Why???

Why did someone give this to me for Christmas? Found it while gathering items to donate to Goodwill...

Bra-llelujah!

Ok, male readers-- just stop right here. This one's not for you. Ladies, read on.

How much would you spend for a bra? And what would make it worthwhile for you to spend a lot?

I personally have not spent a ton of money on bras in my lifetime, compared to the average woman, I suppose. I have always found wearing one extremely torturous-- and I mean EXTREMELY. I have some back pain issues that make it really uncomfortable to have anything digging in back there. I also hate the feeling of something tight around my chest. I also don't like anything itchy and scratchy, or with little sharp spots. And I have the kind of shoulders that straps always slip off of. In short, I'm just very sensitive to all the things about bras that a lot of other people seem to take for granted as something you just have to deal with.
Fortunately, I've often been able to avoid wearing a bra altogether. I've always been on the small side, so a camisole was a fairly viable substitute. But there are times when a camisole just doesn't cut it. And for those times, I have searched high and low for bras that would work.
Here was my list of necessary features:

• Straps that wouldn't slip down, so preferably a racerback style
• Straps that wouldn't dig in
• No lace or anything remotely itchy
• Lightly lined/padded cups for "modesty"
• Preferably a front closure
• No sportsbra mono-boob
• No underwire jabbing into me
  

I found some bras at the Gap that were close-- a racerback style, front closure, light padding. The had underwires but I was able to cut them out with a pair of sharp scissors. They were almost bearable to wear but the straps had a little metal loop and stitching where they joined the cup-- totally unnecessary and totally itchy. I bought two anyway, but then over the years I had them mostly sitting in my drawer, I seemed to gain some weight and was suddenly a B cup rather than an A.
I bought another style at the Gap that was pretty good for comfort, but the straps were always falling off my shoulders. It was actually meant to be a convertible bra that you could wear with the straps crossed over, but since the closure was in the back, it was almost impossible to get into without either all sorts of contortions or a friend to help you out.
I bought many other bras along the way and had bra-fitting ladies make sure I was buying the right size. I did research online. I tried sportsbras, despite the dreaded mushing effect. Nothing worked.
And then... Bra-llelujah!
That's what it's called-- the SPANX Bra-llelujah! Full Coverage Front-Close Underwire Bra. Oh my god, it was different! The straps are wide and soft and stretchy. The chest strap is wide and soft and stretchy. The cups are padded and comfy and even though it has underwires, they don't dig in. There's one little place on the chest strap where there's a bit of decorative stitching that I wish they'd left out, but it's not too itchy. It closes in the front. It's my dream bra! I went shopping with a friend who wears bras that would drive me up the wall and claims she can forget they're on, and even she went bug-eyed when she tried on the Spanx bra, saying how comfortable it was. But here's the only thing that bummed us both out a bit-- it costs $62.
Most of the bras I've bought were probably in the $20-30 range. I think once I may have spent closer to $50. I'm don't think I've ever spent $62. But I did not hesitate for even a second before I bought it.

I can't help thinking that the woman who founded Spanx is brilliant. The bras aren't their main claim to fame-- it's the "shapewear"-- but she's obviously realized that comfortable undergarments are something that is very valuable to a lot of women. This isn't to say that price isn't an issue at all-- but she also started an lower-priced offshoot line called "Assets" that is sold at places like Target and Loft. Those bras didn't look quite as comfortable to me, but if I have a chance to check them out in a store, I will.

There's one other thing you may be thinking: "that Spanx bra may be comfortable, but it isn't the sexiest-looking thing..." All I can say to that is... no, it isn't. I guess if your intention is to have someone want to rip your bra off, it doesn't matter how comfortable it is while it's on. But on the flip side, I'll probably look sexier while wearing the Spanx bra because I won't constantly be squirming and breaking out in hives and grimacing in pain.

I only just recently bought the Spanx bra, so I'm still waiting to see how it will hold up under repeated washings-- if it doesn't, I may start to regret the $62 more. And it does have some competition from another bra I bought the same day, which is now my #2 runner-up comfy bra: Warner's Womens Invisible Bliss Front Close Bra. It's only $32 and a little cuter, though still not quite Agent Provocateur material. And with bras costing around $200, that's where you should go if you want Spanx to seem cheap.

2010 Year End Recap

Well the year came to a close in an interesting and good way.

First of all, let's look at my net worth as of 12/31/10:
Cash and Bank Accounts: $66,039
Retirement (401k and Roth IRA): $320, 626
Other Investments (mutual funds @ E*Trade): $51,294
Bonds $5,197
Home Equity $82,592
Credit Card Balance -$2,615
TOTAL: $523,133

Now you may be thinking, as I did, whoa! Her net worth as of a month before was only $479,273! Did her net worth really increase 9.15% in one month? Well, I did receive $9,000 more of my inheritance from Great Aunt Minnie, and the stock market did ok... but what I also discovered is that I had the wrong symbol in Quicken for one of my mutual funds and therefore the wrong price, so my net worth has been understated by several thousand dollars for I don't know how long. So I not only blew away my original year end goal of $450,000, I sailed past the half-million dollar mark, which was totally unexpected. Pretty cool.

As for my income and expenses, here's a look at the totals for 2010 vs. 2009:

	2009	2010	Var.	% Var.
Income
Bonus	$11,765	$17,288	$5,523	47%
Gift Received	$1,309	$24,200	$22,891	1749%
Interest Inc	$776	$502	-$274	-35%
Other Inc	$6,503	$6,386	-$117	-2%
Salary	$96,206	$99,373	$3,167	3%
Tax Refund	$4,211	$2,873	-$1,338	-32%
Total Income	$120,770	$150,623	$29,853	25%
Expenses
Bank Charge	$160	$97	-$64	-40%
Business expense	$0	-$7	-$7	N/A
Charity	$468	$1,055	$586	125%
Clothing	$1,639	$2,648	$1,009	62%
Dining	$7,895	$8,552	$656	8%
Education	$406	$455	$49	12%
Entertainment	$663	$448	-$214	-32%
Gifts Given	$962	$1,924	$963	100%
Gym & Fitness	$1,317	$1,361	$44	3%
Household	$1,337	$760	-$577	-43%
Home Insurance	$335	$335	$0	0%
Housing	$14,384	$14,171	-$213	-1%
Medical	$1,938	$4,556	$2,619	135%
Misc	$2,215	$3,412	$1,197	54%
Taxes	$30,325	$34,053	$3,728	12%
Subscriptions	$956	$743	-$213	-22%
Travel	$1,712	$4,803	$3,091	180%
Utilities	$1,936	$2,454	$518	27%
Total Expenses	$68,648	$81,819	$13,171	19%
Net Savings	$52,122	$68,804	$16,683	32%
% of Gross Income Saved	43.16%	45.68%

A few notes:

• As noted elsewhere, I received a $24,000 inheritance from a family member.
• Other Income is matching 401k contributions from my employer.
• Interest is down because I shifted quite a bit of money from bank accounts into investment accounts.
• Charity and Gifts Given are up for reasons explained in this post.
• Medical is way up because I had a crown and root canal and exceeded the annual cap on my dental insurance.
• Miscellaneous is up mainly because I bought an iPhone and some apps.
• Travel is up because I didn't do much of a vacation last year, but this year I went to Turkey and splurged a little on hotels even though my air ticket was purchased with frequent flyer miles.
• Utilities is up because of the higher monthly costs of the iPhone.
• Subscriptions is down because I canceled my NY Times delivery at home, since I spend so much time at Sweetie's place. Household is lower for the same reason
• I'm pretty consistent but I let a few categories creep up a bit without any real reason, particularly Dining. I still like eating out and drink too much-- everyone has to have a vice, right?
• Clothing was also higher but I really needed some new work clothes and shoes, so I'm not too concerned about that.

But the bottom line is that I continue to save a lot of my income. If not for the inheritance, I would have saved less than I did last year, but at least some of that was due to more giving, and higher taxes because I earned more. It's not like I went crazy buying tons of stuff, even if I did allow myself a few treats like an iPhone, some clothes and a vacation.

Now I have to look ahead at 2011... what should my next net worth goal be? Should I make any changes to my budget? This could be the year when I rent out my apartment and move in with Sweetie, which could change things a lot. And I need to take a close look at my investment allocations, which I haven't done in a while. So much to think about! And write about here... I'm going to try to post more frequently this year. So happy 2011! As always, onward and upward!

Emergency Clothes Shopping

Single Ma's post about wanting "hawt" spring clothes made me laugh... and reminded me that my own spring shopping, so far, hasn't been that pleasurable. I've definitely had the itch to buy some new duds, but I haven't had the time or energy to really focus on it, until I was forced to!

This is one of those nightmare scenarios, but it could have been worse: a couple of weeks ago, I was all dressed up in a suit, for a big off-site meeting where I had to help make an important presentation. We nailed the presentation, and afterwards, I stopped in the ladies' room before getting on the subway back to the office. While I was in the bathroom, I bent over to pick up something I'd dropped, and in doing so managed to slam my butt against the corner of a waste bin. For a few seconds, all I could think was "ouch!" But then my brain suddenly focused on the sound I'd heard as it happened: "rrrrrip!" My hand flew to my backside, and sure enough, I discovered a huge tear in my pants-- through the fabric, through the lining, and indeed through a bit of my own skin too!
I think my jaw literally dropped, thinking "OH SH*T! I'm in a client's office, with a giant hole in the butt of my pants-- what do I do??" Luckily, I remembered then that although my suit jacket would not cover the hole, the raincoat I had on that day would. I was incredibly glad the meeting was over and that all I had to do was put my coat on and get out of there! But I did have to go back to my office for the rest of the day-- and was I really going to be able to sneak around with my back to the wall all afternoon? I didn't think so.
My solution was to head straight for everyone's career-wear standby, good old Ann Taylor. I don't always have good luck with clothes there, but fortunately, I found a decent pair of black pants that fit pretty well and were only a teensy bit too long. Since I was wearing a black top under my suit, the black pants still made a nice outfit even though they didn't match the lighter color or pattern of the suit jacket. I bought them and wore them out of the store.
The pants, of course, weren't on sale-- that would have just been too lucky, wouldn't it? The total including tax came to about $140. Under the circumstances, it seemed a small price to pay for the convenience of immediate full butt-coverage. But I seem to remember having seen these same pants on sale a couple of months ago, in some buy-two, get x% off deal, so it was annoying to have to pay so much for them. But of course if I'd bought them months ago, I'd have had to go home and get them on the day my suit pants ripped! Which would have made the whole experience an even bigger pain in the ass...
So the real moral of this story, I guess, is that if you're an on-the-go career gal (or an on-the-go career klutz) who has to look sharp, you should always buy black tops and pants whenever they're on sale and then stash a few extras in your office! And don't bend over without checking very carefully behind you!

P.S. SingleMa, would wearing a sharp suit with a hole in the butt make me a "hawt mess?"

P.P.S. Yes, everyone, this is a true story, despite today's date!

An Avatar's Open Wallet

Here's an interesting concept: spending virtual dollars to live an online live that is much more luxurious than your real one: No Budget, No Boundaries: It’s the Real You

It may be raining pink slips, and some people may be hard-pressed to make the rent, much less splash out on a pagoda-shoulder jacket from Balmain, but Vixie Rayna is hardly feeling the pinch. Not a month goes by in which she isn’t spending as much as $50,000 on housing, furniture or her special weakness: multistrap platform sandals, tricked out in feathers and beads.

Recession or no, Ms. Rayna isn’t reining in her fantasies, or her expenditures — at least not in the virtual world. In a simulated universe like There.com, IMVU.com or Second Life.com, the granddaddy of avatar-driven social networking sites, Ms. Rayna, an avatar on Second Life, and her free-spending cohort can quaff Champagne, teleport to private islands and splurge on luxury brands that are the cyber equivalent of Prada waders or a Rolex watch. Real-world consumers may have snapped shut their wallets. But in these lavishly appointed realms it is still 2007, and conspicuous consumption is all the rage.

All this is not to say that online spending is purely virtual: people spend real money on this, albeit not as much as these things would cost in real life:

In most virtual worlds, memberships are free, but players trade real money for virtual currencies, used to buy products, save up in an account or eventually redeem for real money. About 70,000 Therebucks on There.com, or 10,000 Lindens in Second Life, each about $40, can buy a choice of simulated wares, from several pairs of thigh-high boots to a plot of land. What’s more, as Mr. Wilson pointed out: “Everything fits; things don’t wear out. The virtual world represents a different value proposition.”

In their day-to-day lives, shoppers like Mandy Cocke, Vixie Rayna’s real-life alter ego, have sharply trimmed their spending. When times were flush, Ms. Cocke, a nurse in Virginia, parted with as much as $1,000 a month on designer shoes and clothing. Lately, though, “pretty much every possible expense makes me ask, ‘Do I really need this?’ ” she said.

But online, their acquisitive lust rages unabated, fueling a robust economy driven mostly by avatar-to-avatar transactions estimated at between $1 billion and $2 billion a year in real dollars. Second Life, the most successful and most familiar of such sites, does not disclose retail revenues. But it reported a 94 percent surge in its overall economy in this year’s second quarter over the same period a year ago.

I've never tried out Second Life and don't really have any desire to, but this has made me very curious about it! What fascinates me is that if these online avatar worlds are booming exactly when the rest of the economy is tanking, it has to be because people need to spend less money in order to buy an equal or greater feeling of spending money! Some people just enjoy the idea of spending money and having stuff, even if it's totally imaginary. They'd rather spend $50 a month on the equivalent of $20,000 worth of virtual clothes than $50 worth of real clothes. Personally, I don't get this, especially with clothing-- to me, half the pleasure of good quality, expensive clothes is how they feel against your skin, not just how they look. If you're just seeing something in pixels, the whole concept of a high-end brand vs. a knockoff is totally meaningless.

Readers, I'd love to hear comments from you if you've tried this-- how much money are you willing to spend on an online avatar as opposed to your real self?

Fancypants Lawyers

Literally! Here's a nice light-hearted topic for a change:

Women lawyers at City firm Clifford Chance have been given a £90 lingerie allowance. How should they spend it?

Women lawyers at top [London] City firm Clifford Chance are bucking the trend for reduced expenses now that their £90 lingerie-and-blouse allowance, if they work later than 11pm, has been reinstated. Inevitably dubbed the "90 nicker knicker allowance", this may or may not be the most reliable indicator yet that the credit crunch is over.

Now that is a fascinating benefit I've never heard of any other company offering. At current exchange rates, £90, aka 90 nickers, is about $144, which should suffice to buy some very pretty panties. But what about men? Do they get to expense their undies if they work late too?

Is Eye Candy Always Expensive?

This post from The World of Wealth reminded me of something I'd been trying to write about a few months ago. First, an excerpt from MEG's post:

It's been over a month since I joined my new upscale gym, and I have never looked back!

It costs over $130 a month (compared to the $44 a month I used to pay for a regular gym), but I have not had even a twinge of buyer's remorse.....

Going to the gym makes me feel strong, healthy, and energetic, but this one in particular - like any upscale spa or designer boutique - also makes me feel pampered, composed, and worthy.

Also, there is plenty of good eye-candy!

That last line was the kicker for me (emphasis mine). The post I'd been working on several months ago was inspired by two lunches I had at places near my office, one being a typical NYC pizza joint, and the other an upscale, expensive, gourmet Italian cafe. I never got very far writing it, but the tentative title was "Where Do the Beautiful People Eat Lunch," because it seemed to me that the more expensive the lunch spot, the more attractive the clientele was, which seems to have been MEG's observation about gyms as well. Are expensive places really frequented by cuter customers? How might that work in terms of cause and effect, or mere correlation?

There's some logic to thinking people are more likely to be attractive if they can afford upscale lunches and gyms-- money can't create good looks, but it can certainly help enhance an otherwise average appearance. People of a higher socio-economic status are also more likely to be healthier and less overweight, which can improve one's looks. And in the case of restaurants, people who eat pizza for lunch every day might indeed be less healthy than those consuming organic salads from the gourmet place.

Then there's the question of who can afford the more expensive places: I'm sure I've read of plenty of studies showing that attractive people are more likely to be hired for jobs, and paid better. I can't cite any of those studies now, but I think this is something most of us would instinctively believe is true, whether or not it should be!

And there are psychological reasons-- if people value the things that differentiate upscale places from their less expensive counterparts, they are also more likely to prioritize appearance and wear the sorts of clothes or jewelry that might be judged fashionable or attractive by others. And from the perspective of the beholder, perhaps we are predisposed to find people more attractive because we think they have money.

Of course, all of this is very subjective-- everyone has different definitions of what is attractive in the first place. If your aesthetic tends more towards artsy thrift-store skinny-hipster chic, you might not find much eye candy at any gym, at least not in the weight room!

Where do you find your eye candy? Does it have anything to do with money?

May 2009 Spending

Here are my May expenses, to complete the monthly wrap-up I started the other day.

Outflows
Business expense		$ 19.45
Clothing		$ 890.79	*
Dining:
Breakfast	$ 36.52
Dinner	$ 272.70
Groceries	$ 109.69
Liquor	$ 132.65
Lunch	$ 113.36
Total Dining		$ 664.92
Entertainment:
Movies	$ 5.41
Entertainment - Other	$ 40.00
Total Entertainment		$ 45.41
Gifts Given		$ 78.77
Household:
Laundry	$ 23.50
Household - Other	$ 52.00
Total Household		$ 75.50
Housing		$ 4,074.17	**
Investment Exp		$ (19.99)	***
Medical:
Dental	$ 5.56
Doctor	$ 60.00
Flex spend	$ 41.66
Health Insurance	$ 74.20
Total Medical		$ 181.42
Misc:
Personal care	$ 100.00
Misc - Other	$ 73.17
Total Misc		$ 173.17
Taxes:
Federal	$ 891.14
Medicare	$ 113.74
NYC tax	$ 207.78
SDI	$ 2.60
Soc Sec	$ 486.31
State	$ 354.12
Total Taxes		$ 2,055.69
Subscriptions:
Internet Access	$ 29.95
Magazines	$ 49.95
Newspapers	$ 42.40
Total Subscriptions		$ 122.30
Travel:
Commute	$ 76.00
Total Travel		$ 76.00
Utilities:
Gas & Electric	$ 61.48
Telephone	$ 76.64
Total Utilities		$ 138.12
Total Outflows		$ 8,575.72

Nothing too weird this month. Clothing was high because A) it's just that time of year when I want to buy new clothes, B) I bought 3 pairs of shoes from Zappos which have already been returned and C) I bought Sweetie $300 worth of stuff for which I'm being reimbursed here and there via meals, groceries, and miscellaneous stuff like plants. Housing is a whopper this month because I sent an extra payment of $2,000 towards the principal of my mortgage. The negative amount for investment expense was a refund of a trade fee from E*Trade.

My salary for the month was $8,017, and I had a couple hundred dollars additional income from interest and dividends. That makes it look like I'm in the red for the month, but that $2,000 to the mortgage wasn't really a true expense, as it goes into home equity and contributes to my overall net worth. I also contributed over $1,400 to my 401k this month.

Next month I'm planning to do a 6-month recap of my expenses vs. my budget, as well as a comparison to my expenses in past years. Should be fun!

Spring Fling... Sensual Spending

There must be something in the air as April comes to a close as the weather starts flirting with summer. On the one hand, I seem to be having some crazy allergy symptoms. And then there's the fact that I flipped out and bought a pink trench coat that came to almost $170 with tax.


I wouldn't have bought pink as my first choice, but otherwise it was exactly what I'd been wanting for a long time. And it didn't come in any other colors. And then I said, what the heck, I probably need a little more pink in my life. (It was from Club Monaco, in case any of you feel a similar fit of madness coming on!)

Thinking about this further, I wonder if the color pink triggers some kind of crazy spending impulse in my brain, as I have also bought pink shoes that were impractical, if not terribly expensive. Though other than that, my spending trigger color has tended to be grey-- if it's charcoal grey and it's a sweater, I have a hard time resisting. And my other sensual spending triggers are more about texture than color-- soft cashmere, buttery leather, the almost silky touch of a certain denim... some things just feel so good, you want to spend money on them!

Have the sensations of spring stimulated your spending?

People Want Cheap Stuff

Boy, have we become a price-conscious country. More people are shopping at Wal-Mart. Inexpensive paperback books are outselling hardcovers by ever wider margins. And L. L. Bean is highlighting a whole range of items that are still the same price they were in 1995:


Enjoy it while it lasts!

Women Get Taken to the Cleaners

Remember this post? Price Discrimination at Dry Cleaners

So I hand the girl my two shirts and she says "are these man shirts or lady?" I look at her blankly and she says, "oh, these are ladies blouse, so dryclean." I say no, that I don't want them drycleaned, just laundered, no starch. She says they only do that for men's shirts, and that women's shirts have to be drycleaned, at a cost of $2.50 vs. $1.50 each. I argue that that is ridiculous, as all collared cotton shirts are the same and they should charge based on the service rendered, not what gender wears the shirts. She doesn't budge, so I told her I would be taking all my laundry and drycleaning business elsewhere.

Well, I'm not the only one. Check out this article from today's New York Times.

For women across New York City and beyond, it basically amounts to being taken to the cleaners. Women’s shirts often cost much more to launder than men’s, even if they are smaller and made of the same cloth.

Many women grudgingly accept the higher prices, much as they accept the perennial lack of pockets in their pants and the lengthier lines outside their restrooms. But not Janet Floyd, a 44-year-old mother, community volunteer and newly minted missionary for gender equality in the wash place.

Ms. Floyd’s crusade began in November, when, she said, she and her husband brought their nearly identical blue Brooks Brothers oxfords to be laundered at Best Cleaners in Chelsea. The shirts came back clean, but Ms. Floyd discovered that hers cost $8.75, his $7.

And yes, that is where I totally choked. $8.75 vs. $7? For one shirt? My current price for drycleaning a shirt may be a bit higher than the $2.50 price I paid in April 2007, but I think it's still $3 or less. Janet Floyd pays extra to have both her and her husband's shirts hand-ironed, which make the price discrepancy even more outrageous-- the standard justification for charging more for women's shirts is that they do not fit on the pressing machines used for larger men's shirts. Anyway, I feel Ms. Floyd's pain but I can't imagine paying $7 and up to have a shirt cleaned by any method!

Is this a problem particular to New York? How much do places in other areas charge to launder shirts?

Expensive Cufflinks

I've been trying desperately to figure out what I'll give my sweetie for Christmas. Among other ideas, I thought a nice pair of cufflinks would be a good idea, and probably relatively inexpensive. I happened to pass by Paul Smith yesterday, and thought, ooh, I'll bet they have some snazzy cufflinks. Now, I knew Paul Smith is not cheap. But I thought in this economy pretty much everyone is trying to appeal to the price conscious consumer, right? Well... not so much.
The Paul Smith cufflinks started at about $125 a pair, much like the ones listed on their website here. But most of their selection was actually $200 and up... and they even had some that were about $600!
For some reason the idea of spending $600 on cufflinks just blew my mind. I suppose many people wouldn't consider $600 an outrageous amount for an item of jewelry like a ring or a necklace, but cufflinks seem so much lower-profile! And it wasn't like the $600 ones were encrusted with emeralds or anything...
I personally have never spent more than $200 on a piece of jewelry, for myself or as a gift. And that level of spending is rare-- in my whole life I've probably only spent under $500 on jewelry for myself, not counting watches. But that's me-- I wear jewelry, but I'm just not that into it, and my favorite things are simple pieces. I'm sure many other women would have a totally different perspective on this topic!
Meanwhile, anyone have any ideas for where to buy nice cufflinks?

T.M.I. Friday: Bare Necessities

Welcome back to T.M.I. Friday, an occasional (or more like rare, as is probably best) feature here at My Open Wallet, where personal finance sometimes gets waaaay too personal. I'd like to share with you a little experience I had recently, where you could say I took a commando approach to attacking overspending... that is, a going commando approach.

For the last few months, I've been working on my health and my wealth by going swimming most mornings. This adjustment to my daily routine has led to me working out far more often, and it's changed my breakfast habits so that I eat cereal or fruit or yogurt at home in the morning instead of buying food at the deli near my office. I'm not a morning person, but I seem to be able to drag myself out of the house early enough by getting up, putting my bathing suit on under my clothes, and then showering at the gym.

But for this plan to work, there is one key thing I need to remember, and the other day, I totally forgot until my subway train was in the middle of the Manhattan Bridge, when I suddenly sat upright and realized "Oh @!%$#, I forgot to bring underwear!"

I was appalled, but I took it in stride-- after all, some people go without undies as a matter of preference! And people in third world countries don't always have the luxury of wearing undies. And I suppose it was only a few hundred years ago that undies were even invented, and even more recently that anyone started referring to them as "undies." So I knew it wouldn't be the end of the world not to be wearing any, but it did seem potentially uncomfortable.

First solution that pops into my head? "I'll go to the Gap at lunchtime and just buy the cheapest pair I find in my size." Like many other problems, this was one that could be solved by spending money. But as the day wore on, my desire to remedy the no-pantie situation wore off. It probably helped that I was having a really busy day and didn't want to take the time to go to the Gap, but foremost in my mind was the thought that I'd bought new underwear quite recently, I have a drawerful of underwear that is all in good condition, and why should I spend $3 (if I was lucky) or $6 or $7 or more (as would be more likely) just to avoid feeling like a character out of a bad porn movie? Of course some people spend lots of money precisely because they DO want to feel like a character in a bad porn movie... not that there's necessarily anything wrong with wanting to feel like a character in a bad porn movie... but there's a time and a place for everything... and sitting in a meeting at work is not when I want to feel like a character in a bad porn movie... usually....

Anyway, where was I? The point is that sometimes it's great to JUST SAY NO! I will NOT spend even a few extra dollars if it's not absolutely necessary! It's one of those things that is self-reinforcing: the more you say it, the more you'll find it an easier rule to follow. Try it sometime... but don't feel you have to try the no-undie thing too.

"Her Parents Gave Her a Clothing Allowance"

I overheard a fun little elevator conversation the other day, in which someone talked about an editorial assistant who always had the latest clothes because her parents gave her a clothing allowance. Several women in the elevator, including me, broke the usual elevator code of silence to burst out with the same reaction: "Whoa-- her parents gave her a clothing allowance???"

Parental assistance is certainly not a shocking innovation here in New York City, and if you're an entry level editorial assistant in book publishing these days, you've got to be getting assistance with something from someone or you're going to be living on bread and water. But when you hear about people's parents giving them money, it's usually talked about as being "help with the rent" or "paying for the plane ticket to come home at Thanksgiving." Money is fungible, of course-- if your overall budget includes rent, clothing, and travel, it doesn't matter what the parental gift pays for, as it all goes into the same pot. But I think most parents provide assistance under the (probably deluded) assumption that the recipient really can't make ends meet without it, and that it will go towards a very stripped-down budget consisting only of necessities.

Clothing is not that kind of necessity. Yes, to work in an office, even a book publishing office, you need to look somewhat presentable, and women don't quite have the easy "khakis and shirt" escape that men do. But I've never worked anywhere where a young assistant had to have a constantly updated fashionable wardrobe or risk never getting a promotion-- I can't imagine that being the case anywhere except maybe at Vogue and other high-end women's fashion magazines. If someone's parents want to make sure they are properly clad for their new career, a modest one-time gift should do the trick.

Who knows what the true situation was-- maybe this girl was living on an otherwise extremely strict budget and her parents just wanted her to have one thing in her life where she could give herself a bit of a treat... but I doubt it! What do you think?

How A Job Can Influence Your Personality: Obsessive Folding!

I loved this article from the Wall Street Journal:

Excuse Me, Do You Work Here? No, I Just Need to Fold Clothes

The ranks of obsessive folders have swelled in recent years as a generation of Americans has done stints as clothing-store clerks. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual nonsupervisory employment in clothing and clothing-accessory stores grew to nearly 1.3 million workers in 2007, up nearly 20% from 1990. Gap Inc. says it has trained "hundreds of thousands" of Gap store employees in the art of folding since the late 1980s.

Along the way, legions of retail grads have spent countless hours neatly folding T-shirts and jeans and stacking them on tables and shelves. Now, their peculiar idea of perfection is straining marriages and leading to bizarre behavior ranging from buying clothes based on an item's foldability to straightening up sloppy displays while shopping.

Suddenly, I don't feel so alone anymore! I spent a few summers working in a clothing store where everything was obsessively folded, even more so than at the Gap. My first couple of weeks were spent folding and refolding piles of sweaters when the store wasn't crowded, so I could learn to do it perfectly. (At first, I sometimes had a little bunchiness around the edges-- big no-no.) That perfectionism in clothes folding has never quite left me. My closet isn't quite as anal as it used to be, but I still have very neat piles of sweaters and t-shirts, and if anyone else folds my clothes improperly, I have to re-do them!

Who knew that the jobs that paid for my college textbooks would have this life-long legacy... and who knew that it is also a widespread social trend!

Compare and Contrast

5/1/2008: Is This the World's Cheapest Dress?

At its 264 barnlike stores in malls across the country, including the perpetually mobbed one at the Manhattan Mall in Midtown, Steve & Barry’s offers an assortment of flowery sundresses designed by Sarah Jessica Parker ($8.98), heart-printed hoodies by the Nickelodeon alumna Amanda Bynes ($8.98) and basketball shoes by the New York Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury ($8.98). Lines at the registers are often 20 deep....

The significance of planning a store on Broadway — by the time it opens this fall, it will be around the 300th Steve & Barry’s in the country and the largest in New York — is not lost on Steve Shore and Barry Prevor, childhood friends from Long Island who founded the company in 1985.

During an interview last month in their headquarters in Port Washington, N.Y., Mr. Shore, from Syosset, and Mr. Prevor, from Merrick, both 44, said the location was a logical choice, given its proximity to New York University and their target demographic. It is also intended to send a message to the fashion industry, which has largely underestimated the chain despite sales last year, according to the business-research firm Hoover’s Inc., of $1.1 billion....

Prices at Steve & Barry’s are actually dropping — the $8.98 threshold was introduced as a holiday promotion last year, but remains with no set expiration, Mr. Prevor said. (At the newest store in Waipahu, Hawaii, which opened last Friday, the highest price is $9.98, reflecting increased shipping costs.)

Meanwhile, the company’s sales at locations open at least a year, a crucial indicator of retail health, have increased more than 20 percent each month since January, he said.

7/9/2008: Steve & Barry's files for bankruptcy protection

Steve & Barry's LLC, once a growing force in low-priced fashion retailing, said Wednesday that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest merchant to succumb to a harsh consumer spending climate.

It also announced that it was considering a plan to sell all or some of its assets to repay outstanding debt.

The Port Washington, N.Y.-based chain, which operates 276 locations in 39 states, said that it and 63 of its affiliates filed the petition in the U.S. bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York.

Company officials blamed a cash crunch as a result of the tighter credit markets and general sluggish economic conditions. That hurt its plans to open stores and its ability to borrow money.

Let's go back to the first article for a minute:

Steve & Barry’s, for the uninitiated, is to fashion what Tower once was to music.

Sounds like they're getting more and more like Tower all the time!

Hipsters and Money

Quite a few months ago, TimeOutNY had an issue whose theme was "The Hipster Must Die." Of course this title was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as they'd probably be killing off half their subscriber base, but it got me thinking about the financial aspects of hipsterdom.

First of all, it's a little unclear exactly what a Hipster IS these days. The various elements involved might include being involved in art or music or literature, wearing thrift store clothes, riding a certain type of bike, and generally adopting an attitude of being counter-cultural, or anti-Yuppie. The Hipster embraces a kind of anti-cool cool, and celebrates a certain degree of nerdiness.

New York is full of these types. It's as if the Statue of Liberty were beckoning to them, saying "Give me your tired, your poor, and those who were always being given wedgies in middle school." The supposed non-conformism of Hipsters is kind of a joke here, because they all look the same-- tight skinny jeans, extreme pallor, hats that are otherwise worn only by elderly Puerto Rican men, and retro-geeky sneakers.

(See, I am over it because I am old enough to have seriously wanted those same sneakers as an upscale, aspirational, non-ironic fashion item in the 1980s.)

Some of these elements of hipsterdom are closely associated with money.

For instance, Hipsters tend to like to buy clothes in thrift shops and say they are broke, unlike all those suit-wearing Wall Street types who are getting paid to be conformists. How many Hipsters really are broke? Do Hipsters drink Pabst Blue Ribbon and other cheap beers in cans because they can't afford Belvedere martinis? Or just because it looks cooler to get a bucket of PBRs? Hipsters used to move to Williamsburg because it was cheap. Then Williamsburg started to fill up with yuppies, so the Hipsters had to move on to Greenpoint and Bushwick and who knows where next. Again, is it really the money, or do Hipsters just prefer to have people reply "Where? Is that safe?" when they say where they live? I've already blogged about the tendency of Hipsters to ride the one-gear, no-brakes bikes known as "fixies." These bikes look simple, but they're not cheap: try $800 and up. For a bike with no brakes. In New York City. Smart, huh?

But despite this embrace of at least the appearance of poverty, Hipsters have become a target market, at least in New York. Perhaps recognizing that some of these people actually have trust funds, a savvy real estate company started offering "Home-Buying for Hipsters" seminars at bars in Williamsburg. Great derision followed at real estate sites such as Brownstoner and Curbed, including this gem of a comment:

once you buy a home, you are no longer a hipster. you're a mortgage holding wiener like the rest of us.

What say you, readers? Which would you rather be, a hipster or a mortgage-holding wiener?

Fiercely Frugal: Tyra Banks

Who knew? I've never actually seen Tyra's show, but here's my favorite part of the cover story about her in the New York Times Magazine:

She has no interest in owning the latest designer this or that — her wardrobe, which features form-hugging, low-cut dresses on air and jeans for the office, is mostly within the budget and desires of her audience. At the end of each taping, a photo of Banks, head to toe, is posted on the show’s Web site with links to information on where to purchase whatever she had on.

“I’m frugal,” she said. “I’ve always been this way. When I was young, my mom would give me my allowance, and I’d peel off a little each week and have some to spare.” She looked around the room, which had cream industrial carpeting and walls painted in a shade somewhere between cantaloupe and terra cotta. “When we moved into these offices, I didn’t like the carpet,” she continued. “But do you know what carpeting costs? It’s really expensive. So, I picked out a color palette that would go with this carpet, and I painted the walls instead. Painting is much less expensive than carpet.” She considered this decision for a moment. “One of the first things I ask when I hire someone who deals with the financials of the company is about their spending habits. How you spend money reveals a lot about you.”

Banks does not flaunt her income like some superstars. “As Chris Rock says,” Veronica Webb, who modeled with Banks, told me, “ ‘Tyra’s not drinking Puffy juice and taking Kanye injections.’ She hasn’t become obnoxious because she’s successful. She’s always been a businesswoman and a sweet girl.”

From her two shows, Banks makes an estimated $18 million a year, and her net worth is around $75 million.

Now that's my idea of model behavior!

Notes from a Business Trip

This past weekend, I attended the BookExpo convention in Los Angeles. You can see from this post what the show like a couple of years ago. This year, I didn't have a chance to scour the whole show for financial books, but of course money was still on my mind!

The first aspect of my trip that got me thinking was the route my car service driver took to JFK airport. From the areas of Brooklyn I've lived in, drivers usually opt for routes that are a bit circuitous but consist of major highways-- it's almost as if you have to go from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock and you have the choice of going around the edge, clockwise or counter clockwise. But this time, my driver took a route along a lot of small local roads for the shortest possible trip straight through the middle of the clock. We hit lots of traffic lights and got stuck behind trucks, but I'm not sure it was a bad choice in the end. He might have avoided traffic jams on the highways, but more importantly, he probably saved on gas.
Car service drivers usually have to get as many jobs as they can, as quickly as they can, to make it worth the cost of renting or owning their car. But with higher gas prices, has the balance shifted? Would they rather take the route that conserves fuel even if it takes a bit longer?

On the long flight, I managed to do a lot of reading, including a couple of articles from the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Of note in the NY Times was an article noting that while prices for many things are increasing, clothing is getting cheaper, at least for mainstream brands.

The Journal had an article about the Sex and the City effect on women's career wear. The ultimate verdict is that the kind of fashions the show espouses are more likely to look trashy than status-y in an office. Most high-ranking female executives favor a much more conservative style of dress, with nice details in the cut of a collar, or a swanky scarf or necklace jazzing up the look. I also had to note a mention of a "$3,000 Swarovski-crystal encrusted handbag shaped like the Eiffel tower." Forget professional vs. trashy, that just sounds hideous.

The Journal also had an interview with the CEO of Coach: "Coach Targets China-- And Queens."
The handbag retailer is planning to expand in China, targeting the emerging middle class, since their prices are lower than most European luxury brands. Meanwhile, they plan to open 200 stores in the U.S. over the next several years, bringing the total to 500. This means they will be branching beyond the locations traditionally thought of as high-end retail destinations. In the New York area, they'll be opening in Staten Island and Queens. Here's a few quotes:

"By convincing American women they need to buy several $300 handbags a year, Coach, Inc. has helped shape the "accessible luxury" retail category, producing $2.6 billion in fiscal 2007 sales."

CEO Lew Frankfort: "A lot of my team said, 'Queens? How can you do that?' But our target consumer shops in those stores. We aren't going to advertise it on our marquee: Staten Island, Queens, Tokyo, and Hong Kong... In the first six months, 30% to 50% of our consumers are first-time users. So we are able to attract, in those instances, candidly, a more aspirational consumer."

WSJ: How do you retain the very elite, New York, Madison Avenue customer?
Frankfort: She doesn't go to Queens Center. She doesn't know about it.....

Wow, can we just translate that? "Dear Middle-Class Coach Customer: Having one of our bags makes you look really high-class. Dear High-Class Coach Customer: We only sell to people who are as special as you, not just any old middle-class slob. Dear Coach Stockholders: We are going to sell a gazillion handbags to every woman on the planet."


And finally, at the airport on my way back, I faced a HUGE line for check-in. Those little electronic kiosks haven't helped a bit: now you just have to line up for those instead of for a person, and I had to check a bag so I wouldn't have to ditch my expensive hair product! But outside, the line for curbside check-in was practically non-existent, no doubt due to the new $2 fee. Many people just don't want to pay this fee. Others end up confusing it with the tips that were customarily given to the skycaps anyway, leading to those guys getting stiffed. Anyway, I decided it was worth it not to wait in line and forked over the $2 fee, plus a $2 tip. Funny how a few dollars can sometimes make a big difference!

The Economics of Teeth

I've always felt that preventive dental care is a good investment. Easy for me to say because I have good dental insurance, but even when I was uninsured for a period of time, I still got regular cleanings because I knew that more serious dental problems would cost a lot more, not to mention cause me pain.
Then there's the cosmetic aspect: according to the Freakonomics blog at the NY Times, having nice-looking teeth may help you earn more money (just as anything that makes you more attractive may help you earn more money.)

I was thinking about this issue recently because of a friend of mine, whose teeth are quite stained. She goes to the dentist regularly and has considered evening out and lightening the coloring of her teeth via some sort of coating or veneer, but she doesn't want to do it because it would cost "thousands of dollars." (It didn't sound like potential pain was a factor.) This is a woman who is particular about her appearance, and spends plenty of money on clothes and jewelry, and I'm sure she wouldn't be going broke just from one big dental bill.
In my opinion, people (at least Americans) are much more likely to notice a flawed smile than an expensive watch or a good pair of shoes. So if you care about your appearance enough to spend thousands of dollars on it, why wouldn't you spend money on your teeth before spending it on clothes or accessories?

What would you do? Are there certain appearance-related things you're more willing to spend money on than others? Do you see it as an investment in your career, and if so, do you think some investments in your appearance pay off better than others?