Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was never a big shopper. I haven't even worn all the clothes I already have.
Very easy exercise/being active and personal finance are my go to activities. It wasn't always like that, but the two completely killed my need to shop.
I'm also learning to cook finally to lower grocery budget and eat whole foods.

What activities do you do for personal finance? I'd like to find mine more interesting.

Don't ask. I will never shut up. I should find a personal finance group to join to change ideas.
I'm interested in and constantly reading about frugality, taxes, early retirement, lowering bills, investing. While many find it tiresome, I love it.
I retired early having made minimum wage my whole life. I have saved myself more money than I ever made.
If I were artsy and handy like Amy D., or I knew how to cook, my savings would have been much higher.
Learning to invest, simplifying/automatic finances, never being sick, never being out of work for long (low income jobs were always available), and budgeting for years have yielded the greatest returns.
Even though Lidl opened up nearby, I have not got my food budget much lower.

I wish I knew you in real life lol!
I’m only (very late) just starting to get very interested in personal finance. It’s fascinating and wish I had learned things earlier. What type of low income jobs did you do? I want to get a part time job for the next few years so I can get a little more cushion. Something with no huge responsibilities as I have enough in my full time job!

Sometime last year I started a mission to methodically declutter our entire house. I wouldn’t say we are going full minimalist, but definitely minimal-ish. Once you get going on decluttering, it’s pretty rewarding to see the results in certain area and it’s very motivating to not want to buy more things. I also follow a lot of people on YouTube who support this and believe similarly and it’s very motivating. I think I’m about halfway done decluttering and aim to finish by the end of summer. It has been proven study after study that more stuff does NOT make people happy, beyond their actual needs.

I am not opposed to having nice things or replacing things that get worn out/used up. But I don’t need 20 sweaters. I’m down to my 10 favorites and even that I should cull further. And I don’t need to buy more. Just for example.

Anonymous wrote:just trying to shop less. it's hard bc social media advertising has gotten so sophisticated--they know exactly what i want!

Why do you look at ads?

We are trying to buy less stuff this year as well. It gets overwhelming when you take a step back and see how much you have.

Op. I told myself I could not buy soap and skincare last year until I worked through my stash. Guess what - still working through them. Adding hair care to the list for 2025. My daughter and I are curly girls which leads to a lot of experimentation with hair products.

Spending the same on food and dining out but not buying ANYTHING else. No more stuff. We canceled prime! We have too much. We don't need anything new. No new creams, no new clothes, no new stuff for the house, etc...

No skincare/beauty things until I’m fully out of what I have - I did this last year and having this hard rule was good for keeping me from buying or stocking up on something just because its on sale or I saw someone recommend if

Trying no clothes buying this year but it’s going to be so hard … I have way more than I need but planning outfits is my minds creative outlet

Anonymous wrote:Yes, in 2025 I plan on not purchasing any new make-up or skin care (have enough to last for awhile) toiletries will only be restocked when fully used, no perfume etc.
As far as clothing, I plan on only buying socks/underwear when necessary. No new actual clothing purchases. I have everything I need.
Also not buying anything from Instagram or social media ads.

The skincare products are what get me. I don’t even buy high end items but every month or so I am out of the serum, moisturizer, etc.

Anonymous wrote:I do YNAB regularly and this is the third year I am doing a no/low spend January. I put my dining out, clothes, entertainment, health/wellness/beauty, and household/misc. funding in a "no spend January" holding category, and I'm adding the high yield savings interest and CC cash back points I get this month in there too.

Honestly at this point in using YNAB, this isn't a huge change for me, but I'm trying to make a real effort to eat through my freezer and pantry this month.

Same.

I’m spending less on essentials, for example I got Dove body wash at the store this week, instead of getting the stuff that I usually buy at Lush.

We are eating out less, which is big for us.

But the biggest thing has been that when I lost my wallet, a while back, and got new credit cards with new numbers, I never put the one with the new number on Amazon. So I haven’t bought anything on Amazon for quite some time, and I’m so happy about that that I’m not going to put one of the new credit cards on there. Amazon is mostly all junk anyway. If I need something, I’ll just use my DH’s account.

I do YNAB regularly and this is the third year I am doing a no/low spend January. I put my dining out, clothes, entertainment, health/wellness/beauty, and household/misc. funding in a "no spend January" holding category, and I'm adding the high yield savings interest and CC cash back points I get this month in there too.

Honestly at this point in using YNAB, this isn't a huge change for me, but I'm trying to make a real effort to eat through my freezer and pantry this month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was never a big shopper. I haven't even worn all the clothes I already have.
Very easy exercise/being active and personal finance are my go to activities. It wasn't always like that, but the two completely killed my need to shop.
I'm also learning to cook finally to lower grocery budget and eat whole foods.

What activities do you do for personal finance? I'd like to find mine more interesting.

Don't ask. I will never shut up. I should find a personal finance group to join to change ideas.
I'm interested in and constantly reading about frugality, taxes, early retirement, lowering bills, investing. While many find it tiresome, I love it.
I retired early having made minimum wage my whole life. I have saved myself more money than I ever made.
If I were artsy and handy like Amy D., or I knew how to cook, my savings would have been much higher.
Learning to invest, simplifying/automatic finances, never being sick, never being out of work for long (low income jobs were always available), and budgeting for years have yielded the greatest returns.
Even though Lidl opened up nearby, I have not got my food budget much lower.

I started cooking more and entertaining more. Restaurants just got too noisy. Also prices soared.

I'm already doing this. Deleted all shopping apps, and doing my best not to buy anything but food and pay for medical expenses and bills.

I really didn’t buy anything in all of 2024. I’m in between jobs so it was a necessity to cut back spending. Didn’t get nails done all year. Can’t remember the last time I went clothes shopping. TBH it was depressing. I’m hoping to land a job so I can spend a little again.