Patchwork.
They said Delhi was a “shopping post” and that it could be easy to get carried away.
They weren’t wrong. It seems like every other message in the group chats lately is promoting this or that charity mela (fair) or the next house sale (think living room trunk sale with bargain basement prices) or such-and-such vendor who can come to your place at your convenience. Even the embassy’s community association gets in on the action, with a rotating selection of arts & crafts vendors for truly easy shopping.
I’ve shown considerable restraint up until this point. Despite STILL waiting on our household goods, I’ve only bought essentials off of Amazon.in and a couple of kurtas and dresses from FabIndia.
So it surprised me when I found myself eyeing the textiles at the “club” the other day. I had only stopped into the building to grab some cash out of the ATM. The the next thing I knew, I was opening up the folded quilts to see them better and feeling myself getting sucked in. I walked out 25 minutes later with less rupees in my wallet than I had walked in with. I did, at least, have something to show for it.
Did we need a quilt? We actually did. It’s been getting chilly in the evenings as our concrete walls and tile floors soak up the November air. And it’s not like it was expensive. I paid 5000 INR (about $60 USD) for a queen-sized, hand-stitched quilt similar to what I’ve seen go at Anthropologie for about $200. Plus, its soft floral squares look really pretty on the bed that gets a surprising amount of afternoon sun.
So I had to ask myself what was bothering me about my semi-impulse buy.
It wasn’t buyer’s remorse.
The more I sat with the feeling (while admiring how the sunshine hit on the quilt), the more I realized it’s because there’s a slippery slope between my minimalist intentions and my maximalist tendencies.
We are a minimalist family. Which is to say that Joe comes by it naturally and I have to work a bit harder to remember that we have talked about making sure that our purchases align with our values. That we think about our impact on the earth, our desire to not get bogged down by things, and on spending more time with experiences than with stuff.
But it’s easy to get caught up in the accumulation of things. Especially when they’re a good deal. I am one who can be easily swayed by FOMO, especially when I’m with a crowd. I have to take a pause to remember what it is that I really want and need (which is usually even less than what I think I do) before I reach for my wallet or hit the purchase button.
This time of year doesn’t make it any easier. I’m still getting BLACK FRIDAY EXTENDED!!! emails in my inbox almost a week later.
Plus, I’m starting to really miss having color in our space while I wait for the art that was on a boat and is currently on a train before it’ll be delivered to our home. (Hopefully sometime next week or the following at the latest.)
I know I’m about to be buried in STUFF and that I’ll soon bemoaning the fact that we have entirely too much of it, despite coming in at about half of our allotted shipping weight.
Which brings me back to the quilt.
Do I regret buying it? Absolutely not. But I did need to take a second later that day to catch my breath and remember that we didn’t also need throw pillows to match (which, if we’re being honest, just end up getting thrown on the armchair most of the time anyways).
It’s a struggle, finding the balance between having the things that make a house feel like a home and going overboard. And this place doesn’t make it any easier. Will I be able to stay disciplined true enough to my intentions over the next couple of years? Only time will tell.
