Transcription
In this video, I'm sharing the things that I regret buying so far this year. So, for context, I'm a former shopaholic who recently got out of a six-figure tax debt. I feel like I'm more careful than the average person when I spend money. I do my research. I try my best to make informed decisions when I'm purchasing something, but I'm only human. I still give in to little treat culture sometimes. I still buy products that don't live up to the hype sometimes. So, these are the things that I regret buying. Basically, these are the mistakes that I made so you don't have to make them. So, let's get into it.
The first thing is the latest Apple products. So, I'm actually somebody that never upgrades my tech, like never ever. Um up until this year, I was using a MacBook that I had had for over a decade and an iPhone that was I had it since before the pandemic. And they worked fine until they didn't. Um I really held onto them for as long as I could, but it got to the point where the keys, some of the keys stopped working on the laptop, and my phone would just turn off and would not turn back on. So, eventually, I was like, "Okay, I need to just give in and upgrade my tech." And I honestly don't know why I did this. I did a little bit of research, and I found that the price between used Apple products and new Apple products was so slim. At least that's how I justified it. So, I ended up buying the newest iPhone. I don't even know what the number is, the latest one, and a brand new MacBook. And I put it all on a financing plan that has 0% interest that I will pay before the interest period starts, but it was like $3,500 for those two products. And I feel like because I was using Apple products that were so old, I could have upgraded to something that was like a couple of years old, and it would have worked just as well for me. I do enjoy having the latest tech, I won't lie, like it has made my work process so much faster, but I definitely feel like I could have upgraded to something that was not like the cutting edge of technology in terms of Apple products.
Number two is this Lululemon headband. I don't know why I bought it. I think it was like $10, so it's not like the end of the world, but when I first moved back to Canada after living abroad, I really was so excited to just be like one of the girls. >> [laughter] >> And so I bought a lot of fitness stuff. I bought a lot of things that were kind of trendy, including this headband. And the workout clothes were fine. They were great. But I honestly don't know how people wear these. Like it's made kind of poorly. It's not like perfectly Can you tell? It's like kind of like goes in weird. And I bought it to wear to the gym, but after I had it and took the tag off, of course, I realized if I'm wearing it and then I'm wearing my headphones, it's like they basically serve the same purpose of keeping my hair back. And wearing this with headphones looked super weird. So I feel like I've worn it to the gym like once, and now it just sits in my closet.
The third thing that I regret buying is my Wonder Oven. As a caveat, I didn't actually buy this. I used points from an old um airline rewards program that I didn't have enough points for a flight or anything like that. It was like points that I had accumulated from a very long time ago and randomly remembered. And so when I remembered, I went onto the website to see what I could get as a reward. And there were a lot of kitchen products. I just moved into my apartment recently and I needed basically like pretty much all new small appliances and stuff like that. So when I saw the Wonder Oven in the range of points that I had, I kind of just like splurged on it because I thought it was cute. I've always enjoyed air fryers. I definitely bought into air fryer culture and I just wanted an air fryer like the one that I had before moving abroad, I think I spent like $50 on it and it worked perfectly fine. It worked great. This one, I think if you buy it new, it's like over $200. Obviously, I spent $0 on it because I used points and I do think it looks very cute in my kitchen, but it doesn't actually work as well as my $50 air fryer and I would definitely not recommend spending that kind of money on an aesthetically pleasing air fryer that under delivers.
Number four is this book, 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna West. So, I bought this when I had first moved back to Canada. I feel like I was not in the best head space and I really needed, I don't know, kind of like a boost in the um self-confidence department, even just like trying to be more positive and move through life with gratitude. As a caveat, I love personal development. Like I will be honest, I read self-help books. Like I buy into that. A little skeptical, but I still like I've definitely bought into the self-help kind of like genre and this book was so hyped online. I had listened to the audiobook, one of her other books called The Mountain Is You and I listened to it when I was at the gym when I first moved back to Canada and I felt like I enjoyed it, but I also kind of feel like I don't pay the best attention to audiobooks. I don't know if anyone else is like this, but like when I'm listening to an audiobook, I probably remember like 50% of the information. So, I don't listen to audiobooks that often, but I remember enjoying the 50% of that audiobook that I remember. So, I splurged on this book and yeah, these essays have not changed the way that I think. They're not even really essays. They're more like listicles. Like reading this actually puts me into editor mode more than reader mode in that they kind of just read like listicles for clickbaity websites that I was editing like 10 years ago. I feel bad saying that, but they're definitely more like Instagram captions than essays that are particularly profound. It also reads like it didn't have a professional editor. Like, I found a lot of errors which take me out of reader mode. And the thing that I don't like particularly about this author is that all of her books come wrapped in plastic at the bookstore. So, you can't even really like flip through it to see if you're going to enjoy the content. And I feel like if I had have been able to do that and see that the essays are actually just lists. Like, some of the lists are just bullet points, basically. Um and I feel like I didn't really get anything out of that book.
So, the fifth thing that I regret buying so far this year is this expensive candle. So, when I first moved into my apartment, I was so excited to be back in the city. I rushed out to get a candle. I've said this in the past, I love candles. Um when I was in a lot of consumer debt, I would buy Diptyque candles, the like fancy French ones. I even would buy them when I would go to Paris and just bring them back and hoard them in a closet. And I ended up actually selling my unopened candles on Facebook Marketplace. So funny. It's like these candles have resale value, apparently. Um But anyways, so when I moved into my apartment, I decided to get this not as expensive as a Diptyque candle. I think it was like $40, too much for a candle in my opinion. And it didn't really have like when I smelled it in the store, it smelled really good. But when I brought it home, it like didn't really smell like anything when it was burning. And a couple of weeks later, I went out to Bath and Body Works and I bought two candles from there and those two candles total combined were like I think it was like half or less the price of this one candle and they smell great and I feel like I can burn them without feeling bad about it. So, yeah, that will be my last expensive candle purchase. But, I will buy more candles from Bath and Body Works because I'm a candle girly.
Number six is my smart humidifier. So, honestly, I feel like when I moved back to Canada and I moved into this apartment, I was just excited to be able to order things online. When I was living in Turkey, my credit card for some reason didn't really work on most of the like um shopping apps or like online shopping platforms. So, I wasn't able to buy a lot of things. And also, there's this like no offense to my Turkish friends, I just find this is so weird, but like when you order things in the mail in Istanbul and I'm assuming maybe the rest of Turkey, too, you don't have a designated mailbox. So, if you have something that's out for delivery, you basically have to wait in your house for it to arrive. Or like sometimes um delivery people will drop things off at like stores that are nearby your house. And even though I was studying Turkish, it was like very daunting to worry about having to answer the phone when it was a delivery person or like try to find my packages once they arrived somewhere. So, for my entire time living in Turkey, I think I ordered one thing online. So, when I came back to Canada, I was like kind of excited at the prospect. So, anyway, I ordered this smart humidifier without doing that much research. And when I was putting together this list before filming, I really thought this humidifier was like over $100, but I looked it up and I think it's like $40. But, I still feel like I could have made a more informed purchase because yeah, it's a smart humidifier. So, it's cool. It I paired it with my phone and like it alerts me when the water is running low, which is great. It has like little ambient settings, so it can be like pink or blue or whatever, but it doesn't show the humidity level, and I feel like that would be more helpful. Like, my apartment was super dry in the winter, so obviously I would run the humidifier, but I had to just basically like feel it out in terms of humidity level, and I know I could buy a humidity reader, probably for not that much money. I just feel like if I were to buy a humidifier now, I would prioritize something that has the actual humidity level on it, and not just something that I can pair with my phone and change the colors on.
Coming in at number seven is my Crocs flip-flops. Honestly, I can't even believe I just said that out loud. It's basically another product that I just like quickly bought online when I moved in here instead of really like thinking it through. I've mentioned this in other videos, but my building has a sauna and hot tub area, and you have to wear sandals to go in, which is like normal. But when I first moved here, I didn't have any sandals, so I just quickly bought this pair on Amazon, and honestly, I do not know why I decided on the Croc brand. I feel like no shade to like anyone, like wear what you want, but I just like remember being younger and like judging Crocs so hard as a brand, and then I just decided to like spend $30 plus tax, like no questions asked on these Crocs flip-flops, when I could have run out to like Old Navy or something and gotten a pair for $5. Like, I'm not really sure why I did that. I think I was just like swept up in being able to receive packages. I don't know. But yeah, I spent $30 on them, and they're fine for like going to the sauna, but honestly, they run a little bit small, and they're not aesthetically pleasing, so I would never wear them like out, but I do go to the spa often, so I mean, I I'm getting wear out of them. I just like wish I had have thought that one through a little bit better.
Number eight is this solid perfume from Lush in the Karma scent. So, it's described as a cult hippie perfume that will shake you up and set you back down in 1970s London. And I actually had this before. I had it when I was in university. I got it because university times, you know, things were different. sleeping on the floor at my friend's house and I found it on the floor and I asked him whose it was and he had no idea and I smelled it and I loved the scent and he was like, "Oh, you can just take it." So, I had this free solid perfume from Lush that I used for many years and I loved it. It really smelled just like, you know, the like classic granola hippie smell, but that [clears throat] it's like kind of sophisticated. I don't know. I It's like patchouli basically, but I loved it and when I moved back to Canada, I was at the mall with my mom, looked at the Lush store and I was like, "Oh my god, I bet they still have that perfume." So, we went in and I bought it and then I got it home, I realized that it the formula is way more melty than the one that I had like 15 years ago now. And like when you close the lid, you like you you push it up and through the bottom and then when you close the lid, you have to push it down. But because it gets so melty, it basically like squishes out the sides when you close it, which is not ideal. And then something else I noticed is when I put it on like here or like on my wrists and I'm wearing a light colored shirt or jacket, the red coloring rubs off onto the clothing. Like it doesn't just blend into my skin. It actually like will rub onto my clothing and stain it. So, as much as I do love the scent, it's just like I don't know what Lush did to this. I think they need to like work on their formula and their packaging a little bit. There are window cleaners outside. It's like so noisy. I hope you can't hear it.
So, coming in at number nine is clothing that I bought out of thrift store that does not have fitting rooms. I did not realize that that is a thing that thrift stores have started doing, I guess since the pandemic, but I went thrifting with my mom a couple of months ago and we spent like a good hour looking for things, you know, collecting things in our little carts like ready to do a try on. Like we were invested and then when we were ready to try things on, we found out that there were no fitting rooms. So, I already find it difficult to shop for clothing because basically at the beginning of my debt payoff journey, I also was going through a weight loss journey in tandem and I lost like 30 to 40 lb, but then I was also just wearing my old clothes. So, like I don't have the same like intuitive knowledge of like looking at something and knowing if it will fit or not. I don't know if anyone really has that, but I don't know. I just find it harder to like know my sizing. Like it's not as intuitive as it once was. So, my mom and I were in this thrift shop and I had so many things that I wanted to try on and I like kind of pulled things on like over my clothes to see if I could get an idea of if they fit or not and then I ended up like pairing down everything. I bought a pair of pants, a skirt and a shirt and most of them like they fit okay, but like the pants for example were like tight-fitting and the pockets flared out funny, which I couldn't tell in the store. So, I don't know. I don't know why thrift stores are doing that. Um it makes it a lot harder to shop and the return policies are not always great. So, yeah, I kind of feel like I will be foregoing thrift shopping for clothes unless I'm able to try stuff on because it just doesn't really make sense. Like it was cheap. I think I spent like $25 on those three pieces, but still like I think the skirt fit me the best, but like the other two it was like, "Okay, like how often am I going to wear this if it's not a perfect fit?"
So, shifting gears a little bit, number 10 is Pretty Litter. You know, the cat litter that's like kind of looks white and then when your cat pees on it, it changes color and you can monitor their health based on the color of the litter. So, I bought that on Amazon when I first moved into my apartment so that it would arrive and I'd be able to set up a litter box for my cat right away. Not only did it end up getting lost, so I had to run to the grocery store and buy regular litter when I arrived in Montreal, but also when it finally did arrive, I spent $60 on it and the box was so small. I thought it was like something else that I ordered. I was like, "There's no way this is $60 worth of litter in this box." Then to make matters worse, I actually started reading about how Pretty Litter like litter particles are so fine that it's given cats like infections because if they scratch at it a lot, the like litter goes into the air and then they breathe it in. So, from what I gathered, it's like actually pretty bad for cats, especially like cats who are diggers. So, even though I was kind of excited to use it to be able to monitor my cat's health, I ended up returning it because I just didn't want to risk him getting some sort of a like nasal infection from that. Yeah, so I just buy like regular litter [laughter] and it works fine.
Coming in at number 11 is greens powder. So, I fell victim to AG1 a couple of years ago. In my head, I was like, "This is probably a placebo, but if I can get into the habit of drinking it every morning, it's not going to do me any harm and it also helps create a healthier morning routine." That's what I told myself. AG1 is super expensive, so I only did that the once. And then when I came back to Canada after living abroad, I was like, I don't know. I feel like I was so excited to have access to maybe products that I didn't have abroad or like cheaper prices for health products or I don't even know what, but I ended up buying greens powder from a Canadian company. I buy protein powder from them too. Actually, let me grab it. So, it's the good protein green superfood juice. Um it tastes fine and it says that it's a blend of probiotics and digestive enzymes. It has like a laundry list of vitamins in it, but it's so expensive and I just like you can't really convince me that it's worth it. I don't know. I like making smoothies and I do like the Simply Protein protein powder itself. Like I do buy that for my smoothies, but I just think greens powder is not it.
The last one is honestly embarrassing. I didn't realize how bad it was until I pulled it all together for this video. So, as I mentioned when I got back to Canada, I was feeling not the best about myself. I was like not in the greatest head space and I don't know. I just like it wasn't a great time. So, I decided one of my New Year's resolutions would be to wear more lip gloss. So, hear me out. I've mentioned this before. I'm like not the biggest makeup person, but I still sometimes just want to feel like I'm just a girl. You know what I mean? Like I kind of wish I was more of a makeup person, but I just like didn't really care to learn about it when I was growing up and I didn't want to be like perceived, so I just never really ended up taking an true interest in it. Now I like almost always wear a bare face, but I was like, "Okay, this is the year that I will like reclaim my inner child and just start wearing fun lip glosses." I was living at my parents' house at the time, and my mom and I would sometimes just like go out to the drugstore or go to Giant Tiger, which is like basically like the Five Below of Canada, and yeah, I got a big lip gloss collection in a very short amount of time. It's like I'm looking at it right now. I'm like embarrassed to show you, but I will. Okay, I can't even pick them all up in one hand. Okay, I hope you can hear me all right. So, these are the lip glosses that I bought so far this year. What was I thinking? Honestly, it's wild. Like, what? So, I guess now I'm project panning my lip glosses, but I think I started with like this one from Burt's Bees. And it actually I like this one. It gives my lips just like a slight tint that's not like too obvious or noticeable. This one is a dupe for I forget the brand. See, I'm like not a makeup girly, but it's like that very popular brand. This one's the dupe from Giant Tiger. So, this was on sale for like $3. The brand is called Ruby and Millie, and anyway, I bought this when I was with my mom, and I really liked it. I still use this one. I put this on when I'm sleeping. But then for some reason, I ended up buying a second one from the same brand, and a third one. And even though they were less than $5, and the first one was good, I don't know. I just feel like the formula in these ones it wasn't as good, and the scents were not great. I got in vanilla and birthday cake, and I don't use these two. I find they're like it's not even the same formula, which maybe it makes sense for a dupe brand. I'm not sure. And then this one So, this is a dupe for the day hair styling thing. I don't know. Like I mentioned when I first came back to Canada, I just like lost all confidence. And in my mind, I was like, "Okay, I'm going to start using this taming wand to like make my hair a little bit less wild." And honestly, I do use this sometimes, but like and it was like $5, but I I don't know. I didn't need it. And then I found Lip Smackers on Amazon, like literally the ones that I had when I was a kid. And I was like, "My inner child needs these, and she's getting what she wants." They were like $10 for all of them, so it's not the end of the world. But I definitely barely use these. I like stick them in my purses. And then I was in the beauty section of Shoppers Drug Mart, which always makes me so uncomfortable. I like I don't know why. I just feel like I don't belong there. So, I was like, "Okay, I'm going to buy one of these. Like I'm going to exposure therapy myself at the beauty section of Shoppers Drug Mart by buying lip glosses." I don't know. [clears throat] Anyway, I bought this one, which like is one of those plumping lip glosses, and I actually love the color. But I'm too shy to wear it out of the house. I think it was like $10. It's called Covergirl Clean Fresh Yummy Plumper Gloss. I do love the color, but I just never wear it. And then I bought this one, KimChi Chic Wet Gloss with lip plumper. So, this is from one of the Drag Race contestants, I think. And I thought the packaging was so cute. I actually do wear this one because it's like sheer. It was probably like $10 also, but I definitely didn't need it and >> [gasps] >> I don't know what I'm doing with like 20 lip glosses, but yeah. So, I regret buying them. Thankfully, it wasn't like a Sephora haul. All of these probably cost less than $30, but I still I'm like, why did I do that? Like that was not necessary.
So, there you have it. Those are my biggest regret purchases of the year. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that I had a dozen different categories that I regretted buying. I do feel like I went a little wild just coming back to Canada like my boyfriend who is Turkish even commented like, why are you getting all of these things delivered? Like, why do you Canadians do this? And I was like, that's a good question. But yeah, I I just feel like I had a little consumerist kick after coming back and [laughter] I'm glad that I was able to recognize it and I'm glad that it didn't get too far before I kind of like nipped it in the bud, but yeah.
So, if you made it this far into the video, thank you so much for watching. I don't know. If you have regretted buying anything this year, maybe let me know in the comments. If not, good for you. I'm jealous. >> [laughter] >> Don't forget to subscribe and I will see you in the next one. Thanks.