Ways to save money - Look like a hobo

June 9, 2007

Culture is always changing.
Our values, our beliefs, even our fashion sense. They all change over time.
There is a trend going on where men are starting to pay more attention to fashion, the same way women do.
(See Businessweek article )

Call them what you want. Metrossexuals, “Manginas”, The-new-century-men, etc. They’re growing in numbers and are feeding a multi-billion industry.
The US Retail Clothing Industry includes about 80,000 Companies that operate 90,000 stores with combined annual revenue of $130 Billion.

From the Chicago Tribune

A family of four spends an average of $2,850 a year on apparel and apparel services, according to the federal government’s Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2005. That’s nearly $240 a month. So it is an expense worth addressing.

This leads to my point. If you want to save some serious money, all you have to do is give up your vanity. Don’t shave, always use the same outfit, look like a homeless, and what the heck, why even bother wearing underwear?

All right…. I might be taking it a bit too far, but the point is, watch out for how much money you spend just trying to improve your looks. Looking good is nice, but is it really worth it?

Let’s take a look at some numbers.

These prices were obtained from averaging a couple of Amazon.com products.

Average Joe

Let’s start with Average Joe.

 I really don’t have any source for my data. I just tried the best to come up with reasonable numbers that Average Joe would spend on clothing in a year.

Of course, you will probably spend less or more depending on your habits.

A pair of jeans, dress pants, 2 Tees, 2 Dress shirts and some misc spending  seem pretty reasonable to me for a regular guy to spend in a year. Overall, Average Joe should be able to go through 12 months spending roughly $500 on his wardrobe.

The numbers from the Chicago Tribune article for a family of 4 ($2850) are much higher than the numbers I came up with, but that’s because I’m considering Average Joe fairly conscious about budgeting, only buying the necessary. He’s an average guy regarding how he cares about his looks. On the other hand, the numbers that the Consumber Expenditure Survey came up with, probably represent the average American family. Those families in debt, that don’t plan properly for their retirement and don’t know how to live on budgets.

Mr. Fancy Pants

Now lets look at Mr Fancy Pants. He’s a member of this new class of men called Metrossexuals. They are well dressed, well groomed and often smell quite nicely (the last one I’m just assuming, since I really don’t go around sniffing other men, no matter how dressed up they are) 

Do these numbers seem a lot to you? If not, then you’re probably a Metrossexual and in the same class as Mr. Fancy Pants. The “style” of the moment seems to be expensive jeans. A pair of Diesel jeans can go for $130. I do have co workers that buy them, so I know there are quite a lot of guys that buy them.

Overall, comparing to Average Joe, I kept the same quantity of items (I changed to two pairs of shoes per year, because for some reason, vain people do like shoes), but Mr Fancy Pants likes brand name stuff, increasing his expenses quite a lot. While Average Joe might buy a pair of jeans at Costco, Mr Fancy Pants needs his Diesel jeans.

He also doesn’t like Supercuts. He rather have his hair bleached and cut at the Mall’s fancy salon.

With the numbers above, Mr. Fancy Pants spends $830 more than Average Joe just to look prettier. I think I was quite reasonable with these numbers. Most likely, Mr Fancy Pants won’t stick to just 2 dress shirts a year.

Mr Hobo Looking Guy - Me

Now an extreme case: Mr Hobo Looking Guy. That would be me.

I work with technology, so I’m lucky I can work in casual clothes (so no need to buy dress shirts/pants/shoes to work). I wear the same Tees to work every week and wash them over the weekend. Also wear pretty much the same pair of pants for 2 or 3 weeks straight (again just washing them over the weekend).

You probably noticed the $0 spending for shirts/pants above. I do renew my wardrobe, but I rely on presents. I generally get shirts and pants for X-Mas and B-day gifts, so why bother using my own money to get new stuff.

I’m also not vain. I’m just a guy that doesn’t really care about my looks (I’m already married, so I’m not chasing tail anymore).  So I’ll go months without a haircut and a couple of weeks without shaving (I’m also lucky I don’t have a lot of facial hair).

The one thing I seem to splurge a bit is underwear. We all work very hard and we have to keep the “little guy” comfortable. I don’t like briefs and I tried the 3 pkg boxers for $8 @ Walmart, but they don’t last long. So I wait for that yearly sale at JC Penny to buy some decent boxers on sale for $2.99 ea.

Does that sound extreme? $159 / year on clothing? In my case, that’s fairly accurate (My wife finds this quite unfortunate for her, since she’s the one that has to walk with me in Malls and go to parties). 

Conclusion

We’re supposed to be frugal if we want a peaceful retirement, and I can be really frugal regarding clothes and my looks, but unfortunately I’m NOT frugal with everything. I do spend money on other aspects of life. I do drive a nice car and love my tech gadgets.

I believe everything in life is about balance, and saving for your retirement is also about balancing things (budgeting). In my case, I rather cut my budget to a bare minimum on clothes and spend it on my car or my tech toys.

That’s why it might still be ok for you, Mr Fancy Pants out there, as long as you follow a budget. Learn how to balance things and you’ll be ok. The moral of this story was just to point out how much money one could save by being frugal with his looks, and as long as you’re comfortable with that, then go for it. If not, then go ahead and spend your money on expensive haircuts, but learn how to cut your expenses in other areas of your life.

*Images provided by istockphoto.com

Posted in Finances, Lifestyle