6 Things I NEVER Buy...(Minimalism For Beginners & My Minimalist Mindset)

Hey there, it’s Mike Swigunski here and I’m the founder of global career and best-selling author of Global Career: How to Work Anywhere and Travel Forever.

Today I’ve got a fascinating topic. I’m going to be talking about things that I never actually buy, so these are going to be things that many Americans usually buy. Still, because I’ve been living and working overseas for the past decade, I’ve changed. I’ve created a minimalistic travel setup where I’m only traveling around with one backpack. You can find some videos below. I’ll link those about my minimalistic style of traveling and living. Because I’ve been able to have such a minimalistic mindset, it’s helped me create interesting buying habits and consumer habits that have saved me thousands and thousands of dollars, and with all this money that I save.

I’ve been able to pour into experiences to increase my knowledge and a lifestyle that I think is much better than just having a consumer mindset so again. I’m going to share the top things that I’d never buy. We’re getting started right now if you’re just tuning in here. If this is the first time seeing me, I appreciate you considering subscribing. I’m putting out at least two new videos every week. Again any new subscriber is much appreciated. I’m coming up on 100 videos and 2 000 subscribers. Hence, I’m excited to keep producing more content and helping my subscribers grow at the same time.

Coming in number one on my list of things that I never buy is cars, so I’ve always lived in cities where I’ve never needed a car over the past ten years. I’ve been in a town where there’s a lot of public transportation access, and again, because I’ve lived outside for the past decade, most large cities have an excellent infrastructure for public transport. If you’re living in the united states, there are probably only five to ten cities where you can utilize good public transportation. Pretty much every city in Europe and overseas is going to have very affordable and excellent transportation. Again now I can get pretty much anywhere in the town here locally in Tbilisi, Georgia, for under a dollar by utilizing an uber alternative called a bolt.

There’s no need for me to have a car. Occasionally I’ll rent a car if I’m getting that itch. I’ve rented some cool cars like Porsches Ferraris, Audi R8S in the past whenever I get that itch, but whenever I do that after that pretty much day of renting the car wears off, I kind of realize all the hassles between having to park the car in a busy city having to find it sustainable parking filling it up with gas getting it cleaned and this doesn’t even go into all the expenses between owning a car getting into the insurance and also the maintenance that adds up over time so again I know not everyone can do this especially most Americans.

But I think many people now realize that if they don’t have to commute where I’m able to just work from home. There’s no real need to have a car, or maybe you can limit the type of car you have just get a rental whenever you need. I would highly recommend people to consider the cost here. This has saved me probably thousands and thousands of dollars over the year by not having a car because my expense costs are so much lower, coming in at number two. Another strange thing for you to know most Americans is I don’t have a mortgage. I don’t have any debt; I have zero dollars in debt. I don’t have any plans to get into real estate.

I think it is a good investment option for people buying a rental property that they’re going to be making money from and not living in. Both have their pros and cons, but again, I’d much rather put my capital into something like an online business where I can get a much higher return in a much shorter period, so this is the reason that I haven’t gone down into buying a house I’ve continued to rent properties and again this has been a much better thing every time I’ve done the math to look into purchasing a place it just doesn’t make sense when I can put that money elsewhere and get a lot faster and higher return.

So coming in at number three is sugary drinks. This is something that I’ve never really drunk that I never really enjoyed, to be honest, fruit juices, sodas, anything like that I primarily stick to, you know tap water filtered tap water maybe a little bit of lemon juice but most of the time just straight up tap water sometimes I’ll have a coffee or tea but the majority of times I’m drinking around three to four liters of water every day to stay hydrated and stay healthy, so I don’t waste money on sugary drinks because a lot of times they’re not beneficial for you at the end of the day they’re going just to be empty calories that you’re drinking. A lot of wasted money goes into sugary drinks every day like Coca-cola Pepsi, and again even if it is zero calories, you do need to research that because I still don’t think that’s a great healthy thing to be drinking every day.

Coming in at number four is any type of item that doesn’t have multiple uses, so because I’m traveling around the world with just a 40-liter backpack, anything that I add needs to have a significant benefit or increase my lifestyle it needs to have multi-purpose use and pretty much anything that I’m adding to my bag or anything that I’m acquiring is going to need to have some sort of multi-purpose use one of the things that I like to use as an example of this is an excellent iPhone, so I’m super passionate about taking photos you can find pictures at swig meets world on Instagram I love taking pictures I’m filming this video now on my iPhone I do a lot of work and other great things that I find a ton of value behind having an excellent iPhone 11 pro.

One of these multi-purpose use devices is an expensive thing, but it’s something you’re going to be utilizing for three to four years until you upgrade it. It still retains a lot of value when you can sell it. Hence, every big purchase I have, I kind of go through and make sure it’s going to check many of these boxes between retaining its value having multiple uses improving my quality of life by making things easier being very dependable the worst thing you want is to be overseas. Some of your cheap items break down, and you have to replace them with something that takes a lot more time. It’s going to take a lot more energy, and at the end of the day, it’s going to end up costing you probably more.

The next thing is trinkets or souvenirs again it kind of ties in with the iPhone example I love taking photos, so I do have a drone I do have a tiny drone I do have my iPhone, so I only really collect pictures when I travel I’m not looking to buy any trinkets or souvenirs occasionally I’ll buy something for family members around the holidays and bring it home for them. Still, a lot of times I enjoy putting my money into experiences, so a lot of times when I am getting gifts for somebody, it’s going to be a travel gift or some type of unique experience where we’re going to be able to all enjoy it together and have a memory like a photo so we can remember that forever with pictures and videos again that’s the most lightweight present and gift you can get somebody.

And then lastly is travel. I travel so much, and I think many people have the misconception that I spent a ton of money on travel which is true; I probably spend a little bit more than the average person. Still, around 95 of my travel is free, and this is because I’m utilizing a travel hacking strategy. Again if you’re interested in learning how to travel for free, I have a free training that I just put together. I’ll leave a link below, and that’s essentially going to teach you all the travel hacking strategies that I’ve utilized over the past years to earn more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in free travel. It’s gotten me to places like the Maldives over here to Tbilisi, Georgia to India to Europe. Anywhere you’re looking to go, you can kind of utilize this strategy.

Again that’s one of the things that I don’t spend a lot of money on, but I get a lot of value out of. I do a lot is travel because I’m booking with points I’m booking with miles. I’m utilizing my other creative techniques to travel for free, so if you’re interested in that, I’ll leave a link below in the description. I’m curious if you learned one thing or one interesting thing here. Please consider giving this video a big thumbs up. It helps with the algorithm and getting my videos in front of more people like yourself who will learn more about minimalism and build a minimalistic lifestyle. Lastly, if you made it this far, please consider subscribing and turning on that bell notification icon to get notified about the two new videos I’m releasing every week. Take care, and have a wonderful rest of your day.

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