AIBU to feel all out of sorts after a trip to John Lewis?!

[ButterPopcorn]

Got £100 of John Lewis vouchers for Christmas - lovely, thought we could maybe get something for the house etc. Never really go in there, occasionally to the gifty/cards department but don't venture any further in.

First we looked at kitchen stuff - fancied updating our mismatched and rusty saucepan collection... £70 for one saucepan! We started looking for a rug - even looking at bog standard plain rectangular rugs we couldn't find anything under £100. Next we tried curtains - £75 for one curtain! Thought maybe we could get a bedspread and couple of cushions to brighten up the bedroom - £42 for one cushion!?

I could feel myself getting irrationally would up just walking around - everything was so lovely and I wanted to all but knew I could never afford to have a beautifully John Lewis-ed bedroom. I'm never normally bothered about things like that, but I could feel a sort of illogical jealousy rising...!

DP eventually said, "Why don't we just look at the clothes, we could spend £50 each?". I went off into the women's clothes department and just felt SO out of place - women walking around in designer jeans and crisp white shirts, kids in Uggs and Holister hoodies with mums in Barbour. Everything I looked at was £80+.

In the end DP came away with a £40 pair of jeans, and I didn't get anything. He kept saying "Why are you complaining - you've got a free £50 to spend!?", so AIBU to have got into a fettle because I felt weirdly jealous of the beautiful people who must have beautiful homes and spend £70 on saucepans but also sort of disgusted by the ridiculous, materialistic lifestyle of the John Lewis shopper!? Argh!

UABU! One the occasions I venture in there, I leave feeling serene and like all is good with the world....I feel the same after a trip to M&S food hall!

You could easily have found something for £50 in the clothes dept, I have before-it's not all Jaegar, plenty of high street brands

laptop?
hoover
kettle
white stuff clothes
fat face
cath kidston
must have cheaper saucepans surely???

There are beautiful people in Primark as well you know

And some of them shop at John Lewis too...

I can spend them for you

I have a £30 nightie from john lewis which is nearly 4 years old. Although it is the kind of nightie queen victoria would have thought "gosh, thats conservative". My dh was horrified to spend that amount of money on a nightie, but it does last .... Errrr, you,d think i have a point to this.

In a £70 saucepan you could heat up value milk and therefore recoup your outgoings, in about 87343873847 years. (i blagged free saucepans from JL as they cocked up our wedding list). superblagger not at all anonymous

pans

rugs

YABU

yes, they sell expensive items, but not everything in there is expensive.

saucepans

cushions

curtains

i don't think you looked very well? or else you had already decided to get wound up and only looked at the more expensive items?

I felt exactly the same about my £50 voucher before Christmas. It wasn't that I couldn't find anything, I found loads and loads and loads. In fact, I don't think £50 grand would have covered it. Everything is so beautifully displayed, I wound myself up into a frenzy of wanting, followed by over-whelming resentment that there are some people out there who can just buy stuff.

I'm not usually a particularly materialistic person, but John Lewis presses all my buttons.

i find it hard to believe that every item of clothing you looked at was £80plus either.

John Lewis have lots of less expensive household stuff, as well as high end prices.

We bought some gorgeous pasta bowls in there yesterday and they were only £10 each.

Yabu.

YANBU, if they didn't have the cheaper end of their range on display for some reason.

But it's such a pity you came away feeling like that. They have loads of affordable stuff, including saucepan sets for well under £100, and affordable curtains (from £15 for a pair). Website has the range of saucepan sets.

My nearest John Lewis is 30-odd miles away so I rarely go but I always love it when I do.

Ha ha, Worra we must shop at different branches of Primark

I did see a fake leather jacket in the Oasis part (never been so pleased to see an Oasis!!) that I quite liked, was £60. But it was only in small. A member of staff said I could "click and collect" the next day, but when she checked the website they only had extra small available! This just added to my irritation as I didn't even particularly want the jacket in the first place but it was the only thing that I showed an interest in so came away feeling hard done to that I couldn't get it

I think I will try the website...

You can spend gift vouchers online, I prefer to do that. There's lots of things you can get, nice vases, glasses, candles etc. But I agree that their furniture, bedding etc is too pricey.

John Lewis is rather competitive in many areas, I've known them to beat Argos a few times.

In regards to getting into a fettle as some women have things you don't I'd advise not being a brat. Clearly you want these things and if circumstance allowed you'd buy them and wear them. Can't blame them for doing exactly as you would do.

I had £100 john Lewis voucher from a competition prize on here. I spent it on a satnav.

thisisyesterday I think you're probably right that I was already wound up after the first couple of things and so was in the wrong mindset. I hadn't decided to be wound up beforehand - I do actually like going to the gift department for presents and cards and love a little browse of the kitchen porn such as mixers and smeg fridges. I was looking forward to going in with the vouchers - I naively thought we'd be able to get a set of curtains, bedspread and 4 cushions for our £100

DoUntoOtters - that's exactly how I felt!! It was a very odd feeling.

Debeez I know - I was totally being a brat and that's precisely what got me feeling all out of sorts - that fact that I wanted to think "Oh, how ridiuclous, £42 for a cushion!" but at the same time had a crazy voice in my head going "so pretty gimme gimme gimme!!"

I am also being a brat as I am jealous of your vouchers. I love John Lewis and Ikea is also my girl porn. I'm also dressed in my partners old jeans, boots and an old jumped as my weekend has consisted of gardening with DS. They'd drag me out of John Lewis if I dared cross the threshold.

Debeez

I'd put it towards a handbag; this is nice.

Confession: I just looked on the website to make some recommendations for you, and 'accidentally' bought a lovely dress for £20!

I usually do look on the website before I go into the shop. They really do have decent-priced stuff which is really good quality. It's just that in the shop the stuff that jumps up and says 'I'm lovely, buy me!' is all the new fancy, top of the range stock in the pretty display.

When I'm in the shop and I see something I like I honestly never know whether it's going to be £25 or £250 until I look at the tag!

Another suggestion: you can also spend JL vouchers in Waitrose. You could have a very fancy gourmet picnic for your £50!

That is nice tethersand, I like this one that came up underneath too.

So what's the deal with expensive bags like that - are they loads better quality than other handbags? I think the most expensive one I have was £25 from Topshop - and it now has a lovely biro line down one side! What if I got biro on an £89 bag!?

i'd have spent it all on cosmetics

i tend to like their lighting and bathroom stuff rather than the clothing and accessories, which always seem to be aimed at over 50s imo

what about make-up? they have a bobbi brown counter, and the staff there are not all orangey, and are really good at recommending stuff for your colouring.

or failing that, take the vouchers to waitrose and get 50 quids' worth of wine and chocolate.