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We've all been influenced to buy something, right? These advertisers know you better than you know you. The biggest financial mistake is that when you spend all of your money looking rich, it actually is keeping you further from your goal of actually being rich. Did you buy it because you love it? Or did you buy it because you want someone else to know you have it? This isn't about never shopping. It's about shopping smart. So not only do you get to look cute, but your future. You also gets to look cute. Foreign. What's up everyone? I'm your host, Vivian Tu, AKA Urich, BFF and your favorite Wall street girly. Fun fact. Did you know that the average American family spends about seventeen hundred dollars a year on clothing? That's right. My dad spends zero and I spend much more than that. Most of us are spending more than a band per year on clothes. And I bet there's some people listening right now who know that they've spent a lot more just like me. Apparel and textiles are the fourth biggest industry in the world because we are a presentation minded society. And I dare you to go into your closet and add up the total of what's in there right now. I don't think you're going to like what you see, but what if I told you there was a way that you could bring that number down? As a bona fide multimillionaire who is still dedicated to a good OOTD outfit of the day, I refuse to let my passion for fashion make me any more broken. So today on net worth and Chill, I'm going to un gatekeep all of my trade secrets for getting designer and quality clothes for less so you can start saving more on your wardrobe too. I'll unpack why we want to spend so much on clothes, why they matter in our lives, before sharing some tax advantages, year round deals and the best time of year to shop for the items you have saved in your wish list. Support for the show comes from Walmart. If you're ready for summer vibes but don't want to spend a lot, Walmart's got your back Right now. Walmart's dropping prices with thousands of rollbacks. More on summer party essentials from grills to coolers and even slushy machines. So whether you're firing up, cooling down or just getting ready for a weekend in the sun, now's your time to save. Shop and save in the Walmart app, online and in stores today. So first and foremost let's talk a little bit about why we overspend for better or for worse, looks actually matter. A better outfit, better grooming, or just being naturally good looking can actually help you get ahead in your career. But plus, there are plenty of studies that prove how looking good makes us feel good and that confidence helps us reach higher salaries, job titles, and dream opportunities. I chatted about this a little bit in my book well Endowed. Especially now in the age of social media, we're all thinking about how we look more than ever. There are infinite new trends to chase and infinite new clothes to shop for. Giant drop shipping manufacturers like Shein and Amazon have made it so easy to buy cheap clothes en masse for people who are determined to keep up with the Joneses. I mean, we've all been influenced to buy something, right? Maybe it was a silly little bag from TikTok shop or a whole new wardrobe because we want to channel Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. Unfortunately, these two factors are the perfect recipe for overspending. We're all guilty of it, whether it's blowing past our allotted budget for a new purse once or putting a ton of new clothes on Klarna because we just needed that new outfit right now. Spending a little too much in the name of fashion is a really easy error to make in this day and age. Often they're clothes that we don't even end up keeping forever. The average American throws away 65 pounds of clothing per year, according to the Huffington Post, which is money that we're literally just kissing goodbye. And especially with tariffs spiking the price tags. That's something we cannot afford when our budgets are getting tighter and tighter. I love a great outfit as much as anyone listening. This isn't about never shopping, it's about shopping smart, not shopping to fill a void. At its core, consumerism is the belief that more is better, that you need these new clothes, new car, new makeup, whatever, or you won't be cool. And the honest truth is that you never actually need that thing. You got saved in your shopping cart to be cool to begin with. Someone made you wanted to buy it. Someone put that thing in your head and made it rattle around in there until you put down your hard earned dollars to purchase it. I would know because that's what I used to do in my former life when I worked at buzzfeed. I was a digital media strategy salesperson AKA I was helping your favorite advertiser put ads on the Internet. And here's exactly what we would do. Advertisers would find consumers through targeting. Targeting is really good. Now we can target Asian American women aged 25 to 44 living in these zip codes who, who are household CEOs with at least one child. They're in the market for an SUV. These advertisers know you better than you know you. Companies can gather this data through a little one by one pixel that follows you around while you browse online. Say you open up a website and see the most amazing pair of boots. But you decide, let me think about these for a little bit and then maybe I'll buy them later. You switch tabs, you start reading an article, but what do you see? And ad for the boots you were eyeing. Then you move on to scrolling on Instagram and bang, you see the boots again. It must be divine intervention. So you buy the boots, babe. It's not divine intervention. It was me. It was me and a tracking pixel. This is happening everywhere, with everyone, all the time. So companies have a lot of data about what we're shopping for. And now it's really, really easy to start pandering to us in an effort to squeeze out a little bit more of our money. It's a huge reason why we see trend cycles moving faster and faster and faster. As our lives get faster and culture moves quicker, fashion brands are hungrier to meet us in the moment and use the data they have to start pushing products onto us. That's how you end up seeing things like gigantic fast fashion corporations cropping up out of nowhere. These limited edition FOMO inspired drops that are intended to generate hype on social media. Big influencer hauls where they pour out their packages like a little pinata on the floor. And shortening trend cycles that seem to last fewer months than in years before. There's a lot of talk about the fact that the 2020s don't seem to be marked by any one wider cultural phenomenon. The way that the 80s and 70s and 60s all had specific looks to them. Now the only consistent thing is change. So how do you know when you actually need to buy new clothes? Knowing all of this now? Hopefully this will help you understand better when you actually need to buy new clothes. And listen, yes, you probably still need and want new pieces. It's just about reframing our mindset. Courtesy of my friend Paula Pant. You can have anything, just not everything. If you're thinking about honing in on your personal style or trying to find a look that suits you, I would start with what you already own. Here's a game changing hack. Loop a hair tie or a ribbon on one empty hanger in your closet. And put it in the furthest right position in your closet. Each time you wear something, you wash it and then hang it back up. Put it to the right of this stitch. Specially marked hanger. After 12 months, you'll see exactly what you didn't wear in the past 365 days to the left of your special marking hanger. Then you can decide to maybe sell the upscale pieces you're not wearing and maybe donate the rest. You might be sitting on hundreds of dollars worth of clothing just collecting dust. And you'll also figure out what pieces would actually help elevate your current wardrobe. I am 1000% a victim of having way too many pieces that I don't wear and then going back to the same three, four, five shirts constantly. And if I love those shirts, great, maybe I'll get them in different colors. But the stuff that I'm not using, I need to make sure that I have enough real estate in my closet to even add in new things. And so that's a really good chance for me to decide what I do keep and what I don't. These days, a lot of stores are also getting in on the fun, and I would encourage you to check out the many buyback programs that brands offer for store credit or even free clothes. I'm talking big brands like Levi's, Reformation, rei, Carhartt, Eileen Fisher, the list goes on. The idea is the same. You bring in your old clothes from their brand and in return they'll give you some kind of store credit to use on your next purchase. And the credits can get pretty high too, depending on where you're bringing your clothes back. So if you're already a brand loyalist, this could be a great option for you. But then there's also a ton of ways to do wardrobe refreshes. Even if you have zero dollars to your name. You know how your closet always looks so boring and you have nothing to wear, but somehow you can always find something cute in your bestie's closet and she feels the same about your stuff. And frankly, she hates her closet too. Well, you can host clothing swaps with friends or neighbors where you all bring your old clothes and exchange them or find new ways to wear the clothes that are hanging in your closet. In cities, you can also often join something called a buy nothing group, which are mostly neighborhood based Facebook groups where people post the stuff they're giving away for free. Just make sure you're one of the first people to pick it up because some can get pretty competitive. Even without leaving your house. You can try wearing a top backwards or folding a maxi skirt into a knee length one to try to make your old clothes feel new again without spending a single dime. Now let's talk about second hand. So if you need or want to actually buy some new clothes, my first recommendation is shopping. Maybe not new, but new to you. AKA secondhand. In this economy, it's easily the most affordable and sustainable option to all of your fashion woes. Many consumers also agree secondhand fashion transactions were up 22% year over year in March, with more Americans buying used clothes than ever. It's like the old taboo of thrifting being uncool has been totally flipped on its head. The landscape has totally changed too. Even if you're not the kind of person to spend hours combing through your neighborhood goodwill, There are a ton of new online retailers that sell everything from luxury designer items to your aunt's retro chic 1990s and Taylor. I'm talking about places like Depop, Thredup, Poshmark, ebay, Vinted and Mercari where you can get excellent condition clothing, shoes and bags for $20 or less. If you're looking for designer pieces, there's alternatives like the vestiere collective, the RealReal and Grailed, which exclusively retail used luxury. I found great Giorgio Armani, Prada, Jill Sander and Vivienne Tan pieces on the RealReal for less than $50 which is literally cheaper than a plain tank top from Aritzia. If you have a little bit more to spend, you can also consider local consignment shops or curated vintage stores which have pre curated selections of pieces. But the trade off is that the deals are less jaw dropping online. You can also cross compare the retail price against the price on a secondhand market and even check the prices between two different resale platforms. You can guarantee you're saving the most amount of money to get that thing your heart desires. And don't sleep on shopping secondhand in your neighborhood either. That's usually where some of the greatest deals are. Check out Facebook, Marketplace, Craigslist or estate sales near you for the win win scenario of buying something for a great deal and also getting the chance to snoop around your neighbor's houses and get to see what they look like. One amazing story that I recently heard from one of my girlfriends is that she went to an estate sale on on the Upper east side and there was a woman who absolutely loved fashion and she was just selling her pieces and wanted them to actually go to girls who would truly wear them, not try and flip them for more money, but my friend was able to get some really incredible designer pieces for very very affordable prices. She is now absolutely rubbing it in our faces and we are just begging her to take us to the next one. Usually at these local neighborhood sales you can also negotiate the item prices to bring down the price into below your budget. Everyone wants to hate on a low baller, but the whole point of Facebook marketplace is to get a deal and I'm not going to apologize for that. Anything goes. Not to mention you save on shipping costs since you'll pick it up yourself in person. Just make sure to go with a friend or choose a safe exchange location like outside of a police station or in front of a grocery store if you know you want to buy a specific brand. A lot of stores are also offering returned items that were worn once or twice at discounted prices. Lululemon, Madewell and Patagonia are just a few brands that have great resale programs where you can get items for a pretty respectable percentage off. I've actually purchased items from Lululemon like new and loved the experience. I was able to get an amazing puffer vest for $80 and I know the person who had bought it the first time spent closer to 300 on top of that. It's no secret that shopping fast fashion has huge impacts on the environment as well. So if you're into clothes, buying used is often the first recommendation people have to decrease your urban footprint. But most importantly, it saves you so much when it comes to your clothing budget that you might be able to set more of your dollars aside for investing, for saving, for debt payoff. So not only do you get to look cute, but your future. You also gets to look cute. But for everyone who wants to purchase clothing directly from a retailer, I get it. I get it. My mom is Chinese. She hates anything secondhand because she says that it comes with the ghosts of the past owner. Here are some tips on how to save on your fashion purchases. The first thing you need to know is when to buy. End of season shopping is usually the sweet spot when stores are trying to clear out their inventory and make way for the next season. Around this time you can see markdowns anywhere between 40 to 80% off. My recommendation is for anything you've got your eye on. Just wait until the end of season sale starts and if you still want it, then grab it. Typically it's also a lot cheaper to shop for items that are currently out of season, so swimsuits and miniskirts in the winter, coats and heavy sweaters in the summer because retailers know that you don't want to think about trying on a coat when it's 90 degrees out and you don't want to put on a swimsuit when your teeth are chattering in the parking lot. This just means that they know you are less likely to impulse purchase, so you're going to spend more time considering what to actually get and you might be able to get a better deal. What I do to get around this is I write down all of the things that I want to buy during the season and then I do my research and patiently wait until the seasons change. I typically have a Google Calendar invite that says Da da da da Shopping list and then I go through and click all the links and if I still want them at the end of the season I let myself get them. Coupon stacking and cashback programs also offer a lot of savings when you're shopping online. Programs like Rakuten Honey and Capital One Shopping often scrape the web for coupons that could apply to your order and can help you get some percentage points off. They just don't work for influencer codes which are usually shared verbally on YouTube or on the screens of Instagram reels. So if you know a store tends to work with a lot of influencers, I would just check a few to see if they have any referral codes that could give you a little bit off your order. Personally, store credit cards tend to also offer heavy cash back programs and have perks like car holder flash sales, additional discounts, and free shipping. But one word of warning, store credit cards typically don't make sense unless you are constantly shopping at one specific retailer. So I personally wouldn't go this route unless you're certain the entire family needs a new wardrobe and you're all getting it from one major big box or department store. And for all my fashionistas who just need to cycle out their wardrobe every few months, may I suggest the clothing rental subscriptions. That's things like Rent the Runway, Pickle Nuuly Haute Line, Bento Fashion Pass. You name it, you can rent it. Usually these programs work best for people who need or want new clothes pretty frequently. And can I tell you a secret? I'm actually wearing a rental right now. Usually these programs work best for people who need or want new clothes pretty frequently but don't want to keep amassing clothes they're not going to wear forever. Come on, how practical is a tomato dress? How it works is that you pay a monthly fee and every month you get to pick out a few pieces that you can wear for the month. At the end of the month, you return the items for free and you do it all over again. Some of them actually operate on two week or half month timelines as well. This also works really, really well if you have special events coming up like weddings or trips that require event attire. But you don't really want to spend over $200 on a dress you'll wear literally once. It's often a far better bang for your buck that you get to wear some fabulous clothes for a fraction of the cost and it doesn't collect dust in your closet for years. When I go on vacation, I always get a rental package. I put it in my suitcase, I wear it all on vacation, it gets covered in sunscreen, covered in my sweat, and when I come home, no laundry for vivi. I just mail it right back. And that's exactly how these companies want you to do it because they handle the dry cleaning on their end. Now let's talk about traveling abroad and getting a VAT refund. My final tip is for everyone who's got a trip planned this year. Get a VAT refund on your purchases if available to you. In many international markets, the VAT value added tax is a 5 to 25% tax that's already included in the price of a lot of goods. If you're a foreign tourist, some or all of this tax can be refunded back to you. The amount of your refund depends on the percentage VAT that that country charges, and typically high end boutiques will provide you with the necessary paperwork when you buy your item, and some may even process your refund in store. Otherwise, just budget a little extra time at the airport when you're departing to visit the VAT kiosk and submit the paperwork that the stores provided you. For context, I got a pair of Chanel shoes that were $725 in the US but I bought mine in Paris pre Covid and they were closer to $500 a pair after the VAT refund, which just meant I ended up buying three pairs. If you were already planning an international trip, it could be a good time to save on any luxury pieces you'd like to invest in if you've already accounted for them in your budget. Usually you don't even have to spend that much to qualify for the VAT refund. In Milan it's currently €70 for one item and in Paris it's €100 combined across all all your eligible goods. Traveling abroad is super fun and what a great way to commemorate your trip than getting a nice luxury piece that you can bring back and really enjoy again and again and again. Support for the show comes from Walmart. We know Walmart has low prices, but did you know they do price rollbacks too? Right now Walmart is dropping prices with thousands of rollbacks and more on the items you've been eyeing to upgrade your summer vibes. Imagine yourself lounging in the sun, enjoying some nice grill time, an ice cold slushie, and hanging out with all your favorite people. Summer parties are the best and we could all use one like right now. So check out Walmart and save on that big cooler that always comes in clutch for group hangs or a sleek new grill so you can finally become the grilling master. Not to mention saving on that fun slushy machine that instantly turns any hangout into an epic party for all your summer activities. Whether you're outdoor biking or poolside lounging or Walmart's got it for way less. Do your future self a favor and save on your summer faves. Now you can start saving and shop these amazing summer rollbacks and more right now in the Walmart app online and in stores. Now onto our Q and A section. Let's get to your questions. Number one out of our Q and A. Any more tips for shopping from your own closet? Okay, this is my hot, hot tip. Find a really good tailor. A really good tailor can breathe new life into your clothing. I remember I had a maxi dress that I didn't really like anymore. It was really a little bit too long and I just never got it hemmed and the bottoms looked so tattered like it was a blue dress that the bottom ended up looking a little bit like gray because I had kind of stepped on the edges of the skirt part so many times and I ended up taking it to a tailor and having them cut it into an above the knee dress and I basically got a brand new dress. So I think if you are very much into shopping from your own closet, one finding a good tailor who can kind of reformulate the clothes or cinch them and make them fit your body to a point where you actually like wearing them, that's really, really helpful. But even learning just the basics of sewing yourself could be very, very nice. There are certain pieces in my closet that I don't wear because the waist isn't tight enough or the shoulders are a little too tight or I don't like how this looks on my neck. Knowing how to sew or even just having a tailor who can do it for you is a great way to actually turn something that you're like meh about into a piece that you wear all the time. And it's a great way to save money because typically the tailoring costs won't be nearly as expensive as buying a new dress entirely. Question number 2. Do everyday credit cards offer any cashback programs on clothes shopping? So unfortunately I don't know of any credit cards that specifically hone in on clothing. I think a cashback card would probably be one of your best bets. You can typically get 2%, maybe 3% on all of your purchases. Some of these cashback credit cards do have certain deals with certain retailers, especially big box ones like Walmart, Amazon, Target, where you can get closer to 5 or 6% cash back. But if you're looking for a clothing credit card, I personally have not found one. If you have one, please email me DM me, let me know. But I think a cashback card generally will be your best bet. Question number 3 tips to shop for affordable bridal dresses. Yes. Okay. Bridal shopping is so crazy because a dress can range from a couple hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars and they can still both be beautiful dresses. What I would say is before you go bridal shopping, one, set your budget, be very clear about what your budget is and then I would actually go look at a multiple number of bridal studios that have dresses in those budgets and look at those on top of going to multiple different retailers. I would actually recommend you also check out websites like Still White, Nearly Newlywed where you can get second hand wedding gowns. What I think is so powerful about this is like this is probably one of the most expensive pieces of clothing that you will ever buy and you very literally will hopefully, fingers crossed, only wear it once. There is sure some sentimentality in keeping your wedding dress, but many brides are saying, hey, I got the photos, I got the day, I got the husband, like I got the wife, whatever. Like let me just sell this and share it with somebody who would also like to look beautiful. So you could definitely check out a secondhand bridal gown and then a lot of what I would say are more commercial. Everyday retailers are now getting into the simple bridal looks. So brands like Anthropologie or Reformation are now getting into bridal dressing as well. And I found that those are typically a lot more affordable than the traditional bridal designers that are specifically only to bridal. So definitely check out all of those three solutions and hopefully this helps you find the dress of Your dreams. Question number four is a spicy one. What signs do you actually look for in someone's appearance that tells you they're rich? So what I think is so interesting is that we as a society need to stop desiring to look rich. Because these days, everything can be duped. Like, you can get the fake bag, the fake jewelry, the you can rent the Lambo, you can charter the yacht, you can Airbnb the countryside estate for the weekend to get the picks. But I think something that tells me someone is very rich is how smart they are and what their interests are. Do they have an area of expertise that they are an expert in? Whether that be fly fishing, whether that be, you know, philosophy, whether that be culinary, whether that be fashion? I don't look specifically for clothes. I think clothes don't do like a really great job of telling you if somebody's rich or not. But I will say the tailoring does. Even if you're wearing head to toe designer logos, if it's ill fitting, it tells me that you probably bought something off the rack and didn't bother to actually see if it's a good fit for your body. So I would say somebody who's really, like, really, really intelligent. The clothes are well tailored. They don't need to be brand name, but they need to be well tailored and fit you right. They can't be exploding muffin top out of the top, but it also can't be high water pants or things that drag. And last but not least, I would say somebody who looks like they got eight hours of sleep last night. The biggest thing that rich people have versus people who are, you know, well to do or even trying to get to that level is they have time, freedom, they are able to do what they want, they move slowly, they're in no rush, and they're actually able to own their time versus leasing it back from their job. So I would say someone who is well rested and personally groomed, someone who has good tailoring and someone who is intelligent. Ooh, good. Follow up number five. What are the biggest financial mistakes you see when people try really hard to get rich and appear rich? I think those two are very different things. I think the biggest financial mistake is that when you spend all of your money looking rich, it actually is keeping you further from your goal of actually being rich. I would much rather be the retiree with $3 million in the bank getting ready to take care of me in my old age than someone who gets to wear a Gucci hoodie. I think it's a Little tacky, a little gauche. Make sure that when you are buying it is because you actually want something, not because you want someone to know that you can afford something. And that's the difference. That is. The difference is, did you buy it because you love it or did you buy it because you want someone else to know you have it? Ooh, good. Question number six. When do you know it's time to get rid of an old piece of clothing? Aside from the. The natural answer of it's ripping. There's pit stains, there's a pizza grease stain on the front that you can't get rid of, anything like that. A question that I heard on TikTok that I literally has literally changed my brain chemistry is, if it got poop on it, would you wash it or would you throw it away? In some cases, there are pieces of clothing in my closet that if I got poop on, I would do my best to clean it. I would get it professionally dry cleaned, all of those things. Because it is something that I love and I want to keep a lot of pieces. If it got poop on it, I would throw it away. I don't want poop. Right. Like, that's. That's pretty tough. That'll help you decide whether or not you actually love something. You really, really want to invest in it or you want to keep wearing it versus you're not that committed. Question number seven. This is a great question. How should you actually be dressing for the office? Everyone says something different. Here is my take on office dressing. Unless you work in fashion, you do not want to wear anything to the office that people remember. It is your goal to be remembered for the work you do, how smart you are and what you are capable of. Not the girl who wore the skirt that was way too short or the person who wore a T shirt that had some expletive on it or an outfit that made you look unkempt or something that was purple ostrich feathers and distracting during the client meeting. Fashion is a whole nother ball game. If you actually work in fashion, you don't have to listen to this piece of advice, but if you work in any other industry, you don't want people to remember your outfits. You want people to remember how smart you are. Err on the side of being a little bit more conservative. Do your best. If you wouldn't feel comfortable wearing it with your grandma on Sundays, probably don't wear it to the office. What's the worst outfit you've ever worn to work and why? Ooh, I Don't know. I don't feel like I've worn a really worst outfit. I think I am someone who is hyper focused on not making my clothing stand out, especially in a work setting. During my career as yous Rich bff, there have been a number of times where I've worn outfits that on paper were amazing. They would have looked amazing on other people, but because I didn't feel confident in them, it either looked like the blazer was eating me alive or the dress was just ill fitting or something was wrong with it. And I think the worst outfit, you can wear something that you're not confident in because then you lead with that, like fear, you lead with that, like insecurity versus leading with confidence. Okay, next question. Any tips for saving on beauty maintenance? Nails, lashes, hair, et cetera, etcetera. Okay, so I actually learned this from my social media manager. There is a service now called Licensed to Glow. This is not an ad for them, but you can actually get a subscription where you get a certain number of blowouts and nails every single month. And then if you go in their higher tiers, it includes things like massages, facials, spray tans, like whatever you need. I think it's actually a really, really good value. I looked at the numbers per actual service is much, much less than you would normally pay. That said, you may not have as much control over which provider you get. So if you're someone who's like really committed to your nail tech or your lash tech, or you only want to see one stylist for your hair, this might not be the option for you. But if you're just someone who's like, hey, I got to get a man every two weeks, like, I'm that person or I need to get all this stuff done, this is probably smart, but you can check it out. And it's basically a subscription. So you can do it for a certain period of the year. And then during the winter, if you're ready to just be a go again, you can cancel it and you can just have it for certain periods of time. Next question. If you were building your wardrobe over, what budget would you give yourself and what would your strategy be? At this point in my career, I would probably work with a wardrobe stylist to help build me a capsule wardrobe. In terms of budget, if I was completely like. If I was like, my closet burned down in a fire and I needed to completely redo it, my guess would be probably $10,000 to be able to have tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes, and accessories. My strategy would be to build a capsule wardrobe of shirts that I'll go with all these pants that go with all of these skirts that go with all of these shoes. And so I could kind of mix and match all of the different looks without having to go crazy on the bold stuff yet. And then I could fill in bold statement pieces over the years as I'd like. When I see something, those capsule wardrobes, I see these reels of these girls who can take like one black t shirt and one white pair of pants and then one white t shirt and one black pair of pants and they can make like 47 outfits out of it. It's my dream, genuinely my dream. I don't have that skill personally, but I would probably love to work with a stylist that can. Last but not least, I have $0 to spend but want to look really put together. How can I do that? I would say actually be a student of fashion. Go online and find looks that you love and think to yourself, okay, how can I make this with with what already exists in my closet? There have been some incredible just like fashion tiktoks that I've seen and I think, oh my gosh, I have something in my closet and it never occurred to me to style something that way or with those types of boots or with that type of pant. And because of the video that I watch, I will then go into my own closet and take bigger risks with what I already have. And that can really help you have a little bit of a vision of looking really put together, even if you don't have any money to spend on buying new things. To wrap us up, here is my big advice. Go slowly when it comes to buying new clothes. Hauls feel good in the moment, but don't often stick around in your closet for that long. It's a lot more sustainable to buy a piece here and there when they mean a lot to you and you're sure that you'll get a lot of use out of them versus just blindly supermarket sweeping through a random rack or copy and pasting an outfit that you saw on somebody else who may not even have the same style as you. The general rule tends to be if you can think of three things in your closet you can wear with it, and you can think of three places where you would wear it, then maybe it's worth buying. If you have any more questions for me, let me know in the comments. But that's all for this week and I'll see you next time. Bye. Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill, part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. If you like the episode, make sure to leave a rating and review and and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Got a burning financial question that you want covered in a future episode? Write to us via podcastorrichbff.com follow Net Worth and Chillpod on Instagram to stay up to date on all podcast related news and you can follow me at yourrichbff for even more financial know how. See you next week. Bye. Thanks to Walmart for their support. Take it from me Yorich bff There's always smarter ways to save. Walmart's got thousands of rollbacks and more to help you save on summer faves with low prices that make saving feel like it's part of the plan. From essentials like sunscreen to that new grill you've been eyeing, Walmart has the savings you want to help you stay on track with those financial goals. So shop now in the Walmart app, online and in stores to save big time.
Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF
Episode: My Secret Wardrobe Hacks for Getting Designer Clothes for Way Less
Host: Vivian Tu
Date: June 24, 2026
In this solo episode, Vivian Tu (Your Rich BFF) unpacks the psychology and economics behind our obsession with fashion, then lays out her personal strategies—no gatekeeping!—for scoring designer and quality clothes at a fraction of the price. She covers why we feel compelled to overspend, how marketing prey on our weaknesses, the best tactics for saving money on clothes (secondhand shopping, swaps, buyback programs, sales timing, rentals, and more), plus even shares travel tax hacks and smart wardrobe refresh techniques. A lively Q&A touches on tailoring, credit card tips, and how to look put together with $0.
For Fashion-Forward or Event Wear: Rent the Runway, Nuuly, FashionPass, and other rentals let you “wear some fabulous clothes for a fraction of the cost ... and it doesn’t collect dust in your closet for years.”
Vivian’s approach is friendly, practical, and no-nonsense: she wants you to look great, but insists that smart shopping and financial security always come first. She demystifies shopping pressure, shares zero-gatekeeping wardrobe hacks, and dignifies every strategy from thrifting to tailoring and even shopping your own closet. Her core message: buy intentionally, with love and purpose—not to impress others—and your closet, wallet, and future self will thank you.