No Buy Year – 6 Monthly Update

I thought I would do a little update on how the No Buy year is going so far for 2021. When I first decided to challenge myself to do a low buy year for this year, I thought that it would actually be quite difficult. However, I have found it relatively easy, despite some issues that have come up.

What I’ve Bought

In my previous post, I did mention that anything that my children would need I would still buy for them because I didn’t want them to miss out. As it was my No Buy year challenge and I thought that it shouldn’t really apply to them. However, I haven’t bought them anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary. As you will see from the below list, actually most of what I have bought for them has been second-hand shoes and more recently my son requested some things for his birthday.

It turns out that actually my children have more than enough books and toys, so much so that I have spent the time, decluttering some of their belongings rather than buying more.

• Toothpaste Tabs
• Craft Supplies
• Printer Paper (due to home learning at the start of the year)
• Second-hand Shoes for both children
• Sunscreen
• Second-hand Bicycle
• Second-hand Backpack

Business Expenses

• External Hard drive (Stopped working in January)
• Adobe Premiere Pro Subscription

Others

• Birthday Gifts
• Hand cream
• Lip Balm
• Vax Adapter (Mini vacuum cleaner adapter stopped working)
• Baby Gift
• Watch battery
• Superglue (very handy to have with clumsy children)
• 2 x Cat Inhalers, Flea Tablets & 1 Vet Check-up
• 4 Digital Books
• Vape Liquid

I feel that everything that I have bought whilst doing a No Buy year has been unavoidable, apart from Vape Liquid of course. I tried to quit vaping in January so that I didn’t have that extra expense and waste, however I just wasn’t ready so I decided to let myself continue with this for the time being.

Some expenses like replacing my external hard drive, I did try to live without it at first and use a remote storage service. However, it just didn’t work so I gave in. As I create videos for YouTube, I had to ensure I was able to continue with this without any issues. This is also why I have signed up to the Adobe Premiere Pro editing software and I have been fortunate enough to borrow a webcam for filming videos as well.

Anything that I have bought that has been food related, I haven’t included this here. For example I bought a dairy free probiotic yoghurt starter for making yoghurt quite recently. However, I haven’t bought any takeaways or unnecessary food apart from our usual weekly food shop.

I did buy two fiction books that I hadn’t planned to but I let myself off this little purchase as I’d always said I didn’t want to buy any physical books during the low buy year. I also bought two self help books about money and they were really interesting and inspiring.

Update On Debt

I started the year with a little over £600 on a credit card, I ended up adding a few expenses that I’ve listed above. Some were quite pricey such as £92 per inhaler for my asthmatic cat (who knew cats could get asthma, not me!). However, currently as I’m writing this I have around £95 on my credit card so in 6 months I have managed to pay most of it off.

Admittedly it’s not been the easiest task as once my business expenses are paid off, I have only £200 a month to go against debt or other expenses that may occur in the month.

It did actually surprise me a little that doing a low buy year did not help me to pay off my debt sooner, however I am grateful that I’m so close to paying it off now.

Plans For The Rest Of The Year

I do now have a few expenses that I know will come up for the second half of my No Buy year. My car is due it’s MOT (if you’re not in the UK this is a mechanic check to make sure the car is road safe and within environmental standards) by the end of July. As my car is a 16 years old car, I haven’t known it not to cost me some money when it’s tested. However, it hasn’t been driven much this year so maybe it will be ok. Of course this is something that legally I have to do anyway, so it definitely counts as an exception for my low buy year.

I will be throwing a joint birthday party for my son and his friend in September as well. Typically it was booked for 2020 and because of the virus, it did not happen. I know there will be things that I will need to buy specifically for this children’s party such as food and party bags. However my friend and I will be working together to make it as affordable and low waste as possible. Of course I don’t really need to declare this as things for my children are part of my exceptions, but I believe in being transparent and honest always.

I have not decided my plan for Christmas as yet, I usually follow the rules of something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. Which of course is a great way of avoiding buying unnecessary things. That-being-said I might opt for more experience gifts this year as I feel like it would be nice to end to the No buy year. Considering I started a low buy year to challenge myself not to buy anything physical.

What I’ve Learnt

Since I decided to embark on the No Buy Year for 2021, I have learnt a lot of interesting things about myself. I will admit that in the past I have been a compulsive online spender. I didn’t spend massive amounts of money but that is how I managed to incur a small amount of debt towards the end of 2020.

In 2020 I told myself I had to buy some sustainable products to review for my business – forgetting that I also had to allow for business expenses, birthday gifts and Christmas gifts as well. The low buy year was a perfect challenge for me to break this terrible habit of spending money I didn’t have.

It’s also inspired me to write my whole budget into a spreadsheet so I know exactly how much money leaves the account and when. I’ve always been quite organised but this has really helped me to see exactly what goes in and out of my accounts. It’s quite useful as well if you’re working towards a savings goal or trying to pay off debt, you can see if there are any expenses that you can cut out to help you meet your financial goals.

The great thing about doing a No Buy year as well is that the less you buy in general, the better your carbon footprint will be, because everything that you buy has a carbon footprint. It’s also been really eye opening for me to live with less. It’s surprising what you accumulate in a 3 bedroom house! Instead of buying more things that I don’t need, I’m finding myself decluttering things that I no longer need and really taking care of what I have.

Everything that I have decluttered, I’ve found a home for. Such as selling on Ebay or Facebook Marketplace, or simply giving away for free. I’m frugal but I’m not tight, I’m always happy to give things away to people who need them more than me!

Some other things that I have done this year is make all of my own Birthday cards, at the start of the year they were terrible! However, now I’m in the swing of it, I can create some quite cute Birthday cards for people now. I have also given a combination of bought gifts handmade from Etsy and homemade gifts such as the below chocolate bites.

It’s such an interesting challenge, if you’re considering trying the low buy year challenge yourself – I would say go for it! It has really made me think about my previous spending habits and I don’t want to ever go back to this at all. If you want to learn more, check out my ultimate guide to doing a no buy year successfully.

I think most of the time, if something breaks at home most people will want to replace it immediately – whether it’s an item of clothing or something else. If you take away the option to buy a replacement then you might find that you’re more likely to use what you have, or fix the item if applicable. I was really proud when I managed to fix the zip on my favourite pair of jeans.

I hope you enjoyed my 6 monthly update on the No Buy year for 2021, otherwise known as a low buy year. If you have any questions about this, leave me a comment. I know there might be some aspects of the No Buy year that are more difficult for some people. You can set your own rules and if you have somethings that you buy that are important to your well being, you can continue to buy them. It’s not a punishment, it’s about changing your mindset around how you spend money.

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