How to do a No Buy Year Successfully In 2023

It’s almost been a year of me doing a No Buy year, also known as a no spend year. In case you aren’t aware of what this means, I’ll go into more detail so you can work out if this no spend challenge is the right challenge for you.

I have to admit that I thought it would be a big struggle for me to set myself this challenge but it’s been such a great experience. It has changed my whole perspective on spending money and what I actually need to make me happy. It could definitely do the same for you!

This post contains affiliate links which means I make a small profit if you buy through my link. I would never recommend something I didn’t believe in or wouldn’t buy myself, thank you for your support.

What is a No Buy Year?

This time last year I first came across the concept of a No Buy year, a friend of mine on Instagram pledged to do a No Buy year for 2021 and I was really intrigued so I decided to look into it myself.

You might be wondering what is a No Buy year? A No Buy year is committing to not spending any money on anything unnecessary for a full year. There are rules or guidelines that you can set yourself whilst doing a No Buy year, which I will outline in the section below.

You don’t have to commit to this challenge for a whole year of course, I know that for some people a year will be too long. You can decide to do a No Buy 6 months, month or even a week if you would prefer. The main thing is setting the challenge and sticking to it as best you can.

If you would prefer to do a no spend challenge for a month, you can check my post how to do a no spend month successfully, for more information on doing a shorter no spend challenge.

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” – Will Rogers

Why Would Anyone Do A No Buy Year?

You might be curious at this point why would anyone commit to doing a No Buy year anyway? I do understand that it might seem quite an extreme challenge to some people and to some extent it kind of is..

There are several reasons why people decide to embark on this no spend challenge though, they are as follows:

• To save money
• To get out of debt
• To overcome compulsive spending habits
• To learn to live with less
• For a minimalist lifestyle
• For a sustainable lifestyle

For me personally, I decided to do a No Buy year for several of these reasons. I wanted to get better control of my finances and get out of debt. I wanted to learn to live with less, work towards a more minimalist lifestyle and I knew that the idea behind a No Buy year is also really great for anyone living sustainably. This is because the main principles of sustainable living involve being a conscious consumer and consuming much less.

I know that this challenge is particularly popular with finance bloggers and I actually discovered a content creator Leila who did the no spend challenge for a year in 2020. I found it really inspiring to discover her videos on her YouTube channel about her experiences doing this challenge.

Setting Yourself Some Rules

So setting yourself some rules for the no spend challenge is going to be different for everyone. It’s important to not look at it like you’re depriving yourself of anything as that might give you FOMO (fear of missing out) and you’ll be less likely to stick to it.

First of all decide what is that you will need to spend money on such as the following:

• Rent or mortgage
• Utility bills
• Regular grocery shopping
• Car maintenance & fuel or other transportation costs
• Hygiene items such as toothpaste etc

Once you have your first list you can consider these items as essential items, things that you know you will be paying for regularly, regardless of doing this challenge.

Next I think it’s helpful to set yourself some exceptions for example mine were:

• Secondhand clothing etc for my children
• Replacing items if they are broken
• Website expenses
• Nutritional supplements
• Replacing skincare if necessary
• Kindle e-book service

Next if you think it would be useful for you, you can also set a list of items that you won’t be buying, I didn’t do this myself initially but after a few months I realised there were things that I didn’t want to buy at all.

• Physical books
• Makeup
• Clothes for myself
• Takeaways and eating out
• Home decor
• Plants
• Birthday cards

Once you’ve sorted all of this out for yourself you should have a very clear plan how you are going to do the no spend challenge.

Of course when you decide on your guidelines you may have very different exceptions to me, for example if you have a certain hobby that is really important to you – you should most definitely keep supplies for this hobby on your exceptions list.

Which Is Better No Buy Year Or Low Buy Year?

You might be wondering which is better, doing a no buy year or a low buy year? This all depends on how you feel about doing a no buy year. If you feel like this will restrict you too much and make you unhappy, then perhaps a no buy year is a better option for you.

My understanding is that you have a bit more flexibility with a low buy year. The main goal for doing a no buy year is not to buy anything unnecessary at all, or at least as close to that as you can. With a low buy year you can allow yourself to buy a few unnecessary purchases if you think that would be important to you and your wellbeing.

There’s no right or wrong way of doing this, I think for some people a low buy year would be much more easier to achieve – and that’s completely fine! I think that you have to personally be happy with your choice, whether that is a no buy year or a low buy year.

I mention this further down this blog post, however I am coming to the end of doing a year no spend challenge but I’ve decided that I will do a low buy year for 2022. I don’t want to go back to normal and start spending a lot on unnecessary things because I’ve realised that I really don’t need these things to make me happy. That-being-said, doing a low buy year for 2022 will allow me that flexibility to buy myself some things, if I feel like they align with my values or will make my life easier or better in some way.

How To Do A No Buy Year Successfully?

1. Make sure that you have a set plan, as I’ve said I had my essentials and exceptions clear in my mind and to me everything else was off limits for the year. You don’t have to be as strict with your plan but I do think having one is important in doing a no buy year successfully.
2. Next I would recommend making sure that you explain to your friends and family that you are doing this challenge. Not only does it prepare them for some changes that might happen, it also means that you have that accountability. For me, I started the year documenting how I was doing on my YouTube channel and on Instagram because I wanted to declare and explain anything that I ended up buying. I stopped doing this after a while because I realised that I was actually being quite disciplined and it did start to get a bit repetitive.
3. Determine what is your usual weakness around shopping and find ways to avoid it. For example, if you don’t want to spend money on food on the go but you usually find yourself grabbing food on your lunch break – make sure that you have planned ahead and you have a packed lunch or snacks with you so you’re not tempted.
4. Unsubscribe from any email newsletters that you usually receive that encourage you to shop. This is a particularly good one if you normally like to clothes shop online. Just take that little bit of extra time before you embark on this challenge to go through your inbox and unsubscribe to any emails that you think would tempt you to shop online. It can be a tedious task but once it’s done you won’t have to think about it again.
5. Consider putting any spending apps into a folder on your phone, I did this with the EBay app and Depop on my phone and it definitely helps you stay away from the temptation of just clicking on the app and scrolling. Or if you would prefer you can delete them if you think that would be necessary for you.
6. If something breaks, consider if there is a way that you can fix the item, or do you have something else that you can use instead? You can even enlist someone else to help you fix it, if that’s a possibility. Sometimes there might be something that you just can’t fix but you do need to replace it, if that’s the case don’t feel bad because somethings are unavoidable.
7. Another way to make sure you are successful doing a No Buy year is to consider renting or borrowing if you need something for a particular event or use. I’ve been fortunate enough this year not to need an outfit for a wedding or event but I do have friends and family that I know would lend to me if I needed it.
8. If you find that you have a lot more free time than you did before, it can be helpful to channel this into another hobby or activity. You could use this time to declutter and sell some items? You could spend more quality time with your family or friends? Or you could take up a new hobby? It really helps to have this distraction so you’re less likely to get bored and slip into old habits.
9. If you start to feel a bit stuck with the challenge, it might be useful to write out the reasons why you have decided to do the no spend challenge. If you’re doing it to save up for something in particular, you could put a picture of the item somewhere that you can view it easily or if you have multiple reasons for doing the no spend challenge you could write a list of these reasons and put it on the fridge. You will then be reminded of your goals and why you’ve committed to a No Buy year when you have those moments of temptation.
10. Lastly, my main advice on how to do a no buy year successfully is not to beat yourself up if you slip up and buy something that is not an essential item. I think it’s so easy to think of this as a failure but it doesn’t have to be. If you have had a moment where you’ve bought some food on the go for example, just try and remember for next time and be better prepared with snacks so that you’re not tempted. It’s just like quitting smoking or doing a diet, just because you make a mistake it doesn’t mean it’s over.

Summary Of Doing A No Spend Challenge

6 months into doing a No Buy year for the first time, I wrote a blog post just really going through how I was getting on and what I’d learnt so far. I included all of the things that I’d had to buy up until that point and looking back at that list now, there were a few items that wouldn’t be counted as essential such as vape liquid and 4 digital books. The no spend challenge is not about being perfect, it’s about doing the best you can.

At the time of writing this I haven’t quite reached the end of this challenge but as we are coming to the end of the year I have decided that I want to continue this and next year I intend on doing a low buy year for 2022. I’m extremely privileged that I have been gifted things from family so I really haven’t felt like I’m deprived in anyway.

It’s also worth noting that I’m in a privileged position as a blogger/influencer too, although I do refuse most brands that offer to send me items for free. If it’s something that I know I can get a use out and the brand aligns with my values then I’m happy to accept gifted items. I was really fortunate that when I was coming to the end of my skincare, I won some in a competition which will probably still last me several months as well.

It’s not been all rosy though, things break all the time and I bet you don’t really think about it when it happens to you.

However when you’re doing this no spend challenge it becomes even more of an irritation when it happens. In the very first month my external hard-drive stopped working and I’ve since had a further two (that I bought second-hand) break. I guess that’s the risk you take with buying second-hand tech items.

My car failed it’s MOT in July and this cost me several hundred pounds which was unfortunate but one of those unavoidable things.

My TV has just stopped working as well, it was a 8 year old TV so to be expected, as it stands at the moment I won’t be replacing it and just seeing if we can live without it as we do have other devices in the house.

If you’re considering this challenge I would say just be prepared that things will sometimes go wrong but don’t be disheartened. Doing a no spend challenge is a great way of changing your mindset around spending and avoiding the consumerist culture that encourages people to spend money regularly and upgrade things that don’t need to be upgraded.

For a lot of people this challenge allows them to save up a considerable amount of money or get themselves out of debt which is also amazing.

If you want regular sustainable inspiration that’s suitable for beginners, sign up to my monthly newsletter below.

You can also follow me on Instagram, where I’m the most active or on my YouTube channel.