Why I’m Buying Less
It is with great pleasure to announce that I, a(n) (allegedly) certified shopaholic est. 1995 in a small SEA country called Malaysia, am now a reformed online shopper. I couldn’t remember the last time I had packages delivered to my house and I don’t miss it at all. Okay, maybe just a little bit, but honestly, though, it’s nothing a cup of iced coffee couldn’t fix – a quick dopamine-release that should cover just about any mishaps of my life.
I was an avid user of BNPL platforms. I used to rack up hundreds in BNPL bills that would leave me all stressed out by month end because I’d need to tell my husband about it so he can pay for it. He never questioned my spending, at most he’d ask, “what ever did you buy?” which I, then, made a spreadsheet categorising everything I’d bought into three sections: for myself, for my kids, and for him (my things took up 45% of the bill, but that wasn’t that bad, was it?)
I did wonder why I – someone who couldn’t breathe without getting packages every other day – would stop shopping abruptly? What went wrong? What had happened in the past few months that would lead to this decision, albeit unconsciously made? Did someone make me do this? Did I lose my debit cards and all access to shopping apps? Did I really not have anything to buy, at all?
The short answer would be that I was not on Instagram for the past quarter of the year. I didn’t see what everyone was using and loving and buying, so I stopped buying things I didn’t need altogether. Sure, I do go to the mall and buy a few things here and there but that was because I saw them, touched them, and felt them and decided that I needed them. I didn’t make a purchase solely because I saw one of my friends was using it.
And that’s good right? I found myself opening shopping apps lesser after uninstalling Instagram. It was like the urge to go and find things to buy on such apps disappeared completely. Or maybe I have succumbed to the joy of buying things at the mall that I figured online shopping is such a ‘meh’ experience. I mean, online shopping is only a thing for the past decade, right? At one point a million years ago, we all went out physically to the shops for mere necessities, no?
One more thing that kinda helped in my buying less is I set it as one of my goals for the year to have zero BNPL bills by December of this year. By December 31st, I want to pay off everything and make no new transaction except for life-and-death emergencies only. Let’s emphasise on life-and-death emergencies because if it were up to me, really really really REALLY wanting something right now is considered as an emergency to me. I have no sense of delayed gratification, I’m sorry. Life is too short to hinder yourself from self-rewards.
Keeping track of my finances helps a lot on my journey of buying less. Writing down my daily spendings on my planner really puts things into perspective, like, “why was I spending RM34.22 on a caramel macchiato at DOME? That’s hella expensive” or “RM120 at Dolly Dim Sum? What was I thinking?” or “RM39.90 on Gossip Harbor in-app purchase?! Huh?” the list goes on, and on, and on…
It’s the smallest purchases that add up to an insurmountable amount of monies that should have stayed in my bank accounts. But I will still be keeping track of my finances, though. It’s eye-opening to see where my money goes every month so I can do better next month. This is a lifelong process that has no expiration date, only effort and a whole lot of regret when you relapse. It’s okay! We bounce back!
