No Buy Year: November Update

Previous Update: October Update

November is notorious for making people bleed money. Why? Because of this whole 11.11 sale.

If you have no idea how this shopping extravaganza started, let me share with you the bullet points of what I’ve just learned from here and here.

• 11.11 started out as a day to celebrate singlehood initiated by a group of university students in China back in 1993;
• They chose 11 November because the date 11.11 represents single bare sticks;
• Suddenly it becomes the Chinese unofficial holiday and shopping season that celebrates people who are not in a relationship;
• Now it’s the region’s biggest season to splurge!

Well if you are curious how we did as a nation during 11.11 this year in 2020, here’s key records:

• Lazada breaks its own 11.11 sales record with Lancôme, Xiaomi Global and OnePlus Flagship Store all recorded one-day sale of over RM1 million!
• The largest single transaction made by one user on Shopee within the first 8 hours of the online shopping event amounted to RM70,000 (I WANT TO MEET THIS PERSON, AN IDOL)
• Shopee sells 200 million items on 11.11. 200 million!!
• Malaysian ranks 4th in global spending power on 11.11 based on purchases from China. We’re just behind the US, Russia, and France! I tell you we Malaysians are 1st class when it comes to sales haha.

So why do I share with you all those facts when this post is actually on my NO BUY update for November? Because ladies and gentlemen, I tell you –

THE PRESSURE IS REAL!!

WHAT DID I BUY ON 11.11?

Correction, what didn’t I buy on 11.11?

…..

Lol kidding, I swear I’m kidding. I’m proud to share with you that on 11.11, I DID NOT BUY ANYTHING…. unnecessary.

Gah! I’ll be honest I did buy things. I’m human okay, I have needs. Let’s go through the necessary things that I bought from Lazada & Shopee:

• Eyebrow pencil x 3 for RM44.10.
  RM14.70 each. The standard price is RM24.50. I saved 40%!
• Moisturizers x 4 for a total of RM152.
  RM38 each. The standard price is RM66.90. I saved 43.2%!
• 500ml face wash x 2 for a total of RM78.80.
  The standard price for the twin pack is RM94.15. I saved 16.3%!

See, I told you! I only bought the necessities. They are justified purchases for 2 reasons:

1. I use them daily, they are my staple skincare items. Now I don’t have to worry for at least another half year on those items; and
2. I bought them in bundles at a much much cheaper price so I SAVED MONEY!

That’s allowed in my No-Buy Year Rules. I’m not breaking any rules and I don’t regret any of those purchases.

And how I wish I could end this with that, but I can’t. There’s another big purchase that I made on 11.11, perhaps the biggest purchase that I’ve made throughout 2020.

MY BIGGEST PURCHASE OF THE YEAR

I bought myself a Kindle! I bought my Kindle Paperwhite from Shopee for RM558.99 (including casing and shipping, minus discount voucher).

I shared in a post here on why I finally bought an e-reader, making the jump from reading printed books to e-books. Not really jumping because I still read printed books.

Okay now hear me out, this is also a justified purchase! Referring to that post, I’m just gonna quote myself on this:

As much I love paperback books and won’t mind spending money to get books that I want to read, let’s face the bitter truth – physical books are expensive!

I’m so much mindful of my spending these days and I realised how much I’ve been spending on books. Don’t take me the wrong way though – First, I believe money spent on books is money well spent because you’re investing in yourself. Second, there are many ways to get books cheaper these days. But still, books can be expensive.

This year alone, I spent RM826 on books. Mind you that I only started buying books again in June. So RM826 actually accounts for less than half a year books spending. And mind you too that I rarely bought books at their full prices. I usually waited for sale. Still, RM826!

So with the intention to save money in the long run, I paid a large sum (for me) upfront.

Yes, really. That’s my intention. Trust me.

And nu-uh, it’s not breaching any rules. Again, quoting myself:

Disclaimer: If you know about my no-buy journey – oh well, I tweaked the rules a bit. I considered the purchase of this Kindle as a book purchase (I can buy books!) instead of a gadget purchase. Teehee. Rules bent are not rules broken

Oh ya while I’m on this, I just remember that I also bought books on 11.11 from the first ever Big Bad Wolf online. 7 books for RM80. Gulp.

Okay so in the future if I tell you I stop reading or I don’t use my Kindle anymore, please quote this whole post to my face.

SO HOW’S NOVEMBER AS A WHOLE?

November is (arguably) a success. Out of 31 days in November, I promise I only bought things during that one single day. … No pun intended.

As a whole, I’m alright. I’m happy with all these changes, I even shared it on my Facebook page.

And with that, we’re almost at the end guys. If you’re here from the beginning – thank you, I’m so humbled. If you’re new, welcome! Please stay & follow me on Facebook for the latest updates haha.

See you on our last update for December. Let’s continue figuringgitout.