Cheapskate

The title itself is a warning that at some point of my ranting, I will be defensive of my frugality. I was born into a middle-class family. Can you blame me if it would take a crowbar to pry my wallet open?

See? I’m getting all defensive here and I haven’t even started yet!

It was a Saturday. After doing some laundry in the early morning, I found out that no; I do not have any food in the house except for the odds and ends in the fridge. There was some danggit and pork chop. Lest you think they’re food --- believe me, they’re not. I got those like a couple of months back and I just don’t have the heart to throw them out.

Seeing that I will not get any nourishment if I stay in the house, I braved the noon heat and headed to the mall. My stomach was protesting when the first stop I made in the mall was the book sale near the entrance. Honestly, I’d rather starve than have nothing to read. It’s the nerd in me speaking. Armed with some obscure book and the June issue of Entrepreneur, I went to Tokyo Tokyo for my breakfast-lunch-merienda all rolled into one.

With a full stomach, I thought that some retail therapy was in order. I felt I deserved some treat surviving the one week blur of chaos --- also known as regular office work. I was also in the lookout to get my dear friend Michelle who just celebrated her birthday, a gift. Of course, I got so distracted trying on clothes that I totally forgot. Let me put that in the list to buy tomorrow at the swanky TriNoMa.

After buying a couple of shirts, I knew I had to get a black jacket for my office get up --- not too office-y, nor too grunge. So I combed through the entire 2nd floor of the department store and the other boutiques and found none priced within the realms of my reality. I remembered that there was the surplus shop downstairs. There were some good finds there and no, I’m not too nitpicky on the brand, so I crossed my fingers in hope to find the elusive black jacket.

Oh yes, there was a red jacket --- with a hood, perfect for my sister. Great! Not the one I was looking for. When I looked around the store, oh freako --- the cause of my distress --- the blouse I bought in some expensive boutique was hanging on the rack. W.T.F. It’s price was less than half the price of what I bought. The cloth was the same. There was just some difference in the sleeves but it was essentially my blouse. MY BLOUSE! Argh.

Forget the jacket search. I was too miserable after that.

Not!

I found the not-so-perfect-but-it-has-to-do jacket after inspecting rack after rack after rack on the entire department store.

But I am still miserable.

Next time, methinks I should check out the Surplus Shop first before raiding the boutiques.

I think I need another round of retail therapy.