After a few stressful weeks leading up to a grueling round of management meetings, I was thrilled when this Friday finally rolled around and I was able to treat myself to the day off. I also decided to treat myself to a light blue & white pin-stripe blazer as I’d like to recreate the look of Cameron Diaz for the upcoming spring & summer season. I thought the blazer is a smart but casual chic look to complement neutral shorts, skinny jeans and even white pants should I be so daring. (If anyone knows how I can get those legs, please advise immediately.)
Unfortunately, when I browsed through H&M, I could not find the blazer that I was looking for and left the store disappointed. This led me into a series of stores like Zara, Winners, Mango and Jacob where I browsed aimlessly in the hopes of finding a anything to cheer myself up. At Forever 21, I stumbled upon a cute beige crocodile side-strap mini-purse for only $11. I decided to treat myself to it.
But before I did so, I followed the rules of my great Auntie Shirley when it comes to purchasing accessories… always walk around the store for at least 5 minutes wearing said accessory. She shared this lesson with me 5 years ago when I almost bought a 60₤ embroidered floral wristlet clutch. Instead of encouraging me to make the purchase, she suggested I wear it around the boutique to make sure it was the ideal purse for me. After only 2 minutes of carrying it around Lady Green’s store, my wrist was bright red with deep impression marks and I knew that the purse was pretty and exceptionally painful. I walked away from it.
The purse at F21 was definitely not painful, but I knew deep down that it was an impulse purchase to make up for my MIA CameronD blazer. After 40 days of no shopping, I started to ask myself a series of questions as I walked around the store wearing the purse to justify the purchase.
Q: Where would I wear said new purse?
A: During my upcoming trips to Kelowna, BC and Las Vegas, Nevada of course!
Q: And during what activities would I wear said new purse that my existing goldie-beige Coach purse (à la tax refund 2007) and cream wristlet would not suffice?
A: In the desert of course! I determined that perhaps my Eye Candy and I would take a hiking trip to the Grand Canyon and in which case, I would certainly need a mini-purse that I could wear over my shoulders as my existing Coach purse and wristlet have to be carried over the inside of my wrist as there are no shoulder straps. Clearly my existing purse collection is not practical for rock climbing.
Having successfuly convinced myself of the genuine need for the mini-purse, I waited in line to make my purchase. And upon further reflection, I then realized that the Grand Canyon is a 7 hour drive from Las Vegas and we will likely not go on a spur of the moment hiking trip. And if we did, I would certainly need a backpack to carry bottles of water, food, and supplies… not a mini-purse that barely fits an iPhone, $5 bill, and lipgloss. While the mini-purse is pain-free, it was not worth the $11 hit to my wallet when my other purses would do.
With that realization, I put the mini-purse back on the rack and walked out of the store. Blazer-less and purse-less, but at least my wallet remained $11 heavier.
*Rosie*
Wow, good for you for resisting, Rosie! Impulse buys are so tempting. I realized I used to buy a lot of clothes for the life I aspired to have, not the one I actually do (AKA I don't need 5 party dresses when I spend most of my time working, sadly enough). As for the blazer, have you tried browsing on ShopStyle? I pick out things I like and then sign up to get an email alert when they go on sale :)
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