Comments on: Are You Spending To Impress Other People?

By: GC

GC — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:42:05 +0000

I think my family is pretty good on resisting spending money on things that impress others. But I think we could be happier and spend even less if we could be brutally honest with ourselves and brave enough to give up some of the things we feel we MUST have. I’ve been wanting to sell my car for a few years now. But somehow allowed others to discourage me (guess I didn’t want it badly enough). I’m dying to move away from the city and enjoy better mental health.
I HATE snow and would love to have one wardrobe for all year round. Then we wouldn’t have to spend money on a vacation to get me out of here before I completely lose it.
I HATE my job but and doesn’t even pay that much. If they were throwing money at me maybe I could stand it a little better.
Very nice post. You got me thinking.

By: Zella

Zella — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:45:51 +0000

I don’t know that it’s spending to impress people necessarily. For some people, looking like everyone else is a priority, and that’s how they choose to live, but they’re not buying stuff just to impress someone– they’re not even one-upping the Joneses– being a Jones is just their normal.

By: Alissa

Alissa — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:04:10 +0000

So true! When my husband and I were first starting out, we definitely fell into this category. (What?? Buy a new house without also buying all new furniture? Nonsense… (and of course we bought it all on credit and took years paying it off)). As a stay at home mom, I now truly could care less about impressing other people. It’s just not on my radar screen. I think it’s a little harder for those out working every day because they may be measuring themselves against their co-workers who fall into a similar income bracket, social status, etc. My husband has a professional designation and I think it’s a little harder for him, since he sees what all of his (dual-income) co-workers are spending money on, and it’s hard not to make social comparisons. None of his co-workers buy second-hand vehicles or shop at thrift stores! And they all have yearly ski passes, golf club memberships, impressive homes, etc. I can see how easy it would be to get pulled into that.

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:23:41 +0000

Thanks Sherry
Marie, your comment did get me thinking a bit about this subject. Should bloggers who write about frugality focus all of our posts on highlighting only good things – the awesome things we find at thrift stores, the ways we figure out to stretch our dollars… or should we sometimes take a more critical view, and point out unproductive things, as we see them? Since there are as many different blogs out there as there are bloggers, I’d say each person has a little different take on that question. For myself, most of my posts do tend to be on the positive side, about things I’ve made, found for free or in a thrift store, or ways we’ve saved money. But I know that when I read other bloggers’ articles, I like to see some kick-in-the-pants articles about how the things that people complain about are often things that they could do something about. So every once in a while I write those sort of posts too. But honestly, I didn’t (and still don’t) see this article as one of those. I saw it more as an uplifting post, a reminder that the people who love us will love us no matter what we own, and that relationships are far more important than stuff.

By: Sherry

Sherry — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:06:27 +0000

Great blog, Babe! (Marie, dear, go back and read the blog again, and then apologize to FB. ‘Nuf said!)

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:01:02 +0000

Marie,
I doubt any of my friends read this blog, simply because I’ve never told any of them about it, and the chances of them finding it among the millions of blogs out there is slim.
That said, I don’t think you actually read the post. I wasn’t talking about my friends, and I specifically mentioned that my relationships with my friends has nothing to do with the stuff we own, and our friendships are strong.
I was talking about people – not my friends – who claim to hate their jobs and feel stressed about their lives, but choose to spend all of their income each month, even when that income might be quite high. People in that situation are easy to find… they are all over the internet and books telling their stories.

By: Marie

Marie — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:32:37 +0000

This is simply the most recent post in which you criticize your friends for what they believe in. What a terrible friend you seem to be. I suspect none of them read this blog.