Monday, April 16, 2007

The Real Job: Bad Habits

On account of having worked myself into the ground during my last year of university (but luckily not without gaining some experience), I was offered a full-time job as soon as I graduated. I couldn't have been happier considering the sort of work I had done in the past. Suddenly I got weekends off, a salary, benefits, and paychecks that exceeded anything I had made doing retail / waitressing / lifeguarding / freelancing / running a market stall / selling plush toys.*

Of course, within a month of getting an office job I started recording the album, and my paychecks didn't stretch as far as I had hoped. Still, I never consider studio time to be a waste of money. It's the other stuff that takes a toll.

Since the end of university, I've developed a taste for some, ahem, costly items. Considering how frugal I was throughout school, this surprised me. But, as my friend Mark pointed out, "You were too frugal for too long. This is what happens. You tip the other way."

My current favourite money-wasters include:

Aveda products

Had someone told me five years ago that I would eventually be buying expensive cleansers, moisturizers and soaps, I would have laughed them out the door. Why waste your cash on high-priced natural products when you can spend pennies at the drug store, right?

The answer for me was simple: I like the way Aveda products work, feel, and smell. And jeez, everyone worries about their skin and hair. It's nice sometimes to have something that will work like a charm and smell like a garden. The products aren't harsh, they aren't full of chemicals, and they come in pretty containers.

And they are sooo luxurious. It's like taking a bath in chocolate. Speaking of which...

Chocolate

Yeah, okay. Chocolate has always been a big money-waster for me, but now I go for the good stuff. My Better Half and I have made a sport out of sampling our favourite fair-trade, organic and handmade chocolates. It's embarrassing how much we spend when we get too excited. For me, it's the mint chocolate. He's all about the espresso. We both love toffee and caramel. And have you ever tried jasmine and chocolate? Oh. My. God. Worth every freaking dime.

Restaurants

This is also not new, it's just gotten worse. In case it wasn't obvious from past postings, I'd like to make it official. I LOVE FOOD. The only reason this isn't a food blog is because I eat too quickly to write down recipes and take pictures. I kid you not. I often gaze lovingly at my stir-frys and soups. You don't even want to see me near a curry. Scary stuff.

My BH and I are especially attached to Thai, Sri Lankan and Indian restaurants, but we will try just about anything that's fresh and interesting. And we're pretty bad about resisting the call of a restaurant when we're hungry and haven't done enough groceries. Good thing we'll be in India soon - every meal will be a surprise, and I won't have to do any groceries.

Extras

This can range from anything from new clothes to music. These days, if I really like something, I will buy it instead of pine over it until it's sold out. Amazing. I never would have guessed I would be so wild.

But I should mention... It's not like I've gone totally nuts with spending. I'm still careful. I still bring my lunch to work almost every day. I take the bus and I don't own a car. I walk to work in warm weather. I don't go out drinking as much as I did in school - I'd much rather buy a bottle of wine and stay home. I guess you could say that I find ways of compensating for my extravagant new treats.

More on that soon. Pardon me while I go have some of that chocolate I wrote so fondly about.


*That job only lasted four short weeks before I quit out of frustration. You know what happens when you try and run a toy store like it's a funeral home? You don't get customers.

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