Shadowing Practice: 10 spending habits that are keeping the girlies BROKE - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

It's no lie, being a girl is expensive.

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It's no lie, being a girl is expensive.

I mean, compared to men,

there are so many more things that girls have to pay for in order to look and feel the way we do.

Makeup, hair, clothes are periods.

But you wanna know who set that system up?

Actually, I think it's 50-50.

And don't cancel me, let me explain.

Yes, beauty standards are crazy and dictated by the male perspective.

However, women fall for it and I don't think we even question what we're spending our money on.

Think about the phrases like,

treat yourself, I'm just a girl, princess treatment.

Sometimes I feel like we use femininity as an excuse to spend.

But really, this just keeps women poor and dependent on men to be the breadwinners.

That being said, I get it.

It's freaking hard not to shop.

I mean, it's basically embedded in our DNA.

The girls just yearn to gather.

But at some point, we have to be honest with ourselves and ask,

why do we just accept these expenses as part of our life?

So I am going to expose the 10 spending habits that are secretly keeping us girls broke.

Now, if you do like to spend your money on these things,

more power to you, keep doing it.

But I think all of us can improve financially in some way,

so let's get into it.

I'm starting off with a big one,

and I already know y'all are going to be blowing up my comments.

But I think one of the biggest money drainers for women is getting your nails done every month.

I grew up a little bit more on the tomboy side,

so I never really did my nails.

I also had a lot of hobbies,

including guitar, so it never really made sense for me to get my nails done since they would just get ruined anyway.

However, I have been to the salon,

and I know that getting that fresh set feels so good.

There's just something about having color on your nails that can really give you that confidence boost,

but it is expensive.

Let's say you spend 60 to $100 per appointment.

That's like $80 on average, but that adds up to $960 a year just on nails.

And that's only if you go once a month.

I know some people that go more often than that.

The other reason I've never been a nail girl is because I grew up in a very health conscious family.

And my mom told me that salons are full of chemicals and so I didn't want to be exposing myself to that.

I also have a lot of skin issues,

including eczema on my hands.

And so anytime I would get a manicure,

my nails would just get so weak and bendy.

So again, it just wasn't worth it to me.

But this doesn't mean you have to stop getting your nails done.

You can get at-home kits that cost like 50 bucks.

I taught myself how to do my own nails like pretty quickly and it's just so much more convenient and cost-effective.

So just really ask yourself if you genuinely like getting your nails done

or if you feel pressured to because every other girl does it.

And hey, there's nothing wrong with bare nails, okay? join the club.

Speaking of other beauty services that I think are very overrated,

I think traditional laser hair removal and waxing is like basically throwing your money away.

Because think about it, you're going to be paying for it for the rest of your life.

Like the hair will always grow back.

And that's how these places make money.

They say you only need like eight sessions to see results,

but they don't tell you the results don't last forever.

If they did, they'd be out of business.

This is basically like getting your braces off and then having to wear a retainer every day.

Like, you feel bamboozled.

This is a forever kind of maintenance that the girls are just plagued with,

because I think we are still so far away from body hair being socially acceptable on women.

I wish this wasn't the case and that we could just run around free being hairy,

but I don't think I'm that confident yet.

So let me put you guys onto something that has saved me so much time and money.

I've talked about this device in so many of my videos,

and while they are sponsoring this video,

I'm gonna be very transparent.

I use this every single week,

and they are not paying me to say that.

This is the Ulike Air 10 IPL device.

This technology is just as effective as professional studios,

but you can do it in the comfort of your own home for free.

This has a one-time cost of $260,

compared to $300 per session at a clinic that you have to go to for the rest of your life.

Like, the math is not mathing there.

Listen, I was honestly skeptical about this device because I don't fall easily for beauty devices.

Most of them make extreme claims and they don't actually deliver results.

But let me just show you the before and after of my armpits.

After using this consistently for about a month,

my stubble virtually disappeared and I can go for weeks between using this.

Plus it is super painless coming from a girl with a very low pain tolerance.

This has built-in cooling technology,

so it's very comfortable to use.

And it only takes me like 10 minutes to do my full body.

So if you're tired of throwing money down the drain,

you really need to invest in an at-home solution that's gonna save you thousands in the long run.

I will link this down below,

and I was able to get a discount code for you guys so you can save even more money.

Unfortunately, there are just some things I want to do at home to save money that I just can't.

One of those being drinks.

Girls, these cafes are robbing us in broad daylight.

I do not think you need to be buying coffee or matcha every single day.

I know it's a little sweet treat,

it's something to look forward to every morning,

but I don't think it's 100% about the drink itself.

The reason why people still line up at Starbucks like clockwork is because they think they need it.

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Buying coffee is a ritual.

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It's become part of the routine.

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And the more you do something,

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the more it becomes part of your identity.

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But let's do the math here.

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Let's say one matcha runs you seven bucks,

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depending on where you live.

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I live in Chicago, so it's pretty overpriced.

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That's $49 a week or $2,548 a year just on one drink.

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But you can have that same ritual at home for a fraction of the price.

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Of course, you still need to buy the ingredients,

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but now you can make like 100 matchas.

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I don't want you to deprive yourself,

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but you do need to prioritize.

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Maybe you cut it back from every day to three times a week.

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Or instead of going to the most popular aesthetic coffee shop,

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you find one that's more affordable.

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The point is to know where your money is going and ask yourself if it's going to make you more money.

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If it's not a good investment,

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we should probably rethink the purchase.

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And I feel the same way about eating out or ordering delivery all the time.

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Yeah, I get it.

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Sometimes you just don't have the time or energy to cook.

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For me, ordering food is like a guilty pleasure.

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I don't do it often,

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but when I do, it feels so good.

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But if you eat out or order in multiple times a week or every day,

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I don't know, girl, that's a lot.

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Dare I say it's almost gluttonous.

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And I feel strongly about this for more than one reason.

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First of all, duh, it's gonna add up.

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Let's say you only buy lunch every single day.

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That's like $20 on average.

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Per week, it's $140.

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Per year, it's $7,280.

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And if you add that daily matcha in there,

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that's almost 10K on one meal and one drink.

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Ladies, I know we don't want to be in the kitchen all the time,

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but it's costing you.

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And it's really not that hard to prepare your own food.

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Some of you guys are just a little lazy.

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Now, even if you had all the money in the world,

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I still think that constantly ordering delivery is bad for you from a health standpoint.

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You don't know what's going into restaurant food,

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even at the healthy places.

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The sole purpose of restaurants is to sell the food,

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and the only way to sell it is if it tastes good.

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So they load it up with butter,

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seed oils, sugar, salt, all the stuff that's going to taste way better than if you made it at home.

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On top of all that,

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think about the environmental effects on delivery.

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Everything's in plastic containers, styrofoam plastic bags.

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Even those eco-friendly paper boxes are lined with plastic on the inside and they're not even recyclable.

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Every single delivery order creates so much unnecessary waste.

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Plus, you don't want to be constantly ingesting food that's been sitting in plastic,

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especially if it's hot.

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Those microplastics are just accumulating in your body and eventually it could lead to disease.

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Girl to girl, I'm not trying to fearmonger and say that you should never eat out.

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I like eating out.

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It's fun.

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It's social.

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I like trying new restaurants.

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But if you're doing it the majority of the time or ordering out of laziness,

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again, you just need to think about your priorities life is all about balance.

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You know the saying hate the player, not the game.

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I feel like that really applies to this next habit.

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It's not a surprise that the consumer industry targets women the most.

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But did you know that women control 85% of all consumer purchases in the United States?

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So it's no surprise that the beauty industry preys heavily on women and our insecurities.

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It's built on making you feel like you need something more than you actually do.

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But the truth is you don't need a gajillion beauty products.

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Yeah, the bottle says it's going to do something different to your face,

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but does it actually?

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If you took the time to read the ingredients list on the products you own,

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you'll find that most of them are doing the same thing.

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It's just different packaging.

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A $15 drugstore retinol has the same active ingredient as a $70 retinol.

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A cheap cleanser can clean your face just as well as a luxury cleanser.

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The thing you actually need to be paying attention to are the active ingredients on the label.

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This is the stuff that's actually going to have an effect on your skin.

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Everything else on the label is considered functional for the physical nature of the product.

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That being said, are there high-end products worth investing in?

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Absolutely.

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But most of your routines are more complicated than they need to be.

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Of course, I still like new beauty launches.

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I think every girl does.

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But you don't need to be running to Sephora every week.

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Just realize that 80% of these products is marketing, so save your cash.

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If you have a healthy lifestyle and take care of yourself,

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you won't need to be buying all these things.

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I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this because I almost fell for this next one.

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I swear these habits really catch you at your lowest when you're so desperate.

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A month ago, I was kind of obsessed with workout classes.

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And if you watch my vlogs,

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then you know I was going to them like multiple times a week.

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I was just not feeling great about my body and I felt kind of weak and flabby.

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And I also toured my first Equinox gym.

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And they were not lying about the aesthetics.

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Like, it's a very nice facility.

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Everything feels premium.

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They have La Labo in the bathrooms.

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And it kind of makes you feel better than everyone else.

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It's like, oh, I care about my health so much

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that I pay thousands every year just to be part of an exclusive gym so I can flex on everyone.

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I'm kidding.

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No shade to anyone that goes to Equinox.

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I'm just a hater because I can't afford that comfortably right now.

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But if I did, who knows?

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I just don't think that most of us need to be paying for super luxury fitness classes or gyms.

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The Equinox I toured is $260 a month, which is $3,120 a year.

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A standard gym membership is like 30 to 50 bucks.

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And it has all the same equipment as a high-end gym.

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I actually just canceled my Pilates membership and now I just walk and do YouTube workouts.

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It's pretty much the same thing and it gets the job done.

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The other money sucker is those damn workout sets.

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I can make a whole separate video about that.

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Guys, you're spending like $200 on one set that's entirely made out of polyester.

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Like, what are we doing?

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Yes, okay, they're cute, but you don't need a new set to feel motivated to work out.

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You just need discipline, girl.

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While we're on the topic of health and fitness,

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you also don't need multiple wellness gadgets in your life.

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If you want a whoop,

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Apple Watch, or a ring, fine, get one.

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But you don't need more than one because they all have the same functions.

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I wore a fitness ring for a year and a half,

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but I just recently took it off.

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Honestly, the reason is because it stopped working.

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But when I really thought about it,

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I wasn't even looking at my data.

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I was just tracking stuff for no reason.

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And if you're a hypochondriac or anxious about your health,

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I don't recommend it.

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Unless you have a health condition that requires you to track your biomarkers,

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I don't think you need it.

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The metrics are just going to stress you out and it kind of gamifies your health,

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which I don't like.

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Again, if you care about the stats, fine.

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But if you don't, it's not worth it.

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It's honestly just another thing you have to remember to charge.

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I have a confession.

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I think we, including myself,

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need to stop buying new clothes every season.

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I know it is like the hardest thing in the world not to do,

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but I think we need to reel it in a little bit.

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And again, I'm speaking for myself here.

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I need you to understand how fashion brands actually work.

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These companies are planning a full year or more ahead.

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So they are already designing next fall's collection when you're shopping this spring.

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Because their one goal is to make sure there's always something new when you walk into the store or visit the website.

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And this is very dangerous for us girls who love to gather.

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They know humans are wired to love novelty.

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It's why there's a new iPhone model every year,

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new car models, new beauty products.

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The product doesn't need to be better for people to buy it,

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it just needs to be new.

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And fast fashion has made this even worse.

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There used to be two seasons in fashion,

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fall winter and spring summer.

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Now there's micro trend cycling every few weeks on TikTok and there's always something new to buy.

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So to help us break this cycle we all need to just stop being so on top of these trends.

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Like being chronically online is doing us no good.

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We all know the clothes are going to last one season and be at goodwill by the next.

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I want us girls to build our wardrobe based on things we actually love and are high quality.

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Personally I'd rather spend more on one piece that's going to last me years than on multiple things

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that I'm going to wear one time.

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Next up on the chopping block is hair.

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I was really debating on including this because for a lot of women,

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hair is very sacred.

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It's like one of the biggest things that makes us feel confident.

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That being said, I'm just here to tell you some ways

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that you can cut back on girl taxes and frequent hair appointments is one of them.

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You really don't need more than two haircuts per year if your hair is healthy.

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Unless it's colored or you have a specific hair type that needs a lot of maintenance,

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you only need to trim like every six months.

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Again, I would consider myself pretty low maintenance.

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I don't color my hair or do anything special.

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I try to save on appearance upkeep as much as possible because I don't think it's the best use of my income.

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And if you genuinely take care of your hair,

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wash it, style it properly,

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it won't need a lot of work.

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A good shampoo and brush will do wonders for you.

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This next one is so hard for me to say because I have a love-hate relationship with it.

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I love watching other people spend their money on this thing,

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but I just can't.

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I think a very sneaky spending habit for women is buying more organization products instead of decluttering.

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I went to the container store the other day

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and I was just amazed at how many different types of containers there were.

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There's ones for the pantry,

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the bathroom, the closet, the living room.

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And I'm going to be very honest,

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I was very tempted to buy some.

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Because in my mind, I'm like,

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well, if I buy these organizers,

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I'm going to be more organized.

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And my home will look a lot better.

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But here's the thing, if you're always buying stuff to organize your life,

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girl, I'm sorry to tell you,

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but you might just have too much stuff.

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I will not be the first to admit

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that I love watching those organizing restock videos of people like organizing their makeup or their closet.

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It's just so satisfying to watch.

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But don't let those videos think you need to be doing that every month.

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And you don't need to keep buying all those boxes,

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pouches, and containers to hold all your things.

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Most of that stuff just creates the illusion that you're organizing.

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But in reality, you're just moving it from one container to another.

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And honestly, some things don't even need a box.

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They can just be on their own.

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The best organizing hack that I live by is to just not have that much stuff in the first place.

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The less stuff you have,

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the less you have to organize.

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And if you just love the art of organization,

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you can help out the people in your life and organize their home.

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They might even pay you, so it's a win-win.

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Ladies, I am not here to tell you how to spend your own money.

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You're an adult.

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I just think we can all be a little bit more conscious about what we're spending our money on, myself included.

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And most of these things aren't even conscious choices, they're habits.

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Or you've always done them,

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so at this point it feels normal.

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But if you really look at the numbers,

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the normal thing is costing you way more than you thought.

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Even if you took a look at just a couple things on this list,

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that could be thousands of dollars back in your pocket.

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If you found this valuable,

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I'd really appreciate it if you give this video a like

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and send it to another girly so we can all be rich and live happily ever after.

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I love you guys and I'll see you next week.

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Bye!

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Thank you.

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Shadowing Practice: 10 spending habits that are keeping the girlies BROKE - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Shadowing Practice: 10 spending habits that are keeping the girlies BROKE - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Why practice speaking with this video?

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What is the Shadowing Technique?