Why I Spent $750 On Shopping And I’m Not Upset
I’ve sort of hinted at going a little crazy on a shopping trip recently, but I’ve never given you guys the full details. Wouldn’t want to tarnish my good financial girl image and all that. But, I figured I’d go ahead and come clean with you guys, especially since I’m not really upset for having spent the money.
So here’s the deal. The trip had a specific purpose. I was looking for an outfit for a special occasion and took a good friend, albeit probably not the best friend for this excursion, with me. We had a few places we were going to stop and look and then we’d be done. Well, a few places turned into a lot of places, which is a big mistake when it comes to shopping.
As I’m walking through the mall, there’s several stores not on our list of places to stop, but ones I’d like to check out nonetheless, and so in we go. Problem is, I’m not very good at window shopping, I tend to buy things. And things I did buy. I’ll go ahead and admit that nothing I purchased on this trip was an absolute necessity. But I really, really wanted everything I bought!
Anyway, I pick up a little something from almost all of the stores we stopped at. By the time we actually get to the stores we had planned to go to, I’d racked up a good $100 worth of stuff. Yay for me! As I check the racks looking for that special outfit, I’m quickly deciding I won’t find it at that store; however, they did have some really cute shirts that I could wear to work. And since I’m here and I do need some new work shirts, I’ll go ahead and buy these. That was my thought process. So, I bought them at about $40 a piece.
Yes, I feel all you frugalites cringing at me right now…
On to the next store. Thus far, I’ve spent about $215. I hadn’t really thought about it too much, either. I was just going with the flow of the day. At the next store, though, my friend’s fashionista side kicks in and the next thing I know, I’m trying on armfuls of clothing. Naturally, I like just about everything she brought in there – she really does have an eye for the cute stuff – and I’m thinking to myself, I deserve some new clothes. I haven’t really bought any clothes for myself lately and my wardrobe could use a bit of spring cleaning. I’ve also been pretty good about the money I’ve spent lately, with the exception of the DVD player and I did go a little overboard on the DVDs this month, but I can always cut back a little next month. Yes, I think I’ll go ahead and get all of this stuff.
We get to the counter and you can just see the gleam in the sales clerk’s eyes. We ring it up and my good friend just happens to have a discount card to this place, so I got 20% off. After my 20% off, I spent $535…just on clothes. Now, I did get A LOT for my money. Practically a whole new wardrobe, but I fully acknowledge that I spent a lot. I also found an outfit for the special event, but I didn’t end up liking it, so I took it back. I got $65 back. So, technically speaking, I only spent $690. Even still, I spent enough that my credit card company called to make sure I still had my card in my possession and that I had made the purchases. They were a little surprised when I said I had. Hehehe.
Now, let’s look at the negatives of this trip.
# 1 – Impulse buying
I succumbed to impulse buying big time. We made a list of the stores we planned to visit ahead of time, which were only about four stores, but then we ignored the list and visited at least four or five other stores in addition to the ones we planned on visiting.
This is very dangerous when you’re trying to save money and pay down debt. When you make a list, stick to it!
# 2 – “I deserve it” talk
I included my thought process so you can see just how easily the self-entitlement talk kicks in. I didn’t try very hard to talk myself out of it, either. While it was true that I did need new clothes, it was not an immediate need. I allowed myself to make the purchases because I allowed the “I deserve it” talk.
There’s nothing wrong with this, per se. But, we have to be careful that we do not allow it to control our spending habits. I think we all can agree that we deserve a weekend getaway complete with spa services and luxurious rooms, but unless you’re AIG, we can’t really afford to do that when other responsibilities demand our money as well. Keep an ear out for the self-entitlement talk and you can definitely save yourself money.
# 3 – Letting friends control your spending habits
So, the reason I avoid going to places where I can spend money with this particular friend is because she spends money like it’s water. And I don’t know if you’ve experienced this or not, but it’s a bit infectious. That being said, I could have said no to a lot of what we did that day, but I didn’t. I allowed myself to be caught up in what she could do and I did it with her.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s all her fault because it’s not. But sometimes our friends do play a part in how we spend our money. Examine your spending habits and see if there is a pattern of excessive spending when you’re around certain friends as opposed to others. If someone influences your spending in a negative way, you may have to find a way to avoid going places where you will be tempted to spend money.
Now, let’s look at why I’m not at all upset I spent $750 on this trip.
# 1 – I had the money
My bills were paid for the month, I had money in my savings and my emergency fund, and the only debt I really have is my car and my student loans. Technically speaking, that money was 1 1/2 of a car payment and I could have applied it towards the loan instead of spending it; however, the car will be paid off in a few months so I’m not really that worried about it.
# 2 – I did need some new work clothes
I realize that my thought process was a bit self-serving, but in truth, I did need some new work clothes. I’ve been wearing the same thing over and over again, and while it would have sufficed for awhile longer, I didn’t really see a reason to delay it given that I had the money. Almost everything I bought could be doubled as a work outfit. There were maybe two shirts that were a bit too casual for work.
# 3 – I believe in balance
I’m one of those that will be frugal when it’s a necessity, but I refuse to hoard money for the purpose of hoarding it. I pay my bills, work towards my savings goals, and fund my retirement accounts. Anything left over is pretty much mine to spend and enjoy life with. In reality, that $750 would have gone to my travel fund, but I simply allocated it to a shopping trip instead.
The point of this article is to show that spending money, even in large amounts doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. Sometimes in personal finance we get into the habit of saying that spending is a bad thing, but it’s not always. In my case, despite the triggers that lead to spending the money, there was nothing wrong with spending it. I pointed out the negative aspects because they can be dangerous when you don’t have the money to spend, but overall, I wanted to show that once you’ve reached your debt repayment goals and you’re effectively working towards retirement, splurging on a shopping trip every once in awhile is ok.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Am I crazy for having spent that much money? Or do you think balance between life and finance is more important than saving each individual dollar?
Related posts:
- Dying to Shop? How to Spot an Addiction to Plastic
- Are Your Friends Putting You in Debt?
- Freezing Your Cards and Other Zany Ways to Stop Overspending
- 7 Zany Ways to Stop Overspending
- Shopping for a New Credit Card? Consider Credit Unions
Oh, I have been there! My mother, sister and I would occasionally hit the shops pretty hard. I haven’t done it in awhile, but I recognized single thing you said there in myself, not to mention that like you, I am not a window shopper either!
You had the money, you made the choice, and you returned the items you didn’t want – I don’t think you are crazy at all. It was more than I personally can imagine spending right now, but we are in very, very different places. I just wrote a check for $1500 to have a part of my house painted. As long as you are not feeling buyer’s remorse, I think you should just go out and love your new wardrobe!
Not crazy at all.
Actually, I did something similar when I was in Boston/Chicago.
And then on Etsy earlier this month (2 dresses, 1 necklace)
I’ve stopped at that point by putting that PPP ban on myself and that seems to have worked so far to stem the flow. Still that sounds like it was a lot of fun!
I am also kind of waiting until my sister shows up in May so we can go out for a whole day of something similar. I’m sure to spend at least $300 then.
The big thing you did wrong was to go public with it. Now all of your readers will think that impulse shopping for clothes (which is a huge problem for so many, particularly for people who are lonely/bored/depressed) is OK. They don’t need any encouragement.
For me, spending $750 on clothes wouldn’t be the balance you were talking about. I would have to make pretty big sacrifices to be able to do that. I don’t spend $750 a year on clothes. But it’s not for you. Everyone needs to make their own choices.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with going public with it. I think it’s also important to show the real life side of being “good with money”. Some people who have trouble sticking to a budget because they think it means they can’t have what they want.
I think balance is good. And your trip was fine because you had the money. Perhaps it is where your priorities lie with you money situation. Myself, I want to pay down, down, down! lol.
And if you needed the clothes. Then all all the better.
The problem lies with a person when they don’t have the money to spend on shopping and rings it up on the credit card. That would then be a ‘no no’ thing to do! :)
@ Dawn – You make a great point about being in different places. I know the challenges you face every month and your mortgage, so I don’t expect that we’ll be seeing a post from you like this one in the next month or two. But, I have faith that you’ll get there soon! Hopefully this economy turns around and things get better for everyone.
@ FB – Traveling is another money drain for me. I’m going to L.A. in October (with the same friend from above) and I know we’ll spend money there! Probably not as much on shopping as on sightseeing, but still. It can be expensive to travel! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you only spend $300 when your sister comes, but I look forward to reading about her visit! ;)
@ Mr. ToughMoneyLove – While I appreciate your point of view, I actually have to disagree. This post was written with the intent of showing that once you’ve achieved your debt goals, it is ok to spend money every once in awhile. I don’t believe my post will further encourage those in debt to spend more – and if it does, then there’s a deeper problem that goes beyond my persuasive writing techniques. It is their problem that they choose to spend the money when they shouldn’t, not mine. Personal responsibility is a must. However, I hope that my post does inspire those in debt to want to reach a point where they can have a day of shopping without feeling incredibly guilty for it…after their debt is paid, that is.
@ Ashley – We all have our own levels of balance that we’re comfortable with. Two years ago I might have felt that $750 was an outrageous amount of money to spend on clothes, but then, I had just finished paying down my debt and was working on building my emergency fund. My priorities were different then, but I’ve reached that point now where it’s like, “now what?” I could continue to sock away money, but for what? I’ve already contributed to everything, so to me, the logical step would be to enjoy life a little and shopping is really a lot of fun with the right people.
@ Money Funk – I’ve already done the pay down, down, down thing. I could have paid more on my student loans, but the money wasn’t going there originally anyway. I diverted it from my travel fund. But, I totally agree with you on the credit card thing. I did use my credit card for the points, but then a few days later when it posted, I scheduled an online payment to pay it off. We’re all good there! :)
Thanks for the comments, guys! Keep ‘em coming!
You deserve some clothes!
I’m glad you got out and treated yourself. It’s spring! Time to update your wardrobe, if there ever is a time.
You work hard and it would be a travesty if you didn’t spend something on yourself now and then. I treated myself to two shirts even though I can’t really afford them. Life is to be lived. Did you see them? The latest one is still on the way.
While I couldn’t see myself spending that kind of money on clothes (pretty much ever!), I think that you obviously made the right decision for you (except for maybe taking that friend along). The most important thing is that you had the money, and as you said, it would have gone into the travel fund anyway.
“I succumbed to impulse buying big time.”
Your words not mine. Impulse buying is not a good practice for anyone, debt or no debt. That means that your behavior is being manipulated by advertising and “me see-me want” behavior, not by conscious decision making. It also means that you didn’t “allocate” this money for shopping as your post suggests. Instead, you went way beyond the purpose of your trip, made impulsive on the fly spending decisions, then said “there goes my travel fund” after the fact. That is the among the worst kind of spending behavior that anyone – rich or broke – can engage in and it has driven lots of folks who were not in debt right into credit card and mortgage hell.
So I think the title of your post should have been “Don’t Do What I Just Did.”
By the way, I’ve done it too. But I’m older and think I have learned my lesson.
“Impulse buying is not a good practice for anyone, debt or no debt. That means that your behavior is being manipulated by advertising and “me see-me want” behavior, not by conscious decision making. It also means that you didn’t “allocate” this money for shopping as your post suggests.”
Mr. Tough Money Love, you are being a real stickler, aren’t you? People are human. Guiding principles should not dictate your every move at every moment, or life would be dull indeed. And I don’t think you should pin Kristy down to your interpretation of what she meant by “impulse.” It sounds to me like she bought what she wanted – it’s kind of insulting to imply that she brainlessly bought what she saw on an advertisement (”me see – me want.”)
Kristy had the money. She works hard; she is compensated pretty well, I am guessing. She has no children. She has no debt.
You don’t think she can spend some money on clothes now and then? I bet she has not spent much on clothes for a long time, thus the big expenditure at once. In fact, I think she said as much.
I don’t know about you or Kristy, but I don’t feel that everything I do (or tell about) should be a model for others to follow at all times. I trust people to think for themselves. She went out of her way, in fact, to highlight ways that others could examine their reasons before they do the same thing she did, since she knew and admitted that she wasn’t being a financial perfectionist at the time and others might want to lean more toward stickler-principles if they really can’t afford to go out and spend.
Kristy might not want to make some of the stock purchases I have, and I would not want to spend that much money on clothes all in one trip, right now. Were my finances different right now, I would, though. There are plenty of reasons for dropping a lot at the clothing store: travel, a new job, interviews, or just a dwindling wardrobe badly in need of replenishment. Or… simply having the money and finding enjoyment in a moderate (not off-the-charts – no one is advocating that although to each his/her own) outlay on clothing.
I don’t think Kristy said or implied that she has a problem with spending money in this manner on an ongoing basis, driving herself into debt. Readers should be (or at least I will not be responsible if they are not) intelligent enough to sort out what they can do or want to do given their resources vs. what someone else might do with a totally different financial scenario.
Maybe part of your inability to understand women and clothes shopping is that… you are a man…?? Just kidding, only partly, though. :oD
444 – Your points are valid but off the mark. I am not addressing the spending, or even the spending on clothes, only the manner in which the spending was carried out. She went to the store to buy “an outfit for a special occasion.” That was her plan. She ended up buying way more than “an outfit”, on impulse. Severe mission creep. In fact, the one thing she planned on buying, she returned.
If she had left home with a plan to spend $750 on clothes because that’s what she had budgeted for, that would be OK too. But that’s what not she did. She got to the mall and immediately went into impulse shopping mode, influenced by what she saw and no doubt by what her friend was doing. She did what I used to do when I walked through Home Depot. She did what all the marketers and advertisers wanted her to do.
I understand that many women love to impulse shop for clothes and many disproportionately spend on their wardrobe, jewelry, and other image stuff. Some even ratchet it up to cosmetic surgery. That’s an unfortunate cultural influence that many women find difficult to break free from. That’s also how QVC and HSN make their money. It’s tough when your Momma did it and all your friends do it. I was fortunate in that respect that I have three sons. We had to force new clothes on them, just to make them look decent.
Finally, I think I picked up from the post that Kristy has student loan debt and a car loan yet she acted like that doesn’t count as “being in debt.” That is another attitude that is being pushed out to the younger generations by greedy colleges, car companies, lenders and now the government. It most certainly is debt and spending decisions must take that into account. As far as I am concerned, dropping $690 on clothes you don’t need while still having car and student loan payments is irresponsible financial behavior.
Thanks.
I agree that balance is everything. As strange as it sounds, part of earning more is being able to keep up with a professional work image.
I completely agree and do the same thing! Well, I spend ours on travel mostly. I am a SAHM but save our family alot of money using coupons, finding deals and most importantly, planning…
We have no debt, except the house and it will be paid off in 7 years. We contribute 15% toward retirement….pay bills….and I save for big purchases or I spend the rest on things we really enjoy.
I used to hoard money but guess what?? I lost most of it when the stock market crashed (had it in a mutual fund)
…oh well, money comes and goes …but I plan to enjoy it and my family to the fullest. From now on we spend what we have leftover and enjoy life and all our hard work!
I don’t think it’s wrong to spend $750 on clothes, nor do I think it is wrong to update your wardrobe. I do think it is wrong to make unplanned impulse purchases, especially large ones. That is a pattern of behavior which leads to trouble. I agree with Mr. ToughMoneyLove on this one.
“I succumbed to impulse buying big time”. Nuf said! Seems like a financial reality check is sorely needed here…how can you justify spending hundreds of dollars on clothing when you’ve got student and car loans? I agree with K-Money and Mr TML, this is the type of behavior that can land you in deep trouble, maybe not now, but in the future if it becomes a habit (which is a very easy trap to fall into). I’m a woman and I love clothes shopping too (and I’ve made plenty of impulse purchases in my time!), but take it from someone who is older and wiser: it’s much better to practice good money habits and allow them to take hold when you’re younger than to deal with the consequences of impulse buying overload when you’re older and have more financial responsibilities and less time to recover from mistakes. It’s true that you can go overboard on frugality but saving money for its own sake IS a worthy goal regardless of your present situation–you never know what’s going to happen in the future! What if you lost your job tomorrow? I wonder if you’d still feel fine about having blown $750 in a 1-day shopping spree.
Wow, one little post stirs up a lot of controversy. Sheesh.
Ok, for those of you who are against my little trip, I understand where you’re coming from. The triggers that came into play were a problem, I freely admitted that in the post. It’s also why I put them in the post and pointed out that they cause problems if they become habit.
In reference to the car and student loan debt, which some of you seem to think is a huge problem, the car was paid off two days ago. As I mentioned in the article, I was just a couple of payments away from having that paid off. It is now done. As for the student loans, I allocate a large portion of my check each month to pay student loans and I had already paid my payment for the month at the time of this trip. I could have put the $750 towards the student loans, but it wasn’t going there in the first place. It was going to a fun account, I merely transferred the purpose from one fun activity to another. As for how I’d feel about it if I lost my job tomorrow, I’d feel fine. If you want to get into the nitty gritty of my finances, I have approximately 9 months of expenses in my emergency fund, which I could stretch out even further between unemployment and cutting expenses, I have another 10 months worth of expenses in a regular high yield savings account, I have two CDs that are lattered and total about 6 months worth of expenses, and I have sizable investment accounts. Not counting my investments, I could live quite comfortably without a job for at least two years. I will likely pay off the student loans within the next 6 months or so, just waiting until I can consolidate them into one lower lower interest rate as I currently have four different “lenders.” I’ve saved enough within a school account that I can finish paying for my degree out of pocket.
I appreciate everyone’s input and you have made some valid points, but consider the fact that you don’t know me or my personal finance situation. It may be prudent to withhold judgmental comments until you do.
Kristy, don’t take it personally. You asked for people’s opinions, (e.g. “am I crazy for spending this much money?”) If you’re looking for perfect strangers to validate your spending spree, then that should be an answer in itself.
However, if you’re looking to talk about an issue like this, then negative comments are a good thing! (Debates aren’t one-sided, after all). If you use yourself as an example then your actions are going to be what gets discussed. I’m sorry, but to say “you don’t know me” after you’ve already asked for an opinion (knowing full well that you’re asking strangers who don’t know you at all) just sounds like you’re dismissing views that don’t agree with yours.
I’m sorry the other comments put you on the defensive, but isn’t that a good thing?
Wow to the above.
Multiple, “I’m sorry”s, especially of the “I’m sorry, but” variety is just classic.
@ 444: Figure of speech. I wasn’t one of the people making the judgmental comments, so I wasn’t actually apologizing for anything :)
It just amazes me that bloggers use themselves as an example of something, ask people’s opinions on what they did and then get upset because people judge them. If you’re asking someone to comment on something you did, how is it not going to get personal?
I enjoy reading this blog, and I enjoyed this post and seeing the alternative points of view it generated. I just hate to see Kristy focusing on the negative comments when I think she’s done a good job of getting people to discuss the issue.
@ Beth – I’m not trying to be defensive at all…I welcomed the comments. I was just offering up more information for the discussion. People will think what they want to think of me and my choices regardless of what I say or do, I’m not here to change that perception. I just happen to think it’s sad that some people are quite judgmental of others when they don’t know the whole story, that was the point I was making. My apologies if you felt I was attacking beliefs different then my own because that certainly wasn’t the case.
lol. Don’t apologize — 444 will poke fun at you too ;)
In response to your original question, I think you’re right about needing some balance. I tend to think a little too hard about what I buy. Life’s too short!
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