I’m Quitting Shopping for A Year — My No-Buy Year
In 2018, I listened to an incredible audiobook, Essentialism, by Greg McKeown. Many books out there encourage us to live with less, but they never impacted me as much as Greg’s book did. Rather than looking at how to live life with as little as possible, Greg makes the reader question what they’re living with and why. From information overload to late-night online shopping, overworking and busy-but-not-progressive productivity, Greg asked the readers to look at their lives and take control by asking themselves: What is essential in my life? By doing so, the reader could identify how to regain control over their choices and, consequently, their money, thoughts, energy, and time.
After finishing the book, I went into full-essentialism mode. In 2019, I quit shopping for a whole year. For that whole year, I didn’t buy anything for myself: I didn’t buy coffee, alcohol, clothes, books, decorations, no holidays or day trips, no hobby materials, plants, take-out, jewellery, stationery, tickets to events, or even a snack or pastry at a cute bakery. The rules were tight, and I stuck to them: I couldn’t buy anything for myself; the only things I could pay for were groceries, my rent, bills, pet insurance and other essentials. I could buy for others, and I was allowed to buy a coffee when out socialising with a friend and one meal out a month, but no more than one drink per social event, and I could only socialise once a week maximum.
By the end of 2019, I saw a significant improvement in my savings. I was only earning minimum wage as a freelancer, and holding myself back from buying anything for myself proved worthwhile to my bank account. After seeing the positive effects of one no-buy year, I decided to continue. That one year became three, and during that time, I saved up enough money to fund my PhD, even on minimum wage.
I stopped no-buy in 2023 for numerous reasons. I missed going to bookshops and going on dates, having a coffee and sitting in a cafe by myself, and going to charity shops and having a nosey browse. Also, sometimes I was craving a sweet treat from a bakery. There are lots of delicious vegan goodies here in Edinburgh, and I wanted to try them. So, I decided after three years, I was allowed to treat myself again.
The trouble is, I forgot that my circumstances had changed, and the effects were financially brutal.
When I did my first two years of no-buy, I had a live-in partner with whom I split everything 50:50 regarding household expenses. In 2022, I left my freelance job to pursue YouTube full-time as it accommodated my PhD work schedule much more, but such drastic changes came at a massive cost. Without a predictable monthly income, even at minimum wage, and with fewer days of the week to work whilst dedicating time to my PhD, the cost of living going up, and no partner to share financial burdens with support, my savings plummeted.
As of August 2023, I was down over seven thousand pounds, meaning I’d lost nearly half of my savings in less than a year. Even though I wasn’t spending excessively, I realised I needed to take action. I would keep working harder but needed to pull my pursestrings tiger to weather out the storm.
Why start No-Buy in September
I’m starting my No-Buy in September rather than at the traditional January, and I’m doing this for multiple reasons. The first is, obviously, necessity: I have to respond quickly to my rapidly depleting savings. However, if you’re reading this and considering a no-buy, I’m here to explain why now may be the best time to start a no-buy rather than the traditional January New Year Resolution period.
The holiday season is coming up.
With Back-to-school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas and New Year’s coming up, capitalism will be at full power. Companies will dial up their marketing to the maximum, which is the ultimate test, and it’s incredibly hard to say no to all the flash sales and shiny items being tossed onto your social media feed every ten seconds. Shopping gives us a dopamine hit that’s hard to break, which is why many people fail at No-Buy in the new year. They’re bored and miserable because January is the worst month (sorry, January babies), and going cold turkey with shopping can be tough for many people because it’s an easy source of dopamine to get them through the post-holiday blues.
Starting No-buy in September eases you into weaning off shopping because you still get to shop, just not for yourself. On no-buy, you can still buy gifts for other people, so during these months, you can continue to shop for others, just not for yourself, so you’ll give yourself a four-month trial period of shopping only for others. This can be incredibly rewarding, especially if you subscribe to the social importance of generosity and gift-giving. Learning to spend your money only on others over yourself is a crucial part of the No-buy experience.
My Rules for My No-Buy Year
The rules of no-buy are straightforward. I can’t buy anything for myself, but I can buy for other people. Of course, what we stop buying when following these rules will change for everyone. For some, no-buy means not buying games for a whole year; for others, it means not buying hats, books, board games, or Netflix. Yes, when you go on no-buy, that means cancelling all subscriptions. For those interested in the minute details, here is a closer look at what my no-buy will look like specifically.
No Books. This is simultaneously the easiest and most difficult hurdle for me. Bookshops are my weakness, and when I’m there, I like to support my local indie stores by buying a book. But I’ve spent enough of my money on books over the years, so another year without my patronage won’t do them any harm, and the ones who will benefit the most will be the most in need: my local libraries. I love my libraries, and I use two of the libraries in my city a lot, but I have neglected the smaller libraries. So, this year will be dedicated to my libraries. The only exception to the rule may come in November and December, my birthday month and Christmas, during which I will likely be gifted book tokens. I’m allowed to spend them, but I can’t go over the gift token limit.
No Clothes, Plants, Stationery, or other personal objects. The easiest way to put this is to say all material items are off-limits. My biggest weaknesses are plants, charity shop clothing, artwork and craft items at fairs, and stationery. I doubt I will run out of washi tape and sticky notes within the next twelve months, so I should be absolutely fine for my university work because none of these items are essential; they’re just aesthetic. Additionally, I don’t need more than the thirty plants I own, but if I get the urge for more, I will hone that desire into improving my propagation techniques. I’ve propagated a few of my plants, but improving the skill would be beneficial, especially for gift-giving.
No Hobby Materials. I sometimes get very carried away with project ideas (thanks ADHD), resulting in me spending money in art and craft shops. Pens, pencils, paintbrushes, lino printing materials, ink and paint and fabric, haunt every corner of my house that isn’t already dominated by a stack of books. I’m focusing on using up what I have for the rest of the year. If I become particularly proficient at one of these hobbies, so much so that I exhaust the available materials, my goal will be to move on to the next stash of hobby materials and work my way through before decking out which ones to replace. The goal is to get to zero, not maintain.
Smaller socialising. Thankfully, I’m off the dating scene because, let’s face it, going on several dates a week with strangers is expensive. Modern dating is taxing not only on the heart and mind but also the wallet, so now those days are behind me, and I can focus on the relationships I already have. My friends and I are great at socialising on the low: none of us have ever been partiers who go out drinking; we tend to go for a coffee and sit for a few hours together. However, it will be fun to do even more free options with people, such as going to an art gallery and sketching together, hiking and having a picnic, going around to each other’s houses more and playing board games, or even meeting up on a Saturday to visit our local library, pick out a book together and go and read them somewhere. You don’t have to spend a lot money (if any) to have a memorable day with a friend.
No solo expenses. Naturally, we all have to eat, but eating, drinking and snacking out by myself is off limits. This means that unless I’m actively socialising with someone, I can’t buy food or drink that’s outside my weekly food shop, so no coffee or pastries, alcohol, takeaway, etc. This also means no solo trips to the cinema, theatre or any paid event or workshop.
No New Cosmetics/Skincare/Perfume. One of the rules I’ve always followed throughout my no-buy years has been the following: I can replace or fix items, but I can’t buy extra. This most notably applies to lipstick because that’s my weakness: if I see a shade I like, I’ll want it. However, all cosmetics, perfume, nail varnish, skincare and the like are now in the “replace, don’t add” category. When I run out of something, it can be replaced if I want to replace it, but otherwise, aim to keep everything down to the everyday items only and use up excess.
No Subscriptions: The only subscription I have is Audible, which I’m cancelling. I am quite sure I have enough audiobooks in my library to keep me going through the entire year, but if I don’t, the library offers audiobook services. I don’t have Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, or whatever people use nowadays, so that’s easy for me. The only subscriptions I’ll keep are those I use for my business, such as Adobe for video and audio editing, my podcast hosting service, email and website hosting, etc.
Conclusion
A no-buy year will look different for everyone as everyone will have different vices. Some won’t even need to consider not buying books or makeup because they don’t buy books or wear makeup. Still, they may buy video games, subscribe to multiple streaming services or like to buy tools and knitting materials or go out drinking and clubbing several nights a week. There are many things I don’t do that I don’t have to consider giving up on my no-buy that others do. The takeaway from a no-buy is learning what is truly essential in your life. It’s not about punishing or depriving yourself but learning to look at life and money, differently by learning to appreciate what you have, from local libraries to galleries, parks, hobbies and talents you’ve let slide in favour of binge-watching Netflix. Who are you without the latest trend, without the false nails, the alcohol, the streaming services, the latest game, the daily Amazon delivery? It’s time to find out.
