10 Things I Stopped Buying | Financial Minimalism

These are the 10 things I stopped buying - at the end of the day, it’s all about getting the most value for your time and money as possible - and, sometimes, it’s the smallest differences that can add up to the biggest savings - Enjoy! Add me on Instagram: GPStephan

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My ENTIRE Camera and Recording Equipment:

ONE: HAIRCUTS
When everything was required to shut down, I had to get creative…so, I bought a professional hair buzzer on amazon for about $70, and my girlfriend started cutting my hair.
*Im not responsible for bad haircuts

TWO: FAST FOOD / FROZEN DINNERS
For the last 6 months - I’ve cut out all junk food altogether since I’ve been working entirely from home. Not to mention, on top of that…when you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that the AVERAGE AMERICAN spends $1200 PER YEAR on Fast Food alone. It’s EVEN been proven that fast food can actually be MORE EXPENSIVE than eating at home, so the notion that “Fast food is cheaper” is absolutely false.

THREE: GYM MEMBERSHIP
When gyms shut down, I had to find an alternative…so, I bought a bench and adjustable weights, and after watching some YouTube videos on home workouts…that nearly replaced my entire gym. I also supplemented that with 2 miles of cardio 5x week.

FOUR: INSURANCE COSTS
Americans are OVER PAYING for their car insurance by nearly 37 BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR.. So, if you want to save money nearly INSTANTANEOUSLY, right after this video is done - go and shop around your car insurance, and REALLY evaluate how much you ACTUALLY drive.

FIFTH: PARKING
I just bought an electric scooter to take anywhere nearby. In Los Angeles, it’s estimated that the average driver spends 85 HOURS per year JUST looking for parking…at the average salary, that’s $1735 of your time just WASTED as you sit there, hunting a spot to park.

SIXTH: NEW CLOTHES
The average adult spends $161 per month on clothing…and, lets be real…I’m sure most of the time we buy something new, it gets worn a few times, and then it sits in the closets for months or years just collecting dust.

SEVEN: RENTAL PROPERTIES
Typically, in the past, I set it as my yearly goal to buy ONE property that I could then rent out…but this year, that never happened. I spent the beginning of this year searching NONSTOP for a deal, but I could find ANYTHING that made sense here in Los Angeles that didn’t require a SUBSTANTIAL amount of work. When I began to evaluate how much time it was going to take me to find the right deal, versus my return expanding my own business…right now, it just makes more financial sense to continue expanding my personal brand, creating better content for you, and beginning to diversify into other endeavors.

EIGHT: FRUITS AND HERBS
Instead of going to the store and buying mint, basil, rosemary, passionfruit, lemons, and strawberries…we’ve just been growing out own.

NINE: THE LATEST IPHONE
Just like the fast food budget, the average TECH budget is the same: $100 PER MONTH buying the latest gadgets. So my recommendation, and what I’ve always followed, is just to purchase the last years phone model,…keep it 2 years…and then upgrade to something new, IF you need to.

TEN: CAT TOYS
The one thing that’s constantly surprised me is that - Ramsey doesn’t play with cat toys. No matter what he gets, he’ll ignore it…and then just play with the box.

*Some of the links and other products that appear on this video are from companies which Graham Stephan will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. Graham Stephan is part of an affiliate network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available.

[Chap]

One thing you should buy: a lint roller for the sweater.

[bavan]

00:47 1. Haircuts - $35 + time saved on driving & waiting.
01:44 2. Fast Food & Frozen Food.: $1200/yr savings.
02:58 3. Gym Membership.
04:02 4. Changed Car Insurance - Because less driving.
05:01 5. Parking: Fee + Time looking for parking.
06:04 6. Clothing: Reuse or borrow used ones.
06:50 7. Rental Properties.
08:40 8. Fruits and Herbs : Grow your own.
09:34 9. Latest Tech: Sell your old tech and buy last years tech or don't buy at all. $500/yr savings.
10:37 10. Cat Toys: Grahamify your cat and Give it boxes and straws to play.

[TastingHistory]

Love this. You've helped me save money in the past and your program helped me build my YouTube channel into a full time gig. You changed my life, Graham. Thank you.

[TheRipeTomatoFarms]

FINALLY. As a gardener and a YOUTUBE gardener, Graham mentions gardening to save money....546 videos been waiting for you to mention this man!!!

[laurentzago]

Once you cut fast-food, you save a great deal of money in healthcare 20 years later

[queuebit]

0:35 - !SMASH! that like button
0:47 - 1. Haircuts
1:43 - 2. Fast food
2:58 - 3. Gym membership
3:55 - 4. Changed insurance
5:00 - 5. Parking
6:03 - 6. Clothing
6:53 - 7. Rental properties
8:40 - 8. Fruits & herbs
9:30 - 9. A new iPhone
10:33 - 10. Cat toys
12:00 - Webull (sponsor)

[joysaucem]

I love that you're promoting gardening and self-sufficiency

[CaseyBurnsInvesting]

Glad you’ve cleaned up your diet. We need you here past 90.

[LapresOfficial]

Hi Graham! With Fruit and Veg, with you moving to Las Vegas soon, you'll have to double check what will grow there and adjust. You may have to continue to plant in containers rather than planting directly into the soil or make raised garden beds/green houses. Thankfully there are really cheap ways of doing this, some areas of the USA provide free compost to backyard growers, and a lot of people think about gardening and then go to throw out their green houses or garden sheds which you might be able to pick up on a dumpster dive and/or craigslist/ebay rather than paying full price. Potatoes, garlic, and ginger are three things that you can plant at home from what you already get from the grocery store. (Ginger needs to be inside at the start of its life, Garlic needs to be outside in late fall to benefit from a frozen/cold winter, and potato crops can yield decent returns if your soil is soft and right nutrition levels.)

[sk.tr]

You just described country living. That 20 minute one way drive to the nearest "city" really helps you not wanting to make many trips. Buy in bulk, garden, nothing wrong with hand me downs, and while I don't have a cat, I do have a spoiled rescue dog. A dog who has way more toys than he needs. Great video!

[MultiChip]

2020: Graham quits haircuts

2050: Graham breathes only once a minute to save oxygen

[financecoffee]

“Stop buying Starbucks coffee” should be in every personal finance video until the end of time

[unorthodoxsavings]

I got a part time job at my gym for a free gym membership because I didn’t want to cough up the extra money 😂

[Hawtload]

ohh my god $161 a month on clothes? I spend that in a year.

[AutomotiveAnatomy]

Graham: 10 things I stopped Buying
Also Graham: I never bought things to begin with.

[powner]

Graham: "Girlfriends can be kind of expensive"
Me: Absolutely obliterates like button

[travisdavis]

I stopped using condoms, I am going to save a ton of money.

[ToviaOgun]

Saving is one of the most difficult thing that this generation can’t afford but with your tips, we will definitely get there 💪

[pyrotron]

Graham, THANK YOU for always putting things in perspective. You're right, I don't need a new $1200 phone, the $600 last year model will do just fine AND its a huge upgrade from what I have.

[TheKaptainkraig]

Great Video Graham. Here's one more thing that I've been doing for a while with my clothes to ensure that each of my dress shirts gets worn the same amounts. Side Note: All my shirts are name brands such as Chaps, Izod, Croft and Barrow and were bought on clearance at the big name department stores for 80% to 90% off. I had most of them tailored to fit since I'm totally OCD about a bunched up tucked in shirt. I labeled all of my shirts from 1 to 27. Yes, I have 27 dress shirts! I also labled their respective hangars as well. I have a clip board with the list of my shirts. Every time I wear a shirt, it gets a tick mark. I make sure all the shirts have the same number of tick marks to ensure each shirt is getting worn. Every 3 times the shirt is worn, it gets washed, and I put a W on the clip board. This ensures a full useful life of my shirt inventory. And FYI, I work in an air conditioned office (prior to the virus) so I never sweat up my shirts. I know some people wash their shirts every time they are worn.