And suddenly it's so cool?

This is a shirt that I saw today at American Eagle. It reads "Fun, Flat Broke & FAB". Yeah, I know it's supposed to be a spring-break themed shirt, but how has it suddenly become cool to be "flat broke"?

This thought it kind of piggy-backing on one of my previous posts where I was complaining that since most of my friends are broke, I have a hard time relating to them in conversation. They say "Oh, I'm so broke." and I just go "yeah....".

Awkward!

But really, this shirt floored me a little bit. Now, I am not the type to advertise that i'm "fun" or "fab", even if I AM those things. This shirt screams desperate and attention-whorish to me, but maybe that's just me. I just never thought we'd get to a point where being flat-broke was a social statement.

Oh, and the shirt is only $15, for those of you who want to be that little bit extra in the hole.

Am I over reacting? It seems so weird to me, what do you think?

I have a dilemna...

I have an extremely difficult time buying clothing. I am a hard size to find and fit properly, and as such, when I find clothes that fit and that I like, I buy them. No questions asked. If it's something i'm iffy about, I just don't buy it. Most times I can't wait until things go on sale, since my size will be gone.

As such, I have a work gala (yes, gala...very fancy, isn't it? Hah.) on Thursday that I had to go buy a nice shirt for. In the process, I found a pair of jeans and two bras (my old ones were falling apart!). So, I bought all of them. Damage? Over $200. Sucks. I wish I could find discount clothes real cheap, but I have a hard time.

So, that means that I've completely blown my budget for clothes from March. As in, over $200 over my limit. Yikes! Fortunately I keep about a $500 to $1,000 buffer of cash in my chequing account.

But, I'm wondering what to do about a budget. I think that maybe building a $500 clothes fund will serve me well. I can use my month to month budget for things like bras, undies, sock, etc. You know, the basics that I can find easily. That way, when I find a nice pair of jeans or something, I can buy it without hesitation.

What would you do?