Day 49: Challenged
Ok so I am officially shamed about buying the Little Boots album. My very lovely friend Lorna had ordered it for me as a surprise and it should arrive tomorrow - my total lack of discipline to ignore the CD aisle in Sainsburys means I now have 2 - Lorna works for Sainsburys in her student holidays so I will have to suss her out on the ethics of taking a CD back. Note to self - no more non food aisles at the supermarket. And thank you Lorna for being so lovely and sorry you are friends with an idiot :(So, commenting on my last post, Charlie has challenged me to give up buying clothes for 6 months... and here's where I attempt to wriggle out of that!
1. I like clothes... and the only reason I would really want to be rich would be so I could buy clothes... (and do useful important things with it too... but I'd shop rather than buy a yacht or a fancy holiday)
2. I don't actually buy that many... not as much as I used to for certain and there is quite a strategy to my clothes shopping... I'm not sure my strategy can afford to take 6 months off (Joel said I was clever yesterday for applying the word strategy to my shopping activity so I'm milking it now)
3. If I worked in a normal clothes sort of a job I might think I could do it but the fact is my clothes are important in my job. I have to have performance clothes... for lots of different types of performance/ schools work clothes/ girls course clothes... all are very important as having nice things is really quite helpful in winning over groups of teenage girls you've not met before. Plus when you accidentally agree to do things like lead a session with 40 girls and women on style and 'what not to wear you' just have to be able to blag it that you know what you're talking about.
4. I'm not wasteful. I do have a lot of clothes but I have stuff that's 10+ years old and I am creative in what I use and wear and customise already- and I only replace things now when they're wrecked and worn out and I keep practically everything so trust myself not to buy things I wont wear.
5. Apart from that this sounds as though it contradicts what I just said about strategy...I just like being able to buy something I really like - rather than saving up for shopping trips and feeling you've got to settle on something cos you need to get one. I prefer to choose something just because I totally love it. If I didn't shop for 6 months I would think about all those things I missed out on for the rest of my life. I really would.
6. I have already decided I can sacrifice my red coat -so I'm not that addicted.
But I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't take drugs. I don't buy olives or any fancy food apart from Christmas time, I always take a pack lunch to work, I fill up old water bottles instead of buying new ones, I eat VALUE everything, I try to eat my 5 a day and I never put salt in my cooking, I use bouillon instead of oxo, don't have sky tv, and I google all my recipes instead of buying cook books, I buy really big bottles of shampoo to save money and I check the compare price labels on everything. I don't lie, I stick to the speed limit, I did kick a hole in the kitchen cupboard but other than that I'm not violent and I try to instill good values into my children and I don't watch Big Brother ever. I'm not hurting anyone... I just really like pretty material... I'm not a bad person.
1. I like clothes... and the only reason I would really want to be rich would be so I could buy clothes... (and do useful important things with it too... but I'd shop rather than buy a yacht or a fancy holiday)
2. I don't actually buy that many... not as much as I used to for certain and there is quite a strategy to my clothes shopping... I'm not sure my strategy can afford to take 6 months off (Joel said I was clever yesterday for applying the word strategy to my shopping activity so I'm milking it now)
3. If I worked in a normal clothes sort of a job I might think I could do it but the fact is my clothes are important in my job. I have to have performance clothes... for lots of different types of performance/ schools work clothes/ girls course clothes... all are very important as having nice things is really quite helpful in winning over groups of teenage girls you've not met before. Plus when you accidentally agree to do things like lead a session with 40 girls and women on style and 'what not to wear you' just have to be able to blag it that you know what you're talking about.
4. I'm not wasteful. I do have a lot of clothes but I have stuff that's 10+ years old and I am creative in what I use and wear and customise already- and I only replace things now when they're wrecked and worn out and I keep practically everything so trust myself not to buy things I wont wear.
5. Apart from that this sounds as though it contradicts what I just said about strategy...I just like being able to buy something I really like - rather than saving up for shopping trips and feeling you've got to settle on something cos you need to get one. I prefer to choose something just because I totally love it. If I didn't shop for 6 months I would think about all those things I missed out on for the rest of my life. I really would.
6. I have already decided I can sacrifice my red coat -so I'm not that addicted.
But I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't take drugs. I don't buy olives or any fancy food apart from Christmas time, I always take a pack lunch to work, I fill up old water bottles instead of buying new ones, I eat VALUE everything, I try to eat my 5 a day and I never put salt in my cooking, I use bouillon instead of oxo, don't have sky tv, and I google all my recipes instead of buying cook books, I buy really big bottles of shampoo to save money and I check the compare price labels on everything. I don't lie, I stick to the speed limit, I did kick a hole in the kitchen cupboard but other than that I'm not violent and I try to instill good values into my children and I don't watch Big Brother ever. I'm not hurting anyone... I just really like pretty material... I'm not a bad person.
I am not for a second saying you are a bad person, or that buying clothes and enjoying clothes and fashion is anything bad at all, or that you are wasteful with what you buy and don't wear it. I think everyone has their things that they enjoy and as you say for you clothes is yours over posh food and nice holidays etc and i don't think there is anything wrong with that at all. Everyone has the right to choose what they want to spend THEIR money on and how they want to treat themselves. I guess my challenge is that the money you are spending on treating yourselves to clothes/cds or whatever is not your money, it belongs to a bank and the point of your blog is that you want to get out of debt and start to buy things with money that is yours not someone else's money that you have to pay charges every month for using. You said you had got in to the mindset of not saving for anything and just buying what you want and you wanted to start saving and having a wish list for things that you would buy when you had saved up for them. so i am only trying to challenge you in line with what you have said you want to do and in line with the fact that you said you wanted to be challenged on your spending.
ReplyDeleteI am sure for you not buying clothes for 6 months would be the scariest prospect and one of the hardest things you would ever have to be challenged to do, so i understand your reaction to it and it was what i expected, but i honestly do 100 % believe you could do it, it would do you a lot of good and it would save you money.
I fully accept that you need to buy some clothes for stage performance etc and that looking good and trendy or whatever does affect how young people relate to you and view you, but on the other hand i also know that you do have quite a lot of clothes and i am sure that you have plenty of clothes that could last you for 6 months without having any detrimental effect on your schools/stage work. Do you really honestly believe that 6 months of not buying clothes and you would not be able to look lovely and fashionable and have style still with what you have, even if there may be some current fashions that you might not be able to wear. Maybe it would even be something powerful to be able to talk about in some of your schools work/girls courses and support some of the things you are teaching about self esteem and it not being about what we wear but who we are etc.
So yes not shopping for 6 months may mean you miss out on a item or 2 that you love and may never be able to get again, but i guess that is the sacrifice and challenge i am making to you.
So i guess whilst each of your 6 points may have some validity, my ultimate answer is that any of those points are only really valid if you are spending money that is yours rather than someone elses.
I hope i am not overstepping my place by saying all this and haven't offended you, but you did say you wish people challenged people more...so as i started i thought i should finish