I am Asa-Marie, Op Shop Junkie.

Ever the battle between "need" and "want".  Ah it is one that I will struggle with for years to come, I am very well able to justify all sorts of things to myself...

"No, don't get the very useful and extremely practical pack of six tupperware containers for $2 - instead get that gorgeous scarf on the rack which you can wear on the weekend, it's so much more worth it as you've been looking for one like that for ages"...Doh! I fell for it.  Really could have used those containers for all the pesky little food leftovers too.

But I am rather glad I fell for one of my famous justifications when it only cost $1 for the scarf. Could have got both but I was waiting for a bus and I only had coins on me.  Anyway here is the scarf, beyond is my newish weekend Colorado handbag that I got for $4 from Ferntree Gully Salvo's which cheered me up immensley while poking around after having had dental work done and feeling rather like a bulldog as for the anesthesia.

I did do a little better with my self control at the Epilepsy Op Shop in Blackburn and successfully purchased a much needed very smart black blazor jacket for upcoming job interviews, (amongst other things) as there was a 50% sale on ALL clothing on Friday! Well, I couldn't pass that up could I ? So, alongside the black blazor I also bought a green cardigan and the two scarves pictured above, with a brown waistcoast to adorn this fabulous little blue lacey blouse which I purchased just the other day from Blackburn Salvo's.  In the end the blazor,waistcoat, 2 scarves and green cardigan cost all but $8.50 - Geeze you gotta love an op shop sale!!

Well I am afraid I did give in to temptation quite recently.  Infact I have photogrpahic evidence which proves the fact.  Oh dear I have been troublesome haven't I.  BUT why feel the same amount of guilt for something that costs under $5 as you would for something that costs hundreds?! These are a few things I definitely did NOT need but had to have of course. 
       The above is a fairly old purchase when one considers my frequency of shopping.  I didn't know the game and yet recognised it's shape immediately and was so drawn to it I asked the volunteer at the Epilepsy shop in Blackburn to take it out of the display case. It was $2 - so I got it.
       Recently I have had the delight of my father staying with me while he is out from England.  Upon seeing the game, my Dad declared to the room that many years ago he had indeed designed a computer program that solves the game! Would you believe it?!?  Of course I had to investigate after purchase and had already found that it is Peg Solitaire and now I can rather proudly get it down to four pegs.

Well what girl can resist a lolly tin with terribly cute bunnies on I ask you?  "Is this a test?",  I asked my self as I walked up to this tin temptation....Well, I thought "I do "need" something to put lollies in that is a little more accessible than what I have"..... And there it is people.  The need justification.  Seriously, when was the last time anyone "needed" a lolly? It cost fifty cents. Right then was when I decided I needed Licquorice Allsorts. 


Well now this one I do feel a bit of guilt about, but only a little (it's so pretty!!). I think it might even be my most expensive op shop purchase on a single item to date.  And I op shop A LOT.  I do feel naughty about this one, like a caught out school kid!

But isn't she a beauty?!!  They want $30.00 at the Salvo's in Forest Hill and actually I don't have it yet - am very eager to pick it up on Monday after work.  Truth be told I am VERY excited about it and can hardly contain myself!  I have never bought anything like this before, but it will just look so darn good in my living room! With my polished wooden floors she's gonna stand out real nice.  This of course is a serious case of the "beauty justification" when one finds themselves completely and helplessly enamoured of an item.  Also I really don't think anything like this will come up again either.  Really though, how could this have been given away in the first place?

Well, after all and in retrospect I ask you,  is it not interesting that however guilty one feels after a splurge or one single thirty dollar purchase that it can all just melt away because now you have the item. It's yours. You own it.  It displays your sense of taste and style and more than likely portrays a part of your personality.  And what a comfort that provides.