Hey fam and welcome back to dumb rich! I hope everyone has been having a great week. Sorry I kind of took a week off last week, but I didn’t want to overwhelm you with the podcast AND a long post. I promise I’ll make up for it this week.
Before we get into it, I am considering a new segment, “Money Makeover” (perhaps workshopping the name) where we anonymously review and edit someone’s budget — in a positive way! I get a lot of questions around budgeting, and I don’t want to mail it in and create some type of blanket budget. I am struggling to find something that would make sense for everyone given we all have a different baseline cost of living and different priorities. I thought this could make it fun. If you’d be interested in doing this and remaining anonymous (or not! up to you), you can email me at hello@ariellafond.com.
In the spirit of my current productivity bender and spring cleaning spree, I’m tackling my closet. I need to make room for all the new clothes I definitely don’t need but will absolutely buy anyway. While I’m all about getting the tax deduction for the clothing donations, tracking values can be tricky. When I can, I do prefer to sell my clothes to “re-invest” that money in my closet.
The issue is I am not great at listing and selling my own stuff online — it’s a whole process and I admittedly get emotional in negotiations. Like, yes, I will cancel the sale if you don’t see the extra $5 of value in my jean shorts from Summer ‘16.
As you’ve likely figured out: I love to talk. Aside from writing here, I am CONSTANTLY on the phone. I would actually be the world’s best emergency contact. It’s pretty rare I don’t answer or at least immediately text and say “I’ll call you in 5.” So when my bestie called me last week and asked, “Do you know what Croissant is?” I didn’t respond right away. For once, I was speechless. Maybe she assumed I had no service. Or maybe no taste. Obviously I know what a croissant is. What kind of question is that? Thankfully, I held back from a snarky reply and played dumb (because I was).
Turns out, she was talking about Croissant, a resale website—not the pastry. Confusing name, fantastic concept. It’s a browser extension that connects to your email, pulls your past five years of order confirmations (screams in capitalism), and creates a digital closet. Then it offers to buy back eligible items, paying you in store credit for places like Revolve, FWRD, Saks, and Nordstrom.
This is my actual dream scenario. I’ve spent a lot of money on brands that fall in the awkward “in-between” category—not luxe enough to send to The RealReal, but too expensive to donate and not feel guilty.
Sadly, I didn’t tell Croissant I was writing this letter, so they didn’t have the chance to pay me the big bucks to talk about it. However, I will take you along on the full experience start to finish and unfiltered. Here’s part one…
First, I installed the extension. It scanned my email in seconds—scary how easy that was. Personally, I don’t care if Croissant has access to my inbox (my emails are super boring), but if you’re privacy-obsessed, this is not for you.
Next, I reviewed my closet. The total value was… alarming. Then I realized it included every return I’ve ever made, which is like 75% of what I order. Chronic returners, rise up. So, while I felt better about my shopping habits, I did have to remove the items I don’t actually own.
I selected 12 items (the max they allow) to send in for FWRD credit. They gave me a QR code to take to UPS. My only complaint is that UPS picks up from my apartment—so a prepaid shipping label would’ve been ideal. Otherwise, super simple. I’ll update you once my items are processed. Their pricing seemed fair—here’s a peek at what I sent in.
In my initial draft of this post, I had a snarky remark about how I’m too tired to fight with people on Poshmark when the stakes are low. Also, my listing photos look like they were taken inside a prison. BUT—turns out Poshmark now has a consignment option. Genius. They partner with Uber to pick up your items and sell them for you. It’s a 50/50 split, which is fine with me since I usually do all the work for 80%. The catch: it’s only available in the San Francisco Bay Area. If anyone in SF wants to be the dumb rich field reporter, let me know. The site says it’s coming to NYC soon, so I promise to test it out once I can!!
Lastly, The RealReal is where I send anything luxury that I think makes sense to have authenticated for the customer. They also sell everything at lightning speed. I’ve never had anything sit on their website for more than a week. It’s amazing.
Sooo — girl math. What am I going to do with any store credit/cash I receive from selling my clothes? Buy more clothes. Honestly, I’m in such a weird phase of life where I have no “work clothes” so I’m focused on that. Working from home, my uniform is leggings and a sweatshirt. I’m trying to change that to dress for the job I want. Emma Grede is my north star in all areas of business, but for today — fashion.
The entire internet is on sale right now. The hack is that we are only purchasing things we would’ve bought at full price. DO NOT just buy something because it is on sale. Okay, TED talk over. Here are some of my favorites for a hashtag girlboss wardrobe.
First up is FRAME. To copy Emma’s vibe above, I ordered this shirt. Send prayers for my under 5’0” curvy body type. My typical uniform is jeans and a t-shirt. While the first top was quite a departure, I also am looking for jeans that are *elevated*. I ordered this pair and they did not disappoint.
I’m sorry that by the time this is published, the Net-A-Porter private sale will be over. The 40% off was insane. It felt illegal. It is probably better for your wallet. They are still having a regular sale, and with some decent picks. This basic bodysuit is 50% off and perfect under anything. They also carry wardrobe.nyc, which is one of the expensive-yet-worth-it brands for workwear. This cardigan is extremely chic and perhaps worth storing until the fall given it is 50% off. Also can’t go wrong with a classic blazer from their Hailey Bieber collab that I thought was totally sold out.
Lastly, my store credit from the Croissant consignment is to FWRD, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to wait to shop their designer sale. First, I am obsessed with this t-shirt. I love the idea of a graphic/band t-shirt under a blazer. I’ve had this button down on my wish list for quite a while and I think it may be time to pull the trigger. It just seems so flattering it helps that I’ve seen a few celebrity stylists outfit it otherwise I’d have no clue how to wear it. Lastly, this top could potentially be the answer to elevate my jeans/white t-shirt vibe.
Okay that was a lot of shopping content but the sales are too good not to share and this is my giant group chat. My friends/family are tired of me texting them.
Talk next week xoxoxo