Last month I treated myself to two new pairs of Levi’s jeans from the actual Levi’s store!! Two! Like some high roller. This may seem like a ridiculous “treat” but these jeans have been on my wish list for years. Yes. Years.
I keep a wish list in my phone (lesson learned from my formerly teen son) with wild and crazy items such as “new large cutting board” and “seat cover for car”. Items that are “unnecessary” but coveted by me in some way.
I don’t know if it’s being in my mid-forties or the post-covid world, or having two nearly grown children; but something has changed in me about getting the things you want, using the things you enjoy, and living the life you want. I’ve started burning candles (Hello Hygge life) and eating more cake.
Perhaps it’s my partner, who tends to maybe live in a bit more of a “Treat yo-self” way. But I think that after years of feeling a bit like we were just getting by paycheck to paycheck, trying to make sure the kids had most of the stuff and many of the activities. I have a hard line between a Need and a Want and I think for a bit before I buy some thing that falls more on the want side. I am super frugal as a person, and I still don’t have a lifestyle that is too much above paycheck to paycheck, but I’m doing alright. I don’t feel overly denied many creature comforts, I have much to be grateful for and I try really hard to not be envious of those who can travel a lot or afford “stuff”.
That being said, I rarely buy clothes, waste food, eat out, or spend money on “things”.
I’ve started writing down all the things I spend money on each month, and frankly it’s been mildly shocking. The necessary vs. unnecessary is a fine line. I save up for trips and big ticket items and that’s totally fine with me. Otherwise I buy fabric to quilt with, good wine, candles and skincare products. That is the bulk of my splurging…and I only recently have decided that good wine and candles are part of living my best life, so whatever. Stuff from Amazon and general household items are things I buy too.
So, anyways, I have this wish list on my phone and I’ve had “Levi’s from the Levi’s store” on there for ages. They were like some unreachable and special product that would tell my teen self that adult me had “made it”. (Truth be told, my teen self really also wanted Guess jeans back in 1992…but 501’s are up on some pedestal for some reason too).
There’s many parts to the reason I don’t buy myself many new clothing items. One; I work 5 days a week in black yoga pants and a black t-shirt. Two; I don’t like excess, I have lots of stuff for the little bit of time I wear “real clothes”. Three; I don’t care much about trends or fashion (even if I like to look good). Four; feeling like things are cost prohibitive. And Five; waiting for some imaginary goal to be fulfilled (weight, time frame, occasion).
All fairly silly reasons not to “treat yo-self”. Especially the ridiculous weight one! To be realistic, my weight doesn’t really fluctuate that much. I have clothes for years and years due to this. I have lost pounds and gained, but I’m generally within a 5 pound radius of “normal” so my clothes don’t really change size, they just get tighter and looser.
Yes, I totally lost weight 5 years ago during the height of my divorce stress and yes, I totally gained weight 3 or 4 years ago during the height of the cheese-eating, wining and dining honeymoon phase of my new relationship (and had to consciously loose weight to avoid actual clothing size changes)…but as usual, it has leveled out and although I keep an eye on my body composition, if I’m living my normal life, I tend to hover around the same weight I’ve been for nearly two decades.
So one day in January I was reflecting on my lack of jeans and the love for my skinny jeans (from my cold dead hands GenZ!) and realized that I CAN go buy some Levi’s from the Levi’s store! I don’t have to be 10 pounds lighter or have some exorbitant amount of disposable income (plus, January is clearance month and they had a 40% off sale!! noted my girlfriend).
So I went to the mall, approached the young man who could be my son at the Levi’s store, and said I’d like to find some jeans!! I don’t want flairs or the new trend of too-short in length, just some 501’s or maybe boot cuts. I grabbed my sizes, tried on a few styles, and walked out with my first ever pair of 501’s and a pair of sleek boot cut 725’s! Because I’m a grown woman who can buy Levis at the Levi’s store!… THEN I decided that I also needed two new shirts; and actually went and grabbed 2 new shirts!…(from Winners, because I’m not made of money).
So as I sit here, in my own home in a new shirt and a new pair of jeans that have those classic pockets and a red tab that work wonders for your walking away profile, I feel like I am also going to take a deeper dive into this wish list, and perhaps get myself a nice car seat cover, or a new and special shower cap even! I have asked for the special cutting board for my birthday (despite my hard line of not getting “household items” as a gift from your partner…I mean technically its at least not a cleaning supply item – Never buy your wife a Vacuum as a gift!)
I’m currently saving to upgrade my road bike this spring and we have a couple little weekend getaways planned this year, but I’m committing to myself to grab a couple new clothing items per season and get my hair cut every 8 weeks. Living high on the hog, I know! But sometimes you gotta treat yo-self.
Periscopecake 