(no subject)

[jethrien]

I'm reading a book called Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, which is predictably shrill but interesting nonetheless. It is, however, crystallizing a thought that I've been aware of for some time but perhaps not blatantly thinking about.

I suck at shopping.

I am really bad at a)determining what the true value of something is and b)evaluating how much I want it. I can't remember prices, I'm terrible at haggling, and I regularly fail at predicting how much I'll value something later. Chuckro knows exactly what the normal price of butter is, what the normal discount on butter is, and at what price you buy six pounds of butter on sale and stuff it in the freezer. Me? Not a clue. Been buying butter for years, Chuckro repeatedly and patiently reminds me how much is too much to pay for butter, it doesn't stick.

I have a closet full of clothes, half of which I adore and are wearing out and I cannot find replacements for, half of which are kind of shoddy or don't fit quite right or aren't actually as stylish as they seemed in the store. I came home from Italy with a dress that's really cute but I subsequently realized isn't as appropriate for the office as I hoped, a wildly impractical but super awesome coat I know I paid too much money for because of the aforementioned sucking at haggling, and a purse that's of excellent quality but is turning out to not fit my needs as well as hoped. All of which I do really like but probably only bought because I was on vacation and I knew there was no chance of ever buying them again. Meanwhile, there were a handful of inexpensive trinkets that I didn't buy because I felt like I was spending too much money and now wish I'd gotten.

I make bad snap decisions. Aware of this, I will over research and dither until I get sick of myself and make a bad snap decision at the end anyway. (When I was a kid, this led to endless fruitless shopping trips. I've gotten better about settling so I get out of the store faster, but I don't think the actual success rate of acquiring things I love at a price comensurate with the value I place on the item.) Frequently things turn out well, but they also turn out badly frequently as well. I don't think I've bought a pair of pants I was actually happy with in three years. My coworkers seem to be able to dress themselves without remorse like grown up people do. Why is it that I'm so bad at this?

Comments

[jeths-mom.livejournal.com]

I really hate to think that you have regrets about any part of that trip - it was so flawless. The coat is well worth the cost - I don't think you will ever see anything like it at the price you paid, and it will last for years. I don't know about baubles - I can't think of anything else that it would have made sense to buy. But if the purse doesn't suit you, I'll buy it from you and keep it until I need it - which I should have done while we were there.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

A couple more of the necklaces, a scarf or two, a bottle of vino santo. Things I rejected because I felt like I was buying too much stuff, but cost practically nothing.

I think I can make the purse work. I need to rethink how I organize things. I don't think I would have bought it here, and wonder if I should have bought one of the flashier ones if I was going to buy one that needed a wallet in any case. Meanwhile, I just bought a pair of shoes that seemed ok in the store but gave me enormous blisters. I'd been worried about them not being a perfect fit, decided that after trying on dozens of pairs I needed to just settle on something, and was in fact wrong again.

[jeths-mom.livejournal.com]

Meh. You really can buy the same necklaces and scarfs in NYC at similar prices, you just walk past them everyday because you're not on vacation.

I so seldom find shoes that don't give me blisters or some other problem. (I hate shoes.) I just wait til the blisters heal and wear them again/repeat, until I get the required callus.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I, too, hate shoes. Did you teach me to hate shoes? :)

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I went the other direction with souvenirs--I have lots of little stuffed mooses, sami boots, viking coins, etc. But I did also make two big jewelry purchases. One I even unintentionally haggled for! It was a jeweler who came to meet the train at the Arctic Circle. I wanted a necklace, I only had 300 kr, and the train was leaving. So he gave it to me for 300 kr, because there was no way I could pay any more.

I wish I'd had the money to buy a reproduction of one of the Overhogdal tapestries, though. They were gorgeous. But so expensive.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

What would you do with it, though?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Hang it on my wall as a conversation piece?