The idea behind the 'No Buy' Challenge is very simple: you aren't allowed to buy anything that isn't on your list of allowed exceptions.
How Did I Learn About the No Buy Challenge?
I first heard about the concept of a 'No Buy Year' from Leena Norms (one of my favourite YouTubers) who took on the challenge in 2019. At the time, I was stunned, I couldn't imagine ever giving up shopping for an entire year. The notion seemed radical to me. She referred to a channel called The Personal Philosophy Project which quickly became another favourite of mine. Cinzia, who runs this channel, has been doing the No Buy Challenge for over 2 years now and has made lots of videos about why and how she is doing this.
What Made Me Want to Take on the No Buy Challenge?
The more I learnt about this challenge, the more intrigued I was. I have attempted 'No Buy' months before but I never actually thought about doing this for an entire year until very recently.
I first discovered minimalism through The Minimalists Podcast, when I was about 16 and have been interested in minimalism ever since. Over the last 5 years I have decluttered a significant percentage of my possessions but I still own a lot. However, in the last year or so, as I have learnt more about the science of happiness, the more I am convinced that minimalism is the way forward. I am now determined to finally reach the stage where I feel like I can confidently identify as a minimalist.
Although I have become pretty good at decluttering, I still find myself bringing a lot of new things in to my life. This is a habit that I have never seriously questioned before and, if I am being honest, challenging this scares me. Which is exactly why I know this has to be the next stage in my minimalism journey. So, I started thinking about the idea of doing a No Buy Year, but I still wasn't sure I wanted to commit to something so big.
The icing on the cake that made me decide to take the plunge was when I opened my Christmas presents this year. My mum knows that I am interested in minimalism and sustainability and therefore didn't want wasteful presents so she bought me thinks like sweets and soap and candles. I was very grateful but I realised that that bag of presents had been far more exciting to me when everything was wrapped and it was full of surprises. Once I opened those presents, it just felt like (albeit nice) stuff to me. I have known for a while that material purchases can't make us happy but I am not sure I fully believed it until that concrete proof was sitting in front of me. And so a few days later, just before the start of the new year, I decided that if material purchases aren't going to make me happy, then I want to stop wasting my money on them.
Why Am I Doing the 'No Buy' Challenge?
The main reason why I am doing the no buy challenge is because I want to break my bad shopping habit. I want to stop purchasing items I don't really need as a way to get a quick high. If I want to find deeper meaning in life, I am going to need to work past the pacifying comforts of shopping.
The second reason why I am doing this is because I want to start spending my money more intentionally. I started having therapy again about six months ago and it is not cheap. If I am going to continue, I will have to cut my spending in other areas. I also want to have more money available to spend on experiences. You can read this blog post to learn more about why I think experiences are a better way to spend your money than material purchases.
And lastly, I would like to save more money. I have been shocked by how much money I have been spending recently and given that I will be graduating in just over a year, having some savings won't do me any harm.
This Is An Experiment
The reason that I am doing this is to challenge my bad shopping habits, not to punish or deprive myself. I personally often struggle with challenges because I can be quite a perfectionist about them and give up if I make a tiny mistake. My goal isn't actually to buy as little as possible, my real goal is to only make purchases actually add value to my life, so if I decide half way through the year that a certain purchase will actually add a lot of value to my life then I am not going to deprive myself of it.
My Allowed Exceptions
Here is a list of all the ways in which I am allowing myself to spend my money in 2021:
(This list differs slightly from that in my YouTube video. I have tried to make this list here, more comprehensive, so that it includes every single way in which I am allowed to spend my money to avoid any confusion about whether or not I am sticking to my rules)
1. Rent and Utility Bills I obviously can't not spend money here
2. Food and Drink (this includes groceries, alcohol, takeouts and eating at restaurants and coffee shops) Food and cooking are a big source of joy in my life so I don't want to limit this. Although eating out is expensive, I only ever really do this with friends and so I don't mind spending the money as I view it as being more about the social experience. Similarly with coffee shops. I also like to study in coffee shops (Covid permitting) and if £3.20 for a latte is the price of a productive afternoon then I will take it.
3. Experiences (Holidays, Days Out, Cinema etc.) As previously mentioned, you can read this blog post to learn more about why I think experiences are a better investment than material purchases.
4.Travel (trains, buses etc.) In order to get to and from aforementioned experiences I will obviously need to spend money on travel.
5. Books/eBooks (when I run out) Last year I watched A LOT of TV and Films so this year I want to try and spend more time reading instead which will obviously require me to buy some books although I must finish all of the books that I already own before I am allowed to buy any more.
6. Audiobooks (when I run out) I am viewing these as separate categories because I often listen to audiobooks while travelling or in the evening if I am tired and I don't want to miss out on an opportunity to consume more books just because I am too lazy to read the physical books I have lying around. Again, I must have listened to all of the audiobooks that I own before I buy any more.
7. Embroidery Supplies I have recently taken up embroidery and it is bringing me a lot of joy, so I don't want to limit this although I don't expect it to be too expensive a hobby. I have a lot of scrap fabric lying around and if I reuse my hoops, I will only need to buy thread.
8. Therapy Self explanatory.
9. Gym Membership and Exercise Covid permitting I would love to start attending gym classes again as this personally adds a huge amount of value to my life. I am only allowed to spend money on the experiences themselves not things like workout gear as I already have PLENTY.
10. Replacing essentials that run out (this includes cleaning products, makeup and skincare) I am obviously allowed to replace essential items but I am only allowed to do this when they run out (hopefully this will help me to use up what I have) and I am only allowed to buy one replacement at a time. Hopefully, by saving money, I will be able to afford more ethical options for the items I do need to replace. Note that the definition of essential is loose, for example, when my mascara runs out I will be buying a new one even though I could live without it.
11. Existing Subscriptions This includes iCloud and supporting my favourite creators on Patreon. My parents kindly pay for Spotify, Youtube Premium, Netflix and Disney+ as we have family accounts on these services.
12. Present for Other People I am allowed to buy other people birthday and Christmas presents etc. although I am trying to work out how to do this is a way that reflects my own values, i.e. not buying them the wasteful items that I wouldn't want.
13. Charity and Donations I am not limiting the amount of money that I am allowed to donate this year and if I save enough money by doing this challenge, I would actually like to donate more.
14. £5 per month on films (added on 18/01/21) Although I have subscriptions to Netflix and Disney+ there are a lot of films on my Letterboxd watchlist that I would like to see that aren't available on these services so I am limiting myself to £5 per month so that I get to watch some of these without going crazy. If I buy or rent films through Youtube this will probably work out at about 1 film per month.
Although I am not giving myself budgets in most of these allowed areas, I am going to try to be mindful and not spend more in these areas than I normally would, just because I am saving in other areas.
If you decide to take on a no buy challenge yourself it is important to work out what you are trying to get out of the challenge and to define your own rules according. For example, my rules will look very different compared to someone's who is trying to save as much money as possible, as that is not my primary aim.
If this whole idea sounds really radical to you, I hope it serves as some food for thought. I am not expecting everyone to love this idea or to jump on board with me but I hope that sharing my journey helps you to reflect on how you spend your money and how spending it differently might add more value to your life.
If you are interesting in following this journey, you can subscribe to my channel on YouTube where I will be doing updates throughout the year, letting you know what purchases I do decide to make and whether they added value to my life.
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