May 26, 2011

Location: Bogota, Colombia
Weather: Rainy
Mood: Confused…

You know, I’ve been thinking about where money goes. More specifically, about where my money goes. Some people (including my dear bf) think I’m a bit of a shopaholic -which I’m not. There’s HUGE difference between being a shopaholic and liking to shop. So yes, I like clothes, I study fashion for crying out loud! But it’s not a crime, if you spend your money smartly. For instance, I have very clear on what to save, on what to bargain and on what to splurge. My weak spot is shoes. No doubt if I could have one of those wardrobes that movie stars and super models have with a wall from top to bottom covered in shoes, I would. However, I don’t splurge on shoes, far from it actually. On this trip to Orlando I had a small shopping list of specific things I wanted to buy and that I needed to complete many of my outfits. For example, I needed a pair of purple flats. I didn’t really like purple ‘till not to long ago, so I had never even thought about buying purple shoes. Now, however, I felt I needed a pair to go with several purple outfits I have. So I looked around the shops but since it’s almost summer, all I could find were sandals (which btw I bought 0 pairs because I live in a cold city where we don’t wear sandals and although I have a summer home by the beach I don’t need more sandals so I totally didn’t buy any, which a shopaholic would TOTALLY HAVE!) Anyway, one day I was walking through the mall with my bf, hand in hand, just window shopping (I also needed a red T because the one I have is two sizes too small and I can’t wear it anymore or I might just scream) and we walked past a shop that said “everything up to 70% off.” From what I could see from the door, they had every colored shorts for $10 (which is ridiculously cheap but still, I bought 0 because I'M NOT A SHOPAHOLIC, I had a goal and I was going to stick to it), so I thought to myself, I might as well walk in and see if they happen to have red v-neck tees, I mean right? In the end they didn’t have any because for some reason cropped Ts are the latest fashion trend (I totally don’t get why anyone would want to go out showing their tummy unless they’re Megan Fox) but that’s fashion for you, always unpredictable and not always understandable! Anyway, as we were just walking out, I noticed a wall with many pairs of shoes just hanging there, and within the many colors they had purple flats. I walked to take a closer look and they were $10 – take 50% off. That’s $5 dollars for shoes! So yes, I bought them, and I haven’t worn them yet but they’re totally cute and I love them. My point is, I could have hundreds of shoes, but I don’t feel the need to have an a thousand dollar pair to feel happy; I don't splurge my money on ridiculously expensive shoes. I mean, I’ll put it this way: just type in designer purple ballerina flats into Google. The first site that comes up (at least on my PC) is http://www.dellamoda.com/balenciaga-women-1502.html and if you open the page they’re selling a pair of horrendous Balenciaga (no offence to Balenciaga, he’s a great designer) purple flats that cost $399 on this page but that originally cost $545!!! I could have bought 109 pairs of shoes at the other store for that much money!!! (plus, mine are sooo much prettier…) So honestly, I don't consider myself a high spender. I know many people prefer to spend a lot of money on one very expensive thing and not all their money on loads cheap stuff and its fine. Everybody shops differently. It’s true in most cases that expensive designer clothes are better made to a point, but the cost of the garment isn’t on the make, it’s on the label: the name on the garment is what is so expensive. So next time you’re going shopping, look at the label on the back of the designer t-shirt or pair of pants that caught your eye; it’ll probably say “made in Sri Lanka” and then go to a much cheaper store and pick up a pair of similar pants… it’ll probably say the same thing. My secret to making my less expensive clothes last is: I take excellent care of my clothes. It doesn’t really matter if it was only $5 or $10, I take excellent care of every piece of clothing I have, and trust me, they last forever. So back to me being a shopaholic, I’m not. I like to shop, but, I keep everything I buy, and with time, I complete many different outfits with one piece of clothing. All this came to me earlier this morning after I finished today’s picture for my outfit. I realized although I did spend a lot of money on my handbag, I always buy designer in outlets and on really good sales, never (so far) full price (except for my Coach handbag, the one with all the pretty colors, but that’s different because I’d saved that money for ever and I wanted to spend it on something really nice…) Anyway, although I spend a larger amount of money on my Chanel handbag, I got the white collar, black polo shirt at Old Navy in clearance for $3.99, the pashmina at H&M for $4.99, the jeggins on sale from Hollister at $29.99, the boots from F21 for $24.50, and the coat at Wet Seal (one of the cheapest stores in the US that I have ever been to, which has weird stuff for my taste but if you look around you can find pretty decent things, like my white coat) for the modest price of $7.99 ( I swear that’s what it cost on my dog’s life – and no, he did not just drop dead, thanks for asking.)  So all in all, my complete outfit including coat and boots comes to around $70 dollars minus the handbag. That’s pretty good I should think. Don’t you? –Rx.