My first thought when I bought my $69 knit long cardigan was,

Here I go, wasting money again.

Then I started wearing it. Every other day. I would wear it to lectures, tutorials, to town, to the supermarket. Any time the temperature dropped below 25 deg C, it was time for the sweater. The neutral khaki colour conveniently managed to go with almost everything I owned.

I started thinking that $69 isn’t that much to pay for something I wear so often. The good thing about it being that price, is that it was well-made. Good cutting, great versatile colour; it never went out of shape even though I handled it pretty roughly.

I began to feel that this cardi was a better buy than the $19 tops I wore around 5 times or so and had to throw away because they were either out of shape/faded/furred.

One day, I looked at my mum’s work wardrobe, and it was a treasure cove of well-tailored shirts, skirts, jackets, every single piece of which was made of extremely luxurious and lasting material. They probably cost a pretty penny, but I reckon that these clothes, some of which lasted her for more than 2 decades, were more than worth every single cent.

I won’t be able to afford to invest in these pieces right now, but I’m so glad I figured it out.