It ain’t over till the fat lady sings, and I’m still working on my ditty summing up this year’s grand adventure – a soaring anthem to thriftiness, a love song to swapping, an ode to the pleasures of splashing in puddles instead of splashing the cash…

Where was I? oh yes… So there’s more to come on the past 12 months but in the last few days I’ve been thinking hard about the future. Our thrifty adventure doesn’t end here. I’ve learnt so much, but in a way, it feels like an awkward amount: just enough to mean that I don’t want to go back to our old way of life, not enough to feel like I’m there yet. I mean, let’s face it. Anyone who saw Johnny’s homemade hair cut in the YouTube film below can see I’ve got a long way to go before earning any Thrift Prom Queen crown.

So where do we go from here? I want to carry on and move the project on too. Establish a new, exciting phase. So here it is: Exciting Phase Two is up to you.

What I’d like is this: a new rule book. A formula for living free, or nearly free, that’s truly sustainable. A way of continuing the ethos of the last year, but in a model that’s more realistic for the long term, a model I might concievably be able to carry through forever. And (partly because my brain is still not working, but mostly because I’ve learnt to value your input above all else this year) I’d like you to help me set the ground rules.

Perhaps we get 10 ‘get out of jail free’ cards this year, for essentials or even spur-of-the-moment, downright frivolous purchases? Or maybe we are allowed to buy second-hand under certain conditions and at certain times – only in extremis and from charity shops, so the money’s going to an ethical place for instance? Or there’s a ‘time out’ rule (once you’ve hunted for a free version of the thing you need for a certain length of time, then it stops being a sensible investment of time and you’re allowed to buy it)? What do you think? I’m in your hands…

Here’s to the next adventure…