Omg, the ballet outfit story had me actually cheering at the phone! It's sad how normalised ultra fast fashion has become. Well done for challenging it and WHAT A SCORE! 🎉

Another great video, keep them coming. Thank you

The jacket is awesome! About 10 years ago I made a rag quilt out of flannel sheets that were not holding up well. It turned out great, but it was so heavy by the time it was done, I struggled to use it, so I donated it. I like to think maybe someone else discovered it and loved it, maybe even still using it.

I do not need to buy no clothes from anywhere...I do not need free clothes...

Great stuff. And thrifting for an AirBnB makes complete sense because you just don't know how people are going to care for this stuff.

Love that this video popped up on my feed! I've just started a year long challenge of buying nothing new - the underwear question was definitely one of the ones I had too, good to know there are options :D Thanks so much for sharing your journey!

The best clothes to thrift are in Charity or Opshops as we call them here in Australia is clothes that a decade or 2 old. Vintage, some forever pieces. Brands made in Australia of top quality brands, some who now do not exist. Online isn't the same as looking, feeling, does it speak to me and trying on. I look for natural fibres and good quality, brand name, not so much. The point is you don't need to buy new and you keeping clothes out of landfill. I also sew, fabulous for altering or making a new garment out of great fabric. I only brought one new top this year and it didn't wash up well. Huge regret. And a pack of socks. Undies I will be sewing soon out of old tanktops I never wear. Bras will be the only thing I will be buying new this year. Secondhand everything is so much better than new, better for the enviroment and I will not support 'fast fashion' companies with horrific labour practices.

I loved this video! I have been following for a few months now, trying your sourdough routine (and failing so re-adjusting slightly), loved hearing about flexi-schooling (btw you are very lucky your school even suggested it and agreed! Lots of families would love that option but sadly their school will not agree. We are still trying to figure out if it’s for us or not). I haven’t been following the trad wives ‘drama’ but it’s interesting! I am a SAHM with a Saturday job and I like it however the plan is for me to work more when both of my children are at school. I would quite happily stay home if we could afford it financially. Saying that I am immensely grateful that there is a choice and if it makes sense for a family for the wife/mum to stay at home and she likes it then why not. It goes the other way too, if a mum wants to work full time because she loves her job, go and do it, amazing, if you can’t afford to stay at home but have to work than that’s the sad part when I feel there isn’t much choice. Love your content, love your sourdough and sewing in a non trad-wife way and just love hearing about your normal family life and meals and things you do. Happy and Healthy 2025!

I love your sweater! I wish I could find something like that second hand 😮

I love that you're on KZbin and the content is longer. I've started a low buy year on 10 areas of my life including clothes and you inspired me to see how far into the year I can manage instead of my initial plan to just do January as I did once before. So thank you, you're making a difference! (But I'm buying my underwear new if I need any!) I'd love to see a video on what sustainable make up and skincare you buy now so that I can have suggestions for when mine needs replacing.

It is so funny (about matching ballet T-shirts). I feel like I would be more influenced to buy, especially if the kid wants to, to not be left out, so I might be persuaded more easily. But if I would say no, and it would be ordered for me, I would never pay for it and take it, you do not spend my money without my agreement! 😅

I think you’re one of my favourite people on KZbin. Bless you in all you aspire to do.

Oh, use your hands! Everyone uses their hands to speak , it would look odd if you didn’t!🤭 I am learning so much from you! Keep doing you!❤

Love your videos. I'm checking into ducks. Would enjoy the actual process and how they live. Really anything you post is great. Move your hands all you want.

Your channel became one of my faves in 2024. Absolutely love what you’re doing in this space. Looking forward to all that’s to come!

Interesting talk, I love your honesty. Simple is good. Also jacket is fab

I love your videos- we are making some big changes in our family life and I’ve been very inspired by your content. I too have SO many thoughts on Ballerina Farms, but I’ll die on the hill that she is NOT a stay at home mom. She is a work from home mom, with a TON of help and resources, who runs multiple businesses and performs on the internet that she is a stay at home mom. I think we need to open up the conversation that most people really aren’t a stereotype, but that in order to fit in on the internet & niche down society at large now refuses to recognize that everyone (particularly women) can be many things and don’t need to fit into a box (I’m referring to everyday women here, not performative influencers).

I would love to see videos on your wardrobe/closet. Or any house organization with kids! I am about to have our first baby and feeling very overwhelmed. lol ❤

Ooo! I love this move! 😍 I stayed away from WhatsApp over the last two weeks and it was WONDERFUL. Some things got missed, some people phoned to get the answers they had wanted, and it was all absolutely fine 😊 Deleted Insta, FB and TwiX long ago, never used TikTok, Snapchat or any other SM apps, other than KZbin, and I enjoy learning from long form videos so much 😃 Sewing is fab, I feel like it’s been a new-found superpower that I’ve discovered later in life. I’m also enjoying clay, papier maché, and about to start trying Silver clay - a podcast-y video to keep me company is so enjoyable 😊 Wave your hands all you like, and looking forward to what you’ll be bringing in the coming year! 🎉

I have sewn my whole life and I can say Well done

Please use your hands All you want. I am learning so much from you! I, 66 and I find your lifestyle refreshing. AND I USE THE WORD STYLE because I love style but not trends.

Just found your channel and loving it. I’ve been a meal planner for a long time…. Cannot imagine going to the supermarket and not having a plan. Also try to eat organic as much as possible and buy 90% ingredients. Love the tip on being honest about your energy levels for certain days when prepping… I’m still learning this!

Great video! Not buying new clothes is very difficult and hearing your story is very inspiring 😊

I started sustainable too. Then to effective treatment of health conditions bditions i lost a lot of weight so needed to replace a lot of clothes. So second hand shopped focusing on natural fabrics, sustainable brands and vintage clothes. And i actually love my clothes more, better quality and unique to me. So in 2025 im doing the same. Hope to keep it up all year. Thanks for inspo.

Omg just found you love your take on second hand shopping. I do it! I wish I lived in the UK

In challenging myself to not buy premade snacks this year. I’ll slowly use up what we have and I am starting a freezer stash of homemade snacks. I’m interested to see how much I can save. Also turned leftover curry into curry pies for dinner tonight.

ditch the lipstick, too - saves money and IT'S TOXIC - YOU'RE INGESTING IT EVERY TIME YOU SLATHER IT ON LIKE CLOWN MAKEUP.

You and your family are so inspirational. Please advice how you responsibility recycle or remove items of clothing that are no longer needed. Love hearing that this is an option for families. Thank you Lesley England x

Algorithm sent me here as I’m looking at hugely reducing my consumerism. Two questions, where can I locate a list of ethical uk brands please? Secondly, I do use Vinted but I worry that with the shipping it’s not really helping the environment. But I’m torn as I’m still rehoming an unwanted item that’s already in circulation. How do I reconcile that?

When my daughters used to do ballet their ballet teacher had a box for outgrown ballet/character shoes plus leotard and skirts etc. You’d put your child’s name on it and how much you wanted for it and if it sold the ballet teacher would pass the money on at the next lesson. My younger daughter had her sisters hand me downs and then I sold them on. When they put on a show we had to buy their outfits which were made by their ballet teachers mom to keep costs down and they’d usually be used for another show the following year so we could sell those on too. The comment you received about just passing the tshirt on to a charity shop is a very typical mindset but it’s a specific tshirt so who’d want to buy it secondhand unless they went to the same ballet school 🤷‍♀️ I also used eBay to source things rather than buy new (this was before Vinted) and I started making their character skirts myself. A lot of their clothes were from charity shops when they were younger and as teens they loved charity shopping for unique looks. I’m plus size and there’s never much beyond a size 16/18 but I keep looking because now and then I come across things like the cashmere jumper I found a few weeks ago x

The national average is £600-700 per person?! 😵‍💫 Absolutely mind boggling, I think we spend maybe around a hundred or less… Charity shops and small museum gift shops were my go to this year for gifts, and consumables of course. Also a few hand me downs from cousins. We only do a few gifts from Santa, and then the rest are clearly labelled from family members or friends.

the floral plates are gorgeous.

This is so helpful thank you! Woukd you mind sharing how you season the rice and beans?

Cardamom and ginger is lovely in kombucha

Totally awesome.

Hi I have just found you and have loved the content I've watched so far! I am 53 and over the last few years myself and my husband decided we needed to do 'more'. We've gone from living in the city and relying on all the mod cons on offer. Online shopping - ✔ Not even considering our power / energy source and usage - ✔ The provenance of our food, hey Ocado delivers who am I to question?- ✔ Garden maintenance taking time? - No problem just lay huge amounts of artificial grass and gloat that come Winter we still look green -✔ Have I been guilty of buying new clothes without thinking and for with no event in mind but just because I 'liked them' - ✔✔ Even worse, did they languish unworn in wardrobes and not even returned? ✔ Absolutely! I allowed myself to even take the 'moral' high ground with this because I would then donate them to charity shops and so I was positively a hero for helping out right?! I admit to ALL of this with shame and a heavy heart. With our children grown and looking towards grandchildren arriving and inheriting the planet we stopped thinking about work and what made life easier for us, we stopped shaking our heads at the news or on reading the environmental impact to the world and realised change started with us. We sold the house, moved to the countryside, our 'artificial' always green garden is now 3 acres of field we have worked hard to re wild, planted many trees, grown fruit and veg with varying degrees of success! We have chickens and ducks who have the greatest of lives and give us our eggs. We have deer who visit (and sometimes destroy) and more wildlife than could be imagined. The gas guzzling cars have gone, we store solar energy in our batteries and bit by bit, day by day we are trying. The clothes however...for me that is not for the mister, has been the last thing to change. I still don't quite have my eye in on the charity shops, often finding it all just a little overwhelming and finding it hard to picture the wardrobe I have in mind. I do peruse Vinted often, but have found myself just looking at the tried and true labels I would shop from before because "well they were expensive so they must be ethical right?!" (insert huge eye roll here) So I (eventually) get to my question for you which brands do you suggest looking for? Do you have any clothing brands that you are comfortable in knowing the ethics behind and provenance of where they source? I, like most women in their 50's these days did not stop caring about style and resorting to frumpy mum wear the minute the clock struck midnight at 40 or the menopause fairy approached. So clothes that work for country living and tramping around outside all day are necessary but so is a little something to wear out for cocktails, a nice restaurant and theatre. Any advice would be hugely appreciated by both myself and the planet!

So appreciate this video! We are in Canada and our daughter has been struggling a lot with anxiety in school. I’ve been thinking of potentially homeschooling for a brief period (timeline TBD) in order to take the stress off her and dive into why it’s happening. Every time I think I’ve made up my mind, I falter again. Your emotional struggles with capability and capacity resonate so much. Also we have a 2 year old too and I worry for what it will do for him as well. It was a breath of fresh air to hear your honesty, as so much online content feels like people live a whole other world once they homeschool. We don’t have flex school here which makes me so sad because it sounds perfect. Wishing you all the best with the new structure!

I effing love that polka dot jacket!!

This was very interesting. I have had a long journey dating back to the 1990’s with ethical consumerism - especially clothing, including for a while with a very minimal wardrobe made possible because I was a stay at home mum with a very casual lifestyle. I was fortunate to have bags and bags of hand me downs for the children from friends and relatives. It was just normal for us to help each other. When the children needed something new (this is well before second hand sites!), the route I went was buying the best quality I could afford and passing it down. Some of my daughter’s clothes were worn by a further three girls and still had some life left (her sister and cousins). The ballet school had a lively second hand shop as well, as the uniform changed according to the grade. It only takes a couple of parents being interested to do this and it could be done mostly online these days, then it was a table with the items and prices after class and all in cash. Now my children are grown and make their own choices, I choose to make most of my own clothes usually from second hand fabric and buy the rest second hand. It’s a great hobby and slows down the crazy fashion cycle there is now. Vinted has been amazing for shoes as I have wide feet and it was so difficult to find anything to fit in charity shops. Anyway I guess all this to say, it is possible for this to be a permanent lifestyle and if I do occasionally have to buy something new (as recently with some pyjamas due to an emergency stay in hospital), I buy something great quality and classic that will be with me until it falls apart. I hope the charity shop gods smile upon you and your family, and you continue to enjoy your journey x

Now I want to see the dress! 👗

thank you for the courage to share about underwear as well as social norms/'pressures' (?) regarding being a 'correct ballet mom' 💚

I’m curious to see what you mean by stockings as well. We do a single item from Santa and we pop tiny gifts wrapped into the stockings so it’s just the candy from him. We talk a lot about and celebrate St Nicholas day so they know the spirit of the giving vs consumerism. Our 9yo finally connected the bad kids get coal thing this year and I said well they used to burn coal so it was a very kind gift for most kids back then 😉

Please explain why you call those stocking gifts when they would never fit in a stocking. Ours were a few bits of ribbon candy, nuts and an orange. After all of those big presents what do you give as “presents?” Just wondering about the designations.

Would you let me know what foundation, blusher and lipstick you used in this video please, looks so natural and fresh