10 THINGS I NO LONGER BUY!

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

You may or may not know, as of last year I have been on the path of becoming a minimalist. It has been a very slow process for me, given I was the queen of impulse purchasing, of purchasing trendy stuff and using shopping as therapy! Furthermore, I did not want to cut everything off my life cold turkey, knowing myself I would’ve cracked!

I am obviously nowhere near where I want to be, but every day I get a bit closer! I did notice recently a few things I no longer feel the need to purchase and I wanted to share it with you guys!

Duplicates (1): I used to have four or five back-ups to almost all my stuff. Just in case something ripes, breaks or gets lost. Discounts were my kryptonite (I have to admit, it’s still is but now I have some self-control).

Souvenir (2): By souvenirs, I mean anything that would be useless to people, so you will never get you a keychain or fridge magnet from me. I will bring you food or gift you could use almost daily though!

Books (3): I spoke about this in a previous post, I don’t see the point in purchasing books anymore given I hate re-reading them and they end up covered in dust. I use a kindle instead, which is a lot more practical for me and takes a lot less space!

Services I can do myself (4): Growing up we did not have a lot of money, and it would’ve been silly to spend the little we had on services we could accomplish ourselves. Therefore I always cut my own hair, did my own nail, my own makeup, and perfected the at home spa… The only thing is when I started working, I got a bit bougie and started paying for all of that. Now we are back on track, and to be completely honest, I love it like this a lot more.

Impulse purchases (5): Whenever I want to purchase something I always wait 1 week before purchasing it so that I can have a lot of time to think about my purchase. Often when I purchase something on the spot I almost always return it because I didn’t need it in the first place.

Face wipes and cotton pads (6): I stopped purchasing these 2 things mostly for environmental reason and because it really didn’t add anything to my life.

Deodorant (7): I have a long explanation as to why I do not buy deodorant. Long story short, I think deodorants are a useless creation that puts woman in a vicious never-ending circle, forcing them to always repurchase the product when they can live without it perfectly well! I have to admit that going on deodorant detoxification was a pain in the behind but it was worth it for my body and the environment. I do use a DIY deodorant to control my body odors without blocking my pores and preventing me from sweating.

Soft drinks and juices (8): With the healthy lifestyle that I’m trying to acquire, all sugary drinks had to go. At first it was a bit hard because it was a source of fast sugar I would take every time I needed energy but then with better nutrition, I ended up not needing the extra sugar rush.

Special occasion clothes, accessories and jewelry (9): I think all girls do this. “It’s my birthday, I will buy this new dress that I will wear once and leave it in my closet until I decide to give it to goodwill” or “new semester, new purse” or “I should purchase these white earring that goes well with the white shorts I own but with nothing else” When I started to declutter, I was only giving away thing I haven’t worn in a year and that reduced my closet by half and because I have given away so much I did not want to just replace them with more new stuff.

Clothes that don’t fit my style (10): This goes a bit with my last point. My style is very neutral and casual but sometimes I think to myself maybe I should add a bit of color or some texture, get out of my comfort zone. Do you know what happens to these clothes? I wear them once or twice, and then they get lost in my closet. So again, instead of buying then giving away, I just stopped buying.

This is it for this little list, I am a work in progress, like I said I am far from where I want to be and also I enjoy spending money a bit to much!

I will talk to you all next week!

Much love,

Sofyah,