Your Friends Are Influencing Your Wallet

Old news.

We all have that friend who is our 'enabler'. The one who you don't go shopping with because they tell you all the nice things you want to hear that is GREAT for you, but bad for your wallet.

My friend Nunu, undoubtedly has great taste. I love going shopping with her. She won't buy a single thing but she loves stuff on you. My last trip visiting her, I purposely packed tightly a small suitcase but my suitcase damn overflowed when I returned.

Social Media Marketing
This was my first thought when I read this article about friends being marketers. Basically the article points out that marketers realize the power of influence that friends have over each other. We choose our friends for a reason. We like them. We admire them. We trust them. Everything that is a marketer's dream for a brand.

Word-of-mouth selling is nothing new. Plus, we sell and market lots of immaterial things on a day-to-day basis: ideas, religion, philosophy, political views.

As a Yelper, I am constantly marketing to people, and because Yelp also has a social-networking component or otherwise linked to Facebook and Twitter, I'm also marketing to my friends.

But unlike the blogger-marketing described in the aforementioned GRS article, I don't get paid to write reviews. Or do I?? Yelp members are assigned with badges and stars if they 'check-in', or if they participate in events. The more active you are, the higher you get on the totem pole. Somehow one day I got my Elite badge without really knowing what it was. Now I get tons of freebies and invites to events, sponsored by local businesses. I'm quite aware of this, and I rarely write reviews for freebies other than to refer to Yelp or just the event itself... But, yes, this is an example of marketing outreach through social media.

Dreams For Sale
We surround ourselves with people who inspire us, people we respect, people we admire and would like to emulate. Sometimes we live vicariously through others, and let others live vicariously through us. We like to use our imaginations.

By far the most successful influence my friends have had on me is the dream to travel. The idea of this wide-eyed wanderer. I am aware of it, and aware that - even between hostels, Airbnb, couchsurfing - traveling is still a big ticket item and a huge industry. It appeals to many, young and old, rich and poor.

The more I travel, the more friends I make around the world, and the more travelers I meet, the more my wanderlust grows. The list of places I want to go to keeps growing longer and longer with no end in sight. Fortunately, I don't want it to end. I am a voluntary victim, blissfully aware.

Blissfully Aware
I am fully aware that there numerous giant ideologies and movements out there trying to use my friends to influence me to get me to buy things that aren't.. ME. No, I don't want to buy like, organic yams or a $200 goat leg dish at a fancy restaurant, nor cupcakes nor a gym membership (if I don't eat cupcakes I don't need to go to the gym). I don't need/want a car or a Marc Jacobs Hillier hobo bag.

But these are also the same friends who sold me on the Kindle (which I really really love beyond anything I have purchased in this decade), the same friends who roped me into salsa dancing, encouraged me to travel, do kettlebell training, and sadly I am now hooked on 5-Hour Energy (energy drinks) whenever I go out on the weekends.

I like them anyway.

Anyway, it's better to spend some money on some things while doing things you like with people that you like than to not spending any money sitting at home by yourself with no friends.

From Fashionista to Frugalista

Hell if I know of a better stress cure than retail therapy!

The problem with retail therapy is that you get the high from hunting things from the rack and making that transaction, and not necessarily the merchandise itself.

The other problem with retail therapy is that it hurts... in other ways (I learned it the hard way), often like drugs, you're addicted to spending. The more you spend, the more unhappy you become. 

Fashion blogs and magazines are always touting words like 'classic', and 'timeless' and 'investment pieces'. Investment? Bull shit. Clothing is meant to be worn, and once you've handed over your cash (or swiped that plastic), it is what economists call 'sunk cost'.

It is just like what it sounds like. Sunk. Cost. Gone forever.

I was once caught up in a cycle of buying shoes and more shoes, and clothes and more clothes. But then, that guilt started creeping up on me. 

I started hunting in thrift and vintage stores to clear my conscience, and I swear this is the best kept frugalista secret, ever.


The treasures I've found, I'll have to save for yet another future post. Lots of pics required. For now, I want to share my most recent trip to my neighborhood Goodwill. [non-profit organization that sells donated clothes and housewares] 

Aquascutum Linen Button Down Shirt - $7

I was looking for some new shirts because in light of my professional exam, I had felt the need to dress up more... professionally to work. I'm sort of digging that chambray shirt trend so I headed off to the blue shirts rack.

Aquascutum? Never heard of it, but the fabric was extremely nice. "100% linen" says the label. Perfect for spring/summer.

Whoever made this shirt was definitely into details... I thought, as I inspected the checkered lining on the collars and cuffs, and see here, engraved buttons!! I later found a matching one in off-white on the other rack. They were $6.99 each. What the heck, can't go wrong with that, right?

I got home and googled "Aquascutum" and turns out it's a top UK luxury clothing manufacturer that had dressed british royalty, aristocrats and all that. A brand alongside Burberry, except sadly it had very recently gone bankrupt.

Meh. All I know (and care about) is that I got two fabulous summer shirts for less that what it would cost to get them dry cleaned! 

I foresee this becoming a segment on this blog.. more frugalista posts to come!

For now, here are some more Aquascutum prints:

Kate Middleton:

Goodwill Store (Near West Side)

1201 W Washington St
Chicago, IL 60686
(312) 563-1187

See yelp reviews

xo
Kakjah