10 Things I Wish I Didn’t Buy
As a minimalist, I try my best to be intentional with every purchase I make; however, there are a few items I purchased, either before or after adopting a more minimal lifestyle, that I definitely regret. I want to share a list of 10 of these items so that hopefully you can avoid some of the purchasing mistakes I’ve made and maybe take away a little nugget or two to apply to your own life.
1. High-Maintenance Plants
I absolutely love plants. I have a lot of fun taking care of them and watching them grow and I think it’s so cool how much life they bring into a space. But when I first moved into my apartment, I didn’t really understand how much effort and attention some species of plants require. Not knowing any better, I bought a few ferns and basil plants that had to be watered daily and they quickly turned into a burden instead of a source of joy. While I don’t regret purchasing the vast majority of my plants, I do regret buying some of the more high-maintenance ones because I ended up throwing money out the window when they died.
2. High Heels
It’s a sad fact that women, especially shorter women, are often told by society that we need to wear heels in order to appear more attractive and authoritative. And I fell for that lie for years. I’m fairly short at 5’3” so I grew up always thinking I needed to wear heels and appear taller. In my teen and early adult years I bought countless pairs of heels but to this day have never been able to walk in them confidently. A few years ago, I came to the realization that I am the most confident when I am the most comfortable and that walking around in high heels wasn’t doing anything to help me be taken more seriously or come across as having more confidence. If anything, the opposite was true. People respect those who are comfortable in their own skin.
3. Fitness Tracker
When the FitBit first came out, I got pulled into the craze and quickly bought one. For the longest time after that I would religiously track my steps, buying into our culture’s obsession with tracking everything. Ultimately I learned that, reaching 10,000 steps is such an arbitrary number and is not truly informative or representative of an overall, healthy, holistic fitness lifestyle. It wasn’t until I was able to let go of my FitBit that I was able to really adopt a more intentional and healthy mindset and approach when it came to my personal fitness.
4. Excess Food
This is a big regret for me and one I fell prey to frequently over the years. It happened for a variety of reasons: going to the store on an empty stomach, not using a list, or paying too much attention to the end-of-aisle displays. This one I regret not only because it was a terrible use of the earth’s resources, but I was also throwing money out the window because much of the food inevitably went bad.
5. Delicate Clothing
For years I would buy clothes that were made of sheer or delicate material that would require special care and attention. I bought them saying to myself: “Oh, I’ll wear it and just deal with the extra effort that’s involved in wearing/caring for this piece.” The truth is, even though I didn’t necessarily recognize it then, I tend to prioritize comfort first when it comes to what I wear. So most of the time, I would never end up wearing these clothes and they would simply sit in my closet collecting dust. Now, I am much more intentional when it comes to buying clothes and I make sure it is comfortable and low-maintenance.
6. Souvenirs
Confession time: I was the girl that always bought the tacky souvenirs. The Tinkerbell T-shirt from Disneyworld… the shell wall-hanging from the beach… you get the picture. Don’t get me wrong, traveling is one of my greatest passions in life, but I’ve learned that at the end of the day, souvenirs aren’t the best way to commemorate a trip. The best way to preserve those moments is in the memories you make by being fully present, and in the photos you can fondly look back on. Those are going to spark far more vivid memories than a knick-knack or t-shirt ever will.
7. Blue-light Blocking Glasses
When these first came out I was really excited about them since a big part of my job involves staring at screens. The idea sounded fantastic and the benefits of them were supposed to be incredible. But when my pair finally came in the mail, I never really noticed if they did anything for my eyes. So I started looking into it and found a report from the American Study of Ophthalmology explaining that it is not the blue light itself but the amount of time spent looking at screens that can be damaging*. So the blue light glasses are definitely an item I regret spending money on.
*The study recommended refocusing your vision on something approximately 20 feet away every twenty minutes to help with eye strain, rather than blue light glasses.
8. Sale Items
There have been SO many times in my life when I have fallen into the trap of “Oh, it’s on sale!” or “But it’s cheap!”. Buying things solely because they’re on sale is a trap that a lot of us easily fall into. We love the idea of getting a bargain and it makes us feel like we’re being responsible with our money.
Here’s the thing, there’s nothing wrong with buying something that’s on sale… if it’s good quality and something you’re going to actually use. The problem becomes when we use a sale to justify what is otherwise an unnecessary or unwise purchase.
9. Fast Fashion
When I was younger, I would buy a lot of poorly-made, cheap clothing that would end up falling apart after only a few uses. At the time I bought it feeling like I needed to keep up with what was trendy. I felt like I needed to buy items to fit in and make me more likable. As I began to grow into my own skin and mature though, I realized that my clothing had absolutely no impact on who I am as a person and that I didn’t need to wear a specific brand to be liked or accepted. In addition to that, I realized that sustainable and ethical production was really important to me. A lot of the brands I had been wearing didn’t align with those values and I wish I could take those purchases back.
10. Unnecessary Tech Gadgets
A really specific example of this one was when I was first getting into photography and YouTube. I purchased several cheaper lenses that were very specific and could only be used for a few things. In reality, there was one high-quality (read: more expensive) lens that I needed to do it all. But I put off purchasing it, thinking it was too big of an investment to make. What ended up happening, however, is that I bought those several lenses (that didn’t quite do the job) and still ended up spending about the same amount as the one lens that I actually needed.
That’s just one example, but I’ve also made this mistake with things like external hard drives, SD cards, and even computers. The takeaway from this one is that I need to really do research and invest in whatever best suits my needs, rather than opting for lower quality, less-versatile, or cheaper versions. Paying for that one, high-quality item is often worth it in the long-run.
And that’s that! Those are 10 items that I wish I hadn’t bought. Now please remember, we are human. We, as humans, make mistakes. I definitely make mistakes as much as the next person does (as you can tell from this list). But I hope you’re able to learn from some of my mistakes so that you can avoid repeating them yourself.
Let me know some of the items you may regret buying in the comments!
