Vivian Tu, the woman who said she went on six dates a week so she wouldn’t have to pay for groceries went viral online.
She said in the video:
Between 2016-2018 I didn’t buy groceries once. Probably saved about $150 a week.
In an interview, Vivian Tu, who goes by the handle @YourRichBFF, said that the video was made “in jest.”
When she moved to New York City to work as an equity trader, she used dating apps like Bumble and Hinge to meet people.
She talked about her dating life in NYC:
Slowly though, I started warming up to the dating pool until I was going on a couple of dates per week — usually one to two, never more than three. … Often, it led to, “Hey, let’s go get dinner sometime this weekend or next weekend.”
Something surprising happened when I decided to start dating: the amount of money I was spending on food went down. At the time, I thought, “If I’m going out two times per week now on dates, shouldn’t my budget have gone up?”
However, she quickly realized that
Oh, I can go to a fun tapas restaurant for (probably) free, or I can spend my own money on food at the grocery store that I still need to cook. And it’s probably not going to taste as good.
By going on dinner dates, she saved “$50 to $100 per week,” which she spent on “things like savings, investing, and a black Prada bag to replace my worn-out Longchamp tote.”
Vivian Tu made sure to say that she didn’t start going on dates just to eat. She added:
In my opinion, deliberately going on dates for a free meal isn’t a great idea. I am very much in the camp that you’re dating to find love.
Vivian Tu said that even though she made $95,000 a year at the time, her living costs were “very high” because she was living in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City:
The market closest to my apartment was incredibly expensive, so I never felt comfortable shopping there. Instead, I would haul my butt on the subway 15 blocks to [grocery store] Trader Joe’s and grab all that I could carry.
It wasn’t easy, and I really had to think strategically about what I was buying – usually their turkey corn dogs and supreme frozen pizza.
She doesn’t feel bad about how she saved money this way:
Even if you do put your card down, it’s still a win: You get to say you went somewhere new, ate great food and made a new connection – or, at least, practised your small talk.
People have mixed opinions on her money-saving strategy:
- Smarter not harder
- But you wouldn’t need those dates if you were good with money.
- Tell me you’re cheap without telling me you’re cheap
- Girlboss
- POWER MOVE
Tu is now a well-known person on social media who focuses on finance. Here is the video.
