Last year for my birthday I got a Coach purse.
It’s not the flashy kind with the logo all over it.
It’s a well-made, goes-with-everything brown leather bag that I’ll hopefully have for years to come.
Before my boyfriend ponied up the big bucks for a quality purse, the most expensive bag I’d ever had probably cost me all of $30.
I give him a hard time about his love of nice things. His golf clubs, sunglasses, electronics — they tend to be higher-end. But the purchases are always well thought out and seem to last.
Since I started carrying a purse in my teens, I was in the constant cycle of buying cheap bags, watching them fall apart and replacing them with another clearance-bin purchase.
I also seem to do that with my clothes, shoes and jewelry. I spy things for less than $20 at places like Target and T.J.Maxx and scoop them up, just to have to replace them before the end of the season.
But almost a year later, my birthday purse looks like it just came out of the box. So maybe it was a worthy investment after all.
While I like the well-made items from J.Crew, Anthropologie and other higher-end stores, it’s hard to get over the initial sticker shock. But if things are built to last, it might be nice to just have basic wardrobe staples instead of a bunch of pilly cardigans and one-wash-away-from-disintegrating clothes from cheaper stores.
I recently stumbled across an article that said millennials are spending more money than ever on luxury goods. According to the American Express Business Insights report released earlier this year, millennials increased spending on premium fashion and services by 33 percent in 2011.
In between student loan payments, rent, utilities (I’m looking at you, ever-increasing Comcast bill) and car payments, it’s hard to balance the cost/benefit of buying luxury items. For now, I sprinkle in a few nice pieces when I can.
Besides, the one J.Crew dress I own looks even prettier when it’s hanging next to my dozen or so cheap Target sun dresses.
Fellow 20-somethings, have you increased your luxury spending? Do you prefer to buy only a few items at high-end store or will I run into you rummaging the clearance racks? Leave a note in the comments section.
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