Good things come to those who wait

I have set myself a goal for the rest of the year. I am going to save a little every single month so that in January I can buy myself another dream print and some other bits too.

I have often wondered if it is better to buy stuff as and when you see them or wait for something better to come along. When I look at my own approach to buying lolita I have always seen things, bought them, not had money for something better, got a little annoyed and then sold things. At one point I was doing a Bodyline order once a month but if I had saved that money I could have got something I wanted more. Sure, my wardrobe would have been smaller but I would have felt like I had achieved something more. I am re-evaluating my spending and maybe (just maybe) in the long term my wardrobe will benefit from my new way of thinking.

I now have a new money plan which I hope will benefit me in the long term.

Want Vs. Need

Although my wardrobe is slowly getting better, I still feel like I am lacking a lot of basics or "wardrobe builders". A lot of this is down to focusing on prints rather than the rest of the outfit. So I have now come up with a list I have called Want Vs Need. The Want side is filled with all the prints and things I would love to own but are not vital for my wardrobe. The Need side is filled with all the basics that would give my wardrobe more variety and give my wardrobe more depth. So on the Want side I have stuff like AP's Melty Moon ring (I would love to have this!) and Innocent World's crown bag. On the Need side I have stuff like a black blouse, white boots etc. To decide which items go on the Need side I had to look at my wardrobe and work out what basics are missing and also how many prints/dresses that basic would work with. Here is the tricky part- for every item I buy from the Want side, I have to buy at least one item from the Need side. My theory is that I will be excited about getting the Want item and the Need item will be useful (and hopefully, I will get excited about the Need stuff too!). Eventually, those wardrobe holes will be filled but at the same time, I wont feel as though I haven't treated myself.

Print Priority

I have a list of all the dream prints I would love to buy (and there is a LOT of them). To work out which one I will buy next, I am listing them in the order of how much I love them. However, I am also factoring in availability and average selling prices. In fact, I might do a separate list but this time in price order. As I save my little bits of money for the rest of the year, I will see how high I can climb up on my list. I will evaluate if I am happy with how high I have climbed the list or whether I can push myself further and get the next item up.

Not being too reliant on the "Mights and Maybes"

I intend to only include money I 100% know I am going to get. For example, my father-in-law might give me some money for Christmas but he might get me something else instead. Because I don't know if I will get money, I wont include this in my spending budget. And then, when I do get money unexpectedly, it will be a nice surprise. I always work on a worst-case scenario when it comes to money now, even if it is a little depressing.

Real life before frills

No matter what, if I need money for something non-lolita related, that takes priority. I plan ahead which meets I attend, make note of people's birthdays, getting my flu jab, going to the dentist. All of these things have to have money set aside before I even think about lolita. And I always like to hold a little money aside somewhere for those emergencies and last minute surprises.

Shopping around

Whenever I see something I like on EGL Sales, I always feel like I have to make a decision as quickly as possible. In the past I have missed things because some of the lolitas on there are super quick! But EGL Sales is not the be all and end all of lolita shopping. Don't you just hate it when you buy something thinking that you were unlikely to get it elsewhere and then you find it on a Japanese auction site for a lot less? So now, I try to browse auction sites and re-sellers as much as possible just so in my head, I get an idea of the average prices. Then when I see something nice, I will hopefully be able to tell if it is a good price a lot quicker than I could before.

Competitiveness

Whenever I see a friend going on a huge shopping spree, I can't help but want to do it too. But they are a totally different person and their situation is probably different. Every lolita has to come up with their own way of working out how to shop. It is no good trying to keep up with your friend if it leaves you with a massive heap of debt. Let's focus on our own wardrobes!

I sometimes feel like I am too easily lured in to buying stuff. I am hoping my new money plan will see that change. Of course, a lot of the plan does require some level of will-power. Let's hope I can hold off on the Wants and get more Need items!