my 2025 low buy journey

What is a lowbuy?

For those who don't know what it is, a low buy is a challenge to yourself where you're trying to be more intentional with your spending by not buying discretionary items that you don't value in the long run. Over the years of watching low buy and project panning content on Youtube and now Tiktok, I've been motivated to start my own.

Why am I doing a lowbuy?

When making my 2025 vision board, I listed many financial goals, and life goals which require lots of money like investing, travelling, experiences, moving out and some boring adulting stuff like buying my own private health insurance. All of these things are not cheap.

To make sure I hit these goals, I can't go buy a matcha from Tori's every single day, buying sweet treats in the afternoon or buying every make up product/clothing item that catches my eye. 

I'm also doing this for environmental reasons, particularly after moving out, then especially moving back in, I never truly realised how much stuff I have. Even through in previous years I made the conscious effort to declutter and buy less, it was never enough. That's why I also want to challenge myself to buy less material stuff and just enjoy what I have; I can minimise my environmental impact and when I move out in the next year or so (fingers crossed), I'm not moving a truck full of boxes.

What is on my lowbuy list?

Now onto the juicy stuff.

The first thing is makeup. I have wayyyy too much makeup, especially as someone who takes years to finish up anything. So why do I have multiples of every product? I want to do a make-up replacement only lowbuy whereby I have to finish every item in that category before I buy a new one. The only things I could potentially see myself buying this year are mascara and setting spray.

Next is clothing. I want to invest in clothing that will last for years or even decades which is not cheap. I really want to invest in some work/office clothes as well as some new loafers and boots as my current ones are starting to be worn out. I'm hoping to go overseas this year too and I want to invest in an every day handbag. When I moved out, majority of my closet stayed at my family house and I'm ashamed to say that I have a lot of clothes that I don't wear regularly. I downloaded a digital closet app so I'm hoping to use that as a motivator to wear a wider variety of my clothes and thus buy less as I'm "shopping my closet" so to speak. So far, it's been great, challenging me to wear different items and clothes I haven't worn in a while.

One of my biggest spending items is food. Whilst I will always be spending money on food; solo dates and social outings, there are limits or boundaries that I want to give myself to ensure that I can live a fulfilled life and simultaneously achieve my goals. One big thing is convenience food, I wake up late and have to get breakfast on my way to somewhere, I forgot to pack a snack or eat before I go out so I need to buy something, etc. I'm sure we've all been in that situation before. While we may be spending $5, $10 or even $20 on these convenience foods, these costs add up and can be the difference between me "wasting" my money, or me buying a really great experience. I also want to avoid buying cookies and matcha - I have eaten so much mid cookies and drank so much mid and terrible matchas. Now there are exceptions to this, for the cookies I want to support my friend's business, and matcha for social/solo date occasions. But when I know how to bake bomb ass cookies and make a very rich matcha at home, there's no reason for me to be paying $8+ on these items. And finally, I want to limit alcohol. I only drink for social reasons and even then I don't particularly enjoy it, so why would I spend $25+ on a cocktail that I won't enjoy?

If you saw my stationary, you would think that I live in an Officeworks or something. I have too much stationary; pens, pencils, notebooks, everything. I used to be a big eraser hoarder because I would collect super cute erasers shaped like animals, food, etc. the Asian erasers were always top tier for having really intricate and in Australia, you were the cool kid if you owned Smiggle.

Finally, the last item on my list are books. I have an entire part of my shelf dedicated to books that I have bought but haven't read. It's embarrassing to say, but the oldest book on that shelf, I bought in 2016 December (most likely) which is a whole 8 years at this point. One of my biggest goals this year is to read 12 physical books, with the main focus being reading all those unread books. I also have a lot of friends and relatives who read so I can always borrow their's. And a friendly reminder to everyone too that libraries are free! make the most out of your taxes and borrow a physical book, and these days eBooks and audiobooks. My previous job's office was adjacent to a library and you can also borrow niche equipment too ie. infrared thermometers. 

What next?

In the past 6-7 weeks of the year, I have been very tempted by all of these categories, even indulged in a disappointingly mid hazelnut chocolate cookie, and an overpriced matcha affogato. But these are all more the reasons that I should be more grateful for what I have and enjoy them rather than spending my money and end up being disappointed.

If there are times where I do fail just like in the past few weeks, unlike previous years where I've attempted no/low buys, I'm not going to beat myself up about it as it isn't productive. But rather, reflect and redirect myself so that I can achieve my goals whilst still living a very enjoyable life!