Maybe it's due to my obsession with Gossip Girl and Sex and the City type boxsets, where you can never be too rich or have too many shoes. I'm the modern day girl finding that balance between paying rent each month, and investing in another classic luxury item. I'd rather surround myself in spreadsheets, lists of pros and cons, and progress 'thermometers' (made up of segments you shade in to mark your progress) with a clear plan of making that money back, than to just sit and dream.
I'm not much of a drinker or party animal, I walk to work, and I'm lucky to have bills included with my rent. As I reasoned with my first pair of Louboutins on my 18th birthday (another present to myself), 'now's a better time than any to spend money on something big - no bills, no kids, no debt'. I will hasten to add that debt can come from too much shoe-buying, but I think I've proven that I take cautious steps to scrimp in other areas of my life (the peas and gravy weren't bad at all, although the boyfriend objected to it and ended up buying me a Sainsbury's gift card!).
It's not bad spending a lump of money on something that is a) high quality b) going to last, and c) not going to go out of fashion. I came up with many 'pros' for my most recent purchase (7, incidentally), as opposed to 'cons', and also compared it to a list of pros and cons for an iPad. (The shoes won by 2 points. Although I will admit that one of the pros for shoes was to one day have a floor-to-ceiling built-in shoe rack to display my thousands of pairs of shoes... You know, Carrie Bradshaw-style.) I'm not saying spend money on whatever, whenever. If it's something you've wanted for ages and you know will stand the test of time (that's why iPad's are 'out' unless you really do have money to squander), then have a look at your financial priorities and see where you can save to enable you to 'splurge' elsewhere.
My top tip for today, however, is one word: eBay. Ebay the shit out of your junk. I'm so ruthless, I can't even be bothered to have the stuff hanging around in my room for a week whilst people bid up to a measly £3 for an ancient jumper or out-of-fashion handbag. I attempted it again yesterday after many years of throwing an obscene amount of stuff into charity shops, and you can imagine my surprise when someone bought my old Paul's Boutique bag outright for £20. Didn't even bother with bidding! So my progress 'thermometer' is has started with a good surge, to my delight.
Stop spending your money on silly little things; items of cheap clothing here and there, meals out and impulse buys online (post and packaging charges are ROBBERY), and you'll have the money to spend on something really amazing.
Ask yourself: "Impulse, or investment?" By which I am classing designer shoes and bags as an investment as they will stand the test of time, both in wear and in fashion terms (so long as they're not the spotty green or patchwork Manolo Blahniks - shocking!), and quality is better than quantity. I'll also tell you that my shoe obsession has stopped me from ever looking at a pair of New Look shoes again!
Save well, spend wisely.
No comments:
Post a Comment