We all know Madonna's hit "Material Girl" and probably all know someone who fits that song's description perfectly. While having your own things is nice, wasting money on expensive, temporary things is not something to make a frequent habit.
Personally, I try to spend my money on experiences rather than material things. Experiences cannot be stolen, broken, or lost, and are hardly forgotten. When I'm old and losing my memory, I'm not going to remember the things I bought in the most fun years of my life- I'm going to remember the incredible experiences I had.
People who are older than me like to take jabs at me for spending money on concert tickets, road trips, and things like that. But they just assume that I'm also buying material things on top of that, which then makes them assume that I'm completely broke. To be completely honest, I can't remember the last time I bought something for myself. Now that I'm in college, most of my clothes are hand-me-downs, I do lots of DIY things for my house instead of buying decorations, and all I really spend money on is food, gas, and my dog. That leaves plenty of money to save and spend on things I really want to DO. Not have, but do.
For example, I got to go to my town's biggest annual music festival and see Chance the Rapper, Twenty One Pilots, Mumford and Sons, Weezer, and lots of other favorite bands of mine. I'll probably never get the opportunity to see those bands again, especially for that price. I also saved money to see Stevie Nicks (who is my favorite person ever and whose song I'm named after so it was super special) in March and wouldn't take back the experience for anything.
I also went to Dallas to visit my boyfriend at school and while that was expensive, we had a ton of fun and it helped with our long-distance relationship a lot- so it was definitely worth it.
People who make snide comments about spending money on things like that obviously don't understand the value of experiences, especially long-term. People like that find more value in material things than good times with friends and family, and that makes me so sad for them.
People who bring you down for wanting to have great times are probably just jelly that you didn't take them with you to the concert or road trip and are just haters. Spend your money on things that make you happy and don't let other people influence you to spend your money in ways you don't want to. Go out there and have fun experiences the way you want to- you only live once.
