Earlier this year I went to Southern California for a few days to visit family. Over the course of the days, we went out to eat, did some shopping, and went to Disneyland. What sticks out in my mind as the highlight of the trip? DISNEYLAND! It was so much fun and totally worth the (kind of ridiculous) $137 ticket.
I wear the funky printed shorts I got at a boutique and my favorite pair of heels I got at the mall in California all the time. But what sticks out in my mind the most from that trip is Disneyland. Spending money on experiences while you travel is definitely worth it. Though I still love shopping....
I used to have a personal style blog. I've always enjoyed fashion, and even had my first internship writing for a popular fashion blog. For my internship I photographed girls' outfits on my college campus and wrote about their style. I wanted to do it for myself too - showcase my outfits through blogging - and I've always liked writing. Therefore, my style blog was born and I was eventually posting photos of my outfits regularly.
After college, my bank account wasn't as pretty as it used to be. I was traveling a lot - I spent the summer in Washington, DC and New York City, moved to Italy to travel and be a tour guide for five months, was in DC for some time after that, then went back to Europe for a few weeks again....and then I moved to a new city when I got back.
Within that year I was not posting as often on my old blog. I didn't have as many creative outfits. My outfits looked fine and put-together, but they were getting too repetitive to post on my blog. I didn't have the money to keep up with trends as much as I used to. The personal style blogging niche is extremely saturated and I began feeling like most of the style bloggers' outfits and websites were all looking the same. I was getting bored with blogging about my style, because I was bored with my style. I was just not excited about personal style blogging as I used to be.
Then I started posting more travel-related articles. I had realized within the past year how passionate I was about traveling, even more so than fashion. I would look at the cost of a Tory Burch bag that was $350 and immediately think how one could spend $350 toward travel instead.
I was slowly beginning to realize what people have been saying all along...
Experiences are more important than things.
I started Go Seek Explore in May 2014 and have been loving writing about travel. I love writing about my experiences, because I have been valuing my experiences more. The more I travel, the more my eyes are opened up to the world. The more I travel, the more I enjoy experiences. I still enjoy shopping and doing a little retail therapy. I would rather spend a little more on quality because I like my clothes to last longer.
Sometimes it can be hard to want to save money for travel when I see friends wearing cute new designer things - I see their fabulous outfits and it makes me want to spend all my money on designer things too. But in the back of my mind I always try to remember that experiences are more important than things, and that the few hundred dollars I spent to go to Paris for a weekend was far more worth it than that Tory Burch bag I contemplated buying. (Though if I could've afforded both...I probably would've bought it. Ah, the materialistic struggle...)
What do you do to balance spending money on material things versus experiences?