Money and Fashion.
I really want to focus on being a money-saving fashionista this year.
A money saving fashionista?
Since when are those two phrases ever combined?!
I have always loved fashion but I haven’t always handled money well. I have always had money coming in, but it would often go out just as fast, usually on the 37th pair of shoes “I just have to have”. When you look back over the years and think about your financial goals and how they always seem to be the same every year (to get out of debt, start saving etc) there must be something you’re missing.
I have been taught a lot of things about money over the years and although I should have done it earlier, I am getting to a point where I really need to be taking my finances much more seriously. You always think you will have time to deal with it later or make more money when you need it but that isn’t always the case. In fact, what I’ve always found is that it’s when I need it most that I don’t have it. Good habits now = Healthy bank balance later.
The problem with me has alway been putting those next pair of shoes over having a stable financial situation. I have been working since I was 16 but I don’t have anything to show for it. Imagine how much money has passed through my hands in the last (omg!) almost 10 years! Now I am 25 there is a lot I have to save up for. Here are a few things on my list:
– A new car
– A place of my own
– A business start up
– Travelling
– The future/Emergencies.
From all the books I’ve read, seminars I’ve been to, talks I’ve heard, the not-so-secret secret of being financially independent is to “spend less than you earn”. The problem for me is that I have a conundrum – I want to be financially free but I love fashion. Fashion that is ever-changing, always new, always luring you to buy something new…how on earth can I do that?
Well I’ve made a decision that will be my task for this year. To find out just how I can get out of debt, become financially free, yet still be in tune and express my creativity with fashion.
Now, don’t think this means that I will now only be buying things dirt cheap, in the sales or never buying at all. No, what I aim to do is change the way I handle and think about money (because that’s where the real problem is – how you think about money) and also change the way I interact with fashion.
Last year, my spending got a bit out of hand whilst trying to match my life to what I wanted it to be rather than making life awesome and matching my wardrobe to it. When all is said and done, your style is an extension of you and fashion is what you use to influence it or update it so you should control it, not the other way around. It is better to buy clothes to match the life you have and build the life you want rather than getting into debt trying to buy the life you want without actually building it.
My aim this year is to work really hard to getting the life and financial stability I want – building my finances through business using my newly acquired makeup, hair and beauty skills, teaching skills and media ventures and see how one can spend a year saving and still look fabulous (and hey, maybe I’ll actually get to wear all of my clothes!).
It’s going to be hard, tempting, interesting and trying and having said all the above, although I want to reduce my spending and save, I don’t want to cut out quality. Instead I want to only be buying what I need, buying within a budget and use this as an opportunity to be totally creative with fashion and style. I would love to find interesting designers and discover new statement or investment pieces and really find things that are both fabulous and affordable for me as well as exercise my own creativity.
Money and fashion are never really talked about together but they should be. Just because you love fashion doesn’t mean you should be frivolous. I want to go in a different direction. I want to be someone who is financially savvy but it still fashionably fabulous. A Financially Fabulous Fashionista.
Tales From My Closet 