Tight

Tragically "tight" doesn't refer to any part of my body, just my mental state. I know it shouldn't really come as a surprise to me, but it did when I realised I am really tight with money. Really, really tight. Frugal sounds nicer but I don't think that really applies. I don't actually think I have any rationale behind my thriftyness, maybe I don't like to feel ripped off.

I shouldn't be surprised - I hate supermarket shopping. Maybe it is that I actually HAVE to buy stuff. Walking around filling the trolley is fine, but putting it out for scanning starts the blood pressure rising. Oh and the pain of actually paying for it - only to have to front up and do it all again the next week! Petrol is the same. At least getting the groceries thrown at me discount style makes me feel like I am doing my bit for the budget. I digress.

Robyn and I had a lovely night tonight wandering the luxuries at Chadstone. It was nice wandering in an out of the lovely shops, chatting and catching up but not buying anything. Actually we didn't even see anything that moved us into the change rooms to play dress ups. I know I don't buy alot, but I do like to look. However what became clear is my own value system of what something is "worth" is really off.

I have a number of issues with clothes & I will try to summarise. Most of the issues come because I can sew (note "can", rather than "do"). I can quickly see how things are made and assess the quality/availability of the fabric. I cannot justify $100 or more for a simple pillowcase style dress made out of 2m of poplin - total cost about $6 and would take less than an hour of uninterupted time to make.

The quality of a majority of the fabric around at the moment is appaling. Not to mention that all of the clothes are probably churned out of the same offshore factory and you are simply paying for label and mass marketing at the higher end - and a little more fabric. Those teeny bopper shops (Dotti, Forever New, Valley Girl etc not only hark back to the dreaded 80's, but are soooo skimpy it is almost x-rated)

What I want to do is look nice, proportioned, fashionable but not too much for as little money as possible. I am more than happy to shop around to find the best price and go anywhere. When I see a fabric I like (an obviously is cheap) I will buy a few meters and just hang on to it until I need it. It may be minutes but it may also be years.

Anyway- this is the top that highlighted my inability to be parted from my money. It is a simple cotton interlock top. Nothing fancy infact only enough weight in it to last a season, which is probably good given the nautical nature and the frill will date it exactly to summer 2010/11. It is from seed RRP $59.95.

My immediate response, which I actually said outloud in the shop (yes, somebody please stop me!) was "you can get 2 of these striped singlets in Kmart for $6 and cut one up for the frill!" Now for me $12 is ok to spend on a seasonal item like this. Throw a blazer or red cardy over it and you are so now its not funny. Wear it at least 6 times so that the cost per wear (CPW) is $2 or less and you're done. Next summer - op shop or more probably a rag. At $60 the CPW is $10 and you would need to wear it long past its used by date to get your moeny back which to me defeats the purpose of a "seasonal" item.

This is really what is going on in my head when I shop. All. The. Time. Yet, I still enjoy it. It is like a constant project which I need to research. After the shopping I relaxed(!) in front of my lovely Gok - who like trinny & sussanah is all about dressing for your shape, but also building a somewhat seasonal capsule wardrobe of 25 pieces, so that you shop less and wear more. A good philosophy, but I need to think on that some more....