personal upkeep

[houseelf]

Personal Upkeep (aka how vain are you?)

Although I like to think that I'm low maintenance , I actually spend a nice little chunk of change in this area of the budget. One of the books I checked out of the library spelled out all the millions of little things we gals spend cash on. I'm afraid to write this all down.

Crest Whitestrips
Professional Haircut/brow wax 3 times a year by student at chic salon
Hair color (done by myself)
Manicure (once or twice a year at most)
Facial (once a year for gift)
Dermatologist skin care line (very expensive gift from mom)
Expensive moisturizer and eye cream (usually gifts)
SPF 50 sunblock everyday
Disposable contacts
Occasional splurges at Ann Taylor, Chicos, and the like for decent threads
Drug store makeup and occasional dept. store mascara
costume jewelry (even the kind that I make myself costs $$$)
Decent shoes and blue jeans (won't scrimp here!)
workout clothes
Massages (approximately one a year after long run)


Egads...Vainity is my weakness. Being a girl is expensive! Anyone else willing to fess up?

Kelly

Oh, Kelly, don't feel too bad.... . I'll meet you and raise you. I, too, would like to think I am low maintenance but I am not. I do point out to DH how very little bathroom and shelf space I need for my girlie things. Quantity is made up for with...expense...and I'm a sucker for massages. When there is spare cash, this is usually the first place it goes.

:-{} (That is supposed to be a wears lipstick emoticon).

[mommax3]

I do not mess around with my hair. It is very thick and stubborn and I have a *lot* of it. If I can find someone who can cut it in a way that works WITH it, instead of against it, requiring styling time in the morning that I do NOT have, I will pay them well. If they can highlight/lowlight in such a way that it is not obvious, but looks good.....I will pay them even better.

Other than haircuts every 5 weeks, and color every 3 months, I would have to add a brow wax about every three months as well. Manicures....never. I have had about five manicures in my life, and they were all ruined within the first 24 hours. Pedicures.....maybe 4 or 5 a year. Disposable contacts here, too. My make-up (which I wear every day) is either Mary Kay or drugstore stuff, although my sister got me a Bare Minerals kit for Christmas.....I need to find time to play with it! If I like it, I sense I could succumb to temptation in this area, especially because a Sephora just opened here.....I love that place. My clothes are from either Old Navy, Kohls, or another large department store. My shoes are usually nicer brands that were either on sale or were at DSW. I don't really feel like I am high maintenance, but I am the highest maintenance person in my house. DH is pretty supportive, but probably thinks I am *up there* in terms of maintenance since he grew up with two brothers and a pretty low maintenance mom.

Sally

[PrincessFiona]

Kelly,

Does this mean that you DID buy the dress? :>

kris

[SueC]

I could spend a little more on maintenance. I get my hair cut about twice a year, and after getting my eyebrows waxed the other day, my dh reluctantly admitted that I really ought to make that a regular occurence.

[DCJenn]

Hair cuts -every 6ish weeks at 60 bucks a pop. On the every other coloring times, make that 120 bucks.

Make-up- I sooooo need to go replenish the whole shebang- but not until we move. I had to change base colors when we lived in Texas previously (although I swear I wear moisturizer with spf15, I still get way more color there than here) Also, the difference in temperature means different moisture contents, etc. I'll wait it out until we know.

I buy color saving shampoo (finesse) although my favorite is from Lush. I'd go hog wild at Lush if I could afford it (again).

clothes- I want to lose my last 15 pounds and then I have a whole wardrobe that will reopen for me. and I can toss the 'mom' clothes that I bought when I was traveling every week. I didn't think I should show up as a Federal Surveyor (there were only 20 of us, nationally- I was the second youngest and...the only redhead) in my normally funky attire so I went out and bought the most sedate wardrobe I could find.

Birkenstocks once were my big splurge- I must have 20 pair. But, they're only fun in Texas where one never needs closed toe shoes. (and pedicures are a must)

Manicures- I don't bother, but pedicures are about a 4x ayear thing if I can remember. I do a great self-pedicure, too. and I always have some kind of funky toe polish on.

Running shoes and exercise clothes are another expense but I figure if my husband gets to deduct his from the taxes, I get to deduct mine, mentally...

Jenn

A downside of having short hair is needing more frequent cuts, usually every 5-6 weeks. I'm hoping to get to every 8 after I grow it out.


FYI --
Regarding pedicures, DH has been seeing some nasty nasty infections from the places that have the pedi-chairs and circulating water. Even if they clean the tub, there is still water (and bacteria) in the tubing.

This has put an end to my cheaper neighborhood place 4x/year pedicures.

[rainbabies]

[PrincessFiona]

okay...bending over.........uuuuuugggggg wait, here it comes....Ahhh, nope no money coming out of my ass today.

:!

I am a sucker for hair products, and one or two times / yr I spend around $75 on what will supposedly make my hair do the right thing. I spend about $45 on haircuts (and wait WAY too long inbetween, but now that I found someone I like, I should go every 5 to 6 weeks). I get full color / minimal highlights -- the place I found this time it was $45. I MUST get an eyebrow wax, if I pluck, I sneeze.

I used to do biweekly mani's, and pedi's every month or so, but that was BK (before kids). I've been threatening to get a pedi for the past 6 months, but haven't had a mani or pedi in well over a year (I must remedy that).

Love massages, but haven't had one since 9/03 (don't ask why I remember the date).

[Amiens]

Man I must be pathetic!

Haircut- haven't had one in a year
Highlights- over a year ago
massage- 2 years ago
new cute nonmaternity clothes- uhhh I think 3 years ago
shoes- 5 months ago, only because after having foot surgery, nothing fit; and Matt thought it was tacky that I was wearing blue J.Crew flip flops everywhere even to church.
Make-up- about 2 years

I did buy a couple of cute maternity pieces this time around, but only because I had donated all of my winter stuff shortly after having Emma.

It's pretty bad when dh notices all of the above, and encourages me weekly to do something about it.

One NY Resolution- to get my hair cut and highlighted, cash in the massage dh won for me at a silent auction; and once my butt gets smaller, and my boobs deflate from their engorged nursing state- update my wardrobe a bit. Oh, and replenish my make-up supply.


Crystal
[/b]

[Phoebe]

-Salon cut and color/highlights -I finally am back to natural color so I only pay for a haircut right now. Child care is free since I go to my gym's salon.
-Salon hair products
-Dept store makeup which I rarely use
-Dermatologist facial lotion-Just started because I am getting old with wrinkles and sun damage (I bought it off ebay at reduced price)
-Workout clothes (bought with gift card)
-Running shoes (DH usually buys them for me)
-Ann Taylor Loft clothes horse (bought mostly with gift card)
-Victoria Secret Bras (bought with gift card)
-Manicures-done at home
-Pedicures 1 to 2 times a year
-Moderate costing gym membership with awesome childcare
-Keep meaning to do Crest Whitestrips before I get pregnant
-Counseling to maintain my sanity

My hobby is also expensive- I spend way too much stuff on scrapbooking supplies!

Jennifer

SPF 50 sunblock everyday

WOW....I can't imagine the digits of SPF you would have on in Florida!!

[Vishenka69]

I'm definitely not low maintenance, but it's not hard without the kids and I was raised with a Russian mentality of "a self-respecting woman wears heels and make up to get milk and bread at the grocery store across the stree." Also my mom is pretty high maintenance, so I grew up being surrounded by bottles, jars, tubes and such of pretty and nice smelling stuff.

So here's my current routine:
Cut & highlights - every 10 weeks or so (I found a great stylist who works out of her home on weekends and charges quarter of what a salon would).
Hair products - don't like to spend a lot in this category. I've tried the expensive stuff and realized it's not better than the drugstore ones. The best discovery of last year was that unrully Jewish fro can be easily tamed with products meant for African-American hair.
Mani & Pedi - at least once a month in the summer and every other month in the winter, home treatment in between.
Makeup - I like expensive French make-up (aside from a few Clinique products). I get most at the company stores, which is less than department stores but more than drugstore brands. I buy way too much and have to occassionally trash some that hasn't been used in a while.
Facial products - a mix between store brands and fancy stuff. I have no logical explaination for needing a $25 mascara and not willing to spend more than $10 on an eye creme. I have more tubes and jars than I know what to do with, from scrubs to masks to cleansers to moisturizers to toners.
Facials - every few months or so. I keep hoping that a new scrub/mask for $5 will enable me to prolong the streches between $75 facials but in the end I just end up with another useless tube/jar.
Massages - now that we splurged on a Sharper Image massage chair, I feel guilty paying for a massage, althought the chair can never compare.
Clothes/shoes/accessories - whenever I see a sale sign.

[houseelf]

Kris asked:

Kelly,

Does this mean that you DID buy the dress?

kris

Actually, no but I did buy this which was $42 after I applied the 15% off code from discount codes.com

http://www.anntaylorloft.com/atlLMProdu ... t_Id=52922

I think that the red dress is more reprentative of my current personality than the sweet pink one.

Kelly