One of the most curious, charming and compelling blogs I’ve come across lately is Objects I Can’t Afford. The title page says “Welcome to my on-going wish list of things that are juuust out of my budget”…
… new items are added each week – the amount depending on how much time I’ve wasted online shopping for things I can’t even buy. Every posting provides a link back to where those with bigger budgets can purchase…
Not all of the products will be bonkers expensive here. Some are pretty cheap, even. The idea is that I personally can’t afford spending money on random stuff – but maybe you can, and that’s awesome.
I arrived there when I was attracted by the Palm Jewelry Dish, above, that I saw on a blog feed. I found myself looking at the wonderful selection of objects, well, lusting after some of them really, and then becoming aware of the very cool practice that the site illustrates: NOT buying. Then I’d ask myself. “Do I need this”….and “Can I really afford this?” And then thinking about all the alluring stuff that other websites routinely try to entice us with…and how, like the author, I waste time shopping for things I can’t even buy…and then I just find myself looking at the object, imagining owning it, though I don’t really, and don’t need to. Or do want to, and how awesome to be able to buy a lovely thing.
Such a great head trip sparked by such a curious array of STUFF…
….a Kaiko Tea Kettle (above)…
…a Private Parts Rug …
…Wasara white paper bowls (set of eight)…(which I actually have owned for years, and have used many times, though they are disposable and cost only ten bucks).
The blogger of Objects I Can’t Afford doesn’t actually sell the products she features or get a piece of their sale. She just enjoys featuring cool stuff, much of which is by artisans.
Curious. Useful. A practice.
You can find all sorts of objects she loved but couldn’t afford in the archive.
I bought the Kaiko Kettle… definitely a splurge however, didn’t perform as well as it looks. First, the enamel is a bit sloppy and not an even finish. When I heated the kettle for water, even when handle up – the handle got hot and one time the handle fell over and charded. This was witin the first 3 months of purchase. Very disappointed in performance vs looks. I might just use it for llowers or try to sell at my next garage sale.
Wow. Thank you so much for the test-drive report on this lovely LOOKING expensive kettle. Big lesson there. And really, the kettle is a copy of mid-century ones (that ARE hard to find)