the legend of the infallible purchase

bigfoot, sasquatch, and foolproof recommendations

“Is XYZ is worth it?”

“How do you go about making investment purchases?”

“What questions do you ask yourself before buying something?”

“What are your most worn pieces?”

If you’ve asked me one of these questions, you may have been hoping for a “yes! I love my Cartier watch and you should get one too”, or a list of my foolproof favorites. In reality, you probably received a voice memo or long paragraph that read more like a journaling exercise than a curated rec list. Although I enjoy sharing my finds, especially if something I’ve hunted down is exactly what someone is looking for, I absolutely relish in “teaching a man to fish” as they say, via thought starters that can help you find the right thing for you.*

Behold! My PPP initialism for purchasing; practicality, point of view, and passing down. While you can use this as a checklist, I use it as a thought exercise to quickly walk through each of these points before purchasing.

No need to go all Beautiful Mind chalkboard on every decision. These are just thought exercises, not biblical law. However, I’m of the mindset that the time I forgo debating a purchase then becomes time spent owning it, shuffling it around the closet, resenting buying it, trying to list on Poshmark for half price, replacing it, etc. PPP sounds like a lot of work in explanation, but in practice it takes me about 5 minutes. Even if an item doesn’t mean every criteria, I find going through the motions helps me understand the value add vs. limitations of a purchase. Allons-y!