Things I Don’t Buy As A Minimalist
I don’t buy anything anymore as a minimalist. I gave away my material possessions!
Just kidding! I still buy stuff. I buy the things I need and stuff that I can afford. One of my goals in life is to live a debt-free life. This may sound impossible, but it’s true. I believe that to achieve the freedom we crave in life, a debt-free life can help us achieve it.
It feels good to swipe your credit card when you want to buy something but when the bill comes next month; you are anxious about it.
As I’m writing this, they offered me to get credit cards multiple times already. My parents even told me to get one, but I declined. I still prefer using debit and cash.
Before I buy things, I always ask myself: Will it be on sale in the future? A quick reminder that the value of certain items goes down.
Prominent examples of these are televisions and shoes. Remember when 4k LED TVs cost around $1000? Nowadays, you can even get half the price and there are tons of brands you can choose from.
For shoes, people get bought into the hype and buy once it releases. Couple of months later, some of these hyped shoes will be available in outlet stores for less price. Sometimes they even go on sale for 50%-70%.
Buying less altered my perspective. I realized that there are so many options to choose from when pursuing our materialistic desires.
Here are the things I don’t buy anymore as a minimalist. Before you continue reading, I want to let you know that the list is not complete because I still want to keep my life private.
Latest Shoes
As I stated in the example above, I no longer buy into the hype of these shoes. Before, I would go crazy and look for ways to buy the latest Nike & Adidas. I would even ask money from my parents just to buy these shoes and give me temporary happiness.
As I get older, I realized that spending too much money on hyped shoes doesn’t really provide value in my life. I don’t mean to offend shoe collectors on this one. However, time will come that the hyped shoe you bought will decay and you have to let it go.
Although, you can still get the shoe you like in outlet stores for the less price.
Trendy Clothes
I’ll admit that I’m not the trendy guy. I don’t buy clothes for the sake of jumping in the bandwagon of hype and trend. I just buy clothes I’m comfortable wearing. As long as it looks good on me and it is sturdy, I’m good to go!
Latest Gadgets
There are always new phones and gadgets. The “upgrades” and extra features will always be there. Before I buy a phone, I always look for reviews. What matters to me when purchasing a phone is durability.
There are so many brands out there finessing their customers by selling a $700-$1000 phone that is not durable and performance declines in the long run. The OnePlus 5T that I’m using right now is 3 years old and still performs like brand new.
Latest Video Games
As a gamer myself, I feel guilty every time I buy a new released game and then months pass by this game is on sale for 30%.
An example of this game is NBA2K. Before, I buy it on the release date and line up for hours at video game stores but now I just wait for it to be on sale for 70% at the digital store. It will take some time for AAA games to be on sale but the money you saved and spent when buying a game is definitely worth it.
Books and Notebooks
As a writer, I need books for my research and notebooks to write notes. Instead of filing my house with books, I bought myself a kindle. If you love books, buying a Kindle will solve your “so many” books problem.
You won’t have space issues at home and this e-book reader is portable. Even though it has a 4GBs of space, you can fit tons of books in there. E-books are cheaper.
Packed/Pre-cut Fruit & Veggies
I prefer buying at the market instead of groceries. Buying fruit and veggies at the market is cheaper and items are fresh as well compared to buying in groceries. With food, I prefer making my dish instead of dining-out.
These are the things I don’t buy anymore as a minimalist. Remember that there are always options when fulfilling your materialistic desires. Just because you want it doesn’t mean you need it. If you can’t afford it, then don’t buy it.
