Gen Z Guide to FI

One of the things I love about living in America is ‘the return policy’. Having moved from Nigeria, it has been difficult to let go of my “I-must-keep-everything-I-buy” mentality. Throughout college, I never returned anything I bought regardless of whether it was useful or not.

However, I recently listened to ‘A Year of Less’ by Cait Flanders – it got me thinking about my relationship with stuff. Side tangent, I’ve been on a slow decluttering process for months. But reading this book lit a bigger fire in me.

In the last 2 months, I ordered a $40 alarm clock and spent $50 on a second office chair for my unnecessarily large master bedroom. Now the alarm clock I got was supposed to be the type that literally runs away when you hit snooze and you have to get up and chase it. It was pretty cool. It’s called Clocky. I’m a very heavy sleeper and my phone alarm has failed me a handful of times in the last few months.

But it wasn’t as useful as I expected. Definitely not worth the $40 in terms of what I needed. Old me was a keeper of stuff. But new me is a valuist. Valuist is a term I learned from ChooseFI. Someone who only buys things that they value. STUFF needs to be providing value or it has to go. So I returned it. It was such a foreign feeling but I was so proud. I did the same with my office chair because I live alone and it doesn’t make sense to have even more furniture.

All in all, I have been so proud of the simple act of returning items. 

The next thing on my declutter list is old clothes. I started giving away anything I haven’t worn in the last year. I went to a consignment store and got $14 for a bunch of winter clothes and shoes. $14 is definitely a rip off but also who needs all the forever 21 pieces in their closet at this point. Not me. I kept another bag of items filled with summer clothes that I need to get rid off as well.

The final phase my decluttering is all the unused and expired face/skin/hair products. I’m too scared to go look but I will let y’all know when I do. I estimate I will be throwing hundreds of dollars worth of products away.

But until the next update, xoxo Gen Z Fire Baby