by Ashley
It has always fascinated me how people spend their money. It’s such an intensely personal thing and to see what people value is so interesting to me.
- Case: A 35-year-old adult male who lives in a tiny duplex in a bad neighborhood with 3 other guys to save money….but spends thousands a month playing cards (gambling).
- Case: A new-parent/college student couple in their mid-twenties struggling to make it. They never eat out (ever) and share a single car to save money, but the wife gets mani/pedis religiously at a neighborhood salon.
- Case: A low-paid design assistant who doesn’t shop, doesn’t travel, and doesn’t eat out….but has personal training sessions at her gym twice a week to the tune of $150/week.
We all have our “thing(s)” that we spend money on, right? You know, the thing that others might look at as being indulgent and unnecessary.
What’s your thing?
Want to know one of mine? I’ll tell you right now – it’s something I’ve never mentioned before and something I’ve done fine without the whole time I’ve been blogging.
Don’t judge, mmmkay?????
Until I started blogging here, I was regularly getting something done every 4-5 months. A very expensive cosmetic procedure. It’s called botox.
It started innocently enough and the youthful age of 26.
I had a medical student friend. She started getting botox injections as a “preventative measure” to prevent wrinkles from forming on her forehead.
Suddenly I became obsessed with my wrinkles. I noticed the crows feet around my eyes and the one permanent wrinkle that spans my entire forehead and is visible even when my face is totally relaxed. I wanted to eradicate my current wrinkles and prevent new ones from forming!!!! I wanted to do this!! Being that my friend was a medical student, she had the “hook up” on Botox. An actual doctor who would administer it on-the-side (not at a clinic/office) for cheap. Botox, itself, is pricey, but we’d be paying barely anything for the service of the injection. I ended up getting a little bit of Botox in my forehead for $50. I loved the results. And I was hooked.
I never wanted my face to have the totally “frozen” look to it, so I was conservative in my botox applications (“conservative” by a cosmetic surgeon’s standards). I would go about every 4-5 months and alternate where I received the injection (either at my crows feet, or my forehead). This all began when I was living in Florida. But I brought my new “thing” with me when I moved to Arizona. Although, suddenly, I no longer had a Botox “hook up.” I went from paying about $50/session to triple that – $150/session. And I put it on plastic and never gave it a second thought.
Now, we can all have our opinions on cosmetic enhancements. I know some are fiercely against it as perpetuating sexism and unrealistic standards of beauty. That’s totally fine. I won’t get into the politics of it and debating the sides. I’ll just say that I’m of the opinion that if it makes you feel good and doing it makes you happy (and you have the $$ to pay cash), then I’m all for it. Live and let live!
Obviously as a 100% unnecessary procedure, my dirty little secret (my affinity for botox) was immediately cut from the budget. But I’m sure I’ll be back one day. No time soon. But one day. You know what else I’d love to get done? Lasik! I have a friend who recently had Lasik eye surgery and said its the best thing she’s ever done! But at a cost of up to $4,000 per eye (though average is closer to $2,000 per eye), this is another cosmetic procedure that will be put on the back-burner for the time being.
It’s just fun to think about these things sometimes. Fantasize a bit about what you’ll spend money on when you have the cash-money available, instead of financing and paying interest for years to come!!!
What’s your “dirty little secret” (your “thing” that you like to spend money on)?
Disclaimer: This whole post goes totally against my overall belief that by trying to be satisfied with what you have, you will save money (as opposed to fantasizing over wants). BUT, sometimes a little fantasy is good for the soul! <3
