financial lock-in: frugal chic autumn
the mindset shifts that transformed my spending
Weekly round-up
Hey friends, welcome back to Frugal Chic - where financial intelligence meets luxury. Ready to build wealth together this week?
The time leading up to Halloween, Christmas, there is a greater temptation to overconsume. You see these holidays advertised in supermarkets at the drop of the first orange leaf. At Frugal Chic we’re balancing living our luxurious life filled with choice and taste with cutting out what doesn’t matter. Here’s the frugal chic approach to these autumn months.
In this letter, we’ll discuss
Frugal Chic approach to Black Friday
Mindset shifts that transform spending habits
But first, things I’ve consumed over doomscrolling
Busy Blooming with Tess Barclay: What to post when you have no content ideas love tess she’s my go-to for content advice. Her advice is elevated, long term brand strategy as opposed to viral hooks.
Tam Kaur Podcast with Thriving Minds super interesting, although I don’t watch Tam personally as a consumer, I study her strategy. I would dare to say she has a cult like following like Taylor Swift’s Swifties.
Brand yourself like a celebrity came across this creator on YouTube and thoroughly enjoyed this watch.
(Side note: one of you emailed me last week about my Dan Koe recommendation and said his views seemed a little odd - I would defo recommend watching more of his content as I guess that wasn’t the best example. He’s one of the few genius minds on the internet - trust me.)
Deep dive -
What shifted for me
Growing up in the early 2000s, consumerism felt like an unavoidable part of life, like it was written into the code. You got your Argos catalog and the thrill of circling what you wanted (even if you knew you probably wouldn’t get that exact thing) it was the excitement of opening presents and the novelty every time.
Coming of age in this backdrop, I went through a shopaholic phase, careless consumption - it left me feeling empty. I don’t own any of those items now.
As I went on my minimalism journey watching YouTubers like Matt D’Avella, The Minimalists and of course Marie Kondo, I found solace in owning less. The excitement of buying things dwindled as I realised it would never make me ‘happy’.
Neuroscience has a name for this, the Hedonic Treadmill; I was destined to keep buying and returning to baseline levels of happiness after I got that short dopamine boost.
So what shifted? After decluttering, setting bigger financial goals and starting to manage my money - I realised to reach my goals of maybe buying a home, retiring early, hitting a £1m net worth, my habits would have to follow suit.
Now I get excitement from seeing my investment account go up by a digit, investing in a quality item that truly changes my day-to-day like a good quality wool coat or the non-financial assets in life, like time, choice and autonomy.
How the Frugal Chic treats Black Friday
Black Friday, to me, was never impressive. If there are constant sales all year - what’s the point in one day? I don’t treat this as an occasion to be celebrated. I didn’t buy anything last year, and I probably won’t buy anything this year.
I remember being at my 9-5 and each year feeling a pressure to say I bought something to fit in. I worked in luxury wholesale fashion so my colleagues would ask me what I bought, as casual as asking for what I had for lunch.
Overall, there is nothing wrong with using a sale period to buy something you wanted or make an intentional purchase plus the savvy shopper gets them on sale.
My only issue is, it’s a bit of a scam - you still aren’t winning. Retailers inflate their prices so that the discount doesn’t hurt their bottom line, sometimes designing bundles specifically for Black Friday and there’s immense fiscal planning behind the occasion - still making the consumer the target of course.
My ethos would be, if you were waiting to buy it and it’s a brand that rarely goes on sale, sure, it’s no different to another sale. My only tip would be to silence all the noise around it, unsubscribe from email marketing and instagram accounts promoting Black Friday because it will only lead to you buying things you don’t actually want.
Mindset shifts
Now if you are reading this and subscribed to Frugal Chic, we’re probably on the same page, but I do like to be critical and look at all opinions. A common judgement towards frugal chic or frugality in general is that discipline = suffering. I would say that the opposite is true.
Being in a state of overconsumption is chaos. Constant distractions emotionally and physically and not being able to reach financial goals because you’ve spent all the money on stuff you don’t need. Ending up with mountains of stuff that collects dust and can even cause inconvenience.
We often see going without something as suffering. And yes, don’t knowingly deprive yourself of anything essential. We should all be aiming for a healthy life and yes I do have to spell it out:
8 hr sleep
wholefoods
exercise
relationships
hobbies and creativity
we should never be compromising on these things.
But people act like a decision to stop buying face masks, expensive lattes, the latest Zara ‘must have’ as deprivation is just misguided. If you are like me, you still like to splurge on things you value, but you reject the notion you should just buy things for the sake of it or constantly to treat yourself or yolo without any goals - that’s not the vibe we’re creating here.
These are the mindset shifts that actually moved the needle for me:
‘all this used to be money’: declutter and see how much you would have saved if you had been more judicious about your spending.
what’s more important to me, time, choice or things? Living an aesthetic pinterest worthy life is great - but at the end of the day if that leaves you trapped in a job you hate, is it worth it? The little pick me ups are there to make up for the dislike to the overall life? Mental clarity and financial freedom are more important than looking the part imo.
there are other ways to give, it’s a time of giving but no one likes to receive a present that isn’t them or they won’t use, consider giving people experiences, asking them exactly what they want to reduce waste or maybe giving to charity instead. You can also be generous in a non-financial way too with your time or being thoughtful.
invest in yourself, consider starting your investing journey with XTB who are giving new users one free Rolls Royce Stock when you sign up and make a deposit. Your capital is at risk. The value of the stock may fluctuate. Limited availability. T&Cs apply
So that’s how we are locking in financially in a frugally chic way.
That’s it for this week.
As always, thanks for being here.
Mia xx
“All this used to be money” is a refreshing phrase I hadn’t considered before. Adding another layer to that, it would be beneficial to ask if any of those items make me *feel* any better. So not only is that a practical thought (re. Cost) but an added layer of personal-value recognition.
I really love the declutterring concept because I feel like it mentally and physically creates a space for better things.