WHAT I’M WEARING: ASOS EMERALD GREEN PENCIL PEPLUM DRESS, NELLY LACE UP HEELS & MINI CHANEL BAG
Experiences, those are what I spend my money on. Dividing my time between two cities I love, it’s expensive. Buying every book I desire, it’s expensive. Adopting a puppy, so far, has been expensive. Travelling as much as I possibly can, it’s expensive. But money on these things makes me richer in ways that never hurt when I check my bank accounts online. I am lucky enough to own a few designer pieces here or there, most of them are from brands bearing gifts – and they go up on ebay to generate cash, keeping only the few I really love. Like this little Chanel I bought myself or the Balenciaga my Dad gifted me in Paris or the Giuseppe Zanottis heels I received after a trip to Milan I will never forget. But for the most part, shopping isn’t really a pursuit I indulge much in. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I stepped into a clothing store to shop. When I do indulge, it is always online and usually on a midnight emotional low I’ll hit up Forever 21 or ASOS in a sad quiet attempt to make myself happier. I’ll never spend more than 50 euros and I’ll almost always cancel the order the next morning. And yet every month or so I will still go through this cycle, shopping as a way of easing the emotional imbalance I suffer under to then cancel my purchases when I’m feeling better. Why do I do this? Why have we as women equated spending money to feeling good? And why do we worship women that shop excessively? Blogging is brimming with personalities like these, I follow some of them, not so much because I’m interested in their lives but because I am secretly hoping for an insight into their financial life, some clue that will tell me just how they afford all they infinitely buy. Shopping isn’t a story or an experience, it’s fun but then again, so is carrot cake and if I were to eat that everyday instead of the nourishing foods I dedicate time to making, well I’d be an unhealthy mess with piles of too-small clothes. What is so interesting or remarkable about a woman dropping some money to acquire a pair of shoes? Why are we, as women captivated by that? Why is having money and spending it elevated to a skill we all wish we had? It make me so sad, that the worth of so many online personalities comes down to the price of the shoes on their feet. We all shop and so we should but it’s an indulgence or at least that’s how I see it. As a full-time blogger, I work with mostly affordable brands and I truly love that because I showcase clothes that you girls can easily afford while still leaving cash in your pockets for the more important things, things I hope you collect with a fervour; experiences. Your life is your story and at the end of your days, the shoes on your feet won’t matter all that much. But the trips you took or the skills you acquired or the books you read? Those things will stay with you until your very last breath. I am so deeply disheartened by that irritating quote that circulates social media ‘nothing haunts us like the things we didn’t buy’ , in so many ways it echoes all I see wrong with society. Do you know what haunts me? A life half-lived. A life full of shoes and bags but not much else. So here’s to buying an eleven euro dress from ASOS and saving the rest of your cash for a puppy instead. Or a trip somewhere new or a fresh pile of books to read or the ballet classes you always wanted to take. It’s your story, shopping merits a sentence, but it sure as hell won’t make a memorable chapter.
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