I’m sure most of you have heard of Ugg boots. I’ve wanted a pair, or a knock off pair even, for a while (I’ve been looking at thrift stores forever!), but haven’t gotten any. Ugg boots are made in Australia – so I thought if I found some rather cheap I would pick them up as my souvenir. Turns out there are many knock offs here – but knock offs that are made to fool the tourists and cost you the same price. So after hunting around we found them for $220-250 at a tourist shop (authentic ones). I was seriously close to buying them – thinking they would be my big purchase – but thankfully I’m not using credit cards on this trip (or ever) and I had to go to an ATM first to get the money.
So I left the store to shop some more and ‘think it over’ – this is a good way to make sure I don’t impulse buy anything. My money on the trip isn’t limitless – I do have to budget what I am spending and most of it is for food – not shopping. I brought nearly half the money many others did – and I’ve been fine by watching my spending and not wasting it on shopping or alcohol. Anyway – as I left to continue my shopping and find an ATM (in case I wanted the boots). I came across Oxfam – a fair trade store. A fair trade store in the MALL! I was thrilled!
I quickly went up to the next level to it – and spent nearly $60 there. As I was walking around shopping at a store that was focused on ending poverty and helping others earn a decent living – I started to see how clouded my judgement was with the fact I actually was willing to spend $250 on SHOES! Do you know how many poor people that could feed?? Do you know how many pairs of shoes that could buy for all the children in the world without shoes? After that I was happy to only spend $60 at Oxfam – and felt good about helping others while I was doing it – and I even purchased some souvenirs for others. Plus the next day my computer power cord crashed and I had to drop another $130 on a new one – money I might not’ve had if I’d bought those boots.
What purchases have you made lately that maybe were just impulse buys – or purchases in vain (as mine would’ve been, afterall even the celebrities wear Uggs!)?
