What are you wearing today? Post pictures in the comments or @Gingerlatte on Twitter

1.  Start a pet sitting business. If you live in a large metropolitan city or even the suburbs, pet sitting and boarding can be a good way to earn extra cash.

2.  Provide daycare/aftercare for children in your neighborhood. The best way to go about doing this is to research the costs into getting licensed (if necessary), set up costs (turning the basement or sunroom you never use into the child care area) and determine what your competitors are charging then undercut them but a few dollars while adding a bit more with regards to the services you offer.

3.  Secret Shopper. EPMSOnline.com is a great way to get started in secret shopping.  It’s really easy.  You go to their website, sign up, get verified and then sign up for different “shops” in our near your home or workplace.  What yo’re doing is providing secret shopping services for apartment companies that utilize EPMS to help them determine if their employees are providing great service.  The typical pay out is around $40 and now most if not all of the paperwork is done online.

4.  Reduce your budget. Drastically.  Eating out.  Shopping for unnecessary items.  Limit yourself to 2-3 trips to the grocery store, buy what you need not what you want.  Several trips = spending more money you don’t have and don’t need to spend.  Cut the happy hours.  Personal hobby shopping sprees.  Review your budget and cut out the WANTS and leave the NEEDS in place.  See how much you save.  For some this may be less than and for some more than $1000.

5.  Start a blog. This may take you at least 6 months to really start seeing a return but I believe it’s well worth it.  Your topic?  What are you passionate about?  What could you talk about for days and not get paid to do so?  That’s it!  Find a host, pick a blogging platform, choose your theme and get started.  For starters, join this challenge:  ProBlogger 31 Days to Build a Better Blog | The Secret to Success.

6.  Start an Ebay business. Check out sites like Tradekey.com and Alibaba.com for great prices on wholesale items.  Make sure it’s something that you research and know a good deal of information about before you start selling.  Customers like sellers who can troubleshoot issues as they arise.

7.  Sell unwanted/unused furniture. You might be surprised as they add up once you start listing on sites like Craigslist.org, Ebay.com and Backpages.com.  If you have furniture in storage or in a basement somewhere, that $1000 might be calling you!

8.  End of summer garage sale. Every weekend in September you  can have a themed garage sale.  One weekend you sell clothes, another furniture, then antiques or random unwanted items.  You choose your theme, make sure the items are clean and presented well.  Have your neighbors join you in the fun by hosting garage sales along with you to bring out even more people.

9.  Start your own business. This may not be in an area you love or are passionate about but do some market research and figure out where the need lies in your area or online.  Where does your expertise lie?  What do people need but don’t have?  Start there.

10.  Add yours here. Share with us in the comments area, how to make or find $1000.  You can also share on our Facebook page and Retweet ways to find or make an extra $1000.

If you’ve ever been on an interview and held your breath until the final offer only to be disappointed, please, read on.

One of the most annoying things about the job hunt has to be hoping that they will make an offer commensurate with what you believe to be your worth.  Not only your worth but what the company has actually budgeted for the position.  But how do you know what they have actually budgeted for the position?

You Ask!

Men ask for what they want twice as often as women do and initiate negotiation four times more.  Men, socialized in a “scrappier paradigm,” learn to pursue and energize their goals at work and home. The two key elements are control and recognizing opportunity. – Amazon Review- “Women Don’t Ask”

Here’s your opportunity!  Take control by asking upfront!

For example, let’s say your current salary is $55k and market salary for your position is actually $65k.  The company you plan to interview with budgeted the position between $65k-75k but negotiates between $58k-$60k with you.  o_O  I don’t know about you but that would grind my nerves.

Let’s go:

1.  Break The Rules:  Show Me Yours And I’ll Show You Mine. Ask upfront for the budgeted range for the position.  This way you get them to break one of the first rules of salary negotiation.  This seems innocent upfront because after all, they don’t know if they will make you an offer but you get this information ahead of time so you know whether it’s worth your time to close the deal.  They give you their number first and you know whether it is worth your time to interview and jump through hoops for the position.

2.  Waste Less Time. You waste less time by doing this during the first call with the HR person/recruiter.  What is the point of interviewing for a position slated to pay you 5-10% less than what you’re paying now?  This also holds them to their word.  Get them to name a range and you gain the advantage when it’s time for negotiations.   However, if you’re unemployed and desperate for work, then you may want to take it no matter the offer.

3.  You Have The Advantage.  Take It. They want you, remember?  There is no unwritten rule that says you can’t ask first before you actually interview.    It actually makes more sense to do so rather than being disappointed and exploited in the end when it’s time to talk money.

4.  Maintain salary integrity. Taking a job making less than what you’re paying now shoots you in the foot down the line.  During this economy it is understandable why employers may low ball potential employees, but don’t give them a reason by taking a lower salary now. Why? A future employer may look at your salary history and see that you took less than what you were making previously and offer you less thinking you’d be willing to take a hit “for the team”.

I understand this goes against the grain in salary negotiations, but really, how many of you have gone the safe route only to be disappointed?  You have bills to pay and if you know ahead of time the market range and budget for the position you walk in informed with a stiletto up on the negotiations.

Here are some interesting statistics from the author’s website, Women Don’t Ask:

Women Don’t Like to Negotiate

• In surveys, 2.5 times more women than men said they feel “a great deal of apprehension” about negotiating.
• Men initiate negotiations about four times as often as women.
• When asked to pick metaphors for the process of negotiating, men picked “winning a ballgame” and a “wrestling match,” while women picked “going to the dentist.”
• Women will pay as much as $1,353 to avoid negotiating the price of a car, which may help explain why 63 percent of Saturn car buyers are women.
• Women are more pessimistic about the how much is available when they do negotiate and so they typically ask for and get less when they do negotiate—on average, 30 percent less than men.
• 20 percent of adult women (22 million people) say they never negotiate at all, even though they often recognize negotiation as appropriate and even necessary.

Women Suffer When They Don’t Negotiate

• By not negotiating a first salary, an individual stands to lose more than $500,000 by age 60—and men are more than four times as likely as women to negotiate a first salary.
• In one study, eight times as many men as women graduating with master’s degrees from Carnegie Mellon negotiated their salaries. The men who negotiated were able to increase their starting salaries by an average of 7.4 percent, or about $4,000. In the same study, men’s starting salaries were about $4,000 higher than the women’s on average, suggesting that the gender gap between men and women might have been closed if more of the women had negotiated their starting salaries.
• Another study calculated that women who consistently negotiate their salary increases earn at least $1 million more during their careers than women who don’t.

Women Have Lower Expectations and Lack Knowledge of their Worth

• Many women are so grateful to be offered a job that they accept what they are offered and don’t negotiate their salaries.
• Women often don’t know the market value of their work: Women report salary expectations between 3 and 32 percent lower than those of men for the same jobs; men expect to earn 13 percent more than women during their first year of full-time work and 32 percent more at their career peaks.

Have you ever asked about the salary range upfront before interviewing? How did that go over with the recruiter? Did you eventually get the job? Let us know in the comments!

Today I declined to get started on a doctoral program due to concerns around taking on more student loan debt.  I just don’t see myself being burdened with more loans than I am right now with no guarantee of a significant increase in salary.

I’ve added some articles here on student loans and others that caught my eye throughout the week.  Let me know in the comments if you’re planning to go back to school.  If so, are you taking out loans or paying your way through?  My total cost would have been an extra $90,000.  Call me gun shy but in this economy, I don’t know that it is worth it.

Check out this infographic from Mint.com:

Student Loan Debt Highlights

• Should College Students Be Borrowing More?
• Debt collectors an option to recover student loans The Government is investigating whether to use overseas debt collectors to chase student loan repayments.  They are serious about their money.
• Scapegoating For-Profit Colleges
• What’s Worse Than Credit Card Debt? Student Loans | MintLife Blog

This Week’s Highlights

• The Spending Habits of Wealthy Women vs. Wealthy Men (shhh: women are spending more) http://bit.ly/9ZZdlx
• Is taking time off before your due date acceptable? How much time is too much. http://fb.me/EvJK7P2v
• Would YOU move to one of the 10 Best Cities to Find a Job? –> http://bit.ly/bbdg9v
• Common knowledge that “pretty girls” have a workplace advantage EXCEPT when it comes to manly jobs and jealous… http://fb.me/E4pLSeAI

A:     Excuse me sir, may I talk to you?

B:     Sure, come on in.   What can I do for you?

A:     Well sir, as you know, I have been an employee of this prestigious firm for over ten years.

B:     Yes.

A:     I won’t beat around the bush.   Sir, I would like a raise. I currently have four companies after me and so I decided to talk to you first.

B:     A raise?   I would love to give you a raise, but this is just not the right time.

A:     I understand your position, and I know that the current economic downturn has had a negative impact
on sales, but you must also take into consideration my hard work, pro-activeness and loyalty to this company for over a decade.

B:     Taking into account these factors, and considering I don’t want to start a brain drain, I’m willing to offer you a ten percent raise and an extra five days of vacation time.  How does that sound?

A:     Great!   It’s a deal!   Thank you, sir!

B:     Before you go, just out of curiosity, what companies were after you?

A:     Oh, the Electric Company, Gas Company, Water Company and the Mortgage Company!

Slick and I like it!  LOL

Lessons?

1. Don’t take no for an answer
2. Be persistent
3. Be creative
4. Know how to play the game…AND WIN!

Do you have a mentor?  If so then you understand the importance of having one due to the guidance and support they’ve given you over the years.

I truly believe that women are more successful when they have mentors guiding them both personally and professionally.   Especially when when women mentor women.  Great things happen!

What is it about that sisterly relationship with another woman that seems to give us just the push we need to be successful?  Is it that we understand inherently our struggles?  The struggle for gender equality?  Work-life balance?  Juggling the demands of motherhood, marriage and a promising career?

Whatever the reason,

when you hook up with a woman who has been where you are and where you want to be, you’ve just struck gold.

Here you have the opportunity to connect with someone who can give you the guidance you need to be successful in your intended career path.

This starts with choosing your Personal Board of Advisors.  Some of you might refer to this as “Auntie/Big Sister in my Head”.  Personally, I have always imagined Oprah, Tyra, Suze Orman and Michelle Obama as big sisters and aunties in my head, so you get my drift!

How do you choose your Personal Board of Advisors?  @ChiefHotMomma gives us some tips on getting started:

Visualize yourself in a room with all of the people who represent each place setting.  Who do you want in that spot supporting you throughout the years?

Once you’ve picked who you want in your Sisterhood of Success, chart a plan to connect with them.  This can be someone who is readily accessible or someone you’ve admired from a far.  In the latter case, do your home work and make the process easier for them.  Remember, flattery will get you what you need.  Let them know how much their work means to you and that will open the door to discussions around lending their time to help make you a success.

Once you have a plan stick to it!  Remember, consistency is key, once you’ve established the relationship with this person, keep the lines of communication open and be flexible.

Personally I have a few people in mind as I started this task myself a few weeks ago.

Marin and Chloe -These are two great friends here in DC that really inspire me to push myself professionally instead of being complacent where I am now. Marin might as well be my twin sister as we think so much alike that it’s scary.  Chloe helps me up the ante on being a watchdog over my finances while living life to the fullest.  And she knows how to do it, believe me!

Madame President – She’s another woman who is pretty much where I want to be in 10 years and she represents broader areas like faith, family and finances. Her updates on Facebook totally inspire me to be a better woman and wife and entrepreneur.

S.H. – My former supervisor is another one.  She really taught me how to have a backbone and be confident in myself in the workplace while I was an intern a few years ago.  So I tend to look to her for a gut check every now and again when issues arise.  People tend to mistake my soft voice for weakness, she taught me how to harness my inner strength and command respect.  Coworkers learned quickly not to mistake kindness for weakness

Informally, my husband is also on this list.  If no one else, he is my biggest cheerleader in everything I do.  Perpetually supportive, he’s flexible in letting me find my way as I go through another career transition.  Me love him long time!

Who do you have in mind to join your Sisterhood of Success?

I’ve made this request on Twitter a couple times but then backed away after receiving responses so this is my attempt to do this again. I am a control freak so this is not easy but here goes.

I’d love to have a partner in crime as it relates to this blog.

Specifically, someone with a passion for talking about women and personal finance.  I can’t stress this enough as you really need to have an interest in this area.  Ideally, I would like to partner with someone on writing blog posts (staff writer), planning and expanding our Meetups and overall blog development (social media, advertising, conference planning, spin off venture etc).

Ideally, you have a great personal writing style, know how to build a community, engage readers and more importantly, love writing about personal finance, again as it relates to women.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in discussing more then email me through the contact page and we can set up a time to chat more.

Thanks!

Some of you have been out of work for more than a year or you may have just been laid off.  Others may be contemplating a jump from their present place of work but fear going from the pot into the fire kind of situation.  Read on.  I’ll teach you the best tips on how to get into a job you actually want.

First, I’ll need you to put down your disdain for the job search, your ego around your credentials and actually look at yourself.  The economy is only part of the reason why you don’t have a job.   The other part is you.  What can you can change?  What can you do better?  These will always be questions that need answering but more so now given the increased competition for 1 position.  So leave all that at the door.

Don’t Burn Bridges

Some of you will and I get that.  If you can help it, stick it through to the last hoorah.  I can’t say more other than to be professional where it counts.  You never know who you’ll come across in your next job and I can tell you stories for days where Im concerned in my present gig.

If you live in a small city or town where information flies or if you’re using a recruiter, people talk and the last thing you want to be is on some informal blacklist.  It happens more often than you realize.

Burned/Burning Bridges Already?  Find One Person Who Will Serve As A Reference

This is a tremendous lifesaver as the pressures of hating a job or impending layoffs start to increase.  Be sure to maintain discretion when doing this and ask the person to keep your request confidential.  Always have an ace in the hole that can help get you out of your situation by serving as a reference and salary verification.

Check, Recheck and Revamp Your Resume

I can’t stress this enough.  I happen to review resumes at my current gig and this seems to be an ongoing issue with job seekers.  I don’t care how desperate you are, you need to check and revamp your resume at least 1-2 times a year.  Forget that, every time you send it out, check and recheck it again and again.  Don’t send a resume using the wrong parts of speech ie using “Manage interns” instead of “Managed interns” for an old position and vice versa.  There’s also the language used that makes me cringe, you aren’t talking to your best bud at a bar.  Don’t use “I” in the bulleted area of your resume.  For example, the following person submitted their resume for a clinical position with my office but she listed her recent occupations as being a…..wait for it…..a cook for family reunions?  Then she listed in the bulleted list of tasks and duties:

• I helped cut the yams, carrots and cook the meat
• Cooked and baked cakes for family reunions

Imagine my face.  Screw face at best.  Needless to say I didn’t call her back because not only was she unqualified but even if I were hiring for a cook, her resume lacked a certain element of professionalism.

You need to format the resume in a way that forces that piece of paper to speak to your background, education and experience.  Font, type space, shading and spacing all play a role in addition to the content and how it is placed.  I’ve used this website in the past to give my resume a facelift ie resume redesign.

Update Your Skills

Are you still boasting C++ (computer programming language) and A+ (basic computer certification) on your resume?  Meh.  Take a class, workshop or do a presentation on some emerging issue or technology in your field.  Write a white paper to showcase your knowledge on a particular subject.  You are competing with new graduates in the field who already have this down and you’re looking really silly if you don’t have current and relevant skills on your resume.

Peruse The Resumes of  the People Who Are Where You Want To Be

This has been really helpful to me.  You can do this on Craigslist by typing in the keyword you’re looking for (“senior manager”, “director of…” etc) and you’ll see the resumes of people with the jobs you want.  Tip:  This is also a good way to size up your competition.  Similarly, you can read the bios of people heading the organizations where you hope to work one day.  I always do this because I like to watch the trajectories of people’s careers and see how they unfold.  This is also why I don’t necessarily believe in “just for now” jobs.

Indulge my digression: I happen to disagree with Penelope Trunk on dissing grad school for a mediocre job in favor of work experience. She’s written a couple posts on this over the last year and it really grates my nerves.  Personally, I went back to graduate school and currently make 4 times what I did right out of college.  And, no I couldnt have subbed that time in grad school by continuing to work because my job requires a license, coursework and experience.

Specifically, she says that an MBA is a waste of time, which is BS.  Tell that to my husband and his colleagues who now make 2-6 times their Bachelor’s level salaries.  Furthermore, she offers no empirical data to support her position.  Dude, if you’re gonna give career advice, at least have some data to support your position on MBAs being a waste of time.  I generally like her work and advice, but this piece right here is where I have an axe to grind.  Bottom line, if going back to school will help your cause then do it.  Work out why it may or may not work for you, not based on jaded generalizations.

If I were to take one then it wouldn’t go on my resume.  I need the recruiter to see that my career trajectory was focused with some thought put into my next steps along the way.  Sorry but McDonald’s aint teaching me jack.

After doing this, create a dummy resume that depicts where you want to be in the next 1-5 years starting with your most recent position.  I believe in the Law of Attraction so this is where this advice comes from.  I’ve done that and I will admit that it works. Why?  Having a purpose with no vision won’t get you where you want to be professionally.  So as you think about your career, create and maintain your vision and use that as the place where you operate from in deciding next steps.

Volunteer, Yes You Read Right!

I know, this sucks.  But perhaps once a week.  This is built in networking believe it or not.  Companies are strapped but the economy is on the upswing and when they feel good about hiring again, who do you think they’ll look to when that time comes?  Offer to volunteer your time X hours per week if you’re unemployed and bring them your A game!  I did this early on and it’s helped tremendously in terms of getting the job and my superiors then still serving as references for me today if needed.  In fact, one of them called the other day to offer me her position since she is leaving

Network, And I Don’t Mean Happy Hour

Networking again.  Some tend to see this as a waste of time or feel that they just aren’t good at it.  Look, it’s fact of life that getting the job you want is more about who you know and not what you know.  Get good at it.  Fast.  Get business cards that talk explicitly about you, who you are and what you’re looking for.  Think about it as a shortened resume on one of those fancy nontraditional business cards.  Try VistaPrint.com and Moo.com for a few options.

When people want to know about your background, education and experience without the hassle of requesting your resume at a function, hand them a folded business card!  Brilliant!

Scratch happy hours and attend every related industry event you can think of in your area.  This may be a chapter meeting or company event at a local hotel.  Find someone in your field and have them keep you up to date on various events that happen in the city.  Bring your A game and put your best foot forward at these events.

You never know who is lurking at these events and frankly, should someone important be there, you’re giving them great face while showing initiative.

Stop applying for positions you don’t really want

This wastes your time and the recruiter’s time.  You get the interview and after going through the process you realize that the pay is too low and you really don’t want the gig.  Been there done that and it’s a waste of time.  Make sure you’re looking over the position requirements and actually customizing your resume to fit their needs.  Don’t do resume blasts without thinking about whether you really want the position.  Any job isn’t necessarily a good job.  And, I know that flies in the face of “I have bills to pay…I need to get off unemployment…”, still make sure you get a job you really want or else you’ll be miserable.  Life is too short to purposely get stuck in a job you hate.

Were these helpful?  If so let me know in the comments.  Have I missed anything?

**Warning, this is a flaming post**

Apparently, Savannah Brinson thinks she is more than a Baby Mama to Lebron James.  In her exact words:

“I’m the mother of his children. I’m not a baby mama. There’s a lot more to me than that.”

Hmmm. So are you his side kick?  That is how the man refers to her and if so then does that mean she is the Robin to his Batman?  Girl. Bye.  That’s where Bosh and Wade come in.

I’ll make a disclaimer now so you can decide if you want to read more and hate me later or just hate me now and close the window.  I love everything about marriage, especially for African-Americans.  We can’t keep doing this baby mama stuff and think we won’t get our cards pulled.  So when I read articles like these rationalizing her position in his life it makes me irritated.  No, I truly don’t believe that everyone will get married or should get married to the person they have children with, right?  Life happens, but what I do expect is that you not try to rationalize it like we’re all dunces sitting in a corner reading the article.  Boo, we know.

Furthermore, the baby mama tag doesnt apply to women (in my estimation) that were once married or were intending to be married and things fell apart.  I don’t advocate marrying just because you get pregnant, that usually doesn’t work out unless that was the plan all along and the baby’s arrival sped things up.  That’s another animal altogether, pardon the use of animal but you get what Im saying.

Lebron isn’t saying that he will one day marry her, or that she is the love of his life and that they are planning on making it official, no. He said she is his sidekick and I will be d@mned if after two babies I am now relegated to being your “sidekick”:

A person like myself always needs a great sidekick and a person you can rely on no matter the circumstances. And she’s that, She’s got my back, and I love her for that.

Nope, sorry, can’t do it.  He is willing to sign a  multi-million dollar contract more than he is to create stability and security for his boys and the woman in his life.

And, before you get your comments out of line, there are many benefits, legal and otherwise to a good marriage, here are a few:

Legal and Economic Benefits of Marriage (read: good, healthy marriage)

On the order of 1,400 legal rights are conferred upon married couples in the U.S. Typically these are composed of about 400 state benefits and over 1,000 federal benefits. Among them are the rights to:

	Status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent;
	joint insurance policies for home, auto and health;
	dissolution and divorce protections such as community property and child support;
	immigration and residency for partners from other countries;
	inheritance automatically in the absence of a will;
	joint leases with automatic renewal rights in the event one partner dies or leaves the house or apartment;
	inheritance of jointly-owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship (which avoids the time and expense and taxes in probate);
	benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare;
	spousal exemptions to property tax increases upon the death of one partner who is a co-owner of the home;
	veterans’ discounts on medical care, education, and home loans; joint filing of tax returns;
	joint filing of customs claims when traveling;
	wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children;
	bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or child;
	decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her;
	crime victims’ recovery benefits;
	loss of consortium tort benefits;
	domestic violence protection orders;
	judicial protections and evidentiary immunity;

Physical/Emotional Benefits of Marriage

“If it is a good marriage, the benefits are equally as great for women as for men; for men, just being married confers a tremendous amount of benefits,” Gottman says. “One of the major ways in which marriage confers effects is to reduce risk: Men stop engaging in risky behavior like bungee jumping and driving drunk. … [They start] getting their health looked at on a regular basis and eating well.

Single men really don’t do that; they sort of fall apart. “Women are less prone to risky behavior, more likely to go to doctor when they are sick, and they take care of themselves better,” he says. “The other big, big difference is men have lousy social support systems, and women have great support systems.”

This just goes to show you how much men get taken care of in a marriage, says David Woodsfellow, PhD, director of the Center for Relationship Therapy in Atlanta. “While the traditional role has man as the provider, that role is really as the provider of money,” he says. “In that traditional role … the woman is the provider of nurturing comfort, home, and often food, clothing, and furnishings.

I freely admit marriage isn’t for everyone, but Savannah needs to come back down to earth.  Still, I understand that she is in a bit of a pickle wit this one.  Hold on to him LaLa style and get the ring…one day.  Or stick it out and maintain her current lifestyle which I am not mad at all about.  Ball!  But what I don’t like is more and more black women having more children out of wedlock at the rate of 70%(sometimes on purpose) and then rationalizing it.

It does nothing to help young girls coming up who look at the generation before them wondering whether they should hold out for the stability of a read–>healthy marriage or lay down and keep having babies by a man rich or poor like some alley cat in heat.  This does not apply to all “baby mamas” but it applies to the ones who purposely have children with men out of wedlock with no intentions of a long term legalized union.  I just feel we need to do better, tis all.

I just hope that if they intend to carry on like this then she at least has some legal document in place that protects her financially should they split up.  If she is smart, she will treat this like a business and not lead with her heart, because certainly, he must be thinking along the same lines as well.

What are your thoughts?  Is she delusional or justified in her “sidekick/babymama” status being than just that?  Is being a sidekick better than a baby mama?

If you’re lusting after the Louis Vuitton Graffiti collection, perk up!

The guys and gals over at the Journal of Marketing conducted a study where they surveyed malls in California and came up with the following:

“A significant segment of the population does not want to be branded, preferring to be understated… and is willing to pay a premium to have ‘quiet’ goods without a brand mark.”

I mean seriously?  Who wants to be a walking billboard for a major brand?  And I just paid them to do it?  They could have just asked me.

The article also mentions:

“high-end shoppers are more in tune with “discreet markers, such as distinctive design or detailing,” than obvious brand logos….they also find that “luxury brands charge more for ‘quieter’ items with subtle logo placement and discreet appeal.”

So which one are you?  The researchers came up with the following labels for different classes of consumers:

- Patricians: “Wealthy consumers low in need for status” who “pay a premium for quiet goods, products that only their fellow patricians can recognize”

– Parvenus: “Wealthy consumers high in need for status” who “use loud luxury goods to signal to the less affluent that they are not one of them”

– Poseurs: Consumers who “emulate those who they recognize to be wealthy;” they cannot afford luxury goods but will buy counterfeit items.

- Proletarians: Consumer who are not driven by status purchases.

I’ll admit while I am not wealthy, I am a combination of Patricians and Proletarians.  I don’t buy stuff with labels all over it.  #WeOffThat I remember getting my first Louis Vuitton Speedy in high school, then the LV messenger bag in college along with another Fendi bag after graduation.  You couldn’t tell me nothin!  I was all that and then some!

Then I came down to earth in adulthood and realized that I was paying someone else to advertise their brand so I let that go a few years back.  Nowadays I don’t wear my LV bags and don’t know when I last wore them.  But I do like quality with a good price so I mix high end and low end stuff all the time.  I will shop at Lulus.com for trendy summer stuff but at higher end stores for timeless winter and career pieces.

Sorry, I can’t buy a long lasting sheath dress at Forever 21 but if they carried one I’d be on it.  I am also a Nine West girl because their shoes fit my narrow feet so well, no Jimmy Choos here LOL  Still, I admit to liking some high end brands, I just don’t like the branding all over it, major turn off for me.

Who are you in that list?  Be honest!