I never anticipated that I have to wait for 3+ months to share the first 10 things that I bought after my whole No Buy Year of 2020. I genuinely thought I would go crazy in my first month after the No Buy Year ended. Instead, it took me 3 months. Ain’t this an achievement?! So what did I get?
1. Youtube subscription
I’ve wanted this for over a year and finally, we did it early this year! I shared a Youtube family plan subscription of RM29 per month with 4 other people. Which means for one, it’s only RM5.80 per month. Even cheaper than nasi goreng kampung. Now I got Youtube with no ads and can play in background? Fuh no regret.
2. Instant shawl
The very first material item that I bought this year was 3 instant shawls which were on combo sale for RM78. This wasn’t a planned purchase, I randomly came across the Instagram business page that sold these shawls and I love its whole instant concept, so why not?
I don’t have any better justification than that.
3. Keyboard for laptop
Using laptop, with the screen attached to the keyboard, is not good for our posture. I got neck and back pain bending forward to look at the screen. For visual, here’s the bad posture vs the good posture.
So I got myself cheap keyboard for RM20. Now most days, I use the RM20 keyboard and level up my laptop so the screen can be at my eye level. Less back pain.
4. Kindle pouch
There’s one time where I thought I broke my Kindle screen because I accidentally threw it into my tote bag and the screen went loco for a second due to the impact. So to be safe, I bought a proper thick pouch from Shopee for RM20.
5. Earphone
I bought my Xiaomi wireless earphone during 9.9 / 11.11 (can’t remember which one) in 2019. I’m still using it, it’s working just fine. The only issue I have with it though is that it doesn’t last the whole working day which necessitates me having to charge in the middle of the day. Kinda annoying for someone who gets into the working groove while having music in her ears.
So I bought a cheap Sony one – with wire – for RM39. Love it!
6. Pocket wifi
To be cheap, I used my phone Internet line as a hotspot for my laptop. But two issues that I had with this. First, my phone line was painfully slow. Second, whenever I got a phone call, my Internet line got disrupted. The combination of these two ain’t helping my WFH days.
So I decided to buy a pocket wifi / mobile wifi / mifi, for RM239! Pocket wifi is basically a wireless router that acts as a mobile wifi hotspot. For this, I use Hotlink prepaid for RM35/RM45 (depending on the speed) per month. So glad this exists because it’s cheap for unlimited Internet and oh-much-speedier than the previous two that I’ve tried.
For full disclosure, I’ve tried U Mobile and Celcom. U Mobile is cheap but slow, while Celcom is so expensive but no better.
So now my monthly phone bills are way, way down – RM35 for my wifi and for my phone, I’ve downgraded my Celcom postpaid plan from ~RM145 to a basic one for ~RM68. Thinking of changing to Hotlink soon to cut it down further by half.
7. Clothes thrifting
THIS ONE WAS LIKE THE ONE THAT MADE ME SO HAPPY. I went thrifting – after over a year! Oh my god, I enjoyed the time spent sifting through cheap clothes and bags and then found gems here and there. I loveee (and oh how I’ve missed) the feelings. In total after a few short thrifting trips, I spent a total of RM213 on a bunch of tops and pants and 2 handbags. So cheap right *crying happy tears*.
This is a good thing okay because I still can’t bring myself to buy clothes new at their full price. So bundle it is. But that’s that lah. I don’t feel like going to shop for new clothes any time soon. Kinda defeating the purpose of my one whole no buy year if I were continue this.
8. Electric toothbrush
This had been in my to-buy list for the longest of time. I’ve heard many good reviews about using electric toothbrush but it seemed expensive if we’re to compare it with the normal toothbrush RM10 for 3. But then, my interest rekindled when I saw a Reddit comment (can’t find it now) which said about how electric toothbrush is such a good investment for our teeth. So naturally, I took that as a sign from the universe whispering ~ get an electric toothbrush whzzz whzzz ~
I bought one together with the replacement brushes for RM98 from Shopee during a flash sale! And oh. my. god. Why didn’t I get this sooner? I’ve never felt my teeth this clean. It’s soooo good. This is something like you don’t know you need till you try.
9. Mini vacuum
I’m too lazy to bring my car for car wash (won’t even say ‘too lazy to wash my car’ I mean that’s given) but I hate seeing the interior got sandy and dusty. After considering for quite some time, I bought one PerySmith cordless vacuum from Shopee, on sale for RM99. I’m conflicted about this purchase. I do need a vacuum but this product gives just a meh result with the suction power.
10. More books
Nothing’s new. Books were the reason I relaxed my no-buy rules last year. Even with Kindle, I still find myself longing to read physical books. From January to March 2021, I’ve spent a total of RM303 on books. All on local books from MPH and GerakBudaya.
Perhaps I’m on denial, but I really don’t treat the money I spent on books as bad expenses because books make me happy.
ALL IN ALL?
Well, if I’m honest to rate my first purchases above, it would go like this:
- Purchases no. 3, 4 and 6 are absolute needs. Keyboard and pocket wifi for work, while Kindle pouch for security and safety of my Kindle.
- Purchases no. 1, 5, 8 and 9 are for convenient purposes. I can do without them but now I do have them, it’s convenient. No ads for Youtube, don’t have to worry about charging my earphone, cleaner teeth and car.
- Purchases no. 2, 7 and 10 are pure wants. The ideal world is of course would be me not buying these things. But cut me some slack, only buying clothing items after over a year plus? That’s an achievement. As for books, we’ve came to the consensus that I can’t help myself with that. Haha.
All in all, I’ve managed to tame the shopping urge. I used to have the strong urge to just spend my money, buy things and shop. Now I do take my time to think and contemplate my needs and options before I buy. It’s not perfect for sure, but we’ll get there.
Let’s continue figuringgitout.
And yes, I recommend a no buy year wholeheartedly especially when you’re just lost in this materialistic world. Sometimes drastic times call for drastic measures.