hi guys i'm eileen today i want to talk about how to want to have less notice the key word
here is 'want to' being quite a shopaholic myself in the past i used to find really hard
to say no to shopping however once i decided on wanting to have less that's when i started
having a healthy relationship with material things while things like budgeting and planning
can work quite well in the short term you are essentially relying on your willpower
to overcome your desire for shopping whereas if you actually want to have less the low
by challenge would just become a second nature and not something you have to work very hard
to stick to so today i want to share with you the three steps you can take to make yourself
want to have less for good and find joy from doing it step one if you're really hoping
to one less the very first thing to do is to identify the reasons you keep wanting more
and more in the first place i've done a video about the real reasons people can't stop shopping
and a lot of you have messaged me to say you found the video very relatable i think a lot
of us turn to shopping because we want to distract ourselves from something whether
it is stress boredom or the need for validation in fact shopping used to be my way of coping
with stress whenever i had a bad day at work i felt like i had to buy myself something
nice now shopping did take away the stress but only on a temporary basis usually when
i came to my senses i felt worse because i knew i had just spent a fortune on an emotional
purchase so if you're really struggling with spending and shopping try to take some time
to see if there's something deeper that's affecting your relationship with material
things and if you feel really overwhelmed or you don't really know where to start consider
seeking help from a professional an amazing resource to get connected to a professional
therapist is Betterhelp and i want to thank betterhelp for sponsoring this video betterhelp
is an affordable online counseling service where you can find professional therapists
just by completing a survey they will be able to match you with your perfect therapists
there's a wide range of expertise on betterhelp so you will definitely be able to find the
help you need whether if you're struggling with stress low mood or anxiety this service
is available worldwide so no matter where you are you can always arrange a therapy session
via phone call video call or text messages and if for whatever reason you don't click
with your counselor it is free to change to a different therapist i personally think that's
great because it's always easier to open up to someone you feel comfortable with there
are over a million people taking charge of their mental health on betterhelp so if you're
really struggling consider giving them a try and that's better h-e-l-p and if you click
on the link down below you also get 10 percent off your first month the second thing you
need to do if you want to cut down on your shopping and spending for good is to identify
your why ask yourself what is the reason you want to have less or own less for some people
it might be a way to save money for others it might be the flexibility to travel have
a career change or simply to have more space in their homes when you know your why everything
becomes easier and the mission is also a lot more enjoyable personally i love journaling
because when i put my thoughts down on paper i get a very clear picture about my feelings
and what i truly value in life for me having a more minimalist mindset when it comes to
shopping means i can have more freedom of my time and flexibility some of you know i
was born and bred in malaysia and even though i've lived in the uk for about 17 years i
still think about malaysia a lot sometimes i've even thought about dropping everything
here and going to malaysia with my husband and my son and then staying there for a few
months i would really love to show my little boy the hometown where i grew up but at the
moment it is quite tricky to have a long career break but i would love to have that option
and i know the more intentional i am with my spending the easier and quicker i will
get there besides when i don't have a massive collection of things to tie me down it means
i have more flexibility to travel and maybe even move one day and quite frankly i think
i'll also have less anxiety when i go away because i don't have to leave too many things
unattended to when i listed all these things out in black and white i can see very clearly
the reason i want to be intentional with my money when you do something with a sense of
purpose you don't have to rely on your willpower anymore and the goal becomes a lot more achievable
so i highly recommend you to take some time to figure out your why write it down and use
that to remind yourself every time you feel like buying yet another thing you don't really
need trust me it works like magic step 3 is to declutter i think decluttering is often
part of the minimalism journey for a lot of people including me once i was able to pinpoint
my why for wanting less and having less i decided to have a more practical relationship
with material things by only keeping the pieces i actually use i started by clearing out my
closet and i removed so many bags of clothes a lot of which were brand new and never one
that's when i realized maybe i do have a problem with shopping and it's time to do something
about it i then moved on to my luxury collection and i started curating every department including
my luxury handbags designer shoes and fine jewelry in the last few years i've downsized
my collection a lot and it truly feels like so much weight has been lifted off my shoulders
now i want to point out that decluttering luxury items can be quite stressful in the
past i used to sell my pieces using consignment service but their commission charge is usually
quite hefty thankfully i now have a small following so if i ever want to let go of something
i usually ask my audience first but the selling process itself is still quite stressful and
time consuming every time i let go of something i always feel very nervous about the item
getting damaged in the post or the whole parcel going missing anyway when you've put in the
effort to downsize you naturally become quite protective of your space because the last
thing you want is to reintroduce the clutter into your home or having to go through the
whole selling process again for me the whole decluttering journey is not just about throwing
things away i actually see it as a life lesson because it has really reprogrammed my consumption
habits i'm now very intentional with my spending not just with big purchases like a chanel
handbag or a gucci belt even when something is quite inexpensive i think twice before
buying it to be honest it's now more of a way of living for me i actually get a lot
of joy from being intentional and i like the fact that i'm in full control of my own spending
so those are the three steps you can take if you want to cut down on your shopping and
spending for good they have worked like wonder for me in fact i've been doing the low buy
challenge for about three years now and it feels so refreshing and this is coming from
someone who used to love buying expensive chanel handbags on impulse and always going
after the next purchase i think a lot of us do struggle with shopping because we feel
compelled to giving into instant gratifications so if you can work on your mind and train
it to enjoy wanting less everything will become easier so that's it for me thank you so much
for watching and i will see you in my next one have a nice day