The Bougies Are At It Again

Originally published on Not Sorry Feminism.

Oh boy, more financial advice for us poors from a middle-class white finance writer who writes for a stock advice website with the tagline “Smarter, Happier, and Richer.”

You don’t need that: Average American spends almost $18,000 a year on nonessentials

You might have already seen the graphic that USA TODAY tweeted out for this article because everyone’s dragging them for basically telling us all to crash the U.S. economy.

The average adult in the USA spends $1,497 a month on nonessential items. All told, that’s roughly $18,000 a year on things we can all do without. https://t.co/KQ8wxFtduQ pic.twitter.com/bpgVj94SaM

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) May 7, 2019

My favorite part of this is the $94 on “personal grooming” as though “personal grooming” is at all an optional luxury in this country. Our society basically demands that women engage in extensive personal grooming to the point that you cannot get hired and can get fired from a job you already have if you don’t. I can’t go into an interview for a decent job without makeup on and expect to be hired. As feminist as I am, a lifetime of being told that I’m not fit to leave my home without at least a bit of makeup to cover my disgusting pimples and acne scars has made me often feel…