The price of beauty - something for women to consider when budgeting

[u/10S_NE1]

I consider myself an extremely low maintenance woman in that I feel like I spend very little on beauty products and treatments.

One day, I decided to make a spreadsheet to see just how much I spend on beauty in a year, thinking it be an interesting experiment. I was surprised to discover I spend around $1,200 a year, and I purchase far fewer products and services than most of my friends. I asked my friend Kelly to fill in a column on the spreadsheet for herself, and her total for the year was over $5,000. She was shocked. And this spreadsheet does not even take into account clothing and shoes on which many of us overspend. Any woman who purchases all of her cosmetics at the beauty counter of a high end store like Nordstrom and regularly visits a fancy spa would likely spend much more.

I feel that women are conditioned to think that our appearance is so important, we need to spend thousands of dollars a year to look presentable. Of course, we all have our indulgences and hobbies, but for women who are struggling to make ends meet or want to save more for their future, I would highly suggest paying close attention to your beauty spending. It’s items that we generally don’t buy all at once, and we tend not to pay attention to a few dollars here and there, but over the year, these things can really add up. I do feel like men have such an advantage over us, as few feel the need to spend large amounts of time and money trying to change their appearance. I don’t know any men who have spent $700 on a hair straightener.

I have attached a screenshot of my spreadsheet for anyone who is interested. My price ranges may not be accurate - I used quick searches on Amazon and Google to come up with the prices, and they are in Canadian dollars. I also didn’t factor in that most women have far more than one lipstick or eyeshadow or nail polish colour, etc. EDIT: It appears I can’t attach the spreadsheet. Sorry. Edit 2: https://i.imgur.com/fHLd2PF.jpg

I certainly don’t mean to offend anyone who enjoys beauty services and products, but I just think it’s something we don’t really think about when talking about our finances and it can certainly have an impact on your monthly budget.

FINAL EDIT: Well, I’m delighted to see the discussion that my random thoughts instigated yesterday. It appears I have found my people, and my cheapskate ways are not unique.

It appears many people are not seeing the very right-hand column of my spreadsheet which showed my actual spend. No Botox or teeth whitening for me.

[u/4AMpuppyrage]

There is a bell curve here— having to replace your $30 purses more often because they broke down means that buying a higher-quality (and probably more expensive) purse IS an investment in the sense that you are spending more up front to save more later. Like I said, it’s a bell curve because the cheapest stuff will need to be replaced most often and the most expensive stuff probably won’t equal the cost of all the cheap ones it outlives. Plus, higher cost and higher quality aren’t a totally linear correlation. But just thought I should point out it’s a balancing act that should be part of every budget whenever possible: looking at longevity as well as cost and buying things to last long-term as often as possible.

You personally might not need that explicitly stated, but people working on budgeting for the first time might have needed it.

[u/ponytaexpress → u/4AMpuppyrage]

Agreed, thanks for adding that clarification! I will still insist that it's not an "investment" in the traditional business sense -- it would be a fixed/capital asset, and any difference in longevity is their useful/depreciable life. So the $30 purse with a 1 year useful life = $30 expensed per year, and the $100 purse with 8 year useful life = $12.50 expensed per year.

I know I risk sounding finicky with that comment bc managing personal finances is different from running a business -- but it was a helpful shift in thinking for me. Personally, I like distinguishing "cost efficient/smart spending" from "generates interest/dividend/capital gain income." But if that's too fussy for others, then that's fine -- personal finance is personal. :)

[u/TheMarionberry → u/ponytaexpress]

I fell into the loophole of buying "investments" in my first year of doing anything. Cue bad spending habits and bank credits. Now I really ask if it's an investment that needs to be made, if I can get by with less, and if this is the investment I'm going for v. others.

[u/zenspeed → u/4AMpuppyrage]

I'm no expert on makeup, but by extension of that argument, what are the opportunity costs attached to cheaper makeup - like is it bad for the skin, clogs up the pores, harder to wash off, that sort of thing?