Friday, March 24, 2006

Bi-Polar Bargain Hunter

I love luxury big time – posh food, designer clothes etc. but I hate to pay full retail price for anything – so have partly inherited a thrift gene. I say partly, because the swing from thrift to major extravagance is a finely balanced tightrope. I am first in the queue at designer sales and at factory outlets, looking for that great undiscovered bargain. I can’t resist the “Two for the price of one” items in my local supermarket, though I usually have to chuck the second one out as it’s gone off. I have great bargains hanging unworn in my wardrobe, unwearable but beautiful shoes still in their box. Every so often I have a massive clear out and then start all over again.


In my student days I scoured car boot sales and charity shops for exciting finds and still do it occasionally, but it’s not so much fun since Oxfam took the pleasure out of it by having a designer rail. After a week or so of this thrifty shopping, I’ll then go completely to the other extreme and shell out a shedload of dosh on a pair of sunglasses or a ridiculously expensive cosmetic. Intellectually I know this is ridiculous and meaningless, shallow etc. There must be a dollop of madness in the family genes.

12 Comments:

Blogger fatmammycat said...

Etheline? Is that you?
Arf, of course not, you are too darling to be her. But I read this and I heard the words 'sister' in my head, swiftly followed by TK MAX.
I love luxury too and all the trimmings if you please. Leather, velvet, ridiculously expensive high heels, silk, I am very old fashioned that way. I love dangly earrings-Bette Lynch eat your heart out- costume jewellery, diamonds, antiques, lamps from the 30's. I would rather spend 200 Euros on a silk jumper and wear it to death, than spend 20 Euros on a piece of tat and hardly wear it at all.
My best friend arrives later today and we are going to Brown Thomas to spend a fortune on lip gloss and things that glitter. She will feel guilty over it and I won't. I love things that come in pots, plastic is fine for the gym, but glass jars and pots for the dressing table.
Nuts, maybe so, but it is a benign kind of nuts

6:32 AM  
Blogger Gorilla Bananas said...

I expect collecting stuff is in the female genes. Is Etheline a real name? It might cause a bit of confusion in the chemistry class.

2:29 PM  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Gb, does your back glow silver in the moonlight or are you just naturally masculine?
Apropos collecting, think magpie and that's me.

3:51 PM  
Blogger Sam, Problem-Child-Bride said...

Oxfam has a designer rail? Every time I go back to Britain a new forest of smoked glass and tubular steel has sprung up where once there was naught but fields. Well, not fields exactly; more dreary wee pubs and beloved greengrocers or something. Britain has become all shiny. Oxfam has a designer rail?

4:25 PM  
Blogger SafeTinspector said...

I've no idea what oxfam is, (a contraction of Oxen Family?) but the quest for the best in life is an affliction many have.

The philosophical question:
When all your base creature needs are attended to, what do you base your happiness on? With a full belly, warm home, and intact clothes, any other creature but Man would be content.
But we have strange wiring. I buy video games, you buy shoes and sunglasses.

Gorilla is happy mounting a herd of repulsive ape-girls.
We should learn from him.


Where can I find a repulsive ape-girl?

5:32 AM  
Blogger Dr Maroon said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

10:24 AM  
Blogger Dr Maroon said...

I buggered up the link, sorry.

Oxfam is the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, a charity.
See here:

http://www.oxfam.co.uk/about_us/history/index.htm

10:27 AM  
Blogger SafeTinspector said...

I prefer to think about livestock in the family way, thank you very much Doctor.

1:25 PM  
Blogger Charlie said...

I call this desire to buy the inner hysteria.
It keeps the panic at bay for a while

1:02 PM  
Blogger SheBah said...

I think Charlie might be right - the inner hysteria, woah - maybe it makes us feel more alive to keep consuming madly. There is certainly a big temporary buzz - don't know if this works the same way for men

12:38 AM  
Blogger Foot Eater said...

For some men, undoubtedly. Myself, I hate shopping and am wracked with guilt from the word go every time I spend money on myself.

5:34 AM  
Blogger Dr Joseph McCrumble said...

I think (though I stress that I am not medically qualified) that you may be suffering from a little-explored syndrome known as 'Bipolar Shopping Disorder.' You are right to assume that it is inherited, but there is a strong environmental component caused by proximity to charity shops. In the absence of exposure, the condition can lay dormant for an entire lifetime. One theory is that it was introduced into England by Scottish holidaymakers (I have no evidence to support this theory)

8:45 AM  

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