Ever spent your last $20 on a cute top and spent the next two days starving until your next pay? I'm currently in a bit of a famine after spending over 8 grand in 12 days whilst on a shopping trip to the USA. Most people look at me when I tell them that and they probably think 'Oh what a silly young girl'... Whilst it may be one of the more stupid decisions in my life, it brought me the greatest amount of satisfaction.
Everyone goes on and on about how young people today are in more debt than ever before. We are materialistic, technology savvy, blah blah blah. All of this is true, but does it necessarily have to be a negative thing?
Most of our parents and our grandparents went through tough periods of their life, working their asses off to get to where they are today. They then spent the second half of their life trying to give their children everything that they never had, creating an entire generation of spoilt rotten little brats. I wouldn't say I'm spoilt rotten, I live in a lower-middle class household and since I was about 15, I've paid for almost everything I need in my life myself- minus of course my high school education and the roof over my head. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, in that my family has ingrained in me a certain sense of hard work, and a crazy sense of play!
Most people in my family work more than 2 jobs. I work 3, and I study full time at uni. Most people think I'm crazy, and while I may be, I look damn good doing it. On my trip I happened to acquire myself a Chanel purse, it cost more than what my car is worth and I'll eventually have to put it under insurance, but buying that bag was one of the most satisfying experiences.
I had a similar experience this time last year, when I went on a six week holiday to europe. The last leg of the trip was Paris, I'd been waiting all my life to get there. It took 18 months of working my absolute ASS off, missing birthdays to get up at 4am for work, driving everywhere because I couldn't afford to drink, but I did it and when I got there I burst into tears.
There is no better feeling than achieving your goal. While a good part of our generation will take advantage of mummy and daddy's trust fund, the free car and allowance, many of us are just as hard working as our parents, and their parents. We just chose to spend our money in different ways. Things that make us happy now are much different to those in 1960, you can debate all you want about how society has crumbled to globalisation and I'm an absolute sucker for buying that bag. But lifestyle has changed since then, and I'm sure that your parents thought the same about you. I may never get the chance to 'throw away' money like that again, with mortgage rates the way they are. So why not just go all out and be young and stupid?
I found this interesting video on Hungry Beast about the company Zara. I haven't included it in this post to validate anything I've said, I just thought that it was extremely interesting. Check it out if you can on the ABC. I constantly sit in awe at their ability to tell stories.
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