Monday, January 08, 2007

I Found My Brain at 30: Expensive Things I No Longer Do

If I could write off any decade in my life, I would probably write-off my 20s. At 18, I should have just taken a 12-year-age deficit, re-financed my youth and then fast-forwarded to 31. I re-discovered my brain at 30.

But if I had not been so stupid about money (and other things) at 20, I would not have been wiser now.

Here are 5 things from my 20s that I no longer do:

1. I no longer straighten my hair with expensive chemically-induced salon treatments that cost about $3,000 a year, plus interest beacause I usually used plastic for salon visits.

The worst part: I even paid a fortune for my hair when I had no groceries.
Even Worse: I straightened my hair because I had a bad self-image. (Straightened hair is fine, if you just like the look. But that wasn't my story.) A better self image has saved me a ton of money.


2. I've nixed the weekly manicures. Even at the frugal nail shops in Manhattan ($6-8, excluding tips), I was still paying about $500 a year for a service that would have cost about $3 a year based on a bottle of nail enamel. I should have put that money in a 401k plan.

It's like this: Nails break, paint chips, but money appreciates!

3. Credit Card meals: Hey, I'm 48 and I have still indigestion from all those Manhattan meals from the 1980s. I'm still chewing plastic & I have magnetic strips caught in my gums. Can we say: Painful!

4. Buy One-Get Two (in every color!). This is not a joke. One day, in New York, I went to every Ann Taylor in Manhattan...from the Upper West Side to Wall Street. I was hunting a shirt on sale. Found the shirt; found the sale; found every color.


5. Shopping while: hungry, angry, depressed, rejected, promoted or in Paris with no money.

Now, I Just Don't go shopping (as much).

And I recycle more, including posts. I now realize that I may have written a similar rant in November.
Blame my aging, but smarter brain.





The Frugal Duchess Boutique



Digg!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the title of the post! On the hair thing, you know, I have straight Asian hair, and I remember being envious when I was in elementary school that all the African-American girls were so lucky to have curly hair and be able to get it to style in all these different ways. Grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it? :)

English Major said...

Way to go on no longer straightening your hair! Like many Jewish girls, I've got big natural curls, and the number of times people have recommended hugely expensive straightening systems to me...more than I care to count. And I was tempted. (I do buy expensive salon products made specially for curly hair, I confess.)

I think the point that a good self-image saves money is an excellent one. Thanks for making it!

domestika said...

I wish I had invested all the money I spent on white wine spritzers and gawdawful earrings in my 20s! You're definitely onto something in the way of Global Truth here... the money / self-image link, like trying to buy your way to happiness, right?
Jen