We're consumerism whore. Consumerism is a need, nonetheless you're a plain, household consumer or high profile business consumer. You consume, purchase, buy, trade, procure or whatever fucking term for consumerism.
I found it's amusing how much consumerism; the way we spent our money reflect our social status. Simplest example I see in front of my eyes that a friend of mine buys SEED shirt which cost him RM 200. It's an arguable cost for me; much to give me idea to ridicule his concept of consumerism. RM 200 for fucking shirt that nobody really care anyway. Some might take a look at those fancy shirt but I'm not one of them and even the material wasn't the best anyway if quality comes into question. One of my officemate even buy Burberry necktie which cost him RM 300.
People looking at consumer brand to "brand" themselves, to set their level. I have no problem with that if you think the brand could provide some social status or make women chasing after you but what concern me on how consumerism "consumed" your lifestyle.
As most people love to coin the term of "executive lifestyle", it's a term of vomit-induced for me. WHAT THE FUCK WITH EXECUTIVE LIFESTYLE? For those who ain't familiar to executive lifestyle term, it's a term referring to 5Cs; condo, car, credit card, cash and career. It's a benchmark to gauge where a person belongs, how much his worthy. I used to have a talk with one manager on this 5Cs which going like this:
Manager: So, you duduk kat mana?
Me: Gombak. Dekat area taman melati.
Manager: Owh, berapa orang duduk serumah? Sewa macam mana?
Me: Kami duduk 5 orang (now 4), sewa around RM 550 untuk rumah sahaja. Kalau campur utilities bill around RM 900 per month la.
Manager: Murah nya. Kenapa you tak duduk kondo, dah la bersesak-sesak sangat rumah you tu. You as an executive should living in comfort, at least sewa la kondo around your area there.
Me: Owh..i don't think i need it.
Soon, i skewed the conversation to somewhere else as i clearly could see where the conversation going to lead should i let it. You see, i found that it's non-practical approach to have a house that cost me RM 1000 per month on rental alone while i hardly spent any time at home during weekdays except to get some sleep, shower and toilet. Most of my time during weekdays spent outside the house and i'm totally ok with small and cramp space of my room.
Many would argue that i buy expensive perfume, IKEA furniture and Liverpool jersey but here's the catch for those.
I need perfume that long last but i also wear RM 10 perfume from Generic Perfume. As long as i love the smell, i would buy it. RM 10 perfume could also smell nice and last longer. I buy perfume because you see, i sweat alot and i hate when i smell like salted fish. Deodorant alone won't do.
I buy IKEA furniture because they could provide the best wooden furniture that compact, space efficient and i could assemble it on my own. I hate metal bed because it will make sound when the hinges, bolts and nuts loose. It could drive me crazy.
I buy Liverpool jersey because i'm a fan of LFC and it's a healthy hobby. I found myself into football which much better than rempitting and other immoral behaviour.
I strongly believe in practicality. there are things that i need and things that i want so i just put my priority on my needs greater than my wants. I don't spent money like hell if i know i need to makan megi before middle of the month.
I wasn't say that i not part of consumerism whore. I myself love to buy gadget and upgrading my pc which sometimes quite disastrous. But slowly i want to get back to my rational side and thinking back everytime i want to spend my money. I found it's hard to get there.
So, let be wiser in spending our money and let's not eat megi before the end of the month!
5 comments:
I had a talk about this earlier today with another set of spammers friends consisting of girlies.
I went blog hopping through some of the previous utpians girls well.. the seniors la (my seniors.. hehe ) and also some other girls.
I am amaze on the amount of branded things they showed on their blog. Things that they had bought weekly. Things that cost more than my car payment monthly . ( I need my car, it cost less to drive rather than take lrt)
We deduced these are usually daddy's girl, they stay at their parent's home, with I am sure the car that had been provided by them by their parents.
Maybe there is a bit of an envious note in the above statement, but it quite amaze me. I couldn't keep up with those type of lifestyle. I like to shop, but my shopping consist of things I buy that are below rm50. And it is usually rare nowadays that I can shop with the high prices of thing. Sigh.
Maybe some people are just lucky.
Oh 'executive lifestyle'. Some also mentioned it as "yuppies". Hehehe..
or some would say "credit card lifestyle". fyi, banks does make their largest revenue from credit card facilities.
most young executive have that kind of problem; long overdue credit card debt. this all due to their lifestyle which requires them having starbuck, dome, san francisco or coffee bean coffee every morning. gosh, consumerism whore!
dils, yes, some of them have big daddy's pocket! or big sugar daddy's pocket!
huhu.. i may be guilty of those as i shop when i feel like it, which is quite often. but i keep my credit card balance to a manageable level as I often shopped using cash.
Eating maggi? Whenever I feel that my shopping expenses is too much, I will cut out on meals. Puasa during the days and I will cook my dinner or just eat maggi. I dont see anything wrong with it tho.. as I often eat alone during dinner~
for branded items, mine is just a mid level consumer. I will not buy Coach or Prada, as my preferred brand is ranging from Elle to Guess only.. not that expensive la kan?
hehe
Hellllllllllloooo...
I like LV ok? You called me an LV whore already is it? hahaha,you Liverpool whore :P
I am not trying to justify what I buy here, sweetheart, but in my case, I buy LV because I somehow find that they have nice collections, and they match very well with most of my clothes. Bukan alasan tau.
I guess its a matter of balancing your money out. I work my arse off working, and in return booyah! Lots of cash and whilst I understand that we should be prudent especially in these rough times, but I guess we have to enjoy ourselves too kan?Kan?kan??
:p
sue: hehehehe. just don't do it excessively. cause when you have commitment later, money would be fundamental. just to kind of prepare yourself to commit later.
well, commitment not only for marriage but also for future after retirement, education fund and stuff.
danie: hahahaha, you LV whore! hehehehe. i didn't say it's wrong to purchase things which you like, you could buy all you like but you need to know your limit and practicality of it to justify why you couldn't purchase things at given time. some people have it hard in term of money management.
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as always, you could do as you wish as long as you find it reasonable and practical. this is my way of doing things and i don't need condo to realize that i'm an executive. :)
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