Before my final conclusive blog, I'd like to recap everything that this blog has gone through.
Rather than reading through the entire blog, for those who want a quick overview of everything so they can read a summary and questions that came up from each. It can be helpful to read all of the different interviews to get a nice view of the big picture as well as note if there are any we want to focus on specifically.
Spending of MSU Students
The introduction to the series that shows the questions I will be asking each interviewee. I reference Meghan Daum's article "My Misspent Youth," and how often many of us spend despite our lack of ability to. I wondered if college students do the same or budget out their spending.
Coffee
My first interview came from my friend Lauryn. She is someone I see either with a coffee in her hands or on the way to meet someone for coffee. She was the first to show me how much community and social connection were an important reasoning behind her spending.
Healthy
I interviewed Jacob, someone who spends a lot of money to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This brought up the question of why people spend the way they do--Jacob grew up with a healthy vegetarian family so I questioned if it was a hobby.
Spending on Clothes
My friend Jane can definitely be described as one of my most stylish friends. She always looks great and I constantly wonder how she does it. I wondered if there was something that attempted. I learned that she did research before making a purchase, which is something I had wondered if college students had done.
Food & Football
I interviewed my friend Lucky about the weekly spending we often all partake in after church. We usually spend the morning headed to church then out to Clarks Fork, so I asked Lucky these same questions pertaining to this spending and it again pointed towards community.
Does More Spending Mean More Community?
My friend Hanna attends events for CRU. Some are not as expensive as others, but one costs an upwards of $300 called CRU Conference. Hanna was the first person I interviewed that actually budgeted for her spending. I wondered if the direct link to community that CRU Conference offered increased Hanna's willingness to spend money and if that same link is found in others.
Fishing to Spend
I had the pleasure of interviewing my mildly fish obsessed boyfriend. I noted that he didn't really budget but found satisfaction in fishing and decided to pursue it. I also found an interesting link to an article about addiction to our iPhones: "The article noted that we have become addicted to "likes," because they often don't come at certain times or at a consistent rate, so this sporadic "reward," causes us to do continue to look and check our phones. Now how does fly fishing come in? We never can be sure when we will catch a fish. Yes, there are slicks of water and holes that are more likely to catch fish, but there is no guarantee rate or promise of even catching one fish. So we continue to cast and attempt until we are finally worn out. So I wonder... did this addiction to sporadic reward really just start when our iPhones came out? Or has it been around far longer?"
Biking & Bucks
Clayton is an avid biker who I constantly find working on his bike. He oftentimes will come back with a bag of new things for his bike. I also like to bike but definitely not to the same extent, so I wondered what he was buying so often and how much it cost. He noted how if he becomes more stressed he oftentimes will purchase more. I found this interesting and was curious as to how often things become linked.
What's This All About?
I did a recap of what had occurred so far in the blog and brought up the idea of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and began linking the social needs as well as safety and esteem needs. I found it interesting to see what needs were satisfied by each of those spendings.
More Biking & More Money
I got to hear from my good friend Blaine, another person who I learned budgeted his money. This also brought up the question of how many of us begin spending more in college because we do not have our parents around to limit our spending. In college is the first time we are truly free to choose how we spend.
King Sized Spending
I began with my first of "adult life purchases," with Julia's interview. She purchased a mattress and noted that she had budgeted and saved up money for it. This brought up the question if it's something we need then will we save up money? I wondered if this showed the importance of the item--how much we saved and how much we'd spend.
Vroom Vroom
My friend and roommate EJ made a big purchase many of us will have to go through at some point in our lives. She spent time researching before finding the right car as well as save money for a long period of time. I saw that this satisfied Maslow's Safety need and wondered if again she saved and budgeted because she was purchasing something so important. But I also had to ask... does this spending depend on the person or the nature of the object?
Shiny & Spendy
One of my favorite interviews came from my good friend Logan. I had the privilege of attending his wedding this summer. He and his wife are two of the kindest people I know, so I obviously was at first thrilled to hear when they got engaged, but as a college and business student, wondered how Logan went about saving and making this purchase. Logan noted he waited for a sale, found something in his price range, and used money he had saved while in a financially secure situation. I also found the entire idea of engagement rings interesting as to why they have become such a tradition as well as it's become such a custom that they are so fancy and expensive.
A Look Back
My final blog will be a post reflecting on all I've learned throughout this process. It comes with the story of how this idea came about as well as many of the things I've learned.
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