A Look Back...

When I began this blog, I thought I would interview people, note a pattern and then find a reasoning for the spending behind college students.

The idea came to me after a group of friends and I road tripped to the Patagonia outlet in Dillion Montana. It has become a tradition of ours to go to a couple of the sales they hold throughout the year and most of the time we all end up purchasing something. As you may know, Patagonia clothes end up being a little pricey despite the sale. We'd each spend at least $30 dollars, most of the time ending up with a Snap-T, which costs upwards of $70. After this, we'd often go grab lunch at the Taco Bus in Dillon and spend even more. The week afterwards we'd often be at lunch and joke about how college made us so poor and such. Yet, the next weekend we'd be able to go out and eat after church and other activities.

So I wondered, why did we always use the excuse that we were so poor yet purchase all of these unnecessary items... but was it because we were looking for something else?

For some, like Lauryn buying coffee and Lucky going out to eat as well as Hanna going to events the purpose was for community. It is one of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to have social interactions. We all pursue things that bring us closer to others, but in college sometimes it requires us to spend money to do so.
For others, such as Riley, Jacob, and Clayton, they were fulfilling something in one way or another, whether it's through healthy eating, fishing, or biking.
Or maybe it's the realization that there are things that are required that we must purchase out of tradition or need.

But I think what comes from any of these is the decision that is being made... that we finally, as college students, get to make our own decisions. We get the excitement and stress that goes along with getting to choose how to spend our money and it is exciting so see how it ends up being spent. Whether it's a simple coffee or a Bridger pass, we truly are able to make the choice on our own. Sometimes I find myself missing the reminder of my mom saying "do you really need that?" But then quickly remember how I will get plenty of that over Christmas break. And she has taught me well--many of our parents instilled in us their similar type of spending habits and I often wondered how that affected the purchases.

If I were to do this again I think I'd ask a couple more questions such as: Did you think you had a need for this item? How would you feel if you were unable to make this purchase? How do you feel about other students spending habits? Do you feel like you spend the same way as your parents?

Although this blog raised more questions than answered, it was exciting to see what all the different reasons for purchasing things came to as well as how it came to be. I also just got to enjoy spending time and learning how my friends and colleagues make their decisions.