Fun fact: I’ve officially lived in New York for 3 years, y’all! I CANNOT believe that I’m going on my 4th year in the Big Apple now. I remember when I was first moving to New York, my Texas family & friends asked me, “how long are you going to live in New York?” And I always replied, “Probably 2 years, 3 years MAX. I’m just going there to live out my New York lifelong dream and get the experience for a couple of years.” Now I find myself going on my 4th year, and no plans to move out of here anytime soon. As the 2nd most expensive city to live in AND being a total fashionista, you’d think that New York for multiple years would be an issue for me.
I always thought, sure – I wouldn’t save that much here in New York, but I’ll just live it up for the experience for a couple of years and then back to a normal cost of living in another city. WRONG. After quite some time, I realized I may be here longer than expected – and I realized how smart spending is so important. My personal problem is that I just LOVE stuff – clothes, shoes, accessories, you name it. I get excited for things, and I don’t like to come off as materialistic – but as much as I’ve always envied minimalists, I just find it nearly impossible to become one myself. However, I will say that I have always been very conscious of my spending and especially since I’ve been living in New York, I’ve gotten into a good routine to not break the bank. Here are some tips that I live by, and that may be helpful for some of y’all too…
1. Decide on what you want to splurge on. What makes you happy to spend your money on? Is it a nice, classy apartment? A huge beauty haul at ? Those gorgeous designer heels to rock at night? Life experiences globe-trotting around the world? Whatever is important to you and makes you smile, that’s what you should be spending on. I personally tend to spend more on bags (because I use them SO much), dresses (because I always like to look really nice at events!), basics (clothes that I will wear over and over again), trips (experiences and memories will last you a lifetime), and (not really by my choice *rolls eyes*) food.
2. Learn how to wait. In a see it-want it-buy it now culture, it can be hard to wait for something you really want. But if you ask yourself, is this purchase really necessary right now? And the answer is no, you should probably wait. A personal example of this is that I’ve never traveled outside of North America. Some may disagree with me about waiting so long to go on these kinds of travel experiences, but as a transplant I tend to prioritize using most of my PTO days to visit my family and friends.
3. Always look for coupons. My friends have totally made fun of the fact that I always know about promotions and coupons. Subscribe to email lists of your favorite stores to get the 411! My go to’s for coupons are RetailMeNot (online/in-store codes) or Ebates (cash back). It’s an extra step, but it adds up and ends up being so worth it! There honestly should never be an excuse not to look for a coupon before purchasing.
4. Do your research on upcoming sales/peak seasons. Learn about your favorite retailers’ typical deals & promos throughout the year. The Anniversary Sale is going on right now July 12-19 for cardholders and July 20 – August 5 to the public [speaking of Nordstrom and deals, my is from there and on sale for under $35!], Amazon
5. Plan for big purchases. You should know when you’re about to spend on something big, and you should plan for it. Whether it be in an excel budget tracker, or a budget app (I use Mint) – find what works best for you, but most importantly find a way to plan, plan, plan. If you don’t see a big expense coming and one happens to hit you out of nowhere, hopefully you are also prepared for that!
6. Have a regular cadence to move money in your savings account. Decide on some sort of reoccurring routine of moving money into your savings account. However big or small the amount may be, it’s great to get used to doing this in general for best practice.
7. Remain conscious of how much you’re spending and in what categories. You should always be aware of what you’re spending on. Sometimes it does feel like money just disappears in your bank account – trust me, I get it…but that’s also where your budget tracker of some sort will come in handy. It’s good to know what categories you’re spending on and evaluate if changes/cutbacks in a certain category should be made moving forward. Life is about balance 🙂
8. Don’t stress! No matter what, and it can get hard, but try not to stress! Money isn’t everything at the end of the day, and you should never feel super overwhelmed by it. Finding the balance of saving and spending really takes time and patience. Don’t be too hard on yourself!Â
9. Be able to say no. Saying no is hard! Living in New York, there’s so much to do here and soooo much to spend on. Friends invite me all the time to places – and I’m not saying you should always say no, but if I literally said yes to everything – there would be no way I could sustain a normal lifestyle here. I’m all about the ‘treat yourself’ motto, but it may not be best to blow your money on every single fun opportunity that comes up.
10. Think about why it’s important to save. Well, it’s important to save so that you can plan for a good future! Life is not always about living in the present, but also considering what’s important later on in life. I personally don’t want to worry about petty things like money 😛 – I want my future kids/family to live the best life, and I know that I want some nice things later on in life too 😉
Dress: | Shoes: |  Bag: (smaller version) | Sunnies:  | Photos by Midnight.Express
