10 Things Every Young Adult Should Purchase
Tags: Adulthood, College, Independence, University, Save Money

1. Walmart grocery delivery service

Odds are, you live in the city perhaps by yourself. You can save a whole lot of money by not driving and owning a car. If you don’t drive, it also means you’d have to do your weekly grocery shopping via public transit which can be a hassle. You may have to stand in line to wait for the bus or the subway to come while you guard your bags of groceries. Sometimes it’s inevitable that we’d have to traverse through the snow while carrying heavy bags in order to get food to our door. This is why many of us decide to just dine out instead because we are too lazy to shop for a whole week’s worth of food. And I get it. Hey, I was on my own while I was in the first, second, and third year of university. Grocery shopping can be stressful.

However, did you know that you can use services such as Walmart Grocery Delivery to get food to your door? You can do so with relative ease. Just order the food and the date of delivery. You can select next day delivery without extra charge. The delivery is fast and on time, it’ll arrive within the hour you signed up for. They pick the best produce you asked for and substitute the ones they are lacking with an equal value of goods or higher quality and value goods. You can also choose to decline a substitution in which case they won’t charge you. Each delivery cost $8 CAD. If you shop for 2 weeks' worth of goods in advance, you are just spending 2 extra dollars to save yourself from being exposed to deadly viruses during the pandemic. You are also saving yourself from having to wait for the bus, walk through the snow, and lifting heavy bags. They deliver right to your door! If you live in a building, you can give them instructions on how to get in the main entrance and they would get everything right to your unit.

For every young adult out there who doesn’t own a car (I’m proud of you. You’re saving so much money), lives alone, and has to eat. I would recommend this service.

2. Portable 2TB Hardrive

For every young adult out there. You should know that your computer isn’t the ultimate safe place to store your precious files. If you lost your device you might lose everything. Sure, you can store it in the cloud, but you know what’s also something you should do in case you get hacked and everything is deleted from the cloud? Have a separate place where you store everything. You can easily purchase a 2TB hard drive with a hundred dollar investment. It’ll save you a lot of heartbreak and headache with lost files. This is absolutely a must-have. You never know when your computer is going to give out on you. The past 2 laptops I have, one had a crack screen and I can no longer log in, the other just wouldn’t turn on. Pick a date every month or every week to update your files to the hard drive. You’ll thank me later. 🙂

3. Formal attire

We all need to own something nice. It doesn't have to be high quality, costing you a fortune. It just has to look nice and be reasonably durable so that it won’t fall apart after three washes. Pick a formal attire that you can wear for important events such as a wedding, an interview, dinner with the boss, networking event, etc. We should all dress for success.

I know some of you don’t like wearing fancy clothes. However, fancy clothes do lift your status and make others pay attention to you more which can be helpful if you’re trying to land that internship.

4. High-quality devices

When I say a high-quality laptop and phone I don’t mean luxurious devices. No, I meant don’t buy a no-name brand laptop or phone because you’d be looking at a whole lot of headaches from using untrusted devices. Pick well known, well-trusted brands such as Windows and Apple, etc.

You don’t have to own the latest devices as they can be too hard on the wallet. Consider buying open box items. Open-box devices are those that have been opened but the customer has returned them for reasons not due to defects. Perhaps they changed their mind. These devices are nearly brand new. The only thing that is different is that it has been opened. You can buy such devices from BestBuy as they have personnel that source through all the returned items to make sure they are not damaged. In many cases, it’s $200 — $500 cheaper!

I would have mixed feelings about buying a refurbished item. My current iPhone is refurbished and it saved me a lot of money and works like brand new. However, I’ve also heard people who had a terrible experience with refurbished laptops and phones.

The point is, we as young adults need trusted devices that can last a long time. We don’t want it breaking on us during important moments of our lives. Does anyone know the deep empty feeling of having your laptop broken? I hope it never happens to you as it had with me.

5. Weighted blanket

This type of blanket has beads sewn into its fabric and it makes it heavier. There are tons of articles written on the benefit of a weighted blanket. The effect ranges from better sleep to lesser stress. It stimulates the feeling of being hold and we all know how good that feeling is. You spend ⅓ of your lives sleeping, you might as well make it a good time.

6. Small portable heater

If you’re still a young adult, you probably haven't bought your own place yet and haven’t decided if you should. You might thus be renting. If you have no control over the heater in the place you rent, you might need to consider buying a small portable heater to keep you warm at night. Just remember to consult your landlords. Check how much the outlet can handle. For instance, you don’t want to plug in a device that uses 180 watts when the outlet can only handle 150 watts. It might cause a power shortage leaving you in the dark and in the cold. Worst case scenario, it might cause the whole place to go up in flame.

7. Fresh fruits and vegetables

You should have fresh vegetables and fruits in your fridge at all times. Learn to eat healthily because we only have one body. Try not to order pizza as much as possible. Cook for yourself and add healthy ingredients to your meals!

8. Small pots

This is a must. Every young adult needs to learn to cook. If you use a big family size pot, you might find yourself throwing away food. We all need a small pot to cook those 1 person meals so make sure you have it. Just eat it out of the pot if you wish to. Hey, I’m not judging. Save you the hassle of washing another bowl.

9. Journal

Everyone should have a habit of journaling. Writes down your thoughts for the day and write whenever you don’t feel good. We don’t always have someone to talk to when we feel bad because our friends can be busy. However, our journals can handle our troubles for the time being. Treat your journal like a friend. It’s your home away from home. I know that’s how I saw mine while I was living far from my family.

10. Instant noodles and other ready-to-eat meals

Make sure you have a stash of ready to eat meals on hand. We all know how busy we can suddenly get sometimes. In those cases, eating out and ordering food can be expensive so we should have something in our pantry for those moments.