Soraya Left Manila: shopping hauls

Here's How I Shop For Quality Items Without Destroying My Budget

It's considered a fantasy to buy something so cheap yet it can potentially last years. You might still think this idea is too far fetched, but not for me. To give you an idea, I've come up with a list to show you how I make a small budget work wonders. I've even added a small haul post for your (and my wardrobe's) entertainment. Here's how I make the fantasy real...

Prevent yourself from buying branded non-basics (camisoles, cycling shorts, simple accessories)

If you're planning to wear an article of clothing once or less than thrice a week, opt for lesser brand or non-branded items. Keep in mind that when you're buying a branded item, you're paying for the brand to sustain itself. And paying for the brand itself means that you're contributing to that brand's taxes, campaigns, and even its employees' wages. This makes the price of a branded item significantly higher than non-branded items.

When I'm considering buying branded items, I take a good look at the item first and then imagine what it looks like with the tag gone. I ask myself, "How cheaper can I get this from outside had it not been purchased in bulk and the brand's tag sewn on it?". Remember that big brand companies purchase goods in bulk and have their brand sewn on them. Purchasing in bulk means greater savings, so if you divide the entire cost to each item, you might be paying twice or even 5 times of what it's actually worth in the first place.

Compare branded and lesser brand items to each other

It wouldn't hurt to compare two items that function for the same purpose. To achieve this, I go around the shop to look for lower-priced items of the same variant. I oftentimes ask the help of a shop personnel to bring other product variants so I don't make a mess out of the stocks on display and to save time. When I do find two or three variants I can compare, I start differentiating each one's price, material, and quality. I'm not looking to impress anyone with a brand I'm wearing, so having only those 3 aspects to check is on top of my list.

Create your own shopping mantra

Ask yourself if you really need a piece (or a mountain) of clothing before heading for check out. Better yet, ask a friend/shopping buddy to repeat your mantra for you if it's not working just by saying it to yourself. One of my closest friends often comes shopping with me and when she sees how interested I am in a product, she would ask me two things: (1) Do you really need that? (2) Do you have a budget for that? And it helps most of the time! (On rare instances that the desire to splurge money on things I don't need isn't too strong)

If you have a similar product at home and it's 100% usable, don't opt for purchasing a replacement yet

My household isn't a fan of replacing items if they still work. You won't believe how many years of service our living room electric fan had provided us before we even thought of purchasing a new one. We're a bit sentimental at home, but if it's beyond repair, we replace them. This goes to show why I'm not too keen on buying things like shoes, perfume, body lotion, and electronic products. For shoes, if it's still repairable with industrial glue or the magic hands of a shoe cobbler, it's staying on my shoe rack. And for electronic products, as long as it can make calls, create texts, connect to the internet, and take photos, I'll keep using it.

Don't have the right budget yet? Put them on a wishlist

I've always wondered why shopping websites had this thing called "wishlists" aside from the usual "shopping cart". When I finally got my chance to start online shopping, I found out that wishlists differ greatly from shopping carts in terms of the customer's interest. If I needed to buy a camping tent ASAP, the item I chose should land on the shopping cart for an easy checkout. But if I plan on purchasing items in bulk as Christmas gifts, they should land on my wishlist for easy reference when the time comes for checking them out. It would be troublesome to remove and add a product again and again from your shopping cart while purchasing the item you're in dire need of, so wishlists exist to help you breeze through the checkout process.

Set a shopping schedule

In my opinion, buying on an impulse is what makes every shopping experience regretful. Do you ever have those times when you're on your way home and you get a glimpse of what you've bought on an impulse, and suddenly, this sheer wave of self hate just dawns on you because you've purchased something outside of your budget that you might not even use at least thrice a year? If that feeling is familiar, then you my friend, have a spending problem.

I won't lie. I have the same problem too especially when I'm in the supermarket and some item suddenly appears brighter than the rest (okay, use your imagination here). To cut to the chase, I spend a lot on things that I'm not really planning on buying or on items that should not be purchased along with the list I have the budget for. To give you an example, I was grocery shopping the other month and I saw these cabinets worth PHP 700 ($14) for 2. FOR 2! I've had my thoughts on redecorating my home office for quite sometime, but seeing these low priced cabinets made me jump the gun and purchase them outside of my budget. So, I ended up going home with a ton of heavy ass groceries and 2 boxes of wooden planks that need assembling when I get home.

The product of my impulse buying:

Sticking to the main topic, my shopping schedule is to buy groceries every 3 weeks along with a few personal items (cosmetics, an experience, or a massage) I'm currently enjoying. If I'm interested in purchasing something more expensive than groceries, I would create a tiny note on my Google Calendar to remind me to save up small amounts to build an entire budget for the item I want to purchase. This way, I don't destroy my budget with one go.

How My Spending Rules Apply

I've divided my recent purchases into 3 sections (clothes, shoes, and skin care) to show you how I apply the tips I just handed out:

Clothes

If you knew me personally, you'd know that I rarely buy clothing from big brand shops. I only purchase from them if (a) they're on sale (not just 10-20% off, but like 50 or 60% off if I'm really lucky), (b) if I really need them for the occasion or an event I'm invited to, (c) if it's my birthday (a girl's gotta spend on her special day, right?), and lastly, (d) if that brand is the only one that has the specific item.

In an Instagram post, I've announced the arrival of a package last week. People got curious and started messaging me. I gave subtle hints. Here's what the package contained:

This haul cost me around PHP 2,993 ($61) for 12 items (including a pot holder which I have forgotten to take pictures of). Not bad, right? And by the way, not everything on this haul is mine. Did I mention that I'm already starting to shop for Christmas gifts? The recipients of these gifts can't see this post on Facebook just to preserve the element of surprise.

Shoes

Again, if you knew me personally, you'd know that I'm not big on shoes. I don't get excited if big names like Nike or Adidas release a new line of sneakers designed by someone famous. It's just not my thing. My idea of purchasing shoes is that if my old one is far beyond repair, I'm replacing it. I rarely buy shoes out of my budget. When I'm on an impulse buying rampage, you can expect me to spend loads on sale item clothes without shoes crossing my mind not even once.

It's been months since I last purchased a new pair of shoes, given that I rarely go outside anymore. But when I was about to go out to meet someone, I noticed that my SM Parisian sandals broke and that they were way beyond repair. To be honest, I felt scammed. I bought that pair for PHP 700 ($14) and I wasn't able to use them for at least 2 months. I didn't usually wear them. Only on times when I'm sure it wasn't going to be too cold in the office. I didn't know why they broke. There weren't molds and I wasn't using them as regularly as I would with my other pair. Bitterly, I thought, "This pair should have a warning label on them. Warning: This pair may break your budget and your heart."

I wanted to replace that pair so badly. Then, I remembered I had a friend from college who recently built a shoe empire, Camilla PH, before we even graduated. Since some of her shoes were made to order, I needed to contact her soon if I wanted a replacement in under a week. So, I reached for my laptop and visited her Facebook page. I haven't visited her page in a few years and it shocked me how much attention her brand was getting. With more than 50,000 Facebook likes and a strong crowd of patrons, her business was booming, and fast!

From her wide variety of affordable and cost effective shoes, here's what I've purchased:

Not every pair I purchased is mine. The two pairs on the upper portion are mine and the ones on the lower portion are for my Mom and my granny (respectively). Can you believe that this lot (plus shipping) cost me for as much as 1 pair of Forever 21 boots?? This deal doesn't even compare to the quality of branded, industrial glue-mended shoes you see in the malls.

To give you an overview, Camilla PH's shoes are made from Liliw, Laguna, a city in a province in the Philippines generally known for making sturdy and fashionable shoes. Personally, I would pick Camilla PH over and over again for five major reasons: (1) They're study, (2) Their pairs are up-to-date with the latest trends, (3) They make every transaction smooth, (4) They're made of high quality materials, and (5) They're budget-friendly!

Camilla PH is holding a sale right now, so most of their awesome pairs are sold for PHP 380 ($8) each. They're also on Instagram if you want a closer look at their product catalog. I read that they're accepting overseas shipment, too! Do take advantage of the opportunity to spend less on something that can potentially last not just months, but years! Spending less and getting more isn't a fantasy anymore, guys! And Camilla PH is making it happen.

Skin Care

The biggest mistake I've ever done in my solid 10 years of purchasing skin care goods is buying them through an auction. When I was in college, I used to participate in a Facebook cosmetics auction (The auction page who shall not be named) which featured products from drugstore brands such as CoverGirl, Maybelline, Milani, Revlon, Wet n' Wild, and etc. Being the student that I was, I didn't want to spend too much on makeup (second biggest mistake) by buying them at the department store. Sure the department store sells cosmetics that are both authentic and non-expired, but I just couldn't afford buying them at the regular price back then. I've won tons of bids from the page I was following and to be honest, I've bid on more products that I didn't really want to use just because they were cheap and no one in the auction seemed to want to go for them. But my mistake wasn't just splurging on things I didn't need. It was trusting this auction page which I wasn't even 100% sure was selling authentic items.

At one point, I had won an auction for a regular jar of wet n' wild foundation. Everything was going smoothly. It was my second time winning the same item, so I was quite pleased with the result. Little did I know, the foundation shipped to me had already expired two years ago. I didn't bother to check expiration dates before, so I used the foundation the way I was accustomed to. I only noticed that it had expired when my skin started breaking out. I haven't started pulling all-nighters that month even though the thesis season came, so I was sure it wasn't the stress or the lack of sleep. So, I checked every single product I was using to see what might have been causing it. And alas! the foundation read: EXP 09/2011 (It was 2013 back then). You can't imagine my disappointment when I've read those 6 digits. I felt scammed and so disappointed in myself that I had not checked the item before using it. Had I checked, the auction page might still be able to replace the item. The acne rampage that it caused continues until today, so you can imagine the weight of regret I've been having since then.

So bottom line, check the expiry dates even when you're shopping at the department store and be wary of purchasing items through auctions. You'll never know if their products are as authentic as they claim it to be.

Final Notes

I hope my shopping tips inspired you even a little. Not everything I've listed will work for everyone, but if it does to you, then high five! I don't know if you've noticed how I didn't include the shop I purchased the mini clothing haul from, but in a few weeks or months, I will be! Stay tuned! I'm gonna reveal something big and exciting that I've been working on these past few weeks!

NOTE: This is a semi-sponsored post. Rest assured, I'm working on a way to get more sponsors interested in cross campaigns. If you are one, please feel free to contact me and I'll see what I can do :)

Until the next blog! Thank you for reading!