Toasties - the countdown to Christmas

[Countmeout]

Just getting a thread ready.

I know what you mean @faustina and @OftenOrange - I know it shouldn’t bother me.

On the plus side, I have found my pretzels😹

Still nothing new added to the Toast sale, which is probably just as well for my bank balance!

Hope everyone is having a good Xmas.

🎄☃️🥳 Festive good wishes to all!

Okay the snowman is wishful thinking.

Bonus tipples 🥂🍹 if all family members are still alive despite (extreme) provocation!

I've made hay of the unseasonable weather by redoing my eBay photos in slightly better light 😎. I think they may be marginally better. I am halfway to being a 'thousands submit tax return on Xmas day' statistic! 🤣

For those who used to like Twitter, #DuvetKnowItsChristmas is finding its feet on BlueSky, sharing hilarious to chaotic to hazardous makeshift Christmas sleeping arrangements and raising money to tackle homelessness. My perennial favourite is the Peach Room of Doom with Formica Stool of Chastity.

In shopping news, the Brora sale, which usually starts after everyone else but dives straight in with generous discounts on its current season stock, is already underway!! (Also available via John Lewis, which is back to price matching again.)

Grinch Toast, trying to sell us slightly discounted past season stock which should be 80% off in an archive sale, could learn a thing or two. Is there a side eye emoji? 🙄😒🤨

☃️🌨️❄️🎄

Excellent, approved! Festive greetings to @MNHQ!

Glad you are home @ScottishMouse and hope your recovery is swift.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas.

I had to admit defeat….ive ordered the Sun and Moon dress…its not in the sale but I had toast gift cards for Christmas…and I really needed that dress
im hoping to get the matching trousers too. I’ve got more toast gift cards to come tomorrow so will see

@Nanasueathome It's a beauty!

@Stravaig, thanks for the info about the Brora sale, it doesn't seem to have the things available through John Lewis in the sale for me. Maybe I needed to be logged in.

So I made an order from John Lewis for some Brora sale stuff instead and also had a £10 off discount from them which went towards this cardigan I'd had in my wish list www.broraonline.com/uk/supersoft-lambswool-pocket-cardigan-cedar-flc2427eh8418?queryID=f51e9ae42bae81e4d6523999fbfe70de. It will fulfil my short boxy cardigan desires in the absence of the Toast Kaia going in the sale.

I also ordered these trousers in black cord as I have some green linen ones in the same style for summer which I love: www.broraonline.com/uk/needlecord-cargo-trousers-black-dt8401km8410

And this to try just because I love the colours and pattern: www.broraonline.com/uk/wool-folk-tank-sorrel-sls2413eh8451?queryID=a0e7e4b21cee7fa3306010731eb93443.

It really is getting close to 31st December and the start of my no buy 2025!

@Stravaig are you a Brora VIP? Just logged in but everything showing up full price

@Netcam I also ordered a few Brora things from John Lewis, picking them up on Saturday. I tried a no buy 2024 but didn’t last a week! Will try and buy less this year, there’s nothing I need. My sales spending has been much less than usual. Only 2 items from Toast.

@MsDastardley, I did a no buy in 2018 and almost managed the year, spent £135. Tried again in 2021, did really well for most of the year, and then spent £350 in November. This year I've bought loads, I think I should be doing a no buy 5 years!

Ah sorry folks, I spotted some Brora things generously reduced on the JL site and assumed that the Brora sale had started and JL was price-matching. But Brora is still full price, and JL is just doing its own thing. Odd, but nice of JL. Sorry to get hopes up and add to the confusion.

Lovely choices @Netcam !

Oh well, I kind of fancied trying one of these but the 10 has sold out now in John Lewis and I'm not sure if my boobs will fit in an 8, especially as I would wear a wool base layer under it: www.broraonline.com/uk/corduroy-zip-up-dress-spruce-dd8407km8406?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAmrS7BhBJEiwAei59iwQkPrP03xxgSlFRS7g70Z33qjW5gnqKZQd2ru-3tvZ3BFVNt2d5WRoC5fgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds.

It's probably not a bad thing, I've ordered way too much already! I had the 8 and 10 on my basket yesterday and thought, no, I can't buy that as well!

@Netcam I’ve ordered that dress in midnight. I usually have to go up a size with Brora dresses to accommodate boobs. I think Brora sale will start on 6th or there about. They should have the dress, John Lewis only seem to keep a small stock. There’s a couple of things I am after which were sold out in JL, so my no spend year won’t be getting off to a good start!

I managed to try on the onyx stripe linen dress again today after letting it hang overnight. The gathers/stripes look a bit better but still quite uneven. I think this was why I never bought this dress in the summer, although I tried it on in store. I wonder how much it might annoy me (I feel like others would not even notice this), because it is otherwise a great dress, very flattering, and fits well (apart from needing taking up, but that’s not a big deal). I thought about ordering one of the other colours without stripes, but the only one left now is the pale green which would wash me out.

Does anyone know how often Toast do an archive sale, and when they usually fall? Are archive sales still a thing?

I’ve enjoyed wearing all my Toast clothes this year, I’ve now managed to work out things I just don’t like, so don’t buy them and leave them hanging in the wardrobe (collarless shirts, white/pale dirt attracting colours). I love cord gabis, slouchy tie waist trousers, loose shirts, denim dresses, toast bed linen and homeware; and the shoes that toast sell.
Looking forward to my sale items that will arrive from tomorrow; and to being comfortable with my own style in 2025.

Ooh, exciting, let me know what it's like and how accommodating the chest area is! My no buy year starts on 1st Jan so if the sale hasn't started by 31st, I won't be ordering.

@Theteapotsbrokenspout I was just thinking this recently. I have a rail of clothes - mostly TOAST - and this term have been quite happy with what I have on there. I'm always on the look out for another dress but I'm realising that I am happy and comfortable in certain items and being more sensible about what I buy.

@MsDastardley, actually, ended up ordering the Brora zip cord dress in midnight in size 10 from John Lewis. Realised it's a very blue/black rather than totally black.

I'm determined to stick to my no buy 2025 so it's now or never.

And looking at their models wearing it in size 10 and the fact that there's no stretch makes me think I'd need it for the boobs, especially if I want to wear a wool base layer underneath, which I know I would.

I rarely see dresses I really like the look of and think will suit my petite frame, so many are really big a flappy and drown me, this is nice and neat and the zip gives it a slightly edgy look.

Let me know how the sizing is!

First parcel from toast - cord lounge bag in blue and some socks. The bag is huge and more of a greeny blue, very useful for what I want it for - the documents I have to take to meetings. I did wonder whether I should have bought the black but this colour is far more 'me' and the socks I bought are exactly the same colour, in fact so identical that I didn’t see them at first and thought they were missing.
Two more parcels to come tomorrow, and one still awaiting dispatch.

I was looking at the check linen version of that bag @Theteapotsbrokenspout. I’m just not sure if it is too big to be that useful to me day to day. I would probably go for it if it was further reduced though.
Sent my oh to the post office this morning with all of my first order apart from the socks.

It is really big @ScottishMouse I know it will be useful for me. I go to council meetings and I seem to be carrying more and more paperwork every time I go, so much for a paperless workplace. I might use it for my yoga class as well.

@Theteapotsbrokenspout yes, I thought it would be useful for the gym or the beach. But I already have a bag for the gym and I hate the beach so never go, so it seems a little pointless for me! 😆

My first order arrived, the kick flare jeans someone recommended. Perfect fit but just too long and too similar in material to my Annie’s. Likely a return.

I was severely tempted by the checked linen version of that big bag. I need something huge to carry with my impractical but beautiful bleu de chauffe bag. I had just decided a few weeks back to buy the contents bag collab with Emma Paton which was recommended on here, but it had sold out and there were no other suitable colours. Anyway the Toast bags are all the wrong colours for me too so I bought the giant Kate Sheridan bag in chestnut when it went on sale yesterday.

Talking of bags, has anyone got a Francli leather phone case? Toast sold them a few years back, but at the time I had a fairly small phone and the size Toast had was too big, so I bought direct from Francli as they sold a few different sizes. Now I have a bigger phone (iPhone 16) and it doesn’t fit. But now Francli only sell one size and the measurements given on their website make me think it might be too small for the iPhone 16. Does anyone have this phone and a Francli case that fits it? I really love the simplicity of the case and miss being able to use it.