So I've been reading You're So Money by Farnoosh Tarobi. It's all about personal financing for young adults who want to live a fabulous life while making un-fabulous paychecks. I'm quite proud of myself for already following most of her advice. I would, however, like to add a few guidelines myself. Now, these are my rules for myself. These rules work for me but definitely will not work for everyone. I still think it's worth sharing. I also have a money-saving scale: cheap, cheaper, and free or pretty darn close.
Clothes shopping:
Probably my biggest expense except for basic survival expenses. Like any girl, I've pretty much obsessed with clothes. If I had the money, I would shop at French Connection, Marc Jacob, Anthropologies, and have a nice Burberry trench (I would look good in that). I'm obviously not there yet, so I have to shop smart. My philosophy on clothes is to buy classic items that will never go out of style. When I buy classic items, I don't cheap out. I rather buy a designer suit blazer cut well than some cheap one at Forever 21 that just doesn't fit quite right. I also don't buy cheap "cute" shoes anymore. It's just not worth it. My feet have suffered enough.Oh, and I don't like synthetic fabrics and rubber soles.
My favorites include Lucky for jeans, Tory Burch for flats, Gap for everyday wear, J. Crew and Banana Republic for everything businessy/ "nice". I really cannot afford to shop at these stores (probably with the exception of Gap), but for my happiness sake, I have to make sacrifices to fit these into my budget.
So one strategy I use to prevent myself from buying clothes online is that I browse through designers that I absolutely cannot afford like Jimmy Choo and Hermes. I do this because if I browse through designers that are slightly above my price range, then I am very tempted to buy and will probably do so. Then, I'll have to starve for a couple of weeks to make up for my irresponsible decisions.
I read in You're So Money that using cash is one way to deter from spending too much, but I don't like this advice. I feel like a living, breathing target when I carry more than $50 in cash. Instead, I only use one credit card, so I can track my spending. If I'm near my credit limit, then no more spending for moi.
Entertainment:
Movies- it's fun to go to the movies with friends, but have you noticed how pricey movie tickets have become lately? and 90% of movies made today are just pure crap. Buying DVDs really isn't worth it unless you will watch the movie more than once.
Cheap- Rent a movie from Blockbuster and watch at home. You have a much bigger selection, and it's just $3 even for new releases. Plus, you will save on snacks, and you can have a mango Smirnoff (they don't let you do that in the theater!)
Cheaper- Rent a Redbox. My problem with Redbox is that the movie I want to see is never available.
Free or pretty darn close- So this technically is illegal... but if you don't mind living adventurously, download your movie of choice from the internet. Sure the quality isn't Hi Def and sometimes a warning will display on the screen (it will usually go away after a few seconds, but you're viewing pleasure is hardly disturbed. Oh, one downside is that you have to burn the movie onto a DVD if you want to watch on TV. I just watch on my computer, and my bf and I just squeeze on a Papasan chair to see the screen. It's cozy.
Okay. That's all for today, but I will cover more entertainment, room and boarding, dining, and whatever else I can think of another time.
1 comment:
I think I should read that book.
However, I feel like most money-saving advice being dished out in books or websites should pretty much be common sense at this point. Obviously, we all just need to live within our means. Either said than done, right?
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