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Notes -
Really. Though it may be that my definition of "strange and expensive frivolities" is doing a lot of work there. The tough thing isn't spending money once, it's spending money every year. I've always been a big second hand shopper, and I fell for the BIFL/Heritage Fashion/Investment Piece trend of the early 2010s, and the problem is you buy all this great stuff and it doesn't wear out. I like Allen Edmonds shoes, they can easily run $500-600, and those are quality American made leather shoes. But I really liked them, and pretty soon I had five or six pairs from picking them up at thrift stores, and I still have them all eight to ten years later. Same with suits, same with quality shirts (albeit less so). I'm wearing a lot of the same stuff I bought years ago.
If I were to budget $10k+, for a year or maybe two, I could buy a lot of the things I bought second hand brand new, which would be fun. I can easily go buy a few $900 suits, and a few really great $1k winter jackets, and some $500 pairs of shoes to match. But then I'd have all that the next year! And the year after that! The cost of that high-quality wardrobe is high to start, but the maintenance cost is low, you can't just keep buying suits every year or you're going need impractically large closet.
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