4 Unnecessary Items You Think You Need

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

Today’s post is gonna shine line on 4 unnecessary items you think you need to buy. If you are trying to minimalize your way of living and/or save money on life, keep reading to uncover this gold mine. It might surprise you.

1. Gym Equipment

First, in order to stay healthy and workout, you don’t need a gym membership and you don’t need home gym equipment.

These are budget tornadoes that can take a long time to pay off. First, a gym membership is usually for a period of one year, minimum. What happens a lot of times, is that people just don’t get their money’s worth with these.

The last membership I bought, though pretty cheap, at only $25 per month, only got used 3 times in the ENTIRE year. It was such a shame. That’s $400 down the drain when I could have just walked around in the neighborhood or worked out at home.

Next, gym membership. This bulky equipment is hard to assemble, harder to disassemble, takes a up a lot of room and is expensive. Avoid this all together by trying these things instead:

Work out at home
Work out in your community
Work out in unconventional, free places

Work out at home

You can build a “mini-gym” pretty cheaply with these items:

A yoga mat
Some barbell weights
A great sports bra (this, for the ladies)

If you are streaming TV, there is likely to be at least one exercise channel or series that you can catch for free that takes you through a home workout. If not, there’s YouTube, which is free and WILL absolutely have free workouts (I have done some of them myself). Work Out in the Community

In my community, we have a free fitness center. Whether you live in an apartment or home, you may have the same amenity, a free fitness center. This is a great place to workout. You can also workout in places like the community pool (go for a swim), the park, the neighborhood, etc.

I always see my neighbors walking every evening around 7pm. Walking for exercise or walking their dog, they are getting out and getting move. It’s good for health. Try this.

Working Out in Unconventional Places

When I used to work at Victoria’s Secret, I used to see what we called “the mall ladies.” These were elderly women who came out in their sneakers and workout clothes and walked the perimeter of the mall everyday, Monday through Friday. They did this for exercise and it’s actually pretty common.

If you ever go to the mall early, like before they open early, it will be open, although the stores might be closed and you’ll be free to walk around for fitness.

2. An Expensive Cable Package

Just say no to expensive cable and look for cable alternatives instead.

A few short years ago my monthly cable bill topped $200 per month. I knew something had to change.

It was incredibly frustrating having access to 300+ channels and only watching under 10% of them, yet getting charged for the entire package month after month.

So, I made a change, and opted for a cable alternative.

Today, I have more than one cable alternative and it is still a fraction of the price what I paid for cable.

For lowering your monthly utilities, this is a must-do.

3. Fancy Kitchen Equipment

When I say fancy equipment, this includes waffle makers, handmixers, breadmakers and those kind of small kitchen appliances.

They are unnecessary many times. I mean, think about the last time you made waffles!

I have 2 waffle makers, a regular one and a belgium waffle maker and it’s been literally years since I have used either one.

If you happen to bake bread once a week like clock work or make homemade icecream pretty regularly, sure go ahead and get the breadmaker or icecream maker. The key is to have the appliances that you use.

Having a bunch of extra equipment in the kitchen leads to clutter and means you’ve wasted a lot of money, if you aren’t using those items.

How to fix this:

The next time you get an urge to buy a small kitchen appliance, write it down. And, when you write it down 5 times, then that means you probably do need it, so go ahead and get it. This is a little trick we heard of from The Financial Diet.

4. Multiple TVs

You DON’T need to have a TV in every single room.

And, although TV prices are getting better and better every year, it’s still waster $200+ for a TV purchase that you don’t use. Like a TV in the dining room, living room, spare bedroom, or even kitchen.

Not to mention, it can eat up your electricity bill even if you’re not using it because I’m sure that TV is plugged in, even while not in use, which means it’s using energy and leading to a higher utility bill.

Try to have the least number of TV’s in your home, to fit your lifestyle.