Today I got up bright and early because last night, I had offered to take my younger sister shopping for clothes. I don't usually spend a lot of time with my sister, but when I heard mum harassing her about the length of her shorts and saw my sisters face as she tried to brace herself for the impact of an embarrassing white mum shopping experience, I couldn't just stand there, so I offered to take her myself. Because my sister and I don't usually speak or talk to each other, I thought it would be a good bonding experience.
We got ready together and my sister even let me give her some fashion advice - I love her, but the kid hasn't got a clue. Summer is fast approaching here in Australia, and the kid was wearing jeans and a wooly jumper with a bunch of layers under it. Her outfit was not only inappropriate for the weather, but for a day of putting on and taking off clothes? No way.
I ended up lending her a pair of my shorts and a loose fitting top that would let her cool off but would also be easy to take off and put back on.
Eventually, we were on the train and somehow managed to amuse ourselves for the 50 minutes it took to reach the heart of the city. I found a ladybug that we named Alfred. After we got off the train and Alfred flew away, my sister handed me a list of the things she needed and I took her to the first place I always go to when I have a big day of shopping ahead of me: Harbour Town.
Harbour Town is a small shopping center that is full of the normal stores you see in your average shopping centers, but they're full of factory defects and out of season clothing. It's great for when you need a bunch of new clothes but don't have much money - and the defects are almost never noticeable, maybe a couple of loose threads or a button missing, but it's usually just overstock from the bigger stores.
About two hours of running a full circle around Harbour Town, we had found almost everything on my sisters list and had only spent $65.
✓ Summer Shirts - 3 shirts for $15
✓ Shorts - 2 pairs for $30
✓ Shoes - 2 pairs for $20
✓ Bathers - 2 pairs for $20
☐ Underwear
This was great, it was only 2pm and we had basically finished shopping already. We decided to head back into the city because not only do I know of a great underwear store there, but just down the street from it is my favorite Korean restaurant.
Having only spent a bit of money on myself in Harbour Town, I decided to be a good older sister and pay both mine and my siblings lunch. We got a plate of honey soy chicken and a plate of beef fried rice with vegetables. We then put our plates in the middle of the table and used our side plates to eat off, sharing both dishes between us. The flavor of the rice went really well with the chicken, and it felt nice to be able to do something like this for my sister.
After a lovely meal, I lead the way to my favorite underwear store: Cream. It's double story and is packed with beautiful underwear, all ranging from $3 to $20. I showed my sister around the store, gave her a budget of $30 and let her go nuts. She has a keen eye, which given her age, I'm not sure is a good thing, but hey - everybody deserves to feel pretty in their underwear. While she was trying everything on, I also bought a pair for myself - I couldn't resist.
Leaving the shop, we were thoroughly satisfied - we had done everything we needed to and had completed her entire list, spending under $100. However, it was still fairly early to be going home, so we decided to shop around for a little longer, this time just for anything that caught our eye.
A few more shirts and two bubble teas later, we were on the train home. I called my boyfriend because as our parents had told us they wouldn't be home for dinner and he has a car, I thought it would be nice to have him pick us up and then I would buy us all take out.
Today was really nice and I'm glad that I could make my sister so happy and help her out like this. Although, I don't think I'll be spending any more money for a while - my wallet is crying.
