I'm not really directing my opinion at people who are genuinely well off. More toward those who insist on spending what they don't have just to look flash. It's pathetic. I was brought up to save up if I wanted anything. I don't even have or want a credit card because I'd feel uncomfortable about spending money I don't really have.
What's so wrong with waiting a while until you can afford something off your own back instead of using a credit and then having to make sure you can still pay come the time? I probably sound horribly old fashioned but so be it.
Well, yes, that I completely agree with. If you don't have the money to pay for something, don't buy it. That's just common sense for me, and I do think we live in a society where it's all too easy to spend money that you don't have and get into debt, which I find ridiculous.
I also think people excuse their debt too easily. "oh, but they offered me a loan". Yes, but you didn't need to take it.
Oh, I agree. It's not all about showing off at all and I probably should have clarified that. It's great to be able to get something you have wanted for ages, or to indulge in a treat like an outing to the West End or something. But I wait until I can genuinely afford new things. I don't spend what I don't have and then moan I'm broke, and then continue to go round and round in the same cycle.
You are completely right. You feel so much better if you have saved up your money and then treat yourself too, ie. you get a fair greater feeling of acheivement. Trouble is, there is less and less people who share these views (or at least it feels that way sometimes). It's far to easy to go out and spend more money on the 'never, never'. I doubt these people are really genuinely happy though. Clothes and gadgets, etc don't make people happy in the long term. To me, it is more important to have your family, your friends (by friends I mean real friends, not just names on facebook. I can count my real friends on one hand, the genuine people who will stick with you through thick and thin), your health and a positive outlook.
I am the same age and feel exactly the same. I think this kind of 'sense' only comes with age, and I think you only truly realise what the important things are once you have gone without. It really opens your eyes and makes you appreciate the small things. For the past 2 years we haven't done Xmas presents due to financial repercussions that have affected the whole family, and I can honestly say I haven't missed it. Same with birthdays. Small, token gifts if anything. Easter eggs? Forget it. An excuse for consumerism, plus we always have a steady supply of chocolate in our house anyway! Such occasions for me are all about spending time with the people I love and celebrating with food and drink!
The world is generally a depressing place when you look at it from a consumer angle. I agree that there is definitely an air of "everyone has to do/be better than everyone else". No one is content. And it's very sad.
Love the clip, everything he says is so true. I agree with you about consumerism too. We never had a lot of money and material goods growing up but my parents always made sure we had plenty of love and support, and of course, food in the cupboard. There was, and still is, never a shortage of food! Even now, having more money than I had then, I would still not go OTT like a lot of people do buying material goods for birthdays and christmas etc. I would rather spend teh money going for a nice meal or night out with the people who matter to me. It wouldn't even have to be an expensive meal as the company would always be more important than 'being seen' in a fancy restruarant. Commercialism has spoiled christmas and easter, it's all about how much money people can make selling material presents to people. I could have all the material goods in the world given to me at christmas, but it would not make me happy. I'd be more happy to have my family and genuine friends around me as they will always come before material goods for me. However, some people would sell thier own granny for the latest so-called 'must have' thing. And that is very sad.
My father died last week and the support I have recieved from family and friends is overwhelming. A cottage pie left on my door step, home made cards, lots of alcohol and a friend of a friends husband is going to pick up some compost for my garden today so I don't have to carry it home. Some one my mum barely knows drove her to the inquest yesterday so she didnt have to negotiate public transport in her grief. My uncle flew over from Canada to be with us too, and he says he can stay as long as we need him. None of this indicates spite to me.
I think people can be petty and spiteful in the small things but most people prove to be good, caring people for the big things. I think we should remember that.
Perhaps your interpretation of what is "big and shiny" and peoples motivation for buying such stuff (i.e. to show off) says more about you than it does about them.
A lot of what we buy is unnessesary - and yet we still go out and buy it. How many DVDs do you own OP? Computer? TV?
Why are some things you spend money on considered "showing off"? For example - if you have two people earning an identical wage. One decides to have kids and harp on about them on facebook day in day out. The other spends the same amount of money and buys a nice shiny sports car - who is showing off?
Perhaps your interpretation of what is "big and shiny" and peoples motivation for buying such stuff (i.e. to show off) says more about you than it does about them.
A lot of what we buy is unnessesary - and yet we still go out and buy it. How many DVDs do you own OP? Computer? TV?
Why are some things you spend money on considered "showing off"? For example - if you have two people earning an identical wage. One decides to have kids and harp on about them on facebook day in day out. The other spends the same amount of money and buys a nice shiny sports car - who is showing off?
Obviously some things are classed more as showing off than others. I don't know anybody who buys a dvd and then spends time showing off about it!! But, if somebody buys a flash car, they are more likely to show off about it. In the same respect, bringing children into the world is a far bigger achievement than buying a sports car. Also, people talking about thier kids is not showing off. They are not going round saying "oh look at me i've got kids" like someone who has just brought a sports car would. They are obviously just proud of thier kids, as the saying goes kids change peoples lifes and outlook on life forever. I don't have kids so I can't say if this is true or not, but most people who do have kids seem to say this, even people who were stuck in the material world beforehand.
I also think you have missed the point, nobody is saying we shouldn't buy anything that is non-essential. I think, the point is that some people life for material goods and don't care who they hurt or upset in thier pursuit of obtaining thier precious stuff. It's the moral side of the issue, not what is classed as showing off and what isn't.
Maybe I'm living among the wrong people but it feels like everything these days is about one-upmanship. It's like people can't just be happy for each other any more. If person A has just got something nice like a stay in a four star hotel, person B will brag that they're going to a five star one.
People seem to buy expensive shiny stuff they don't even need or use just to show it off. I know someone who lives in a five bedroom house and drives a 4x4 and they are in a lot of debt but won't move to somewhere smaller or downgrade their car.
Everything is about keeping up with the Jones.
And in general, I feel like society is more shallow than ever. Everything has to be sexed-up including our children, ageism is rife within the media and the "real world", and I just sense an air of competitiveness, jealousy and bitchness around all the time.
Has anyone else felt this lately or am I being silly?
I agree and its encouraged through the media and advertising. If advertisers can encourage envy and desires we didnt know we had then they can profit from us. We are bombarded day in day out by advertisements of one type or another
Money really is the root of all evil to use a phrase. We live in an incredibly unjust world with one billion people without clean drinking water and poverty and starvation going on still, then other parts of the world have an abundance.
We live in a world where billions are wasted on destruction and destructive things like an evil arms industry that destroy things and kill people. And wars that are started by men who never fight in them while the people who really profit are the big businesses and a select few while the people who are misguided enough to fight in them for reasons they dont understand and matters of ego are told they are 'heroes' and thats encouraged by a one sided media and news network.
But off topic there. We live in a world run by advertisers where politicians have spin doctors to persuade us.
Money and possessions might take us so far but they wont save us from our final resting place.
The world needs to slow down and get its priorities right. So called intelligent men with nice educations and the right connections are running this lump of rock we live on that spins in space called the world.
There has to be a better way and a revolution in our thinking and education for things to improve for everyone and the next generation onwards
I agree and its encouraged through the media and advertising. If advertisers can encourage envy and desires we didnt know we had then they can profit from us. We are bombarded day in day out by advertisements of one type or another
Money really is the root of all evil to use a phrase. We live in an incredibly unjust world with one billion people without clean drinking water and poverty and starvation going on still, then other parts of the world have an abundance.
We live in a world where billions are wasted on destruction and destructive things like an evil arms industry that destroy things and kill people. And wars that are started by men who never fight in them while the people who really profit are the big businesses and a select few while the people who are misguided enough to fight in them for reasons they dont understand and matters of ego are told they are 'heroes' and thats encouraged by a one sided media and news network.
But off topic there. We live in a world run by advertisers where politicians have spin doctors to persuade us.
Money and possessions might take us so far but they wont save us from our final resting place.
The world needs to slow down and get its priorities right. So called intelligent men with nice educations and the right connections are running this lump of rock we live on that spins in space called the world.
There has to be a better way and a revolution in our thinking and education for things to improve for everyone and the next generation onwards
Sadly a lot of people are taken in by advertising and the media and base thier entire beliefs and opinions on everything they see or hear in the media. A lot of people are like sheep and just seem to follow whatever they are told by the media or advertisers without even questioning it. A lot of people seem unable to do anything off thier own backs and lack any kind of individuality. We seem to be in a world where we can't be individuals and a lot of people think it strange when people aren't money or material motivated. But you are right, it does come down to educating people to think better and see the downside of things and how to put it right.
I think people can be petty and spiteful in the small things but most people prove to be good, caring people for the big things. I think we should remember that.
True, people do tend to rally round when it really matters. It's just a shame that a lot of the time something really big/traumatic has to happen to bring people their senses and remember to care.
When it does happen, though, it is really lovely and makes me have faith in humanity again!
Oh goodness, I never meant to imply that the past is some kind of honey and sunshine place and everything now is terrible. No, not at all. But I have noticed, in a very few years, this rise in spitefulness and crass one-up-manship that the OP has noticed too. Its very particular to now in its manifestation.
Competitiveness, one-upmanship, again: nothing new. I think perhaps a difference may be that its more obvious now, with the internet and 24 hour media in general. In the past the arbiters of taste and style were those 'untouchable' classes: Royalty, Aristocracy, General etc. Today celebrities are the modern say version of this.
I was reading about Anne Boleyn the other day and one of the things that really made her stand out at the Tudor Court was her French dress style. As she rose in status no-one could get enough of the French style. It seems a silly anecdote, but it sums up that aspirational quality of human nature. Another example is cod pieces: they got bigger and more ostentatious as men competed with each other. Same with women and corsets: who had the smallest waist? The biggest bustle? In China, the smallest feet? Who would be the first to get the 'new thing' in fashion?
In politics too: the Cold War was one big game of dick-waving one-upmanship: the space race, star wars, Vietnam etc.
^ A summation of a paper written on ecological dominance and social competition. It links to the article but you have to pay for it. However, this explains it well enough:
Richard Alexander proposed a comprehensive integrated explanation. He argued that as our hominin ancestors became increasing able to master the traditional “hostile forces of nature,” selective pressures resulting from competition among conspecifics became increasingly important, particularly in regard to social competencies. Given the precondition of competition among kin- and reciprocity-based coalitions (shared with chimpanzees), an autocatalytic social arms race was initiated, which eventually resulted in the unusual collection of traits characteristic of the human species, such as concealed ovulation, extensive biparental care, complex sociality, and an extraordinary collection of cognitive abilities.
It's too easy to blame advertisers and the media, i think that in fact is a prime example of failing to take responsibility for ourselves. The relationship between the media and the public is entirely symbiotic. They do what they do because they know that it works. If it didn't they wouldn't do it becase they wouldn't profit. There business is to give us what we want, to appeal to our own desires to 'have', something not put into us by external forces, we already possess them.
The Brits consider themselves superior to everyone else.
The Yanks are loud and brash.
The Scots are tight.
The Irish are thick.
The Aussies are vulgar.
The Latinos are greasy.
Does anyone care to add to the list of preconceived prejudice?
It's too easy to blame advertisers and the media, i think that in fact is a prime example of failing to take responsibility for ourselves. The relationship between the media and the public is entirely symbiotic. They do what they do because they know that it works. If it didn't they wouldn't do it becase they wouldn't profit. There business is to give us what we want, to appeal to our own desires to 'have', something not put into us by external forces, we already possess them.
I don't think it is a case of "blaming advertisers or the media" I think people are too easily influenced and swayed by the media/ advertising. Some people don't think for themselves as I said in my earlier post. I don't believe everybody has this so-called "desire to have" certainly not at the cost of being selfish, trampling over other people to get what they want. Also, an advertisers job is not to give us "what we want", it is to give people the impression that they should want (or have) the latest thing.
I don't think it is a case of "blaming advertisers or the media" I think people are too easily influenced and swayed by the media/ advertising. Some people don't think for themselves as I said in my earlier post. I don't believe everybody has this so-called "desire to have" certainly not at the cost of being selfish, trampling over other people to get what they want. Also, an advertisers job is not to give us "what we want", it is to give people the impression that they should want (or have) the latest thing.
The media caters to the tastes of the public, carefully probed and ascertained by hours of reseach.
We all possess the desire to have, it's biological. Obviously, depending on the individual and the specific environments this desire can be stronger or weaker in some than in others', but it's still there. Advertisers exploit that characteristic to, but we as individuals DO have the power, and thus the responsibility, to resist.
The problem with this kind of observation is that people do tend to project their own frustration and dissatisfaction and justifications for failure onto 'the world' and try to make it 'the world's problem. That's as much 'human nature' as competitiveness or consumerism.
I'm willing to be persuaded by solid and plausible evidence (not anecdotes and half-baked pseudo-intellectual 'theorising') but, in the absence of that, frankly it is probably you....at least in part.
Oh no, it's something I've been feeling for years but after seeing my friend buying yet more expensive clothes when she's in debt and living off store credit, I snapped. She doesn't need all these designer outfits but she's obsessed with being dressed to the nines at all times.
I honestly don't get it. I'm with you - as long as I have a home, enough food to eat and can fund the basic needs in life without too much worry about the bills (heating, electricity, internet...) then I'm a very happy bunny.
I agreed with most of your OP but then doesnt this post contradict your first post ..surely if your friend likes buying yet more expensive clothes then why can you not be happy for her,she may not need the clothes but it may be fullfilling her life even if it is a false economy.
I used to live just being happy on basic food and paying bills but technology has now made things like big tvs and better clothes within reach,as long as your friend is not getting into a huge mess financially then why not be happy for her.
I remember back when I could not even think about going abroad for a holiday because of the cost of flying but now the prices are more realistic and credit cards help to get the money together quicker rather than putting money away each week and save up for something you can get the item now and put that money away to pay it off.
I think people should make the most out of life and if that means dressing up makes them feel good then go for it..you only have one life..live it to the max is my opinion.
The media caters to the tastes of the public, carefully probed and ascertained by hours of reseach.
We all possess the desire to have, it's biological. Obviously, depending on the individual and the specific environments this desire can be stronger or weaker in some than in others', but it's still there. Advertisers exploit that characteristic to, but we as individuals DO have the power, and thus the responsibility, to resist.
Do you work in the media or advertising by any chance?? I do understand your point but I think you have missed mine, I was making the point that the media/ advertsising people do exploit certain people into believing they should have the latest big thing. Yes, some of us are strong enough and do have the power to resist but some people don't and that was the point I was making. For example, a lot of people (young girls/ women in particular) seem to bo obsessed by celeb culture, where they are told, and unfortunately then believe, they must have the latest pair of shoes or handbag that some wag has or they nust be a size 6 or be classed as obese. These people are in the media constantly but are NOT good role models to anybody. As I said earlier, I am not laying the blame at the feet of teh media and advertising, but it does have an effect on certain weak minded people in society and this does encourage selfish behaviour and the "I want it so I am going to have it and to hell with everyone else" attitude. So nobody can say the media and advertising are completely blameless.
I agreed with most of your OP but then doesnt this post contradict your first post ..surely if your friend likes buying yet more expensive clothes then why can you not be happy for her,she may not need the clothes but it may be fullfilling her life even if it is a false economy.
I think people should make the most out of life and if that means dressing up makes them feel good then go for it..you only have one life..live it to the max is my opinion.
Nothing wrong with buying nice things or making the most out of life if you can afford it but I just don't see how anyone can be truly happy when they're thousands of pounds in debt.
As for my friend, she buys something, wears it once and then dumps it. She's really wasteful and doesn't appreciate anything. If she didn't buy stuff just to be flash and actually appreciated what she got, then I would be happy for her.
Maybe I'm living among the wrong people but it feels like everything these days is about one-upmanship. It's like people can't just be happy for each other any more. If person A has just got something nice like a stay in a four star hotel, person B will brag that they're going to a five star one.
People seem to buy expensive shiny stuff they don't even need or use just to show it off. I know someone who lives in a five bedroom house and drives a 4x4 and they are in a lot of debt but won't move to somewhere smaller or downgrade their car.
Everything is about keeping up with the Jones.
And in general, I feel like society is more shallow than ever. Everything has to be sexed-up including our children, ageism is rife within the media and the "real world", and I just sense an air of competitiveness, jealousy and bitchness around all the time.
Has anyone else felt this lately or am I being silly?
WOW, you sound like a tired middle-aged person (like me, lol) I am shocked that you are only 27, just beginning your life.
Nothing wrong with buying nice things or making the most out of life if you can afford it but I just don't see how anyone can be truly happy when they're thousands of pounds in debt.
As for my friend, she buys something, wears it once and then dumps it. She's really wasteful and doesn't appreciate anything. If she didn't buy stuff just to be flash and actually appreciated what she got, then I would be happy for her.
You are quite right Woven, I understand where you are coming from but it does seem some on here have missed the point!! I can't see how you could relax and be happy being in debt, I worry if I owe small amounts of money to family. I guess some people can live with it, they might just shut it out of thier minds and foget about it. Like you, I don't see anything wrong with buying nice things but only if you can afford too. Most of these people in massive debt are the same people moaning about the recession and blaming everyone else when they have actually contributed to it!! It does seem like your friend has a bit of growing up to do. I think some people don't value what they do have and always want more (especially material goods). And it does make people spiteful and I can totally see why it does annoy you with your friend, it would me too.
The Brits consider themselves superior to everyone else.
The Yanks are loud and brash.
The Scots are tight.
The Irish are thick.
The Aussies are vulgar.
The Latinos are greasy.
Does anyone care to add to the list of preconceived prejudice?
It always winds me up when people come out with comments like this, as if because you are in your mid-late 20's you should see the world in a completely positive note and not notice any negatives.Are you suggesting at 27, you shouldn't notice anything like this?? At 27ish you do have some life experience and probably don't view the world with the same nievety you did when you were in your teens. Or should we all go round with our heads in the sand and forget about the state of the world like a bunch of the zombies until we hit 40 and then and only then can we have any sort of so-called negative view.
Comments
Well, yes, that I completely agree with. If you don't have the money to pay for something, don't buy it. That's just common sense for me, and I do think we live in a society where it's all too easy to spend money that you don't have and get into debt, which I find ridiculous.
I also think people excuse their debt too easily. "oh, but they offered me a loan". Yes, but you didn't need to take it.
You are completely right. You feel so much better if you have saved up your money and then treat yourself too, ie. you get a fair greater feeling of acheivement. Trouble is, there is less and less people who share these views (or at least it feels that way sometimes). It's far to easy to go out and spend more money on the 'never, never'. I doubt these people are really genuinely happy though. Clothes and gadgets, etc don't make people happy in the long term. To me, it is more important to have your family, your friends (by friends I mean real friends, not just names on facebook. I can count my real friends on one hand, the genuine people who will stick with you through thick and thin), your health and a positive outlook.
Love the clip, everything he says is so true. I agree with you about consumerism too. We never had a lot of money and material goods growing up but my parents always made sure we had plenty of love and support, and of course, food in the cupboard. There was, and still is, never a shortage of food! Even now, having more money than I had then, I would still not go OTT like a lot of people do buying material goods for birthdays and christmas etc. I would rather spend teh money going for a nice meal or night out with the people who matter to me. It wouldn't even have to be an expensive meal as the company would always be more important than 'being seen' in a fancy restruarant. Commercialism has spoiled christmas and easter, it's all about how much money people can make selling material presents to people. I could have all the material goods in the world given to me at christmas, but it would not make me happy. I'd be more happy to have my family and genuine friends around me as they will always come before material goods for me. However, some people would sell thier own granny for the latest so-called 'must have' thing. And that is very sad.
My father died last week and the support I have recieved from family and friends is overwhelming. A cottage pie left on my door step, home made cards, lots of alcohol and a friend of a friends husband is going to pick up some compost for my garden today so I don't have to carry it home. Some one my mum barely knows drove her to the inquest yesterday so she didnt have to negotiate public transport in her grief. My uncle flew over from Canada to be with us too, and he says he can stay as long as we need him. None of this indicates spite to me.
I think people can be petty and spiteful in the small things but most people prove to be good, caring people for the big things. I think we should remember that.
A lot of what we buy is unnessesary - and yet we still go out and buy it. How many DVDs do you own OP? Computer? TV?
Why are some things you spend money on considered "showing off"? For example - if you have two people earning an identical wage. One decides to have kids and harp on about them on facebook day in day out. The other spends the same amount of money and buys a nice shiny sports car - who is showing off?
Obviously some things are classed more as showing off than others. I don't know anybody who buys a dvd and then spends time showing off about it!! But, if somebody buys a flash car, they are more likely to show off about it. In the same respect, bringing children into the world is a far bigger achievement than buying a sports car. Also, people talking about thier kids is not showing off. They are not going round saying "oh look at me i've got kids" like someone who has just brought a sports car would. They are obviously just proud of thier kids, as the saying goes kids change peoples lifes and outlook on life forever. I don't have kids so I can't say if this is true or not, but most people who do have kids seem to say this, even people who were stuck in the material world beforehand.
I also think you have missed the point, nobody is saying we shouldn't buy anything that is non-essential. I think, the point is that some people life for material goods and don't care who they hurt or upset in thier pursuit of obtaining thier precious stuff. It's the moral side of the issue, not what is classed as showing off and what isn't.
I agree and its encouraged through the media and advertising. If advertisers can encourage envy and desires we didnt know we had then they can profit from us. We are bombarded day in day out by advertisements of one type or another
Money really is the root of all evil to use a phrase. We live in an incredibly unjust world with one billion people without clean drinking water and poverty and starvation going on still, then other parts of the world have an abundance.
We live in a world where billions are wasted on destruction and destructive things like an evil arms industry that destroy things and kill people. And wars that are started by men who never fight in them while the people who really profit are the big businesses and a select few while the people who are misguided enough to fight in them for reasons they dont understand and matters of ego are told they are 'heroes' and thats encouraged by a one sided media and news network.
But off topic there. We live in a world run by advertisers where politicians have spin doctors to persuade us.
Money and possessions might take us so far but they wont save us from our final resting place.
The world needs to slow down and get its priorities right. So called intelligent men with nice educations and the right connections are running this lump of rock we live on that spins in space called the world.
There has to be a better way and a revolution in our thinking and education for things to improve for everyone and the next generation onwards
Sadly a lot of people are taken in by advertising and the media and base thier entire beliefs and opinions on everything they see or hear in the media. A lot of people are like sheep and just seem to follow whatever they are told by the media or advertisers without even questioning it. A lot of people seem unable to do anything off thier own backs and lack any kind of individuality. We seem to be in a world where we can't be individuals and a lot of people think it strange when people aren't money or material motivated. But you are right, it does come down to educating people to think better and see the downside of things and how to put it right.
True, people do tend to rally round when it really matters. It's just a shame that a lot of the time something really big/traumatic has to happen to bring people their senses and remember to care.
When it does happen, though, it is really lovely and makes me have faith in humanity again!
Competitiveness, one-upmanship, again: nothing new. I think perhaps a difference may be that its more obvious now, with the internet and 24 hour media in general. In the past the arbiters of taste and style were those 'untouchable' classes: Royalty, Aristocracy, General etc. Today celebrities are the modern say version of this.
I was reading about Anne Boleyn the other day and one of the things that really made her stand out at the Tudor Court was her French dress style. As she rose in status no-one could get enough of the French style. It seems a silly anecdote, but it sums up that aspirational quality of human nature. Another example is cod pieces: they got bigger and more ostentatious as men competed with each other. Same with women and corsets: who had the smallest waist? The biggest bustle? In China, the smallest feet? Who would be the first to get the 'new thing' in fashion?
In politics too: the Cold War was one big game of dick-waving one-upmanship: the space race, star wars, Vietnam etc.
Looking at it from an anthropological perspective:
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2005/01/ecological-dominance-social.html
^ A summation of a paper written on ecological dominance and social competition. It links to the article but you have to pay for it. However, this explains it well enough:
I thought that was the French?
I don't think it is a case of "blaming advertisers or the media" I think people are too easily influenced and swayed by the media/ advertising. Some people don't think for themselves as I said in my earlier post. I don't believe everybody has this so-called "desire to have" certainly not at the cost of being selfish, trampling over other people to get what they want. Also, an advertisers job is not to give us "what we want", it is to give people the impression that they should want (or have) the latest thing.
The media caters to the tastes of the public, carefully probed and ascertained by hours of reseach.
We all possess the desire to have, it's biological. Obviously, depending on the individual and the specific environments this desire can be stronger or weaker in some than in others', but it's still there. Advertisers exploit that characteristic to, but we as individuals DO have the power, and thus the responsibility, to resist.
I'm willing to be persuaded by solid and plausible evidence (not anecdotes and half-baked pseudo-intellectual 'theorising') but, in the absence of that, frankly it is probably you....at least in part.
I used to live just being happy on basic food and paying bills but technology has now made things like big tvs and better clothes within reach,as long as your friend is not getting into a huge mess financially then why not be happy for her.
I remember back when I could not even think about going abroad for a holiday because of the cost of flying but now the prices are more realistic and credit cards help to get the money together quicker rather than putting money away each week and save up for something you can get the item now and put that money away to pay it off.
I think people should make the most out of life and if that means dressing up makes them feel good then go for it..you only have one life..live it to the max is my opinion.
Do you work in the media or advertising by any chance??
Nothing wrong with buying nice things or making the most out of life if you can afford it but I just don't see how anyone can be truly happy when they're thousands of pounds in debt.
As for my friend, she buys something, wears it once and then dumps it. She's really wasteful and doesn't appreciate anything. If she didn't buy stuff just to be flash and actually appreciated what she got, then I would be happy for her.
WOW, you sound like a tired middle-aged person (like me, lol) I am shocked that you are only 27, just beginning your life.
You gotta cheer up...CLICK!
You are quite right Woven, I understand where you are coming from but it does seem some on here have missed the point!! I can't see how you could relax and be happy being in debt, I worry if I owe small amounts of money to family. I guess some people can live with it, they might just shut it out of thier minds and foget about it. Like you, I don't see anything wrong with buying nice things but only if you can afford too. Most of these people in massive debt are the same people moaning about the recession and blaming everyone else when they have actually contributed to it!! It does seem like your friend has a bit of growing up to do. I think some people don't value what they do have and always want more (especially material goods). And it does make people spiteful and I can totally see why it does annoy you with your friend, it would me too.
The Eskimo's are fishy
It always winds me up when people come out with comments like this, as if because you are in your mid-late 20's you should see the world in a completely positive note and not notice any negatives.Are you suggesting at 27, you shouldn't notice anything like this?? At 27ish you do have some life experience and probably don't view the world with the same nievety you did when you were in your teens. Or should we all go round with our heads in the sand and forget about the state of the world like a bunch of the zombies until we hit 40 and then and only then can we have any sort of so-called negative view.