Words of Wisdom from a European Wanderer: Part 2

Shopping in Europe is one of the most exciting things to do – for me anyway. Dancing along Rue de Rivoli in Paris and skipping along Oxford Street in London fills me with exhilaration and blinds me to all the crazy Europeans that are attempting to bowl me over. However the amount of money that slips through my fingers is always a catastrophic issue, so I decided to come up with a technique to control how I spend my money on clothes, and maybe this will help you too.

First things first, if you’re on a budget then one of the most important things to do before leaving the land of Oz is to budget everything – this includes giving yourself an allocated amount to spend on clothes and accessories.

The next step is to look at your wardrobe and decide if there is anything you need to buy. A new jumper because the one you’ve been wearing every day for the past three years has completely unravelled? Or maybe a pretty dress to wear to that party that has been inconveniently scheduled for the weekend you get back? Then make a list and write these items on it. If, however, you intend for your shopping spree to be focused on “wants” rather than “needs” (like so often is the case) then allocate your spending money to only buying one of each item. What I mean by this is that if you buy a jumper on your first day in Berlin, and two weeks later in Switzerland you see the most amazing spotted, yellow jumper you have ever seen, you are in no way allowed to buy it. One jumper is enough, just as one dress is enough, one pair of shoes is enough, one pair of jeans is enough and one extremely expensive designer handbag is enough (on this particular item I once again speak from experience. Budget well.)

Make sure to always bring along that annoying friend who whines that their feet hurt or that they’re hungry so that they can also whine about the fact that you have bought too much. Please refrain from throwing European coat hangers in their faces; they hurt no less than Australian ones.

There is also one major rule when shopping in Europe (or anywhere really), if you’re not sure you like it, or you don’t think it fits well, or you don’t know what you’d wear it with, DON’T BUY IT. It maybe only be 20 euro, but it’s 20 euro that could buy you about five bottles of wine from a Spanish supermarket or that one pair of stilettos you have yet to tick off your list. This is also the point when you tell your whiney friend to “shut the hell up” and take them to McDonalds for a European Big Mac.

By Melissa Kehagias

4 Mar 2011, 10:44am Blog Street by admin
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