ast year I treated myself to a second-hand Herman Miller desk chair. It cost me $400. I instagrammed a picture of it and some guy had a go at me and said he’d never spend $400 on a chair and that I was an idiot. It must have been a slow day at the office because for some reason, I scrolled through this person’s Twitter feed and saw an update of how proud he was that he didn’t go over his $200 drinks budget at the pub on Saturday night. My chair, that I sit in every single day was worth just two of his Saturday night drinks budgets and yet I’m the idiot that was wasting my money.
This got me thinking about how people categorise their money and prioritise it. As someone who publishes tidbits about my life on the internet every day, I get lots of comments about the things I spend my money on. I’m going to explain my purchasing choices because I think a lot of my Smaggle readers will benefit from the way I engineer a buying a decision. For example…
* I will always spend $250 on one pair of shoes instead of $60 on four pairs of shoes because my comfort is worth it. I don’t save any money by buying cheap shoes. I simply have to replace them more often.
* I have a cleaner that I pay $50 per fortnight to clean my house for an hour and a half. It takes me about 3 hours to clean my house and if I was going to pay myself my freelance hourly rate to do that, it would cost a lot more than $50. This is a simple maths equation and having a cleaner actually saves me money, not to mention my sanity.
* I buy beautiful, quality clothing less often rather than regularly buying cheap stuff. These items last longer, they don’t lose their shape and they’re classic designs that I can wear for years. I won’t buy a $60 dress only to have it look terrible after one wash. What a waste.
* If I buy something online in my own city and they offer me a $20 delivery fee or I can pick it up myself, I will always pay the $20 delivery fee. $20 is a bargain if it’s going to save me two hours stuck in traffic.
When making big purchasing decisions, I always try to think about the outcomes if I chose NOT to spend that money. For instance I recently had to travel to Canberra for an important family event but flights were about $400. It was much cheaper to fly to Sydney for $200 and then hitch a ride with family the remaining distance. This added about 10 hours to my travel time, I was exhausted the entire following week and I spent about $100 on travel snacks, drinks and meals because I was in transit for almost 2 full days. That wasn’t a great life choice. Yes $400 is a lot of money but 10 hours is a lot of time and sometimes you have to weigh up which is worth more to you. If I had a do-over of that weekend, I’d fork out the $400 for flights because I simply wouldn’t work ten hours on a weekend for a day rate of $100 (the amount of money I saved by travelling on the cheap). It would have been a different story if I didn’t have the extra $100 but truthfully, I did have the money and I was just being a tight ass. I won’t be doing that again.
The same rule applied when my partner and I bought our treadmill. We thought very carefully about it, researched it properly and paid $1500 for it. For some people, that is an amount of money they would never even consider spending like that, but many people pay around $30 per week for gym memberships. In one year an average gym membership costs $1560 which is the same as the treadmill. We’ve now had our treadmill for 2 years and it gets used almost every day by both of us. It’s not only saved us money but it’s made daily fitness a certainty. It doesn’t matter if it’s hot or cold or raining – we can always fit a run in. I’ve had people scoff at me that they could never afford a treadmill and these are people that I know for a fact are paying $30 per week on a gym membership they never use. It’s bizarre.
Everyone has different budgets and the way other people manage their finances isn’t my business but sometimes I observe the weird ways in which people spend money and it fascinates me. I just find it perplexing that these are usually the people that think it’s extravagant to spend $200 on lovely bedsheets that I’ll spend 8 hours every day using, yet they don’t think twice about dropping that amount on over priced cocktails every Saturday night.
[divider type=”standard” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”]
What’s your money mentality? Do you count your time as a factor when forking out your dosh?
[divider type=”standard” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”]
P.S If you’re a blogger and you can get to Melbourne on the 21st March you should come to the Little Blog Big Workshop I’m running with Hair Romance and Sesame Ellis. Get in quick though – tickets are selling like half price Bettina Lianos.
BOOK NOW34 Comments
-
What I really want to know is, what is it like to have a cleaner? Do you pre-tidy before they come? Are you there while they’re cleaning, and if so what do you do? Are you on friendly terms, do you chat? Do you feel like your privacy is being compromised? What jobs do they actually do? (To me, having a cleaner is obviously mind-boggling!)
-
Author
My cleaner is lovely – he comes every 2nd Tuesday and it’s him and his wife (if he’s on his own it takes him an hour and a half, if she comes it’s 45 mins) – I just let them in and go to the cafe next door to work. I do a tidy up – I unpack the dishwasher because I know where everything goes. He just does a good vacuumm, cleans the kitchen and bathroom. I don’t feel like my privacy is compromised at all!
-
Thank you! ????
-
Ugh, that WAS a kissy-face emoji, dunno what happened . . .
-
Ha! Hilarious! It looked like ‘Thank you…. I think???’
-
Hehe I giggled.
-
-
-
-
-
I have similar thoughts around money as you do. I was mocked by “friends” for my love of Louis Vuitton {pre-child purchases}. Extravagant, yes. But I don’t spend $50, $100 or $200 on bags. I buy a bag maybe every few years. And they are investments, bags. Like wise I generally spend well on shoes, and they roll around in my wardrobe for years, I get them resoled. I remember being nervous as a 17 year old spending $200 on my first pair of RM William boots. That was 1992, I’m still wearing them today!
-
Same here! I bought a $300 leather jacket (which was actually a total steal) and I’ve had it for ten years and I had a few people tell they never afford that yet they spend that amount of money on dinner on a Saturday night.
-
-
It’s so hard not to be judge when it comes to money and remember everyone has different priorities & that’s their choice. What I find to be true so often though is the people who look & act like they have money (new cars, always order the most expensive thing on the menu, house that’s renovated to the nines, always shopping etc) usually are in the worst financial situation.
-
That’s true! My mates that splash cash around like no one’s business are usually the first to question how I can afford a new computer… it’s because I didn’t splahs my cash around!
-
-
Some people think we are weird because our house is quite minimal apart from photos. Our house is modest, neat and well kept but certainly not worthy Vogue Living quality. I’m not one for decorating much and would much rather spend our money on travel. We certainly forgo other things so we can travel often with our kids. I guess it comes down to what’s important to each individual.
-
I think that’s great! I do spend a little bit on my home but I work from home so it’s a good investment for me!
-
-
I’ve made a decision not to go red-eye flights/bargain airlines for long haul flights . . . the extra bucks I spend are worth the in-air comfort and not arriving a zombie.
-
Good life choice! So not worth it!
-
-
We have been lucky enough to get tickets to Fat Duck in Melbourne. My husband and I are both foodies but even so I have baulked at the cost. I also haven’t really told people that we’re going as I’m sure there will be plenty of opinions that we clearly have too much money. I have to remind myself that I would totally regret not taking the opportunity, and given I bought new undies from Aldi the other day for $6 for two pairs (very comfortable), food and experiences are much more important to me.
-
#YOLO! And you’d be hard pressed to get into his Bray restaurant. We also got a table at Heston’s – for 6 and had a bit of trouble finding a 3rd couple (a friendship had ended…) as the couples already living in Melbourne that we approached were very taken aback by the price, however Canberra foodie friends were more than happy to foot not only the dinner price but travel and accomodation too!
-
I find that I’m a bigger tight arse since moving to Melbourne because everyting is so cheap here. I go to Canberra and I nearly have a heart attack at expensive it is to eat out!
-
-
Oh go you! It’s very exxy but if you love it (which I think you will!) that’s a brilliant experience!
-
-
Hi, Thirty years ago shopping with twelve year old daughter ans ten year old son, just browsing as usual in clothes shop I tried on a full length green tartan cape. I loved it but said it was too expensive. Children offered to go without some things as I looked so super in it. Thirty years on I am still wearing it and most times someone will comment on it. Think I might have a lining put in it so it will see me out. Al of my clothes/shoes/handbags are at least 12 years old and I love them all.
-
Love that story! I had a pair of boots for ten years that I absolutely loved – they cost $300 when I was 19 and they were best thing I ever bought. Quality over quantity always!
-
-
I try to be fairly frugal and will think carefully about my spending on non essentials – it has to pass the “Is it beautiful or useful or both?” test. I like to buy good quality when I can do things last is a long time. The things it find weird are the insistence on Foxtel as a necessity, often to the detriment of paying utility bills or giving their kids the essentials they need. I’ve never found someone who could find a justification other than “I want it so why shouldn’t I have it?” How can we afford to go away for the weekend or give our kids a cool birthday party? Well we aren’t paying $60 a month for tv!
-
Author
I’m a staunch believer in the beautiful/useful/both rule. I’m the same! I hate Foxtel. I have a mate who has it but she loves sport and she’s the only person I know with it who actually ‘needs’ it. I’m also shitty at Foxtel because I want to watch the Formula 1 this year and they have exclusive rights so it’s going to cost a couple of 100 dollars to get it which I’m not doing. They’re bastards and I won’t support them! I’d happily pay a $20 or so subscription for the F1 alone but I’m not paying for a stupid sports package when I don’t watch football. You really hit a nerve on the Foxtel thing! 🙂
-
-
I loathe spending money on work lunches. I always make my lunch. But I value splurging on dinner at a kick arse restaurant when I’m in a city.
I hate buying drinks at bars and nightclubs, so I always pre drink.
I really need to get in to the habit of quality clothes and shoes… I’m getting there!-
I’m a big pre-drinker or balcony drinker. I hate paying pub/club prices. I do it occasionally and don’t really worry about it but I certainly wouldn’t do it every weekend!
-
-
Oh Ms Smags you’re talking my language here. I’ve got better with money because I’ve let go of some of my many issues around it. I think when people are judging about how much something might cost they’re putting their own mindset around that purchase. I just spent double what you did on your chair and I have absolutely no problems with that because I use it every day and my ageing hips and back need it!
-
I was raised that way so it just doesn’t seem that weird to me but then I see people who charge $20,000 holidays to their credit cards and I’m like ‘Whaaaaaat????’ and it’s those people that are all ‘$400 on a chair?’. It’s pretty bonkers.
-
-
I pretty much only by expensive things. Comfortable shoes for $200 but will wear for years, nice pieces of furniture, expensive sheets and very nice clothes. I have a cleaner, a thermomix and order my groceries online because my time is valuable to me and I’d much rather waste it doing things I enjoy than stupid housework!
-
We are truly kindred spirits my friend. I used to get groceries delivered but they kept sending me gross apples so I stopped.
-
-
I feel like how people spend there money is up there with what people eat/don’t eat when it comes to others being super nosy. I definitely like your way of thinking and am slowly trying to move myself towards that mindset.
The trip my husband and I took to London was the longest/most expensive trip we’ve ever done, but it was for our 10 year anniversary and the honeymoon we never had, and something we’d saved for without sacrificing. I hate that I felt this way, but I almost felt guilty about it the whole time. I certainly didn’t let anyone know how much it cost and I dreaded the reactions I got about how long we were staying there for. (side note, the trip cost way less than it does to raise a single child for a year, but nobody would ever question that spending, would they?). A good portion of the price was because my husband is 6’2″ and his legs simply do not fit in economy sits so we have to go premium economy, especially for long flights.
People have different priorities when it comes to spending because we’re different people with different interests, but it seems some can’t help trying to put their own priorities on to others lives. I have one friend who constantly complains about wanting to take a “real holiday” but not being able to afford it, but then her and her husband buy every single TV show and Movie they’ve ever seen on Blu-Ray box set. Personally, in the digital age, I see no point to this. Apart from how much that must all cost, imagine the space it takes up. Which is fine, if they want to do that, more power to them; but then maybe don’t sit and seethe about other people’s vacations.
Paying to move across the world really helped me realise that I’d rather spend my money more on doing things (eating out at amazing restaurants, traveling, making stuff) than having things like media on formats that will surely go out of date and knick knacks that sit and gather dust.
P.S. When we first moved to Colorado, we helped a lady jumpstart her car. The entire time, she kept pointing out how lucky we were to have a nice shiny new car (it was a used Ford Focus, we didn’t have a car coming over and needed to get something, right?). I’m not so delusional to think just because someone needs a car they can go out and get one, but her comments made me feel so weird and icky like I was some gross, bourgeois arsehole.
-
That’s how I feel! I’ve got mates who spend SO MUCH MONEY on eating out every day and then wonder how I can afford an expensive bag I’ve had my eye on. I’m like – because I pack a sandwich from home??? It’s the most base-level of savings people just always forget it.
-
Great article, but I just want to see the chair! 🙂
-
I’m with you – I’m more than willing to spend decent money on good quality clothing, shoes, homewares and food. I have heaps of friends who cheap out on food, furniture and clothing but yet have no issue dropping hundreds in booze every week.
I wear things to death too, I don’t feel the need to have 10 handbags on rotation (what a pain to transfer items!), and I still have most of the furniture I bought eight years ago when I moved to this city.
-
I’m definitely more like you when it comes to money. I have a pair of Doc Martens with a “for life” guarantee, so they get repaired for free the rest my life. They cost about £130, which for some people is really expensive for shoes, but I wear them pretty much everyday. I use shoe wax on them and make sure to take good care of them.
As a student people would scoff at my healthy meals with lots of fresh food and say they couldn’t afford to eat healthy like that, but would spend the same amount of money every weekend getting drunk. I always try to add up the long term benefits of investments, and i’m super conscious of how much I spend on things. I’m not really earning money now as a student, but I still do the odd job for my school like photography, paperwork, flying and so on. It doesn’t pay much per hour, but I try to do everything they offer me, so it does add up!
-
Since becoming a single mum I became so aware of the cost of everything. I don’t buy treats every week when I shop and little things like that. I don’t buy clothes unless I need them.
My new partner is used to a huge wage and doing what ever he wanted including eating out on all his days off.
Even him being unemployed when he first started dating didn’t stop him spending.
Now we are expecting a baby, and he has a lower income wage (which is still higher then low income) he thinks I’m nagging when I say he shouldn’t go out for 2 coffee’s a day. Or ways I can save $50 a week on groceries.I’ve stopped him from dining out every day but we still enjoy our breakfast date once a week.
I’m worried I’m going to have to jump off the labour bed and get straight back to work to fund his designer life.
He does prefer to buy expensive clothes where I know I won’t wear that $150 dress every week to get my money’s worth. I’d prefer to go with out to buy my daughter the cutest clothes and put her in sports, and dancing..
