Transcription
In today's video, I want to talk about how a low buy year essentially changed my life. So, if you've watched any of my recent videos, then you probably heard me talk about the fact that within the last two years, I drastically kind of scaled my shopping down and just shopped a lot less. Also, if you're a long-time subscriber of mine, then you've probably noticed that as well.
In today's video, I want to talk about how that actually changed my life and how I've now kind of adapted that into my daily routine and how I've made it a lifestyle. It is no longer a challenge for me. This is a lifestyle, something that I have adapted into my routine, and that's now going to be a forever. Because I was so tired of constantly having that mentality of "Keeping Up With the Joneses," about the Joneses and not who they say they are, gotta go, and always wanting the newest and best luxury item. It just got really exhausting, and let's face it, I definitely had a problem, and I was shopping way, way too much.
So, yeah, about two years ago, I made a conscious decision to try a low buy challenge. And a low buy challenge is basically, as the name suggests, where you spend less money and buy less of the things that you don't need and focus more on the necessities. At first, it was fairly difficult for me, to be honest, because I am a spender by nature. I love spending my money, and so I was struggling for quite a bit. But going into year two, it is, it was, it was because this now would be the third year, but it was much easier, and it just changed so many things about my life for the better. And if you have ever thought about doing a low buy month or a low buy challenge or a low buy year, and you were afraid that you couldn't do it, trust me, if I can, then you can for sure.
So, yeah, hopefully, you find today's video helpful. If you do, please give my video a thumbs up, leave me a comment down below, and subscribe if you're not subscribed. So, let's go ahead and jump right into this.
So, the first way that it kind of changed a big part of me and my life for the better was definitely the fact that I was now forced to deal with my emotions on a completely different level, on a much deeper level. Whereas before, if I was in a bad mood, or I felt very depressed, I felt low, I didn't feel good about myself, or maybe I had experienced some sort of failure in my life, maybe I was even happy about something or I was celebrating something, but any type of emotional distress or emotional change, I would resort to shopping in some way. Whether that was going down to the local boutique, buying a new shirt or a new top, or flopping open my computer and buying a new bag or new earrings, I would just constantly reward myself for any emotional change in my life. And when I couldn't do that, it forced me to kind of connect with myself on a deeper level and really deal with my emotions. And I think that's something that's so incredibly important. I think a lot of us, in many ways, we kind of sometimes don't want to deal with certain emotions in our life, and so we resort to other things. And at first, that feels kind of uncomfortable, but once you get through it, and through the initial first months, it really is so rewarding, and it's such a great feeling to be able to sit with yourself and deal with your emotions and like connect with yourself without pushing the buy button.
Secondly, it definitely helped my impulse shopping tremendously. I, I am definitely a spender, and so I was a very impulsive person when it came to anything. Whether that was buying a coffee every day, spending money at Starbucks, spending money at Louis Vuitton, spending money at Zara, you name it, I was very impulsive. I saw something I liked, that boom, I bought it. I didn't really think about it much. This challenge has really forced me into thinking about my purchases a lot more, and in a much deeper way, and it really helped so much. Fast forward to now, I don't buy a lot of things anymore that I would have in the past, simply because I am no longer that impulsive person.
Another thing that I feel like was a huge change in the right direction was that I no longer have the need to buy designer bags that I see on YouTubers or social media influencers in general. I no longer have that need to buy the next it bag, and that is such a great feeling. I don't know what it is or how it happened, but before, every time there was a bag that was extremely popular, unless I really hated the look of it, if I liked it even just a little bit, I felt like I had to have it to be a part of something. And going through these last two years and realizing that I actually... my dog every time I film, he just decides to move around. I'm sorry about the noise, but um, well, now I'm totally, now I lost my train of thought. But anyways, I always felt like I needed that item, and now fast forward, you know, the past two years have kind of taught me that I can totally live without a lot of those bags, and it's actually the best decision because a lot of the times I would buy these bags and then months later, I wouldn't like them anymore. And that is just like, it's such, it's such a mind-blowing experience, and it's so freeing, actually. It's actually really a freeing thing.
And for me, it was never that, you know, my shopping problem, I luckily never went into debt, I never used credit cards. And so for me, the biggest thing was my mind. I had to wrestle with myself a lot because even though I know I didn't need something, I just constantly felt like I wanted it or I had to have it. And that feeling just is gone, and it's just like such an, such an amazing feeling, honestly.
And obviously, the last point being that my finances are in such a better place now. Before, I would literally spend more money than I could afford to spend, and I was doing that a lot. Now, I'm not doing that anymore, and my finances, therefore, are in a much better place, and that is just such a good feeling and such a relief off my shoulders, honestly. I think a lot of us oftentimes fall into the trap of overspending, especially in our early 20s. I wish I would have realized a lot of this stuff a lot sooner. But, you know, better late than never. But yeah, it definitely helped out my finances so much. I started creating a budget. And if you take anything away from this video, if you are like me and you are a spender and you love to shop and you constantly buy things that you actually don't need, and you don't want to look at your credit card statements, or you don't even want to look at your bank account at the end of the month, definitely get yourself an app or some sort of budgeting system. It is so incredibly helpful, trust me. I was never a huge fan of it, but once I started getting into it, it really is so helpful to tell your money where it's going, where it shouldn't go. And if you want to buy something, you can create a little fund for that and just save up, and that way you'll feel a lot more comfortable and things will be so much more stress-free.
I really hope you guys like this video. I have more points that I could talk about, so if you like it, let me know if you want a part two. I would love to do a part two, or if you have any questions, just leave them down below. Thank you guys so much for watching. I love you, and I'll see you in my next one. Bye.