Here's a fun chain of events:
- When I was younger, I used to patch up my worn-out clothes (including socks) several times instead of buying new ones. This was a common practice in my childhood home, so naturally, I thought that's what everyone did. I kept the habit long into my twenties.
- I read some books and learned that this is NOT what everyone does, that this is a gross example of the scarcity mindset, and began simply throwing the old socks and other broken items in the trash and buying new ones. However, I still had the mentality that if I could do something myself, I shouldn't pay someone else to do it.
- I read Jen Sincero's You Are a Badass at Making Money and was shocked when she made fun of herself being the kind of person who would try to do everything herself, even if there was a service that did it better. I recognized myself and laughed: I still knitted my own winter scarfs and tailored my clothes myself and thought I could dye and cut my hair myself.
- I had a phase when I outsourced the hair care, bought new winter scarves, and ditched clothes that needed tailoring.
- And now, two years later, I found myself reading the same passage again and realizing that I just tailored a too-large dress I found on discount sale and was planning to alter some suede items I have. Myself. Instead of paying a professional to do it. A professional who would actually know what he was doing. Unlike me.
Immediately, I acknowledged that I had begun to slide back into the scarcity mindset and decided to take action to rectify the issue. I have a good hack for this:
It is to spend money.
So I created a shopping list and went for it. And though I didn't have time to get everything on said list, I managed to pay good money for some autumn clothes, including a Barbour jumper which looked amazing on me. The jumper was about 115 bucks, which isn't much, but it's a start.
I also bought another jumper and some everyday items, before running out of time.
But it's okay, because I can always have another spree.
After all, there's so freaking much money in the world, I'll never run out of it, even if I tried.
RK out.
