12 Things I STOPPED Buying (and don't regret) | Financial Minimalism & Saving Money

let's talk about 12 things that I have cut from my budget and don't regret the first is brand names you will never ever see me carrying around anything that is brand name or purchasing anything that is brand name because that's just something I cut from my budget I realized a long time ago that falling for brand names is falling into this keeping up with the Joneses keeping up appearances and it's exhausting this is just something that the older I've become the more confident I've become the less I feel the need to showcase that I can buy a thousand dollar purse and what's funny is when I was in college I remember all of the girls had their Louis Vuitton purses and I felt so left out I really wanted one so that I could fit in but the truth was I couldn't afford it at that time so I just ended up not having one of those purses and not fitting in but even now that I am in a better financial position compared to what I was in college now that I can't afford those brand-name things I just don't feel the need I don't necessarily want to fit in and I don't feel the need to show off any money that I have it's funny because I was at a party the other day and I saw two girls wearing the exact same belt and I had seen that same belt on Instagram too so I turned to my friend and I said wow like cover girl this cover girl belt is really doing well it's really popular and she laughed and she told me that it's a Gucci belt but I had no idea because I thought it says CG which I associated with covergirl so clearly I don't know anything about brands but I am so happy that I cut buying brand name items from my budget I don't regret it at all the second thing that I've cut from my budget is buying items that are on sale now I know this is going to sound weird so let me explain the problem with sale items is that it tricks you into thinking that you're getting a good deal so much so that you're buying an item that you weren't going to buy otherwise let's say that there's a $3 item on sale for $2 well I used to think that I was getting a great deal and saving one dollar on that item but actually I was spending $2 that I wasn't otherwise planning on spending obviously I'm all for sale when it's something that you would purchase regardless of the sale like toilet paper but in the vast majority of cases especially for myself I just found that sale was just a trigger word to spend money that I wouldn't have otherwise spent so I cut that out of my budget and I'm really happy about that the third thing that I've cut from my budget is fashionable or aspirational clothing I'm just not interested I will never ever be the most fashionable person in the room I'm sure you notice but I rotate the same five or six white shirts on every YouTube video and that's just how I am in real life too similar to what I said about the brand names it's exhausting to try to keep up with whatever's fashionable at the time because you spend the money on it it's fashionable but then a year later it's not fashionable and that piece of clothing is worthless to you I don't know if other people do this or if this was just a me problem but I used to buy clothing that I would categorize as aspirational clothing it's clothing that wouldn't even zip up but it was my motivation to get to the gym but the problem is now I have a pile of clothing that does not fit me and it was a complete waste of money so I've cut fashionable clothing and aspirational clothing out of my budget and don't regret it the fourth thing that I've cut out is buying these souvenirs or knickknacks from airports or tourist shops I used to buy shot glasses at every destination that I would go to and while they're cute what I realized is that one they're a waste of money the $5 adds up very quickly and to now I have so many shot glasses that I don't even have the storage for and I'm not using them so really they take up a lot of room and they wasted my money so so I've stopped buying those the third thing that I cut out from my budget is Starbucks I don't actually drink coffee so I was going to Starbucks and buying chai tea lattes and one these try tea lattes are loaded with sugar so not very good for me and two that $5.00 per latte adds up very quickly and that money could be better spent elsewhere what I realized is that I was just buying it out of habit just because I was in this pattern of oh if I'm bored I'm going to treat myself to a latte one of the things that I did when I was trying to cut down my spending so that I could pay off my student loans was to look through the list of items I purchased in one month and if there were repeat items I tried to really ask myself am i repurchasing these because they really increased my quality of life and make me happy or just out of habit and for things like that Starbucks latte I realized that was just out of habit and when I cut it out from my budget my quality of life didn't decrease in any way so sometimes it takes that process of elimination to figure out what is actually bringing you value and versus what is just out of habit number six I stopped buying books because while I was living in DC for law school I discovered that there's an app called Livi where you can rent books through your local public library so ever since then I've stopped buying books and now I just rent exclusively through Libby which is amazing because it comes at zero cost to me number seven I cut anything that I would consider high maintenance out of my budget so that's getting my nails done getting my hair done getting eyelash extensions so for hair I used to have blonde tips but that was really high maintenance because you have to have a special purple shampoo for it and you have to keep getting it done over and over again so that it stays healthy and you have to get your hair cut a lot because you're frying your hair by bleaching it that was just exhausting and too high-maintenance so I cut that out for nails I just leave my nails very short like this and I used to get eyelash extensions which is where they put in an eyelash extension on each individual eyelash but that's one very expensive and two you have to go every three weeks to get it redone otherwise you have just like one long eyelash hanging on for dear life and it's not a good look so I basic cut everything that's high maintenance out of my lifestyle number eight I didn't technically cut this from my budget because I never had it but I will never ever buy a new car my primary means of transportation is my two legs my bicycle and public transportation and if I ever live somewhere where I need a car I will never be buying a new car I will be buying a used car all the way purchasing a new car is probably the biggest financial trap that most Americans fall into because the moment you drive that car off the lot you lose so much value and a used car will work just as well to get you from point A to point B the problem with buying a brand new car similar to what I was saying about buying brand-name items is I worry that it's primarily ego driven out of this need to want to impress other people the real winners are going to be those people who instead of financing a brand new car pay cash for a used car that works just as well for a fraction of the price and use that extra money to secure their financial future whether it means building up an emergency fund or paying off high interest debt or investing that into the market that's where the real winners are going to shine the next thing I've cut out from my budget is subscriptions I have my three main subscriptions that I really enjoy Spotify Netflix and Hulu and I derive great value from them and really they increase my quality of life so I keep those but the rest of the subscriptions I've cut ruthlessly subscriptions are really sneaky because the typical structure is they give you a seven day or 14-day free trial but require your billing information for that and then most people forget to cancel that free trial so it turns into a monthly recurring subscription and they typically don't notify you at the beginning of each month when they're going to recharge you for that subscription it's honestly a sneaky model that many many people fall prey to so what I would recommend doing is every three months or as often as you can go through all of your credit card statements and figure out what you're paying for because chances are you may be paying for something that you didn't realize we're paying for just because you took a seven day free trial and forgot to cancel that subscription number ten I've cut out of my budget going to the movies the movies have become so expensive that by the time you factor in two tickets and the obligatory popcorn and drinks it turns into a fifty dollar outing and that's just really expensive and I'd much rather prefer watching that movie at home three months down the line and paying $4.99 to rent the movie number 11 I cut out cable TV I realized that between Netflix and Hulu and my free library books I have all of the entertainment I need and I had no need for cable TV so I cut that out probably around five years ago and haven't looked back since number 12 I cut out from my budget holiday gifts so Christmas gifts birthday gifts and I don't regret it I think this started maybe seven or eight years ago my mom sought us down and said look we're too old for Christmas gifts you're not going to get any Christmas gifts but what we do want to do is volunteer our time at this local orphanage so we started doing that and ever since it's completely changed my mentality for spending around holidays look I'm not the Grinch I love the idea of showing the people around you that you care during the holidays but I just think there are better ways to do that there are free ways to do that you can write them a nice lovely card or something Americans will spend on average nine hundred and forty two dollars on Christmas gifts but I can honestly tell you that I spent zero dollars on Christmas gifts last year because again I found other ways to show the people around me that I care my overall mindset for spending is that I have no problem spending all the things that really bring me joy that really bring me value but I don't want to spend on anything just because one it's out of habit or two it's based on my ego my need to want to impress people I think if you cut those two things ruthlessly and spend on things that bring you joy you'll be in a very good position financially as opposed to if you're spending a lot of money trying to impress people or just spending money out of habit regularly my name is Erica let me know if you've cut any of these things out of your budget too or what else you've cut out of your budget I'd love to talk to you in the comments below and if this is your first time watching I do personal finance videos every Tuesday on this channel and you can watch these two videos which I'm really proud of you [Music]

Channel: Erika Kullberg

Views: 553,564

Keywords: Financial minimalism, things i stopped buying, things i no longer buy, things i dont buy, minimalist, things i dont buy anymore, minimalism, what i stopped buying, how to be a minimalist, money saving hacks, simple living, 10 things i dont buy, things i dont buy minimalism, 10 things i no longer buy, things minimalists dont buy, save money, money saving tips, how to save money, simplify your life, i dont buy, fast fashion, erika kullberg, erika kolberg, erika kulberg

Id: Q2NBGplVjkc

Length: 10min 52sec (652 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 24 2020