hey guys welcome back
so in my apartment's tour video I briefly talked about budgeting and saving money
and you guys wanted more of it, so you guys got it
so in this video we're gonna talk about how to save money along with budgeting and lifestyle tips
so I'm back in LA, the birds seem to be really happy which makes me really happy
so you might hear birds chirping, it's just the beauty of being on the west coast
thank you so much thredUP for sponsoring this video
thank you guys for supporting brands that support me
thredUP is the world's largest thrift store.
You know who much I love thrifting, you know who much your girl loves to get a good deal and finding good deals
of course the best way to save money is not to spend it but if you must, think second hand first.
your wallet and the environment will thank you and more of this in a bit
let's get started with budgeting and I'll sprinkle life style tips throughout
so the golden rule for budgeting is the fifty-thirty-twenty rule
fifty percent of your income for the month should be spent on necessities,
so essentials like things that you must need to survive like rent, transportation, bills, all those things, food
and then thirty percent should be spent on discretionary items which are non-essentials
entertainment, fun, social, going out for dinners. Things that aren't essentials but
help make your life a little better and a little more pleasant
and the remaining twenty percent should go into savings
so this is the general over-all golden rule
for me I kind of switched it in a way where it's thirty-ten-sixty
because I want to save more money and I am willing to cut out more of my fun stuff
so that I can live decently and that I can save more for my future self
with most of these suggestions, it's just that it's a suggestion
at the end of the day you know yourself best. You know your needs, you know your lifestyle the best
so if you want to spend more and save less
if you wanna save less and spend more, that's totally up to you
so it's just... it really comes at to be honest with yourself and being honest with your circumstances
at the end of the day, it's up to ourselves to really figure out what works best for us
so the first thing I asked myself when I started budgeting in college is
what are my necessities?
'cause I know in life we want a lot of things but we don't actually need a lot of things
for me it's rent, transportation and food because these three things are the only three things I need
for me to be able to survive
like those are my non-negotiables
like if I don't have a roof over my head, if I don't have the means getting from point A to point B
and if I don't have food in my stomach I won't be able to do everything else that I wanna do
whatever you can't live without, those are your necessities.
Everything else will go into the second section of the discretionary or like the disposable income category
one thing that you can do to really try to figure out what your necessities are actually overall with budgeting
it's to track at least one or two or even three months of your spendings
so I generally like to only use a credit card
because credit cards give you points and that's kind of like free money
so I try my best to not use cash
though that also at the end of the month it's a lot easier to be like
okay, these are all the things I spent my money on and I only do look through receipts
but if I do use cash, I'll make notes on my phone
like this is how much cash I've spent today on what ??
though you can also keep your receipts of everything and just go through it at the end of the month
and then from there, you'll be able to see, like okay these couple of things are things that I need to be able to survive
these couple of things maybe not so much
these couple of things maybe you know I can... I don't need to do those things
and by really figuring out what you spend your money on
you'll also be a lot more aware of how much disposable and combat with
so basically after taxes, after all deductions, after the manage things
and the necessities that you have to spend your money on
you're left over with a chunk of money, hopefully a decent and sizable chunck of money
where you can either choose to spend it on things or you can save it on things
a question or like a thought that has been guiding me every since college
was when I realized differentiation between instant gratification and long-term fulfillment
and I felt like at that time and for most of my life
all of my desires, all of my wants and all of my actions
work towards instant gratification
and I realised how that may not be the best things to do
and the opposite of that, to me, is long-term fulfillment
do you want to spend your money on things right away?
and what are those things gonna be? Or would you rather save for you to be able to enjoy in the long term
and for you to have that piece of mind for your future self
and things I like asking myself are like "do you need that new phone right when it comes out, even if your phone still works perfectly fine? "
do you need to watch a movie in theaters right when it comes out
spending fifteen to twenty dollars for you to be able to see it on a big screen
or can you just watch it on your laptop a few months later
and another question I like asking myself is
Do I buy it or do I DIY... do it myself
DIM
so for something like coffee, for something like smoothies or something like eating meals
coffee, if you think about it, it's three dollars a cup, get it four times out of a week
and then there's four weeks in a month, and then there's twelve months in a year
that's all six-hundred dollars that you spent on this
and if we're being honest, most coffees are actually about five dollars
like matcha lattes, ?? lattes, like the fancy things with the fancy milks
and I drink five smoothies a week I had about ten dollars each
that's like two-thousand-fourhundred dollars I could have spent doing something else
these are all things that I told myself I can just do it myself
sometimes they're emergencies,
sometimes you just cannot be bothered making your own stuff
so I'm like "go get it" but getting coffee or getting a smoothie once a week
versus multiple times a week is a lot better
and you're saving a lot of money
so the last thing in this section is shopping
there's a huge difference in price if you buy something for retail versus if it's on sale out of a retail store
versus if it's out of a discounter store versus if you thrift it
there's always alternatives, there's always ways to find what you want at a discounted price
there's always a way if you have the heart to make that way show it
there's a plug-in for chrome that gives you cash back for shopping online
from one percent to over twenty percent sometimes
so this is kind of like free money that you are missing out on
if you're not using it already, I'll link it down below
and then there are clothes
clothes are definitely a guilty pleasure
I've realised over the years that I actually don't need more clothes
I think being able to watch this right now
and access content like this with the internet on your phone or on your laptop
we probably don't need any more clothes but we want clothes
so I think that's just something to know and something that took me a while to be honest with myself
to be like okay, I don't actually need any more clothes if I just want clothes
for me, what works out best is thrifting
so I just wanna share with you guys our recent haul..two recent hauls
one from a thrift store, one from thredUP
to show you guys and to show you guys how much money you actually can save
and how you can find really fashionable gems from either in-stores or online
so this is from thrifting in New York City
this first tank is from Aritzia
I love how flowy and light-weighted it is. It'll be perfect for summer
yeah, so this is eighty dollars and I got it for twenty dollars
and then... there is a dress from IRO
I got it for fifty dollars. It retailed for twohundred and ninety seven dollars, I believe
and then there's this shirt that I am wearing... I can't pronounce this one
this I think I got for thirty-five dollars and it retailed for hundred and fifty-five
okay, and now the mini thredUP haul
there is this rag'n'bon sweater. Can you guys tell I've been in a very stripy mood lately
so I got this for thirty-two dollars and the estimated retail price is two-hundred and twenty
there is this foxy-dox... (is it foxydox?) yeah, this foxydox laced dress
Got it for fifty-eight dollars and estimated retail price is twohundred and ninety-seven
and then there's this madewell schal-poncho throw-on, huge scarf-jacket thing
that I got for thirty-two dollars and the estimated retail price is a hundred and ninteen
then there's this ?? button-up blouse that has this linen insert at the bottom, that I think it looks super cool
this I got for fifty-three dollars and the estimated retail price was threehundred and sixty
then there is this Walter Baker blouse.
I love the back paneling, how it's a little see-through. I'm thinking of wearing a black tank under this
this top was twenty dollars and the estimated retail price is a hundred and twenty-five
and the last thing I want to share with you guys is this Phillip Lim dress
again, it's a little thick for right now, for summer but it'll be perfect for fall and for winter
and this dress I got it for forty-eight dollars and the estimated retail price was sixhundred and fifty
so all of that saving adds up to about a thousand and fivehundred dollars
and again, the best way to save money is to not spend it but if you must
for me like I had to get a couple of ?, I had to get some more summery clothes and dresses
because I am going to my friend's ?? in Palm Springs
and I honestly don't have many shorts or many skirts 'cause I gave most of them away 'cause they were too revealing
or they were just... you know I got them from when I was a lot younger and they're just not suitable for the person I am trying to be these days
if you guys are all interested in shopping on threadUP, I'd highly recommend checking it out
They are offering you beautiful humans twenty-five percent off your first order
all you have to do is to click the link below and you use Rowena at check-out
let's move on to the last point of savings
so the question I asked myself is, "what are you saving your money for?"
and "why must you save?"
This could be many different things for us
it could be saving up enough money to get a house, saving enough money to get your dream car
saving enough money to go on a vacation or to do things or to have fun or to enjoy
personally, I realized that my parents had worked so hard for their whole lives
I want to make enough money and I want to save enough money to be able to show them
"hey, you guys can retire asap"
or "hey, you guys cannot worry anymore and just focus on yourselves and like do the things you wanna do and not have to worry about me."
so along with a lot of things I've been talking about, it's really important to know what's important to you
if you know getting a house or getting a car or for your parents or for whatever
if you know that's what's most important to you that will be your north star and guiding you for your savings
it'll be a lot more painless for you to be like
okay, I am consciously making a decision not to spend money on X, Y and Z because I'm saving for X, Y and Z
so, what this looks like for me is, whenever I get a check, half of that check automatically goes into savings
and the other half is in checkings for me to do whatever I need to do with it
again, like the recommended percentages twenty minus sixty, it doesn't really matter, you can figure out what works best for you
so to summarize this video
the first thing: it's important to know what your necessities are, what you must need to survive and then going from there
what are you wiling to spend money on and what aren't you wiling to spend money on
because what you do spend money on, means money you cannot put into your savings
and money, you put into your savings, means you can't spend on things that you want
so it's really important to figure out what that balance is for you
thank you guys so much for watching this video, I hope you got something out of it
and thank you again for thredUP for sponsoring this video
if I am being completely honest to you guys, I've been more of an in-person thrifter
but thredUP has honestly changed the game for me for online thrifting
cause before, in the past, I just found that most online thrift stores/market places
it's very disorganized, it's like you can't really find things, there's no filters.
It's hard to just like find your size or just to... I don't know like I never really trust the quality
but then with thredUP, I really appreciate how you can filter reverything by size, by colour, by designers, by silhouettes
by so many things and the user experience is so phenomenal
it's so great compared to everything else that's out there.
So I really appreciate the complete customized experience as well as the free shipping and the easy returns
It's just something about getting something delivered to your door
it's like that full retail experience, if you were to buy something from a retail store
but it's from a thrift store, which is so cool
again, there are offering anyone who wants twenty-five percent off your first order
link in the description below and use Rowena at check-out, for you to be able to ge the twenty-five percent off
and again, thank you guys so much for watching this video.
Thank you guys so much for supporting brands that support me to do what I love and to be able to share this kind of content with you guys
aaaaand I'll see you guys next week! Bye!