How Social Media Is Contributing to Your Financial Problems.

Bruh, the Internet may be humanity's downfall.

I won't deny that social media creates an opportunity to make money and create a good living.

But for those of us who are not making the big bucks on it or don't desire to pursue the entrepreneurial path through it, social media can cause more problems than we acknowledge.

It's all sell sell sell.

Social media is no longer centered on entertainment; it's about selling the latest and supposedly greatest.

It's a great medium to advertise products, but it's getting out of control.

I hate how every time I look up something on Google out of curiosity, I get bombarded with ads the second I log onto my Instagram.

Did I ask for a million advertisements to be sent to my phone? No!

For the past couple of weeks, I've seriously considered deleting some of my social media profiles because of this.

In addition to my unfortunate doom-scrolling habits.

I get hooked on Reels so easily. I don’t notice time go by and waste maybe an hour scrolling. *Sigh*

One of the worst things I've noticed is the FOMO you start to feel when these ads tell you that everyone else has what you don't have.

I can't imagine how much money people have spent after falling for this strategy.

Hell, I've fallen for it.

Do you know that purple goo that is advertised as the latest thing in teeth whitening? Yeah, I bought it, goodbye, $34.

Oh, and my Dr. Broner's toothpaste works better.

Yeah…… Lesson learned.

Our consumerist culture is still based on 'if you purchase this, your problems will go away.'

We know by now this is not true, and it doesn’t work.

Consumerism is getting out of control.

We're sold a product for the lips, another one for the lashes, and another one for the feet, legs, arms, hair, eyelids, etc.

Oh, and don't get me started on the hundreds of brands that sell the same product.

Maybe It's cause I'm a woman, and women are raised to believe we're not good enough as we are, so we have to purchase ALL these products to fix all these supposed issues.

But after a lot of inner work, I've learned buying more things can't help fix what's going inside.

I also see ads targeting men.

The number of times I've seen a video of personal trainers showing off their male clients' transformation, it's ridiculous.

I'm not saying that working out and being healthy isn't something we all should strive for.

What these ads do is indirectly convey that if you don't have this crazy transformation where you now have six-pack abs, it's not good enough.

I'm tired of constantly being shown messages that say there will always be something that needs fixing.

That I need to purchase X to finally fix Y, but then shortly after, I'm also gonna need to buy Z because Y still needs more to be completely fixed.

It's all BS, and we need to open our eyes so we can stop being pawns in this consumerist game.

After all, this is how these giant companies make their money.

They convince us we need every product they offer, constantly trying to achieve an impossible ideal, and we go broke while we're pursuing it.

We don't need more stuff!

What we need is to simplify our lives to what's the most important and necessary.

I've been slowly weaning out of products for the past year or so.

I've been looking in my kitchen cabinets, my bathroom drawers, my vanity, etc., taking inventory of the products and items I don't use or stopped using.

Let me tell you; there's A LOT.

This month, I've also promised to purchase only what's necessary.

I do allow myself to indulge here and there — restaurants, movies, coffee, because that's an experience I genuinely enjoy — but I've given myself a tighter budget than I used to.

Why? Because it's finally registering that more stuff doesn't bring joy.

I may be happy for the first few minutes I get the delivery and open the package.

But once I put whatever I bought away, I forget all about it until a few weeks or months later when I remember what I purchased and possibly have some use for it.

This uncluttering process has helped me with destressing and lessening my anxiety.

Let me give you an example.

Soaps. Believe it or not, there are soaps for everything, And they're also advertised on social media.

One to wash your hands, another to wash your dishes, another to wash your clothes, another to clean your bathroom tiles and sink, another to clean your kitchen counters, etc.

Once I learned that these ingredients are all basically the same, I started weaning out of these soaps.

Now I only use one soap for dishes, cleaning the bathroom tiles, sink, and kitchen counters. This soap is also safe to wash your hands with.

It’s wonderful how easy it is to clean without going nuts, wondering if I have the 'correct' soap.

Also, the amount of space that has opened up underneath my sink. It's a beautiful thing, truly.

I'm still weaning out of my old laundry detergent. Once I finish it, I will also use this same soap because it can also be used to wash your clothes.

At this point, you may be wondering what I'm using. Here's my secret — pure Castile soap. Its versatility and safety are amazing. I highly recommend it.

I also highly recommend you do a similar declutter.

The more stuff I get rid of, the less stressful my life becomes.

There's less stuff littering my drawers and cabinets, making cleaning my apartment a simple process.

I'm a lot less overwhelmed because I don't need a million soaps to clean my apartment thoroughly, and I don't go nuts over how much stuff I have that's taking up too much space.

As you can see, it's a sick cycle.

Another great result of simplifying your life, and the point of this blog, is that you spend less money overall.

You buy one soap instead of five.

Apply this to other household items, and voila! You'll be keeping more of your money in your pocket.

I hope that we can all succeed on this journey of decluttering our lives, focusing on what really matters to us, and living a life that’s authentic to our values.