Thanks to my friend James for posting one of the images listed here on Facebook. It gave me the idea to share some thoughts about style and fashion and how that can make the difference between being rich and broke.
Be careful of being a victim of the latest trendy clothes that are being promoted through various forms of advertising or you can become broke just like that. Your clothes won’t be trendy anymore. They’ll eventually become the latest “fad” and this could be a “make and break it” difference between being rich and broke!
When I was a teenager I worked while attending high school. I didn’t have much obligations financially other than the typical teenager lifestyle of working for food (when I dined out), gas and entertainment. Oh yeah, lets throw “in“…or should I say threw money “out” for clothes!
You’ll be surprised how much money you spend when trying to keep up with the latest fashions and stylish clothes on the market. I’m not saying don’t be frugal and not splurge on something nice for yourself…IF you can afford it. If you do not have enough money to get by and cannot afford to do that, then know your budget and your financial limits. DO NOT SPEND MORE MONEY THAN YOU EARN!
It sounds ridiculously obvious and you might even find this almost border-line insulting to even read; however, you’ll be surprised that there are just some people who live off of the latest fads and always seem to just get by…and barely.
You know the person that complains about how everything is so expensive but yet they are wearing trendy clothes. If it makes you feel great to dress to impress, by all means I’m not saying don’t do that…but if you are a likeable person, then you don’t need to spend more than you earn or a large percentage of what you earn on having a whole wardrobe that is above and beyond worth paying for.
A few nice outfits for special occassions is definitely great to have. Believe me, when I was a teenager and in my early 20’s I had so many of the latest designer clothes. Partially due to my friends having certain clothes so I wanted to wear them too. Call it “Internal Peer Pressure!” Nobody would force that upon me other than myself; so it’s also a matter of will power.
I overspent on a whole wardrobe of clothes that I didn’t wind up fitting into in just a few years later. They didn’t have eBay back when I was a teenager or in my early 20’s so I was stuck with them or wound up donating them. I’m smiling as I reminisce about that now. Actually, I’m not smiling but you get the jist!
The other thing I remember buying a lot of when I was a teenager was baseball cards and New York Yankees gear. “Gotta support the team!” 🙂 I don’t look back and think how stupid it was because I never spent more than I earned. I enjoyed all of the sports memorabilia and clothing I purchased when I was younger. I still have quite a bit of it left. The point I want to drive home is if you find yourself struggling or just complaining to yourself or to others about how 
expensive things are or how others can afford a house or a new car or travel on luxurious vacations, perhaps it’s because other people that can afford a nice lifestyle are not wearing their down payment for a car or house in the form of the clothes they wear.
Financial success comes in the form of financial choices. We make decisions on what we spend our money on. We also make decisions on how the amount of money we save to obtain financial independence & freedom of potential luxury in the future.
This reminds me, I should build a display case for my sports memorabilia! 🙂
