My financial mistake in 2019/2020

 We all get a little reflective towards the end of the year, don’t we? This year flew by quickly and has been challenging for many due to COVID-19. While I was revisiting my finances and reflecting on what I could possibly do better in the upcoming year, here are some financial ‘mistakes’ which I have made >.<

1. Signing up for packages

As a fresh graduate with a pay cheque, I felt empowered. I was no longer the student who had to scrimp and save by doing part time jobs to do what I like. One of the first place I visited was a facial salon because of the number of pimples that popped up after my finals in 2019. While I thought I was saving myself some money by looking up a Fave voucher for the first trial, I couldn’t resist the persuasion AKA hard selling of the facial lady that I needed to have the 10 sessions of facial. 

By signing on a facial package, I was committed to pay about $200 plus for 6 months. In total, I think I paid around $1.2k ++ for my facial package. TT 

I guess this was one of the silent ways where lifestyle inflation happens. I thought I could afford something because I’m working, and I ended up getting it. Moving forward, I shall no sign anymore packages and I will blog about this in another blog post. 

2. Getting a phone contract plan 

Not long after getting my facial package, I thought I needed a new phone because the battery on my iphone 8 was depleting a little faster than usual. Thus, I upgraded to an Iphone 11 signing up for the cheapest Starhub plan. After 30% hub discount, my phone plan was at $32 per month while I had to top up $200 for my new phone after trading in my iphone 11. The phone plan I had gives me 6gb of free data every month and 100 minutes of outgoing call. The amount of data given is a far cry from most sim-only plan which is around 20 gb. 

Let’s do some math: After 24 months of the plan, I would have paid $768. Together with the $200 top up, I would have paid $968 for my iphone 11. While the absolute price is still cheaper than the original price of the iphone, getting a sim-card only plan gives me more data usage and better flexibility of switching. 

With a 2-year phone contract plan, there is a lock in period of 24 months which I have to fulfill. Failure to do so will mean additional costs incurred. Also, the 2 year contract plan subtlety hints at consumers to change their phones after the contract is up even when the phone is still functioning fine. Thus, this leads to excessive consumerism and wastage. 

When my contract is up next Nov, I hope I wouldn’t be persuaded by the market that I need a new phone again  

3. Impulsive buys 

They say women shop whenever they are upset. I thought it was a necessary evil to cheer myself up by buying a piece of clothing, a little jewelry etc. If I don’t pamper myself when I’m down, then who would right? 

Then I realized that I kept coming home with dresses that I wouldn’t wear on a regular basis and shoes which I wouldn’t wear enough to justify the price tag… I mean 2 pairs of those shoes are still in its original packaging lol. 

It took a while of soul searching to understand that all these material things wouldn’t be able to make me happy. Even the momentary euphoria of receiving a parcel from online shopping or bringing your shopping home wouldn’t last as long as I wanted it to. Instead of believing that materialism is the cure to my unhappiness, I should find out the source of the unhappiness instead. For me, that would be to pray and to journal down my thoughts. I found that these were the most effective ways of finding peace to my anxious soul again. 

Over the course of the year, I think I’ve improved quite a bit!  I’ve cut down on unnecessary impulse buys and I’ve been learning to give thanks to whatever I have. This also helps me to buy things only when I need it and not out of want. Embracing the culture of minimalism helps me declutter my wants and to focus on things that core to my wellbeing. In this day and age where we are bombarded by a plethora of products and marketing, it’s always good to pause and rediscover what really sparks joy. 

So here are the 3 main financial mistakes I’ve tripped on between 2019-2020, what are some of your ‘mistakes’?