Spend or Splurge? - Coffee Shop Ramblings

Every now and again i find myself lusting after an incredibly expense item that i feel i must have in my collection, from the £700 Alexander Wang bags and the £50 Nars eyeshadow pallets to my £5.03 and hour job, its not always realistic. It comes to a point where i consider giving up meals out and my bus pass to try and afford these things but i always see sense in the end. Well, kind of. 

Typical..

After a long day out scouring the stores for deals and offers to share with you guys, i decided to settle down in costa with my usual Belgian Chocolate Cooler and Chocolate Twist and began sorting out my work for the day. Costa is one of my favourite places to be because its so relaxed and i really feel valued as a customer there, but also because of some of the things i hear other people talking about. I usually hear the conversations between adults and work, and teens and their boyfriends but now and again i hear something i can completely relate too. In this instance, a young woman was debating about whether she could afford the newest iPhone and whether she needed it or not. I then heard a couple of remarks about how could i afford a Macbook Pro when i 'couldn't have even left school' but lets not talk about that. 

A little while ago my phone screen got smashed and since then I've been toying with the idea of getting it repaired or just getting a new phone ready for when my contract runs out next April. Being nearly 17 I'm also having to put up with the idea of learning to drive and saving up for that, as well as the phone i want. But wheres the justification in spending £500 on a phone? Sure on contract it looks a lot better, nicer but wow. Anyway, heres my thoughts on saving up for a big purchase.

1. Do you really want it? I know sometimes you see something and you're like 'I must have that", but s it something you actually really want? I constantly find myself wanting things at work and buying them only to have them stuffed in my wardrobe never to be seen again. Recently I've started leaving things at work on hold, and then if i still really want them the next day or a couple of days later i go in and buy them and if not, which is normally the case i just let work know i dont want them. A lot of purchase are made on impulse so doing this saved myself a lot of money and also stopped me ending up with a wardrobe full of clothes i dont even wear.

2. Will you use it? I know that £700 bag looks nice, but its shocking pink what will you be able to wear it with? If I've gotten past the last step and still want the item, i then ask myself what it'll be used for. Ive been lusting after a bright pink bag for a long time now and recently saw an amazing dupe for just £30 so of course i bought it. Its not that i didn't like the bag, in fact i loved it, but i didn't have any outfits it really went with, and i found it quite difficult to pair up. I know this isn't an issue for a lot of people but for me it is. Im incredibly glad i didn't end up spending all that money on something i wouldn't have used! 

3. Can you afford it? This is probably the most important point for me, because i do earn only a little and enjoy buying myself and my boyfriend little treats. If i save up, is theres something else that would be more useful and more practical than a bag? Such as that DSLR you've always wanted which will also help improve your blog. Or that iPhone, do you need the most expensive model or could you settle with the less expensive one? Will you still want it by time you've saved up? These are all important questions and ones i ask myself whenever i dont know if i want something or not. 

This is a bit of a different post to what i normally and i know its very wordy so I'm sorry, but being a beauty blogger i find myself constantly buying things and sometimes i do need to sit down and reevaluate what I'm buying. I hope this post has been of some use to you guys and maybe even a little insightful. Hope you're all having lovely days!