Things I Spend Money On That Are SO Worth It

I did the trend. You know the one: “five things that are actually worth the money.” Mine had more. It got progressively more unhinged and then everyone in my comments wanted links, prices and a full explanation of how I could possibly justify some of these things..

Fair. Then I started remembering everything I left out of the video, which is how we ended up here.

Obviously, “worth the money” is completely personal, and parts of this list are objectively ridiculous. But this isn’t just a list of expensive things I like. Some cost less than dinner. Some made me physically ill at checkout.

The test was simple: Would I pay for it again tomorrow, at full price, without texting anyone for permission first?

In order from totally reasonable to please don’t forward this to my accountant:

Weekly lymphatic drainage massages

I have this once a week, book one before almost every shoot, and the difference it makes in how I feel in my body is immediate. Less puffy, fully snatched, more like myself. It isn’t glamorous and is basically the beauty equivalent of drinking water for me.

A great spray tan that comes to you

Not a booth. A person. Mine is Anna, and she custom-mixes the color based on my skin (its actually made of vegetables), which is the difference between “just got back from somewhere tropical” and orange with blotchy hands. But the real luxury is that she comes to my apartment. I get sprayed at home, put on my robe and go directly to bed. Most of my beauty maintenance happens at home now and once you get used to that, it becomes very difficult to sit in traffic so you can lie on someone else’s table.

My Jura

I calculated how much I was spending on lattes once and the Jura paid for itself embarrassingly quickly. It was actually an engagement party gift I couldn’t return so there’s that too, but I would 100% buy it myself knowing what I do now.

It saves me money, but more importantly, it saves me time. It also makes a better latte than many of the places charging me $9, which I say with love.

The Hairbeauron Curler (and all their products)

A curling iron this expensive sounds like a genuine scam. But I heat-style my hair constantly for content, and this is the first tool I’ve used where my ends don’t feel completely fried afterward. It’s this cool Japanese technology I won’t even try to explain but bottom line is your hair actually feels healthier after using it.. This is probably the product I get asked about most. My answer is always the same: If you heat-style your hair - it’s worth it.

Chanel ballet flats

My cost per wear is approaching zero. I have bought and abandoned basically every trend shoe of the last decade. These have outlived all of them. They work with jeans, dresses, airport outfits, meetings and the days when I’ve tried on six pairs of shoes and suddenly hate every shoe I own.

Classics are only painfully expensive the day you buy them.

Zalto wine glasses and, lately, Josephinenhütte

Wine tastes better out of them. I don’t make the rules. Thinnest stem ever. Zalto is the classic, but Josephinenhütte has become my newer obsession. They both have that impossibly thin, weightless feeling that somehow makes opening a bottle on a random Tuesday feel like an occasion. You will eventually break one. You will definitely be upset about it. You will buy another.

Cozy Earth sheets

I run hot, I’m extremely particular and did you know you spend a third of your life in bed? There are plenty of sheets I’ve liked the first week. These are the ones I’ve actually reordered, and used for years, which is the only endorsement that matters. My code is CE-WEWOREWHAT for those who want to try.

The Hatch, but the baby version

A hack nobody asked for: I use the Hatch baby sound machine instead of the adult one. It does what I need it to do for a fraction of the price. You don’t get all of the more advanced app features, but I wasn’t using them anyway. It’s also SO easy to travel with and the sounds are magical. This might be one of the cheapest things on this list, and somehow it’s also the one I feel most passionately about.

A great injector

Notice I didn’t say Botox. I said injector. Mine is Dr. Bill Kestin, and I will die on this hill. You are not only paying for the product or the number of units. You are paying for someone’s hands, restraint and taste. The goal is to look rested, not done.

Weekly blowouts

I outsourced my hair once a week and I’m not sorry. It is not technically cheaper in dollars. But there is no version of me who shows up to a Monday better than the version who got a blowout that morning at 8am.. shoutout to Anna from IGK!

A dog walker

This one isn’t really for me. It’s for Brooklyn, which is the entire point. My schedule can be chaotic, hers shouldn’t be. She gets her walk at the same time every day, regardless of whether I’m at a shoot, in meetings or trapped somewhere across the city. I get to work without feeling guilty that her routine is being dictated by mine. Paying someone so your dog’s life can stay consistent while yours isn’t is worth every cent.

Big lab diamond studs

Mine are from Klare Jewelers, and I wear them almost every day. They give me the big estate-jewelry look without the same level of insurance panic. I got the size I actually wanted, and I don’t spiral every time I take them off at the gym or leave them sitting on a hotel nightstand.

Private club memberships

Okay, we’re entering the unhinged portion. But for me, this is less about status and more about privacy and having a place that’s consistent.

Chez Margaux, Zero Bond, and Casa Cipriani give me somewhere that isn’t my apartment, my office or another restaurant reservation where the table is needed back in 90 minutes. These are actually about having a reliable place to go at night - where I can have dinner, meet friends, go on a date or continue the night without having to figure out a whole new plan every time. In New York, a good dinner reservation can feel like a competitive sport, and sometimes you want somewhere that feels special but still comfortable. Somewhere you know the food will be good, the room will be fun and you can stay for another drink without being rushed out.

There’s also a level of privacy that matters to me, especially on dates. Yes, the memberships are expensive, but I use them constantly.

Business class on long flights

Time is money, but sleep is also money.

If I land at 8 a.m. and have to be a functioning person by 10, the seat that allows me to sleep isn’t just about being comfortable. It affects the entire trip. I think of it as a hotel room that moves. Red-eyes, international flights, coast-to-coast when I have to work immediately after landing: I would rather pay more for the flight than arrive exhausted and spend the next two days trying to recover.

A personal assistant

The single biggest unlock of my working life. Sophia makes my life SO much more efficient.

There are forty small tasks every day that don’t necessarily need me. They just need someone. Every one of those tasks I hand off gives me back the time and brain space for the things only I can do. If you are building something and constantly drowning in logistics and the little things, this is the hire.

Blade to the Hamptons

Here’s the math nobody does out loud. A summer Friday, the LIE is a parking lot, and the drive out east is four and a half hours of one of your very limited summer weekends. Blade turns that into forty minutes.

I used to file this under splurge. Now I file it under buying back an entire Friday: the dinner, the sunset, the entire reason you go out there in the first place. Summer in New York is maybe twelve weekends long. If you don’t time your drive right - this is the expensive solve.

Hermès bags

I didn’t include this one in the TikTok, but we’re being honest here. Yes, I think they’re worth it. Not because of some elaborate cost-per-wear calculation. Girl math cannot fully justify a bag that costs as much as a car, and I say that as someone fluent in girl math.

I would also never tell someone that buying a bag is the same as making an investment. But certain Hermès bags have held their value and increased better than almost anything else I’ve bought in fashion, and mine are pieces I can see myself carrying for decades.

I don’t put them in the same category as a seasonal bag I’m obsessed with for six months. I buy them very intentionally, and then I try to carry them like they didn’t ruin my entire week when I paid for them. When you finally decide to sell, you can make up to 3x your purchase.

The pro tier of every tech platform

ChatGPT, Claude, Tezza Pro. I pay for all of them.

AI is obviously a powerful tool, but you still have to learn how to use it and know when it actually makes sense. I use it in different parts of my business to save time, work more efficiently and get to an answer faster. I’m not asking it to run my business for me. It doesn’t replace my team, my experience or my judgment.

It’s not glamorous, but it’s probably the highest return on this entire list.

A great lawyer (not just a good one)

The finale. The most boring, expensive and important line item in my business.

Every contract, partnership, trademark, deal and supposedly “quick question” that turned out to be anything but quick has involved a lawyer. The legal bills have occasionally made me want to throw up. But every time I have tried to save money by not getting the right advice early enough, it has cost me significantly more later.

Nobody puts that on their TikTok list. That’s exactly why it belongs at the end of mine.

TO SUMMARIZE

Fourteen years into building my career, that’s probably the biggest way my relationship with money has changed. I used to think the ultimate luxury was having more things.

Now I think it’s having more of my own time, and the things aka PEOPLE that allow me to do that.

What’s on your list? Genuinely. Reply and tell me the most indefensible thing you’ve ever spent money on that you would buy again tomorrow. I promise I won’t judge.

P.S. You’ll notice Eight Sleep didn’t make the cut. It was on my draft list with three question marks next to it, which tells you everything about where I currently stand. If I pull the trigger, you’ll hear about it here first.

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