K's sister got married in April, and in September, K's brother is following suit (dear readers, do not begin holding your breath for a third K Family wedding announcement). K's parents have just very generously offered to pay for our tickets to Oklahoma City and our hotel room while we're there. I will still need a dress, and probably new shoes as well. This means that I have to stop pouring the money I usually allocate to that sort of thing into savings, which I've been happily doing for the past couple of months.
On the one hand, I'm disappointed; I enjoyed the momentum I was achieving, and I had begun inching my savings goal (originally $4,500 but recently revised up to $5,000) towards $5,500, and I may not be able to hit that if I start spending money on clothes again. On the other hand, I've been sort of pressing the proverbial pedal to the proverbial metal, and I'm starting to get itchy to have a little more (proverbial?) wiggle room, especially as I eagerly anticipate having a social life again within two weeks (GRE on the 30th!). And obviously, the damage is a lot less than it would have been had K's parents not been inclined to be so generous. So I think I'll try to carry through on my July goals for this next paycheck, but after that I'll scale back, chill out a bit, and start thinking about shoes (I've already got a dress mentally picked out).
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sibling Wedding Take II
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7 comments:
Ouchie... I feel your pain. The wedding I went to 3 weekends ago ended up costing me around $500-between a dress, shoes, hair, gas and hotel... Eeeeeek...
Let's hope that you'll only have to attend ONE sibling wedding per sibling...
Maybe you can find a dress and shoes that will double for something at work? If you can get more wear out of it, perhaps the expense won't be nearly as overwhelming!
Good Luck,
MGB
You are smart enough to not fall into these typical American spending and justification practices -- you write that you NEED a new dress for the wedding. You do not NEED a new dress. One never truly needs a dress. I am 100% certain that you have something in your closet that is perfectly suitable for a wedding. I am also 100% certain that one of your friends has a dress that she can lend you if you insist on wearing something different. Furthermore, I am also 100% certain that you can get a used dress at a consignment shop or on ebay for $20 if you want to be frugal.
Your larger financial goals are much more important than having a new outfit for every occasion.
While I agree with the above post (you probably don't NEED to buy a new dress), everybody likes to feel pretty in a new dress every once and a while and a wedding is the perfect reason! How often do those happen?
That said, I just recently went to my boyfriend's cousin's wedding in style AND on a budget. I found a pretty white linen wrap dress in the back of my closet, so I went shopping for a giant colorful scarf (to avoid wearing all white) and tied it around my waist, paired the outfit with some big colorful jewelry and shoes and voila! I got so many compliments on an outfit that cost me $45 for a scarf.
Just an idea!
Just be careful not to get sucked into the "well, I would have spent XX amount on a hotel anyway, so I can spend up to that amount on other things."
I've done it before. It's a bad habit.
No fear, ashley—I have no idea where the money for the hotel would have come from, as K's sister-in-law-to-be has somewhat more extravagant tastes than his (quite frugal) sister, and has arranged the wedding events to be convenient to the nicest hotel in town, at a cost of $129/night. Eek!
Anonymous, you're right in the technical sense, but you'd be surprised at the leanness of my current wardrobe. The last new dress I bought was in December, and I wore it to Christmas parties and to K's sister's wedding. It's pretty much the only truly formal dress I own at present. I'll continue to wear it, of course, but I have to say while I don't need to wear two different dresses to two family weddings, I would be embarassed to wear the same dress each time I see K's family. It's a little silly, but it's not that silly. I intend to get something that will, as miss goldbug recommends, double as work clothing.
Kris, brava to your resourcefulness! I may have to try to follow suit!
I'm lucky I can borrow from my sister for dresses and clothes. A few of my work clothes were hers.
But if you can buy a dress that doubles as a work and casual one like missgoldbug suggested, it wouldn't be a bad investment.
Shameless plug - but the Calpyso Celle wrap dress is the one I'm wearing to a wedding later this fall and to another wedding in the South closer to winter. You can tie it different ways and if you wear it with some accessories or a scarf or a pashmina, it'll look amazing. Just my two cents.
But you have to treat yourself sometimes otherwise saving so much can get tiring and limiting.
I've decided the same...I've taken after you and started a 'Freedom fund' with a goal of $5000 as well as a travel fund, because my shopping has gotten out of control. August will be a good month to start over....scale back so to speak, and by then, after having been at 'new job' for three months, I should have my money situation together.
Seriously, you've been my money guru and I'm finally (almost) listening.
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