My two selves: the frugal and the frivolous

A frugal's wet dream (if on sale): navy boiler suit by Spry workwear

I have two opposing personality traits that fight for the power to rule:
the frugal and the frivolous.

The frugal relishes in:
- getting the most use out of something as possible,
- living sparsely and minimally with only the necessary,
- the calmness of lack of choice,
- somber color palettes and functional objects,
- saving money and/or getting good deals, preferably free ones.

The frivolous:
- loves having lots of variety to choose from,
- equals abundance with choice and difference,
- feels energized by endless possibilities,
- prefers interesting, unique things, preferably colorful and patterned,
- likes the feeling of investing in and treating herself to something expensive.

These two live side by side in me, and pop up at different times of the day/week. I've observed (which trait is this, the observant?) that the frugal is the most active in my everyday life, and then the frivolous pops up for the weekend, before special occasions or when she feels like the frugal part is getting herself into a style rut with all the casual items in neutral colors.

Instead of forcing myself into committing to being mostly one or the other, I try to let them exist side by side without too much conflict. If I were to let the frugal side of me take over, I would throw out all the fun stuff and only keep the neutral (/boring), functional part of my wardrobe, which would probably lead to more consumption for more interesting and colorful clothes eventually.

For this reason, I'm happy that the frivolous side of me hasn't let me purge too much of my wardrobe in the past. It's a balance though, because the frivolous side can be happy to keep something "fun" that I realistically never get enough use out of. What is enough use? That's a question for a different post.

The frugal once made the frivolous sell a sequined top from the 80s. It's luckily not especially missed, even though it was nice: