Hey guys, it's Chelsea from the financial diet, and this week's video is brought to you by Rakatan, and today I am here with some fresh newly chopped mom hair for mother.

You guys about one of my favorite topics, which is shopping, and how to do it better. Today we are gonna be diving into some dark Chelsea lore and talking about all of my unfortunate shopping mishaps, whether it's the items I purchased and basically never wore or used or the money I could have saved if I was even slightly smarter about shopping these are the shopping regrets that haunt me to this day and since this list is nine whole items long, let's get crackin' number one.

I am afraid to put stuff back now. I don't know if this is something that you guys ever experienced, but for me, the more broke that I was at any given time, the more I felt compelled to buy things. Once I was even slightly into the process of shopping for it, I had massive insecurities about seeming poor so, like for example, if I pulled an item that I needed to price check if the price was too high.

I had that like cringy moment, of like I can't me like this is too expensive and put it back, I just got to suck it up and go through with it and hope my debit card doesn't get declined. This was, of course, doubly the case when I was shopping with other people who I either wanted to impress or at least didn't want to seem poor around, and as we discussed last week on this very channel there are specific psychological tactics used by salespeople to further encourage these feelings as well as to create a sense of trust and intimacy with them so that you feel very awkward at the least backing out of a purchase, and weirdly I have found that as I've gotten more financially comfortable I am much less concerned about that pressure or the perception people might have about things I don't end up buying I am very clear about asking for prices and if it's out of my price range, I'll just say a little out of my budget today. I do not care about the puppy-dog eyes the salesperson is giving to me.

I always ask about coupons at the register. I ask about upcoming sales, and I am never ever afraid to back out of something if I'm not totally in love and sold on it. Without a doubt, my biggest shopping regrets always came from stuff that I knew on some level wasn't right but felt compelled to go through with anyway, so I don't do that anymore now unfortunately number two is an item that I can't even blame on a pushy sales person or a peer pressure because I bought it while drunk and alone two o'clock in the morning in my studio apartment many years ago and that is my literal child's couch, so Basically, I can't even say that this was like some kind of like an emotional spiral.

I honestly think that what happened was that I was like at a party or something. And I like regretted not having a couch, but I had like no money at this time, so I couldn't afford to just buy a decent couch, so I just like started browsing online after like I had like several drinks and people had gone home or whatever, and I found this couch at IKEA like at the IKEA website that seemed incredibly reasonably priced, but it was. It was really cute, was like all white.

Is this really nice shape, and I was like hell yeah sold, and it was like my last dollars to buy this couch and I was like so excited the next morning I woke up, and I was like oh my couch has come in lo and behold the counter fives like a week later, and it is built for a child I don't know, like a quarter of the size of a normal human being's couch. And I kept that couch for like I don't know if I want to say like at least another year that I lived in that apartment because I couldn't even afford to like, send it back Just like I guess I have a child's couch now and here is a photo of me on my child's couch for you guys to enjoy so long story short. For clearly, this is not the worst thing someone can buy, and I made do with it, I was able to like, sit on it myself, which was nice, but to this day any time I'm like shopping online works like don't buy a child's couch also I know I mentioned this before, and it is a flex, but my husband is six-four, so you can only imagine what that man looks like, really like really have like that like giant that that you and McGregor's character becomes friends with, and, anyway, yeah, my literal child's couch number three is not using the right apps sites or plugins one of the biggest ways in which I consistently cost myself money while shopping was by not having the right tools up front when I decided to buy something especially when I was shopping online for things like children's couches I used to feel like signing up for these programs or installing these plugins would be too much of a hassle and, to be perfectly honest, one of my biggest weaknesses was shopping.

Is that I can be incredibly lazy, but it turns out that it's actually super easy and taking these few steps just ensures that every time you're buying something that you already wanted, you're getting a the best possible deal or be even potentially cash back for that same purchase taking just a few extra seconds at checkout could be the difference between saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars every year or spending that money totally needlessly and if you love saving while you shop you should check out Rakatan formerly Ebates Rakatan is the largest cash back site which partners with over 2,500 of the biggest name brands like Sephora Ulta Macy's and more to bring you cashback coupons and promo codes all for free you just clip through links found on Rakatan and then shop on the store's websites like you normally would for example if you go to Sephora calm, and you look at the top right corner there's this pop-up for a coupon just click on that button, and it'll activate the deal you literally get money back for the shopping that you were already gonna do Plus, you'll get a $10 welcome bonus when you join for free at the link in our description and make your first purchase of $25 or more and once you've done that, you'll be eligible to win a $100 gift card just hit the link in our description to enter number four is purchased items that I could have rented, so there are obviously times when a lot of us think of renting an item . For example, I was just at a black-tie wedding where a lot of people probably opted for something like a Rent the Runway or something that allows you to get a really, really upscale item for not so much money because you only need it for one thing, but there are so many more things that can be rented including for example lots of items around the house my husband and I are just about to move. And so many of the key items that we'll need for the process are things that we'll probably only need once or twice in an apartment the size of ours.

For example, something like a full-length ladder or more heavy-duty power tools you even rent moving boxes plastic ones frankly my home is a bit of a boneyard of things that I bought because I needed them for something and only ended up using them one time and very well could have rented it and if you've watched our video about things you can do at the library you probably didn't even know about you know that actually, the library is an incredible source of stuff that you can rent for free. Everything from camping equipment to passes for cultural events and museums are there for the renting for free. Anyway, long story short, unless the item you're buying is something that you know you're going to need again, And again, it's always worth taking at least one quick look if you could rent the item and if so if it wouldn't be a better deal just to rent it number five is any party shoes.

So one thing that's great about being thirty is that you can look at all of the terrible stupid pointless stuff that you did in your 20s and be like chapter closed and among those terrible things for me are things like freezing outside of a nightclub in a bandage dress and no coat because I wanted to look cute or getting shoes for a party or like a big going out event that I was so pained by that I would literally be holding them and walking barefoot on city streets by the end of the night probably getting like tetanus and all kinds of diseases from the ground because I think we all know what New York City streets are like I just feel that at 30 the time in my life when I want to be walking down the street being at McDonald's while holding a pair of shoes in my hand is like that's over It's not my journey anymore, and it's terribly sad because I have a few pairs of shoes that I very recently when I did my big closet purge. Had to just suck it up. and donate them because I was never wearing them again. I got this adorable pair of strappy heels for the TFD book launch in New York City that were like sky-high strappy black on the front with like all these like beautiful jewels and stuff on the heels.

They're gorgeous, but by like minute 30 of that party I was literally like pulling on my mom's shoulder because I was holding her so much being like I can't move, it was in many ways the worst possible choice I could have made and that mocks them about how you should always spend on anything that comes between you and the ground is incredibly true. I will never ever again put my feet in a pair of shoes that make every minute of that experience agony, no matter how cute they are. In fact, I have created a quick four-point checklist that I have started using for all of my shoe purchases going forward, and it served me well number one could I run up and down stairs in them, which happens way more often than you think when you live in a city with a subway system number two.

Are they not liable to be destroyed by inclement weather even if they've been weatherproofed things like you know light velvet or light suede shoes like those are a no number three unless their athletic shoes do they look reasonably good with the majority of my wardrobe and number four Can I get them resold or refinished at least a few times before having to get rid of them? Because honestly a good pair of shoes, especially things like boots, will last you for years and years and years if you take them to the cobbler. In fact, my favorite pair of heels recently snapped while I was walking, and I've had those bad boys for like four years and worn them constantly, so this was not really a surprise, but they'd already been to the cobbler once, and I took it back to my cobbler, and I was like can you do anything please my crops are dying, and he was like I'll fix it and all those shoes are fixed cobblers the new frontier similarly things that come between me and the ground on my shopping regrets is a crappy bed.

I don't know if you guys have heard, but my husband's been six for for two entire years in this apartment. We shared a full bed. Every bit of that experience I have blocked out from my memory was so bad, like every single morning I wake up like in his underhook and also the mattress and the bed frame.

Everything was of super shitty quality, so it like kind of sloped weirdly during the night and was also full-size. Like Marc's feet would like, poke up like something kind of like a children's fairy tale like some wolf when the grandmothers bought it anyway, so that was horrible, and it was funny too, he is looking back I only like I now realize why we did that because we had to get rid of our queen bed because we didn't think through another way that we could have configured the bedroom in order to make the queen fit, and we were like, you know what screw it let's just make do and get the full and because we had just moved, just gotten rid of the bed. We didn't make a ton of money to replace it with a nice bed. so we were like alright well we'll just deal with the crap bed for a year or two, and we'll make the 2 biggest mistakes of our lives like we should have skipped and not had like a dining table for two years rather than share a full-size shitty bed never skimp on a bed number 7 is monthly beauty boxes Now you may be thinking to yourself.

Chelsea is that a bag of Halloween candy, and it is not. It is one of several bags that I have of unused unopened, essentially unusable samples and minis and products from my Birchbox. Actually, Holly, who's filming me here.

I would highly encourage her to go through, there’s a lot of goodies in here that just like aren't necessarily a fit for me. Suffice it to say this bag is like 10 pounds and this isn't even the extent of it and, to be fair, Sometimes I do use these items for things like travel or whatnot. But like do I need what appears to be a lemonade mix that makes your skin better or baggage?

Claim gold I'm asked for the world's least usable samples of lipstick okay anyway, I mean some of this stuff looks decent. But like I also like I have gotten like 7500 fragrances. And I don't even wear perfume.

So all of this is to say like I actually don't hate the concept of beauty boxes if you're like a beautiful person. But if you're like me, and you wear the exact same makeup every day, and you have actual skin issues, so you're like pretty limited in the skincare items you can you can have like not worth it shopping regret number eight is not taking the time to try things on every single time I have ever been in a store and been like I'm in a rush, or I'm tired, or I have somewhere to be, or I feel bloated, or I just don't want to wear the lines too long. I'm sure this fits, and I just bought it without trying it on.

Has been my worst decision ever. This will frequently happen with shirts that I feel like I could eyeball like, and it's not that it doesn't fit me. It's that I just don't look good in it or would never have bought it if I'd taken the time to try it on and, quite frankly, half the reason of taking the time to try something on isn't just to make sure it fits properly it's also to make sure that you actually want the item because often the time that it actually takes to wait in the line to try it on to take off your clothes to put on the clothes to look at it to turn around by the time you've gone through all that nonsense You're like I actually don't need this or by the time you see that line you're like screw it this isn't worth waiting the line for, so you need to lean into that feeling and make sure you are using the Tryon phase as a buffer between you and buying stuff that you don't really need or want.

The only time it's okay to buy things without properly trying them on is if you have bought that exact item from that exact store like there are certain tops now that Banana Republic makes every single year. And I know exactly what I look like in them. I know the exact size, I know how it fits.

I can go in and get it in every color if I want to, but other than that, there's basically no way I can do that without really, really running the risk of burning myself Lastly, number nine is not refurbishing/changing items, so you can see here a couple of things that I've transformed or just like changed a little bit things like painting stuff, swapping out handles or drawer pulls making other minor cosmetic changes Not only does that open up the number of items you could possibly look for when it comes to bigger-ticket things. For example, if you really want like a blue side table, you don't have to get a blue side table, you could just get a really good side table and paint it blue, but it also makes you way more able to do things like shopping Craigslist and yard sales and consignment shops or even picking things up on the street this is especially useful for any items that tend to be expensive like wood furniture or light fixtures and also means that when you're bringing them into a new space or just even rejuvenating your own space you don't have to totally replace everything because you already know how to make those minor changes that make a big difference one of my favorite things to do in this regard is use contact paper I am all about now ordering decorative wallpaper and contact paper from places like Etsy, so I can take like I don't know a boring credenza that I got on Craigslist and like wallpapering the inside or the outside, putting up a little wallpaper behind a bed, basically making something feel really rich and special and unique without a having to spend a lot of money or be doing something that you can't change back When you move, anytime I've ever gotten rid of a good piece of furniture because I didn't have the vision to make small changes to it, I seriously regret it and anytime I felt that I needed to buy an item exactly as I wanted it rather than to make those little tweaks I regret that too but one regret that carries through to every purchase I make is not getting the best deal possible including cash back and if you feel the same I highly encourage you to check out Rakatan and don't forget that you'll get a $10 welcome bonus when you join for free at the link in our description and make your first purchase of $25 or more plus you'll be automatically entered to win a hundred dollar gift card just hit that link in our description as always guys thank you for watching and don't forget to hit the subscribe button and to come back every Tuesday and Thursday for new and awesome videos bye you.