Being a blogger, a lot of people assume I’m materialistic.

And they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. A lot of people use the word materialistic as an insult, to point out someone’s lack of balance with material items. But, the more I grow into my role as a blogger, the more I question how this word is used in terms of blogging.

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Just like any business or even hobby, blogging requires some investment.

I often hear a lot of people complaining about bloggers shopping too much and spending too much money on clothes. And sometimes, I hear rude things about how bloggers don’t deserve any of it at all because it’s all “fake”.

Creating content can take a lot of time day to day.

It doesn’t matter if you’re blogging or creating content just for fun. If you ask around to any blogger or content creator, they’ll probably tell you that it isn’t as easy and simple as it may look in that final photo or video.

So let’s talk about where blogging and materialism meet.

Okay so for example: let’s say I’m a lifestyle blogger in menswear. I would center my content around my lifestyle. Lifestyle includes what I wear, what i’m doing, where i’m going etc.

In order to keep creating this content, I’d have to maintain my lifestyle, right? I would have to keep my style updated with new looks to keep things new and interesting, I’d have to become familiar and comfortable with sharing parts of my life. I mean, the whole point of blogging and creating content is to create, document and to inform. Some may even look at it as a form of entertainment.

Materialism is allowed to have some grey areas.

When we think of bloggers always having new things and living this lavish life, we think it’s excessive and as simple as that. It’s not simple though. Bloggers create content around their niche and that usually involves keeping their content fresh and new for their audience.

Blogging involves some amount of investment. I’m not just talking about the investment of time, i’m talking about financial investment. Most bloggers put their hard earned money back into creating new content for you guys.

Let’s look at it this way. Spend money on clothes – earn money – spend the money you earn to buy more clothes to keep making new content.

Do you really want to read a post and see photos of the same 8 outfits over and over? Honestly, I don’t. I can’t lie, I love things. Shoes, watches, bags, food and antiques just to name a few. I also happen to like documenting the things that I enjoy.

While a lot of bloggers do have to spend their money to keep their content updated for their audience, many bloggers are gifted products from companies and brands. This means they’re sent free products. If they genuinely enjoy the product, they’ll share it with their audience.

No matter what niche, most bloggers are just humans trying to share parts of their lives with you guys in a harmless way. Many fashion bloggers just want to share looks to help inspire others to feel confident in what they wear. Lifestyle bloggers, want to share moments of life with you guys to help us relate to one another etc.

We’re all just trying to relate and to connect. I like looking at blogging as a creative outlet. A place where I can freeze my thoughts and capture moments of my life.