New Year, New Mantra: Check-in #1

As written about previously, my New Year's Mantra has been "I can do it with what I already have." This was partially motivated by the realization that I am going to be broke as hell for the next year or so, and partially motivated by the fact that I am sick to death of being surrounded by extraneous crap. Let's see how I did these first two months of the year, shall we?

I succumbed to:

A Sweater from AllSaints: I shop their sale every winter, because it's the only damn time I can afford anything from their store. I will admit to having bought this simply to have something, and I feel badly about it in a way that I wouldn't let anybody else make me feel.

Alcohol: You guys, drinking in cute bars with friends? It's really fun. So is sitting on the floor in the living room and downing G & Ts. I don't mean to make it sound like I have some kind of problem, but seriously. Being in the city has really showed me how much fun social drinking can be.

Stuff from the Toy Fair: I did manage to flirt my way into a few free things, but they were selling Catan expansions at 50% off! I saved $20 (on something I probably wouldn't have bought if it wasn't on sale...)

Stuff from H & M: Ohhhh boy. The store in Times Square is HUGE, and all the stuff is just so darn cute, and - and - and -.... Yeah, there's really no excuse. I think I need to stay out of clothing stores for a little while.

I resisted:


Patton Oswalt's New Book: I'm sure it's hilarious, but I just can't cough up $25 for a book I'll read once. I'll put myself on the NYPL list for it (I'm spot #12), and when I get it for free in a year I'll enjoy it just as much as I'm enjoying reading his blog in the mean time now.

A Desk: I'm one of those people who needs a desk to feel sane, but I didn't want to have to drag one up and down the stairs in my new apartment building. The solution? A board on two (admittedly, Ikea) sawhorses.

Television: When we set up our new apartment, Schmem & I made a unilateral decision not to get cable. It's only saving us a few dollars a month, and I really wished I had it when the shit was going down in Egypt, but overall I don't really feel like I'm missing that much. I've never been a big TV watcher though, so that hardly counts as resisting.

***

Guys? I didn't do so well. When I first moved in I thought that I was just spending the necessary money to move, but now I've moved out of that grace period. If I find I'm not capable of controlling myself in stores, I'll try to avoid going in at all.

I will say that I find art and food to be the things worth spending money on right now. I finally live in the city I've spent the past four years running back and forth to for entertainment, and I'll be a sonofabitch if I don't take full advantage of it. But a little bit less with the clothing accumulation, especially since I'm about to run out of places to put it. 

New Outfit

Fall is truly upon us: Oktoberfest in the Fridge and Apples in the basement mean it's time to avoid the asthmatic coma brought on by raking the lawn & obsessing over school supplies.

For the first time in about 17 years, I didn't get to go back to school. I don't really mind having free time, or essentially no curfew, but there are of course things I miss. So this year, for the first time since middle school I bought myself an entirely new outfit. Not just a new pair of pants to combine with my favorite shirt, not just new shoes that will go with some skirts that I already have, but new everything, down to the eyeshadow.



It's pretty satisfying, actually. I bought the shirt from my very favorite store (click photo for details, this blog is not a catalogue), where I can only really afford to buy one thing a year. I bought this shirt because it has a similar hood to a sweater that I bought for my boyfriend which I steal all the time.

The pants are a concession to the fact that I need more than one pair of pants that I don't hate, especially since that meant I did attic construction last week in Star Wars pajamas.

The boots were infuriatingly difficult to find. Did you know that shoe sellers think women still want to show off their dainty ankles? I can't imagine any other reason they would affix zippers to the sides of every single pair of boots. These were bought in the men's section (these big feet are good for something after all!) where the man on staff only hesitated to serve me because he wasn't sure I actually wanted anything. I've said it once, I'll say it again: I LOVE NEW YORK: what I wear is my business. Well, and theirs, I suppose.