20+ in 2024: what i bought in november
+ a winter meditation
If you’re new here, “20 in 2024” is my attempt to only buy 20 non-essential items in 2024. Every month, I update on what I’ve bought (and haven’t bought) and how the project is going.
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hello, hello. i had a personal goal to post this by dec. 7, but obviously that did not happen. i’m frantically cleaning my apartment and trying to get some boxes checked before some folks comes to visit me and the holiday time really sets in. (is anyone else kind of excited to have Chanukah overlap with Christmas this year? just me?)
Here is my list of what I bought in November. . .
Previous item total: 29/20
November was one of those months where I felt stressed and also had some great moments of fulfillment. It was also when I decided to preemptively start aspects of my low-buy/no-buy of 2025 a bit early. There were lots of feelings.
I also noticed that for me, with the end of the year, lots of “End of Year” feelings come up—what was accomplished? What wasn’t? How do I feel about those things? I’m someone who feels chronically behind—less that there are small, day-to-day things I haven’t done, and more that there are big life milestones I should have hit, or projects I should’ve finished, etc., that I have yet to do.
I’ve felt this way since I was at least 23, and I’m 32, and I might have some aspect of this sense of vigilance with me for my whole life. And that’s okay. I’ve made my peace with that truth, the reality of that, and, usually, I can manage. I understand that part of me is trying to be helpful (even if it’s not, actually, helpful) or achieve or strive or dream big, and there are times when that, maybe, served me, but I’m not seeking to strive in that same way anymore. (Do I still have anxiety moments about this? 100%.)
I say this because perhaps for you, too, there is something that comes up around this time. Winter, the dark, can also trigger a desire for cozy, for hygge, for family or aloneness, for things that feel absent from our lives because the dark shows us a different side of our daily living than we’re used to.
Those are just some thoughts I’ve been meditating on, and I’d encourage you to give it a think if any of this is resonant.
So, what did I buy? Not much!
Approved purchases:
Pen refills (which were my planned Black Friday purchase)
A printer (on sale)
Some really nice socks
A new toilet seat — upgrading your toilet seat, bidet or no, is a huge game changer. (We had a cheap one our landlord had installed and we just put in one from Toto, the illustrious Japanese toilet brand, and it totally rocks.)
I sold a bunch of books and used a small portion of that credit ($10) to buy 2 used books I’m using for research for a project. Since the books have specific uses, I think it’s okay.
A used, small bag to use for my daily carrying needs when all of my other bags are just too damn big (I struggle with shoulder pain/migraines from shoulder tension if I carry too much — this is better than a tote bag, but smaller than one, too.)
item 30 of 2025: a weird lil word processor
The one discretionary item I bought, after months (and on and off years) of hemming and hawing is a little writing device that is, essentially, like a modern day typewriter. (I had a typewriter until last year, but I had too much trouble finding ink ribbons for it unless I bought them online.) It was expensive, at around $300, but it was cheaper than all of the other items that were comparable that I could find. It just writes, and uploads that writing to a device or an SD card. It’ll be my last technology purchase of the foreseeable future (other than the new Light Phone III that I preordered many months ago that comes out next year and already paid for). I’ve already gotten some good work on this little guy, and I’m excited to keep using it in place of my laptop for deep thinking, and for travel times where I want the chance to write a lot — I love writing by hand but it can be slow — and don’t want Internet access. Indulgent, but it was on my waiting list for 30 days, and I found it online from a small, local shop. (I had to buy it internationally, so no hope of buying it in hyper-locally.)
total purchases of 2025: 30/20 (womp womp!)
In spite of this being obviously higher than I’d meant it to, I am feeling okay. I feel like I’ve become even more intentional this year, and I’m really excited about how I’ve adapted this awareness into my new “rules”/guidelines for next year. I feel like I’m on the cusp of really getting to where I have hoped/aspired to be with spending—and I want to be super obvious in flagging that it’s taken me basically two years, so far, and next year will be the third.
Sometimes, this process is not cut and dry. It is not fast, or quick, or TikTok video-length work, to figure out your deep-seated needs, triggers, or wants.
But, earlier this month, I was able to walk into both a book store and a stationary store (dangerous, I know—in hindsight I was maybe hoping for some self-sabotage) and not purchase anything. That’s huge! Me in January of 2024, and certainly in 2023, probably could not have had such luck. (And I don’t always!)
So often, we try and fail at things, repeatedly, and give up. We’re culturally told to muscle up, or be hard on ourselves, or get our shit together. . . and sometimes what we need is to keep asking ourselves why we’re doing what we’re doing, and maybe, slowly, unraveling the patterns and figuring it out.
I wouldn’t have gotten here without having to come to this space monthly—sometimes more—and ask what I’m buying, and why, and what am I wanting, and why.
I’m really excited for a couple essays I have in the works that are taking longer than I would have liked, but that I hope you will all enjoy, about my relationship to specific items that have been in my life for years and mean a lot to me.
I’ll be posting my 2025 no-buy rules soon and a bigger reflection piece on the year as a whole will be coming in early January.
Wishing you a peaceful, mindful end of the year.
A
What do you think of my purchases, fails at this no-buy/low-buy so far, and my plan for 2025? Are you struggling with holiday purchasing, gift buying, or other similar things? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 💜