19 Things to Stop Buying to Boost Financial Freedom

Direct your savings to what really matters

In a world constantly tempting us with new gadgets, fashions, and trends, it's easy to fall into the trap of buying things we don't truly need. This needless consumption not only clutters our lives but also depletes our finances.

Unchecked spending, whether small daily habits or large one-off purchases, can lead to debt and minimal savings.

Why Spend Deliberately?

It's not about how much you earn, but how much you keep. By understanding where your money goes, you gain control, paving the way for financial stability. This isn't about being a "scrooge"; it's about intentionally spending on things that bring genuine joy, including building assets that create financial freedom.

With automated bills and easy online shopping, tracking your money is crucial. Every unnoticed dollar spent is a dollar which could have been saved or used for something truly meaningful. While saving is good, actively reducing unnecessary spending and redirecting those funds into investments, like passive income streams or your retirement, is key to long-term financial growth and personal freedom. Many find they can save significantly without sacrificing their quality of life.

Here are 19 things you might want to rethink buying so you can move closer to financial freedom.

1. Fast Fashion

Fast fashion may seem appealing due to its affordability, but most of those items don’t last long. Often, the clothes or accessories purchased from fast fashion retailers are of lower quality and fall apart quickly. Shifting towards quality over quantity in clothing not only saves money in the long run but also leads to a more timeless, more sustainable wardrobe.

Also, fast fashion, with its rapid production cycles and throwaway culture, significantly harms the environment and its manufacturing is often the subject of slave labour allegations. By doing away with fast fashion you might be doing more than just saving yourself a few dollars.

2. Brand New Cars

Kiwi’s love a new vehicle. Whether it’s a Ute, SUV, or city-slicking sports car, new cars have a great feel, smell, shine and look.

But new cars can be little more than a money evaporator; the value of a new car drops as much as 40% in the first year. For many, buying new and financing the difference is second nature. It is this difference that can be a significant amount of money that racks up a lot of interest costs.

Rather than buy a new car, consider a second-hand model, especially if it can be purchased with a warranty still intact, low kilometres, and with after-sales care from a dealership.

• In most cases it’s unwise to borrow money to fund a vehicle purchase largely due to the high vehicle loan interest rates payable in New Zealand.
• Running costs should be considered too. It’s not just about fuel efficiency here, either. You’ll want to factor in expected maintenance costs. Many high-end European models can come with costly servicing bills, including for spare parts. Japanese and American vehicles are generally easier to service and source spare parts for.
• Car insurance, vehicle licencing, AA membership, and other costs can mount up, if you’re not careful, too.

Related material:

• ‍Wealth preserving tips for buying a car
• How to save on petrol

3. Books

Reading is commonly regarded as essential for personal growth and knowledge, which are valuable investments in yourself. Reading can also be relaxing, depending on what you read.

However, instead of purchasing every book, consider alternatives like Kindle, library apps like Libby, and even traditional library services. If you live in an apartment, many apartment blocks now have books freely available to switch in common areas. Or you might be able to swap books with friends.

This way, the most valuable and frequently-read books can remain in physical form, while others can be accessed without the need to add to your shelf space and drain your wallet.

4. Holiday Souvenirs

Travelling and holidays can be among the most valuable of experiences. Though do you really need another fridge magnet, souvenir coffee cup, or t-shirt?

While travel can create lasting memories, collecting souvenirs from every trip often results in clutter. Instead of spending money on physical items, consider documenting your travels in a journal, photographs or creating a vlog. These methods allow for deeper memories without accumulating objects that occupy space and rack up unnecessary holiday expenses.

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• ‍Unlock the world with travel hacks
• Travel mistakes that could blow your budget
• A great summer on a budget

5. Updated Technology

Technology is constantly evolving. Which means it’s easier than ever to get caught in the cycle of upgrading to the latest version of devices. However, the incremental improvements often do not correlate to the increased happiness or value. Instead, ask yourself whether upgrading something that already works fine is worth the financial investment or if that money could be better spent on experiences or investments that bring more long-term joy.

It's not just smartphones encouraging the upgrades nowadays; there are also continuous upgrades of televisions, computers, tablets, home theatre, software, and so on.

6. Investments in Things You Don’t Understand

Australian data shows investment scams have now overtaken romance and dating scams as the most lucrative method of fraud.

It’s essential to understand where your money is going and whether it aligns with your values, risk appetite, and financial goals. Having a basic understanding of your investments, ensures that you are more informed and confident in where your money is being allocated, and are less vulnerable to being ripped off.

Related material:

• ‍How to avoid an investment scam
• Avoid modern scams

7. Unnecessary Christmas Presents

Have you ever received a present for Christmas then immediately listed it on TradeMe or Facebook Marketplace? If so, you’re not alone: TradeMe alone commonly reports tens, and even hundreds of thousands, of unwanted gifts listed each Boxing Day. They even have a special category for them!

Of course, spending can be a great way to express how you feel about those closest to you. Unfortunately, real or imagined pressure to purchase can soon lead to an excessive gift-giving spree, where the quantity of presents overshadows the holiday's essence and leaves bank accounts drained come January.

A pile of presents under the Christmas tree may look impressive, though instead try:

• Experiences, rather than gifts of products
• Hand crafted gifts
• Offering a helping hand
• Mutual agreements to avoid or limit gift-giving

Related material: Your Christmas financial blueprint

8. Not Packing Lunch

Mid-day hunger pangs often lead us to bakeries, cafeterias, petrol stations and dairies. Over time, this habit has potential health implications and can sting your wallet.

Instead, take the more economical and healthier homemade alternative of packing your own lunch.

9. Unneeded Items on Sale

Sales primarily benefit retailers, not consumers. While they promise savings and deals, the reality is often less straightforward. The allure of slashed prices can lead to buying items we wouldn't purchase at full price, or even truly need. Retailers bank on the psychological impact of seeing a discount, understanding that the adrenaline rush of "getting a deal" often trumps rational spending.

Before you purchase anything on sale, ask, “do I need it?”. Even if you do, there’s always another sale coming soon enough, so try living without the item for a while to see if you really do “need” it.

It's not just about spending less but spending smart. Ensure the sales serve you, not the other way around.

10. Storage: The Tax on Stuff

Paying to store things you don’t use is like renting a room for clutter.

If something’s not worth keeping under your own roof, ask yourself why you’re paying for it to gather dust elsewhere. Declutter, donate, or sell. Save yourself the monthly “stuff tax.”

Related material: What is financial minimalism?

11. Extended Warranties

Extended warranties are the retail equivalent of asking, “Would you like to pay extra in case this shiny new thing we just sold you turns out to be rubbish?” Think about it this way: if the product is so good, why does it need an insurance policy?

Retailers love flogging these, not because they’re generous, but because extended warranties are pure profit. Most products either fail early (and are covered by the manufacturer anyway) or outlive the warranty altogether. The odds of you ever needing to claim are low, even if you remember you have the warranty, and the hoops you’ll jump through to do so? High.

It’s usually better to skip the upsell, trust the Consumer Guarantees Act, and stash the extra cash for something you actually need like a coffee, or a slightly larger retirement fund.

12. Superfluous Subscriptions

Half-read magazines, forgotten streaming platforms, and that meditation app you used once during lockdown. Subscriptions are sneaky little spenders.

These expenses quietly drain your account month after month, often unnoticed until your card expires and the provider finally emails you saying your latest payment has failed.

Do yourself a favour: trawl through your bank and credit card statements. You’ll likely find a few digital hitchhikers you didn’t even know were still active. Cancel ruthlessly. If you’re not using it weekly (or at all), it’s just another line on your statement — and a win for someone else’s bottom line, not yours.

13. Gym Memberships

Gyms are notorious for signing on hordes of new members around the New Year, knowing full well most of them will keep paying for the gym but seldom set foot in it after January.

If gym visits are not part of your weekly routine but you’re still paying a membership, re-evaluate your fitness spending.

Much the same can be said for subscriptions to pilates studios, or other boutique and niche fitness services.

Plenty of data shows that for most people, gym memberships are a waste of money.

14. Daily Lattes

Few topics are as polarising as a personal financial guru telling the New Zealand public to: "Just stop buying lattes."

• On the one hand, those who’ve “made it” financially might look down on those who seemingly can’t reign in their spending habits and make the sacrifices earlier generations did (or think they did) to succeed. The latte is seen as just the tip of the spending iceberg; it represents a lackadaisical attitude towards many trivial expenses which quickly add up.
• There is another viewpoint. With average houses costing over a million dollars in desirable locations like Auckland, younger people especially may think there’s little to be gained by spending a few dollars on a nice coffee.

Whichever side of this argument you fall on, or if you’re somewhere in the middle, the calculations are simple. If you cut back on six lattes each week at $6 per latte, that will save a couple $3,744 every year.

Related material:

• ‍Stop buying lattes and get rich?
• Money saving tips

15. Regular Dining Out

The joy of trying out new dishes, the feeling of a different environment, and spending carefree time with friends and loved ones can be a delightful experience. It might also be convenient to see friends at an inner-city location rather than travel to someone’s home from different sides of town.

However, the costs add up, and before you know it, eating out becomes a significant expense. Add in a couple of drinks, and maybe Uber or taxi rides, and you can quickly be spending hundreds each week.

Meal delivery services such as UberEats are often not much less expensive than dining out. They can come with delivery or service fees, potentially higher prices for some restaurants compared with in-store menu prices, and you’re more likely to impulse order, including the addition of extra sides and drinks to an order.

16. Lotto Tickets

US personal finance guru Dave Ramsey has described spending on Lotto tickets so well, we’re not going to attempt to do better:

“The lottery is a tax on poor people and on people who can’t do math. Rich people and smart people would be in the line if the lottery were a real wealth-building tool, but the truth is that the lottery is a rip-off instituted by our government. This is not a moral position; it is a mathematical, statistical fact. Studies show that the zip [post] codes that spend four times what anyone else does on lottery tickets are those in lower-income parts of town.”

Enough said.

17. Products or Services for Ego

Let’s be honest: we’ve all been tempted to buy something just to look a certain way. Whether it’s designer fashion, luxury getaways, or fine dining with more foam than food, ego spending is alive and well. In fact, it’s thriving on social media.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of buying for appearances rather than value. This might be even worse for younger readers when social media likes and compliments give a dopamine hit. But handbags don’t pay dividends, and that pricey dinner won’t help your journey to financial freedom.

The antidote? Spend for you, not for your ego. Focus on purchases that genuinely improve your life or align with your goals. Ego is expensive, self-awareness is free.

18. Subscription Meal Boxes

Sure, it might be nice having dinner turn up in a box with pre-chopped garlic and a recipe card, but meal kits come with a premium price tag.

You’re often paying restaurant-level prices for home-cooked food, minus the ambience and someone else doing the dishes.

If convenience is the goal and you’re dedicating plenty of time to something else you value (your family, working extra hours, building a business, or something else), great. But if you’re trying to save money, meal kits are gourmet budgeting sabotage. A few basic recipes and a decent grocery list will take you further, and for far less.

Related material:

• ‍How to save money at the supermarket
• Avoid these supermarket rip-offs

19. High-Maintenance Services

We all like to feel polished. There’s nothing wrong with a tidy fade, a fresh set of nails, or smooth skin. But when beauty, grooming, or upkeep routines become frequent, elaborate, or compulsory, they can start quietly draining both your wallet and your weekends.

Regular appointments for nails, eyelash extensions, tanning, facials, hair colouring, cosmetic injectables, weekly blow waves, or beard shaping might seem small in isolation, but add them up over a year and you’re looking at thousands spent just to maintain the status quo. That’s before you factor in the hours lost to salon chairs, waiting rooms, or mirror-checking.

There’s no shame in self-care. But take a step back to check whether you’re maintaining yourself or just maintaining appearances. Could fewer appointments and a simpler routine free up money for more meaningful things, perhaps: actual rest, new skills, or investments that grow instead of fade?

Trim the excess, keep what brings real joy, and let the rest grow out.

Spend More Intentionally

To enact some of the cost savings above, it might help to think of intentional spending.

At its core, intentional spending means aligning your purchases with your values, goals, and priorities, rather than reacting to temporary impulses or marketing gimmicks. It’s not about depriving yourself; it's about making mindful choices that genuinely contribute to your long-term happiness and success. This could look like:

• Investing in a quality pair of shoes that will last years, rather than buying multiple cheap pairs.
• Prioritising meaningful experiences, like a family holiday, over accumulating material possessions.
• Contributing to your KiwiSaver or other investments to secure your financial future.

You’ll probably benefit by:

1. Achieve Your Financial Goals Faster: By cutting unnecessary expenses, you'll have more to save and invest, bringing you closer to milestones like owning a home, retiring early, or achieving financial independence.
2. Reduce Financial Stress: You can take control of your finances, making it easier to feel confident about unexpected expenses, or that you’re on track with what really matters.
3. Align Money with Your Values: When you spend with intention, you ensure your purchases reflect your deepest priorities, bringing more joy and meaning into your life.
4. Create a Wealth-Building Mindset: Intentional spending isn’t about cutting; it's about building habits that grow your wealth and put you on a path to financial freedom.

Conclusion: The Trade-Offs of Financial Decisions to Bolster Financial Freedom

By cutting out unintentional purchases and focusing on aligning your money with your goals, you’ll be able to build wealth, reduce stress, and live a life that’s more in tune with your values. Start small. Every intentional decision compounds over time, bringing you closer to financial freedom. Remember, you’re not just spending money, you’re shaping your future.