I read an article not long ago that said that sales of lipstick increased during periods of economic downturn.
While It bags are now seen as a little bit too WAGish (and are fairly safely relegated to the materialistic land of the early noughties), us girls have still got to shop. We might not be spending as much, or spending as often, but we still need a little something every now and then. And lipstick seems to be the purchase of choice.
Because, let’s face it; the world seems a better place when you have applied a little bit of your favourite lippy, doesn’t it? (To be perfectly honest, I am a lip gloss girl, but it’s the same principal). So when you’re itching for that shopping fix, rather than blowing all your cash on a new outfit or new shoes, you can buy yourself a little tube of happiness for £10, and avoid breaking the budget. I call it quick-fix shopping.
But what if you are already frugal? Has the economic doom and gloom altered the way you view your little ‘quick-fix’ purchases? Are you still making these types of purchases? I have to admit that I did it on the weekend. I was watching Gossip Girl (my new favourite guilty pleasure – why had I never watched it until now?!?) and some of the outfits were making me drool. I was literally itching to shop. So when I found myself in Chiswick on Sunday surrounded by all the delicious little clothing boutiques, it took an awful lot of self control to not lose my mind and blow the budget.
Instead I came home with a lovely necklace of green glass beads. It satisfied my urge to shop, and at £18, didn’t blow the budget. See? Quick fix. If I hadn’t bought anything the desire to shop would have kept building until I really had gone on a shopping binge.
Does anyone else do stuff like this? What are your tips for avoiding the big blow-out? Besides not watching Gossip Girl? (Impossible. I’m addicted).
My wife just spent US$50 on shampoo the other day and I thought I was going to flip out! She did put back the “hair moisturizer” and color stuff – I’m not even sure what it was – but the difference is, if she’d have done that 3 months ago, she would have used the debit card without even giving it a second glance – now with cash, she really had to think about it. I’m betting she starts using Pantene again and will use the fancy stuff very sparingly!
By the way, happy belated Australia Day! Do they have meat pies and VB in England? haha!
I have the opposite problem — I rarely get bit by the shopping bug, to the point where my clothes are in embarrassingly bad shape by the time I replace them. I do, however, love scooping freebies and near-freebies no matter what they are. I will go of my way to do it, even if I can’t use them myself.
I actually do something not as smart – I blow the money on something cheap but that will fade/shrink/stretch after the first wearing. I am trying to train myself to save up and then splurge.
I’m actually looking forward to getting to buy really expensive makeup. I can justify almost anything if I say it’s for the wedding.
My shopping habits haven’t really changed and in fact I spent a lot of money during the beginning of this month going out to eat.
I avoid the shopping bug by staying away from stores until I’ve either saved or had a check come in to spend. In the meantime I just lust over everything.
I’m okay, as long as I don’t wander into SpaceNK. I step over that sleek white threshold, I’m toast.
Hm, I’ve actually stopped going shopping altogether. It greatly helps that I am trying to pare down possessions, but the temptations and gimmes were too strong to withstand, so my best solution is to opt out entirely for now.
With any luck, I’ll have forgotten about all the lovelies I once had my eye on by the time I’m allowed to shop again.
It totally has changed my spending! Actually, this morning I just posted about it! =) haha so great!
I’m not your typical shop-a-holic kind of girl. As a matter of fact, I’m a bit lucky in that I HATE shopping. I do have a weakness for DVDs, though, so in that since I blow the budget all the time. As a matter of fact, I blew my budget way out of proportion this month thanks to DVDs.
While I absolutely love your suggestion for the quick-fix, I can’t do that with the DVDs. They’re like Pringles…one is just never enough! I’ve reinstated my Netflix membership to help curtail the amount that I’m spending on buying the DVDs. But, I’m still struggling on the whole “not buying” concept. Bleh!
I ordered some clothes recently cause I really needed them but I shopped frugally and bought everything on sale. All of the items can be incorporated in to my current wardrobe and worn with many things.
I too avoid the malls/shops as much as I can, because if I don’t see things that are cute, I don’t know that they exist, and hence, cannot buy them or feel deprived if I stop myself from buying them. Perfect example-I had the worst time at Christmas because I had to go and shop and kept seeing lovely things that I wanted that I had never even thought of.
Nope, not at all. What changed my spending habits was buying a house! haha….that’ll get you every time
Interesting post!
I almost feel like I’m spending more discretionary money now than I was say 6 months ago. Normally I don’t spend a lot of money, but I recently bought 4 pairs of shoes. I was looking for 1 pair, which I finally splurged on. They were over $100, but it was my birthday, I was feeling a bit sad, I needed them for work, and I can afford them. But right after that, I saw 3 cute pairs that were pretty cheap and I got those as well. The next 3 pairs totaled less than $100. This is more pairs of shoes than I’ve been buying for the past couple years. Normally I get 2 pairs a year to replace my work shoes. I usually wear just 1 pair of shoes to work until they’re too worn out and I get embarrassed by the scuffs.