Spending too much money on useless crap, this is why I’ve decided that I won’t buy anything this year. Of course, I’m not talking about food or plane tickets, as these are essentials for my well-being. I’m talking about the tons and tons of things that I’ve bought over the past years since I started to count my money. A simple procedure that showed me just how much of a brainless spender I really am. How bad is it? Thousands upon thousands of $$$ bad.
In this guide:
A quick look back
Over the past two years, since the pandemic broke out, I managed to save a lot of money. I bought an apartment with that money, that’s how much I’ve been able to save. Yet because I was working so much more as international travel was halted and I had more time at the home office, I also got to spend more money than I’d wished for. If I were to resume spending to the bare necessities, I would’ve been able to buy another apartment, at least.
My point is, spending money as I did came with a valuable lesson about the power of resisting urges. If you are able to resist the urge of buying the things that you barely need, and just buy those items that you clearly need, you can change your financial life for a more secure, predictable one. Looking back, I know where I went wrong and how to fix it in the future. Simply put, I will stop buying anything in 2022. By anything, I mean things I clearly don’t need.
Money is about experiences
In my opinion, money is all about the experiences you can buy, not about the material stuff. Right now, I’d rather pay $500 for a trip to Egypt to recharge my batteries than buy a full set of new clothes. Why? Because although I’d use those clothes for years with the spending, my trip to Egypt would allow me to fully recharge my batteries, clear my mind (filled with war news and pandemic problems) and resume my pre-pandemic state of being.
Paying $500 for such an experience is a steal. It would help me boost my confidence, calm my nerves, restructure my thinking and rebuild my pleasure in what I’m doing. Buying clothes does none of that. All it does is make me feel good for a few minutes, and then I’d add the clothes to my dresser and forget about them. Wearing the same old jeans and hoodie as I I’ve been doing for almost a decade now. I might be going to Egypt as you are reading this piece. I hope!
Savings and investments
Since I won’t be doing any major trips this year but one, more on that later, I will do what I did in 2020 with most of my money. I will save massively. I will also put part of my money into investments but considering the state of the world right now, which is unstable, to say the least, investing is also a shaky business. This means that I won’t do the 50/50 savings/investments plan I’ve started 2022 with but something like 85/15 at best. I will save some money in my local currency and also in foreign banknotes, as this gives me a better margin at the end of the year, and makes my money “grow” for even a tiny bit, beating inflation.
I’m just saying stuff that I’ve heard from Julia Chatterley, who is the cutest TV presenter in the world and I love watching her every day on CNN talking about money, investments and markets. Some things I understand, most I don’t, but it’s fun watching her. And she is crazy cute. To summarize, savings top investments this year, especially in foreign currency like the USD or Euro. Investments are better kept low and just on secured stuff, as secured as anything can be this year. Spending money simply does not make sense in 2022 regardless if you want a new car, clothes, you name it. It is useless from a financial standpoint.
I simply don’t need anything
The main reason why I won’t buy any more useless crap this year is that I don’t need any more useless crap. I have enough, so much so that I have no room for new stuff. I will only get a new bookshelf for my home office, which was on my list for 3 years, but that’s it. I won’t buy any more books before I’ll read through the current ones. No more playing cards before I use the ones I’ve bought so far. No more clothes before I wear the countless pieces I bought over the past 2 years that I’ve never put on even once.
Save your money, put it away, invest it in something secure, buy foreign currency, don’t play with crypto, and pay for experiences, not useless material things. That’s the best thing you can do with your money in 2022 and beyond.
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