Shopping habits, revised
See, I am terrible at managing my money and until recently, I would always spend all I had without even thinking about it. Since this past summer, however, I have set a couple of rules that guide my shopping habits. And, quite surprisingly, they seem to work.
Rule No.1: Do I love-love-LOVE it?
The rule gets applied indiscriminately to any type of item I am considering purchasing. It got invented in the PUMA store in San Francisco, where I decided that I absolutely love-love-LOVED a pair of white flats that were way above my shoe-budget at the time. The rule worked perfectly. I did spend a lot, but since I love-love-LOVED the shoes, I wore them with a passion all summer and believe to have gotten their value's worth. Like I said, I apply this rule when purchasing shoes, clothes, food, candy, electronics and highly recommend you try it. You will find that making a decision whether to buy something becomes a decision about whether you absolutely love something and that's actually a fairly easy task.
Rule No.2: Do I love it X-as-much?
I use this rule when trying to decide between two items. For example, yesterday I was buying a new cell phone. I narrowed it down to two phone models of equal functionality. At first, I thought I liked the more expensive one better. It was exactly twice the price of the other one. So, in a bout of practicality (those who know me know that's definitely not a typical situation I find myself in), I asked myself: OK, so you think you like it better than the cheaper one. But do you like it twice as much? I know that logic is flawed and has nothing to do with how product prices are formed. But, honestly, who cares? I did purchase the cheaper phone and I'm happy to report I am very pleased with the decision.
Like I told some people last night, not shopping has become the new shopping for me. Or, to be precise, paying attention to the money flow in and out of my account, has become a real item of concern and care. In result, I am a little more prepared for dealing with unexpected circumstances (like, losing my fuckin' cell-phone) and I am also surrounding myself with items I actually care for.
I am becoming a very good capitalist, you see. :P
Rule No.1: Do I love-love-LOVE it?
The rule gets applied indiscriminately to any type of item I am considering purchasing. It got invented in the PUMA store in San Francisco, where I decided that I absolutely love-love-LOVED a pair of white flats that were way above my shoe-budget at the time. The rule worked perfectly. I did spend a lot, but since I love-love-LOVED the shoes, I wore them with a passion all summer and believe to have gotten their value's worth. Like I said, I apply this rule when purchasing shoes, clothes, food, candy, electronics and highly recommend you try it. You will find that making a decision whether to buy something becomes a decision about whether you absolutely love something and that's actually a fairly easy task.
Rule No.2: Do I love it X-as-much?
I use this rule when trying to decide between two items. For example, yesterday I was buying a new cell phone. I narrowed it down to two phone models of equal functionality. At first, I thought I liked the more expensive one better. It was exactly twice the price of the other one. So, in a bout of practicality (those who know me know that's definitely not a typical situation I find myself in), I asked myself: OK, so you think you like it better than the cheaper one. But do you like it twice as much? I know that logic is flawed and has nothing to do with how product prices are formed. But, honestly, who cares? I did purchase the cheaper phone and I'm happy to report I am very pleased with the decision.
Like I told some people last night, not shopping has become the new shopping for me. Or, to be precise, paying attention to the money flow in and out of my account, has become a real item of concern and care. In result, I am a little more prepared for dealing with unexpected circumstances (like, losing my fuckin' cell-phone) and I am also surrounding myself with items I actually care for.
I am becoming a very good capitalist, you see. :P
posted by petya at 11/30/2006 12:05:00 AM
10 Comments:
No, I think you are becoming an idealistic or sentimental capitalist, since the things you now buy have some immaterial value to you as well :).
As far as shopping rules go... I am not a big shopper, in fact I hate it, but at the times when I do need to buy something and go shopping, I totally abide by the "Do I really love-love-LOVE it" rule. Oh, I guess I do have one rule--I always apply the "automatically buy" rule to travel. I can never turn down a trip; experiencing some place new is always worth the money, in my mind. Have I gone far enough off the topic yet? :)
Hahah, yes! You are totally right! Avertising and branding specialists could totally use me to showcase all kinds of "lovemark" approaches to consumerism. ;)
One could argue that you're becoming a very bad capitalist--by being more selective in your purchases rather than just throwing your money at a lot of useless crap!
These are great rules. Something that happens to me is that I don't know whether I will love-love-LOVE something until I get it home and find myself wearing it over and over again. But I feel like I'm getting better and better at these decisions. Maybe I'm finally growing up.
My name for the the love-love-LOVE it rule is "Do I $___ love it?" Take a sweater, for example. It might be a cute sweater. I might $30 love it, but I don't necessarily $50 love it. It's not an arbitrary dollar amount that I won't let myself spend on a particular purchase, but whether I like the item enough to fork over the tag price.
Petya, as you are well aware as a former partner-in-crime shopper (pre-bitchy Carla and our lovely Verushka were a couple of others of mine), I, too, have money management problems. Serious ones. I'm slowly getting a wee bit better, but your "do I love it _ x better" rule is sure to help!
Sometimes I try thinking about what else x amount of money could by in the item's place in the future, which has an on-again, off-again success rate. Or lately I've been guilt-tripping myself. I have a younger sister who is waitressing and raising an infant, and I remind myself how much she has to deny herself in order to make ends meet, and I realize how superfluous my prospective purchase is. It really puts things into perspective, and reminds me to add another bit of cash into my nephew's college fund...
Did it again. That last post was me, Brooke.
I love these rules. But somehow I managed to use them the other day to talk myself into buying something that I don't think I would have bought otherwise! I'm guessing that's not what they're supposed to do. ;)
Can you add a third rule, for my sake? "Just because something passes the test of rules 1 and 2 doesn't mean you have to buy it."
this entry and the comments it's got sound like a 12-step-program manifesto...
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