Busting The “Rich Aesthetic” Myth

SPEAKER_00 0:10

If you listened to the previous episode about colour, but wondering how can you do that when you don't have much money, listen up. This is the episode for you. I've got Sam back in the house. Hello, Sam. Hello. Sam from Wild Bird Interior Design. Interior Design. Interior just skipped my brain. I'm the Wild Bird. Yep. She's the Wild Bird. So we talked a lot about colour and why it's important and why should people do this? But a lot of people would be sitting there going, well, you guys can afford it because you're earning a lot of money and we don't have much money, so we're not going to buy things. Well, let me break this myth for you right now. Seminari are broke.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

We're strategic.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

We're strategic. With our buying. Yeah. Yes. So a lot of people often look at me and they go, Oh my God, you've got some all this amazing outfits, you know, they must have cost you a fortune. No. And same for you, right? So let's share some tips. Let's get down to the basics. Sure. Tip number one. Where can people go and buy stuff cheap?

Buying By Colour To Save

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Okay. So tip number one. I personally shop a lot at like secondhand stores. I I'm quite strategic. There's a shop here in Pata Pada Omu Beach called Copper Boutique. And they I actually clothes that I don't wear, I drop to them and they sell them on my behalf. And so what I do is I actually shop at that shop and it's got all the designer labels, like well, Decuba, Max, Zara, all of those. And you get them for a fraction of the price, and they're all really good quality. So first of all, shop secondhand, like don't be afraid to. And if anyone's comments on my jacket, for example, they say, Where did you get it? And I might actually got it from a secondhand shop. I'm not afraid to say. And I think that surprises a lot of people that you know you can get such beautiful pieces. So that definitely helps with the budget. Number two would be getting strategic about getting your colours done for your outfits because then you know exactly what pieces you should be buying in terms of the colours. And yeah, and then you're saving money in that sense too. You're not just buying colours that don't resonate with you or suit you, sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Your another tip though?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, just trick number two.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Tri Oh, I've already done number two, I think. Oh, you've done number two. I thought it was like I rushed into it, sorry.

Cart Waiting And Extra Discounts

SPEAKER_00 2:17

All right, tip number three.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Tip number three. So yeah, tip number three would be one thing I do is sort of put things in my cart and then just wait a while to see if I actually want them. Yeah, because sometimes you kind of jump into it and think, oh, I need that, but I kind of just leave them in my cart and go, do I actually need it? And could I find it somewhere else? Or yeah, that kind of thing. Like just shop around a little bit. Although I do try and stay loyal to the places I do shop. Yeah. That could be.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

You know, I'll expand on that one. I've noticed by accident one time I put things in the cart and then I got distracted, walked away, whatever. And then I got an email to say, hey, you've left your items in the cart. Here's an additional discount. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

I was like, what?

unknown 3:00

Yes.

Clearance Finds That Elevate

SPEAKER_00 3:00

You actually get additional discounts. The longer it stays in the cart sometimes, the more discounts you might get. Doesn't happen all the time, so don't tempt fate. If you really love an item, don't just do that. But the other thing I wanted to share when you were talking about, you know, secondhand shops, I found some awesome pieces before, like at Farmers. They've got a whole clearance rack. Sometimes it could be the final piece or it might have a little mark on it. Um, one of my beautiful silky satin type blue jackets, I got from there. It looks like a very expensive jacket, but it was only, I think,$10 to$15. Yeah. Because it was on special.

Dressing Well Without Overspend

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yeah, exactly. On clearance. And I'm one of those people that if I have a meeting or something like that, you want to feel great in what you're wearing. You know, you don't want to, you know, you you want to show up feeling really good. And as I said, it doesn't have to cost the earth. And same with like interiors for your home, they can be very strategic on that side of things. Yeah. So it's about finding the pieces that you feel good in, but they don't break the bank either. Yeah.

Kids’ Wardrobes And Less Admin

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Um, yeah. So because that's this is what this whole podcast is about, right? We're trying to help people find themselves and save money to make better financial decisions for the future. Yeah. And part of it is, I mean, dressing up is your everyday occurrence. You have to dress up to go somewhere. Yeah. Whether you dress up, dress up, or whether you just wear clothes to go somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

And same for the kids. Like, I try not to buy them too much stuff because I find that that when they have too many things, then they don't know what they want to wear. And then there's always a drama and there's so much washing to do. So I try to keep it down to a minimum.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

You know, like the less admin in our life, the better, right? When you're busy running businesses with kids and yeah.

Spend On Experiences Not Labels

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Yeah, exactly. And to be honest, kids don't need expensive designer clothes, they ruin it anyway. Yeah. And I mean, I'm I don't want to come across across judgy, but I've seen some parents before that buy really expensive things for their kids, and then the kids will go and lose their hoodie or lose those pants or pair of shoes or whatever, and then the parents get upset because they're like, you know, I can't really afford that, but I bought it for my child because we do a lot of things for our kids, naturally, as parents. So my tip for the parents would be don't be emotional, don't buy your kids things they don't need. Yes. Experiences matter more to them. I would rather my kids wear K-mart t-shirts, but actually go away on a holiday and spend money on a good holiday.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

So that's your financial hat on now, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 5:26

But you're very strategic like that. It's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

So for me, like my kids know we hardly do takeaways. But when we go out, when we well, I mean when we go travel, then yeah, I will spend money on food. I will spend money on drinks or whatever because we're out, we're traveling, we're exploring new cuisines. You know, for me, I'd rather spend money there than eating takeaways here every day.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

What's the point? Yeah, exactly. And buying the right clothes or so same, same as the clothes, you know.

Interiors On Marketplace

SPEAKER_00 5:56

And same for the interior design of the house. Like a lot of pieces I have at home. Again, they've either been sourced on marketplace, yeah, or op shops. You know, I don't go to designer shops to buy designer furniture. I mean, the chairs that we're sitting on.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

They were marketplace, weren't they?

SPEAKER_00 6:11

They were marketplace.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, I remember. Remember last time. Yeah.

Value, Timelessness, And Trends

SPEAKER_00 6:14

And you know, it it took me so long to find them because you could buy them brand new for$500 a piece or whatever. And I was like, I don't want to spend that much money on chairs. They're only chairs. You'd rather take your kids on holiday, right? I'd rather take my kids on holiday. Yeah. So when they popped up on marketplace, I was there. I was getting them, you know. So the tip for people, I guess, is try not to feel that you have to impress someone in your life by wearing designer clothes that are brand new or having designer items in your house. Yes. Go out there and source things. And I think that New Zealand is really good at that. We love our secondhand culture.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah, definitely. It's come a long way. It's not, I think a lot of people think it's oh, secondhand and it's smelly and this and that. But it's, I mean, the place that I shop and as I said in company here, it's beautiful designer clothing at a fraction of the price. And yeah, the amount of compliments that I've had, and people are just like, what? You got it secondhand? I'm like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Did you know who set up that shop? Yes. It's around the school mum. Yes, yes. How cool is that?

Non‑Negotiables: Mattress, Shoes, Sheets

Art, Taste, And Budget Trade‑Offs

SPEAKER_01 7:18

I know. She's that's why I like to support her too. Yeah. If I didn't come across that shop, I'd probably just buy all my things online, to be honest. Yeah. But because I came across her shop and I like to support local and drop all my clothes that I don't wear there, and she sells it, and obviously, you know, she's got a business to run, so it's just like perfect. It's not my problem anymore, too. She puts all the clothes out, and yeah, and and again, same with your interiors, you don't have to spend a million dollars on your home in terms of furnishings. You can get quite strategic about what you buy, or spend a bit more on your sofa, for example, and save some money on other things that are a bit more trendier. That's the other thing with trends. I always say to clients in interior design, if it's trendy, which we try and stay away from to be honest, uh, don't spend too much on it because it's gonna go in a you know, six months' time, it's not gonna be as trendy. So, you know, let's let's uh work out where the best value for money is and the let's you know purchase those items that are more timeless, spend a bit more on them, and then like you said, you know, buying some secondhand uh chairs to complement the expensive sofa kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, yeah. But see, like mattress. I would never go skinny on a mattress. I agree. Good mattress matters, right? Same with shoes. For me, shoes matter because we spend a lot of time riding around.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah, for me it's sheets, like nice sheets because you sleep in your bed every day.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

I don't want to be sleeping in a yeah, so I think there are items that in your head you should really have, non-negotiables, you know, something that you wouldn't mind spending money on because it benefits you health-wise. Yeah, but if it's an item that's very expensive but not actually adding value, nice to have, but not really doing much for you, then I probably wouldn't go there.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, I agree. Like ornaments, for example, they're not, you know, you don't want to spend$500 on a dog ornament that's gonna sit there and just gather dust. Yeah, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

So yeah, funny you should say this. We were just um we just came back from Auckland and there was this beautiful gallery and some awesome art, just amazing art. And and I was like, wow, how much is this painting? And they were like$7,000. Wow. And I was like, I don't know if I can bring myself ever, even if I was earning millions, to pay for a piece of art.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

You're in the right industry though, being a mortgage broker, that you could refinance your house if you needed that painting.

Strategy Ties It All Together

SPEAKER_00 9:32

I know, right? I mean, how much do you have to love that painting? And no offense to the artist. I know it takes a lot of hundred percent to do that. But for someone, that could be their non-negotiable. Maybe they go absolutely frugal on everything else in life. Maybe they never take holidays, maybe they never eat out, you know, maybe they're stuck at home. And for them, having that piece of art is a lifeline. Yes. So maybe they're okay to spend that much money on that art. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

We come across that all the time with clients, yeah, where their non-negotiables are and how much they're willing to spend on certain items. Yeah, sometimes it's like outrageous and they'll, you know, want to spend$30,000 on appliances, but they see the value in that. They're they love entertaining or whatever it might be. So I think good on them. If they can afford to and they want to, then you've just got to, as I say, I use this word quite often, but strategize about the other items in your home. It is all about strategy though, when it comes to what you wear and then also what's in your home and how you design your home. So yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

No, Sam, thank you so much. It has has been very, very, very, very, very, very, very you've already had like four podcasts today, so I don't blame you.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

I think you need a wine now.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

I promise there is tea in my car. Are you sure? Um, very useful. Thank you so much, and I hope to see you again soon. Well, thank you. My pleasure.