Minimalist Lifestyle

  I was working in Shanghai this summer, and my boyfriend and I went to the bookstore just because we were missing reading something in English. While I was reading a book on the factory conditions of China, he was reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. I grew up seeing the ads for this book in the subway. I quickly decided to order a copy off Taobao.

In the book, it talks about how the poor are poor because they spend their things on luxuries trying to appear rich. It hit me. All these years, I remained poor because I couldn’t control myself. I was too busy keeping up with the Jones, cluttering my room with more than unnecessary things, while my bank account remained uncluttered and pretty much empty.

   I decided then and there that I was going to stop buying wants and only buy needs. I wanted to keep traveling around the world, and I wanted to just take the basics with me. I have no need for the extra things in life.

 After two months in Shanghai, I returned to Canada for school. I did really good at not buying any needs while I was at school up in Thunder bay (it also helped that I did not have access to a mall. All I did was hit the gym and watch netflicks for fun). The biggest expenses besides food and rent, were buying a heavy duty jacket ($180) for the winter and treating myself to a salon ombre ($140)

  However being back in Toronto, my old spending habits slowly crept back in. I still only bought things on sale, such as clothes and maybe one or two new pieces of makeup. However, I think the lowest point came when I went out 30 minutes before a friend gathering to buy a new set of clothes. Who am I trying to impress? None of my friends came dressed up, and one was even sloppily drunk. I could have stored away the money. I comforted myself by telling myself, the clothes are good and I can reuse them a lot during my practicum.

The other day, I was out shopping with my family and my boyfriend’s family. I came across a really good book. Do Less by Rachel Jonat was great. The book talked about having less clutter in your life in exchange for financial freedom. The book talked changing the hobby of shopping, for having more time to do more fulfilling things like running, knitting, painting, or doing my nails.  Although this holidays my visa bill is twice the amount I thought it would be, I did not make any large or unnecessary purchases such as a designer bag. I did not go shopping online on ebay, and I only bought one sweater during boxing day.

   I think that next year, I will not go boxing day shopping. It’s a waste of my time. The sales I got the days before boxing day were better anyway. I wasn’t crowded or rushed or digging through disorganized, X-large shirts.

   I am disappointed in myself in treating myself to wants, such as a black and also a white fur jackets. The same jackets cost 70$ in H&M and I bought mine for 16$, including the 30% employee discount from work. I wanted this jacket since the summer. I think that several months is a good time for wait for an item.

    I also bought a pair of earrings, some shirts, two sweaters and a scarf. Each item did not cost more than 10$. But these are wants, not needs. So I still felt disappointed in my life. I can’t dwell on this though. I can’t return sales items but I can hopefully learn. It’s all a learning experience. All those lipsticks I thought in Shanghai that I never got around to opening because Christmas gifts for my friends. At least I did not have to waste time and more money on finding them gifts. So I hope I can learn from my experiences. And living in Toronto is filled with expensive temptations. I’m pretty happy to leave the city life behind. So that way, everyday expensives just stay as once in a while luxuries.

Yoo In-Na (Se-Mi) Beauty in My Love from the Stars

Everyone’s who’s been watching My love from the stars wants everything that Cheon Song Yi has. What about Yoo In-Na? I felt I wanted what she had. Especially her lip stick and lip tint. So I went and googled that. Ya ya, YSL sold out in their number 52, but I just wanna get me some of that Cha Cha mango lipstint from Sephora. And I need some vivid nude lipstick, maybe like Myth from M.A.C

The Cold Winter

I have decided to always carry around a chapstick. The winter wind makes my lips crack and it sucks. And after working on my lookbook, I have decided that I should have a set amount of things in my bag that I should carry around. Here is the list. 

1. iphone
2. notebook
3. agenda
4. music player
5. make up bag
7. knitting gear
8. camera o.O
9. gmat

10. buy notebooks. Re copy out notes D: sigh sigh sigh. 

I have to walk the dogs, hit the gym (cuz I’m getting all plump again), clean up room. Looks like a mess. At least my make up stand looks decent. Finish my Schulich application which is due today. I can’t believe I was almost gonna let that deadline pass me by D: Even though I didn’t score on the gmat but once I get one, Ill send it in. 

Gonna go work on my application now. : ) 

My cosmetic collection: The hoarder syndrome

If there was a type of item that there was the most of, it would not be clothes. Maybe socks. I own a ridiculous amount of socks. But that’s only because of my father. He likes to buy those massive saver packs of socks from the dollar store, and everytime he sees me, he gives me socks. So I have a duffle bag filled with cheap cotton socks.

But no, it would be cosmetics. I have two shelves and white storage compartment just filled with make up.

And the scary thing is, I have recently amassed these cosmetics, which is due to my lasik surgery. I grew up wearing glasses and the only time I wore make up was for special events when I wore my contacts. But now, I have the freedom to wear makeup every day. and I do. And my skin has suffered because of it, But that’s for another day.

I own like 16 lipsticks, four compact powders, 5 BB cremes. And it takes forever to finish any product. Even hand cream. That’s were all my spending go to. Eaton center recently opened up a The Face Shop. So on black Friday, I bought a bunch of things. Lipsticks, lip balm, hair conditioner, face masks. I just buy more of things I already have. I have so much nail polishes and face masks.

Those are probably the things I like to collect the most. Especially if it’s from an Asian brand like, Tony Moly, Missha or Etude house. I’m a sucker for that stuff. I know lots of girls like to collect lipsticks. Mine is nail polish.

Speaking of lipsticks, I really want to buy some M.A.C lipsticks. I want Cyber, Creme, Snob and Saint Germain. I know those colors except for M.A.C are really similar but I feel each one would suit my face really well.

And speaking of that, I discovered orange is actually a really flattering color on me. Thanks for korean cosmetics. They made orange the hottest color for me. I can’t get enough of ornage. I have this one lipstick from Holika Holika that makes me look like a Go-Go girl but I ignore that, and tell myself I look ulzzang-eque.

And my obsession with orange might also be aided by my new found love of peach-flavored items. I have this giant peach hand creme from Tony Moly. Even after I’ve used up all the cream, I’m going to save the container and turn it into a trinket box.

To try and save my money, I have decided, and I will not buy any more makeup until I have literally used up all my make up. That’s probably going to take me years. But I’m going to try, That means I must wear lipstick and eye shadow all the damn time. Ha ha. or get a friend to share with me. That’s gonna be weird (and not to mention unhygienic).

But at least I’ll be several dollars richer.

Fake Fur vs. Real Fur: Canadian Goose Jackets

So I’m from Toronto. There are a several of common types of winter attires
1) The neutral color  petticoat (eg in black, grey or beige)
2) the puffy down jacket with fake fur around the rim of the hood 
3) the puffy down jacket with real fur around the rim of the collar hood. 

So seems there isn’t too much variety. I exaggerate. There’s many types of winter clothes but this season and a couple seasons ago, this is has been the majority.  The most common of real fur jackets is the Canadian goose. Of which I wanted really badly when all the international Korean students were rocking it at school. But now when i see it on everyone. And somehow, they just can’t rock it like those super hip Koreans from my school. 

So besides the aspect that everyone has one, I thought of other aspects. One, the cost. I told myself, I’ll buy it once I finish my mba, and work in some baller job. The cost of the jacket will be pocket cash. The other aspect is the real fur. I saw an ad in the subway of a poor fox, caught in a trap, with its bleeding foot. That was so sad. I thought, I will never get a real fur jacket now. Although I still don’t have a real fur jacket, I did buy, not one pair, but two pairs of real rabbit slippers. I’m a bloody hypocrite. 

I will include pictures once I’m done. So this post is short. I guess, I feel real fur is morally wrong. And I have transgressed with my rabbit shoes. But after that, I will never ever buy real fur again. And besides fake fur feels nicer. It’s just plastic and I’m not constantly reminded that this skin once had a life of its own. 

Caught Between Desire to Save and Desire to Spend

So I just finished my 9 hour long prep class. And I feel braindead. So instead of going home and reading a book (which would probably be the cheaper option), I decide to walk about the mall because its still open (its December and there’s extended holiday hours).

My original intention was to go to Shoppers and stare at hair dye and nail polish. But Then I decide to veer off the path toward Shoppers and enter the mall, and make my way to Zara. Zara is beside Wilfred and also close to Banana Republic.

I first went to Wilfred to try on their fur collar cadet grey jacket.

Its pricey though. Three-hundred before tax. I once saw a girl wear it, with ankle Uggs and a pink Prada bag. She had a slick bob hair cut. And she looks fucking amazing. The image of her was burned into my memory. So when I found out that  Wilfred brought back this jacket, I had to try it on. And I did, and I didn’t look anyway as awesome as I thought I would look. Maybe my expectations were too high. It looked decent but not amazing the way the jacket from Zara looked. So I went back to Zara.

I have always been ambiguous towards Zara. They have a lot of nice things, without a big brand splashed across it. But items I could find somewhere else that look similar and for cheaper, I think Zara is a big pricey. But then Zara will have these few unique but truely beautiful garments and they will be soo cheap for their value!

So ya, I don’t go into Zara often, but when I do, there are those awesome items waiting. Makes me wonder why I don’t bother to go in often. Oh ya. Because it’s so messy in there. Honestly, people are so lazy in that store. You wouldn’t dump around your unwanted items in Artizia, so why do you do it in Zara? Cuz its massive in there, and you can diffuse responsibility?

Anyway, I really wanted this navy blue formal jacket with fake fur trim.

(I also feel ambiguous about fur. Lets come back to that in another post).

This is the fur up close. Its actually quite nice.
It looks similar to the Wilfred fur trim military coat. Except the Zara one is more open in the neck area (which is gonna be awkward to use because I either wear it when its not too cold or I use a scarf…). So I had seen it back when I went window shopping with my girlfriend. I tried it on and it looked real good but I thought I’d sleep on it. So when I came back today, I found that there was only size small. I dug around on the rack but nothing except more mediums and larges. I thought, maybe small is good enough. I tried it on, and as usual, the waist area was too wide. So I went to ask the girl working there, if they still had size xsmall. She looked it up on the system and it said there was none left.

I felt kinda disappointed because I wanted to at least see how the XS fit on me. So I kept trying on the small, trying to convince myself. Then I decided, why would I spent 135$ if it didn’t even fit me properly. So I went to put it back. Then I found, the miracle of miracles. A sales associate just hung up a jacket and it was an XS! The system doesn’t even say there is any left. This means that it was probably recently returned. And its mine now. So I took it and tried it on. It was fitted at the waist. So perfect! Although my arms felt a bit tight, that isn’t a problem because my arms are slim.

When I went to pay for it, the girls at the cash also admired the jacket and looked surprised they carried an item like this in the store. And as a cashier myself, I know that I comment on good item choices. What else are you suppose to do when you’re at cash, besides scan items and hit a couple buttons.

So I came home. I feel super proud of my relatively pricey jacket. I might return it, although I’m not sure. We’ll see. I just enjoy the chase of it. So ya, this is why I have a hard time saving up. I always find things I feel I really want.