As far as deals, trades, and bargains go, the best one I ever made in my life was when I traded a set of brand-new T3 hair curlers for a semi-new iMac computer. I mean, how does that even make sense? An entire computer for 12 curling wands? I’m dead serious. It happened.

Let’s get a bit of backstory here. In 2010, when my mom moved back to Sydney full-time, she bought me a brand-new MacBook Pro—under the guise of it being for school (I was studying fashion design then). However, I think it was more of a “bribe” meant to convince me to move across the world as well. Which, I did, three years later.

My laptop was everything to me.

But being 19 when I got it, I didn’t take the best care of it. It had hairspray misted all over it during pre-drinking events, a vodka orange juice spilled all over it, and I even forgot to zip up my bag once and it fell out of a car onto a gravel parking lot. It has rock dents in the bottom to prove it.

So, of course by late 2017 it started slowing down and showing severe signs of wear and tear. By 2018, the trackpad stopped working, the battery had to be removed, and it would get so hot that I was afraid of it exploding in a coffee shop. (You know, back in the day when we could still take our computers and drink lattes surrounded by random people.)

It was time that I looked into getting a new computer.

I’m an Apple person through and through—but I despise their prices. I had no idea how I was going to afford a new computer on my dismal freelancer’s salary. I’d definitely have to scoop something from my savings and I really didn’t want to have to do that. That money is being saved for an apartment in New York.

At the time of my computer crisis, I was still blogging regularly with The Lady-like Leopard. One afternoon, I went to a beauty event that absolutely loaded us up with goodies. It was heaven: eye serums, face masks, body scrubs… and a complete set of T3 curling irons.

I’m half Peruvian—my hair does not curl.

I love my naturally straight, sleek curtain of brunette locks, but it does not hold a curl at all. And if it does, on the rare occasion, it takes an extreme amount of effort and products galore, just to fall loose in mere hours. It’s not worth the hassle.

Don’t get me wrong—I adore T3 products. I have their blow dryer and straightener and they both work like magic on my mane. However, the curling irons just weren’t for me. So I decided to put them up online, in a group on Facebook. Turns out, I had my paws on quite the hot commodity. Dozens of people wanted them. However, one girl stood out from the crowd.

“I have an iMac computer I’m not using. Do you want it?” she offered.

She told me that her parents had bought it for her brand-new four years ago for university and she hadn’t used it since graduating. I didn’t think twice. Hell yes! We ended up meeting at her downtown condo and she handed over the computer (in its original packaging) plus $240 cash. I felt like I’d won the lottery! She was beyond ecstatic about the curlers, too.

I’m still using the iMac today. In fact, that’s what I’m typing on to write this post. It’s slowing down a bit, but I can hardly complain. It was the most fabulous trade I ever made.

—ᴍᴍᴍ