A post about how I wasted all my money
With all my loans and credit cards currently maxed out, I am full of realizations and I felt the need to share the two most important ones: how to avoid wasting money on clothes and food.
I see young, well-dressed people working at coffee shops and bicycle stores and I wonder how they are able to look so fashionable. I probably don’t make less than them and I can’t be spending that much more money than them — or am I? Yes. I am. I have been spending way too much money on clothes, coffee, food and other ridiculous things I could have lived the rest of my life with without buying.
Dressing well in the summer has always been most challenging for me because it is very hot and I sweat a lot and it is always tougher to look fashionable with less pieces of clothing to work with. Ridiculous right? Do other people go through this thought process? Anyway, I try my best, I put in the effort and my biggest fashion accomplishment is that I finally stopped falling for those $7 sales at H & M. Seriously, I think that has to stop. Why do so many us fall for those sales? We want cute looking cheap clothes! $7! Impossible to resist for us, middle class shopping lovers.
I realized that some of my favourite pieces of clothing are those that got passed down to me from my mom and grandma. I am glad I am finally becoming aware of how easy it is to get sucked in into the constant need of having new clothes, throwing out money on things just because they are on sale! So even though I have wasted a lot of my money in the past three years on silly items, some of them which were cheap clothes on sale, I have finally learned — resist the urge, it feels so good! My realization is that clothes are most meaningful when they are unique, when they have a story. Whether they have belonged to a family member or a friend in the past or whether they are custom made, one of a kind items you bought at a small boutique or store, those items become special, you get to know them and you feel confident and fashionable when wearing them. At least that is how I find I feel when I wear those items. And so I am trying my best to avoid shopping malls and instead I began to spend more time in my mom’s closet and stores like Kind Exchange.
Food… Food is another money sucking monster. It was for me because I was reckless, unhealthy and lazy. When you think you have money (fake loan/credit card money) you don’t understand the value of it as much as if it was money you have already earned and so you are more likely to spend it more recklessly. That is exactly what I did. Buying food at Metro, going out for lunch and buying an excessive amount of desserts are some of my biggest money spending mistakes (and that’s not including alcohol or coffee!). Do we realize how expensive food actually is? I never realized it until now when I started counting every dollar.
Although my parents don’t help me with rent, they really care about my health and about my nutrition — and they always have. I never cared enough to make use of this and to really appreciate their efforts. Even when they provided me with food from home or some cash for food, I would waste both at times. Food is something you have to put effort into, it is vital more than ever to respect and appreciate food. To start doing more of this, I started asking my mom for help. I began going to the farmer’s market with her more often, asking her for recipes and calling her every day to tell her what I ate. As someone who majored in nutrition, I understand not only the negative financial outcomes of eating out often but also the health outcomes. Fresh, locally grown produce is the best possible solution to many of those negative outcomes. I realized that making food can be fun and that wasting food is terrible. I realized that going out to a restaurant feels a lot more satisfying when it is for a special occasion or a night out with friends.
In summary, in the past few weeks I experienced what it is like to not be able to rely on fake money and to work with the little that I have and be able to make the most out of it. Soon enough I will have money again and it will be a great to see these recent trends in my life continue.
Stay tuned and stop wasting money.
