Life through instagram

There are a lot of stories behind my instagram photos, and I don't always get to tell them in the short captions accompanying the posts. These are some of those stories. 

On flowers

I am not normally into flowers, like ever. And yes, you read it right, I am not into flowers. Yes they are beautiful, yes they bring smiles to people's faces and all that jazz. I just don't like them. Le husb knows this very early on, and he bought me flowers once, and let's just say that he wasn't expecting my reaction. In retrospect, I must have appeared ungrateful, but it saved me from a lifetime of 'torture'. These days, I receive flowers randomly from various people I met. I am thankful for this token of gratitude (and there is this little voice inside that wishes for shoes instead).

For my last birthday, I was the delighted recipient of two identical bunches of flowers from the Little Flowers Company. A happy coincidence like this always makes me laugh, I mean, what were the odds of receiving the same bunch of flowers delivered at the same time? They were from three different people, one of whom had the most gorgeous manicure as pictured above.

On food preparation aka cooking

There are some people in this planet who plan their meals, and then cook them from scratch, and they seemingly effortlessly manage to do this on a regular basis as if it is just another part of living - and it actually is. I am trying to be one of those people. I have successfully incorporated some form of exercise routine over the past couple of years out of my desire to actually be healthier, and I do need to eat on a regular basis for the rest of my life, so it is probably a good idea to get into this whole cooking and preparing my food thing sorted out soon.

I don't believe that I have an aversion to cooking per se, but I do have an aversion to cutting things - fruits, vegetables, meat - anything. I have non-existent knife skills. If I can get away with cooking without doing much chopping, slicing and the like, I think it would be a lot easier to get a handle on. In fact, the cooking portion of the whole food prep thing is actually the easier bit - and also fun, because hey, I get to experiment! Needless to say, I tend to modify recipes - mostly out of necessity because I am (1) allergic to coconut and (2) gluten-intolerant.

The making of banana pancakes

successful kitchen experiment: banana pancakes with caramelised banana. doesnt look good, but le boyf likes! #banana #pancakes #bananapancakes #icooked

My friend gave me the recipe for Yotam's sweet potato cakes (here), which I tried to make a couple of times with varying degrees of success (the first was a disaster). I didn't actually modify that recipe per se, but I wasn't following it to the t, which was probably the root of the issue (and the subsequent sub-par result). I was talking to my friend's girlfriend about this, which led us to discussing what other forms of 'cakes' could we make - the most obvious being (white) potato cakes (duh), followed by the next candidate: bananas.

Fast forward to a few experiments later - there we have it. Scrumptious banana pancakes, devoured with varying degrees of eagerness, presumably because past the second experiment, we were pretty much banana-ed out. Despite frequent experimenting, I am afraid I still haven't gotten this thing figured out, thus the discrepancies in the quality of output. For those who are wondering, this is what I basically do:

• Mash some super ripe bananas in a bowl. These bananas are the ones covered with brown spots, you know, the ones that you are tempted to throw away because they look so ... ugly. But they are perfect for this dish! 
• Mix with a beaten egg and some flour (use gluten free flour if you are gluten intolerant, otherwise use the normal version). The aim is to get a semi thick consistency batter, so use your own judgment. I use one egg to two bananas to a handful of flour. 
• Add your favourite 'topping' into the batter, the clear favourite so far being sultanas, but you can add any dried fruits you want (just chop them up first if they are chunky). I also add cinnamon powder for some fragrance, but you can skip this if you don't feel like it. 
• Melt some butter and fry the banana batter. 
• OPTIONAL: I chop up some bananas and cook them with some butter on the same pan (don't wash it first). This simple process caramelises the banana pieces beautifully. You can add sugar if you want, but I skipped it because I think there's enough (natural) sugar in the bananas. 

The making of chicken peri coke

I am not really sure on how this happened but I found a bottle of coke in the fridge that was fast losing its fritz. I intended to cook chicken that evening (due to some intense protein cravings) marinated with peri peri sauce, and thought to myself that adding coke into the mix might just be the thing that could get my creative juices flowing. I tried previously to cook garlic chicken lemonade, which was surprisingly nice, and I figured applying similar principles would work here.

(another) successful kitchen experiment: chicken-peri-coke doesn't look too enticing but le boyf likes! served with caramelised onion chilly sauce on the side. i obviously have been watching one too many cooking shows!#icooked #chicken

This one is actually so simple that it is rather embarrassing to disclose the details. Grab some chicken, pour some peri-peri sauce and coke and tomato sauce, with some garlic and onion. At this point, you have two options. First, you can let the chicken marinate for an hour or so, and then cook it however you want to (fry, grill, etc). Second (and this is what I did), quickly poach the chicken in the coke mixture, followed by a roast in the oven until the chicken is cooked. Add whatever vegetables you want - obviously, the root vegetables you have to cook with the chicken, and for other vegetables, like the capsicums above, you put in the tray about five minutes before the chicken is ready. Oh, remember to baste the chicken so that it remains moist, with the most enhanced flavour.

And to appear sophisticated, make a sauce to drizzle over the chicken from the left over poaching liquid (or marinate, depending on which option you used). If you have a lot of liquid, all you need to do is to thicken it - use diluted corn flour or butter and flour mix or whatever preferred thickening method you have up your sleeve.

And then, serve with rice, or bread, or whatever you want. We ate this chicken with salad and rice. One more thing, you gotta add salt and pepper to your liking. It really is doesn't matter when you add these, just make sure that you do. I successfully forgotten to add these during the cooking process, so I added them at the very end, no biggie.

On chocolate barring

I asked a friend to come over my place because (1) I missed her and (2) I wanted a taster to my kitchen experiments. Le husb is the designated taster in the house, and I think he has a tendency to be biased, you know, the whole when your wife cooks for you, you gotta be supportive by telling her that everything's nice kind of thing (happy wife = happy life). In order to entice her to come over, I asked her if there's any particular recipe that she wanted to try. She sent over 3 or 4 recipes (with pictures to boot!) and I picked the easiest one available because ... laziness.

#repost @angel_xin.yi with @repostapp --- Treats! Made from scratch with love by @drbelleb

The recipe provided I had to modify out of necessity. First, I took out all the coconut components (coconut oil and shredded coconuts). Second, I took out all the sugar components. I tried to make it gluten free, but didn't end up executing it as such, which really means, I can't eat much of these babies (without suffering in pain) which is okay because I don't have a sweet tooth.

This is also embarrassingly simple. Melt some chocolate of choice (white, milk or dark), mix with peanut butter and butter, then add in some nuts of choice, oats (the non-gluten free component here) and dried fruits of choice. Spread the mix in a tray and put in the fridge to solidify (takes about 30 mins or so). Then cut up into slices or pieces, then eat. Serve with tea or coffee, or milk!

Needless to say, this was a crowd popular, the 'crowd' being my dear friend, le husb and le husb's friend. I unfortunately forgot to ask my friend to bring these home for her boyf (who is my good friend), whom I'm pretty sure, out of jealousy, remarked that it was impossible for me to make low sugar chocolate bars. Oh well. His sentiment would have been accurate until these happened.

On Boo's birthday

Every household, I think, has a designated cook, just like every household has a designated CFO, or even CEO. I am obviously not the designated cook of this household because I am still figuring out this whole cooking thing. It was le husb's birthday and for some weird reason, I decided to cook everything from scratch. I made another batch of chocolate bars - slightly different because I added coffee into the mix to make the bars taste bitter. If I were to do this again, I would do it with a better quality cooking chocolate, like one with a lower sugar content, although I am not sure how this would affect the flavour/taste of all the additional material. The one combination I just thought about is one with orange zest and a dash of orange juice!

boo's birthday dinner cooked by me! turns out i can totally do this! #icooked

The rest was not so easy, probably because there were a few things to cook to make this meal. The couscous was cooked with chicken stock and dressed with olive oil and sultanas. The sultanas are optional, but cooking the couscous with chicken stock means it is erring on the salty side (hold off on the salt), so the sultanas add bursts of sweet surprises on the palette. The chickpeas were combined with sweet paprika and chillies, red capsicum, carrot and tomatoes to make this monochromatic dish. You can't really see it from the above picture, but I added chorizos into this mix (chop them first). If you want to make this vegetarian, just skip this. I honestly don't think the chorizos will make a difference to the flavour of the dish. To the left is beef stroganoff topped with spring onions. This is easier than I thought - onions, garlic, beef, mushroom cooked with butter and thick cream with some worcestershire sauce. The resultant output is a low sugar (could probably do without the sultanas) and gluten free meal!

If these were an indication of how we are going to eat our way through 2015, then I say that we are going to be extremely well fed!

Shopping guidelines for 2015

image from here

Happy new year! Wishing everyone the best for this year!

In an ideal world, this is what I am going to do this year. 

I am starting this year with a shopping fast.

I know I must sound like a crazy person given my experience with the fast in the past year. I admit that there is something intriguing about a shopping fast, which is why I keep coming back to it. I won’t recount the details of my shopping fast history here (you can look at the year in review, which gives you an idea of what happened last year); but will say the following:

• I had done a fast for a month (twice: once in 2013 and the other in 2014) and found the aftermath to be uncontrollable shopping urges. I wonder if this is because the habit of not shopping has not yet been ingrained. 
• I had done a variation of a shopping fast by getting rid of a number of items instead of a period of time. The result of this is a mixture of success and failure all at once. Success because I did reach the item number (I got ruthless), failure because it happened within a short span amount of time (like a few days), while I envisioned it to last a few months. 

This time, I want the shopping fast to be for a period of 6 months. That’s half a year. This is going to be interesting because I have never done a fast for this long, and is really a test of the first point of observation: will the habit of not shopping be ingrained after more than one month of abstinence. And secondly, will a prolonged period of abstinence result in a better, more streamlined wardrobe.

The only caveat I have at this stage is that the ban would be temporarily lifted if I were to travel. I promise that I will stick to the good quality stuff that has been occupying my lust list for some time. I don’t have any travel plans in the near future, so this should be interesting.

***

Upon reflection, however, the above is (unfortunately) unrealistic for me.

What's more realistic is some form of a shopping guideline, like this:

(1) Thoughtful acquisitions - no impulse shopping, everything must be researched and considered for at least 1 day. This habit is something that I've found to be personally useful when shopping, and tend to minimise acquisition errors. A more deliberate approach to shopping is something that I would like to continue to advocate for this year.

(2) Quality first - leather bags and shoes only, with the exception of sneakers and running shoes. Leather goods are the ones that age well and subsequently, in my books, are the ones that stand the test of time. For jewellery, minimise costume jewellery. This is rather annoying because I enjoy my fair share of costume jewellery, but they are often seasonal and of questionable quality, and therefore do not exactly fit into this criteria of quality first (ugh).

Disclosure: this post is inspired by the following shopping guidelines:

• Majahuse
• Lost in a Spotless Mind

Wardrobe reflections for 2014

At the beginning of the year, I wrote the following:

In 2014, I resolve to simplify my closet. Simplify as in cut it in half. Or maybe by a third from what it is right now.

I am not sure that I have halved my wardrobe - I do not see much empty space. All I can say is that everything fits a lot better in the space that I have available (which is not much), and I can do with further improvement for 2015. I have donated a lot of clothes, particularly the ones that were ill-fitting and/or of terrible quality. And equally important: I have stopped buying a few low quality items and chose to buy one high quality item that excited and inspired me.

I discovered that editing one's wardrobe is a skill that can be learned and refined over time, with a lot of practice (surprise, surprise). I started out having very little clue as to how to do this, all that I had was a vision, and even then, this vision wasn't exactly crystal clear. I am still working out the details as I go along. And I make sure that all the things that I do is getting me one step closer to this vision.

Another discovery: this vision is not static - it is in fact rather dynamic in nature. I am mostly ok with this because I don't expect this to be static. People change over time, I change over time, it is only natural that what I want change. All I can say is that on the big picture, what I want hasn't deviate much from the original vision. The details (that are largely still vague) are the ones changing, quite possibly because I am getting more specific with what I want, so the things that I thought I was previously okay with ended up being the things that I did not want. This revelation is useful because it prevents me from making acquisition mistakes.

So what happened in 2014?

January: I travelled and perhaps got a lil bit too carried away with shopping. I liked (and still like) all that I bought, they were essentially ticking off a lot of things from the lust list. I tend not to include holiday purchases into the acquisition tally, but I guess I really should given that I have identified that shopping while travelling is one of my Achilles heel.

February: I articulated my wardrobe resolutions for this year and also implemented a one month shopping ban. The goal was to concentrate on what was in my closet, focus on getting rid of things that are not comfortable and do not make me feel good. This is kind of hard especially if they were a favourite and/or comfortable once upon a time. However, given my current living situation, space is a premium and I want to have space instead of things that I don't use.

March: I noticed that when shopping ban ended, I always found it that much more difficult to control my shopping urges in the aftermath, which led me to conclude that having a shopping ban is mostly a terrible idea for me in the long run. It was, for lack of a better description, a band-aid solution to a more serious issue. The weather was quasi warm, and I purchased items for the upcoming winter (boots, sweaters and dresses), including this blue satchel that has been an unexpected favourite, all of which got a lot of use during the next few months, so all in all, I am glad that I bought them.

April: April was a no spent month despite having no shopping ban in place. There were a lot of things that tickled my fancy, but I resisted the temptation to shop. It wasn't easy, but it did got easier throughout the month.

May: I found that resisting the temptation to shop got easier with time. This month, I replaced worn under garments and replaced a couple of new jumpers for winter (the weather was getting colder). I had been putting worn out items to one side, but didn't go on a full force decluttering spree because I didn't have the time to do so. I figured that slow and steady was better than nothing at all.

June: June was a successful acquisition month thanks to the end of financial year sale here in the land of oz. I did not blog this month because ... err... too busy shopping I guess? I added a brown tote and a pair of black boots into the mix, as well as replaced a couple of dresses. At this point, I panicked because this was going in a completely different direction to what I wanted to be at the beginning of the year - i.e. severe deviation from this year's wardrobe resolutions - so the decluttering spree started.

July: There was this jacket that I had been eyeing since last winter - the superdry windbreaker. I was in the middle of a decluttering spree, getting rid of mostly worn out items that were just there, unworn by me because they were worn out. Either that or they were a terrible fit. My body changed ever since I decided to exercise regularly, and whilst I had been purging, I never did it to this extent. I devised another shopping ban after purchasing the jacket with my bonus money from the boss. [Bonus money is one of those unexpected pleasures in life that I spend freely and happily, mostly in the form of food, and occasionally, clothes.]

August: I implemented a self-imposed shopping ban with the aim of letting go 20 items before purchasing anything new. The black wedge sneakers that I had been eyeing went on sale on asos.com and I got to action straight away. I got ruthless. I got rid of 2 bags worth of clothes and shoes, combination of stuff given by other people and stuff that are too worn out for swap, not because of wear but because of low quality. I think I behaved this way because I wanted those shoes - and they did not disappoint. I loved (and still love) them to bits, and I feel like it was one of those purchases that are worth every penny.

September: September was a no spent month because I was too busy downsizing my closet. I donated a lot of things - another 3 bags full of clothes and accessories (incl. shoes and bags) to St Vinnies. I also did a major edit of my lust list, essentially successfully convincing myself that there were items in the list that I did not love, and so they shouldn't be on the list. Seriously considering to rename the list as love list, but did not because, well, lust list sounds more raunchy.

October: I got rid of more things that were terrible fit, and this process is getting easier the more I do this. I upgraded my black skinnies (because my current pair was jaded, which is an inconvenience when I wanted a jet black, sleek bottom) and black sandals in preparation for summer. At this point in time, it feels like my closet is coming together and it is easier to get dressed every day because everything is more cohesive. I purchased the black bag that I had been coveting for a long time and have been using it on a regular basis.

November: Still primarily in downsizing mode, I wanted this month to be a no spend month, and was about half way across the month before the orange dress happened. I loved (and still love) this dress, and have been wearing it on average one day per week. Orange is a colour that I am traditionally not drawn to, so it came as a bit of a surprise that I liked this dress that much. I am also surprised as to how easily orange integrates with my wardrobe, and subsequently, I entertained the idea of getting an orange bag. The shape of the bag doesn't matter so much, but the colour does because I just want to have a little fun with colours. I have gotten this bag thanks to a very generous friend who let me chose my own present.

December: December has been a successful acquisition month. I happily upgraded a couple of dresses, added more silk items, and introduced two new colours: orange and yellow. I spent a lot more this month, largely taking advantage of the various sales (mostly online) and also braved the crazy Boxing Day's sales, walking away with not buying anything for myself (I bought a gift for a dear friend). I am drafting a few acquisition analyses entries, and will post them once finished.

Wardrobe resolutions for 2015

In 2015, I resolve to refine my style concept. Refine as in making (minor) tweaks to bring my style up a notch. This refinement process comprises:

Removing unwanted elements - the decluttering continues (and perhaps will never stop), constant editing is something that I probably have to do to ensure that the state of my closet is inline with my (evolving) style concept.

Cleaning up messy closet - my closet is not messy per se, but it can do with some regular organising. This is beneficial in two ways. First, it assists in the first goal of removing unwanted items. Two, it makes me more aware of what's in my closet. And needless to say, it promotes clarity and organisation: I will know where everything is.

Transforming my outfits by extending its integration capabilities - this means including things like combining accessories, playing with colour mixes and purchasing new things with the purpose of elevating existing closet items.

December Wardrobe Reflection

if i could be a poem, then this is it. 

Hello December.

I quite like December. It is the last month of the year, it is the holiday season and there is just so much love everywhere!

November purchase I bought a grand total of one item at the end of November: an orange dress. I have worn this dress at least once a week since I bought it. It is a good dress for spring/summer and given that I got rid of a bunch of summer dresses earlier this year, this is really just a replacement of those. That said, this purchase was from asos.com, my shopping achilles heel, during their additional 20% off. This made the dress ridiculously affordable. Granted, it is not the best material nor construction, but it is pretty good for the price that I paid for.

Somewhat off topic, asos recently changed their free shipping minimum (from no minimum to $30 to $40) and their additional discount minimum (from no minimum to approx $120 minimum). I told le husb that this just made it more difficult for me to do some impulse shopping, which is actually a good thing! I get that their logic is to get people to buy more things in one transaction, and I couldn't help wondering how many people are in my shoes: they find one thing they like, and can't take advantage of the further sales and free shipping and subsequently decide not to buy anything. Both my wardrobe and my bank account are very happy (and me too).  

Wardrobe observation I have dresses, they are mostly black. Nothing wrong with that, except when it's stinking hot outside, and I was literally melting. Thus the orange dress purchased above. I am quite drawn to orange these days, which is a surprise for me, given that I never stop to consider the colour before. It integrates nicely with my existing colours, and is especially nice when paired with blue. I find that wearing black in summer is rather impractical. I should have known this, but somehow it just escaped me. So I am working on integrating more lighter colours to wear for the next few months. Generally, I struggled to look good in summer, dressing during this time of the year takes more effort than any other season.

December purchases so far A red dress, a pencil skirt in yellow and .... a black dress. I know, I know. I have a weakness for black dresses. They are wearable for about 70% of the year (late summer through to early spring), and are also wearable when the weather dips into the lower temperatures during the 30% of the year. I sound like I am contradicting myself. Black dresses, when chosen well, can last a long time. I bought this black dress because it's silk! These three items, well, two are still in transit (at the time of writing).

Other random observation A few people pointed out to me that there are some days in which I dress like someone that I am not. These people are brave people and I love them a lot, and more importantly, they make me re-think my whole approach to dressing and all that. Lately though, their criticisms had been centred around my foot wear of choice. I am battling a recurring running injury, so I have been staying away from my heels collection. While this is a very good excuse, it makes me realise how a pair of shoes can make or break the outfit.

I did say during last month's wardrobe reflection that it is very unlikely that November would be a no buying month because of Black Friday. I bought one dress in November. So far I have bought three items in December. I don't know how many I would buy this month. Whilst I would like to have a "rule" that says "maximum of one item in per month", I am not too sure that such rule would be useful because the chance of me adhering to it is in December (and also January) is pretty small. And no, so far this year, I have bought more than one item per month; I have exceeded this by 100%.  

I have so much more respect for those people who are able to exercise a very high degree of wardrobe discipline and still look good. The way they are able to buy the best items that would fit their lifestyles and then come up with different ways to wear them and invest the time and effort to maintain their clothes - that is quite something.

I hope to get there one day. One step at a time.

Coming up: acquisition analyses on the stuff I bought so far this year. I find this to be personally useful, they just take a lot of time and effort to write up. As we are nearing the end of the year, I would like to do an evaluation of my wardrobe resolutions for this year, and of course, think of a few resolutions for next year.

Quick wardrobe reflection and dealing with FOMO

It is now November.

I updated my wardrobe spreadsheet. Two observations.

(1) I tallied up the total items purchased since July (4 - that's on average 1 item per month). Wardrobe $ spent is so far less than 5% of net income. This 5% figure is the percentage that I gather what most people would allocate to their wardrobe spending, so I am just using this as a loose guideline. My own stats - this percentage varies depending on the stage of my life (and other financial goals at the time), so I don't have a definite number (or even range) that's representative of my wardrobe budget. So my approach when it comes to this budgetary allocation is this: if you can afford it, then go for it. It's your money, your choices, your decisions. Live life the way you want to, spend your money in accordance with that.

(2) September was a no spend month. I bought two things in October, one of which was this beauty. I toyed with the idea of November being a no spend month - we are a third of the way into the month and I haven't come across anything that's enticing. Then again, my lust list these days looks different from my lust list in prior months, so that's probably an important factor. In some ways, I think I am being unrealistic in the sense that I would like every single item that I acquire from this point forward to inspire me (instead of just being functional). But I don't need anything right now, so I am okay with proceeding with this mindset until it is proven to be unsuitable for my lifestyle.

I am not sure if November is going to be a no spend month because of Black Friday. Previously, I have been enticed by the great bargains to be had during this time of the year, right through to post Christmas sales. I was easily enticed by the idea of scoring a bargain without much consideration as to how each acquisition would fit into my current closet. This is something that I would like to change since a couple of years ago, but somehow, I still fall into the same 'trap'. This brings me to:

FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out.

How many times do we let ourselves decide to do something out of FOMO?

Why do we let fear rule our lives when we know that it usually brings us dissatisfaction eventually?

Recognise FOMO for what it really is: fear.

Fear is the stage you are in. It's ok to feel fear, feeling something is part of the human experience. And what you do while you're feeling that fear is important.

How to move past living in fear?

When you are living in fear, and you want to stop living in fear, your response is firstly going to be most likely living with courage. This happens when you're doing something despite the fear.  So, when you come across a pair of jeans, your size, your favourite brand, on a steep discount and you choose not to purchase them because you know that you already have too much jeans despite feeling that you are missing out if you don't buy them right now - congratulations, you are living with courage.

Courage, I find, is like a habit. If you make a habit of being courageous, you would attain a state of mindfulness, you understand why you do the things that you do and this understanding makes it easier for you to stay true to yourself. And staying true to yourself brings this quiet sense of satisfaction that people call peace.

It always begin with yourself. The first step is to look deep down within yourself. It is when you have enough courage to listen to yourself that you discover who you really are.

My problem is that sometimes I forget who I am, especially when I am tempted by so many beautiful things.

And I really really want to be especially mindful this month.

Wish me luck.

acquisition analysis: black bag

[at the time of writing] i had just received the above bag. historically, the trend is that i purchase a lot more often than i walk away. this one is different though: i have an irrational lust for this bag on first sight, something that doesn't happen very often. there are a lot of things that i find beautiful, but very few that i am strongly attracted to.

i have always maintained that a good handbag has the ability to elevate an outfit, and is a pretty good "investment" because it's independent of one's fluctuating shape. as in, even if you lose/gain weight, your bags would still be there for you, you know. i recently did a purge of all the handbags of my younger years (some of which makes me cringe), in an effort to have with a relatively clean start. the goal is to have a collection that stands the test of time. this is a rather ambitious goal on my part because i dont know what i am going to like in ten years time. point is that i try to stick on the classic side whenever i can.

i have been wanting a black bag that's relatively small/medium in size for the days that i don't have to carry around a tote (i rotate two different-styled totes on a daily basis). it needs to be small enough and big enough at the same time (annoying, i know) because i want it to perform double duty: for work on the days that i carry light, and for fun on the days that i carry more than usual. i decided that the max size would be 30-35cm, anything over that is just to big to be practical to be considered small. (this paragraph is very hard to write because the points are difficult to articulate. if you've been in my position, you would know that there are some days in which a tote is just too big for all the stuff you need to carry. not that it matters, a tote still functions while slouchy, which can serve as a point of interest to the outfit. however, it is nice to have a bag that's small enough for those days, because sometimes, it's not just about function. function is important, of course: if something doesn't function, then it's useless. yet when form and function meet, man, that's quite something.)

and the usual acquisition criteria apply - good material and construction: leather, durable; affordable for its quality. i have to mention the last point because there are a lot of seemingly good quality options out there (whether they really represent good quality of not is another discussion another time) at prices that i would rather not afford. i take care of my bags (and everything else i own), but i don't exactly "baby" them either, so they can't be too high maintenance, else i would be spending more time maintaining them than using them.

i have this debate with myself over and over and over again before settling at a price point that i deem reasonable for a bag for my current lifestyle. this is a very personal decision and i would not even dare to recommend this to anyone else because the price of something, anything, needs to be evaluated based on one's current lifestyle. i get that this is made even more complicated due to the fact that i expect the bag to stand the test of time. but this is not a financial analysis whereby one does an NPV analysis, rather, this is a value analysis, whereby one gets to assign a dollar value in terms of what one deems to be appropriate in the item's contribution to one's life. it is definitely arbitrary in nature, and in arriving at this value, you just need to remember the trade off between quality and dollar value, and also that just because something is expensive does not automatically mean it represents good quality.

Furla has been around for as long as i can remember, but i never paid enough attention to anything inside the store, until i saw the Piper bag. i am normally not attracted to dome-shaped bags, although admittedly, i did look at a Coach patent leather dome bag a few months ago (and didn't purchase). either the shape was growing on me, or i just want a variety of shapes, or perhaps it's something else - the Piper stole my heart at first sight. it was one of those things that you just knew you would love. (side note: there is nothing else in the collection that caught my attention the way the Piper did, i do acknowledge that aside from their Candy Bag collection, Furla actually errs on the classic side, which explains why it never appealed to me previously.)

i haven't felt this strongly about an acquisition for a long time, so i am rather curious as to why. i went back to my wardrobe spreadsheet and looked at the items that i've acquired this (financial) year: a jacket, a pair of shoes, a pair of jeans (replacement pair for two current pairs that i retired due to being worn out) and a bag (this bag). all of these items have been on my lust list for a long time and the jacket and the shoes have gotten quite a lot of wear considering their relative new-ness, which is to say that they integrate seamlessly into my wardrobe. that said, it is probably because i have a relatively clean state because i have been donating quite a lot of stuff. it is somewhat rather funny that given that when i first bought the shoes, i admitted that i was being irrational. i rationalised the decision by letting go of the shoes that i didn't wear often. i end up wearing the new shoes more often, and became happier as a result. perhaps the key is to actually let go of the things you don't love, so that you don't have to waste so much emotional energy, period.

i guess it is the planning, the research and everything else in between that somewhat contributes to this sense of euphoria. i hate to admit this, but when something is acquired mindfully, it is way more satisfying than something acquired on impulse.

image is from here (you can also buy the bag there - click at your own peril!)

ps. in the case of the shoes, it was one pair in, and 6 pairs out. in the case of the bag, it is one in and 5 out. pretty good for someone who's trying to downsize and stay stylish at the same time!

acquisition analysis is a series of entries that centres on the practical side of how to maximise your marginal utility when spending your money. it is not primarily directed at the financial side of things, rather, on refining my buying skills, specifically on how an item would fit into my life. after all, if it is true that i get to design my life, then it follows that i need to be more critical in both adding and subtracting what's in it. furthermore, i personally believe that in order to maximise one's resources, acquisitions (or purchases) have to be of a strategic nature, instead of a mere time-filler. i admit that at this stage, i am yet to formalise an acquisition process, so one of the goals would be to come up with my acquisition process after i analyse a few of my past purchases. this should make for an interesting exercise because i note that some of my acquisitions do not necessarily stand the test of time. some items that i purchased turn out to be of a terrible quality, despite meticulously taking care of them. lots of lessons to be had!

why i think the shopping ban is not for me: what really curbs my spending

i do not do shopping bans well. i think after doing it about three times now, with varying degrees of success, it's pretty evident that i suck at it.

this is because: i dislike not being able to shop (even when i don't want to shop; i am weird, i know). i guess i don't do well with this sort of restriction in my life.

i agree that this sounds like an excuse, and is definitely a terrible thing to write out in a blog post. but, in the rather off chance that you are like me, this is perhaps something worth pondering about. for a lot of people, the shopping ban works because it removes a choice from their lives. for me, it doesn't really work because i like having that choice to purchase if i want to.

i keep a spreadsheet of wardrobe spending, meticulously tracking this aspect of my life for the past 2 years. so far, the trends for total wardrobe spending ($) and items (no.) are falling, which is what i want. i don't keep a record of the things that i donated, but i have been donating a lot lately, which is also something i want. i cringe at the monetary value of donated items, which is something i don't want to, but do. i come to the conclusion that in terms of monetary value, rarely worn clothing is a terrible investment.

observing this spreadsheet in the past few months reveals that even in the presence of a choice to purchase, i don't always purchase. i manage to talk myself out of it. most of the time, after lusting after a particular thing, i come to the conclusion that i don't need the said thing, so why purchase. my bank account is very happy with this decision.

i think there is also a reverse psychology happening here - when you tell yourself not to do something, you end up thinking about doing it, and then actually doing it. so instead of telling me not to shop, i tell myself to pause and think about why i purchase. this pause is very important because this is the time and space to evaluate the desire to purchase, not just the item to purchase.

so, in summary this is what works for me right now: exercising a critical eye when purchasing, pausing and asking why i purchase, and once purchased, hopefully wear my clothes to death.

or in short, my goal is to be a smart and conscious consumer.

(this is one of those posts that make me feel so grown up. dont ask why.)