Engaging the services of a stylist is still relatively uncommon outside of the ultra-wealthy and/or entertainment spheres but everyone knows someone who's had a personal trainer at some point. Most women over the age of 12 employ the services of a hairdresser; designer clothes can be found in practically every Australian wardrobe; and off-white teeth have been so successfully pathologised that dentists are busily rebadging themselves as "smile doctors". All this led me to wonder how much the average Australian woman spends on clothes and grooming.

So, starting with me - average job, average salary, two small children. The last point is material because it severely limits one's capacity for narcissistic spending. A quick tally of my personal maintenance expenditure comes to an annual minimum of $10,000. Even I'm surprised I can afford this kind of outlay on an ongoing after-tax basis. It's nothing compared to Cheryl but it's still a hell of a lot for someone who doesn't live off her looks. So how am I churning through so much dosh for such questionable gain? Well ...

My greatest expense is exercise. I know. Anyone can exercise for free, and I should, but I need someone to push me. Consequently, I spend approximately $1500 a quarter on classes at the company gym, meaning it costs me $6000 a year to maintain my minimal level of fitness. Yikes! That's more than private health cover.

I work in an office so I'm expected to dress well. To make matters worse, I love clothes and embrace every dress-up opportunity that my low-profile life affords with feverish excitement. It's a potentially debilitating combination budget-wise but fortunately, I'm an op shopper of long experience and incredibly good luck. My energetic investment activity in the secondary garment market means that I don't spend nearly as much as I could, but it adds up. I reckon I spend somewhere around $2000-$4000 a year on new and less-new clothing. Shoes, hosiery and underwear set me back another $1000.

Despite the long and well-established relationship I enjoy with my hairdresser, I spend surprisingly little on his talents. Even my full-service half-head of foils habit comes to less than $1000 a year. It would be more if I managed to get there every six weeks as I should but I don't have time to give up three hours of my life more often than four times a year. A modest example of the time-poor, asset-rich correlation. Only in my case, it's more of a time-poor, brass-rich colouration.

And while I love make-up and wear it every day, I refuse to pay exorbitant prices for goods that cost the manufacturer next to nothing to produce. By avoiding the temptations of the cosmetics counter and sticking to bargain buys at the chemist my outlay is fairly minimal. Probably less than $200 annually.

Thinking about this, I realised that my biggest personal expense last year was dentistry - approximately $10,000. Sadly, all of it was painful and none of it was cosmetic. Sigh. No wonder my bank account is more threadbare than my (mostly) recycled wardrobe. I can hardly afford to keep my own teeth! Celebrity style grooming is just a distant dream. It's the money or the gums for me.

How much do you think you spend on wardrobe and grooming expenses? What's worth the money and where do you draw the line?