Do Fashion Bloggers Contribute to Overspending?

Fashion and beauty blogs are quite plentiful these days, each extolling the virtues of some new amazing shoe, coat, lip gloss or purse every minute of every day. They tempt us to try new products and shop online; they tell us we "deserve" designer labels, and that coveting a $2,000 handbag is perfectly legitimate for someone who values fashion and looking good.

So are floggers in part to blame for consumer overspending and rising credit card debt?

To answer this question requires a little background info from yours truly. (Bear with us.)

We don't mean to sound overly dramatic, but we grew up with rather limited means. Seeing all the stuff you're "supposed" to have—on TV, in magazines, etc.—and what things are supposed to cost you, well, it starts to bring a girl down.…no matter how hard you try to shun materialism and march to the beat of your own drummer.

We personally avoided blogging for a looong time because well, we didn't think we could hang with all the "fashion snobs" (be they real or imagined) out there. Then we discovered The Budget Fashionista, and this girl was singing our tune! In fact, she inspired us to embrace our inner budget fashionista and start a blog of our own.

So here at The Budget Babe, we try really hard to stay true to ourselves and quite frankly, ignore the snooty snoots entirely.

Now that you know where we're coming from, here are a few things we'd like to make clear:

We do not wish to contribute to overspending among our readers, even if it's just racking up a $100 at Target and a $100 at Forever21—it can add up fast, as we all know!

We certainly don't endorse buying everything we write about—we would hope our readers know that, too.

You simply can't ignore the overwhelming element of fantasy in the digital age and throughout cyberspace: From gamers to fashion bloggers, we all enjoy creating larger-than-life avatars and personas online.

Sometimes we get just as much satisfaction writing about something as we would purchasing it. (Who knows, maybe the bloggers on sites like Bag Snob are finding that sort of bizarre gratification, too?)

In conclusion (at least for the time being), we think that as long as you can differentiate between reality and fantasy (easier said than done for some), then the pros far outweigh the cons of the worlds, communities, discussions and trends that fabulous fashion bloggers create. See you tomorrow! xoxo