The Evolution Of My Shopping Cart

You know you have reached middle age when the contents of your shopping basket (or cart, for the online-savvy) has changed and you now find it filled with more practical and more “investment” items as compared to flights of fancy and hobby-driven items of yore. My current shopping cart has items that will help me either with work or the house (home, to be emotionally correct).

I remember for the most part of my early pubescent years, my extra allowance was spent on books. If there was 4Square back then, you will see how I frequent a lot of Booksale branches. I amassed enough books to build a small library and a lot of these books I didn’t even read. I read first those I borrowed. Then soon life got in the way. College life.

The discovery of teenage angst and the psychological shock that is UP Diliman set the symphony for my small-scale love for music that eventually came to a raging crescendo. My bookshelf was replaced by a CD rack. I’d be honest to admit I bought mostly pirated CDs back then. Those were the days of Referendum when pirated CDs weren’t cheap and they came with proper CD sleeves (with lyrics and all). I amassed a lot of CDs (oh and DVDs as well), enough to put up my own radio station. Unlike the aforementioned books, at least I enjoyed most of these CDs until they skipped from constant play. But again life got in the way. Work life. The CDs became background music and I was obsessed with numbers, powerpoints and people.

Fast forward to ten years later. Downloaded MP3 killed the CD buyer. Looking at my personal expense summary, the money remaining after utilities, rent, financial obligations now goes to clothes and home improvement stuff. People close to me know that when I’m stressed out, I usually resort retail therapy and clothes and home stuff are my weakness and strength. Clothes are more of tools of the trade, e.g. you have to look sharp at work. I’m partial to Euro-Brit style which is casual but rightly put up (layered without being overdressed). Laid back but classic. As offshoot of this layering, jacket and outers became my collection of sorts. But I make sure I only have one per type (hoodie, sporty-vintage, casual-leathery…you get it). I even stick to classic and neutral colors so I don’t have to buy a lot. Same goes for shoes. One per type (formal, loafer, sneakers) and stick with neutrals. Red boat shoes look nice but too risqué for me. And difficult to match without looking like you got lost on your way to a magazine photoshoot. For a guy, I have amassed quite a number of jackets, shoes and uhmmm...bags.

Being a proud bachelor, I managed to be very territorial and obsessive about my space. Lately, my new “hobby” has been home improvement stuff. At this age, I like going home to a comfy, organized and stress-free abode. I’m a fan of minimalist look and I want to make my room worthy of an Ikea catalogue feature. I don’t know where I got my penchant for Ikea. I just like their simple and uncluttered look and multi-purpose and space-saving ideas. Over the past year, I have collected a lot of Ikea items; mostly bought and some given by dear friends as gifts or hand-me-downs. During my last trip to Malaysia, my luggage back was half-filled with Ikea items. It was a feat to squeeze them into 2 luggage.

From browsing at home improvement magazines, I have learned that you have to unify the look of your room by limiting the colors. The theme of my small room is black-white-soft brown. Makes it bigger and less cluttered. I am now in search of a dual-purpose bedside drawer. With a lot of retailers opening in Manila, I do hope Ikea will be here soon. The Ikea stuff I buy here are from handlers and price are quite absurd. But again, they are my guilty pleasures. Yes, I know these are but perks of being single. Call me names and push your pro-family agenda on me and I’ll just smile. I like it this way and I see these as more reasons to stay unattached. Oh well, that would be another blog entry. For now, I need my bedside drawer. And a tapered casual pants in light khaki. *** Found this related photo that just made me smile: