all in two days' work

I tried to do the responsible thing yesterday by taking half of my money out of my wallet and leaving it at home. It worked pretty well for me yesterday, but probably mainly because I only had an hour of shopping before work for the rest of the day. I scored two dresses, a floral playsuit, and a top (for a crazy $5 each from a little shop outside of Westfields), a necklace & a ring ($10 in total from Collette), and a cute beige vintage blazer from Vinnies (it was marked as $7 but I gave the lady $10 and told her to keep the change - what goes around comes around!).

$5 playsuit

+$10 Blazer
$5 Dress
another $5 dress
yesterday, minus one top (which I gave to my sister), a necklace and a ring (pictured below)

Feeling pleased with my restraint (yes, that's my version of 'restrained'), I splurged on a new Chanel Coco Rouge lipstick (#19, Gabrielle), to replace my old one that I'd misplaced a few weeks ago. It was a big moment for me when I'd purchased my first one - anyone who knows me knows that I: one, don't typically pay full price for things, unless full price is ridiculously cheap & two, don't wear make up all too often - so it seemed quite ridiculous to be forking out $50 on a tiny little stick of product. But A/W 2010 had brought with it a lust for red lips, and who was I to argue with the glossy magazine pages?

I must admit, however that I rarely ended up wearing the original shade I'd picked (Cambon), which was just that little bit too pinkish/bright for my liking. I'd always go to put it on, and then wipe most of it off before leaving the house anyway. Damn my tanned skin. I am however loving this new, deeper shade of red. Of course, it did hurt less spending so much on a beauty product because I didn't actually fork out my own cash - I used a Myer gift cad I'd been given for Christmas haha.

#19-Gabrielle

Anyway, I digress. My attempt at being responsible yesterday wound up getting me into trouble today, when what started as a little shopping trip escalated into a tiny bit of a spree, without me even realising (something I'm only all too familiar with). With the festive season over, and the past few weeks being filled with insane post-Christmas prices, my savings account had dwindled to pretty much nothing (and remained this way until next payday, when the process would repeat itself). So, in short, the cash I had on me was all I had.

I'd started off so well, really thinking about my purchases. I'd look at things, walk over to the mirror and try and picture them on me, think about it, and put them back on the rack, telling myself I didn't need them, or that I had something similar at home. My first few purchases were only little ones: a set of bangles, a cute diary (with a picture of a shoe on it!) & a ring (which I already had in another colour, but wear all the time) from Rubi (at a bargain $2 each!), and a ring, set of 3 pairs of earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet from Collette (for a bargain $10, all up!).

Jewellery (past 2 days)

From there on in I made a conscious note to refuse plastic bags, as I thought back to my recent room clean (think 6 big bags full of plastic/paper). I know, I know, I try to bring enviro bags with me, I promise! I just always forget they're in my bag! lol. So when I made my next three purchases, I didn't even realize, really. Okay, I sort of did, but my mind MAY have been purposely suppressing it haha. A pair of taupe high waist shorts from Paper Scissors to add to the collection ($16 down from $30), another playsuit (which initially I told myself was too expensive considering I had a similar one at home that I paid less for, but then caved because it was so damn cute) from Mink ($45 down to $34), and a loose fit chiffon cape/shrug thingy ($45 down to $20) from Dollygirl.





So, the last real stop (though not by choice) was Zu . I'd had a browse of their website last night and seen some heels & wedges that I'd fallen in love with, and when I saw them in person, they didn't disappoint! At this point I had exactly $90 left in my wallet...which, if it hadn't been sale time, would have gotten me, maybe a pair of Zu flats and a waterproofer, if I was lucky. But it was sale time and they had quite a few pairs under $50, so you could imagine my excitement!

I finally managed to cull it down to two pairs, both leather peeptoes with cutouts (which has been my shoe obsession this season), and both a crazy $45 (from $150 each). One was a chunkier wedge, and the other, a slimmer stiletto. It would have been perfect....but then I decided I wanted the wedge in tan instead of black....which was just that little bit pricier at $60. Normally, not a problem...but with my cash restriction, a big pain in the butt.

I should mention at this point that I was shopping with my other half, who was, by that point, rather tired and grouchy. He, like most other males, just does not get the same thrill out of shopping as we girls do. And by then, he had been through almost three excruciating hours of it. He's normally pretty good, really - drives, holds the bags, randomly offers to pay for stuff - but today he was just that little bit crabby/impatient/over it, standing outside of the store, staring blankly in.

I gesture him in, holding both pairs up. He points at the chunkier pair, thinking that I'm asking his opinion on which I should buy.
'No...I want both of them...' I say.
He grimaces, but replies, 'Do what ever you want...it's your money'
'Uhhhh...about that...'
And then I got a reply that I completely wasn't expecting. He said no. My face must've let on how shocked I was because he followed on with a 'I don't care about the money...I'm just not helping to feed your habit anymore'.
'Haha...very funny...'
His expression didn't change. He was dead serious, and very grumpy about it. Okay, so I have more pairs of shoes then there are days in a year, literally. So what, he knew what he was getting into when he started going out with me.

Eventually he did give in & give me the money. I reassured him that I'd pay him back tomorrow, which just sparked the 'I don't care about the money, keep the money, I just think you have a problem' lecture all over again. So I thought it probably wouldn't be the best time to ask for more money for that bag I was also eying at Zu. Sigh, I suppose it'll have to wait till tomorrow, LOL