hi I'm Molly Lisbeth and here's how I
live on my forty thousand a year salary
I'm 20 years old I'm a fashion designer
I have my own clothing label called
Belle d'Ivoire and I'm currently a
fashion stylist and creative director my
apartment is a 470 square foot studio
space that I share with my boyfriend in
downtown Los Angeles I pay $2,000 a
month in rent and $100 in utilities but
that price is split between me and my
boyfriend
besides rent my most expensive bill
would probably balance between food and
clothing I would describe my
relationship with money as a lot better
when I first moved to LA I spent so much
money I would go to like the weekly
Trading Post which is pretty much a
giant thrift store and spend a lot of
money and also I did a lot of styling
things for free because I wanted to
build my portfolio so I went through a
lot of money when I first moved to LA
but I'm finally like building my savings
and now that I also have a nine-to-five
to balance my freelance work I'm you
know able to start saving
something I wish I could pay off today
would definitely be my student loans I
hate having debt as you can tell like
with my credit card I paid off every
month so if I could pay off the ten
thousand that would be like amazing
that's like what I'm working for now
this tattoo is when I got matching with
my friend but we're not friends anymore
and I got it first though so she matched
me it's kind of a scary process they
pretty much like get this metal thing
that like sparks it's kind of scary and
it hurts really bad hurts way more than
getting a tattoo but yeah that's the
process
so the laser ring is for laser hair
removal just so you like never have to
shave again it's pretty nice for the
total lasering process for the tattoos
about $600 and then laser hair removal
is about I think like 1200 so the total
process ends up being about $2,000 okay
so it's time let me show you my
apartment this is an entryway this
wreath right here I got at Target and
it's super cute I love it adds another
plant vibe in the apartment and then
over here we have the coat rack I just
like to keep my favorite jackets this is
my favorite coat like ever always keep
it here on this hook I mean you need to
wear it coats a lot of times in LA just
because at night it gets really cool and
I feel like even though it's like warm
year-round
I feel like during the summer a lot you
still get cool days here's the corner of
my entryway I have this chair here that
I got from Target I was eyeing it for a
couple months and then purchased it last
fall super cool cuz it has fur down here
and then they had this pillow Anna on
the display and I was like that matches
so perfectly so I had to get it and then
I have this vampire weekend framed album
artwork that I picked up at a thrift
shop so
I love this corner and it's great when
like putting your shoes on to have like
a chair to sit down in one of the perks
with living with my boyfriend is he's
always willing to do laundry for me
while I'm at work the disadvantages are
like I said I'm a clean freak he's not
so sometimes there are messes I actually
have an apartment laundry which is super
nice and I'm so thankful for that and I
do laundry a lot just because we don't
have a lot of places to put dirty
clothes so this is utilized daily I
would say on a scale of 1 to 10 I've put
in about seven or eight I've spent a lot
of time trying to pick out the decor and
items while also fitting into my budget
but my boyfriend would probably say I
put a 12 into it itself this sign is
something that I picked up at a vintage
store in Tennessee with my boyfriend
right before we got the apartment so
I've never baked ever now honestly
probably like once I made cookies here
is my fridge it's honestly more full
than usual because I usually don't have
lot in here since I'm usually eating out
or eating on the go I usually just have
like coffee eggs and water bottles I
would say pretty much 90% of my meals
are eaten out sometimes we'll order out
and bring it back in though up here I
keep actually my blender but I also keep
my toaster up there too here's my pantry
this we mainly keep like crackers
pretzels things like that we have some
marshmallows because I got some hot
chocolate that was in the fall vibe my
current credit score is about 700 on
average I spend about 300 a month on
credit card sometimes up to 500 that's
the max but I make sure to pay it off
every month for cost saving when
decorating an apartment my tip is
honestly like go to Target that and
Urban Outfitters they both have a ton of
sales all the time and just keep going
back until you see the items you like
are on sale because they eventually are
going to be on sale
over here is our kitchen table so I
found this on Urban Outfitters and
here's the coolest part these little
stool actually come up and sit inside of
the table like that so you can have like
the open floor area and it makes it
super easy to clean so I love this table
and then on here I have this little sign
from Target I love it I wanted it for a
while it's cute because it says like
let's go out or let's stay in usually
keep it on this side I have this daily
planner and I used to use just a lot but
now I just kind of leave it here for
looks because it has little plants all
over it which I really love I also have
these sunflowers it's because I think
they really brighten up the space and
add like a little bit of life and like a
city apartment and then I have this lime
lemon flavored candle so it's really
good for the kitchen like smells super
fresh and bright and airy and then over
here we have our mahogany teak wood
candle it's my favorite we probably go
through one a week it's kind of bad most
of the really large items we had
delivered online but things like our TV
which we got at the Target downtown we
took an uber home so over here is my TV
wall I have the TV on this really cool
shelf from Urban Outfitters up here I
have a macrame that I got from a local
boutique and then underneath in this
shelf I have a bunch of different like
cameras vintage Maps a globe I have a
magnifying glass a little stopwatch on
my TV my monthly subscriptions include
Hulu YouTube TV Netflix sometimes we end
up like buying TV shows on Fandango but
this is my favorite corner of the
apartment mainly because it's where a
lot of the plants are
it's super vibes chills just fun it's
like a little bit of outdoors in the
downtown high-rise apartment so that's I
think the reason I love it so much so
right now I think my biggest financial
anxiety would be just savings and making
sure I have enough money in my savings
you know that's the most stressful thing
is looking at your savings and being
like I don't get paid this month then
how am I gonna afford everything this is
my living room aka pretty much just the
couch
the reason this couch is so cool is all
you do is pull this out down here then
these two levers and then it's a giant
queen bed so it's super comfy and it
literally takes two seconds which is a
great this is our shoe wall pretty much
it's all our favorite pairs of shoes a
lot of our like designer more expensive
favorite pairs we got these shelves from
Ikea and a lot of people have used them
for shoe shelves this is my favorite
pair of these bullets Yaga's they're
just like a nice neutral color that kind
of can go with everything and I wear
them pretty much every day to work these
are Spencer shoes that I have like
stolen pretty much they're the easiest I
love them they're so comfy and again
they like go with everything I just
think they're like a good classic
sneaker
so here's my closet something I wish
that my environment had would be a
walk-in closet that's literally like the
only thing that I need for the space and
that's probably one of the things that's
going to cause me to have to move over
the next year just because I need more
storage this is my section of it and
then this is my boyfriend's from like
here over so he is a lot smaller of a
space when I was 15 I started hand
sewing my own collections and got to
show them in New York and Los Angeles
Fashion Week and a bunch of other
different runways and I was actually
invited to go on Project Runway Junior
which is a competition show pretty much
set up like Project Runway and it was
pretty intense it was probably the most
intense thing I've ever done but it
definitely prepared me for like the real
world and my current work ethic and I
made it all the way to the second to
last episode so I was pretty proud of
that
if I had to pick like my top three
favorite things the first thing would be
this off-white bag that I just got it is
super small but like it's kind of nice
because you can just like throw it on
this is my favorite hoodie it's super
comfy it's flimsy I'll go but we got it
at a secondhand thrift store my
boyfriend actually got it for me for
like 75 or 100 bucks and I honestly just
wear it a lot around the house my
biggest financial weakness would be
clothes I do have to buy a lot of
clothes for my job since I am a stylist
I have to be spending probably multiple
purchases a week on clothes but at the
end of the day a lot of it is also
personal shopping and personal clothes I
want to buy which can definitely be a
bad habit but my new job actually has a
discount for like all the major brands
so I do get huge discounts when it comes
to shopping I really love like plaid
pants I love this Parra from the Ragan
Priest I got this pair on sale actually
they were like originally 250 and I got
them for like 60 bucks
okay so this is like a set and it's
really basic but I love it because it's
so comfy and cute so it's a sweatshirt
set it's from Daniel guys oh this
harley-davidson sweater that's actually
vintage and I love the coloring of it
first of all great for fall and I
cropped it a little bit so these are
probably my favorites of his that I
steal probably on a weekly basis we have
this Harley Davidson t-shirt this is a
Metallica long sleeved t-shirt he got
this pair of ski goggles to wear one day
wore it with this construction vest - I
gave him so much hate for these two
pieces when he first got them it's funny
because I actually wore it for a
red-carpet look last weekend for
beautycon and that's my closet now
moving on to the next room over here is
the deaf space it's super small but we
really needed a desk and we were like
how can we fit one in this apartment so
we found this corner desk on Amazon the
number one thing that I could not live
without is probably my laptop desk area
workspace pretty much like my area to
get stuff done so my boyfriend was on
tour with an artist called a Youngblood
and he made kind of a promo magazine for
the artist my boyfriend is a concert
photographer / videographer and he goes
on tour with a bunch of different
artists these were all pages from the
magazine and so I found these frames on
Amazon and then while he was on to air I
hung these up
my boyfriend definitely had an impact
when deciding the design elements of my
apartment I definitely made sure to like
keep it like a Bluegreen tone it's not
just like girly but I would also say my
design style like isn't super girly so
it really works for both of us
over here this is my boyfriend side of
the bed we have the nightstand over here
because he always has like it's one of
snacks and stuff like that and I'm
definitely the cleaner one so we put
this on this side because we don't have
room for two then we have this candle
it's lavender cedar wood and then we
have this basket I got from Target I
thought it was a really cool like accent
for the wall besides just like a normal
picture frame pretty much everything on
his bed is from Target and they match
super well even though like they weren't
a set then up here this is this giant
painting which I like to call the focal
point of the apartment and my
boyfriend's mom actually painted it it
was definitely like the starting point
for the color scheme in the apartment
with the blues and I'm obsessed with it
I loved it I honestly could not think of
something better to go in the space and
it was free cuz it's a gift so even
better welcome to my side of the bed I
didn't have a nightstand at first and
obviously there's not really room for
one so I was trying to come up with
options and I bought this little corner
shelf the only issue is this is like
solid concrete so I was like okay I can
attach to this wall but not this wall so
I finally ended up getting this like
Gorilla Tape that apparently can hold
like thirty pounds and it actually works
and it folds in place and I just keep my
alarm clock in the back and then this
cute little succulent plant that I got
from Target and then I just have my
headphones and some extra jewelry thrown
on there this water bottle is from the
brand stoma and it actually came with my
pitcher water bottle
that has the refillable like monthly
filters you buy so it's one of the
subscription services I have this is a
vintage robe I keep here it's
Christian New York so that's my bedroom
welcome to my bathroom space so on
beauty products every month I probably
spend like zero dollars because I just
went to beauty con if you guys want to
see this whole bottom drawer is just
full of beauty products I got all this
for free in the town lounge at beautycon
this is just two lip glosses in here
probably fifty just in there so I'm
stocked up on makeup for the year I try
to make beauty products last a while
just because it's not like a huge
importance to me the one beauty product
that I couldn't live without would
probably just be like a concealer
foundation just something to hide like
the redness or red spots my tips for
living in a small space would be just
only have what you need and if you have
a worn like a piece of clothing in a
couple months like get rid of it like
you don't need it so I'm pretty good at
like only having this stuff I use on a
daily basis my biggest tip for people
moving to LA and wanting to save money
or not spend like crazy to spend your
weekends at home getting your stuff done
because when I first moved out here I
would go to like shopping and Melrose
every weekend and literally like ubering
they're buying a couple clothes buying
lunch buying a coffee it adds up to like
$500 somehow and I would just try to
like hang out with people and make
friends and end up spending so much
money so honestly I probably am a little
less social now that I'm saving money
but at the end of the day I'm getting
stuff I need to get done and that's
important to me alright glamour it was
great having you guys over but sadly
it's time for me to go out
bye see you guys later
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