Dear1 Dear2

Over the past week, we’ve bought quite a number of things and spent quite a bit. While I do feel some heartache that we appear to have spent impulsively, this is not the case. All the items we bought were essentials and none is actually a self pampering splurge. And for this very reason, I all the more feel that day to day living really aren’t cheap. I guess this is something that I would never have been able to appreciate if I was still living under the roof of my parents.

Let’s do a short recap of the things that we’ve bought. First, I’ve been lacking a pair of decent looking sandals. The only open toe footwear I’ve been living with for the past 1 year or so is a pair of bright orange coloured flip flops that costs $4 from the local market. Now this pair of flip flops isn’t really appropriate for wearing anywhere further than the local marketplace. So finally, I bought a pair of sandals that was on discount at World of Sport for $15.

More shoes purchases to come. Dear2 has been wearing a pair of New Balance army shoes that her colleague bought for her some years back. Now, this pair of shoe isn’t really suitable for Dear2 as it is an army shoe, designed mainly for male. Furthermore, the heel sole of both shoes have already fallen off, but somehow Dear2 still managed to complete our marathon last year with this pair of lob-sided running shoes. In preparation for our upcoming Sundown Night Marathon, Dear2 really needed a new pair of shoes. As Dear2 has quite normal feet, she chose a comfortable pair of running shoes from New Balance from Bata for $79.

Next is my shoes. I’ve a case of flat foot (according to Dear2’s claims), so I need a better pair of shoes for our running efforts. My previous (and one and only) pair of running shoes is more than 3 years old, worn, broken, toe poking out, cushion exposed, water seeps through the bottom, sole eroded. But I’m reluctant to buy a new pair because of the price, running shoes just isn’t cheap. After much (heated) discussions, I finally decided to set aside a $150 budget to buy a good pair of shoes that will offer me the support suitable for my feet type. After much testing and trying, I finally decided on a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 4 for $179. Overbudget. =( At least I know this pair of shoes is going to last me another 3 to 4 years or so.

In buying the Mizuno shoes, we decided to sign up for a World of Sports membership over the counter so that we can immediately enjoy a 20% off the shoe. The membership fee is $38 for 1 year. This meant that our total spendings is $179 * 0.8 + $38 = $181.20. In effect, we paid $2.20 on top of the regular price of the shoe for a 1 year World of Sport membership and also received 1 soccer ball, 1 sports water bottle and 3 pairs of socks. Haha… I know I know, it’s just some cheap free gifts, but the card itself entitles to other discounts for sportwear as well as some restaurants. I believe it’ll be worth it since we have this running thingy going.

Next, our kettle is spoilt. The switch didn’t turn off automatically when the water is boiling. Luckily, I was around to realize the problem and quickly manually switch off the power supply before anything dangerous happens. Such as, Dear2 has decided to boycott the Sona brand for producing a lousy electric kettle that barely lasted for 1 year. As a replacement, we bought a more well known and maybe more reliable brand in the form of a Kenwood electric kettle for $62. It’s more expensive, but also of a better build and design. Once we started using it, it became obvious that the Kenwood kettle boils faster, works quieter, has a better fitting between the kettle and the charging unit, has better lid and hinges, better design muzzle where the water flows out, smoother water flow when pouring, lesser likelihood of spills. 一分钱一分货。Now, I just hope this kettle lasts more than 1 year.

Now what else did we buy… A new King size fitted sheet from Aussino! As first glance, it looks like a luxury good, but it is actually not. Because we have a $50 Aussino voucher from buying our Samsung washing machine 1 year ago. It’s expiring soon and we need to spend it. But the (stupid) problem with these vouchers is that it isn’t cash vouchers. We cannot use it to pay for anything we buy like Taka vouchers. Instead, these vouchers can only be used to pay for non-promotional items. So, finally, after much searching, we decided on a set of $89.90 (usual price) fitted sheet. After paying with the vouchers we still need to pay $39.90 in cash. Not too bad, considering its 370 threadcount. This new fitted sheet will become the 3 set of fitted sheet we have, the first one is a necessity, the second one is a house warming gift. And the reason why we didn’t choose anything cheaper is that, everything else cheaper is on promotion and we can’t pay for it using the vouchers, grr… Why dun these businessman make all their vouchers without expiry and without restrictions to make their customers happier and more likely to shop at their outlet again? Now I really have a bad impression of Aussino.

Luckily all these items have quite a long usage life time and we won’t have to spend on these items again in the short term. But again, having to fork out so much cash over a week still feels like a firm pinch. And we still need to buy vacuum cleaner this week.

-Dear1