choose quality over quantity

I have a feeling this is going to help me lose a few extra pounds too…

I would rather have something that is of better quality than a whole bunch of things…

but it’s absolutely worthwhile.

Ok, that’s it. No more shopping. I need to practice severe restraint from.now.on.

I am rapidly becoming broke, as I am all out of practice at being the “poor student” after getting a steady paycheck for the last 3 years.

At the same time, I am realizing that I may not have much time to work. I’m only taking 3 classes, but (with the exception of French) they involve lots of boring reading and essay-writing about stuff I am not very enthused over. Having been out of school for a while, even French is taking a lot of time, because I have a lot of extra review to do.

_{And because I am a supernerd, I want to excel in my classes – they will count toward my admission to the teaching program next year.}

Go ahead. Call me a nerd. I can take it. 8-D

or exotic locations. I’m back in Canada and need to find a job. I don’t own a suit. Since I’m 32, I figure it’s high time I got one.

I don’t know much about suits – I don’t want a pricey one, because I don’t anticipate using it much, and I’m only looking for a part time job. I don’t want a cheap one, because then I will surely have buyer’s remorse.

A black suit is way too dark for me, so I’m thinking charcoal grey… maybe a soft black one if I can’t find a dark enough grey one. Hm.

and in the spirit of this goal – I am going to try my hardest NOT to buy anything I don’t need / won’t use.

And I especially don’t want to be tempted into buying any hippie backpacker stuff, because… although I secretly am a hippie backpacker ^shhhh…, lord knows there’s no need to dress like one!

OK, I got some expensive shoes. Business shoes. They’re nice, and seem comfortable so far… but I’m having a little buyer’s remorse.

The heel’s a little higher than I’d like, and the toe is a bit longer. The shoe is based on a classic style, but maybe I bought one that’s too “2007”. I wonder if I should go back and switch it to the almost equally expensive, slightly more boring, but more classic (and a little more clunky) style.

Thing is, I’m not going to be wearing them often, and I want something that I’ll be able to wear for a long time, style-wise.

Ah – I’m not good at this.

There are a few things I need to buy soon (not immediately). Shoes especially, one or two handbags and some clothes.

I’m really NOT into designer brands (neither the flashy labels nor the extreme prices), but I am willing to pay more for quality. (Uh, not this month of course because I’m close to broke.)

None of the purchases are urgent, but I am starting to think about them – planning, I guess. I’ve realized that there are times in the past where I have paid rather a lot for something and it turned out to be low-quality (or part of it was), and other times where I paid very little and got years of use, comfort, and continued compliments from friends and strangers for the item.

I did a web search about finding quality without relying on brand names, and I came across an economics article. The gist of the article is that without a brand name you never know what you’re going to get, there’s no way to tell. And the reason people pay for brands (well part of the reason – we all know people who just want the status of the label) is the assurance of quality.

But I just can’t accept the idea that if I want quality I’ll have to buy a famous brand name item.

Anyone have any thought on this, or suggestions?

As far as going for quality in relationships, especially friendships – this year I am going to make a better effort to keep in touch with a few people whom I hadn’t contacted much in the past couple years.

Especially: my family (particularly my brother), and friends I’ve had who are fascinating (but unfortunately not even on the same continent as me) such as Kamil, Luuk, Amanda and Julia.

And I MIGHT (might!) even swallow my pride enough to say “Hi” to Martijn again, even though I totally embarrassed myself and told him to “F@#* off” around this time last year (embarrassed grin). Sure he’s a total pain in the butt and unbelievably arrogant, but (unfortunately and infuriatingly) he IS usually right.

And being in Japan for so long has helped me see that I really shouldn’t take the quality people for granted any more.

More effort required.

Well, it’s the first week of the year here in Japan, and every place is mad with sales.

I do need a few things, but I’m a little afraid of what I might end up buying on impulse.

So.

I’m going to make a list of things I need to buy, along with the intended purpose (i.e. casual everyday shoes / office-worthy, but not too dressy pants, not black) and then do my best to stick to the list. And rather than buying anything that’s close to what I want, I’ll try to buy only items that are exactly what I had in mind – or nothing.

I bought boots last week. They’re not really high quality, but my former ones weren’t either, and they lasted for around 5 years. These new ones fit exactly right (none of the more expensive ones I tried on fit properly) and were comfortable from day 1, unlike many of the others. So why pay more money for something I like less? :-)

(Though, if I had found nice boots that I liked and which fit well, I’d have preferred to buy them.)