Substitution & Compensation

After a good number of months spent waiting, I've finally acquired something on my "must have" list:
Oh yes, you know what's coming -


I'm sure it's been mentioned once or twice that I've been eyeing Betsey Johnson's Little Bow Pleat Satchel. At first it was pure lust and impulse, but given that I've still wanted it after 6 months, there had to be more. Many style books seem to try to consolidate the number of purses one needs to have a fairly basic and functional collection. My old roommate use to say that a person only needs a black purse and a brown purse. A number of people suggest the two neutral formula with a couple extra. For the longest time I had bags of every color except black. It's not like I have anything against black, I just tend to be more scrupulous with neutrals and as a result, purses of other colors are easier to pick. As a matter of fact, lots of things are easier to pick than basic neutral pieces not limited to handbags.

Substitution is when you settle for something similar to what you wanted. Given that I couldn't think of anything to substitute for my ideal black bag, this is where the compensation comes in. At the time of the original impulse, I couldn't reason spending $160 on a bag even though it was marked down from $209. I just graduated, I didn't have money or a job, just a lot of credit card bills that resulted from similar impulse spending. I decided to wait it out until there was a better sale on it with the hopes that I would have a job by then.

It goes without saying that it's easier to spend money on things lower in cost than higher in cost without even really having to reason it in your head. I was able to buy things to make up for my wanting my handbag as a form of compensation, but it never really got rid of the "wanting" part. I probably spent much more than $160, probably even more than $209 while waiting for the purse to go down to the $130 that I paid for it (I got a job! Whoo!). After acquiring the purse, I haven't really had much of a desire to buy anything. Sigh. Waiting is the hardest part. In the long run, it would've been better if I just bought the purse earlier, but the best scenario would've been just to remember what I wanted the most.