Reverse Fomo: Buyers Remorse

We all regret some purchase at one time or another. I have had times where I have this fear of missing out (FOMO) on certain products, or launches. Companies will hype you up, and say there are limited number of products, so you better get yours now! This in turn makes you feel this anxiety, like if you miss out, your whole world is going to be turned upside down.

There are times I get so involved with a company or a product or a certain fad (when I say fad, I mean these things we connect importance to at only certain times of our life). These are unlike necessary things like basic need-things, but could be a fashion fad, or, in my case, a planner fad. For example, at one point, I was using Happy Planner as my main planner for organizing my life and my business. While most people buy one planner, I was obsessed with collecting a new planner for each life category I thought I needed. By this I mean, I would use an entire planner for health, an entire planner for a reading planner, an entire planner for journaling, etc… As you can imagine, this got really expensive after awhile. Happy Planner is relatively cheap, but when you’re buying seven of them, it adds up quite quickly.

I did the same thing over a couple of years with Bath and Body Works three-wick candles. I needed to have all my favourite scents at all times. Forty eight candles later, in rubbermaid containers in my basement which have been sitting there for years and years…what does that tell you? In this case, I know that I will use them eventually.

In comes my Swedish death cleaning spree that I went on this past summer. I’m actually trying to make it part of my life going forward, changing my lifestyle so that I live a more minimalistic way. (I’ll never be a minimalist to be sure, but before I buy things, I think about their use and where they will belong/sit in my home). Sometimes that is a very good deterrent, because if you have been on a minimalist journey like myself, you want to have a clean and neat space with everything in it’s place.

One company that I became obsessed with buying stuff from (in a very short amount of time) was Planner’s Anonymous. They are an Australian-based small business, and they sell planner covers, stickers, Washi, the works. For probably about a year prior to my first purchase, I was thinking about buying stuff from them. Not having enough money at the time was a good incentive for holding off. Then one day, I took the plunge and ordered my first planner cover. It was a B6 sized planner (something I had never used before) and I was obsessed with the art that went into it and all of the matchy-matchy accessories and stickers.

Soon, I was running out of room to store all the things I was buying. (This was all from just one company!) I used the excuse that I was supporting them as a small business, since I loved what they were about. In the end however, I ended up staying with another planner (my all-time favourite, Franklin Covey Classic) and all the supplies I purchased from Planners Anonymous are now sitting in a box…in my basement, gathering dust.

So in this mission of minamalism, I’m thinking of selling some of those planners and accessories. There’s a fine line between wanting to keep products because you know you love them and will use them in the future, or, you keep them because what if you need them in the future. I personally think the first reason is legitimate, and the second reason, (if it crosses your mind at all) is grounds for selling, getting rid of or donating said items.

The chances that you will get rid of an item that you might need later are slim. Of course, keep your seasonal items that you use every year (because you’re still using them). Things that come to mind are Christmas decorations, birthday wrap, etc…For the things you know for sure you want to keep, get organizing bins (but keep those to a minimum too), label everything, and keep everything in it’s place at all times. You use it, and then put it back where it belongs. That is the key to staying organized and neat and tidy.

From now on, my lesson is that I will think long and hard about buying things, especially if it’s something new that I’m not used to or have never owned before. The trick is to wait a day, a week, a month or even years to see if you still need it that badly. The worst thing we could do is buy things in the moment because it’s the new “pretty” and we need to have it because a company says so. Remember, it’s all a marketing gimmick because everyone is out to make a dollar.

Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next week!

Sandra