In my 2020 Intentions post, I told you that I intended to do a ‘No Buy’ January and Low-Buy rest of 2020. Today is January 31st, the last day of my ‘No Buy’ month and well.. here’s how it went
Rules
A successful No-buy needs rules or at least parameters. For me, the rules were pretty simple:
– No clothes
– No shoes
– No cosmetics
None, not even bought with a gift card, of which I had plenty. Because these are the areas where I felt there was more mindless spending than I care to admit. I mean, how many pairs of jeans does one person need? Far, far less than the amount that I own. And as much as I love them all, same goes for, studded boots, snake print flats, pretty earrings etc. etc.
A near fail
I nearly caved and bought something on January 1st. Then I thought of I truly lame that would be and tucked my credit-card back in my purse. And you know what’s ridiculous? I can’t even remember what it was that was so tempting that I nearly called the whole thing off. Smdh…
Temptation Averted
After that eye-opener on January 1st, I deleted all shopping apps from my phone. It was just too easy to browse the apps whenever I was bored, or whenever I saw something I liked.
I unsubscribed from the YouTube channels I used to watch just to see their hauls.
And to help keep me focused, I joined a No-buy Facebook Group to help keep me focused.
What I didn't expect
I didn’t expect to feel as relaxed as I do. It’s quite freeing. The feeling of not absolutely having to have whatever it was right that minute has been incredible. I didn’t have to think about the price, whether my size is available, whether I should buy it now before it sells out, or wait until I got paid. All of those thoughts became irrelevant because I simply couldn’t buy it until February 1st.
Slip-ups
Well, no, not really. Although there was one fashion-related impulse buy. It was a coffee table book that I bought after visiting the Thierry Mugler exhibition. And I have to admit; I felt kind of guilty about it. Even though I knew that it would be my only opportunity to buy the book and it was allowed given the rules I had set, after nearly three weeks of not buying any at all, the act of impulsively buying something didn’t feel right. In a weird way that helped me stay on the straight and narrow for the rest of the month.
Regrets
Yeah. That one Rodarte sweatshirt on E-bay that I could have gotten for less than €10. I’m kind of annoyed that I had to let that pass by.
Results
I saved so much money! I mean, I knew that would save money by not buying whatever, whenever. But to actually see it in my account was an eye-opener. I became aware of the fact that I would be able to save enough to realize one of my biggest dreams before the end of this year!! (More on that later. 🙂 This alone made the whole no buy experience worthwhile. I’d much rather save my money for this huge dream thing than spend it on something frivolous.
Also, I appreciate delayed gratification so much more now. And I like the idea of only buying what I really, truly want.
Moving forward
The low buy starts on February 1st. I have a set a small monthly budget for the three no-buy categories and a minimum two-week waiting period before I can purchase something. If I still want it after those two weeks and it is within the budget, I am allowed to get it. If it’s not within the budget and I still really want it, then I have to save from the monthly budget and until I have enough to buy it.
Still, I’m kind of apprehensive about loosening the leash. I’m hoping I don’t fall back into old habits once I’m allowed to shop again. I do know for sure that I won’t be re-installing those shopping apps. I just don’t need the temptation. Plus, I have such a fantastic goal to save towards, which is a huge motivator to stick it out.
