Sometimes knowing what not to do is even better than knowing what to do. So why not exclude all the bad fictional bad examples from your life? After all, you have enough bad influences or not-so-beneficial tendencies of your own.

Sex and The City – Carrie Bradshaw

Admit it, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) from Sex and The City series does live the good life. She has a rent-controlled apartment in New York, a well-paying writing gig in the form of a newspaper column and really fun girl friends. Problems? Carrie is too much into fashion for her own good. She loves her expensive brands and considers her wardrobe to be her baby. She also has a very unhealthy shoe addiction. Don’t be fooled by her social status in the movies based on the series. Now, she is a best-selling author and her partner is more than well off. But her weakness for the latest $400 Manolo Blahnik shoes nearly left her broke and homeless.

The lessons to be taken from Carrie pretty obvious:

- Do not love your fashion sense more than you love your wallet.

- Do not try to live like an A-List celebrity when you are a Z-List at best.

- Invest in a bank account and a house before investing everything in your shoes.

- Don’t drink 3 cocktails a night every time you go out exploring the hippest and most expensive clubs in the cosmopolitan city you are living in. It is not just bad for keeping your cash but it is also not so great for your weight control either.

Confessions of a Shopaholic- Rebecca Bloomwood

Confessions of a Shopaholic is a movie based on the best-selling book by Sophie Kinsella. Just like the name suggests, the story tells the funny yet really cautionary tale of a young woman who happens to be a shopping addict. Although her love for buying things is exaggerated at times, her impulses and love for credit cards are no strangers to most women. There is also a very funny “detail”: She works as a financial journalist.

The leading character is Rebecca Bloomwood. Her shopping habits are even worse than Carrie’s because her job doesn’t pay nearly as much and she loves buying anything. Not just clothes or shoes. The book illustrates her habits more vividly than the movie. However the basics are the same. She gets into too much credit card debt. Luckily, help comes in the form of inspiration and the rich and handsome businessman- Luke Brandon (played by Hugh Dancy in the film). In real life however, shopping mania doesn’t end happily ever after.

The lessons you have to take from Rebecca are even more obvious:

- The most precious things in life aren’t your credit cards.

- You don’t need to buy everything you like, especially if they cost ridiculous amounts.

- Do not try to outrun your debt collectors. Just don’t get into debt.

- If you are educated or employed in the area of finance, stick to your own advice.

Sex and The City movies are as popular as the show. And while I don’t know if Hollywood will make a sequel to the Shopaholic movie, there are 4 more books on the same character. There is a reason these two fictional characters- Carrie and Rebecca- are so popular among women. There is a truth to their habits. And while watching them is a lot of fun, their life styles are best left on the screen. After all, there is nothing glamorous about being broke.

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