For 458 yuan ($67), how many sets of clothes can you get at most?
"74."
That's the answer given by a post-80s girl, Sun Jing, popular online as Professor Vivi, a savvy shopper.
Beijing Zoo market is one of her favorite haunts, a place with unending rows of vendors and throngs of smart shoppers looking for singular prt-a-porter pieces.
Sun's forays in this market began as a middle school student. "I lived near the market. At that time I often saved my pocket money to get a T-shirt or a pair of trousers. It was a good place to shop on a student's budget."
Inspired by her trendy purchases, ranging from 5 to 200 yuan, Sun started searching the Web to understand brand names, styles, and learn mix-and-match combinations.
"Window shopping at fancy malls is also a good way to learn," she says. "You can update your style and figure out if the style will suit you or not."
Instead of buying it at full price at department stores, she tries to find them at places such as the zoo market.
When she has found what she wants, she matches it with other clothes, takes pictures of herself, and posts them on 55bbs.com. She has been doing this since 2005.
It is time-consuming, but she enjoys it. "I feel proud of finding a good deal and sharing it with others."
In just one year, her posts had 20 million hits.
Armed with a major in Chinese, Sun started her career in fashion by writing fashion columns for several magazines, and making guest appearances on fashion talk shows. She recently published two books Savvy Shopper's Guide to Shopping and Combinations and Smart Shopper's Secrets.
Even though she is no longer constrained by finances to be a budget shopper, she still seeks out value for money.
"Finding value for less is my way of managing money, and has nothing to do with my wealth. There are so many better ways to spend money," she says.
With an average expenditure of 500 yuan a month on clothes, which accounts for about 10 percent of her income, Sun spends most on books.
She usually buys them online at big discounts. She also gets them at book fairs at Ditan Park every year. "I choose to go there on the last day of the fairs as the books are cheapest then."
Her smart-shopping ways also extends to other areas of her life. For example, she always volunteers to participate in trials of cosmetic products and shops at Taobao for snack foods.
She sums up her life philosophy as, "Finding something affordable without sacrificing quality."
A self-claimed queen of "Cool Carls", a description reserved for those earning a decent income and living an eco-friendly life to a budget, Sun believes being chic is all about being frugal.
