This reminds me of 'The Railway Children' where the mother tells her children that they are going to 'play at being poor'.

I wonder how Ms Millard would cope with bringing up children on minimum wage, living in a run down council estate or in a bedsit. That would be worth reading!

Dougal Frugal, London,

Well ,you need to check out Birmingham's famous rag market for cheap fabrics and haberdashery stalls.fabric was from 50p a metre this week.Childrens patterns can be made from unpicking items and creating a pattern template.boys trousers are really easy to do.
good luck.

sue, Birmingham,

How about sew clothings for the kids AND yourself?

Suffer the little tattered children.

Juanny, Los Angeles, USA

being a 'feckless spendaholic' may not be newsworthy but it certainly provides a topic for say 1000 words or so (for which one will be paid more than a pro seamstress).

david c, purbeck,

The columns this woman writes show how out of touch she is. A 50k overdraft? How many people could even get access to one of those? Millard is so out of touch with the vast majority in this country. For the sake of your reader numbers, take her off the payroll before there's a revolt against her.

Rachel, Wales,

Sounds like austerity-chic.

And please enlighten us how a mother of four eats out four times a week?

paul rickard, kingston,

Welcome to my world, Ms Millard.

Sarah, Carcassonne, France

You can get some good bargains at charity shops Rosie and growing your own vegetables is worth a try. My wifes just retrieved her old Singer from the garden shed after reading your article.

john, milton keynes,

Buy quality and it will last.

I use blankets that my Gran had in WWII and a winter coat my Dad bought in the 1950's.

Edwardian furniture is often cheaper than the equivalent at John Lewis and of hugely greater character.

Colin Soames, London,

You paid off a fifty-grand overdraft? Not with a bloody sewing machine and a few cheap meals you didn't.

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

For those of you who are interested in sewing, knitting and other crafts, there are lots of tutorials on the internet. I suggest going to street markets to buy your material. If you go to a shop for fabrics etc. you might as well buy ready made clothes as you won't save any money at all.

Wilma Prins, Vossemeer, Netherlands

It is sometimes cheaper to make clothes than buy them but you need cheap fabric and free patterns (www.burdastyle.com is amazing!).

I'm about to start work on a summer dress (£6.83 for fabric and reuse last year's pattern, much cheaper and nicer than Primark).

It's time that's the big cost!

Claire, London,

I'm 33 and have made bedding/curtains for the last 10 years, all on my mothers old 1970's machine with two settings - plain stich and zig zag. Be warned - It is RARELY cheaper than buying the items. I did it to get a quality finish and my choice of fabric. Fabric isn't as cheap as you think.

Eve, England,

Dear Victor in Cherbourg,
You're living the dream, obviously....

I'm all for being thrifty and not wasting anything, but if you are that concerned it surprises me that you have a car at ll. Why not dispense with it completely?

Paulie, Loughborough, England

..and she needs a £150 gadget to tell her that heating uses a lot of energy...! Need I say more?

George Brown, Swansea,

Silly woman - she can save more by buying a blitzer for £10 and using it to turn all the leftover food scraps into soup. Or baking instead of buying muffins and other filling snacks.
It remains cheaper to buy clothes taht to make them - but altering stuff you buy in charity shops might be worth it.

Sue Doughty, Twyford, UK

Cut Brillo pads in two! Add water to washing up liquid!

Mrs Watts, Canterbury, UK

Don't worry, Gordon Brown has the answer, he has just doubled the tax on the lowest paid workers. What a good idea. Bet he doesn't double his own tax, still, as Mr Balls says, 'So What'

Peter, Brixham, Devon

Good on ya babe! You definately are on the right track! I was one of the few that saw all this coming and sold my UK house and moved to Normandy before the Credit Crunchie Bits!

Chris Stuart, Carentan, France

Austerity Rule One - Stay Healthy. You're stuffed if you get sick. My amusing book, 'ATTENTION, SEEKERS', teaches face, skin, tongue, eye & body reading for signs of impending health problems, plus emotional health by understanding your clothes/colours, jewellery & chakra related body language.

Amanda Mansell, Lavenham, Suffolk, UK

Some of us have been living rquite frugally for many years even during the boom times. A lot of food can be grown in the tiniest of gardens with a little forethought and planning. Rosie frittered away her money and is now paying the price. Food and shelter are 'must haves', handbags not so much.

Leah, London,

Feminists and sowing machines, two words i'd never thought i would see in the same sentence in the positive. My Grandfather from Ireland would be astounded to learn that women are now using sowing machines- in middle class England. Welcome to Planet Earth. Hows that for a social conundrum.

Murphy, anytowm, anycountry

Yeah, a sewing machine is the answer to all of your woes. Why does this feel so bourgeois? Oh that's right, because it's akin to "The Secret Millionaire" except without the charity at the end.

Sewing your clothes will not reduce your ludicrous outgoings on food and fuel.

I hate complacency.

charles, Cirencester, Great Britain

But was this buffoon the new BTL empress?
She was making a fortune in bricks and mortar just a few months ago!
is she real or a con?
are all BTLers cons?

George, Ealing,

Whether we like it or not all of us, except the serously rich, will have to tighten our belt. We as a family have had to do this for some time now. It is surpising what you can save on your weekly shop at Lidls!

God help those parts of the economy which suffer the down side. Pain, pain, pain!

Dafydd ap Sion, Leasingham, England

Sadly the number of shops carrying a good range of fabrics and haberdashery has been decimated over the last 20 years. Even John Lewis, once the home to the most magical array of dressmaking products, has now consigned this department to a small patch on the 1st floor of their Oxford St store.

SusanHB, London, UK

Here in France I buy all my clothes from the Catholic Relief Store, Emaus. Jeans for 2 Euros. T-shirts for 80 cents. Winter Coats for 5 Euros. The hard discount supermarket saves me 35%. Never go on vacations, to films, rent videos, to the swimming pool etc. Take the car out once a day only.

victor compton, Cherbourg, France

This time last year Rosie was boasting about her large buy-to-let portfolio like so many of the middle class who fell for the "property as an investment" dream (fools gold). How things have changed. I wonder what she talks about now at dinner parties ?

Will Hicks, London, UK

I have to say I am disappointed, I was born in 1980, I went to a compressive in Liverpool, and not only did sowing at school but all so knitting, as did ever other Boy! and the girls too.

Maybe its time to teach it in schools once more?

MR Jones, Liverpool, England

Its like a new lawn mower, Youll soon get fed up with it.

And it was a pleasure yesterday, I didnt see her mush or her husbands in the paper yesterday, or any type . Bliss.

ronnie, bucks, uk

If she was eating out a staggering 4 times a week, it's no wonder she had an overdraft of £50,000.

tim abbott, London, UK

Does this lady reflect a generation who were spoilt - nothing to do with feminism at all - you can be good with a needle and be a feminist! An attitude of 'I will learn to do something for myself ' and the patience to practice something new is what seems to be missing from today's society.

Rita, Mulhouse, France

I grew up in the 70s and was shown how to use a sewing machine by my feminist, working full-time mother. She was hardly an anomaly of that era either!

If you're serious about Tshirts you'll need an overlocker (Aldi sell cheap ones).
Oh and no one wants or needs a towelling poncho. Ever.

Marty, Kendal,

Rosie Millard has built a career on whining about how poor she is. This article reveals that she is poor because she's a feckless spendaholic. Suddenly "discovering" this level of normal life isn't newsworthy, but writing about it does reinforce the impression that she is detached from reality.

David, Cambridge,

I don't understand this writers logic. If we all started to reduce our expenditure in the same way. The economy could look rather shaky to say the least.
Rather then just stop spending, perhaps look at spending that would help the envoirnment., like bottle water, now there is a waste!

Malcolm Freeman, Berwick Victoria , Australia

Knowing how to sew and cook everything from scratch has not only benefitted my bank balance, but these 'homely' qualities surely helped persuade my future husband to pop the question... I am making my own wedding dress too! Long live the good life, simple living is a recipe for happiness.

Anna, Marbella, Spain

Oh for goodness sake let this person taste real austerity and fire her.

Bruce Robertson, Brighton, UK

Good grief. I've been living like this all my life as I hate waste - especially of my hard-earned money.

Tina, Dusseldorf, Germany

Rosie, you're wonderful! I loved you when you outshone the Hollywood glitterati and I love you now you're learning to be my mum - when she was a young mum! You're challenging the establishment and every woman should take you as role model. Every man should pray to find his own Rosie.

Corin Keiler-Lloyd, Wolverhampton,

Re: lack of allotment space in cities, why not grow fruit and veg for tower blocks on a roof garden? They could be grown traditionally, or hydroponically, tended by the residents of each block. I'm sure that would drum up community spirit and improve the diets of many. Simple to organise too.

Anna, Marbella, Spain

Last year I began cycling again. It's fantastic. Manchester has green cycles lanes and hoops for chaining up bikes all over the place, but effectively you can 'park up' anywhere. I have large panniers on the back and can fit in a huge amount of shopping. I am saving hours every week.

Robert, Manchester, UK