Hey, guys.
It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet.
And this week's video is brought to you by Fidelity Investments.
And today, I want to talk about a topic
near and dear to my 31-year-old heart.
And that is things I no longer spend money
on now that I am in my 30s.
Now, I am sure that there are plenty of things
that I spend money on now that I will look back
on in a few years and be, like, what a waste!
But I do feel, even in the short years
since I've been in my mid-20s, I have
come to a much better relationship
with what is and isn't deserving of my money.
And interestingly, in this whole COVID situation
where our social activities are rare and precious,
I think it's been clarifying that there were a lot of things
we were doing before that we were either doing too much
or not appreciating enough or simply
not doing only in the times they really mattered to us.
Like, was every time we went to a bar for happy hour
pre-COVID really worth it?
That's a no.
And while there are some things that are still
going to be worth it, even in these crazy times,
that bar has to be a lot higher by necessity.
But hopefully the bar of what we're spending our money on
is also just naturally being raised
with every year we have to be older and wiser on this planet.
So without further ado, here are 12 things I no longer buy now
that I'm in my 30s.
Number one is cheap alcohol.
Now, listen, there is nothing wrong with a $10 bottle
of wine.
You can actually get some pretty great wines
at that price point.
I'm not saying that every single time
I drink alcohol it is only the most expensive option possible.
But the time in my life when I am
willing to drink a $3 bottle of wine that gives me
a raging, raging sulfide sugar headache the next day
is long gone.
At that point, I would just rather not drink.
And quite frankly, if we abide by the general idea
that we shouldn't be drinking all the time anyway,
it's all the more reason to make those times that you
do make yourself a nice cocktail or enjoy
a beautiful glass of wine something
that is, in and of itself, to be enjoyed.
It's special.
It's not just something you're getting
at the cheapest possible price to maximize
your value for dollar.
Because at the end of the day, this isn't like rice.
You don't just need to have it in your cabinet all the time.
This is something that should be seen as a treat.
And at least for me, someone who gets truly devastating
hangovers if I drink too much or if I drink really cheap stuff,
it is just not worth the next day being totally a wash
because I cannot stop my head from throbbing.
No more $2 Chuck, no more Boone's Farm, no more Carlo
Rossi, no more of that really, really janky stuff.
It just-- can't do it.
Number two is going-out clothes.
Now, let's be clear.
Who the hell is going out anymore anyway?
So I guess those would have been a waste of money
whether or not I was still buying them.
But in all seriousness, there used
to be an entire part of my wardrobe
that was clothes that can only be worn in the kind of places
that bring you bottles of alcohol
with sparklers sticking out of them.
We're talking bandage dresses, really,
really intricate low cut tops that can't be worn basically
anywhere, those reformation dresses that are,
for some reason, a plunging neckline to your belly button
and then a slit up to your hoo-ha--
just clothes that cannot be worn anywhere.
And even if they could, would you really
be comfortable in them?
So I used to have clothes like this for the rare occasions
that I would be going out.
And then they would rest unused in my closet at least 364 days
a year.
I no longer buy those things.
Am I going to be the only-- on the rare occasion I
go to a club for a bachelorette party,
am I going to be the only one there in a shift dress that
would be appropriate for work?
Maybe.
But I'm OK with that because I'd rather have stuff
that I use all the time.
Number three is makeup that looks good in theory.
Like many of us ladies, I am often
getting recommended beauty gurus, bloggers, influencers
on my various social platforms.
And some of them are actually pretty enjoyable to follow.
But I had to stop because, ultimately,
90% of what they put on their face maybe looks good on them,
although, often, it just looks interesting, rather than like
actually good or flattering, but it certainly
won't look good on me.
I have nothing but respect for people who can pull off
things like blue eye shadow.
I am not one of those people.
Truly, complexion-wise should really
be sticking to an extremely neutral color palette.
And that's just OK.
But if you're constantly being exposed
to people who are doing these really audacious things
with their makeup, you're going to start feeling like, hmm,
maybe I should contour?
No, you should not.
I literally look like the V for Vendetta mask when I contour.
I look insane.
So no more of that for me in my 30s.
Number four is basically any premade foods.
There are a few things I still buy premade for convenience
or because I really can't recreate them at home.
I always have at least one bag of frozen pot stickers
in my freezer because they're a great quick meal.
They go great as a side dish with other things I'm cooking.
And also, it's very difficult and time-consuming
to make good gyoza or dumplings at home.
I would love to learn to do that some day.
But even if I could do it, it's an all-day activity.
And sometimes you're not trying to spend
all day making dumplings.
So aside from a few items like that are very much
outside of my skill set-- or like pizza dough.
I'll buy premade pizza dough.
There's really nothing that I buy premade just
for the simple fact that the vast majority of items
are better and way cheaper if you make them from scratch.
If you make a batch of red sauce,
you can make it exactly to your specifications,
and you can make a huge, huge, huge pot of it,
which then can be portioned and frozen beautifully
and be way better than the jarred stuff.
To me, it's almost always a better idea
to go homemade than premade when it comes to prepared foods,
just because you're paying such a huge markup for them to be
doing all the work for you, and it's usually not as good.
But the reason why I'm able to do that in my 30s
is because I've gotten much better
about batch cooking, meal planning, and shopping ahead.
I used to be such a bad shopper.
And now that I can really plan, I
am basically always ahead of my cooking schedule
and know what I'm making.
Number five is shots.
Aside from the fact that my 31-year-old body and bones do
not need shots, I also just, like, what a waste of money.
What a waste of money.
I don't know what it is where you guys live.
But in Manhattan, it's, like, $12
for a fucking, like, espresso cup of tequila.
No, it's very much not worth it.
Number six is hardcover books.
I used to be very interested in, like, ooh,
I want to get it when it's hardcover
because I like the look of hardcover books on my shelves
and feel like that looks fancy and adult and all that stuff.
But hardcover books are really effing expensive.
A lot of them are, like, $40.
No, thank you.
I can't afford this.
I'm actually much more into reading books on my phone
now just the app Amazon Books, or what have you,
or listening to books, or getting the paperback.
Because I feel like I used to be really
concerned with the visual amount of books that I had
and how smart I looked and how fancy the books were.
And now I couldn't care less, and I just
want a convenient way to read.
So actually, many of the books I now buy I
don't even ever have a physical copy of.
But when I do buy physical copies of books,
I almost always wait for the paperback version
because I am not trying to spend that kind of money.
No, thank you.
Number seven, dormy posters.
I think we all know what these look like.
You have the classics.
You have Scarface, you have Le Chat Noir,
you have the Pink Floyd covers on those girls' butts.
What other ones do you have?
We have Breakfast at Tiffany's looking into the window.
You have just big-ass--
the last one that I had that was, like--
I got it years ago, I just had never found anything else
to put in that frame, and it just kept coming with me from
home to home.
It's just one that's just says Paris.
And I was, like, as I took that down recently, I
was, like, this is an era.
Like this is an era that's ended.
You don't need any things that look like you probably
had it in a dorm room.
I also never lived in a dorm room,
so I have zero excuse to have those kind of things.
But I just feel like--
it's not that they look cheap or whatever.
Sometimes posters can be expensive.
It's more the fact that it just looks
like you're not exercising your own tastes
and your own interests.
You're not learning anything about you
when you look at that kind of stuff.
You're just, like, ah, this looks like something
that was in Spencer's Gifts.
Don't need that anymore in your life past 30.
Number eight is anything for a guy.
Now, I know you're, like, Chelsea, you're married.
Fair enough.
You also only work with women, so you barely ever
come into contact with men.
Fair enough, as well.
But even still, I used to spend--
and I'm sure a lot of women who are imprisoned in gender norms
can relate to this.
Just spending money on things, doing things
that you're not necessarily so into because a guy's
into-- for me, it's like going to jam band music
festivals and car shows and all kinds of things
that I had truly no business doing, but the guy wanted to.
But even now, I'm married.
And sometimes Mark is going to go out with the boys,
and they're going to do wings.
And they're, like, hey, wives can come.
And, like, first of all, that framing is just horrible.
But second of all, I don't want to go
have wings and beers with the bros and listen to them
talk about--
I would say sports, but my husband doesn't watch sports.
It's worse than that.
It's like Esports.
They'll talk about competitive computer
gaming, which just truly the darkest subject matter.
Anyway, point being-- I'm, like, my time is precious.
My social activity time, even more so.
So any time if a guy is trying to do some guy
activity that I'm not into, that's
a hard pass for me and my money.
Number nine is late or overdraft fees, basically,
any costs that you're incurring by not paying close
enough attention to your money.
This is one of those things that, when I look back
at my 20s and the amount of money
that I spent on those kinds of things, I just truly cringe.
Because nothing could have been more avoidable
and, even more so, you shouldn't just
be watching your money closely so you don't incur those fees.
You should also be watching it closely because it's very, very
beneficial to have a super close understanding of your money
at any given time.
So now, I'm pretty religious about regularly
checking my accounts, my statements, my credit
score, all of that.
And as a result, I basically have never
run into those types of issues since,
which is huge because they used to cost me
a ton of money/credit issues.
So that's a big change.
Number 10 is really inconvenient travel.
Now, this one might be a little bougie.
You might be, like, oh fancy Chelsea
with her Delta Sky Miles and fair to an extent.
Although, I really prioritize because travel
is a pretty big necessity for my husband
and I for a variety of reasons.
We really prioritize gaming travel
to make it as cost effective as possible in the long term
and loyalty programs.
And credit cards are a part of that.
Fair enough; mea culpa.
That being said, though, even if I were not a Delta loyalist,
even if I were not concentrating on maximizing my Sky Miles
values, all that stuff, the era of my life where-- for example,
I went to France, and in order to save maybe $150 on the plane
ticket, my girlfriend and I who--
we lived in DC at the time--
bought tickets in and out of JFK because they were cheaper
than the ones going to DC, which necessitated us
taking a bus to Penn Station.
And then, from Penn Station, take the subway to JFK.
So first of all, just by getting to and from the JFK airport
from DC, already the savings were completely eliminated,
so that made no sense on a financial front.
But also, we had no idea how the subway worked
and what express versus local trains were.
So on our way back from France, we took a local train from JFK
to get to Penn Station and then missed our bus back to DC
and had to sleep in Penn Station, which, trust me,
is one of the last places on this planet you
want to be sleeping.
But either way, I've done all those types of flights.
I've done flights with like crazy, crazy layovers
in random areas where it's just long enough to be terrible,
but not even long enough to like have lunch in the city.
I've flown on like those rickety-ass Spirit, Ryanair--
we flew on this one--
actually, truly bleak anecdote-- flying
to our wedding in 2018, my husband and I,
we were trying to save money where we could because it was
obviously an expensive year.
So we flew on this airline that I think is defunct now,
that was called, like, YOWZA.
It was truly-- it wasn't Wow; it was a different one.
And it was truly the most awful flight experience of my life.
They would not even give you water.
Like, we, multiple times, asked for water.
And I'm pretty sure legally they were obligated to give us water
and just didn't give a shit about us,
so they never did, but no water, no food, no nothing.
And we had TV screens in front of all of us.
But because we were in the poor seats,
the TV screens didn't work.
You couldn't actually play any TV or movies on them.
But you also couldn't turn them off.
It was an entire six-hour flight from New York
to Barcelona with blaring red screens that just flashed
the YOWZA logo in your face.
And this is an overnight flight, so we're
like desperately trying to sleep and couldn't because
of these screens.
So all of this is to say, in these instances,
I maybe saved $50 or so in exchange
for an experience that was truly, truly nightmarish.
And to me, I'm always, like, I would rather just
pay a tiny bit more money or just,
quite honestly, not go to certain things.
Number 11 is skinny jeans.
At some point in the recent past,
I realized I just don't have the body type or skinny jeans are
really my sort of jeans.
I shouldn't be wearing them.
I am not here to body shame myself or anyone else.
But I think that skinny jeans have--
is a tyranny of skinny jeans.
I don't understand-- I don't think we necessarily
need to be doing like the low-slung whale-tail,
hip-hugging, boot-cut jeans that everyone was wearing in 2004.
I don't think we need to go back there.
But I also feel like, from the year 2008 to now,
it's like skinny jeans or nothing,
and everyone is wearing them, and there's basically
no other options.
And I feel like that's really unfair
because, while some people look great in skinny jeans--
like if you are very tall and have long slender legs,
it's a great look for you.
It's like a model look; it's awesome.
But for most of us, other cuts of jeans probably look better.
I personally like genes that are wide legged,
or I like flare jeans.
Or even, I have some jeans now that are just straight cut,
so they're not sucked along your entire leg down to the ankles.
And I feel resentful that I have to go so far out of my way
to find non-skinny jeans.
What is the deal?
What's the deal with jeans?
Anyway-- losing my mind.
Suffice to say, though, I hit a certain age, and I was like,
you know what?
I'm going to wear the jeans that look good on me
even if they're not the fashionable jeans.
Is this how people end up wearing mom jeans?
Probably.
But I'm fine with that because I am
tired of the tyranny of whatever happens to be in fashion.
So maybe the broader point on this one
is wearing what looks good on me and feels good,
not what's necessarily gracing the covers of whatever you
people are reading.
Lastly, cover your delicate ears, boys.
We're about to talk about something ladylike.
Padded bras-- don't buy them anymore;
don't wear them anymore.
I feel like that's another thing that
is part of just growing up and becoming
comfortable with yourself.
So here's a fun fact for all the non-boob-havers out there.
Sometimes women buy and are, frankly, encouraged to buy,
by media and advertising and everything, bras
that are very structured and have padding or foam core
inside of them to not only make your boobs look bigger,
obviously, but also give them a very round shape, and this,
that, and the other.
They're not very comfortable.
They always feel awkward under clothes.
It's, like, why am I wearing essentially
these whoopee cushions under my shirt.
But also, they're essentially a lie.
They're a deception.
They're not real.
And I feel like I kind of reached an age where
I was, like, you know what?
I am who I am.
I have the measurements and proportions that I have.
I am not going to be out here creating
a fiction for the benefit of people who have
to come into contact with me.
Also, not to be too intimate, but I'm married now.
I've been with my husband for 10 years.
Who am I fooling?
What is going to be, like, what, every time?
You know what I'm saying?
At a certain point, I just feel like padded bras are--
we've got to grow out of them.
But you know what?
In all seriousness, if that's your journey, if that's what
you like, more power to you.
For me, it just felt like, I think
I'm done with this era of my life
and, generally speaking, uncomfortable lingerie
in general.
I just-- life is too short, and I am much too
grown to be doing that.
In any case, I hope that you have settled into an age where
you are making better purchases for yourself
and focusing on the things that actually bring you value.
As I mentioned, this video is sponsored
by Fidelity Investments.
They are here to help you reach your savings goals.
And if you're looking for an easy way
to finally start investing what you save, check out Fidelity.
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Bye.