OMG, you guys, I don't even know what I'm going to do if I can't procure this dress for myself for spring and summer polka-dot gloriousness. At $138 (plus shipping, if I can't find it in the real world), it's well-nigh three paychecks' worth of clothes budget.
Perhaps I really will be a good little consumer and spend my economic-stimulus check on clothes.
Showing posts with label vanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vanity. Show all posts
Monday, March 10, 2008
Mid-Afternoon Clothing Craving
Friday, February 29, 2008
Being a Girl is Not Cheap
So, I spent some beauty money yesterday. I got a Bare Minerals starter kit at Sephora, and then added a Sephora brand longwear lipstick in a neutral color--I'm trying to convince myself that wearing makeup on a regular basis doesn't have to be an enormous pain in the ass and/or make me look like I'm trying too hard. That cost me my $75 gift certificate, plus about $8. Then I stopped at the drugstore in Grand Central for a box of hair color (a slightly darker, richer brown than my natural kinda-reddish, kinda-brownish color): $9.99 plus tax. The total out-of-pocket cost was just about $20.
Then, though, you consider what happens if I really like Bare Minerals--I use it daily, and I have to replace the products regularly! And they are certainly not cheap. It's like adding another regular bill.
On the other hand, though, I do think some makeup can make a 24-year-old look a lot more like a grownup, and thus add a little credibility in the world. Theoretically, I guess that credibility could boost my earning power. Still, can we really call makeup an "investment"?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Got a Bite on My Resume!
I'd idly sent my resume out to a couple of publishing houses a couple of weeks ago; just submitting through websites, not really thinking too hard about it. Today, I got an email from someone at one of those houses asking me to submit a cover letter--apparently, I failed to properly attach one through their online application platform. Which is awesome, actually--it means they liked my resume enough to want to look at a cover letter! Though I'm prone to conducting personal business (like, uh, blogging) at work, I didn't think they'd appreciate an email on my current employer's time, so I'll be redoing my cover letter and sending it off when I get home tonight. It's a long way from an entry-level position, and it would be hard to pass up, if I could actually get an offer.
Perhaps related, perhaps not: I think I'm going to stop by Sephora this afternoon to spend some of the gift certificate my aunt gave me for Christmas, and I'm itching, for the first time in years and years, to dye my hair.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Crazy in Love...with a $300 shoe.
So, I fell in love with a shoe today. A pair of $259 shoes, in fact. K and I went down to Fluevog this afternoon to get him new shoes. He had a Christmas gift certificate from his parents and a rather serious need for new shoes. And then I met these:
I loooove them. They work for the office, but they're not staid, they can be casual, and they're super-comfortable (yes, I tried them on), even for my weirdo feet (wide toes, incredibly high instep). I have a pair of Fluevogs, cute mary janes that I wear to the office and for walking around (bought the last pair in the store, deep discount), and they've lasted some four years, which is longer than my shoes ever last, because, as previously discussed, I have a tendency to buy $24 shoes from Payless and similar. And I know that with shoes you really do get what you pay for...and have I mentioned that I love them?
Obviously, I can't afford them. Obviously.
They did make me rethink my shoe strategy, though. Maybe the thing to do is save up and spend liberally on a small wardrobe of great shoes. Comfortable, well-made, beautiful shoes. Just a few pairs. Ditch the many one-use Payless purchases and the many wore-constantly-worn-through-immediately Payless purchases, and go for quality over quantity.
Plus, maybe if we really do get stimulus-plan checks...maybe then my shoe love and I can be together.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Less Stuff! More Money!
It's time for me to deacquisition, hardcore. I have too much stuff. The clutter in my bedroom, in particular, is beginning to make me crazed. Additionally, I have very little slack in the ol' budget this pay period, and a weekend spent at home decluttering might be just what the doctor ordered for my sanity and my checking account both (I do have one coffee date, but that's it).
Clothes with tags still on (I know there are at least three or four pieces, and none of them came cheap) will go on eBay, as will four pairs of new, non-fitting, and never-returned shoes (bought 'em more than a year ago) and maybe a couple of Christmas gifts that aren't my style and/or are redundant. I'm hoping to make $200. What I can't decide is whether this counts as non-salary income that should be added to the grad school stash or whether it is best used getting myself some newer, non-scraggly clothing.
Speaking of scraggly, there's also lots to give away--I think a bunch of my clothes are starting to look like they've seen better days. So off to Goodwill they'll go.
I'd be really happy to have a little less stuff and a little more money in my life.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
On Paying for Quality: An Example of How Cheap is Not the Same as Frugal
There is an actual, physical hole in the sole of my shoe. Meaning, when I put my foot down, my actual foot (enstockinged, but still) touches the actual ground. Which is very cold.
My shoes cost $24 and I bought them about three months ago. Perhaps next time I should pay more than $24.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Big Old Spending Mishmash
The dress didn't work out. I tried it on when it arrived yesterday, and it was well-nigh a disaster: cheap, flimsy, and definitely homely. Yuck. I'm going to take it back to Macy's in person (to save the return shipping), and maybe try on another dress I spotted on their website, a black sequiny deal. (I should really do my shopping in person--shipping is expensive and annoying, but when online shopping goes right, and something you really like is delivered to your door and you didn't have to get exhausted and grumpy in a fluorescent-lit dressing room...heaven.) In the meantime, though, I jumped on a sale and bought another silver dress, hoping to salvage the original metallic concept.
I don't imagine Macy's will refund the shipping charge, so that's annoying. And the new dress, even with the sale, is some $20 more than the old one, plus shipping, and it's all a little bit of a mess in my head right now. Aaargh.
This is what I really hate, when my plans get all messy in my head, and I don't know what's going on, and there's stuff floating around on my credit card bill. Aaargh.
I think, though, that if I take the dress in to Macy's on Saturday, and return some stuff I've been meaning to return to Old Navy (note to self: can I just take them into the store? There's one on 34th St., right near Macy's), the credit returned to my Visa should be enough to cover the cost of the new dress without any additional tinkering. Which would be really nice.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Dress Dilemma
Checking in on the holiday dress I've picked out at Macy's website (the things I do at work!), I was thrilled to note it had gone on sale: $48! I was less thrilled to note that the gold, the color I really wanted, had sold out in my size. Damn. I suppose I could wait to see if they restock the gold... But less-than-$50 is a great deal on an occasion dress, and it's a limited-time offer for their Thanksgiving sale, so I'm sucking it up and going for the silver. I can still wear vamp-red lipstick and the shoes I was planning on; I'll just have to change up the jewelry a bit. I'll be sure to put it on my credit card: that way, I can return it with a minimum of fuss if it turns out all wrong.
(You're right, S/100/30, the lack of image was really an omission.)
Monday, September 24, 2007
News
My big medical claim was just processed by my insurance company--it popped up on my online claim center--which means that I can start looking for that big fat check in the mail, and start looking forward to re-beefing up the ol' Freedom Fund.
So that's good news.
Other good news: I decided to buy three pairs of tights, a pair of season must-have buckled ankle boots, and a sweater just as a 30% off coupon for the online retailer in question rolled into my inbox.
...and I have a meeting with both of my bosses in a couple of hours to discuss, I guess, my raise and/or potential promotion. And I am terrified. I'm debating forwarding on to them an email I received today from an author about how great I am, but I think that's too blatantly self-aggrandizing, and I'll let it go.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Ours is a Star-Crossed Love, DiorShow Ultimate
I have fallen in love with a mascara. It is DiorShow Ultimate. It is the perfect mascara. I go to Sephora to visit it, to try it on and bat my lashes at myself in the mirrors. It costs $23.
The thing is, I have two perfectly good mascaras--a Rimmel my mother got in a gift bag somewhere, and a better one, from MAC (source of the vast majority of my good makeup). But the DiorShow has them both beat by a mile. It's the holy grail of makeup: you look better without looking like you're wearing makeup at all.
It's just--this is so blatantly something I do not need. At all. Beautiful eyelashes are not a need. No matter what Cosmo tells you. On the other hand, they are a want, and want is a force not to be discounted.
Just when I think I've got myself talked out of this purchase--on grounds of obvious wastefulness, of $23-plus-tax-is-$25-more-for-the-savings-account--want flares up again.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Wedding Belles
I picked up a dress startlingly cheap, and can wear it with a cute pair of navy peep-toe wedges I already own. The dress is black, but the bride in question wore black to K's sister's wedding back in April, so I figure that's okay with her, and anyway, it has green trim, and I'll be wearing it with blue shoes and a teal-y costume jewelry set (also already in my possession, and please, do not even get me started on how much I love costume jewelry), so it passes my "Appropriate? Check Yes or No" test.
Upon hearing this planned ensemble described, K said, "Very Oklahoma City," and I said, "Are you calling me tacky?" Apparently it was very subtle sarcasm.
Anyway, point is, I spent $95 on a dress, shipping, and, um, also a supremely adorable flouncy print skirt that was on sale from the same website. I honestly do need clothes, though, and will have to confront that issue after the wedding stuff is dealt with. So I think $250 as a total going-to-this-wedding budget will be unnecessary--an extra $100 should do the job just fine. Probably $35 of that will be going for cabs to and from LaGuardia. (Yes, you can theoretically take public transportation between LaGuardia and our apartment, but Lord, is it a lengthy pain in the ass, and our flights are, respectively, leaving very early in the morning and getting in quite late on Sunday night. Plus, we live quite close to the Triborough Bridge, and thus the cab ride to LaGuardia is actually not unreasonably expensive.) The other $65 should cover three days of incidental expenses in Oklahoma City, where there will be wedding events each of the three days and transportation is taken care of.
So I should be able to knock off the entire wedding stash in August, and get back to the E-fund for my first paycheck in September. Given its current depletion for medical stuff, I'm very eager to get back to beefing it up.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Haircut!
I spent very nearly $200 on my hair today, including tips and product, and I'm not sorry. My hair is adorable. I have a choppy layered bob and shiny, happy curls.
On the more frugal end, I think what I'll do is pick up a hair scissor and trim my scraggly split ends myself for a bit in order to extend the length of the cut, because while, as previously mentioned, I'm not sorry for spending $200 on my hair, I don't want to do it every day.
(I'll also be sending the excess in the "haircut" envelope to savings & starting fresh on that envelope.)
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Spending Spurt
I wouldn't call it a "spree," really, but...I'm in the process of spending the money piled up in my vanity-related virtual envelopes. Yesterday, I ordered a denim blazer & a pair of jeans for $80 (each nearly 75% off) and made a hair appointment for a cut and color at the expensive curly hair salon. The shopping won't stop there--I've already got my eye on two more tops and a dress, and I definitely need a big fat belt and a couple of light cardigans. I do have the money--it's just hanging out in my checking account, doing nothing--and I have it for a reason, and the reason is this, right here: to buy stuff with.
Nevertheless, I find it difficult to avoid little twinges of guilt: I could have saved that money. (Maybe after I do this spending, I'll hold off on contributing to these envelopes again for a couple of paychecks and save that money instead.) I don't, however, feel so guilty that I'm not excited about new clothes and a new haircut.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
I'm Going To Buy Coupons on eBay: Yes, Really
Today I bid $1 for 20 coupons on eBay. Yup. Really.
It sounds really silly--paying for coupons on the internet?--but given that for $2 (including shipping, which is probably heftily marked up because what does it require to "ship" coupons other than, you know, an envelope?) I can save $20, it's actually a pretty darn good deal. The coupons are $1 off two bottles of Suave hair care products, and I go through a lot of Suave Naturals conditioner--probably 2 bottles a month. Paying $2 for them instead of $3...it's pretty hard to argue with that.
Mostly, I really do think coupons encourage you to buy products you wouldn't otherwise buy, plus, they're a ton of hassle, so I don't bother. But something like this, where I use the product consistently and in substantial volume, and can just get the relevant coupons? To me, that's a winner. If there's a single product you use consistently, I'd recommend doing a quick search--maybe you, too, can buy coupons off the internet and save a few bucks.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
How Far Will I Go to Save Money?
I'm considering doing the reckless and ridiculous, taking a scary step into the frugal abyss. I'm considering cutting my own hair.
I think I've mentioned that I have lots of thick, fine curly hair. I love my curls. Partially, though, I'm able to love my curls because for the past few years they've been generally well-tended: healthy, shiny, low-frizz, and well-shaped. I do not want to botch a home cut and end up hating my hair like I did at 15.
I'm having a kind of baroque argument in my head:
Adventurous Frugality: I'm haircut-competent; I cut Alice's hair that time! It turned out great!
Cautious Vanity: Alice has straight hair.
A.F.: But that last haircut in [city in which I went to college], the woman just cut it dry until she liked the shape.
C.V.: And then I praised her artistry to the skies for months.
A.F.: If I were still in [see previous], I could get another cut with her. She was awesome. Her cuts were only $40.
C.V.: New York is more expensive. I have money saved for this purpose; I can afford a cut at Devachan. Or maybe, if I'm willing to risk sacrificing quality for cost, Ringlet.
A.F.: I could put that money into my Roth! I could put it towards travel!
C.V.: Or I could put it towards not looking like a teenage girl!
A.F.: A wealthily-retiring, well-traveled teenage girl.
C.V.: A teenage girl with long, shapeless hair. What happened to my resolve to never have long, shapeless hair again? The amazing lady who did the last cut gave it such an awesome, funky shape!
A.F.: Which I could do at home. I watched her. I saw that she was basically sculpting with a scissor.
C.V.: I also saw that she could see the back of my head.
A.F.: If I pooled my clothing and haircut funds, I could more than double my travel fund. Or I could buy a ticket to Burning Man without feeling the pinch.
So far, it's a draw.
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