Facebook is certainly a time suck, but it can also be a fun way to catch up with old friends and even high school acquaintances. Just yesterday, I followed a rabbit hole of people I had known in high school, which ultimately led to Kimmie’s page.
Where Beauty and Fashion Meet
I’m sure you had a Kimmie in your high school. She is pretty–perhaps beautiful. She wears stylish clothes and is one of the most popular girls in high school. Her parents have a lot of money and are happy to spend that money on their kids.
The Kimmie I went to school with married her high school sweetheart, who was a popular prep himself. Thanks to their Facebook pages, I see that they now have three equally beautiful children.
What struck me most, though, was how pretty Kimmie still is. Some popular, pretty high school girls don’t age well, but at 42, Kimmie is just as pretty, if not prettier, than she was in high school. She looks like she could be a model for a fashionable clothing line. Not just because of her face, but because of the stylish, chic way she dressed.
For a moment, a part of me was a bit envious of her put together, stylish look. But that thought quickly disappeared because I have neither the time nor the inclination to be a fashion plate like Kimmie. (Besides, there’s no way I could pull that look off as well as she does!)
How Not Being Vain Has Saved Me Thousands of Dollars
Women like Kimmie make looking beautiful easy, but I know a lot of time goes into picking just the right clothes, make up, and hair styles. I also know it can be very expensive.
Thanks to my lack of vanity and acceptance that I will never be one of the Kimmie’s of the world, I estimate I’ve saved thousands of dollars.
Here are some of the ways:
Embrace the Features I Have
I would love, love, love to have naturally straight hair, but I was born with naturally curly hair that has become curlier after each pregnancy. Rather than spending time and money straightening my hair regularly, I instead bought a bottle of hair gel to tame the curls and make them more manageable. This one bottle lasts forever!
Take Advantage of DIY
My hair began to go grey when I was 23, long before I had children. By 25, I had to have it dyed for the first time to cover up the grey. I had my hair dyed professionally for about six years. However, for the last ten years, my husband has dyed it for me at home. Every time he does so, we easily save $40 to $60.
Avoid Being a Trend Follower
I tend to rely on the same classic clothes and colors. I don’t follow trends. This allows me to wear the same clothes for years without looking particularly in or out of style at any moment. This also allows me to buy classic pieces at garage sales and second hand stores for a fraction of the retail price.
A Kimmie I will never be, nor do I want to. Instead, I rely on practicality, and doing so has saved me thousands of dollars.
How do you cut costs on personal appearance, care, and grooming? If you like to follow fashion trends, how do you keep it affordable?
I’m not sure if you caught this or not. I suppose if you live in California you might have heard quite a bit about it. If you live far from California, like I do, you maybe haven’t heard much about it at all. But, apparently, California is in the midst of one of the worst droughts on record. The California drought is so bad that the governor of California has declared a drought emergency. During what is traditionally California’s wet season… Take a look at the U.S. Drought Monitor.
If you live in another state, you might ask yourself why the dryness of California should concern you. Well, take a look at these numbers compiled from the 2007 Census of Agriculture. California is the primary provider of a lot of the produce (fresh, frozen, and canned) that you buy. They produce 99% of the Artichokes, 90% of the Avocados, 83% of Grapes, 79% of Lemons, 76% of Tomatoes, 73% of Lettuce, 65% of Nuts, 59% of Strawberries, and 59% of Spinach. And that’s just a sampling from that list. They also grow 100% of the Pomegranates. With no water to irrigate all those crops, some farmers are resorting to bulldozing (literally) their crops and leaving fields fallow.
What will happen if 10-50% of the production in California is lost? All those produce items that they contribute so much to are going to get really expensive. This article on CNBC is reporting that prices are expected to rise by 1.25-1.75% across the board. And it’s not even clear if that increase takes into account the drought in California. Even at an average of 1.5% increase, that’s a pretty significant hit to the wallet. Imagine if it gets closer to 5%! What if it gets worse?
The truth is, it’s not just the food cost that might be on the rise. Power could be affected too. Low water levels due to the drought could me a pretty significant drop in power generation at hydro-electric dams. And those power generation shortages could mean power shortages, brownouts, and will most certainly mean an increase in the cost of electricity to users.
While the cost of power might stay somewhat localized, the cost of food is going to be universal across the country. As the cost of produce increases, more and more people will buy less of it, and switch to eating more affordable food sources. Except, there might not be any more affordable sources. If cattle producers can’t water their pastures, there’s less grass for the cows to eat. And if there’s less grass to eat, they might have to start supplementing with grains. Which will increase the demand on grains, and raise the price of grain as well. The price of meat and dairy is likely to rise significantly too.
We’ll see, of course, just how bad it gets as the summer season progresses. Many of us will be desperately finding ways to stretch what produce we can buy, and create extra room in our budget for extra food costs. It’s not going to collapse the economy, I don’t think. At least not yet. But it is very likely that it’s going to create a very tight summer in many budgets.
The Olympics have been on for a week now, and across the world, young children are watching and finding themselves thinking of Olympic glory. Every time the Olympics air, young children are inspired. If they’re already in a sport, they may work harder, dreaming of Olympic gold. If they haven’t yet started a sport, they may want to begin to see if they, too, can be like their Olympic idols.
Yet, as parents, should we encourage these dreams?
The Financial Toll of Pursuing an Olympic Dream
Being an Olympian extracts a heavy financial toll on a family, not to mention the time commitment.
Is this a worthwhile dream for our children, or are we setting them up for failure?
When I was young, my teacher was friends with a family whose college-aged son was training to be a speed skater. His family had to hold fund raiser after fund raiser just to pay for his training. Meanwhile, because of the time commitment for training, he was unable to hold a regular job, so he also needed money for living expenses. In the end, he didn’t make it to the Olympics to compete, let alone try for a medal.
Was all that time pursuing his dream a waste of money and time?
The Financial Rewards of Being an Olympian
The glory, the fame, and the money from endorsements are only for those who receive a medal, usually a gold medal. Those who reach this pinnacle can expect a handsome return on their time and money investments. Take Michael Phelps, Olympic swimmer, who is reportedly worth $30 million thanks to endorsement deals. Shaun White, two-time Olympic gold medalist for snowboarding, brings in an estimated $7 million a year in endorsements (The Examiner). Yet, the chance of reaching the pinnacle of your sport is very rare.
Is this a worthwhile dream to pursue?
If an Olympian doesn’t win gold and reap the endorsements, she can often find herself able to create a job as a sports commentator or as a coach. These can be good jobs that keep the athletes in the field they love. But is all the money they spent to train for the Olympics worth the career choice? Can being a coach really help justify the money spent to pursue an Olympic dream?
Many people may argue that the point of the Olympics is not about the finances. The Olympics are about pushing yourself and trying to reach your goals. They’re about training to become the best athlete you can be.
This is a noble goal, but is it worth the expense and sacrifice to family, friends, and athletes?
A Better Way to Pursue an Olympic Dream?
If my child were to express an interest in being a world class athlete, I would encourage him to train as he could when he was young, but the goal for me personally would be for him to receive a full ride athletic scholarship to college. If he could reach his Olympic goals from there, wonderful. If he couldn’t, then at least he would have had the chance to compete at the collegiate level, and he would also have an education.
Would you encourage your child’s Olympic dreams? If so, how?
