What I'm not buying in 2025
Revelations from last year, and what I'm spending my money on instead.
Editor’s note: It’s been a looooong week. I hope you are all hanging in there. Apologies for not sending a newsletter last Sunday; I needed to unplug and deal with some personal stuff. The good news is that, for the foreseeable future, I will have a lot more time to devote to Substack, the blog, Instagram, Bluesky (I just joined!), and whatever else I get up to. This is the newsletter I originally meant to send on the 12th; considering Lunar New Year is Wednesday, the message still resonates.
So far this year I’ve noticed a lot of people on social media and especially here on Substack becoming very conscious about their consumption. It makes sense—after the excess of the holidays (and the subsequent credit card bills) I think many of us feel the need to tighten our belts a bit. I am doing a no-buy January for this very reason, but as I learned from my no-buy month last year, it really does help you become more aware of your spending habits and the reasons behind them. January is also goal- and resolution-making time, and in my case, it’s hard to save up for a kitchen remodel when you’re constantly dropping money on things you don’t necessarily need. Now, let’s not be mistaken: I love shopping. I love things. They make me happy. I don’t think I will ever stop being a shopper, and I accept that. I pride myself on being a smart shopper, even, but there are always lessons to be learned. I am human and I sometimes spend my money on stupid sh*t. So here’s what I’m not going to buy in 2025.
Cheap jewelry
I have always been a jewelry person, and I come from a long line of jewelry lovers. Jewelry is one of the most meaningful things we can wear—the watch you got for graduation, your grandmother’s locket, and of course, your wedding ring—and it’s often cited as a way to add personality to your look. Like anything in fashion, jewelry is subject to trends, and like nearly everything else in our post-industrial society, they don’t make it like they used to. I have vintage costume jewelry that belonged to my grandmother and is probably over 60 years old but you’d never know it. Nowadays, I’m lucky if I can wear “fashion” jewelry once without the finish rubbing off. I’ve even tried “demi-fine” jewelry—an influencer-favorite brand that rhymes with Horsey, for example—and the 18k gold plating wore off in under a month. I can’t help but think of all the money I’ve spent on cheap jewelry over the years, and what if instead of buying a ton of crappy stuff that tarnished or broke, I bought a few really good gold and precious-stone pieces that I’d have forever instead? I know, hindsight is 20/20 and I won’t beat myself up over it; after all, fine jewelry is exponentially more expensive than costume jewelry, and because of its worth, its prices have kept pace with inflation much more closely than clothing. Also, I clearly have champagne taste. But I will not be spending my money on crappy jewelry in 2025—if it’s not the real thing, I’m not buying it.
Stuff on Amazon
Even before the whole Washington Post presidential endorsement (or lack thereof, technically) debacle of last year and the tech-billionaire oligarchy government situation we seem to be moving toward, I was starting to sour on Amazon. (Which, like the Post, is owned by one of the world’s richest men, Jeff Bezos.) While I have found a few gems here and there, most of the products I’ve bought on Amazon in the last year or so have been absolute crap, and truly felt like I was lighting money on fire by shopping there. To add insult to injury, Amazon’s affiliate program—which I am still a part of, to be transparent—keeps clawing back its terms: shortening cookie windows, lowering commission payments, and generally making it more difficult for creators to get credit for sharing products with their audience. But the thing that really pissed me off is that a coworker randomly came across a product for sale on Amazon that was using my photos—including my face—without my permission (another friend did a reverse image search and found a different product page using additional images to sell dupes of a designer item I’ve featured several times on Cheryl Shops). I, of course, reported the sellers for copyright infringement and thankfully my photos have since been removed. Still, the entire thing felt so violating and I can only imagine how many other sellers out there are using my likeness (and my intellectual property!) without my permission—not to mention that of other content creators. On a personal level, I am really trying to avoid shopping on Amazon, and I am going to cancel my Prime membership when it’s up for renewal this year. When it comes to this newsletter and all of my other social media, I will not be sharing any more Amazon products going forward. No judgment if you continue to shop with Amazon—it’s terribly convenient—but for me, it’s a hard pass.
Things just to feature on the blog
Like a lot of people, I am very attracted to newness. It’s like that whole “a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear” conundrum, except that as a content creator, I feel a certain amount of self-imposed pressure to always be sharing something new with you. I’m very aware that I’m part of the problem of driving this overconsumption situation we seem to be finding ourselves in. (It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.) So it’s going to stop now. I am sticking solely to my shopping list (you can read more about it here), which currently has a mere 7 items on it—fewer, better things per my 2025 In and Out list—and considering I’m on a spending freeze at the moment, it may be awhile before I actually buy anything at all. This means that my content on Cheryl Shops is going to look a little different going forward—fewer outfit posts (which honestly feel kind of 10 years ago anyway), more reviews and real-life content (which you tend to like most). Not to worry, I have two months’ worth of stuff planned already, and I can’t wait to share it all with you.
P.S. There is also a particular brand that I will not be featuring anymore. I can’t mention it at the moment as I’m under an NDA, but perhaps I’ll name names in an upcoming paid-subscriber-only newsletter. BTW, I have my first edition coming next week, so now would be a great time to upgrade. ;)
This week on the blog
Even though it’s no longer available online, everyone is still talking about the Wirkin (e.g. the Walmart Birkin). So with that in mind, I gathered six more good Hermès dupes, including these $15 Oran knockoffs from Target.
You just stopped me from buying multiple pairs of inexpensive earrings I do not need.
Totally agree on limiting the Amazon buys and buying good quality jewelry. I’m also doing these. Or not doing these! I’m also looking for good quality items by up and coming or small batch artists or retailers.