that the quality just isn't there – the shirt felt see-through and didn't have the relaxed silhouette that you get from investment options. Nor did some of the others I tried from other high street stores. The rest of the outfit convinced me, especially M&S's brilliant 'ballet teacher pumps' – as we've christened them on The Telegraph Fashion desk – which I've been wearing for months. It's little surprise to me that we all opted for M&S shoes for this challenge, as they feel like the best on the high street this season: comfortable, on-trend and, crucially, reasonably priced. Hansveni Dave Total: £84.90 Woven ballet flats, £45, M&S Textured white Massimo Dutti tank, £4.90, Sample black linen skirt, £35, Alchemy London I typically splurge on my basics, as I see them as investments, and keep everything else high street, so I wanted to find those brands I indulge in on Vinted. One of my most-purchased-from brands is Massimo Dutti, so I turned to the second hand app to hunt down the brand for a fraction of the usual cost. I came across this white vest top, something I see as a good-quality wardrobe staple, and I paired it with a Alchemy London maxi linen sample skirt. Alchemy London does some of my favourite trouser and waistcoat co-ords, but I opted for this linen skirt from one of their sample sales. While I do love apps like Vinted and Depop, my favourite way to find incredible pieces for a lower price is scouting out sample sales of my favourite brands. The trick is to follow the brands on Instagram; they tend to only announce their sample sales on socials or sometimes through their mailing lists. I know, signing up to these emails can lead to a bombarded inbox, but those sample sale emails are so worth it to me. Some may find the idea of going to a sale daunting or stressful, however I find it thrilling trying to track down the best items – it always makes for a fun Saturday activity. This task reaffirmed my love for a sample sale over apps like Vinted, as you can go and actually see the products and try them on instead of taking the risk with a second hand app. Although that's not to say Vinted isn't amazing for finding items you have either already tried on or brands you know your size in.
Irish Times
24-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Ministers to be warned over spending amid economic uncertainty
Cabinet Ministers are to be warned of their responsibility to ensure value for money when they authorise the spending of public funds this year. In the midst of a period of global economic uncertainty, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers is to remind colleagues they will have to stay within the budgetary ceilings set for them in 2025. The Fianna Fáil Minister will tell Cabinet on Tuesday that a total expenditure ceiling of more than €100 billion was announced as part of Budget 2025 covering all Government departments. He will say all Ministers must be prudent with public money. The responsibility for staying within budget will be extended to agencies that come under the responsibilities of their departments. READ MORE The memo will be received as a warning shot to Ministers and their departments about breaching spending ceilings. While some sectors, especially health, have spent more than was allotted in their vote, it is understood there will be less tolerance for departmental overspending during 2025. The Government is also poised to give a green light for a multibillion dollar blueprint aimed at dramatically changing the face of Dublin city centre within a decade. [ The Irish Times view on Dublin City dereliction Opens in new window ] Taoiseach Micheál Martin will bring a memo to Cabinet seeking approval for a 10-year roadmap that will include an ambitious regeneration of the social housing stock, 1,000 extra gardaí on its streets, as well as a project to change the historic GPO building into a major hub on O'Connell Street. The roadmap, prepared by senior civil servants, is based on the work of the Dublin city Taskforce , the body established to examine potential rejuvenation mechanisms. There have been calls to revitalise the city centre over many years amid rising concerns over public safety, crime, antisocial behaviour, drug-taking, litter and no-go areas. Those concerns came to a head during the riots that occurred around the O'Connell Street area of the north inner city in November 2023. The Taoiseach will seek approval to set up a 'special purpose vehicle' under Dublin City Council to implement the plan . A project management office will also be established. The historic GPO complex will be revamped as an ambitious flagship project with cultural, retail and office elements, the memo will outline. The recommendations of the taskforce report in October 2024 included the rejuvenation of O'Connell Street and its surroundings, the regeneration of social housing complexes, putting high-density accommodation into derelict sites, and stationing 1,000 more gardaí in the area. Mr Martin will also brief Cabinet on a group asked to implement a report on conveyancing on probate. Its main recommendation was to reduce the processing time for probate to eight weeks and to fully implement e-conveyancing by 2027. The group was asked to come up with a practical way of implementing the recommendations and is expected to do so by December. Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill will seek approval for new legislation ensuring a minimum standard of patient safety in Irish hospitals. The Patient Safety (Licencing) Bill 2025 will require public and private hospitals to operate to minimum core standards. Minister for Higher and Further Education James Lawless will bring a progress report on policy aimed at delivering 750 public sector apprenticeships each year. Significant progress has been made, the document will say, with registrations rising from 67 in 2022 to a projected 554 in 2025. Mr Lawless will also bring a memo that changes the standards of State-supported student accommodation. The model will provide for the greater use of shared facilities such as twin rooms, communal kitchens and shared bathrooms replacing the current reliance on individual en-suite units.
The Sun
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
BYD Dolphin Surf is a small, simple £18k motor packed with things that please… it knocks its rivals out the park
I'M a big fan of small and simple cars because I like value for money more than I do screens and gadgets. This BYD Dolphin Surf is small and simple. 4 4 Just press and go. It's value for money at £18,650. And yet it's got a rotating touchscreen and all those gadgets thrown in anyway. Where's the catch? I can't see one. It knocks a Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03 out of the park because it's a proper car for not much more and it's comfortably less than the already brilliant-value Renault 5. Finance from £269 a month with £269 deposit. Or £199 a month with about £3k deposit. It'll cost pennies to run. I reckon many will be bought as second cars but end up being the one owners use the most. Dolphin Surf has four seats, three with ISOFIX anchor points for the kiddlywinks, and a surprisingly practical boot that'll swallow the Friday big shop. Properly comfy seats by the way. Made of 'vegan leather' whatever that means. Big drink holders. Phone storage tray. Apple CarPlay. Reversing camera. Adaptive cruise control for your out-of-town runs. All things that please and all included in the price. You can even use your little BYD bud as a mobile power bank – running everything from party lights to a fridge. Now I should spell out that Dolphin Surf comes in two battery sizes. The entry-level Active gets you a 137-mile battery by the WLTP test and a big enough e-motor to keep you swimming in quick traffic. Then there's the £22k Boost nudging 200 miles from the 43kWh battery. 'BRIM THE BATTERY' Both use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry for higher levels of durability and safety. So you can 'brim' the battery every time without depleting it. Both roll on Hankook tyres. Another positive. Even the lime green paint job is free. How safe is it? It's engineered to attain a four-star safety rating. The body uses 68 per cent high-strength steel and the car is brimming with anti-crash gear. The car will be made in Hungary soon – and avoid tariffs. I told you BYD would quickly chime with UK drivers and the Chinese are already outselling Honda, Citroen, Fiat and more. There are a load of plug-in hybrids coming next, including a junior SUV and a pick-up truck called Shark. 4 4
