That Time I Bought Three Poster Frames For $530
So I have this weird relationship with Michael’s (the crafts store). I shop there from time to time for things I need around the house, but then sometimes I look at the storefront and cringe because of how much money I spent on custom frames.
It’s definitely a decision I don’t look back on fondly (though the frames were really nice and the posters still look great in them). These three frames, one for a each of my favorite Miyazaki-directed Studio Ghibli movies (Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, Porco Rosso, and The Wind Rises), represent both some of the less than stellar financial decisions I’ve made and the time in my life where I let go of the reins on managing my finances.
The year is around 2015 and I have been living in a suburb of Washington DC for about a year now. I am renting a 1-BR apartment and living alone. At the time, I began to make an attempt at decorating my apartment and what better way to do so than with framed posters on my walls? Around this time, I had also discovered Etsy and all of the wonderful arts and crafts you can buy (and sell).
The original game plan was to buy the posters online, via Etsy, and then buy the frames for them at Target (a store with which I have had a torrid affair ever since moving to the DC area). I had already had success with three star wars-themed posters and I decided on three more. So back to Etsy I went.
Etsy is a platform where sellers from around the world can sell their crafts to others. If you’ve ever read The World Is Flat, this is the kind of connectivity that Friedman would gush over. As an American, you can buy original posters made in a size not common in the US from a seller based in Turkey, while watching animated tv shows from Japan on a laptop manufactured in China. I could go on… I wont. You don’t deserve that.
At any rate, that’s exactly what I did, and to my utter surprise, I could not find any frames that fit my lovely posters. So what did I do? I decided to head on over to Michael’s to have custom frames made.
Walking into the store, I made my way to the desk in the photo section to have frames made. The folks taking down the dimensions I gave them were a lovely brother/sister pair who happened to share the same love and affection for Studio Ghibli films. So while I sifted through the colors and styles my frames could come in, we chatted away about some of our favorite Ghibli works. I felt like I was building a genuine connection with this pair of siblings… until I saw the final cost: $530. My. Jaw. Dropped. Picking up my jaw, I pitched a blank stare at the computer screen, trying in vain to ignore the question of whether I wanted to proceed with the purchase. I thought to myself, “welp, this is what I wanted so I might as well finish what I started”. So I reached into my pocket, pulled out the wallet, pulled out my credit card, handed it to the pair, and said with a smile, “I’ll buy it”.
It took about two weeks to make the custom frames and man did they look marvelous (they still do to this day).
Honestly, I really do like them, but this doesn’t stop me from thinking about how maybe this wasn’t one of the most wise financial decisions, especially because at the time, I was slowly burning money without realizing it through my lifestyle. Looking back, I kinda wish that I had not purchased the frames at such a price. Maybe I could have gone with a different design or style or had gone to a different store. I come back to this purchase time and time again because 1) I still have the frames, 2) my fiance will crack jokes about how I paid $530 for custom frames and, most importantly, 3) these frames are a reminder of the (sometimes) excessive spending I did in my mid-twenties. It’s one of the few financial decisions I would reverse if I could (that along with the $700+ phone, the BRAND NEW car, among others). At the very least, I use that as a powerful lesson to remind myself that I don’t have to spend that much because I can and to be more willing to look for less expensive alternatives.
Do you have certain purchases you look back to and cringe? Feel free to share in the comments.
