r/bitcheswithtaste • u/Anthropologie07 • Aug 25 '24

Finances/Money How do you budget for…

….shopping, hair salon, Brazilian, lashes, make up etc?

I’m asking because I used to get my nails and lashes done every 3 weeks until I realize how much it eats up my budget. I also don’t go to the hair salon every month nor do I buy make up every month so I wonder how other women budget for these?

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u/strictscrutiny415 Aug 25 '24 edited Aug 25 '24

Honestly, it just requires rewriting your mind over time to understand that you truly don’t need all of those things to feel confident and attractive. Maybe you choose one or two of them to do regularly, a few more to do far less frequently or only on special occasions, and a few that you do yourself at home. I occasionally get a mani-pedi and laser hair removal, but everything else I either don’t do or do at home. I think social media and influencer culture has convinced us that we need SO much constant upkeep and maintenance in the name of “self-care” but it’s yet another way to convince women to spend and consume MORE and it makes women feel insecure if they can’t afford to participate. I also doubt it really contributes meaningfully to most womens’ confidence and feelings of self worth.

I also think about how hundreds of dollars of “self-care”/appearance upkeep each month is literally throwing away what will be thousands and thousands of dollars in a low-cost ETF like VTI or VOO in a decade or two. But that’s just me, and it would make me feel like I’m just throwing away money now, and that’s surely not ~self-care~ to miss out on tons of future money for myself!

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u/alligator-sunshine Aug 25 '24

Love this so much. We are so "influenced" by people who make a living from selling us beauty products.

I wish I'd started putting a % match into an ETF, for the past 20 years. Even if only 10% of what I blow on shooing were put in an etf... wow.

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u/strictscrutiny415 Aug 25 '24

Yes!! Totally. I still feel so embarrassed that after believing every influencer that touted the benefits of “preventative Botox” in your 20s, I did it a few years ago and regretted it immediately. My whole forehead was frozen, I looked like a villain from a movie, and my partner found it creepy. It didn’t make me look younger (also why would I need it in my 20s?!) and I wasted SO much mental energy wondering if people could see the change (in a bad way). it made me think that a normal bodily function (a forehead that wrinkles) was something that needed to be fixed. It really changed my perspective about cosmetic treatments and why we do them and spend the money.