Dear Bank Account; I am so sorry, and I know I do not need
that Faux Fur Coat, but that gal on Insta just told us in a live stream that it’s;
‘completely changed my outfit game’, so now I obviously need it and it’s a matter
of life or death.
All my love as always
xoxo P
Oh Instagram, I feel as though all my posts
are aimed at you in a very negative light at the minute but you’ll be glad to
know that this post isn’t just aimed at you, it’s mainly aimed at our modern
day money grabbing society that makes us feel incomplete without the latest new
trend hanging in our wardrobe. I’ll hold my hands up and admit I am a shopaholic,
send me to therapy and give me the help I need because my god I have an issue. Blogging
has just emphasised this issue dramatically, all bloggers want to be in front
of the trends, we want to promote new items on Instagram and express our love
for the newest pieces from Topshop or Zara or Mango etc etc.. But how is this
manageable, I’ll tell you how, it’s not. Not at all. It’s unethical, unfeasible,
and quite frankly unrealistic for many of our followers to contend with. I work
in retail, so I was doomed straight away when it came to buying clothes, I have
a staff card that is 99.9% of the time always fully maxed out, my problem goes
as far as when my staff card is out of use I generally just use my bank card to
buy yet more clothes from work instead of dealing with the maxed out store card
issue... it’s not good, and it’s becoming something that I am not proud off –
but were does this issue come from? Ill tell ya where, various well published
places.
We’ll start with the app we all love
to hate; Instagram. ‘If she has it, I must have it too’.
The blogging industry is incredible on Instagram
I am in no way doubting that, my god most, if not all, of my pictures on Instagram
are linked with websites of where you can buy exactly what I am wearing, I
collab with brands and share items that I tell you you need on a weekly basis so
please do not think I am aiming this at anyone in particular; I am simply
discussing how damaging this can be for our financial situation and how keeping
up with trends is sometimes very difficult, when like me, you are on a budget.
The inspiration I gain from Instagram on a daily
basis is of the chart however, like I’m sure some of you will agree, all of
these outfit pictures only make me realise what ‘key items’ I am missing from
my own wardrobe, and how uncool and out dated my coat is from last year,
because this year they’ve changed the buttons from black to tortious shell? Although
inspirational, the gram can often make you feel uncool and behind when it comes
to fashion, it is without a doubt, that we all understand that we can not buy Every.
Single. Item. On the ‘New In’ section of Topshop (Unless your daddy owns the
entire company – the dream) but why do I sometimes feel as though I should be
able too? Why do I feel as though I am constantly playing catch up and
constantly unsatisfied unless I have new clothes on in every new post? I know
why, because that other girl on insta somehow manages too and she also does
weekly ‘Fashion Hauls’ and I can barely afford to fill my car up with fuel..
Which leads me straight onto
my next outlet; Youtube.
I am
a sucker for vlogs, fashion hauls, monthly favourites, you name it, I watch it
(generally at the gym, whilst on the treadmill may I add). And my ASOS wish list
is alllwayyys full after watching these videos but I usually never buy
anything, why? I can not afford too. Since I started working full time, and I left
student life behind, my financial situation has plummeted (I feel like this is
a whole other blog post waiting to happen) it’s strange how I was far better
off as a student... but alas that ended and I definitely need to look forward
instead of back – she says.
Youtube is amazing, again it is massively
inspirational and something I use on a daily basis but I just can not compete
with the huge hauls that appear day after day, my current idea of a haul consists
of me buying three tops at once instantly regretting it and contemplating
taking one back, adult life has hit me square in the face over the past couple
of months.
And finally, slightly different to my last
two but just as destructive;
Emails; oh man, these things are dangerous.
Half of the things I buy wouldn’t end up in
my basket if it wasn’t for very clever very tailored marketing. Again, if this
is your job, please don’t get my wrong, you do an impeccable job at drawing me
in and making me spend my hard earned cash, but receiving these emails, weekly,
if not daily can be damaging so last week I took the the huuggge step and I unsubscribed
to (almost) everything (I couldn’t get rid of Topshop, I’m just not that
strong). Yes, no more SALE emails landing in my inbox tempting me to buy all of
last years items now I mainly just receive emails from Paypal telling me my
payment for Netflix has gone..
Despite me complaining about this, its not
going to go away any time soon, marketing through social media is huge whether
we like it or not. My love for blogging and the blogging industry has not
changed, I am still very much as engrossed in it as I was when I began my blog.
However, what I am now, is more aware of the cost that comes with been ‘on
trend’ month in month out. I am a very average gal, with a below average paid job,
whom unfortunately cannot wear different clothes in every single post. When I
began this blog my aim was to show my readers how to get the most out of their
wardrobe by restyling old items – but where did that girl go? She got swept up
into the world of fast fashion and high street trends.
I’m not going to say that I wont continue
to fall victim to seasonal trends, because I will, my lord the outfit I’m
wearing now is mostly all new items to my wardrobe, I’M A HIPOCRITE I KNOW!! But
mark my word, I am exactly like you. If you follow my blog/Instagram you will
have noticed that I wear a lot of items over and over again and I will continue
to do so because, although fashion is disposable, my money is not, and if I
want to achieve anything over the next 12 months, financial wise, I sure as
hell do not need that white t-shirt, which is identical to the 5 I have at
home.
P xx
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