It's All About the Money, Money, Money

 

Kok akuh tersinggung, ya? Kamu?

I was scrolling on my Instagram account to look for anything cute to buy. Yes, anything. I would buy a nice blouse or outerwear or a pair of nice flips, you named it. I will buy it. After gave “love” to some pictures here and there, I moved to my virtual bank account to check whether it is quite enough money to buy one or two stuff. There, the moment I saw the number blurry.

Gasp, I was broke.

My money just enough to pay the admission fee next month. So no nice blouse nor cute flips. And I turned pale. Where did all my money go? Yes, where ALL OF THEM? Is there anyone who stolen my money?

The other day, I started to “investigate” through the transaction history. And I found out I was a spendthrift the whole month. Not to mention months before, because I can check the history of the current month only. So, it was me who stolen my own? Wow. I mean W-O-W.

Well, I wasn’t a rich girl who has billions on my account. But spending those amount for only a month still terrified me. Then I took a note and listed down every single payment I’ve done. After that, I tried to figure out what did I spend on. It took me forever to remember.

It such a hit to me. I feel disappointed because I didn’t have any savings and of course I have to stop shopping and all until I-don’t-know-when. Sigh.

Anyway, the stuff I’ve bought is (as you can guess) around clothes and makeups. Oh, there also several clothes for my kids but it is not comparable to the numbers I had. So I dragged them out and count. Yes, they were so many. I even forgot I have a new black blouse—which I almost wanted to buy it AGAIN. Oh, and that lipstick too. How could I pick that bright red shade which I never like?

I could hear my evil self laughing out there.

I bet you, woman,—yes, I’m pointing at you, YOU—ever experiencing this too. You bought a blouse which you already had in your closet. Or you let a pair of pointed shoes with 7 centimetres heels on the box until your feet getting bigger. Or a tube of serum until it reaches the expired date. Or went to the coffee shop twice a week with the same old apology: you need a proper treatment to relieve your premenstrual syndrome.

For some people, all those unused stuff can be thrown away at a garage sale. You can resell them but how much money you can get? Preloved stuff usually sold at ten to fifty per cent cheaper than the original price. Furthermore, it takes some time until all the stuff is sold. Not to mention the space you need to keep them all.

I agree about the point that we have the rights to indulge ourselves anytime. But spending too much money and too many times self-treatment is not acceptable. It’s an apology and we often denial about this.

Well, I don’t want this to happen again to me. So from that moment, before I buy something unnecessary—it’s usually clothes or anything but tempting enough—I always have myself run to the closet to check whether I really need it or not.

Since I prefer minimalist fashion style, I don’t need so many kinds of clothes. I usually pick neutral colors with timeless style. And I want all the clothes long last for the next three or four years. One thing to notice, the clothes have to be good in quality. It doesn’t have to be branded, but make sure it’s really made fine.

I even have one black sweater that I’ve bought in 2009 with my first salary. Yes, it’s been eight years. But it’s still in shape, not faded a bit (still deep black just as I bought it for the first time) and IT’S NOT A BRANDED STUFF. But it’s not cheap tho. When I touched it, I could feel it’s a good quality knit sweater.

It’s also applied to make up things. I have a foundation that I wear on a daily basis. It’s a foundation with serum and it’s so good. I don’t even need to wear face powder anymore. And yes, it’s a foundation from a branded cosmetic. It’s important for us to do some research before buying a cosmetic and give it a try to find out whether it’s good for our skin or if you have an allergic. Another good option is to buy in share-in-jar for branded skincare or makeup so that we don't overspend if the stuff didn't match with our skin.

So it’s better to buy something good with fine quality. But first, make sure you really need it. I know how tempting all the cute clothes on Instagram. And how hard it is to keep yourself straight on—and maybe you surrender many times. If you need, list down all the clothes you have and try to figure out what kind of clothes you still need to buy. You can also try to mix and match. For example, if you already have three pieces of jacket, then skip all the jacket sections.

Now, I feel way more relax when I take a look at my closet. Declutter also very helpful when you want to eliminate unused clothes. I feel comfortable wearing those kinds of clothes over and over. No big deal.[]

(*credit pict from here)