Shopping: 2025 Review

I got serious about not shopping this year, so let’s see how I did.  First, let’s go over the parameters set from last year via my post 2024 Review and 2025 Goals:

• Shopping: $5,000
• Clothing: $500
• Gifts: $500 + partner stuff
• Bags: $200, three max bags allowed
• Cute: $100 and one single $50+ item, with no Care Bears and etc allowed!
• Books: $500, but no real max, as needed
• Games, Digital: $400
• Games, Physical: $200
• No computers, phones, or large electronics allowed this year
• A few little tattoos, with exceptions for Asia based artists if available

How did I do? Quite well actually! Well, maybe not that great but we’ll get into that. Overall, I spent $8,500 in the shopping category this year, which is a little disturbing as I had separated out Shopping ($7,500) and Hobbies ($1,000) for 2025. And that number is about the same as in 2024 somehow. But as you'll see, I think I cut down dramatically in some areas!

Big Ticket Items

As covered in my Ways and Means 2025 post, I spent $700 on two tattoos, and about $300 on ukulele equipment. The only other item of note I got was AirPod 4s ($100) back in June, which really were a boon because my old ones were dying. Actually, now it’s about earphones for every situation. I have four: Airpods for normal use, AirPods Pros for noise cancelling flights, open cuff ones for the gym-- recommend the Soundcore C30i ($35)--and old Airpods for quiet TV watching time. AMR taught me the valuable lesson of “why not more earbuds?!"

Clothes

My biggest thing to cut down on this year was clothing. I went full on into the “all black” or nothing at all wardrobe, which helped tremendously. Also I vowed to not get any more jackets, especially denim, or anything that couldn’t be worn over and over. How’d I do? Overall, a huge success!

I bought $550 worth of clothing, spread over twenty items, with the most expensive being a Yang Hansen jersey ($85) and a pair of Adidas Sambas ($80) mid-Asia trip. Other than that, nearly everything else was black basics, various hats, or my entirely necessary Hello Kitty clogs ($30) to replace my worn out ones. Oh I also bought some t-shirts with designs on them that I had to have, namely a Chicago Sky shirt and a KPop Demon Hunters one.

But here’s the big caveat: I spent almost exactly what I budgeted for normal clothing, but then I decided to get healthy and live a long time, and so I had to get exercise-y. As it turns out, working out costs money! Precisely $650 worth of it  as I had to gear up all the way. Three pairs of Adidas shorts, compression shorts for inside those short shorts, two running shirts, two pairs of shoes—general trainers and tennis ones—and two wrist gadgets for my failing wrist. Also, I got a Tune Belt running belt ($30) and an Adidas hat ($25). As you can see, I decided to dedicate my entire gym wardrobe to Adidas, head to toe. And to further that commitment to Adidas, I mean, exercise, I bought three full track suits, one each in black, gold, and warm clay ($65). Now I can sweat sweat sweat in class and style.

Oh and I was gifted a wonderful baggy pair of Zara pants ($90) from my mother-in-law that we then tailored and will look wonderful whenever I choose to debut them. Likely in two to three years, knowing how I am about new stuff.

In addition, I stopped my whole “one to rock, one to stock” policy of getting doubles of things and that will have innumerable benefits for our storage space. Next year: no new clothes at all! My goal is to wear the stuff I’ve had sitting around that I never put on due to fear of dirt. My mint Mickey Mouse hoodie, my fancy Japanese pants, etc.

Gifts

Somehow my second biggest Shopping category was “Gifts: Family,” at $1,400. I dunno why that number is that number, but here we go regardless. Gifts to my mom: ukulele, two small vacuums ($45 each), and a Wirecutter recommended syitren R300 CD player ($100). Some clothing from Korea, random house stuff. A small karaoke machine from Ximen. So let’s say a third of that went to my mom.

There was $100 worth of KPop Demon Hunters shirts for all the nieces and nephew, which had to be done. Oh and I guess I ran a Poway Olympics this year, which was about a hundred dollars total too.

This year I gave each of the kids $100 in Uncle Bux for the year, in an attempt for me to get them stuff but stop the random gifting I did all the time. After a few days of excitement—one of them immediately spent $30 Uncle Bux on a fancy pencil sharpener—they forgot abou them until the end of the year, where we blew a happy $150 at Miniso—their first visit to that cute heaven.

What did I give George and AMR? Apparently, nothing! Oh wait, a Meijer Simpsons suit ($30) and a Medieval Times mini-mug ($10). They still have Uncle Bux to spend…

Under a separate tag, “Gifts: Slushy” is gifts for my wife, which only totaled $450. An Odysea surf board ($100) that we drove all the way to Carlsbad to buy, some Xmas related things, and that seems to be about it! I need to gift her more frankly!

Games, Books, Beauty, Misc

So I set aside Hobbies as a new category, which mostly encompassed games and books. I figured they were “shopping” but I was spending enough on them that I wanted to separate them out. In 2025, buying physical (board) games cost me $350, digital games $300, and $400 for League of Legends and Marvel Snap related stuff. That’s exactly $1,000 total for games. Most of the digital games expenditure was an iOS board game splurge in December, but also I got Mario Party Jamboree, Switch Sports, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and Tiny Bookshop for my Switch. Oh I also spent $100 on two extra JoyCons so that we could play six player Boomerang Fu. Actually let’s reconfigure, with $125 for digital iOS games, $250 for Switch stuff, and $250 for physical games.

The physical games I bought: Sherlock Consulting Detective: Thames Murders ($60), Everdell ($50), Wavelength ($35), Bohnanza, Medium, Sunday Club, Ravensburger memory, and Grab and Go Monopoly, which is a tiny Monopoly set I’m in love with!

$350 on sixteen physical books, and an equal amount on twenty-five digital books—with a hundred of those going toward a single book, Georgia Munro-Cook’s Building the WNBA. It provides a comprehensive historical and contemporary analysis of the WNBA and there’s no other book like it, so I had to get it.

Then, as we were in Korea, we had to get beautiful… After our skin analysis, Slushy took me to Olive Young and helped me procure $120 worth of stuff, which included a cleanser, a toner, two serums, a Medicube, every day sunblock, and an all-important moisturizer. In fact, this moisturizer is so good that I’m gonna give you the name of it so you can get it yourself: AESTURA ATOBARRIER365 Cream ($30). We already sold George on it and Slushy said it’s the best moisturizer she’s ever used. Don’t be a fool, go get some! I was very stingy with my skin products but realized now that I’ve been hoarding them too much, so I’m actaully nowhere near needing refills, minus the Atobarrier.

Also, “beauty” tag related, we spent $450 on dental stuff such as toothbrushes, all the mouthwashes, dental mints, and gum. Most of that was spent together but I just wanted to note that because I wanted to tag “dental” this year especially, as it was your first year doing the Dr. Ellie change-your-life-and-mouth program. Isn’t growing a fabulous mouth garden worth $20 a month each?!

Bags

So here was my biggest problem historically. I love to buy bags and never use them. For 2025, I was given the nigh-impossible quota of $200 and only three new bags max.

You don’t know how many bags I showed poor Slushy in real life and online, as I mulled over every bag decision. Here I will go into detail about the bags that I actually bought, starting with three that technically, very technically, didn’t count.

GU Bag ($20): A sling type bag that was just handy to have, purchased in Japan I believe. This was part of a larger GU purchase so it wasn’t counted as a “bag Jon bought.”

Hangyodon Purse ($15): I saw this beauty at Shilin and circled around three times to look at it while Slushy was in the bathroom. Knowing that I was down to just one open slot for bags, I asked her if this should be it. Cons: it’s pretty small, it’s pretty useless. Pros: it’s got a soft velvety vinyl feel, it’s so so cute. Slushy allowed for it to be “an accessory” if I wore it as such, and I had to promise to wear it soon. That day is coming…

Silver Sling ($15): All Asia trip long, I’d been saving a slot for a silver purse. The search was endless and any store I entered, I’d head straight for anything silver-y. I initially thought my Cinderella would be the Topologie Bottle Sacoche Medium in Chrome, which I’d been eyeing forever online, but when we went to actually look at it, it was just too big. Same with another silver purse in the same department store in Taipei. I was ready to blow all my money on a silver purse!

As it turned, this silver sling was found in one of those cafe-heavy alley neighborhoods in Seoul and it was mostly perfect and it was so cheap. Slushy bought me this purse, along with her own two or three purchases, and thus preserved a precious bag slot for me. I’ll never forget!!!

#1 Black Military XL, Sea Bees ($35): The first bag of the year was bought on April 2 in a Kyoto covered mall. I was on my own, a solo mission, and I went to Sea Bees, this European Surplus store. It had a few options and I was looking for a larger sling for our trip. As it turned out, I got a gigantic sling type. I agonized over the decision but bought it quickly, without even consulting Slushy. Brave, I know. But it was the right move. We used this bag many times over the next few weeks. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#2 Sling Bag, Kelty ($55): Exactly one week later, I was faced with another hard decision. Was I really about to blow another bag slot just one week later, at Hands Shibuya, one yet another black sling bag? The answer was “yes!” This bag fit me so well and had the perfect zippers, compartments, and pockets. I regret nothing. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#3 Hello Kitty Handcrafted Tapestry Tote Bag ($35): I almost escaped 2025 with only two bought bags—officially. I actually used my last slot on this pink canvas tool bag, but when it arrived it was deemed too ugly and useless. Then, with the clock ticking down, Instagram fed me this HK tote bag and I was done for. It may not look cute now, but imagine it slung over my arm as I go everywhere with it. “It’s durable, stylish, and eco-friendly! A charming mix of creativity and function—designed for fans and lovers of all things cute. Shop now to grab this exclusive piece!” How could I resist? On Dec 22nd, I pulled the trigger. Unfortunately due to shipping delays, it still has not arrived. Do I look at the tracking daily?  Yes, I do. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (I can only assume.)

Cute

As for cute things, I was given a self-imposed budget of two cute items. That is mostly defined as “cute items that take up space,” since space is at a premium here at my house. Frankly, I did amazing in this category as I bought NO CUTE THINGS IN 2025! Do you hear me, NO CUTE THINGS!

Okay, that is not entirely true. What I got near the end of the year was a badger figurine ($15), one that is teeny tiny and made of ceramic, you know the type. Did I also spend a few weeks chasing Lil McDonalds toys—I got the chicken nuggets tray, the gold Happy Meal box, and the McD’s Restaurant—and the TMNT x Sanrio collab Happy Meals stuff? Yes I did, but those are all small things that can go eventually into my treasures box. I basically escaped 2025 with nothing cute that would take up space anywhere.

Until Christmas Day, when George and Co. gave me a mysterious present cunningly presented to me via Potato, their new English bulldog—whom I have a contentious relationship with. Note that the exact rule I have listed from the end of 2024 was: “Cute: $100 and one single $50+ item, with no Care Bears and etc allowed!”

Guess what Potato gave me? A boxed two set of Good Luck Bear as Elphaba and Love-a-Lot Bear as Glinda!!! Sigh. Dogs man, man’s best friend indeed. Of course I had to go see what other characters were in the series and they were all wonderful. So yeah, I closed out 2025 with Grumpy Bear as the Wicked Tin Man nine-inch plushie. I mean, what can you do right?

Goals 2026

For this new year, I am going to cut down my spending even more! I read this rule in a newsletter and will aim to do the same: “I managed stick with my favorite time-tested shopping strategy: Never Buy Anything.”

Along with that, a great idea! Instead of buying Amazon stuff willy nilly, I am now going to just put everything in the cart until Wednesdays, and then review and buy everything at once then. That'l give me the important cool down period, and make Wednesdays so extra-exciting!

I’m aiming to slash my clothing budget even further, from $500 to $300—mainly to account for shoes and replacement items. No bags and no cute things. Z-E-R-O. The re-run of Uncle Bux is a great idea. Gifts for family and partners, all good. Books and games, those are mostly fine but I'll strive to keep decreasing those as we go.

And I made a big decision: I am now (back) into pins. In lieu of collecting or purchasing anything else, I will now get pins. And please, if you must get me anything, get me pins. I have a pin display now, which I just bought for twenty dollars. Yes, I realize there’s some irony there in buying something to stop buying, but I guess that’s how consumerism works.