Egads! I read #1 and found myself agreeing that yes, I think good bras are something that's worth spending gobs of money on. On any given day my bra probably cost as much or more than everything else I'm wearing combined. I started wondering how bad this could be -- didn't have to wonder long!
I have to side with her on this item. If you're an average size, perhaps this doesn't apply to you, but if you're "busty", yeah, you need a bit more ... however, that doesn't mean you have to spend $100+ on a bra. Same thing's true for bathing suits. It's mean and catty to point it out, but ... she's stretching the truth when she says she's "busty" -- her picture makes her look like she's just heavy all over; if she were to "invest" in a gym membership, she might not need the support she needs now.
Regardless, I'd temper this "investment" by saying 1) always buy on sale; 2) take care of these expensive items by hand washing them; 3) keep in mind that if you splurge this way, that money has to come off other parts of your budget.
This is very interesting to me. As someone in the urban homesteading community, we tend to take the opposite view: when you outsource the irritating domestic stuff in your life, you are typically supporting industries where other workers are taken advantage of. I mean, at the end of the day, SOMEONE has to do the house cleaning and the shopping and the baby-watching and the food growing. The commenter's view that she can outsource "being a mule" to some other person (99% likelihood this person is a woman lower on the socio-economic ladder than herself) and that this is "giving other women permission to be queens" seems to lack self awareness.
Exactly! Money aside, it's hard to buy into the idea that you're an enlightened person because you spend, spend, spend ... and never give a thought to "the little people" whom you hire to do all the dirty jobs in your life. I guess we can't all be "queens".
Clothing is only an investment if it makes you money. If she's "investing" in her appearance, it means...
Well, clothing is a necessity, and it's easy to let the word "investment" slide into everyday shopping -- when you're talking about something like a good wool coat that might last you more than a decade. Or when you're talking about buying the better-quality suit. And if you're expected to dress professionally for your job, clothing can be an "investment" in that you can expect to use these things to convey the necessary image at your job. Ultimately, it makes more sense to say that item of clothing was a "good spend".
I disagree. If I were to speculate, I would bet that the blogger and most of her followers are first generation college graduates, whose parents worked low-skilled jobs and possibly barely eeked their way into the middle class. Other than getting into college and getting a "good" job, there was probably very little financial knowledge or guidance passed on.
They live in fear of working like dogs, like their mothers, and their only real idea of what "success" looks like is from TV - Sex and the City, celebrities, etc. No one ever told them that success meant having savings or what it meant to invest. Every message they've ever heard is that successful people get to look and act rich.
Coveting designer handbags is a sign of new money (girls with family money who get MRS degrees have had designer bags since they were 13, and have no need to convince themselves that they deserve it - daddy did that long ago). And note that the author believes that flying First Class will expose her to people who are doing BIG THINGS - instead of the reality - that they are just normal people with first class tickets. People with family money don't have the mistaken impression that something particularly special is happening between passengers in First Class. Girls with family money who got into the best colleges for MRS degrees don't need money coaches, or business coaches, or health coaches, or life coaches - those lessons were part of their formal and informal education.
People whose parents were rich don't need to take classes about lifestyle. Classes about lifestyle are for people who are battling insecurity that they don't quite fit in to their current socio-economic class. It's almost as if the blogger is afraid that she's going to be kicked out of the "rich kids club" if they find out what she really is.
I mean... if I were going to psycho-analyze this. ;)
At a glance, I bet you're right about who'd want her "services". She's giving the newly-rich "permission" to spend on themselves, and I know people to whom that would appeal.
As for flying first class, I've done it plenty of times ... when my parents worked for the airlines and it was free. On my own dollar, no thanks. I've literally NEVER made any connections with my fellow travelers, and at the end of the flight that "investment" is gone.
As a man I don't understand the value of purses. For a $3000 purse, are they that differently designed? Is it just the brand name? Are purses something that other women would recognize and appreciate seeing someone else carrying a Gucci purse?
I'm guessing that perhaps 20-25% of women are into expensive purses. Some of my teenaged students are big-time into expensive purses and talk about whose purse is a fake and whose is real. I personally can't recognize name brands and don't care a hoot (so attempting to fool me with a fake is really, really useless), and I think most of my peers feel the same way.
I no longer buy $10-20 handbags because they fall apart so quickly. Instead, I wait for the $100 bags to go on sale for $50 (happens all the time). At that price point, you can get a quality bag that will last for years -- and beyond that price, I don't think there's any quality difference ... it's all just ego and name brand.
