A 27-year-old with an annual income of $108,000 mostly creates her own clothes and has made $23,000 by selling and sharing them online.

The Millennial Money series by CNBC Make It showcases how individuals worldwide manage their finances, including their income, expenditures, and savings.

In a Goodwill Store, you might find an average of used clothes, but in Brooklyn Karasack's eyes, it's a treasure trove of inspiration.

A 27-year-old has amassed a significant social media following by showcasing her innovative thrift flips, where she transforms old clothing, blankets, curtains, or textiles into something entirely new. She has repurposed a pair of shoes into a corset and created skirts from old purses.

Karasack, a resident of St. Petersburg, Florida, began creating outfits for music festivals three years ago and now designs almost all of her clothing.

Karasack explains to CNBC Make It that transforming a thrift store character into something new is enjoyable. She describes taking an item that would likely end up in a landfill and giving it a new lease on life.

As an internal audit consulting manager, she earns $108,000 annually at her full-time job, while also dedicating her free time to working on her clothing.

Karasack's hobby of making clothes has become a lucrative side hustle for her. Along with her friend Mariah Allen, she founded Controlled Chaos in 2021 to sell pre-worn festival outfits. Since then, Karasack has generated over $10,000 in sales from her creations, with nearly $3,900 of that coming in 2023.

She earns extra cash from TikTok by creating thrift shop transformation videos that attract thousands of views. Since joining the Creator Fund in June 2023, she has made nearly $13,000 from the social media site. As of early November 2024, she has earned $4,551 from TikTok.

Karasack's full-time job provides her with a comfortable living in Florida, and the extra income she earns is just a bonus. She was able to purchase a condo earlier this year.

"Karasack believes that her salary is sufficient to cover all her necessities and leisure activities, but having a side hustle income is also beneficial."

Getting thrifty

Since she was in high school, Karasack attended music festivals such as Warped Tour. However, it was in 2018 that she began to regularly attend festivals, particularly electronic dance music festivals like Electric Forest. Besides the live music, she enjoyed the opportunity to try out different fashion styles and see the unique outfits other attendees wore.

Karasack says that she wasn't satisfied with just being able to express herself through fashion.

In 2021, she decided to create her own festival outfits, utilizing the sewing skills her grandmother had taught her as a child. Although she had previously made her own clothes in high school, she would only take pictures in them, post them on her Tumblr, and never leave her house in them. The garments were poorly made, often held together by safety pins or hair ties, she admits.

By the time she began sewing clothes for festivals, her skills had improved.

Karasack found it thrilling and affordable to create new outfits for festivals by spending only $5 on materials, despite previously spending over $100 on ill-fitting clothes.

Karasack started thrifting to save money around the same time she decided to get back into sewing. She discovered that shopping for items to upcycle was more cost-effective than buying new fabric from a craft store. Upcycling existing items adds character to your wardrobe and is better for the environment, according to Karasack.

She decided to make all of her festival outfits going forward, up to 11 per year, by saving money and having full creative control over her looks.

Karasack started making festival gear and then began creating pieces to wear regularly, like on weekends with her friends. Now, she says, "I rarely wear anything out that I didn't make."

""In the past three years, I haven't shopped at any store other than a thrift store, and I've been able to save a lot of money by thrifting," she says."

From scraps to made-from-scratch

Karasack and Allen, like many festival goers, would typically wear their outfits only once before storing them.

In 2021, the idea for their business, Controlled Chaos, was born out of a desire to utilize their collection of cute outfits that were gathering dust in their closet. Karasack explains, "We wanted to do something more with them, so we decided to sell them."

Karasack and Allen sell original and commissioned pieces in addition to outfits they've worn to festivals. They auction off pieces on their Instagram page, giving customers 24 hours to place bids and the item going to the highest bidder.

"Karasack explains that they avoid pricing their products because they often underprice them, leading to struggles. Instead, they allow customers to pay what they believe the product is worth, which is a unique approach."

Since Controlled Chaos' first auction in 2021, Karasack has earned approximately $10,100 by selling 105 unique items. Unlike Allen, Karasack meticulously tracks her sales.

Karasack estimates that the majority of her pieces turn a good profit, although she doesn't track the exact cost or time it takes to make each piece, so she doesn't know the precise amount of revenue that is officially profit.

Karasack occasionally buys additional notions for between $5 and $30 a month, in addition to using thrifted textiles.

Although she inherited an older sewing machine from her grandmother, she has managed to complete most of her work without needing servicing.

Karasack's most profitable individual sale was a sweatshirt that cost $350. She made it from a blanket and sweatshirt and estimates spending $20 on materials and two hours on labor before selling it. Although sweatshirts are generally easier to make, some of Karasack's more complex designs require more time. For instance, a recent chain mail ensemble took her approximately 16 hours to create.

How she spends her money

Karasack typically attends nine or 10 music festivals per year, and in 2024, she plans to attend eight. A significant portion of her annual budget is allocated towards tickets to concerts and music festivals, which she enjoys immensely.

""The music festival scene is the most welcoming and open scene, with everyone being so uplifting and nice," she says."

Although most of the festivals she attends are in Florida, Karasack sometimes travels to attend events in different states and Canada. As her social media following has grown, she has been given free festival passes in exchange for promoting the events online.

She spent the most on a single festival pass, which was $642 for a four-day pass to Michigan's Electric Forest earlier this year.

This year, she has spent approximately $4,000 on festival passes, travel, and accommodations. Karasack utilizes payment plans to distribute her festival expenses over several months. When traveling for festivals, she typically camps, but if she needs a hotel, she splits it with friends.

"Karasack reveals that he is easily swayed by his friends' desires, and if they want to attend an event, he will make it happen, even if it means overspending."

Here's how Karasack spent the rest of her money in September 2024.

• Her 401(k) and cash savings total $4,334 in savings and investments.
• The total expenses for festival tickets, pet supplies, a cat sitter, clothes and beauty purchases, home supplies, gifts and shipping costs for Controlled Chaos sales amount to $2,206.
• Karasack paid for all the utilities this month, in addition to her $1,216 mortgage and homeowners association fee, which she shares with her boyfriend.
• Karasack's total food expenses for the month were $1,162, which was higher than usual due to attending a festival and a bachelorette trip in Las Vegas.
• Travel: $515 on flights.
• Insurance: $357 on health, dental, vision and auto insurance.
• Transportation: $231 on gas, parking and Ubers.
• The total cost of subscriptions and memberships, including Pilates, Hulu, Spotify, and Patreon, is $220.
• Phone: $111 for her plan and hardware.

During the hurricane, Karasack spent more on gas and household supplies than usual in preparation for Hurricane Milton. In the end, she had to evacuate her home in St. Pete.

If she needed flood insurance, her HOA would cover it for her condo, which she bought in March for $205,000 and was mostly unharmed from the storm.

Being a homeowner during the two hurricanes that just hit is definitely more stressful than renting, says Karasack, but overall, he is happy to be a homeowner.

'Live music is something that you love for your whole life'

Karasack doesn't set a specific savings target. She automates most of her recurring expenses, including an auto-payment to pay off her credit card balance in full each month, and saves the remaining amount.

She is planning to spend that money on major purchases, such as her condo in March and her kitchen renovation in the spring. Next, she intends to remodel both of her bathrooms.

Karasack states that he definitely wants to continue saving, contributing to retirement, and having fun.

She and Allen are not planning to expand Controlled Chaos, and Karasack is uncertain about scaling it too much. She is content with her full-time job and doesn't want to rely on her hobby for all of her income.

She may attend fewer music festivals as she ages or if she has children in the future, but she doesn't see herself stopping festivals entirely.

"Live music is something that you love for your whole life, as there is no age limit."

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