– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

I think we all work way too

hard for our money to keep spending it

on things that we don't need.

And when I personally finally overcame

my shopping addiction,

not only was I able to save money,

I was also able to buy timeless, classic pieces

that I can take with me for the rest of my life,

because they are high quality and they last me forever.

And that is more worth it to me than spending

$100 on ten SHEIN tops, for example,

or worse, buying 30 Stanley Cups that are...

the whole purpose of a Stanley Cup

is that it's reusable so that you only need one, not 100.

And that's also how I accumulate

all of the nice furniture that I have

and nice home decor pieces

because I'm buying it for the rest of my life

and I'm going to take those with me wherever I move.

So in the long run,

it's actually saving me more money

than to go to IKEA and buy

something that breaks in a year

and I have to go and replace it.

It's truly time to just get rid of things

that we don't need.

I do realize that spending $100 on a nice top

that lasts you ten years is in itself a privilege.

But in order for us to look past that,

we need to first

see that this is not just buying a $100 top

for the sake of doing it.

It is an investment not only into our financial future

because that one top will outlast

10-15 tops from Forever 21 or SHEIN.

And it will also make us look more expensive

and respectable.

There's one quote

that really woke me up to my overconsumption habit

because I was just buying so much cheap stuff online

and that was the poor man always pays twice.

And honestly, I was paying more than twice

because not only was I spending money buying

like a million pieces of junk, I was spending my time

going through hundreds of pages of online shops,

and I was spending my energy to do this.

And guys, let's be real.

There are a million other better habits

that we can form than chronic online shopping.

And in the past,

I felt like I struggled a lot

with being easily

influenced by influencers and online ads

and social media and always feeling like,

I need to keep up with the latest trends

and keep up with the Joneses.

And, you know, it's

an overspending habit, it’s shopping addiction.

And I'm sure some of you guys

have also experienced this.

Of course, I can blame the marketing industry.

I can blame capitalism, I can blame social media.

But at the end of the day,

the problem always lies with me.

What was the root of the issue

that I was trying to put a Band-Aid over

with overconsumption, with chronic online shopping?

What was I really trying to solve?

And really the whole root cause of my problem,

my addiction, was just because

I needed to fill a hole that I have on the inside

that maybe I just didn't have a purpose.

And that became really noticeable to me

when I realized that even when I was shopping,

I was getting all these packages,

I was getting all these dopamine hits

cycle after cycle

that I still didn't feel content with what I had

and whether it's

because of my dissatisfaction with my life

or whether I was feeling bored or whatever it was,

I felt like I had to beat my day to day,

which was monotonous, it was boring,

and I didn't like how I lived.

With online shopping, because it was my escape.

It was something that made me feel happy.

It was instantaneous. And then, you know,

soon enough it turned into a hoarding habit.

I would end up buying bottles

and bottles of new skincare products I didn't need.

I wouldn't finish what I already had.

And so I couldn't really see the value of my money.

And before I knew it,

my house was just bursting with junk.

And I had to spend days and weeks of my life

decluttering and cleaning.

And the more stuff you have,

the more you have to clean up.

And that made me realize,

wow, I had a huge problem. I need to stop this.

And so I spent even more time and more energy

just selling my clothes on eBay and depop

and throwing things away

that I didn’t need, selling stuff on Craigslist

that I no longer had the room for.

While I was happy to see some of my money

come back from selling all the junk that I didn't need.

That also taught me a huge lesson.

Not only was it having such a deep effect on finances

because overconsumption, overspending

causes you to spend more than

what you actually have.

And I was lucky to get out of it

without any kind of debt

or having to borrow money from people.

Even if I was getting cheaper alternatives

to things.

We're just cheating ourselves in the end

because the quality never lasts,

it's never really satisfying

because you're not actually getting what you want.

So you're going to end up buying something

that's a better version of it,

and you end up having five versions of the same thing.

And when it becomes such a bad and deeply ingrained

habit in our lives that we might not even realize

how much money we’d actually

spend, day by day, week over week,

month over month, until it's too late.

So if we're not being careful

and we're living paycheck to paycheck,

we're one incident away

from being in total financial ruin

and lifestyle creep is so real.

You don't need the $20 cocktail,

you don't need the $50 brunch.

And if you have friends that force you

to spend money on these things.

You don't need those friends either.

And you definitely don't need

30 shades of lip gloss and 50 hats or, you know.

These days, I rarely,

rarely buy products that I don't need

because I spend hours and hours

just doing the research

to see if I really actually need this thing

before I buy it

so that I can save many more hours down the line.

Decluttering, getting rid of it,

buying five more versions of the same thing,

and if it's a piece of clothing,

I make sure it's super versatile.

I can wear it in at least 3 to 5 different occasions

and it's good quality. It's going to last me.

I go to consignment shops or a second-hand

good quality boutique or even the Goodwill

and pick out something that's actually high quality

that I will actually wear so I don't break the bank.

At the same time, you don't have to go and spend

like $300 on one piece of clothing.

You just don't.

And the other thing is, if you don't like it,

if it doesn't fit well on you, you can return it.

It's okay to return things that you don't like

or you can resell it online

and you should never feel bad about that. Never.

And every day I still deal with this.

Okay, I go online and see a girl

promoting something like this so-and-so product

cleared her skin, like,

oh my God, it cleared her skin.

It solved her problem but will it solve my problem?

And you really have to stop to think,

will that actually solve my problem

because we are two different people.

We live different realities.

So do I even have that same problem?

Like, for example,

if I see a Tik Tok about double cleansing,

washing your face twice

and that you need an oil cleanser,

do you really need an oil cleanser?

Can't you just use the same cleanser twice?

And if this person has oily skin

and they need this oil cleanser, for example,

do I have the same problem.

Or when this person is like,

Oh, I wear this wrist towel thing around my wrist.

So that I can stop water

from dripping down to my sleeve

when I wash my face.

Is that really big enough of an issue

to actually go out and buy this thing?

And will I actually be using it

or am I just telling myself, yes,

this will solve my problem of water

dripping down my sleeves when I can just, you know,

roll up my sleeves?

I really started asking myself these questions,

if I see a girl wearing something cute on TikTok,

am I just buying into it because it's a trend?

Will it actually look good on me?

Is it just her body that looks good

and not the outfit itself?

And Einstein said this

We cannot solve a problem

at the level of consciousness that created it.

And in order to change our habits,

we first have to understand

and think very deeply

about the purpose of why we need it

in order to stop the impulse buying.

And I think that identifying the things that I did

and even doing helpful things

like making a shopping list, for example,

and using the cart functionality

like putting it in your cart

and then just leaving it there for a week.

And don't be influenced by the cart

abandonment emails that they send you

like, Hey, excuse me, you left your cart hanging.

Don't be influenced by any of that.

You're not an easily influenced person.

And for me

like this involves asking myself questions like,

what is the true priority for me?

How do I want my time and money to serve me?

And really just thinking about

what will actually make me happy. Right?

And it's not spending $100 on SHEIN

on random self-care things that I will stop

using after one week.

And personally, for me, buying experiences

like traveling and vacations,

that makes me happy

because it buys me a part of my purpose in life,

which is to see the world.

But it's also true that buying

expensive vacations and luxury,

it doesn't necessarily

make me any happier than a budget vacation.

So I know where my priority is

and where my money should go.

And because I'm able

to take this frugal approach to things

and really think about it

from a purposeful way

rather than, will this make me happy tonight

if I just click “order”,

I have been able to use my hard

earned money to serve me in many other ways,

and I feel more in control of my life.

I feel more in control of my money and my spending.

And that is so empowering to me.

And really putting things in a bookmark

and saving it for later

really helped me because if I didn't really need it

a week from now and a month from now,

I didn't need it at all, period.

And if I already have something

and I see an ad for something

like a new protein powder.

And I already have a protein powder.

I make sure to finish what I have first

before I try this new thing,

because then I'll be replenishing what I need,

so only re-buying things that I run out of.

Not because it's on sale.

I never buy anything just because on sale

I only buy if I run out of it

or if it's totally worn out. I need something new.

And then it so happens to be on sale, then great.

Not buying something will save you more money

than buying something that you didn't need at 35% off.

And really the true purpose of all of this

is to steer my day to day

habits away from spending hours

scrolling and buying stuff

and consuming and consuming and instead

using that time and money and energy

into something that I can build my life with.

Because I've never once thought

about my cute outfit

when I'm having fun with friends and family,

I never once thought about

like the brand of collagen powder

I was using when I'm creating life experiences

or even like what

shade of lipgloss

look good on me

when I was having an amazing day outside

and I'm sure I looked good

because I wore what I felt comfortable in

and not because of the brand name

of something that I was wearing.

And no amount of owning cool

things will make you feel cool on the inside,

not even if it looks good on the Instagram girl,

it may not necessarily make you feel the same.

None of that compares to the books I've read.

The movies I've seen, the shows I've gone

to, the experiences

I've had, the travels I've done.

And I just need to keep reminding myself

of the purpose of everything that I'm doing,

and it needs to reflect on my spending habits.

You know what I mean?

If you're a shopaholic, you need to ask yourself,

why do I define myself as a shopaholic?

What is my real purpose

in doing everything that I'm doing,

a purpose that can overshadow

the need for buying useless junk

and really just analyze your budget,

go over it every month

and track your spending habits

and really analyze your patterns

and your habits

to see what actually is going wrong

and identify the root cause of why you're doing that.

And I want to be really real and tell you guys

that I'm a small YouTuber at the moment,

but in the future,

if I ever get approached to sell anything

and first of all, I will only promote

or be sponsored by brands that I really believe in.

I will never promote anything

that is not true to myself, my identity.

And I'll tell you, I never expect

any of you guys to buy anything you don't need.

And if you feel like you might need it, do research

and see if it actually fits into your life

and really be consuming in the way that serves you

and not the other way around.

I never want to promote overconsumption.

I never want to promote overspending and ruining your life.

And none of none of that

because it's dumb and it's stupid.

And I always want to talk about quality

and fit over quantity

so that you don't waste your hard

earned money buying stuff that you don't need.

And, you know,

my whole purpose is creating educational content

so you can weed out

all of the garbage in your life. Yeah.

And we need to understand

that the marketing universe,

the industry is just not always in our favor sometimes,

and that there's so much information

readily available for us

to actually make informed choices in our lives

so that we're not making

any kind of impulsive decisions.

It's always okay to sit on something and think about it.

And if you think about it,

impulse buys is really where

the capitalism industry makes most of their money.

We think about check out lines like Sephora,

they always had these little mini travel sized

bottles of like stuff that you can try out

and it's easy. You can just grab it

or little snacks and like,

did you go to Sephora for snacks

or to buy what you actually need?

So yeah, all I'm saying is be aware

and be mindful and be purposeful

so you can save your money and save your time

and save energy down the line

and make everything in your life,

a resource to serve you and not the other way around.

And actually just use your money

to create more purpose for your lives.

So I hope that all those tips

and tricks in this video will actually help you

kind of making sure that you're

making the right kind of purchases for yourself

and for your lifestyle.

And yeah, I hope this video was helpful to you.

And thank you all so much, you guys.

And I'll see you in the next video.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
addiction /əˈdɪk.ʃən/ C1	noun - the fact or condition of being addicted to a harmful and compulsive habit or substance
consume /kənˈsjuːm/ B2	verb - to eat or drink something, or to use something such as fuel, energy, or time
habit /ˈhæb.ɪt/ B1	noun - something that you do often or regularly, often without thinking about it
quality /ˈkwɒl.ə.ti/ B1	noun - the degree of excellence of something adjective - of good quality
investment /ɪnˈvest.mənt/ B2	noun - the act of putting money, effort, time, etc. into something to make a profit or get an advantage
privilege /ˈprɪv.ə.lɪdʒ/ C1	noun - a right or advantage that only one person or group has
purpose /ˈpɜː.pəs/ B2	noun - the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists
dopamine /ˈdoʊ.pə.miːn/ C2	noun - a chemical produced by the body that acts as a neurotransmitter and is involved in pleasure and reward
hoarding /ˈhɔːd.ɪŋ/ C2	noun - the act of saving possessions unnecessarily
decluttering /diːˈklʌt.ər.ɪŋ/ C2	noun - the process of removing clutter from one's home or environment
overspending /ˌoʊ.vərˈspend.ɪŋ/ C2	noun - the act of spending more money than you can afford
frugal /ˈfruː.ɡəl/ C2	adjective - careful about spending money or using resources
capitalism /ˈkæp.ɪ.tə.lɪ.zəm/ C2	noun - an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners
monotony /məˈnɑː.tə.ni/ C1	noun - lack of variety and interest; tedious repetition and routine
boredom /ˈbɔːr.dəm/ B2	noun - the feeling of being bored
mindfulness /ˈmaɪnd.fəl.nəs/ C1	noun - the practice of being completely in the present moment and accepting it
awareness /əˈweər.nəs/ B2	noun - knowledge or perception of something
empowerment /ɪmˈpaʊər.mənt/ C2	noun - the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights