Everyone is always talking about how people who like to spend money on looking nice, are high maintenance.
I beg to differ.
Someone who is high maintenance to me, is someone who:
- Always has to have everything.. NOW.
- Is not financially independent to be able to fund all that they want
- Is not thinking of the future or the big picture
- Doesn’t care about what it costs
You will notice that I didn’t write in there: “Wears nice clothing and accessories, and likes to look stylish and shop.”
Because if that’s the case, then I’m super high maintenance!
I don’t necessarily buy or wear only designer items to look stylish, either.
Something like a $35 dress styled correctly, can look like it cost a whole lot more.
I have a few high-end pieces, but they are few and far between, and I try to only shop secondhand for them, because the original retail prices are just too rich for my blood. I’d rather try and be stylish but without breaking the bank.
It’s too easy to spend $1000 on an outfit each time to look fabulous — it’s much harder to find things on a budget where it costs $100 in total.
For instance, this dress from my mom’s wardrobe she had made about 30 years ago (she is a clotheshorse too). It doesn’t fit her any longer, so she gifted it to me, and I decided to make it fresh by wearing a contrasting $5 belt rather than the matching one that came with it:
Note: I wrote this post a while ago, the principles still stand but I no longer have belts from places like H&M, Zara, Mango and F21 because they were mostly made in China.
I do this a lot with what I own, and I try to find new ways to shop my own closet instead.
So really, women who like to shop and look stylish, are not necessarily all shopaholics who don’t save.
They may be exactly like me, someone who:
- has maxed out her retirement funds
- invests significant amounts of money outside of her retirement
- makes a good income and works hard
- saves 50% – 75% of her net income
- ….just happens to like clothes over other things like having a car, eating out, or her nails done weekly
It’s all about priorities.
So are you high maintenance?
