In 2019, my husband and I went from renting for 10 years to owning our very first home. In the time that we were renters, we tried to avoid anything related to home upkeep or maintenance, mostly because those items typically require some sort of permanence, and also because they take up a lot of space. However, things drastically changed in the past six months, and we started to buy things that made our lives as homeowners much easier and much more enjoyable.

This must be what it’s like to age. Enjoying purchases that you cannot wear on your body or face. It seems like a win to me.

Realistic purchases should trump impulse purchases

Last year I spent quite a lot of money on items that weren’t entirely useful to my goals as a person. With a new year and all the resolution-planning, it can be a good time to check in with what your money can provide for you to benefit your goals and who you’d like to be. If you want to be organized, maybe it’s time to invest in a solid bullet journal. If you want to be health-focused, perhaps a meal plan guide or a new spin bike is on the horizon. Whatever you want to accomplish, a huge part of achieving your goal is the actual achievement of buying something realistic to those goals to increase the chance of success.

PSA: If one of your 2020 goals is to get really good at saving money, my new book comes out on April 7, but it’s available for preorder right now!

Something that I did as soon as 2020 arrived was sit down and build a spreadsheet of all of the things I wanted to purchase this year that weren’t large cost-wise but would make a world of a difference to our home, my professional goals or my personal happiness. So far I have some laptop accessories, kitchen organization needs and a new iPad. This way, I can control my impulse buying by preparing for these costs and also to avoid buying things that I don’t need.

What did I buy last year that was worth the expense?

I want to share with you a list of ten items that we purchased last year that were both practical and useful to our day to day lives, because maybe you are searching for something similar, or maybe you just want to know what homeowners like to buy/use.

To help control your spending for this year, try to choose a few categories that align with your goals. If an impulse purchase does not fall into the categories you’ve selected, perhaps it’s not the right purchase for you. This is an easy tool to help make those tough shopping decisions less overwhelming and more productive.

Give yourself personal goals separate from your financial goals

Of course, we all want to save a lot of money or pay off a lot of debt, but it’s also crucial to focus on some personal growth that doesn’t involve finance. For example, what are three things you’d like to accomplish each morning before you start your workday? Perhaps one of those goals requires purchasing a yearlong membership to your favourite meditation app.

You’re much more likely to achieve financial success if you give yourself room to breathe as a person rather than a machine who saves money.

On New Year’s Day, I spent a lot of time sorting my goals into personal, professional and family-oriented categories. This allowed me to take time to reflect on the differences between each of those goals, and how you can accomplish them in unison. My financial goals can be personal, professional and family-oriented – it just depends on who is impacted by the outcome of me reaching that success.

Anything that aligns with bettering yourself in 2020 is a purchase that you can deem worth it.