I Stopped Wasting Money and Something Unexpected Happened ✨

beginning of this year i wanted to challenge  myself to a low buy year i had already been on   a minimalism journey so this was a perfect chance  to prove to myself that i had the self-discipline   to eliminate the unnecessary expenses from  my budget what started this in the first   place i think i reached a point in my life where  having a closet full of cute clothes paying for   overpriced dinner dates and curating my house  with cute little things didn't fulfill me with   the same meaning and satisfaction as before  thinking back i don't know if it ever did   in the past i spent money because i earned  it because i didn't really know how else to   prove to myself that working 50 plus hours  a week was somehow the right thing to do   every time i bought something new it made monday  mornings a bit more bearable so i let the cycle   continue but i had a rude awakening when we  first moved into our new home and all i saw   were piles of random things and boxes laying  around the house for months they were untouched it was a brutal reminder of how  much stuff i had accumulated   and unbeknownst to me my reckless spending habit  was the very reason i had to keep working so much   of course thinking about the money i had wasted  made my stomach turn but what affected me the   most was looking at the person that i had  become overly materialistic and wasteful so my low by year was not only my attempt to  reduce my spending but it was a chance to find   my way back to my old self but during the process  i learned a lesson and something quite unexpected   happened here is my story first i want to talk  about how i actually did on my low by years so   if you haven't seen the video where i talk about  the rules that i set for myself i will leave the   video in the description box below please go check  it out after this video but overall i feel like   i did pretty well i reduced my spending pretty  significantly and it really was a domino effect   because once i started to cut back on a certain  spending i really wanted to challenge myself and   do it in all different areas of my life as well  not only did i cut down on my spending i feel   that i became more resourceful along the way this  was the year i got my library card i hosted my   first garage sale i discovered some really cool  second-hand markets on maui and i took on diy   projects more than ever before of course it wasn't  all smooth sailing it definitely came with its own   challenges i started the year off strong but then  in the middle of the year we started to travel and   that came with its own challenges i want to talk  about the highs the lows and what i ultimately   took away from this challenge also i have a  special announcement that i wanted to make at   the end of the video so please make sure to watch  it all the way through okay let's get started if   you guys have seen my previous videos you guys  know that my biggest expense outside of my normal   bills was buying clothing and also eating out and  those were the two areas of my life that i really   wanted to tackle and reduce my spendings on i did  add some few new pieces to my capsule wardrobe   i bought a couple of tank tops because  i found a specific style that i wanted   new shorts because i outgrew my old ones a much  needed sweater a few denim and a sturdy everyday   sandal what really helped me was to keep a wish  list and i kept going back and forth uh to see if   i still needed it after a couple of days after  a week and this helped me to really think my   purchases through and throughout the year i  kept experimenting with my capsule wardrobe   i put things away and then i shopped for my own  closet this process really helped me realize which   pieces i wear on a regular basis and which pieces  i had to let go of because there was no sense of   keeping these pieces around if i was never going  to wear them and once i started to declutter my   entire closet i really saw my wardrobe  transform into a concise and very cohesive   closet and this made me want to become even more  selective with the new pieces that i was going to   add to it i now realize more than ever that  clothes should be something that we buy   slowly over time and not because there was a new  trend or something cute we saw on social media   and every piece that we add to our closet should  be an addition to the collection like a missing   puzzle piece to our wardrobe and that's exactly  how i want to approach it moving forward so   overall i am really proud of myself for how well  i did on reducing my spendings on my clothes but   not only clothes it was in all different areas of  my life it was household goods plants house decor   makeup skin care essentially i broke a bad habit  i think that's what i'm the most proud of but   there is something that i struggled with during  this low by challenge and that was eating out   or should i say not eating out some of you guys  know that we travel to the mainland this year to   go visit my parents and it was much more difficult  not eating out when we're traveling and when we're   on the road but honestly i forgot how much  i missed dining out with my husband and this   was something that we really bonded over eating  good food and trying out new restaurants this has   always been our time to kind of get away from the  house and all of the chores that comes with it and   just spend some quality time together and at  one point it felt kind of silly to take away   the one thing that was kind of our joy you know  the thing that we were looking forward to the most   throughout our week and so i did adjust the rules  a little bit i still cook at home i still love to   meal plan on a day-to-day basis but i think i  will always have some kind of a budget where   my husband and i can go out to eat and dine out  because that's something that we really enjoy   and i think that's just another reminder  that minimalism doesn't have to be all about   utility and practicality it's supposed to really  narrow down the things that we don't want so we   can spend the money on the things that we want  and eating out just happens to be one of them   so what did i learn throughout this whole process  i feel that i truly needed this challenge to put   a lot of different things into perspective i  mean i saw my expenses drop by one-third maybe   and my happiness didn't decrease with it in fact  i felt a lot more lighter and felt more content   with everything that i have not only that we  were able to make big strides and paying off   a lot of our heloc and also set aside a big fund  for our next investment as well in the beginning   it was all about sticking to the rules but as the  months went by i really began to feel the why and   i realized that i was actually taking steps  towards my own version of freedom financial   freedom freedom to make adjustments in my career  freedom to be able to uproot and move anywhere in   the world if i wanted to and this means more to  me than any of the things that are in my house   and i think that's a truly valuable lesson at  some point it really shifted gears and it wasn't   a challenge anymore it was a lifestyle choice  that i made and i think i will carry this on   for the next year with a new set of rules and for  many years moving forward if you also did the low   by challenge with me let me know in the comments  how you did and what are some key things that you   took away from this challenge i would love to  know and also i have to mention that last year   around this time we had about 30 000 people in  this community and it grew to over 300 000 which   i still cannot believe so i just wanted to say  thank you guys so much for always supporting me   showing me love and sharing my videos i just hope  you know how much it means to me and i know that   this wouldn't be possible without you so thank  you so much for being a part of this journey   and being a part of my journey also i did promise  you some exciting news i decided to start a second   channel under my name sophie daquis and i will  leave all of the channel link in the description   box below the content of malama life channel  will not change but i wanted a space where i   could share more personal content and share with  you my favorite books my favorite recipes and   maybe day to day vlogs it'll be much more  unscripted unedited and more up to date with   my life i will be taking next week off on this  channel and i'll be actually uploading a new video   on my personal channel next week so i hope to see  you guys there i wish you guys a happy holidays   take care of yourselves take care of each  other and i will talk to you really soon bye

Channel: Malama Life

Views: 303,689

Keywords: Low buy, Low buy year, Low buy 2021, Low buy malama life, No buy, No buy year, No buy 2021, No Shopping, Stop shopping, Minimalism, Minimalist, Minimalist habits, Minimalist shopping, Habits, Shopping habits, Malama life

Id: ptotpJglnXM

Length: 10min 1sec (601 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 21 2021