The time of year has come when we’ve started to discuss summer holidays or, as we say here in the great United States of America, vacation. My sister is thinking of renting a house by the beach once the kids finish school and has invited us along; when I suggest this to my husband, his first question is, “Can we afford it?”
“My love,” I tell him – my favourite way to start a sentence when I think he’s being dense, “If we gave up takeaways for a mere month, we could probably afford to go anywhere we wanted.”
“Touché,” says he.
Suffice it to say, this conversation happens after the great takeaway binge that was last week. (Can you tell that it was the beginning of the month, that is to say, PAYDAY?!)
Monday
I made a purchase from SHEIN a few weeks ago, because – please bear with me – I wanted to buy a replica Heart of the Ocean to put on my sister’s dog, Daisy. She has a habit (the dog, not the sister) of lying across their blue velvet couch in a very “draw me like one of your French ladies” fashion, and whenever I look at her I think all she’s missing is a gaudy piece of imitation jewellery.
So I found myself forking out $2 for a blue heart-shaped gemstone on a bedazzled chain, and adding a further $40-odd in random tat to reach the threshold for free shipping.
I have to say I was oddly surprised by the quality of the things I ordered (a bikini and two black T-shirts), because I’d expected that, for the price, they’d be poorly constructed. The fact that they’re not, honestly, makes it even more worrying that they’re so cheap. Who is being paid for the labour and materials that went into these items?!
I was further ashamed of myself when I saw, today, on Instagram, an artist I follow whose work was stolen by SHEIN and sold in print form for $5 a pop – work that now has over 700 reviews from paying customers. Customers who will never know her name, and payment she will never receive.
Anyway, all of that is to say: my Pay in 4 comes out today for my SHEIN order ($13.96) and I resolve never to buy from SHEIN again. I know I shouldn’t have bought from them in the first place, to be honest.
Another order I made a while ago makes an impact on my wallet today, in the form of a book I pre-ordered from Barnes & Noble. ($26.70)
I spotted Laura Delarato’s My Pleasure: An Intimate Guide to Loving Your Body and Having Great Sex on Instagram a few months ago and clearly thought, I’ve just had my body cut open to remove a human child! What better time to feel sexual! I have not yet opened the book. Some day.
Today I’m going over to a friend’s to help watch her grandson. She watches him every Monday and Tuesday but has training with her work today, so she asked if I’d come and hang out while her full presence is required on Zoom. I stop by Starbucks on the way to get us coffees and pastries; I have a gift card and a small balance on my Starbucks app but I have to put the final tiny payment on my debit card! Annoying. ($2.11)
I hang out at her house until around 5pm, when I gather Atlas up and we drive home. I’m exhausted – how does anyone watch two children under two?! Or, worse, have two children under two?! – and will need a full 48 hours off (which I’ll never get, to be clear) to recover.
The boys are there when I get home; they’re on spring break, so we’ll be spending tomorrow together. Though I usually feel a bit stressed wondering what I’ll do to entertain them, lately I’ve started to realise how much of a help they are with their baby brother (I can go to the toilet in peace!) and how, with the exception of snacks, little they really demand of me.
Just no one mention the Y (their current #1 obsession, and a place we have yet to show up at!).
Daily total: $42.77
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