I do not intend to be partisan or more forgiving towards a specific gender (in this case men), but for the sake of this question I am asking about women and materialism/vainness.
I do not live a completely austere lifestyle as I occasionally buy items for my own entertainment, but I feel that being frugal and conservative in your spending habits are great character traits.
One aspect of how I feel some women I encounter are materialistic/vain is their willingness to shop, whether it be on decorations, clothing or other items. If you have enough shoes (two or three pairs of good shoes), what reason do you have to own more other than you enjoy them? I suppose this could be a null argument and could easily be countered with a question questioning the usefulness of my spending habits, e.g. “why do you buy books if you already have them?” but I am just attempting to convey my ideas. However, say for example you have 10 pairs of shoes. In my opinion that seems rather excessive regardless of how much you enjoy shoes.
In addition to spending in excess, I notice that many women are always concerned with makeup, etc. I know that many women want to look attractive and that society often pushes women to care TOO much about their appearance. I agree that women can make themselves quite attractive using makeup, and I am aware that it gives them self confidence, but I would prefer to see a woman who prefers not to wear makeup or at least wears very little of it to one who routinely uses makeup. If nobody wore makeup then wouldn’t our perception of beauty be that which is normal instead of embellished?
Anyways, that is enough of me spewing my ideas at you. For this question I am mainly talking about women whose main hobby is shopping.
I commend women who aren’t materialistic/vain and who are frugal. It is a HUGE plus in their favor to me. However, there are far too many women who are not this way. The idea that once a woman marries a man “all his money is hers” is on that deserves reproach.
“Money’s only purpose is to be spent… Why should you worry about what other people do with their money?” Frankly because people who shop all the time seem to be obsessed with themselves or think that money is one of the most important possessions in the world. Money is very important but love of money is wrong. I don’t like it when people are wasteful, plain and simple. People who have 15 pairs of shoes have an unnecessary excess. If you go and spend money all the time (especially money you do not have) then it is likely bills, etc. are not getting paid. Also, it isn’t wrong to buy things for yourself but with the money you don’t spend you could be saving or donating to charity to help people who just barely make it.