guilty

Today I've been inspired by my blog bestie Colleen. 

Guilty pleasures.

Apparently Colleen has a lot of them. I was thinking about judging her for that fact, but then I kept reading and realized that a) there is a lot of overlap with things I myself count as a guilty pleasure, and b) she invented and used the phrase 'cowgirl with a shaky moral compass' to describe the fit of certain jeans, and I think we can all agree that that is the most amazing descriptive phrase ever and obviously I am going to try to use it myself as much as possible in the near future. So rather than judging her for having so many guilty pleasures, I'm going to take her up on her suggestion to share about a few of my own.

Guilty pleasures, according to Colleen, are those things that you are willing to be snobby about. To pay more for, or adhere to higher standards than would be expected. I guess that guilty pleasures are all relative, really-- what shoe brands I would consider to be 'above my status' and guilty pleasures would probably be 'low-brow' by someone else's standard. That's okay. 

So. Given my budget...here are a few things where I take liberty to be snobby. And let's be honest: I don't really feel guilty about it. There are just as many areas where I am hopelessly cheap, so it all probably washes out in the end.

1. Makeup.

This probably isn't a surprise to anyone, but over the last few years I've slowly snobbed up my makeup collection. It started off with foundation/powder snobbing, accelerated when I discovered how much better high-end eyeshadows truly are, and has now trickled down into practically every category in my makeup bag box(es). Gone are the days of L'Oreal and Maybelline...here to stay (for the time being, of course. All guilty pleasures will probably be tossed out the window if we have a money-sucking baby come along, of course!) are the highly superior Smashbox, Urban Decay, and bareMinerals. Relatedly, I got my 'Ulta Rewards' certificate in the mail the other day. You should have seen the look of shock and horror on Matt's face when he saw what level I'd achieved this quarter ('levels' are broken into $50 increments...). Bless him.

BUT- so far I haven't been sucked into buying high-end mascara. Target all the way for that, buddy, and I'm trying really hard to keep it that way. 

2. Coffee.

Again-- guilty pleasures are relative. I know some true coffee snobs...they like...research it. And roast their own beans. And buy $1000 coffee makers. That's not me. What I mean is...I won't drink store brand. Or Folgers. Or Maxwell House. Or the kind that they hand out for free in office lobbies or what-have-you. And if you saw my tiny grocery budget, you would probably question why I'd choose to spend the extra $4 on better (still not fancy) coffee. But I'm serious. The cheap-cheap stuff? That's just nasty. I also require good condiments to go with my coffee. No nasty powdered 'creamer' for me. Ick. I would much prefer to pass on coffee altogether than to drink nasty coffee with powder in it. I'm convinced that most of the people in the world who say that they don't like coffee only think that because they've only been exposed to the bad kind. Which leads right into my next guilty pleasure...

3. Beer.

I'm not a big drinker, and I didn't really bother trying to drink ANY beer until I was in my mid-20s. But Matt's a fan of good beer, and after enough sips of his, I eventually came to like it myself. But only GOOD beer. Nothing in a can. Nothing that has half-naked ladies advertising it on TV. No Bud, Miller, PBR, Coors, or whatever other crap they hand out at frat parties or ballgames. That stuff is disgusting, what few sips of it I've sampled in my life. If I'm going to bother drinking a beer, it's gonna taste good: a pale ale, brown ale, or stout would be my preference. Like with coffee-- I bet that many people who think they 'don't like beer' have only sampled the bad ones. 

BUT- my snobbery has not yet extended to wine. Ha. I have absolutely no discernment whatsoever when it comes to wine, so that's a great money saver, right? Totally happy with Two Buck Chuck...that'll get me far in life.

4. Toilet Paper.

I know. A weird thing to be snobby about, but then again...I just don't understand why people cheap out there. Such a delicate situation...let's give it the care it deserves! If I'm at your house and you have nice hand soap but cheap TP in your guest bathroom, I JUDGE THAT. For the love of all things holy-- feel free to cheap out ANYWHERE but on the TP! Washing my hands with store brand soap will not kill me. Using sandpaper might. Of all the things I choose to spend a little extra on, TP will be the last one to die. There are few things I wouldn't do in order to make an extra buck to get some decent Charmin, if it came down to it. 

5. Vacations.

Kind of like beer, vacations are go-big-or-go-home for me. They're a frill. A perk. Not something I expect, not something necessary, not something I deserve or need. But if I'm gonna do one, I'm gonna do it right. If I'm gonna spend the money, I'm gonna save for long enough that I can get exactly what I want. I don't do cheap motels. I would much much much rather stay home and never go on vacation if it means sleeping in an icky hotel. I really don't like even NICE hotels, they totally creep me out anyway, but they're a necessary evil if I want to go more than 100 miles from my house, so...the more stars, the better. (That makes me think they wash the comforters more often. May not actually be true, but I tell myself that.) If I'm on vacation, I do not want to work. I do not want to 'road trip' because I hate being stuck in the car. I do not want to cook, do dishes, be around any sort of drama, or drive myself around. I do not want to share a room or tight living quarters with another couple or family members or children (unless they're my own, which none of them are). I do not want to do things I don't want to do, like look at museums or battleships. So this basically means that Matt and I have gone on very few vacations- but the ones we've done have been AWESOME. And to me, that's worth it. I'd much rather go on a freakin' awesome trip every 3 years then a semi-meh one every summer. If I had unlimited vacation days, I would probably make exceptions for trips on someone else's dime, like family vacations. But since those still cost me my precious few vacation days, I can no longer even make exceptions. I will (and have) pass(ed) up a free vacation that doesn't meet my standards in order to fund my own that does. That's my guilty pleasure, and I don't feel guilty at all about it. Vacation is VACATION! By nature, it's indulgent!! Obviously, when money is tight (or non-existent), we don't vacation at all. So when we are able to...I'm gonna do it right. By my standards.

So! Five of my not-exactly-guilty pleasures. Since I feel like I'm painting myself to be some kind of indulgent lush, let's quickly review a few of the things I am NOT snobby about:

Clothing brands, cars, shoes, electronics, yard sales, thrift stores, and dessert. 

What're your guilty pleasures? Anyone wanna fess up to buying cheap toilet paper? Bonus points if you can JUSTIFY that heinous crime...