I am Costco’s bitch. It’s the one place where my impulse buys far outnumber the items on my list. Today, I went in for bottled water and came out with:
DVDs
A nifty Pyrex cooking/storage system
Cheese
Super-soft bedsocks
Gel pens.
But the item that briefly tantalized me was a . . . timeclock. I just thought it would be very funny to have it in my kitchen, that I could punch in every morning, make other members of the household punch in and out. If, for example, someone was sitting at a computer, obsessing over rotisserie league baseball, I could pick up his timecard and say, “Dude, I’m punching you out.” Just hypothetically.
I’ve made some weird purchases in my life. Most of them, I don’t regret. I still have the antique mirror and halltree I bought at a yardsale, when I was a struggling young reporter in Waco, Texas. My Fiestaware collection began as a lark — again, a yardsale was involved. A friend recently sent out a group e-mail, looking for a home for an antique chalkboard unearthed in summer cleaning at a local school. I kept thinking there must be a way I could use it.
But perhaps the greatest testament to my impulse buying is the collection of earrings I purchased in the 80s, especially in Mexico. (Ah, there’s another wonderful impulse — the mermaid I bought in Guadalajara when I had too much to drink at lunch.)
I’ve just emptied out the no-longer-worn earrings onto the table next to me, from a Duracell battery that was converted into a box and decorated with images of Frida Kahlo and her art. Some are far too beautiful to be hidden away — a set of grape clusters, whose price I rememberd shocked my friends. Silver sacred heart. Delicate mesh ones, decorated with garnets and seed pearls. Several sets of silver hoops, which are more or less in style. Some are just silly — plastic fishing lures; a “gardening set” (a tiny trowel, a tiny digging fork); jigsaw puzzle pieces. Coins and hearts are multiple motifs.
And the thing is — this was supposed to be the junk box. I know there’s a box upstairs, where I keep the notable oddities of 80s excess — Raisa and Mikhal Gorbachev (what, you didn’t have a pair?); the “wine and cheese” earrings given to me by a beloved friend; and the very large (although very light) Jesus on the cross earrings, which looked like keychains.
What strange collections lurk in your home? What impulse buys do you regret, and what ones are you glad you made? I know it was odd, buying that Foremost ice cream sign in Texas, but it hangs in my kitchen to this day and always inspires this question: What the heck is “Holiday Pudding”?
I haven’t a clue.
300+ snowglobes that my daughter was “collecting”. Most were bought by me on trips and by friends. They are mostly of the tacky plastic sort and some have mold inside or something worse. Now I am packing them away so I can turn the guestroom into an office- and my daughter goes 800 miles away to college. I recently learned that Corbin Bernsen has a collection of 3500 snowglobes! So if anyone sees him – tell him I would be glad to give all of these to him- except the Harry Potters and the musical Paris(or maybe those as well).
Impulse buys, huh? Just about the only time I make them is when I’m somewhere cheap, like a yard sale or a thrift store, which are my favorite places to shop. Or maybe an antique store. I think it’s because they all have such unique junk, stuff you can’t go to the mall and get. (I hate malls.)
Right now I’m searching for nautical themed items for my bathroom. So far I’ve found a ceramic seahorse and a small blue metal buoy to hang on the wall, a fish salt (or pepper) shaker (he’s sitting on the back of the toilet), ship/boat pictures, of course. Found a “Fishing Boats for Rent, 5 cents” pail at Hobby Lobby. Still looking for a trashy looking mermaid to complete the room.
I think price rules my impulsiveness. I figure if it’s cheap enough, I can sell it or donate it back if I decide I don’t want it…
The Corbin Bernsen snowglobe tidbit helps to explain the extraordinary price he paid for the guy who managed to trade up to a house, via the Internet.
I just went to check the upstairs cache. It was far richer than I recalled. Silly (two life-size taco chips, crawfish, chili peppers); elaborate, including a pair of vintage clip-ons that are going back into the primary collection; religious (I think I must have found religion ironic when I was younger). There also was a set that I remember purchasing in San Antonio, “the asymmetrical universe” — a large silver star for one ear, a dangling crescent moon for the other.
I simply must give some of these away. I’m going to clean up a bunch and take them to the next big family gathering, where I know my young nieces will be in attendance.
But the coolest thing . . . I found the sterling silver hair combs we bought for my mother’s mother in 1972, when my mom and I crisscrossed the country together. These came back to me when my grandmother died. I’ve got one in my hair right now.
I used to collect Spode “Christmas Tree” dinner ware. My mother and grandmother would each give me one piece every Christmas. Since they died, I don’t buy it for myself – and I have more than enough, anyway. The only thing I collect these days is a particular type of handbag – I’m completely addicted to them.
Impulse buys that make me happy: a pair of glass figurines from Venice – they’re beautiful and just about broke the bank, but I love them. Impulse buys I consistently regret: clothes that don’t fit properly, but that I bought anyway because I just had to buy <i>something</i> that day.
Laura, after reading about your earring collection, maybe a pair I bought at Mystery Loves Company isn’t so weird. It consists of two different skulls, one is solid and the other has a moveable jaw.
I once gave a gift of a pair that consisted of a golf club and a golf ball but that can’t compare to the Gorbachevs.
Where is the Costco located?
This group is much more disciplined than I. My impulse purchases in the big box stores are almost always edible. The frozen chicken breasts stuffed with pine nuts and Gorgonzola languished in the freezer for many months. And I wish my son had told me much earlier he no longer liked salsa sold in plastic 1/2 gallon bottles.
As for non-edible items, I’m always on the lookout for antique postcards of several Baltimore neighborhoods, as well as postcards and envelopes with special RPO (railway post office) cancellations. The messages bring history alive to me. I purchased several old letters in a mail auction and came to find out they had been written circa 1910 by the owner of the Catonsville farm house which once stood on the property where my daughter now goes to school. Another of my postcards shows the Belvedere Hotel in July, 1912. That was the month the Democratic Party met in Baltimore and nominated Woodrow Wilson as their presidential candidate. The author wrote that he was writing from the library of the Belvedere, and “Mr Bryan is resting up in his room.” He was referring to William Jennings Bryan.
Please don’t bid against Scole2 on ebay.
I can’t pass a rack of sunglasses without trying on at least 5 pairs. Why are they called a “pair” anyway? I have cut back on buying them though and I wouldn’t spent more than $10 because I lose them or break them. I learned an expensive lesson long ago when I splurged on an $80 pair of Oakleys…’nuff said.
Living Dead Dolls. They are my excuse to go on Ebay. I have a Nosferatu doll that is so Max Schrecky that it is just adorable, and it came with a “victim ” doll, and a rat as well. My other favorite my Lizzie Borden Doll. I know, I need some kind of therapy to work out my anger issues
Our shot glass collection continues to grow at a slow but steady pace. It began as a joke between me and my husband, but now serves to commemorate airports, vacation spots, and college campuses. Ditto my lapel pins — what a cheap souvenier! When the house gets done, I have plans for displaying them on the wall outside our bedroom. For my office at work I collect all sorts of weird things of at least marginal biological interest. Any and all bat memorabilia; beer bottles with animal labels; fossils and bones; bits and pieces of this and that collected from beaches, rivers, mountains, deserts; and animal figurines ranging from local folk art to cherished pieces culled from my Dad’s Lennox collection.
My favorite impulse purchases fall into two categories. When I travel to cool places I often wind up buying stuff that I know isn’t for me, but that will tell me who it’s supposed to belong to eventually. And I’m a pretty good electronics junkie; I have impulsively purchased laptops, Pal Pilots, and iPods.
Worst impulse purchases — yep, the shoes and clothes that don’t fit or aren’t comfortable or just don’t look good after I get them home.
Okay, I have two impulse buys.
I buy antique microphones. I buy them because I play blues harmonica through an ancient amplifier. I love their shape, their grills, their distortions. Although I really only use one (a 1941 Shure biscuit), I own about a dozen and they all look like props from a Buck Rogers serial.
The other is earrings. No, not for me, but for my wife. Like the dog and bone, glass vegetables, silver nut and bolt, etc. I finally had to force myself to stop.
My wife suspected I was guilty about something when it was just a fascination with kitsch.
I like the idea of a timeclock! I could set it up by my husband’s computer, and punch him out when I decide he has played World of Warcraft enough, and I want some attention payed to ME ME ME!
My impulse buys are clothes and Japanese Lustre ware. I am so bad about the lustreware, I have actually bought some, brought it home, and immediately boxed it up and stuck it in the attic.
It is a sickness.
Oh, yeah, and books. But that is ok. My first Laura Lippman book was an impulse buy. Sort of an, “eh, if it don’t like it, I will just give it to the library book drive” thing.
So, sometimes it works out.
I have far too many collections of stuff. I started with teapots, moved on to antique cocktail shakers, martini pitchers with glasses and decanters with glasses. My latest is 1950′s pin up art, what a hoot it is. That stems from seeing the movie “The Notorious Bettie Page”
Like most people, I have a variety of collections � nothing that would qualify for the record books, or an article in People Magazine, or an appearance on the Antique Road Show. Most my tiny collections happened by accident. For example, one day I had one teapot, the next there were seven � all lined in a row on my kitchen pass-through.
Other tiny collections include silver baby cups, which are lined in a row on my fireplace mantle; my pitcher collection has peaked at about twenty-five and all are lined in a row on a narrow ledge below the bay window in my dining room; and a grouping of small yarn dolls, handcrafted by peasants of a distant nation, sit on my dresser.
What makes my collections a tad quirky is that I find some perverse pleasure in lining up everything in descending/ascending size. Quite frankly, I don�t think I give a fig about the collections � it�s the pattern and order that tweak my endorphins.
I also have a colorful collection of used candle stubs, which at one time were lined up in a row until they started to look too cultish. They�re now tumbled in a crockery bowl on my kitchen counter.
A small collection of crosses acts as my safety net to heaven. Wink, wink.
A departure to this behavior occurred about two years ago. Alas, like most Americans, I became fed up with my family � the endless confrontations and dysfunctions. Bah! I appraised the empty walls of our guest room as a good location to fill with portraits of perfect strangers � my newly invented trouble-free family. There are oils, acrylics, pastels and a few photos – installed salon-style. My pretend family is mostly smiling, they never give me a whit of trouble, and I don�t angst over Christmas presents.
I think I underestimate the sentimental value of my collections. They always trigger pleasant thoughts, fond memories � especially my new family.
Serving dishes from the fifties-sixties. Stengl, Francoma, Blue Ridge. Especially ones from New Jersey. I can’t leave them alone. Help!