OOTD: Ripped jeans

Outfit:
Floral kimono: Oasis
Light wash ripped jeans: F&F (similar)
White cut out floral top: Boohoo*
Pony hair black heeled sandals: New Look (similar)

Another day. Another kimino. These babies are turning out to be my achilles heel. I seem to be buying one every month much to my bank account's dismay. So easy to throw on and still look half decent. They're an absolute godsend in this awful humid weather. I'm constantly hot and cold so these are great to help keep the chill off when the rain starts to appear. I wore this for a lovely day out at the beautiful Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Oh how the other half lives! The grand house was a birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and is set in stunning grounds. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the ex-Prime Minister's death so there's lots of interesting exhibits to read.

September seems to already be a very busy month. Considering I've been made redundant, I seem to be doing a lot of things! Thank god for some freelancing work. I'm in London a few days this week which is always nice - never tire of the big city! Something about that place always gets me. Lots of cinema trips - see Southpaw immediately guys, it's immense -, boxing matches, Cillian Murphy talks and Butlins fun to be had this month!

How is your September planning out?

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4 tips on how to save for a house deposit

It's all fun and games when you're buying china cups and saucers for your future house and picking out the perfect coloured Smeg fridge. But all that's no good if you haven't actually got the two pennies to rub together for a house deposit. As many people my age, I'm currently on the long journey to try and scrap together £30k to buy my own house. But with houses prices constantly on the up, I really haven't got too long. So I've got a few tricks and tips to help make the process a little easier.

Start a money diary
It can be so easy to spend money and before you know, it's the end of the month and you only have £2.31 left in your bank account and nothing to show for. Keep track of everything you spend from that random splurge in Topshop to the cheeky three bottles of diet coke. This will help you re-evaulate your spending habits and work out how much you can comfortably save a month and still have a semi-decent social life.

Set up a direct debit for the day you get paid
If you're anything like me, you live like a King the first week of your pay-packet and then have to survive like a pauper for the remaining three weeks. I set a direct debit to come out of my bank account the day I get paid for my savings account. This way I hardly know it's gone missing as it's like it was never really there.

Get a credit check
Before you get accepted for the elusive mortgage you have to undergo a credit check. You can find out more here. This will help give your credit history a score rating and will help you know exactly what you need to change or carry on doing. Once this is completed, house buying starts to get a lot more serious. Make sure you keep paying off those monthly credit card bills and make late payments a thing of the past. No point saving all that money if the bank is going to reject you anyway. Get your affairs in order!

Learn to make sacrifices
In an ideal world I'd have numerous Mulberry handbags, monthly trips to the Caribbean, a North London townhouse and a wardrobe full of Christian Louboutin shoes. But alas on my wages, it ain't ever going to happen. So you need to decide what you want the most and what you can still afford to do despite putting away a huge chunk of your money. For me it's travel - you can tell by my Pinterest board! I'm not really prepared to compromise on that aspect. So I've cut back on the amount of new clothes I buy so I can put more money towards seeing the world. That way the house deposit fund doesn't have to suffer.

Do you have any words of wisdom to offer?

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Review: J-Dog, Shoreditch

When an email popped into my inbox from J-Dog inviting me to lunch, I was intriuged. Based at Pump street market - a cool old petrol station in shoreditch - the Asian-infused hot dog company are offering something unique to the market. In fact, they're the only ones offering Japanese dogs on the market. Pretty cool huh?

  

First up to try was the Kimchi J-Dog. A premium Japanese Kurobuta pork sausage was piled high with crispy seaweed, thick tangy Teriyaki sauce and spicy Kimchi. Delicious! The flavours went absolutely perfect together. The juicy sausage was the star of the hotdog.

Then we tried the Okonomi J-Dog. Once again I opted for the Kurobuta sausage. There was just something about the intense flavouring and tender meat. So unlike any other pork sausage I'd had before. This time it was topped with dried bonito flakes - fermented tuna -, okonomi sauce and Japanese mayonnaise. The Bonito flakes were definately an acquired taste!

The stall has recently started introducing seafood to the mix too. With a mixture of spring rolls, crispy calamari and juicy tempura prawns. Usually I find fried seafood a little hit and miss. The grease can be overpowering and ruin the fish. But this was amazing. The batter was lovely and thin and made sure the seafood was the star of the show. It sounds simple but it's very hard to master given the amount of terrible versions I've eaten.

The street market is open from 11am-11pm so it's a great place to stop on the way home after the pub to the station. If you like your food with a kick, you can't go wrong with the Kimchi special. You won't regret a visit!

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