2024 Purchases in Review
Every year, I like to review our money to see how much we’ve spent on needs, wants, and savings. This year, in the spirit of sharing with you, I assessed some of the “want” purchases I’ve made to highlight a few wins and losses with lessons learned.
Purchases I Regret
Medical expenses — I spent a whopping $2,600 on medical exams, imaging, and doctor bills that ultimately led to nothing. My doctor basically said, “yeah, you’ve got some issues in there, but if we fix the root cause you’ll end up with worse issues.” Coolcoolcoolcool. My problems are annoying but not life-threatening, so I decided to cut my losses for now. A lesson I’m continually learning with medical expenses is to be discerning and ask about costs.
Yoga mat — I misplaced my old yoga mat somewhere in this house and so, after an unsuccessful search, I caved and bought another one. I eventually found the old one (in a very odd place of course), but it’s an example of how having too much stuff can actually lead to buying more stuff.
Walking pad — This one’s hard to admit. I really love the idea of my treadmill desk set up. I thought I’d use it every day and I believed — as many hours as I spend at my desk — I’d get more steps than ever. But man, I just don’t love it. Maybe I’m an extra bouncy walker, but I cannot type while I walk. And I can’t write by hand when I walk. So I pull it out when I have long meetings that don’t require note taking. But the rest of the time it just sits there unused. So now I’m stuck… not wanting to get rid of it but not using it very much either. I thought I’d moved past making aspirational purchases, but it’s an ongoing journey.
Book light — I got a fun little book light this year, and I loved it. Truly. With warm light illuminating the pages, I read more and at $15, it was well worth the tiny spark of joy. Sadly after about two months, the battery began dying almost immediately after charging. After unsuccessful attempts to repair it, I tossed it out and won’t be buying another. Sometimes even well-loved purchases are ultimately disappointing.
Stupid stuff I was too lazy to return — there was this pair of shoes I bought for my daughter. She didn’t like the fit and while I intended to, I ultimately never mustered the energy to venture back out to the store to return them. So they ended up in our donation pile. I am not torn up about donating a pair of shoes to someone who may need them, but I do need to be realistic about the likelihood of making returns. I also impulse-bought the kids a stylus that was functional but never quite right, later learning it’s the wrong model for our iPad. At that point it was too late to return it. We eventually gave it away and replaced it with the correct model, and I learned that taking a bit more time to research on the front-end can save some post-purchase headaches.
About 20 books I still haven’t read — We’re book buyers around my house. I love reading, and I’m ambitious about it, but I don’t read quickly. So I stack up books faster than I can move through them. Right now my to-be-read pile is much too tall and makes me anxious. I’ve learned (over and over again) how easy it is to get out over my skis with purchases, and I have vowed to slow my roll on the book buying until I shorten the stack a bit.
Things I’m Glad I Bought
Jute rug — I got a new outdoor rug for our screened in porch and I love it! Our old one was a hand-me-down that had been around since well before we moved into our house, and it was tattered. Plus it no longer matched our patio decor, so the neutral option fits better, looks better, and functions better.
Reading glasses — It’s hard to admit that my formerly perfect 20/20 vision is fading, but investing in some glasses for reading small print has made a big difference. For me, seeing clearly makes me more likely to read, work, and be productive in general.
New pantry cabinet — Our old one was very cheap, probably $60 brand new ten years ago. It was smaller than we needed and we often ended up having to pile bags of chips and cereal boxes on top of it. The cabinet filled a storage need while we were getting on our feet, but our needs changed as the family (and grocery budget) grew. It was time for a space and aesthetic upgrade. Our new one is larger so it fits our food better, and we’re very happy with it.
New computer — Most of last year, I used my phone or the family Chromebook for the majority of my Beyond Budgets online work. While it worked for a while, I grew to avoid pouring into my business because the computer was annoyingly slow and my phone was terribly inefficient. I found a good deal on a computer on Black Friday last year, and I’m so happy to have a dedicated computer for my business. I’m now more motivated to work on this website and build tools for you all to benefit from.
Countless puzzles — We love to solve puzzles as a family, and we’ve bought quite a few second-hand in the last year. I bought a puzzle board with drawers and a lazy susan, and we’ve loved having a puzzle going at all times in our house.
With purchases we win some and we lose some. None of the regretted purchases were detrimental to our finances, and in that we’re very fortunate. Taking the time to learn from each purchase experience is valuable and aids growth. I’m grateful to learn from this type of review each year.
Your turn — what are some things you bought this year that you loved and some things you didn’t? What did you learn that you can carry forward into this new year?