A good friend of mine has the innate ability to find goods she’s after at ridiculously cheap prices. She usually stumbles across them at the Reduced to Clear stage and walks out with seven new tops, shorts, cute shoes and change from a $100. But it doesn’t just apply to clothing...
My friend’s never-pay-full-price shopping mantra was red hot on Saturday when we went shopping to furnish her new unit. It was a hard decision to leave behind the bottomless pit of laundry for an afternoon of spending someone else’s money, but I made it work!
My friend had been on the hunt for a “cute white couch” for little more than two months but hadn’t found anything she was happy with. Translated into my language she meant, ‘nothing I like is discounted so I will keep looking.’
I recommended we make a quick stop at the second hand store in Woolloongabba before starting the journey to Ikea. The store is a great spot if you want pre-loved and well-maintained furniture of all shapes and sizes, art, chairs and general bits and bobs too precious to discard.
Now I don’t know if it was pure ass or the universe sent us to that store for a reason but my friend walked in the store just as a “cute white couch” arrived in stock. I’m not kidding. We watched the staff move the couch into the show room. Aside from the price tag already in place, it was as if the previous owner telepathically informed my girlfriend the very couch she needed was ready and waiting.
But wait....there’s more. Guess how much it was. Go on! How much would you expect to pay for a 3 seater white couch in excellent condition in a second hand store? $300 $200? Try $98! She questioned it for a second thinking there had to be a catch, then I said, ‘I’ll buy it if you don’t. It’s such a steal you have to buy it.’
But wait....there’s more. Guess how much it was. Go on! How much would you expect to pay for a 3 seater white couch in excellent condition in a second hand store? $300 $200? Try $98! She questioned it for a second thinking there had to be a catch, then I said, ‘I’ll buy it if you don’t. It’s such a steal you have to buy it.’
After approximately 20 minutes my talented shopping companion walked out with, not only a great couch, but a gorgeous lead light table lamp (stand, lamp shade and the working globe) and a fine china tea cup and saucer to add to her growing collection all for less than $200.
Well strike me pink! Why can’t I ever find those bargains or better still, have the time and patience to search for those bargains? Besides, I know about this store. I was the one who recommended it, so why don’t I go there in search of gorgeous wares and vintage finds at reasonable prices instead of heading straight to a mass produced store to buy everything brand new and at full-price?
Let’s face it, the thought of leaving a stunning item – be it clothing, furniture, linen, books, CDs, shoes, kitchen appliances...anything I’ve found and fallen in love with to pursue another more affordable version makes loud noises in my head as if I’m receiving an error message on a computer:
You are not able to perform this task. Please check the information provided and try again.
In other words, GET REAL WOMAN!
I am the complete opposite to my savvy shopper mate. If I find something I like I must have it. Cost be damned. I can always find a way to justify the expense of something – that’s something I want of course, not something I need like car insurance, rent or a washing machine.
Now let’s be clear, I’m not talking your run of the mill impulse purchases. I know we all have our weak moments from time to time. Nope, I’m talking about those moments when you leave the house with the motive to buy come what may.
Not only am I determined to buy something, sometimes I buy it even if it’s not the one I really want in fear of losing it... I need it in my hot little hands immediately because I can feel the money burning a hole in my pocket and it must be spent. Then I can go on my way, much poorer, but looking fabulous (or whatever guilt ridden outcome I’m searching for) in less time than it takes to tell the Sales Assistant, ‘Charge it’.
Not only am I determined to buy something, sometimes I buy it even if it’s not the one I really want in fear of losing it... I need it in my hot little hands immediately because I can feel the money burning a hole in my pocket and it must be spent. Then I can go on my way, much poorer, but looking fabulous (or whatever guilt ridden outcome I’m searching for) in less time than it takes to tell the Sales Assistant, ‘Charge it’.
Lilly Allen sums it up very nicely in her song The Fear: ‘I am a weapon of massive consumption. It’s not my fault it’s how I’m programmed to function.’
See, I have no one to blame but society!
Are you a savvy shopper or a buy-and-fly devotee like me?
What have you bought on impulse that you really didn’t need but was thrilled to have?
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