i'm challenging myself to another low buyer if you're not familiar with what a low buyer
is it's a challenge to cut back on any unnecessary spendings from your budget
you can make your own rules depending on your values and lifestyle but the whole
purpose is to make more conscious and mindful decisions whenever you choose to buy something
what i learned from doing the challenge last year is that my overarching why has to be crystal clear
ultimately it's not about the money i'm gonna save nor is it about testing my willpower but the
bigger purpose is to align my spending habits with my values of living a simple and mindful lifestyle
my challenge last year didn't exactly turn out as i had hoped but i still made huge strides i
learned a lot about myself my consumption habits and how i could make this challenge work for me
instead of the other way around so this is my attempt to try again
with all the lessons i've learned here is how i'm challenging myself this year
after doing my first though by year i knew that i didn't want to go back to my old spending habits
so i wanted to do it again but i knew that i had to address the rules just a little bit instead
of just thinking about what i was going to cut for my budget i actually wanted to focus on how
i was going to redirect that money towards the things that were important to me but before we
jump into the video if you're also looking to be more mindful with your spending this year i hope
that you will join this challenge with me and you can follow along my journey by subscribing to this
channel also i will be sharing more frequent updates on my personal channel sophie dekey so
please feel free to join there as well first let's talk about my intentions for doing this challenge
last year my overall goal was to simplify my life and i also had a financial goal of saving up at
least fifteen thousand dollars and also paying off our 35 000 home equity line of credit but for this
year i decided that it's no longer going to be about meeting a specific goal but it's more about
reinventing my identity and what i mean by that is that i want to change the parts of myself and my
habits that are no longer serving me asking myself what kind of person do i want to be and does my
spendings truly align with that new identity i told myself i no longer want to be someone
who spends their free time browsing the web for clothes who constantly thinks about what to buy
next who depends on retail therapy to boost mood past time or just relieve stress instead i want to
be that person who invests in their wellness and their education their fitness and their
overall well-being this is going to be my biggest motivation i actually went through my credit card
statement and for each transaction i asked myself if it was either hurting me or helping me and
becoming this new identity and this might sound a little bit over the top but it actually gave me a
lot of clarity on what i wanted to spend my money on and what i didn't want to spend my money on
identity plays a massive part in how we live what we do and even how we spend our money so this year
my whole motivation for doing this challenge is to let go of my past bad habits and to take a step
closer to the person that i truly want to become and finally using my money to help me get there
so let me tell you what my rules are for this low by year first i'm creating a budget for specific
things for example i'm giving myself a 300 budget for new clothing and honestly i don't need any
new clothes but i just want to give myself some room for flexibility just in case and i think
that's the biggest takeaway from last year's challenge so just in case my weight fluctuates
or my lifestyle changes or i come across the brand that i really want to work with also i'm creating
a budget for dining out and also getting takeout eating out with friends and family that's fine
because it's a rare thing anyways if it's just me and my husband i really want to limit ourselves
to just dining out once a week use what i have it seems like there's so many things that we can buy
now for self-care fancy lotions cube journals yoga accessories face massaging tools you guys know how
much i prioritize self-care but i also don't think that it has to be expensive i really feel the most
benefit when i get a good night's rest or if i go for a walk out in nature if i practice yoga
and just being consistent with these things this is not just with self-care items but also with
food instead of going to the grocery store every single time i feel like i'm missing something i
want to look in my fridge and in my pantry to first check if i have any leftover ingredients
and try to use up everything that i already have oni replace empty products and this is
regarding my beauty items and my toiletries i went a little bit overboard with sheet masks last year
and i feel like it was really wasteful i only saw immediate results and not long lasting results so
i am going back to just my tried and true products and only replacing completely empty bottles
i will be implementing some no buys this year and this is for unhealthy snacks and sweets in general
i really don't even have a sweet tooth but if there's chocolate candy or dessert around
the house i know that i'm going to eat it so i'm really going to be mindful of what i buy this year
and what i have around the house sometimes i really do want to end my meals with something
sweet and in that case i can order myself a dessert if i'm dining out but at home i can
reach for a fruit or end my meals with a cup of tea also no by year for home decor plants little
knickknacks kitchen tools etc i actually haven't bought anything from my home in a
very long time because i have everything i need so i want to keep it that way rule number five
is to keep a wish list and this really worked well for me last year so i want to keep it going
especially if it's a bigger purchase i want to wait longer before i buy it and this will help
me to avoid some impulse purchases rule number six is to always buy secondhand first and this
is a new habit that i developed in the last year if i need to buy something i'm always going to
be looking first on craigslist marketplace and for clothing on poshmark and i noticed that a
lot of brands now have like a pre-loved option where you can shop secondhand which i think i
will be taking advantage of honestly there are so many things and products out there already
that i really don't feel the need to buy something brand new at full price so this is going to help
me save a lot of money as well last but not least i'm allowing myself for investments and this is
financial investments and also investment in my happiness like i said this year i really wanted
to redirect how i was going to spend my money and there are a couple of things that i really want to
invest in and the first thing is i want to hire a tutor to help me with my portuguese i also want to
continue to do therapy and i recently got a gym membership to work on my weight training a lot
of these things felt out of reach for me in the past but somehow i was able to justify spending
hundreds of dollars on a piece of clothing item so this year is really about changing that mindset
shifting the priorities towards prioritizing my wellness and my happiness so now that you
know my rules here is how i'm planning to have a successful low by year first thing i noticed
that a year is way too long so i'm actually going to be breaking it down into monthly goals instead
second i am keeping myself accountable by doing a monthly update on my personal channel sophia key
sharing with you and just being transparent about the whole journey third i'm removing all
temptations that will lead me to my old habits again so i need to do another digital declutter
unfollowing certain influencers that tempt me to shop to unsubscribe from emails removing
my credit card information from my browser and even blocking some websites that i tend to go on
number four filling my time with other things and like i mentioned i actually have a lot of
different goals this year so that's exactly what i'm going to be putting my attention towards
last but not least i'm going to be revisiting my why often so i'm actually going to write down why
i'm doing this challenge and what it means to me and how important it is for me to follow through
this year i think having a clear purpose for doing any challenge is going to guide
us through the tough times and it's going to make the whole journey much more fulfilling
i just want to acknowledge that calling this low by a challenge is a huge privilege in itself
and that this is a reality for most people but we also live in a culture where excessive consumerism
is the norm so i think it's important to balance that out by having these challenges
where we pause and look at our spending and see how we can be more mindful moving forward
i hope that you guys will join me in doing this challenge this year let me know in the comments
what are some things that you are eliminating from your budget i would love to know in the comments
thank you guys so much for watching and following along on my journey i hope you know how much i
appreciate it and until next tuesday guys take care and i'll talk to you soon bye