Habit Shifts: Goodbye Things, Tip 6: Creating a capsule wardrobe to survive summer in Taiwan

We are elbow deep into summer here in Taiwan. I am realizing firstly, it’s been a long time since my last post, and secondly, an even longer time since I’ve done any of my “Goodbye Things” challenges. Well, without further delay, let’s get started! For a quick review on Goodbye Things, you can view my original posts here and here. It’s definitely an ongoing process~ but I am slowly, but surely streamlining all aspects of my life.

For this post, I’m going to be working on Goodbye Things, Tip 6: There are limits to the capacity of your brain, your energy and your time.  I’ve decided to apply this to my summer wardrobe, which has been kind of a haphazard state of affairs.  I was in denial that summer was approaching for all of April and May. At that point, the furthest concession that I made was to take all the winter items that needed to be dry cleaned out of my closet. I stuffed them into a bag and left them in a corner of my apartment for months. Then for the next few weeks, I procrastinated getting my summer clothes out of storage, and proceeded to buy random items out of sheer desperation. Every morning, I would try to put together outfits from a confusing tangle of clothing from assorted seasons. Suffice to say, this method is not the best, and sets a rather grumpy precedent for the rest of the day.

Ciao Selects: Best finds from Sephora 焦點嚴選：美國化妝品網站 Sephora 推薦

In my efforts to stop hoarding beauty products, I made a pact with my fellow beauty product enthusiast, Laura that I wouldn’t buy any beauty products until the Sephora sale this year.  For a die-hard product junkie like me, this is a hard rule to enforce, especially in an enabling environment like Taipei. There are lovely air conditioned drugstores on every corner, beckoning me with their shiny new products. During my weakest moments, I’ve had to cross streets and take alternative routes home just to avoid temptation.

Monthly Roundup April 2019

This month was largely shaped by a self-imposed 30 day no shopping ban.  I’m proud to report that I did it!  Even through a 5 day holiday!  I also tried a few other things, such as limiting my discretionary spending to $2000 TWD (about $65 USD) for a week, including groceries, meals out, coffees and incidentals. I almost made it (I think I was just a little over). Thoughts so far is that it is so much cheaper to eat at home. Even in Taiwan! And little expenses that you don’t think twice about add up quickly. This upcoming month, I might try $4000 over a two week span, just to give myself a little flexibility.  One important lesson these financial habit shifts is teaching me is to be more mindful with my money. I work hard for it… and I should really be more aware of where it is going.

Ciao Selects: Favorite products I’ve bought during my travels 焦點嚴選：國外帶回來的好物

Great news! I’ve decided to launch a new series, called “Ciao Selects. “Ciao Selects (or in Chinese: 焦點嚴選) will be a way for me to organize (and share!) all my recommendations across the different lifestyle categories that I’m interested in.

This week, I’ve decided to talk about the best and worst products brought back from my travels. In this context ‘best’ refers to the items that are used most often, and ‘worst’ means rarely or never used, or simply just a waste of money.

Habit Shifts: Money Matters, Experiences with a 30 Day Shopping Ban

My weakness: face masks made from all different kinds of ingredients

Around this time last year, I tried to exercise some financial discipline~ I instituted a 30-day shopping ban, where I would try to cut down on unnecessary or impulse shopping. When I first mentioned this challenge to some of my nearest and dearest, I asked them to list out things that I couldn’t buy, and here are some of their responses:

Monthly Roundup for October, 2018

The next few months for me are extremely deadline driven. I basically eat, work and sleep, with a little bit of a break on Sundays and Monday afternoons. Currently, I’m wrapping up projects from the previous year, while simultaneously working on new ones. It’s now gotten to a point where I’m having trouble keeping track of all my notes from each project, and I have papers flapping everywhere at work and at home. My solution for now is that I just put everything in one notebook, and use dividers to demarcate between each project.

 

I don’t know about you, but I never use up an entire notebook from start to finish with just one subject, so this method is a good way for me to get maximum mileage out of one notebook. Plus, the tabs are removable, so I just move them further back if I need more pages for a particular topic.  Such a simple solution, but I’m not quite sure why it took me so long to figure it out!

Heritage Bakery & Cafe Pop-up Shop in Mitsukoshi A4, B2 (until October 31, 2018)

Information: Heritage Bakery and Cafe Pop Up Shop, Xinyi Mistukoshi  Department Store, B2 level.

Heritage Bakery and Cafe: Hankou Street, Section 1, No. 73-2, Taipei City, Zhongzheng District| Phone: 02 2311 1079| Website: |台北市中正區漢口街一段73號之2

Today, I interrupt all regularly scheduled programming to bring you the important news that Heritage Bakery has a pop up shop!  I’ve written about Heritage previously. Their dreamy pink guava chiffon cake constantly pops up in my daydreams… The great news is that until October 31st, you can find some of their classics right in their pop up shop, in the A4 building, B2 level of Mitsubishi department store.

Field Trip: Paper & Tea 柏林選茶

Information: Paper & Tea| Address: Zhongshan North Road, Section 2, Alley 36, No. 18, Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan| Phone:  02 2523 9860| Hours: 11:00am-9:00 pm| MRT Station: Zhongshan, Red or Green Line| 中山區中山北路二段36巷18號

One of my favorite places in Taipei is the Zhongshan (中山）area.  It’s not as crowded as some areas in Taipei, and there is always something new to discover in the many lanes and alleyways off the main road.  The time, we visited Paper & Tea, which is a combination eatery and homewares shop.