Launching My "No-Buy" Challenge
One month (or maybe one year?) of eliminating unnecessary expenses
First, we’ll start with the obvious: what’s “No-Buy”?
If you’re not familiar with the “No-Buy” phenomenon, it refers to a self-imposed set of rules on what one will and won’t spend money on for a self-imposed period of time. Many start out with a “no-buy” month and others jump right into the “no-buy” year.
As is true with most things, there’s a mentionable Reddit culture around the “no-buy” challenge. Reasons for doing it vary on the person – some do it simply to save money and pay off debt, while others are doing it to attack overspending (or, in some instances, even hoarding) tendencies that are burdening their lives in other ways.
Why am I, personally, doing a “no-buy” month (NBM)?
Losing my paycheck since becoming a stay-at-home mom has been a real adjustment for me. Previously, the bulk of my paycheck went to student loan payments and the rest was essentially “free money” for us to spend on extraneous purchases every month. I’d use my paycheck to buy clothes for myself, Will, and Roan, household items, and other “irregular” purchases (like if we were going out of town and needed to stay in a hotel, etc.).
Since then, I bring in a little bit here and there for some work I do for family businesses and from Substack, but am otherwise 100 percent dependent on Will’s paycheck to give us what we need. So, I’m doing this for a few reasons:
1) To change my own mindset and habits around spending money
I’ve found that, in general, I tend to spend money pretty frivolously. I’ve gotten better as I’ve gotten older, but I’m still a sucker for a coffee and a scone more often than I’d like to admit and definitely order things online that I don’t actually need. I truly want to be more judicious about my purchases and also more creative about meeting my family’s needs without immediately jumping to the newest, flashiest item online.
2) To rely more intentionally on God’s providence
I was talking to a friend recently about a NBY she did a few years back and she pointed out an element that, sadly, hadn’t occurred to me prior: that, by eliminating unnecessary spending, God will shock you in the little ways He’ll provide for your needs. And I totally want that – not only to trust fully that God will provide for me, but also to witness the many little ways that He sees to my needs (and the needs of my family) both big and small. How many opportunities to receive God’s care do I miss because I am fulfilling my own needs in a frivolous way? I’m excited to find out!
3) Opportunities for asceticism
I just want to deny myself. I want to get better at telling myself ‘no’ (and also want to feel that discomfort and offer it up where I’m able for my family’s prayer intentions).
4) Encourage my own creativity around meeting my family’s needs.
I know that there are plenty of creative, outside-the-box ways that other families with limited resources find ways to meet their material needs. I want to discover more ways to creatively provide for my family – even if it means making some of the items that we choose not to buy! My MIL recently lent me a sewing machine and I’ve been brushing up on my sewing skills. I’d love to continue to hone these skills and start actually making some of the items that I’d otherwise buy at a store or online.
A couple of tips for getting started:
1) Assess what you’re actually buying.
I wasn’t sure where to start when I decided to do a NBM, so I began my looking back at my bank account transactions from the prior month to assess what I was actually buying. This exercise isn’t only important for a “no-buy challenge” – it’s important for anyone who wants to spend money responsibly. Period.
I began by identifying subscriptions and recurring payments that I could easily eliminate – this includes Spotify, Amazon Prime, and any other extraneous autopay expenses (you know, those ones that sneak up on you and your bank balance).
Once I identified these items, I either cancelled or skipped everything – even the ones I know that we use regularly, that I really don’t have a problem with. Keep in mind that the goal is to change behavior – and if you aren’t feeling it, you probably aren’t changing. So, I made the decision to eliminate all subscriptions for one month with the option to reinitiate them after I’ve met my initial goal. This was important for me because I wanted to be sure that every purchase I was making was an intentional purchase. Nowadays, we spend money while we sleep. I wanted to be sure that I had full control over money going out of my account at all times.
2) Set your rules.
As I mentioned before, any “no-buy challenge” is self-imposed. So, when following rules, the goal is to set rules that are reasonable – ones that you’ll actually follow. This means avoiding the temptation to be too extreme (living on rice and beans for a month, particularly if you have children, is probably over the line) while still being honest with yourself about where you can cut expenses and make sacrifices.
I found that Reddit was really helpful for me in this area. I started by searching for a “no-buy” channel (if you’re familiar with Reddit, you know it has channels for everything) and, from there, I began reading through posts and looking for examples of rule sets that people have created for themselves. This one, in particular, was a really good starting point.
For me, the items that are acceptable to spend money on are much more obvious (like groceries and gas, for example). It’s the items I wanted to restrict that weren’t necessarily jumping out at me immediately – so that’s the area I really focused on.
That said, if you’re someone who struggles with scrupulosity, honing in on the list of allowed items might actually be worth more of your time.
3) Give yourself grace.
This challenge is about your personal goals. As any good coach or personal trainer would tell you, goals aren’t linear. Sometimes, taking steps forward means taking a couple back in the process. The key is to trust the process.
I know that if I’m too hard on myself about doing something exactly right the first time, I’m much more likely to give up on it than if I give myself the grace to miss here or there. I know this is true for something like this. We have to be willing to say to ourselves, “Today didn’t go well. Tomorrow will be better.” And then try again.
From my perspective, doing a NBM or a NBY is one of those things that, even if you don’t execute 100 percent perfectly, there is still SO much room for personal improvement.
I’m excited to let you know how it goes!