7 Things I STOPPED Buying to Save Money with Frugal Living and Financial Minimalism

Hello there! In this post I will share the 7 things I stopped buying and don’t regret. A few years ago, I decided to try practicing financial minimalism and frugal living and after some time I noticed that it really helped me to save more money. The idea was to stop buying things I don’t really need to be able to spend this money on the things that are important to me, that bring me joy and value, and help me to increase my income streams. I will share my personal frugal living experience and I hope you will find some ideas on how to save money (especially in the face of the upcoming recession everyone is talking about).

So, here are the 7 most important things I stopped buying and don’t regret about it. All of them are falling under one of the three categories:

• Things I buy simply out of habit
• Things I buy by mistake
• Things I buy based on my EGO

1. Cheap poorly made things

The first of the 7 things I stopped buying is Cheap poorly made things. People normally buy cheap stuff because they consider it a good way of how to save money. But sometimes it turns out to be more expensive in the end. When I was a child, I heard the saying which left a mark in my memory. It goes like this: “We’re not rich enough to buy cheap stuff”. And it totally makes sense, because cheap poorly made things get broken very quickly, and in the end, you spend more money to buy them over and over again.

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Some time ago I had to buy a new computer for my work. So, I bought the cheapest computer I could find with the necessary parameters. I will not tell you the brand name, I will only say that it starts with L 🙂 After some time the cheap plastic started to crack, even though I always kept the laptop on the table. The screen was really bad, and my eyes started to hurt after a few hours of work every day. So, in the end I was fed up, I just went and bought Apple MacBook with Retina display, and the problem was fixed. I was thinking about how to save money, but in the end I paid twice. I don’t repeat the same mistake again.

2. Brand names

The second of the 7 things I stopped buying is Brand names.

Famous brands always cost significantly more money. And usually there are many alternatives of the same quality, but without big expensive brand. This works well for me. I don’t need to impress anyone, I am confident enough to wear and use no-name items. I don’t want to feed my ego and I don’t want to spend more money to do it. And this is a great frugal living tip and one of the best ways to save money. Of course, if you have enough money, it’s also ok to wear Gucci or Louis Vuitton, that’s not a problem. But if buying Louis Vuitton is challenging for me, and I still buy it to impress other people, that’s not the smartest thing for me to do 🙂

3. Sale items

The third of the 7 things I stopped buying is Sale items. I noticed that I tend to make impulsive purchases when I see the items on sale. For example, something which costs 5 dollars is on sale for 3 dollars and I think that it’s a great deal, I should buy it, I’ll save 2 bucks!

And after some time, I have a bunch of stuff at home which I bought on sale a long time ago and never used it – like batteries, candles, cables, napkins – you name it. I wanted to save money, but in the end, I spent the money which I didn’t intend to spend.

These 2- or 3-dollar spendings build up into big amounts over time. Of course, if I need to buy something for home, like soap or tooth-paste or toilet paper, I would definitely check the sale items, because it is a great way of how to save money. But no impulsive purchases on sale anymore.

4. The latest models of phones

Number 4 of the 7 things I stopped buying is the latest models of cell-phones and other gadgets. I had a friend who always tried to have the latest cell-phone. After a couple of months, he was selling it and was buying a new latest model. That’s totally fine with me, no problem! But I don’t do that, because I would have to spend much more money than I am ready to spend. I have the Samsung cell-phone which I bought 5 years ago, and it still works fine. My wife has a newer Xiomi cell-phone which we bought 2 years ago. It has better parameters and better camera, sometimes I borrow it to record some video. And we are totally happy with these phones.

We don’t have to impress anyone, and we don’t want to spend more money on the things we don’t really need. We prefer to use that money for something, which is more important to us, like investing in our business or investing in our daughter’s education and experience. And this is the main idea of financial minimalism and frugal living – to spend your money on the things that are important to you, things that bring you joy and value.

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5. Expensive haircuts and barbery

The fifth of the 7 things I stopped buying is Expensive haircuts and barbery. A few years ago I used to go to expensive barber shops to cut my hair and style my beard. This is one of the things I don’t spend money on anymore. I bought this wonderful toy which I use for my beard. If you think about how to save money – that’s a great way to do it, it saved me a fortune already. And I also found a great inexpensive haircut which I use for the past couple of years, and I am totally happy with it. That’s a great way of saving money monthly and using it for investing.

6. Spare sweets

The sixth of the 7 things I stopped buying is Spare sweets. In the past when buying weekly groceries, I used to buy spare sweets to keep on stock at home. The idea was to buy the sweets for the entire week, but it never really worked that way. I was eating all the sweets and cookies in the first day or two and then I felt that I need to refill the stock, because I don’t have anything sweet at home. As a result, I was consuming a lot of sugar, which is not healthy, and was spending a lot of money on sweets. This is the stuff I cut out of my budget. Sometimes I still buy sweets, but I don’t keep them on stock at home anymore. I think it’s a great tip for how to save money and to live frugally.

7. Expensive car

The last of the 7 things I stopped buying or, better to say, decided not to buy, is Expensive car. There are few reasons for that. Firstly, I don’t think it’s a good moment to spend a lot of money on expensive car in the face of the upcoming recession everyone is talking about. It’s better to save money and use it to increase my income streams. Secondly, I have a 10-years old daughter and I don’t want to worry that she will make the car dirty or will make a scratch somewhere. I don’t want to go like “Don’t put your feet here!”, “Don’t eat in the car!”, “Take of your shoes, they are dirty!”. I want to have a peace of mind and great relationships with my daughter 🙂

Bottom line

These are the things I stopped buying and don’t regret. If you are thinking about how to save money and how to manage personal finances, take a closer look at financial minimalism.

It is a great approach which helps to stop wasting money on the things that are not important. It also helps to save money and use it for more important purposes like investing, increasing your income and building your wealth.

I will just add that for me frugal living doesn’t mean “poor life”, it means spending my money wisely. I can buy luxury things sometimes, but only if it makes sense financially and quality wise.

My name is Dmitry Garbowski, I hope you enjoyed reading. Let me know what you cut out of your budget, I’ll be happy to chat in the comments. Have a great day and take care!