Do the Opposite #45 - Why I'm NOT BUYING ANYTHING This Year, Do You Really Need That Subscription, Mouse Utopia

Good News Everyone!

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Do the Opposite YouTube Channel & New Video!

Here it is: "Why I'm NOT BUYING ANYTHING This Year! Join the #BuyNothingYear Challenge!"

And just for fun, here's my first meager attempt at creating a YouTube thumbnail :)

Check out the video and subscribe to the channel! I've committed to releasing a video on the channel every week. The themes I will be covering will be very similar to what I cover in the DTO newsletter: book recommendations and key takeaways, changing habits, minimalism, frugality, personal finance, starting a business, self-directed learning and more.

Another thing: if you've read about the #BuyNothingYear in the previous newsletter and thought you wanted to try it but it sounded a bit much, give a try to #BuyNothingMonth, #BuyNothingWeek or #BuyNothingDay and see how you feel! :)

My goal is to improve the quality of videos as we go along, and I welcome feedback! If there are topics you think would be great to cover in the channel, share your ideas with me by replying to this email!

Do You Really Need That Subscription? Cancelling Amazon Prime

This week I've cancelled Amazon Prime. One reason is the challenge above (#BuyNothingYear). Another is that we've noticed that we don't really have much benefit from having that subscription. Yes, it provides quick and free delivery but usually that just leads to a lot of impulse purchases.

I am not saying all subscriptions are bad. I still keep my Netflix (for now) and Scribd subscriptions because they bring me enough value!

What subscriptions do you pay for every month or year? Take a moment to think of what the real benefits of those are to you. Do they make your life better or do they only make you buy more or waste your time?

Articles

1) "The 13 Best Personal Finance Books, According to Money Experts" by Karen Iorio Adelson
I found this collection to be very good: some of the books I've really enjoyed are on it, and I am looking to read some more from this list! I previously loved: "Your Money or Your Life", "Total Money Makeover", "Power of Habit" and looking to read "Nudge" and "The Millionaire Next Door", as well as "Automatic Millionaire" :)

2) "You Can’t Cure Obesity with Bigger Pants" by Mr. Money Mustache
Another golden nugget from MMM archives! It's about learning to stop hiding and masking your problems (thus allowing them to get worse) and, instead, start forcing yourself to stare at the issues directly, so that you are more likely to take action towards fixing them when they are tiny.

We do this with clothing as we gain weight (I definitely did that in the last couple of years - once smaller t-shirts have stopped fitting me, I just switched to bigger ones); we also do that when we ignore bills and letters that we get until handling them becomes a huge task; we even do this with throwing our stuff inside a cupboard instead of folding and putting things away. Every time we make a small 'convenience' decision to ignore a problem, it will come back bigger.

3) "The Doomed Mouse Utopia That Inspired the 'Rats of NIMH' " by Cara Giaimo
This article is a bit out there, I must say. It's about Dr. John B. Calhoun, who in his career, kept building mouse 'cities' which grew bigger and more complex with each subsequent version. He wanted to know if he could build a "mouse utopia", a perfect little world where mice would have all they require: food, shelter, water, social lives. Learn what came out of it and how it relates to human societies and the modern world (cities) by reading this article ;)


Videos

1) It’s not you. Phones are designed to be addicting. | Vox
I often talk here at DTO about digital minimalism and steps we can take to decrease the addiction we've developed to our devices. This video is amazing because it doesn't just say how terrible that all is, but also shows which specific tactics marketers and developers use to get us hooked.

If you ever thought to yourself "Oh, I have no willpower, I can't stop grabbing my phone and scrolling Instagram/Twitter", you've been falsely accusing yourself. It's not a willpower issue at this point. There are literally departments of people whose only jobs are to make sure you spend as much time as possible using their app. They will go to any length and exploit any emotion they can, both positive and negative.

I will be sharing some tips in the future DTO letters on how we can succeed at "unplugging ourselves from the Matrix", stay tuned :)

2) 6 Weekly Rituals That Have Completely Changed My Life | The Financial Diet
I've found the tips in this video to be on point and effective. Highly recommend!

Tweet of the Week

Bonus fun tweet

Ethos

Quotes

"To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's."
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

"If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think."
― Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek

"Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five."
― Benjamin Franklin

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Keep doing the opposite,
Alex Kallaway
Website: dotheoppo.site
Twitter: twitter.com/ka11away