A Jewelry/Luxury Buying Mindset: Rule #5 Is Don't Buy Pretty

An example of a pretty I don't buy, but what a temptation of emeralds, white and black diamonds in 14k gold.

YouTube Luxury Mavens talk about their collections. Often I find the amounts they spend and especially the quantity they continue to unbox alarming! Where does it stop? At $100,000!? $200,000!? $500,000!?! Even if you earn highroller-level money, when is enough ... enough?

Today I'm using my rules on when to purchase jewelry as a guide for describing a mindset that applies to buying all luxury goods for anyone on a budget. Think of luxuries as big-ticket items we love but don't need. Hard as it is to believe, I love💙, but don't need this gorgeous tanzanite and diamond ring over to the left! It's so pretty!!!😍

We're not millionaires, and luxury goods nearly always cost us more than what we make in a week ... or a month! We have to save up to own a piece here and there, therefore I'm super selective on what and when to part with a chunk of change. Plus I put a cap on the amount I'm willing to drop on a single luxury good. It's a splurge, not an essential or an investment (as you'll never get the full value of what you pay if you have to sell it). So let's begin ...

The Jewelry/Luxury Goods Buying Mindset -- the rules explained:

1) Don't collect - You don't need a collection. Pick a few articles of fine jewelry you really love that can be mixed and matched, plus worn daily, as well as, to galas. A person on a budget can't afford signature rings or necklaces that stay inside a box except for a few days a year. After saving and sacrificing to buy a piece you love, be sure you get your money's worth by being able to wear it often instead of storing it away.

2) Discriminate - Figure out WHAT you really love (white, yellow, or rose gold); your favorite gemstones; and forgo everything else! Don't buy fashion jewelry. Save up for fine jewelry and buy only the gemstones, size, and style you most relish. You won't miss everything-else!

3) Stick with the classics - Usually, you won't get your money's worth in terms of how often you wear cute animal motifs or signature rings, earrings, bracelets, or necklaces. They're for people with more disposable income who can afford impulse buys and surpluses of fine jewelry ...  folks with crazy surplus money.😄 Savvy Shoppers on a budget focus on a capsule of classic jewelry to be worn nearly anytime and anywhere.

4) Never settle on the "c" (cut, carat, color, or clarity), the main detail most important to you - Save yourself the cost of having to size up or rebuy jewelry because you compromised your true love away. Don't buy a tiny gemstone if you really want a big rock. Likewise, don't pull the trigger on the wrong gemstone, say ... a blue topaz, if it's really sapphires that make your heart sing. Save up for your true loves of attraction like a bigger carat weight or your most loved gemstone.

And of course, be realistic: I adore the quality of the diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds sold by Tiffany & Co., but can't afford more than a minuscule size of Tiffany-top-quality gemstones. But! I'd be terribly unhappy with the carat sizes of stones I'd have to bring home after spending a ton of money there. I understand myself well enough to know I don't want to pay top dollar for a teeny-tiny gemstone. Always at Tiffany, my true loves of attraction are their HUGE flawless, solitaire stones -- the 5+ carats of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and tanzanites, therefore I can look without temptation, despite the beauty and glitter blinding me! This leads us to my 5th rule ...

5) Don't buy pretty - I love all gemstones but only own a few. I don't have opals, tanzanites, alexandrites, yellow diamonds, black diamonds, red or green garnets, and a slew of other pretty jewels in my "collection" because I have a capsule, not a collection. Personally, since I can't afford every spectacular stone, adding a piece over the years to my capsule doesn't include the softer more delicate gemstones, nor the most expensive stones per carat. Alexandrite is one of my birthstones, yet it's too pricey per carat for my consideration. As mentioned, I refuse to spend big money on a tiny stone! So I own my other birth gem, pearls for much less. I did not do without; did not go broke; do not use spectacles to see it; still ended up with beautiful birth month jewelry.

All of the Effy jewelry uploaded today are beautiful pieces I do not own for various reasons cited in the blog. If not selective, I'd be happy with all of the uploaded pieces. Ooh and ahh, Mr. Effy!😍 The tanzanite and diamond ring above, costing $14,250, proves how more often than not, I don't buy pretty.

Amethyst, sapphire, and tsavorite stones.

In summary: A luxury buy is always about loving, not needing a costly material thing. Owning "it" should result in a happy dance every time you touch it. Discriminate. Don't settle. Create a capsule, not a collection. Buy your true love (the gold, carat, gemstone) even if it takes longer to save up for "it"; then don't waste your money by keeping the purchase in a box/closet/safe. 

And finally a bonus rule: If you love "it" too much or not enough to wear after "it" is yours, sell it! By keeping "it" in a drawer, you've wasted the money spent, so try to recoup what you can.

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Gotham City's Season Of the Witch

All photos were taken on a walk in my neighborhood. Click to enlarge any photo. Bart the Bartender (↙below, left) has your wine.

Halloween is here on The Upper East Side once more. Let me give you this year's tour. 

But a tour alone would not suffice, so accept these words of sage advice ...

🎶 "You've got to pick up every stitch," as it "must be the season of the witch."🎵

When you look outside your window what do you see?🎶

🎶 Eerie sights and spooky people to be! 🎵

The range and change are very strange! 🎶

And ... 🎶 you've got to pick up every stitch. 🎵

Since it 🎶 must be the season of the witch. 🎵

Frankenstein, Satan, and Beetlejuice have come to make their pitch. 🔱

 While the undead slots its evil niche, 🎶 you've got to pick up every stitch. 🎵

       When you look over your shoulder what do you see as true? Creepy creatures are looking back at you! 🎵👺

 A skeleton upon a scaffold is spine-chillingly rich -- that's why 🎶 you've got to pick up every stitch. 🎵

 

Beware! 💀🧛👻 ... Time to go!?!  ... 🧛‍♂️🧟🧙‍♀️A twitch, oh no!

The switch!! 🕷🎃👺 A stare!! 

 The scare!!! 🧟🐾

Too late ... your fate is up in the air!?! 🖤 

Or down below, in hell 🔥 ... who knows? 👀

On the qui vive! ... watch out!! ... 🎶 

Coming down to bite ... no doubt!🕷

Quick! 🎶 You've got to pick up every stitCH! 🎵

🎶 Must be the season of the witCH! 🎵

Happy Halloween from THE SAVVY SHOPPER, Donavan, and Gotham City!

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Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 Max

Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 with hydrating ingredients has a MAX formula with 20% more retinol. It also contains vitamin B3, which hydrates and brightens the skin and promotes elasticity, plus fights free radicals. If your skin isn't used to maximum strength retinol, stick with Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 in its regular strength. More retinol doesn't always mean better, you just need enough effective anti-aging ingredients -- here, retinol ... and to use the potency of retinol that is tolerated by your skin. To be effective, you must use it regularly. If too harsh, making your skin red and raw, you then stop using it.

I like the availability of a greater retinol strength in Olay, a non-prescription potion, for people who have been using the regular formula for a time and feel it's time to bump the potency up. To be sure, if mistaken their skin will indicate its need to return to the lesser strength!

As regular readers know, Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 and Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair are 2 of the drugstore brands of anti-aging night creams I fancy. Each works without emptying your wallet.

Be on the look out at T.J. Maxx for this Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair 2-pack for $16.99, a steal! Full-sizes and about half the price of one item alone at the drugstore (when not on sale). The instructions say to apply the retinol oil and follow with the retinol cream. The oil adds another 3% of retinol for double the wrinkle-fighting power (know that 2.5% is considered a good and standard amount in a non-prescription retinol formula).

If not already using a retinol skin cream potion, start slowly. You may have to apply the cream once a week, then twice a week, then increase to every other night before your skin tolerates it every night.

Choices are good for consumers, especially if they land on the shelves at T.J. Maxx. Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 Max is another effective budget-friendly formula to know about. 

You are left with money in your pocket and a smile on your face ... winkles that soften or perhaps are erased.🎃🙂 

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All Beef Salisbury Steak

Photo: Wikepedia

At the supermarket, I spotted the $6 Hunger Man frozen meals and got the idea to make Salisbury Steak for dinner. Thought I, ... why not buy $5 worth of ground beef instead of these $6 frozen dinners? As I put the ground beef into my basket my 2nd thought was I've never made Salisbury Steak, I wonder what all's in it? Well ... how hard could it be?

As it turns out Salisbury Steak is a version of Hamburg steak consisting of ground beef, breadcrumbs and seasonings with gravy. Oh, yeah, gravy! Definitely, we are heading in the right direction. German immigrants brought the stick-to-your-ribs dish over to the US during the 19th century. It was adapted by Dr. James Salisbury, an American physician, to put meat in the diets of Civil War soldiers to promote their health.

It's a one-pan easy recipe, fairly universal in ingredients checking with the various online cooks. The one optional ingredient I'm adding to the gravy is a big ole grilled onion. Moreover, I'm omitting ground pork .... why do we need both? We don't. Let's keep it simple like the Hamburg Steak (unless you happen to have ground pork and want to use it up). I'm familiar enough with German cooking to know Hamburg Steak would have been made both ways -- with or without the addition of pork depending upon what the family had in their panty on a given day. 

All Beef Salisbury Steak

Ingredients for the steak:

Photo: Serious Eats here.

1 - 1.5 lbs of lean ground beef

1 large egg

1/4 cup quick or old-fashioned oatmeal (per pound of meat)

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon mustard

4 sprinkles of Worchester sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

A sprinkle of dried garlic, onion powder, parsley

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (I tossed in the entire package.)

1 onion, sliced

Directions for the steak:

1) Toss the ground beef, egg, oatmeal, ketchup, mustard, Worchester sauce, and seasonings into a mixing bowl and using your hands incorporate uniformly. (I don't use milk, but you can if you wish to moisten your bread crumbs.)

2) Shape into patties -- one pound makes 2; 1.5 pounds give you 3; 2 pounds make 4 servings, etc.

3) Grill in a frying pan. As the meat is cooking, you can toss in the mushrooms and onions to tenderize them for the gravy. After the ground beef patties are grilled, remove them from the pan and temporarily put aside. Be sure to save the brown meat bits, mushrooms, and onions for the gravy. 

Gravy Ingredients:

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced and at least partially cooked

1 onion, sliced and at least partially cooked

1 cup of water per pound of ground beef (Eyeball the water amount. More or less gravy is up to you.)

1 beef (or chicken) bouillon cube

2  tablespoons of all-purpose flour (Eyeball it. A tablespoon of flour per half cup of water cooked for 5 minutes will thicken your gravy.)

Salt, pepper, dried garlic powder to taste

Directions for the Gravy: 

1) Add the water, bouillon cube, and flour to the pan drippings, making sure to dissolve the flour and bouillon into the water. 

2) Bring to a boil, then cook until the gravy thickens. It thickens in about 5 minutes ... during which you return the Salisbury Steaks to the gravy for them to heat up, cook a bit more if needed, and absorb the gravy. 

3) Taste the gravy and adjust the spices to taste: a tad more salt or black pepper, a capful of cider vinegar for more flavor, etc. {(If I need to get rid of a ripe tomato lying in the refrigerator, I toss it diced into a gravy at the beginning to add more flavor. A capful of vinegar can also balance the sauce out resulting in a hodge-podge of deliciousness! So will red wine ... but I suggest you sip it instead while cooking.😁}

Salisbury Steak is often served with mashed potatoes and peas as side dishes. Sometimes I simply microwave unpeeled potatoes, smash them with a fork, season them with Cajun salt, and top with the gravy.  Adding a California mix of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots works too.

More than a hamburger, easier than a meatloaf. I also like how you can make as much as you need -- a dinner for one or more people. We love our stovetop, skillet meals. Guten Appetit!

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Winter Hats, Scarves And Gloves

Well-established retailers, including Echo, Calvin Kline and others are weaving winter, hats, scarves and gloves with manmade fibers, such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic -- which consumers seem to be accepting! Other than at innovative, well-made, and inexpensive Uniqlo, I pass on them. The exception: Uniqlo's Heattech gloves are so cheap, you won't mind replacing them after 2 years of wear. Unlike cashmere gloves (which the company also sells), you can machine wash Uniqlo's Heattech gloves of manmade materials. And too, gloves, which touch everything, wear out faster and need to be replaced oftener than hats or scarves.

As a rule of thumb, however, you can't beat merino wool, cashmere, or a  combination of the 2 materials for warmth and durability despite paying more for them. Personally, I won't even look at acrylic winterwear. A combo of polyester and nylon tends to be warmer than acrylic, but if not Uniqlo-budget-friendly ... don't buy manmade-thread hats, scarves, or gloves ever! This is where my rule of don't buy cute or pretty applies. (Oh, hat and scarf,  you're sooo pretty ... yikes, pricey and not real wool ... pass!)

Echo has launched some super adorable hats of synthetic fibers this season, which I would not be tempted to buy. For just a tad more money, you can get their Cashmere-wool blend Lux Collection of hats, scarves, and gloves. 

After you pay the piper, they'll likely keep you warmer, plus last for decades of winters. Keep your eye on natural fibers of cashmere, wool, or a combination of the two, and wait for a great sale!

Coach is running a flash sale on its merino wool beanie right now ($39), offered in 6 colors. Less than what you pay for some merchants' synthetics!

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