As an extreme minimalist almost every year is a low buy or a no by year. But still I thought
it'd be fun to show you everything I bought in 2021. It was quite difficult to remember
everything I bought but I think I bought around 13 different items and I decluttered some more.
One of the first things that I bought last year and that I've been looking to buy for a long time
was organic underwear and socks. I hadn't bought new socks in four years and I really wanted to buy
new organic socks instead of buying not organic or polyester socks. So I bought 10 pairs of organic
socks and 10 pairs of organic underwear so now I'm pretty much set for a long time. The biggest thing
I bought was an office chair. Last year I started to work from home and I wanted an ergonomic chair
that wasn't a regular chair so I could sit in front of my computer and work from home. Another
item I got so that I could work from home was a secondhand desktop computer. I got my iMac second
hand for about $800 New Zealand and it has been working great ever since. I always avoid buying
new tech because it's so detrimental for the environment and there's so much useful secondhand
tech that you can find online. One of the most exciting things I bought last year was my yoga
blocks. Again trying to be conscious about the environment I chose to go for cork blocks. They're
also way superior to foam blocks. I love them so much. I bought them from New Zealand and yeah,
I use them pretty much every day. An unexpected thing about this year was a new charger for my
laptop. This year we fostered a rabbit for the first time in our lives it was very fun and it
was a really cute experience but, he unfortunately ate one cord and that was my laptop charger cord.
For the first time in my life this year I bought house plants. I've lived in different countries
around the world never having like a home for the past 10 years so this year since I've been in New
Zealand for two years I thought it was reasonable to buy a few plants, a few second hand pots and,
then I could make my home a bit cozier without adding more clutter into it;
by using plants instead of stuff and decorations. I love indoor plants because it helps regulate
the moisture levels and, it also keeps it a bit quieter and, it also cleans the air
which is really nice, and they're super nice and soothing to look at and water;
rather than just stuff that collects dust. Another great thing about houseplants is that you can
propagate them. So from one plant you can make several other plants and plant them in little pots
and make them grow and then suddenly from one plant you bought you now have 10 plants that
you can give to friends and family or, just make your home into a jungle. So with that I also got
like a bulk lot of outdoor pots from a second hand sort of, sale. It was such a good deal. It was a
bulk lot of terracotta outdoor pots that had been used, for about twenty dollars. I managed to keep
about half of them and then clean half of them and resell them for I think twenty or thirty dollars.
So in the end it cost me nothing. One thing I got for our house was a wooden dowel. So when
we moved in here we weren't really sure what to do with our closet situation because there's only
one cupboard and we weren't sure if we will fit all our clothes in it. But, I installed a dowel
and it works perfectly as a wardrobe for both me and my husband. Now the next thing I bought last
year as an extreme minimalist was fabric to make my own clothes. So this year I've bought a mix
of natural fabrics and some cutoff fabrics or secondhand fabrics and I've made towels,
I've made hand towels, I made face towels, I've also made some things for our house and,
finally I've made some clothes for me; that you can see in my last video, in my closet tour.
Probably my favorite thing we bought this year was a water filter. The reason we waited until now to
buy it was because this was the first year we felt like financially secure enough to be able to spend
you know $500 on a water filter. But, it makes my life so much better. Our water is super clean and
it just makes drinking tap water such a more fun experience. The most quirky thing I bought this
year was definitely this sort of dress set. This is a 70s crochet skirt and top and short set from
a vintage instagram store here in New Zealand. It's by a very passionate woman called Dee and she
collects New Zealand vintage and sells it on her instagram. And this such beautiful pieces and when
I saw this, this is like all my hippy 70's dreams come true. I have never worn it and I don't know
how I will ever wear it but I love it so much and it makes me really happy. It's 100% natural made
from cotton so no plastic and it's from the 70s and it looks like it's completely new so it just,
yeah. It really makes me happy. Another unexpected thing about this year that I thought I would never
buy was foundation. I don't wear makeup on a day-to-day basis but I was in this
theater show here in Auckland and I had to wear makeup because I was performing on a stage,
so I had to buy foundation. I still haven't used it up and I probably won't use it up, so we'll see
what I have to do with that. And the last thing and number 13 on my list that I got is a sticker
foe my computer. I got this from Etsy. It makes me super happy I think it's really cute and I
think it's a really fun way to show off the vegan message. So that was everything I bought in a year
as an extreme minimalist. I also got a couch and I upcycled it and then I resold it. That was very
fun, it was one of the first times I've done that. So the things I decluttered this year was the sofa
and some clothing and just some little things I don't use. So I definitely feel like I'm getting
a more and more curated space every year but, it's really interesting to look back at a year
and see what you bought and; I think this is the least amount of things I bought in a year i n like
pretty much my entire lifetime, since i was a child. So that I'm very, very happy about that.
And, I think not spending so much, not consuming so much is such a good thing. I really try not to
be a consumer instead, be proactive about what I own. And shopping secondhand is such a good way to
get new things that you might need without having a bad impact on the environment. And it's also so
much cheaper. I dream of becoming financially free and one of the quickest ways to get there is to
earn an income while not spending money. And one of the easiest way to not spend money is to just
not consume. It sounds easier than what it is but, once you get out of that mindset that you have
to buy things to solve your problems; minimalism becomes a lot easier. So I recommend everyone to
try a low buy or no buy year. Especially if you're starting out as a minimalist, you probably have
a lot of stuff from your non-minimalist life and it's really fun to just put that all aside instead
of getting rid of it and sort of force yourself to keep it and, see whatever you use what you can
make use of and, what you really just don't want to have. I think that's such a good motivator to
keep being a minimalist and it's also very fun to see how you can do without and, also to see which
unexpected items you might actually want to keep. That was everything I bought this year. As an
extreme minimalist I'm super happy to feel like I bought 13 things but, I don't have more things
than when I started this year and my life is definitely just even more curated and I have only
things that make me happy. So please let me know if you'll be having a low buy or a no bUy year in
2022. And let me know your favorite things that you bought in 2021. Thank you. See you next week.