the oooh shiny fund

03 Dec, 2025

At the beginning of September 2025 I started using an oooh shiny fund, which is my term for the budget I give myself to spend on all the things that I tend to overspend on. In my case that's tarot decks, fountain pens and ink, general art supplies, journals, and the sort of very random impulse purchases I decide I just totally "have" to have.

On my first paycheck of each month, I transfer $25 to this fund, and can use that to buy a thing right away, or let it build up. This has been surprisingly helpful.

And, to my shock most of all, I've actually stuck to it.

The oooh shiny fund is the next step in addressing my consumerism and working to bring my behavior more in line with my ideals. Inspired by the Youtuber Mixtress Rae's 3 month no-buy and 2024 online no-buy videos, I've completed multiple online no buys, and each time I was on one, I felt more peaceful. Not just once, but each time I made the conscious choice to not purchase anything online for a period of time, to not buy whatever neat things I saw presented in the content I consumed, I felt more at ease.

And that is huge.

I'd finish an online no buy period (sometimes just a month, sometimes a few months) no worse for the wear and with a bit more in my bank account, having spent less of the previous period obsessing over whatever thing, having not wasted time trying to decide which one and justifying it to myself and revisiting the webpage to look at it and knowing it was just a temporary impulse but still struggling to ignore it.

I suspect I will still complete the periodic online no buy, but I wanted the chance to feel that ease all the time (ideally), so I decided to try creating a small monthly allotment for me to use on whatever I wanted in the "shiny" stuff category I would frequently find myself wasting time and energy on.

As with my online no-buys, it was harder at the beginning. I have planned out purchases I think I would like to make and revised those plans multiple times. I have seriously contemplated buying something beyond the current amount in the fund multiple times. But each time, though I have had to seriously think about it, I ultimately have decided to stick with my plan, and I'm super proud of that.

Below is the fund history so far, and details on each purchase.

September Purchase: Tamagotchi Original Gen. 1 - this is exactly the sort of random, kinda dumb impulse buy I talk myself into, where I decide I just "have" to have something, obsess over it for a few days, finally get it, and often find myself disappointed or not really doing the thing I intended to do with it. I'm most susceptible to these kinds of purchases when I'm feeling down already and in search of a dopamine hit.

Here's what happened: I saw that the new Hobonichi planner lineup was announced for 2026, thought the Tamagotchi one was adorable, and then thought "it would be so cute to have a Tamagotchi to go with the planner I want to get." Friends, never in my life have I had a Tamagotchi. I knew that odds were a high-demand toy that I had to pay consistent attention to would likely come to irritate me. Off to Reddit and YouTube I went, and after days of obsessing, learning about the history of Tamagotchi and debating which version and color to get, ultimately decided on the gen. 1 for an "original" experience¹, and drove my self to Walmart at 7:30 in the morning, and bought a Tamagotchi and some sleep gummies. I sent my sister a photo and said "I'm not stress buying random shit at Walmart at 8 AM, you are."

And then things went exactly as I expected. I enjoyed the novelty of raising my little alien egg for a few days, thought the beeps were rather shrill (you can turn them off but a volume feature would be nice), successfully raised my Tamagotchi to a healthy, happy adult (I got Mametchi) and artificially paused the unit by putting it in time set mode, where it has remained ever since. I could continue to take care of Mametchi, or reset it and raise a new egg, but neither sounds particularly fun.

Yep.

And, by the way, I wound up deciding on the squirrel themed Hobonichi Weeks by artist duo 100% ORANGE, not the Tamagotchi one.

October Purchase: Black Seed Tarot by Theresa Hutch - you'll never expect this, but I was feeling stressed, anxious, and down. So, naturally, I decided to browse Amazon. I started looking for cheap tarot decks (easier to justify), and this one was only $10.40 y'all. Whaaat? I watched some YouTube flip-throughs and comparisons to the artist's other tarot deck, obsessed thought about it for a day or two, and then bought the deck along with a new pair of flip-flops I genuinely needed as my current pair was significantly worn (another pro-tip for justifying purchases: bundle the thing you want with something "legitimate," it feels better that way since you aren't just purchasing the random thing). On the positive side, I do enjoy this deck and the watercolor animals it features. It may be one of the keepers of my tarot decluttering process, which I've written about before, although my general love affair with it has died down as the novelty has worn off. But did I need it? No.

November Purchase: Bear Blog subscription - I decided to subscribe to Bear Blog because I was really enjoying the platform after a week of using it and I want to support what Herman is trying to do. The subscription is in my oooh shiny fund budget because I'm not sure how long I'll stick to blogging. So far, I've thoroughly appreciated the opportunity to formalize my thoughts and think through whatever topic I'm writing about. For the eagle-eyed mathematicians among you: yes, the timing of my subscription renewal vs. my monthly deposits did mean that I was briefly in the red on the fund overall, but that particular deviance I've decided to ignore and attempt not to repeat.

November Purchase: Hobonichi Weeks - I had intended to purchase my planner from a retailer that still a super cute Spy X Family pencil board from the 2025 releases in stock and throw in a page clamp to reach the free shipping threshold, but after my aforementioned tarot deck buy and the retailer raising the shipping threshold slightly, doing so would be very definitely outside of the oooh shiny fund's range, so I pivoted to ordering just the planner from a retailer whose free shipping threshold the purchase would meet. Points for self control!

For the first quarter of 2026 I am going to experiment with raising my monthly contributions to $35. I'd like a little more wiggle room and to be able to look forward to a quicker buildup of my fund, but I am not sure if this will be helpful or not, so I will be revisiting it come April.

I am not feeling the same ease as in my online no-buy periods as clearly evidenced by my anecdotes above, but I am more at ease than I was prior, and this process is becoming easier as I get further into it. I'm looking forward to checking back in on my oooh shiny fund in April and giving myself more time to try out the concept.

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