So last week, I was talking about "10 Things that I No Longer Buy,"
because of minimalism, frugalism, or just life changes and adulthood,
and so this week, I wanted to talk about "10 Things that I Still Continue to Buy,"
even though some people might consider them to be unnecessary expenses.
The first one is a gym membership -
I love having a gym membership.
I love having a place - especially right now - that I can go to everyday and
kind of escape from my normal living situation in this tiny studio apartment.
It's a way to get out of the house.
It's a way to prove to myself that I am taking care of my body,
and I would prefer to pay a membership than to actually store a bunch of dumbbells,
or kettlebells, or exercise bands, or jump ropes, or anything like that in my apartment.
One advantage of having a gym membership during this time is,
because it is one of the only places that I feel justified in going to,
it feels like even that much more of an escape.
I look forward to going to the gym so much now, which didn't used to be the case,
but I think part of it is just being able to get out of here and go somewhere else.
Makes me add that feeling of excitement to go to the gym, and
I think that's just a really good feeling to associate with going to the gym,
so even after all this is over, hopefully I'll be able to retain that feeling of excitement
of getting to go exercise, and de-stress, and work on my health.
Two is grocery delivery - I hate grocery shopping, especially right now.
It's hard to predict when there's gonna be lines, when you're gonna have to wait outside,
when there aren't going to be things on the shelves for you to even buy.
It's just me here, so I'm not eating that much food -
so I only have to do it once a week, but I'm able to kind of stock up in the freezer
and not have to ever really go to the grocery store, unless I'm
trying to make something specific that requires specific ingredients,
but that rarely ever happens.
I used to buy all of my produce organic, or at least I'd try as much as possible,
but now that I've been kind of cutting back on expenses more than usual (because of the times),
I've started to really focus on specific things for my organic produce,
and one of those main things is greens.
I really like to have my greens be organic, partially just because I eat so many greens -
I eat at least a salad a day - and so the amount that I am consuming
would be concerning if it contained a lot of pesticides.
It's probably the best impact that I can have on both my health (because of how much i'm eating)
and also on the bank, trying to use my extra money sparingly when possible.
There are some things that I spend money on that some people would say are ridiculous,
and I call these things "small luxuries."
They're consumables - they're things that are actually usable,
but I do spend more money than necessary on these items,
and one of those things is this hand soap that I bought.
I don't always buy fancy hand soap, but I bought this specifically this year,
because it reminds me of a restaurant that I would usually go to
with a couple of my friends during the holidays to have our traditional holiday dinner,
and we weren't able to do it this year, but this soap is the soap
that they have in this bathroom of this fancy restaurant.
So instead of going to the restaurant with my friends, I bought myself this hand soap
that - I think it costs like $24. It's a ridiculous amount of money.
It's just been a nice little differentiation from my usual generic grocery store hand soap,
which I'm sure I'll go back to once this hand soap is finished.
Another example of a small luxury is coffee -
and I bought myself a crazy amount of coffee for my birthday this year,
which was last month.
Although it might seem like most of the things that I do
are very regimented and the same every day,
I like to change it up in certain areas, and coffee is one of those.
I like to try a bunch of different kinds.
I don't have a certain brand or a certain roaster or anything like that that I stick to -
it's something I like to experiment with and try a bunch of different flavors,
and so that's definitely a place that I still spend money.
Although I don't buy house plants, I do sometimes buy flowers for myself,
and it'll probably be three or four times a year -
maybe just two times a year - that I do this.
Actually, a couple of weeks ago I bought myself a bouquet of flowers,
because it just kept snowing outside and I was done with it,
and I wanted a little bit of color and "springiness,"
so I saw this bouquet of flowers when I went to the farmer's market,
and I decided that I was just gonna buy those that day.
Six is high quality reusable items -
I love the idea of having reusable items, but I also think as a designer
that the reusable item needs to be a BETTER experience than the disposable item.
So when all of this started, I was wearing a couple of disposable masks that I got for free,
and I thought that they were fine, but then when I had to start wearing
masks a lot more often and for longer periods of time,
I ended up getting these Everlane masks, which are super soft -
they feel like a soft jersey t-shirt material - and it was so worth it,
because it was so much of a better experience, and they're reusable.
Same thing with this stainless steel straw;
it's just a better experience to use than any plastic straw could be,
so I don't see any reason why you wouldn't want to just invest a little more up front
and have a better experience in the usability of the item.
Plus, it's better for the environment, obviously.
I do still use paper notebooks, especially when I'm trying to learn something new
or I have library books that i want to take notes out of -
I will do that in a paper notebook - and oftentimes
I'll then transcribe it into my computer.
I use the notes app, but for whatever reason, I feel like writing down (with a pen on paper)
helps things to stick in my mind more when I'm doing certain tasks.
I have two different kinds of dish soap - I have dishwasher packs and I have
the actual little Method pump right next to my sink for when I need to hand-wash dishes.
I don't necessarily need to have both of these - I usually just use my dishwasher,
but sometimes I forget to run the dishwasher at the end of the night,
so I wake up and I still have dirty dishes to do.
The reason I chose the Method,
honestly, is because it looks cool when it's sitting out next to my sink.
Number nine is higher rent than I need to pay for -
this place is really nice, I'm the first person to live here - brand new when I moved in -
but I could be living in a two-bedroom apartment
for the price that I'm paying for this studio apartment.
However, this is a studio apartment, so there's less to clean,
there's less space in general, I don't feel like I need more furniture to fill it up
like I did in the last place that I lived or the place before that.
I like that I have an air conditioning unit - I like that I have a dishwasher.
I have a parking space, so the convenience of it is all there,
and although I do pay more money for this space,
I'm just much happier in a smaller space than in the last two places that I had.
Number 10 is fast internet -
I think I pay $45, maybe $44 a month for my internet,
which is more than I need to pay,
but because of all of the "working from home" stuff and the video conference calls,
and just the fact that I use the internet for pretty much everything,
I would say justifies the cost of a little bit more expensive internet.
And that's it!
Those are my "10 Things that I Still Pay For."
Uh - let me know if there's anything that you wouldn't pay for here!
Or if you think that I'm wrong in some of my justifications for these things...
'til next time!
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