Minimalism | Everything I Bought in 2022

It's the end of the year and I do want to talk about everything I bought in 2022. Trying to be minimalist and sustainable and just very intentional overall when it comes to consumption. I'm not on a strict no buy year or anything like that but I do have like the loose idea of buying one thing for myself each month. I live with my family so there's stuff that's not included here when it's stuff for the household. I also did not include like digital products or tickets and things like that. I'm talking about the stuff that has come into my life. And the first thing I bought in 2022 was a desk. So before that for about one and a half years I did not have a desk or maybe almost two years because I thought like I have a laptop, I prefer working like on the couch anyway so why would I have a desk. But just after one and a half year I changed my mind and I decided to you know purchase a desk again. But what I did is I found a like a solid wood desk second hand. So I've had that for almost a year now and I'm very happy I bought it. I've used it almost every single day like every work day at least. I didn't bring it here to show you but I brought all the other things. They are right here. So let's continue with the second thing I bought in 2022 which was a pair of pants. And it was this Armed Angels black pair of jeans. Now I got those second hand as well just because they were available, less expensive, even more sustainable even though it is a sustainable brand in general. But I've gotten like quite a lot of use out of these I think and I'm happy to use them for like hopefully a long time to come. And they were actually I think more expensive than the desk so they cost maybe more than 50 euros I don't really remember. But they're good quality and I like wearing them and so I think it was worth buying them. And I had them like on my wish list for a very long time so that's something I bought in January of 2022. And I think we're just gonna continue with the next item. So the next two things I bought in Switzerland in spring when I visited my family because I'm from Switzerland and it's actually another pair of pants. And it's these like blue grayish corduroy pants and I have to say that was such a good purchase. I think they cost like 8 euros or something maybe I don't know 12 15 but not much definitely under 20. And I've worn them so so so much on our trip to Norway in summer which you know cost more money than all the stuff I bought this year but it was worth it as well. I did wear those like every single day except for one day. But you know wearing them so so much has already caused some damage so the zipper is broken now and I have to like put in another zipper I think but I'm not sure if I will be able to do it. So during the last like two weeks or something I just wore them with like an open zipper but yeah I do want to fix that because I really like them. The next item is another pair of pants and I bought those the same day at the same second-hand store and it's these like linen silk pants and they're like kind of like my my chicer pair of pants that I would wear during summer when I don't want to look that casual. I've gotten some wear out of it. I've worn them maybe 20 times and they're great but not as much. I didn't wear them as much as the corduroy pants, definitely not. And during winter I don't really wear them because they're just not warm enough I think. The next thing was not such a good purchase but you know I would do the same still it was just it was unlucky and it's this battery for my phone. So I've had that particular phone for I think three and a half years and just the battery did not work that good anymore which is I guess like normal after three and a half years for a smartphone. So I bought a new battery but unfortunately and it was like short before our trip to Norway and Sweden but then in the first days in Norway and Sweden it was just very impractical. The battery life was just so so poor and I had to have it like plugged into like a power bank all the time and it still would lose like power and so I thought like oh there's there's like more problems than that. I'll fix the phone because it's like a sustainable and modular phone that's made for fixing whenever I come back. And then two weeks into the trip my phone dropped from like two and a half meters so it broke. So I had to like have another phone like immediately I couldn't you know send it anywhere for fixing because I was on my trip my tickets were on this phone like I needed a phone and then I decided to you know buy a new phone and so the extra battery kind of didn't fix the problem even but I thought that maybe I could give it to somebody else with the same phone but I haven't done that. So the next thing obviously is the phone and I was able to buy it like not new but on the other hand like I talked to that Norwegian guy in the in the like electronics store and it was like the fifth store I visited asking if they have any options like for second hand phones and he like he told me that it's a second hand phone or that it's like maybe it's a display model maybe it's one that somebody turned in because they were not happy with it in the end I'm not really sure but at least it's not like a brand new phone that's sold regularly so I also I could get it for 200 euros. It's not the phone I wanted it's like too big for my hand it's like very big in general and but I got like this case for free and I think I was actually really really lucky to like through on a trip through northern Norway I could find a phone and not new phone and one that I'm like happy with in general. So the battery and the phone were definitely not like purchases I was looking forward to or I wanted to buy but just stuff that was necessary at that point in time but I think that's normal that things like that happen all the time as well that we can't just like buy things from our wish list. I do want to buy stuff I need but I also kind of sometimes want to buy stuff I won't. But the next thing is actually also something I really needed and it's this hat and I bought it for like one euro also in Norway because we didn't pack that well. So I did research the weather and I did research like what I need to pack and everything but when we were there we were surprised with a super super wet and cold summer and we did not pack a hat and therefore I found this at a second-hand store for one euro and I bought it and I wore it every single day after I bought it. It was also kind of like two weeks into the trip and it was a five-week trip but since then I haven't really used it but I would say like for one euro I'm happy I bought it and now I have it because you know hat is something you sometimes lose. So whenever you know my boyfriend me or my son lose a hat you have a backup hat. And the next thing I bought is also something I really desperately needed and it's five pairs of underwear and it's just you know from some sustainable brand I wanted to try out and I bought this underwear and it fits okay I have to say. But yeah five pairs of underwear because I really needed it but I do want I did want to like include them in this video because it's something that I bought for myself with my own money that I needed that is stuff that I'm now gonna use. And in total that actually does make 12 items if you like count the underwear separately and all the things I've shown you so that would be one item per month which means that my guideline of like buying one item per month is you know worked out. Now I do want to add something here. As a content creator I am lucky enough to sometimes receive things to make videos with and to work with and to show and wear and things like that. So this year on top of these things that I bought for myself I also received a bunch of clothes and the watch that I'm wearing. And some of these things are things that I would not have bought maybe and that I now have because of work because of this youtube channel to make money. But there's definitely like a portion of it so I guess like half to two thirds of these items that I would have bought if I did not get them like through working on social media. So my situation is most certainly different from most of your situation just because I can get some things through this youtube channel through me working on social media which by the way does not mean that I get them for free because I have to like count them as my income. So if I get a pair of pants for 100 euros that's 100 euros of my income and I do have to pay taxes and it's like you know it's counted like money so it's not absolutely free and I don't always get stuff that I absolutely needed. So it's not the same as like shopping and not having to pay but definitely it is like making my life easier in a sense of me being able to pick certain things that I would have bought anyways and not having to buy them. I also made some things for myself like two pairs of socks a sweater and a t-shirt and I also got some things for free in a sense of like um at a clothing swap or things like that. This mirror for example here in the back we found it next to the trash. So the things that I bought are not everything that's new in my life but everything that I spent my money for. If you want to get a better picture of what's coming into my life every single month I actually made a video where I show you what I bought what I got what I found as well as what I decluttered out of my life and I made a whole playlist of these videos. So there's 12 videos for the year of 2022 and the last one for December will come like after December and I'm gonna link you the playlist of these in and out videos up here so you can check them out if you're interested in like really seeing what's coming into my life and what's going out and without missing anything that's like coming through the door of this apartment and ends up in my possession. Now I'll be really interested in knowing if you have any like low buy goals for next year how you consume mindfully or if you just buy whatever you want if you are on a budget if you're you know what are you doing consumption wise I would be interested just because I think it's interesting and everybody has to find a solution that works for them and I don't have to say that I will continue like having this one item per month guideline without needing it to be like 12 items for 2023 and we'll just see. Another thing that I realized that I've talked about in a video before is that I'm so so happy to see that there's just not much I needed. Yes there were 12 items but and it's all kind of stuff I I needed or or some pair of pants also that I wanted but I'm absolutely happy I did not need to buy very expensive items um it's mostly clothing which I think is interesting maybe there will be less clothing changes in 2023 we'll see. So it's nice to see that I kind of really have everything I need and that my happiness is not tied to stuff at this point or just that I have everything I that makes me happy you know and now I highly recommend you check out this video talking about how minimalism feels like for me after seven years some lessons I still learned this year and you know some changes towards a balanced and happy minimalist intentional life so I do hope to see you there and otherwise next year in my next video. Bye!