Buzz
In 2018, my goal is to strengthen my emergency fund and save up separately for a vacation—essentially doing the exact opposite of what I did in 2017. I spent quite a bit last year, some purchases truly worth it, while others, not so much.
Here’s a rundown of the best purchases I made this year:
Cast iron skillet and dutch oven—$38 for both, and now I’ve perfected dishes like frittatas, shakshuka, and bolognese.
10' lightning cable—$15 for a four-pack of varying lengths, including a 10-foot cable that I highly recommend.
Tattoos—$200 for two tattoos—one of my grandfather’s initials and another of the infinity symbol (or lemniscate, as the tattoo artist explained)—both of which I adore and had been planning to get for over five years.
Trip to Maine—$200 for a trip to Maine with some friends. Despite spending eight hours crammed in the backseat of a car with two others and dealing with a painful toothache, I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
These are the purchases I regret making this year:
Makeup organizer—$10 for a makeup/skincare organizer from Amazon that doesn’t fit my storage needs properly. Guess that’s what happens when I decide to try skincare this year.
Books—Some of the books I bought were fantastic, others, not so much. One downside of Amazon Prime is how easy it is to grab a bunch of books for $1, thinking it won’t drain my savings. I definitely need to visit the library more. Books I recommend: The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch, Bluets by Maggie Nelson, Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, and Too Much and Not the Mood by Durga Chew-Bose. Books I just couldn’t get into: What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty, A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
White sheets—$30 for white sheets, as if I’m living in a hotel. They’re useful, but I’m always worried I’ll stain them. A week later, I ordered the same set in dark gray, which I now use much more often.
Lunch—I’ve spent so much on lunch at work because I’m lazy. Seriously, so much.
And there are many other purchases I’m leaving out because I don’t need any more judgment than I’ve already gotten.
The big lesson I learned is that experiences, or things that support those experiences, like the cast iron skillet, truly added more value to my life than random material items I thought I needed, which aligns with basically every study on the subject.
It’s a great reminder for the year ahead.
How about you—what were the best and worst purchases you made this year?
