Impulse Buys!

As a self-professed non-shopper, I have a horrible habit of buying things on impulse. I wouldn't call it retail therapy (I prefer spring-cleaning), yet it IS rather fulfilling to walk out of a store with a pretty good bargain.

So due to the awful awful wet and windy weather yesterday, my good SQ pilot buddy and his Captain (and I) decided to while away their stop-over day at the newly relocated Xiangyang fake goods market behind Times Square in Pudong - a shopping mecca for the brand-conscious who don't want to spend on the real thing. (I just like it coz I can get tastefully designed stuff for a decent price). The excuse was that he needed to get handbags for his wife. Of course as the only female in the group my presence was key to the whole shopping experience for my 'opinions mattered', especially when it came to purchasing the girly stuff. Needless to say, the first out of the lot to actually make a purchse was yours truly... A lovely pair of Diesel sneakers! Now my BIGGEST problem when it comes to stores like these, is that I CAN'T BARGAIN TO SAVE MY LIFE!!! I'm hopeless! I see something I like and I'd just pay. (after half-heartedly bargaining of course - just so I can tell myself that I DID TRY!) So who should come to my rescue? The 2 guys. I must say they're really good... well better than me at least. I eventually walked out of the store with my new 100RMB sneakers in hand (down from 260RMB. Though I'm guessing I still paid more than it was worth...)

Moving along, next round of purchases... a gorgeous deep-orange tote! (I later found out it was a Tod's copy but didn't really mean much to me as I'd never even heard of Tod's before :p) The most important part of it was that it felt very durable and looked very classy... Woohoo! (110RMB down from 260RMB)

After deciding that the tote would be the last of my impulse purchases, I happened to walk past a little store selling sunglasses. My first thought was, "I need a pair for when I go to Dubai. It WILL be rather sunny... No harm in buying a cheap one". And so walked out with an LV rip-off and a complimentary 'Tiffany' bracelet, because as the store keeper put it "..we're friends..." Whatever. I knew I'd paid too much for the shades. (100RMB down from 280RMB - I had no help this time! Very proud of myself!)

Panicked that I was buying too many unnecessary things, I ran off to locate the boys with, I swear, the intention of dragging them out of the building, when there in front of me was this GORGEOUS black cashmere throw, with rabbit fur running along one edge! (both fake of course) Asking price 380RMB. I couldn't be trusted to work on my own then. I liked it too much. So in comes the captain and after a string of back-and-forths, we agreed on 200RMB. Again, probably paid too much but I just wanted the damn thing, and I guess 50% off the asking price wasn't ALL that bad :p

I am now on a self-imposed Ban on Unnecessary Spending.