Whats more important to you...

[jewelerman]

and what do you spend more time and money on?Your appearance & wardrobe,jewelry,hair and bathroom time OR...The appearance of your home & its upkeep and the interior design and organization.If you could only pick one what would it be?

 

[Jennifer W]

LOL! Neither. You'd want to see the state of the place, and I fit right in...

 

[MichelleCarmen]

and what do you spend more time and money on?Your appearance & wardrobe,jewelry,hair and bathroom time OR...The appearance of your home & its upkeep and the interior design and organization.If you could only pick one what would it be?

Generally, in terms of money spent, it's about even. Timewise I spend more on my appearance because with kids, there's no hope in keeping the house clean and when I go out into public, I like to be put together so nobody knows there are sleeping bags and fruit roll up wrappers scattered around my living room!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Oh, and when we lived in our previous house, I spent more time in the yard than on anything else. It was rather large and needed constant tending.

 

[princesss]

Personal appearance. You can control who sees the inside of your house, but not who you run into out in the world.

 

[elrohwen]

Probably the house. I don't look homeless, but I do tend to wear the same clothes over and over and I'm much more of a jeans and tshirt girl than anything. Especially in my current job where most people dress way down, caring about my appearance seems pointless - I would just stand out too much and feel uncomfortable. When I worked with marketing type people who were always put together, I think I cared more because I wanted to fit with that environment.

We're in the process of buying a house and we'll definitely be spending the majority of our money on it! I really like the idea of interior decorating because feeling comfortable and relaxed in my home is so important to me. I'm not great at it, but I've been learning and I'm excited to try things out in our new house (whenever we find it). I'm a cheapskate so I won't go crazy, but fixing things up and furnishing rooms we don't currently have room for (a library!) will take some cash. I'd much rather spend it there than on new clothes.

 

[Haven]

I definitely spend more on my home's upkeep than on my own upkeep.

Well, we just wrote a check for $3,400 for our plumbing yesterday, so maybe it's a bad time for me to answer this question. At least we can use our toilets, washer, dishwasher, and shower again!

I put a lot of *thought* into my wardrobe, but many of my best pieces come from thrift stores, or they're items that I tore apart and redesigned, myself. I just started cutting my own hair, and I've always shaped my own eyebrows because I don't trust anyone with them. SO, if I could do my own plumbing, I would, but that Bobcat machine they had digging up my yard looked mighty difficult to wield. Better leave that to the professionals. We do our own landscaping, though.

 

[Trekkie]

Neither. I spend all my money traveling!

I am not an "appearances" person, I'm an "experiences" person.

I don't spend money on expensive haircuts or lip glosses or yet again repainting a room that is perfect to begin with. I'd far rather spend that money on visiting a game park or driving up the coast to see the whales or to the bush to see and hear the lions.

If I cut my hair it just grows back to the same unruly bush it was before, so I see it as money wasted. On the other hand, my experiences are with me forever.

 

[HollyS]

I don't spend truckloads of money on either myself or my home. But I would rather spend on the upkeep and decor of my abode.

However . . .

Just as I do not choose to spend the time and money necessary to be a vision of perfection, I also do not choose to have a McMansion, or a home decorated in 'of-the-moment' trends. I would not go to a decorator, or choose an entire room from a store, or purchase any furniture item that costs more than I make in a month. I prefer to pull together my home from things I already have, family heirlooms, and the occasional great find. To me, that is what makes a home unique and personal, as well as comforting and welcoming.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

My home for sure. I'm probably at an unfair advantage, because I can take of myself "salon quality" at home...

 

[soocool]

When I was younger I really did not have to spend much time on my appearance ( I could wear anything and did not have to wear much makeup or worry about my hair) so we put our money into the house.

Now that I am older, I need a little more help (well I can't dress like a 20 year old anymore since I am in my 50s and color my hair to keep the gray underwraps), but my home already looks good.

So in other words, priorities shift as you get older.

 

[AprilBaby]

The first. I live in a houseful of men so I have given up on having a nice house for now. Someday when they all leave I will concentrate on the nice house.

 

[Tuckins1]

The house. Of course I keep my appearance neat and clean and presentable. But the majority of my money and time goes toward fixing things up and making things look lovely. Right now, the major push has been the baby's room and putting up a new banister.

 

[Tuckins1]

I don't spend truckloads of money on either myself or my home. But I would rather spend on the upkeep and decor of my abode.

However . . .

Just as I do not choose to spend the time and money necessary to be a vision of perfection, I also do not choose to have a McMansion, or a home decorated in 'of-the-moment' trends. I would not go to a decorator, or choose an entire room from a store, or purchase any furniture item that costs more than I make in a month. I prefer to pull together my home from things I already have, family heirlooms, and the occasional great find. To me, that is what makes a home unique and personal, as well as comforting and welcoming.

Ditto on the home decor! I gradually collect pieces from here and there... My house "goes" together, but does not look like it jumped off the pages of a catalog.

 

[HopeDream]

I keep myself tidy-looking, and try to keep my house tidy too.

Eventually I would like to spend more on my upkeep, but I'm still establishing my household and transitioning from the cruddy and cheap make-do items I have now, to good quality "keeper" items eg. My Christmas present this year was replacing a hand-me-down 10 year old kenmore vaccuum (which exploded) to a new dyson city.

When I have a larger income I look forward to buying myself clothing of better quality - and more diamonds!!! ...and vacations.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

We just bought a house about 7 months ago, which tips the scales for me, but I probably would have said "home" regardless.

Today I went to four different antique stores looking for a particular table--and I did this in a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee because I didn't care to change my clothes after realizing said hole existed.

I get a lot more enjoyment out of my home than my clothes, so I like putting more care and money (though still not a ton) into furniture/home decor.

 

[zoebartlett]

The interior of my home, its upkeep and organization, is more important to me than focusing on myself. I have much more fun shopping for things for our home than I do shopping for clothes, purses, shoes, etc.

I love shopping for artwork and furniture, in particular. The only room we have left to make over is our master bedroom, but that will have to wait a while.

The one thing I dread is dealing with mail and filing papers. We have a rather large box that I really need to go through but the thought of dealing with it stresses me out. How do I solve this? Easy -- I just shut the door, and voila, problem solved!

 

[Lauren8211]

Definitely my house! I'm a jeans and t-shirts girl with very little style. I LOVE decorating my house, though! I'd spend all my time and money doing home projects if I could. No one cares what I wear, but I certainly care about the place that I spend most of my time.

 

[tigian]

I think I spend a tad bit more energy on my personal appearance, but I do like my house to be tidy. We don't spend a lot of money on interior decorating because we are currently renting our house and will probably be moving once DH is out of school.

 

[diamondringlover]

I spend more time and money on my house.

 

[bee*]

I think that it's about even for me. I don't spend a huge amount of money on either and I don't really spend more on one versus the other. We're renting though so maybe if it was my own house we'd spend a bit more.

 

[monarch64]

Personal appearance. You can control who sees the inside of your house, but not who you run into out in the world.

I'm with Princesss. Not everyone sees where I live, but everyone I run across or know obviously sees how I present myself to the world. It's important to me to spend money on personal maintenance and keeping my clothing/shoes in good repair, as well as keeping myself in good health and physically fit. Obviously one's environment says a lot about them, but I'm not willing to spend money on an unnecessary cosmetic change (or artwork, etc.) in my home INSTEAD of spending that money on a good haircut or a new pair of shoes if they are equally unnecessary.

I'm in the camp that thinks personal appearance and attractiveness affects how you are treated by others in everyday life. Again, a potential employer is probably not going to see the interior of my house (and likely not the exterior either unless I already knew this person), but there is no hiding my appearance when being interviewed!

ETA: also, I am really not high maintenance. I buy makeup only when it needs to be replaced, and when I need a trim nowadays I either see a best girlfriend who's now doing hair, or I go to the local beauty college and have it done for $7 + tip (just did that on Friday and it looks as good as when I was spending $250-300 for cut/color in Chicago!) When I was purchasing expensive clothes (have cut waaaayyyy back in the past 2.5 years), I was buying quality, classic pieces that 4-5 years later still look great and probably have another 2-3 years of wear left in them. Shoes, handbags, same thing--I've visited the local leather repair shop a few times to have heels replaced and soles repaired/leather cleaned/patched, and my pieces are holding up. I just don't consider maintaining my personal appearance, which I take a lot of pride in because I like the way I look, a frivolous expense...

 

[Cehrabehra]

I put more attention into my house - it's where I feel comfortable and I like to enjoy my space, I don't do it for anyone else. I don't care too much how I look so putting attention into that would be doing it for someone else's benefit. I do what gets me by (stay clean, style hair, maybe some mascara) but that's about it. I'm not a clothes or shoe whore, I'd rather have comfy pillows on my couch to snuggle with

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

We spend more money on the house but that's because it is a lot older than me and needs the upkeep.

 

[yennyfire]

We definitely spend more on the house. I'm not much of a shopper when it comes to clothing/accessories and general upkeep for myself. If I'm clean and neat, I'm fine with that on an everyday basis. I like to dress up a bit when we go out, but I tend to shy away from super trendy items since they go out of style quickly.

As for our home, we're into renovating it right now, not decorating it. We have the same furniture we've had for 10+ years, but are in the process of updating the downstairs powder room and are saving to replace our sythetic stucco (ugh!) with brick....

 

[ksinger]

I don't spend truckloads of money on either myself or my home. But I would rather spend on the upkeep and decor of my abode.

However . . .

Just as I do not choose to spend the time and money necessary to be a vision of perfection, I also do not choose to have a McMansion, or a home decorated in 'of-the-moment' trends. I would not go to a decorator, or choose an entire room from a store, or purchase any furniture item that costs more than I make in a month. I prefer to pull together my home from things I already have, family heirlooms, and the occasional great find. To me, that is what makes a home unique and personal, as well as comforting and welcoming.

What she said. Along with the observation that the older you get, the less important personal looks become. I'm not saying you don't try to look good, just that you likely aren't obsessing about it anymore. My mom's pithy comment always comes to mind: "No matter how good you start out looking, live long enough and you're going to look like a muppet." Puts things in a bit of perspective.

Re-worked garage sale and estate sale finds figure prominently, that and a bunch of original artworks. Other than a kitchen remodel to test our impending marriage (we thought we'd try for divorce prior to getting married, but we sailed through so here we are) and fab new buffet purchased a few years ago, I haven't spent much on the house in the last 7 years of so, outside of necessary maintenence costs. My days of "nesting" are behind me pretty much. Things are where they need to be, and I sure as heck don't have the time, patience or money to change things up every couple of years.

 

[lknvrb4]

I spend more time and money on my home. I like my house pretty spotless and I do daycare so its important to keep it clean. I wear jeans and tshirts daily but no makeup during the week because kids could care less if I have it on.

 

[dragonfly411]

Considering I only have a bedroom right now, appearance. But even before I'd say appearance. I have to get things for that more regularly than a candle or a decoration or what have you.

 

[reader]

May I move into a camper, please?

 

[purselover]

I definitely spend more time and money on personal appearance. Nice furniture/home accessories are fairly pricey so right now we are content holding on to our ikea/target/Jennifer leathers furniture. We are lucky my parents gifted almost all our furniture/kitchen stuff when we moved in together so we've never had to spend a significant amount on our home. Over the next few years though we do plan on redoing everything in our apartment. Unfortunately our 2 cats ruined our couch/chair/loveseat set with their back claws so that's first on our list.