Once a senior in her near 40 ( and obviously, filthy rich) gave me an advise on woman's way of shopping, and I believe it is worth sharing.
(sebelum tu, i need to caution male readers that what you will read might not be important to you, or will not understand the dilemma that women always have. But a good read if you want to understand your spouse better.)
She was plain shock when she just started working in KLCC. I think because of the office is in the same building with the shopping mall and the mall is filled with high end brands boutiques that cause most women (and some men!) striving all their mights to get hold on these branded stuff. Even there's a remark among the staffs " Kalau keje kat KLCC takyah la you pakai beg Coach, sebab ramai sangat orang pakai and takut sama ngan diorang plak nanti " Yes, Coach bags that are the cheapest would worth RM1000++.
Ye,memang normal women's instict suka sangat branded stuffs, at least if you can't afford it you still like it and dreamt that one day you would own at least one. I've no problem with the hundred ringgit range but thousands, are, quite ridiculous in my point of view. One more thing, this issue won't arise if you're really an SM or GM with puluhan tahun experience and people can easily guess your salary, or if you're married with wealthy men, VIPs or VVIPs, then LV and Ferragamo would be your best friends and people will easily respect that. But if you're a fresh grads or with less than 5 years experience?? Please jangan melenting if people talk and talk about you and the way you spend, because that is just beyond normal for ordinary people.
This kakak then shared her experience and conveyed her advise.
She think most Malaysian ladies, especially in cities are getting more `kiasu' than ever. She met several ladies yang kalau dikira harga semua baju, aksesori satu badan would worth more than RM10000! Dan ada gak yang beli selipar basahan (kan orang selalu ada selipar kat ofis) brand Ferragamo. Gila tak gila kan orang sekarang. Huhu
Her advice were:
She suggested that a fresh grad employees should realize her own financial state, and draw a line and do not go overboard. The istilah was 'just graduate', and it doesn't hurt to spend a few hundreds to award yourself with handbags and shoes every now and then, but not too often. Usually the normal range for 'just graduates' worth hundreds, and the brands in the market are the usual : Sembonia, Paris Hilton, Renoma, GL, CR, Guess etc. Tapi ni pun come in various range, some RM200-RM300, some RM400-RM600. Depends on your budget and your preference.
Tapi tapi tapi.. ada satu lagi style `just graduates' nie. They might not buy something that is more than RM80 or won't go for branded stuff (so its cheaper), tapi masalahnya they buy alot.. ni syndrom compulsive shoppers la nie. Nampak kasuk ni lawa, sandal ni cantik, baju tu cam cun, handbag nie in trend dan terpaut dihati dan semua beli. Pastu campur-campur semua spending dah lebih daripada you buy one branded stuff. Camne tu? :P
And then after some time, maybe in 5 or 10 years, when you're quite stable and can afford them, you're advanced to `Masters' where you can start on Coach and Bonia, where the range can be in (RM800-RM2000 or more, depends on the model). Sometimes when the time is right, you can seek a good bargain for Furla, Celine or Aigner yang small size (read : smaller of course cheaper!) or brands yang baru je sampai Malaysia dan harga belum tinggi lagi.
Lepas tu when you're in `pHd' level, then you have nothing to loose after belasan atau puluhan tahun working experience with huge paycheck. Then, you're entitle to experience an LV, Prada, Ferragamo and aything from the long lists of high end boutiques that normally can be found only at KLCC and Pavillion.
Well those were her advise to me and several other young ladies who were with me at the time.
Of course people might disagree with her and have their different views on this. But for me, those advise are practical for normal people yang makan gaji in normal circumstances in Malaysia. If you were born with silver spoon in mouth and don't mind your wealthy parents pay for everything, then it is a whole different story. Or if you're a super successful direct seller/ marketer or you live oversea where you can get those branded stuffs in much lower prices.
For myself, with a normal salary of an exec with less than one year experience, bonus pun tak penah dapat lagi, I winced in reluctance and would never buy anything above RM400. Most of whatever I owned that worth more than that were given by my parents, itupun sebab diorang sendiri yang pujuk I suruh pakai apa yang diorang belikan. And I was blessed, thank God sebab I'm not a compulsive shopper or shopaholics.. :) I, like other ordinary ladies are also so in love with branded stuffs and suka sangat tengok-tengok show rooms tu kan, try-try depan cermin, tapi to date, I can stop myself from buying most of the time (kadang-kadang terlepas gak, haha reward yourself la kiranya tu hehe).Sangat suka ok, save duit and can use for something much more important ( like, helping for the betterment of others?) Satu lagi I'm also blessed that I'm surrounded by friends yang tak la kiasu on branded stuff, so I takde la terkena peer pressure ke apa. Cayalah korang!
OK tu je, i think its worth sharing sebab terkesan di hatiku, and her advice makes me think. This senior of mine are definitely already in `pHd' level, but what she carried was just a free pouch to sumbat her basic needs i.e purse, tissues and keys (that I think she obtained from buying cosmetics or something) and her appearance adalah sederhana. I kind of respect her for that.
Buy smart! :)
