Every year, I come up with New Year’s resolutions that I promise to keep. Last year, my resolution was to run every single day. The year before I told myself I’d drink a gallon of water each day.
Needless to say, I haven’t run in months and am chronically dehydrated.
So as 2022 rolled around, I was in a slump about what exactly my New Year’s resolution(s) would be. I knew I wanted something achievable, trackable, and maybe even a bit of a challenge. I was about to go with another basic resolution that I definitely wouldn’t do (read a book a month…yeah right), when I came across @allikenyounot’s Instagram post about No-Buy January. It piqued my interest, so her and I chatted about it, and she explained what she was doing for the month.
Basically, No-Buy January is a month-long hiatus from shopping, Amazon, and Target runs (my three favorite things). Besides essentials like groceries and rent, Alli’s goal was to not spend any extraneous money for the whole month. That meant no takeout, no new clothes, no coffee runs, nothing.
This seemed perfect for my first resolution, and at the start of 2022 I decided I would do month-long resolutions instead of year-long impossible resolutions. First up: No-Buy January.
No-Buy January Recap
The first thing I did was carefully plan out the expenditures that I would absolutely need. I prepped a grocery budget for each week, tried to guesstimate the cost of my books this semester, and listed all of the items that I’d usually buy in a month’s time. At the beginning of January, I was really confident: I could go a month without any random spending, right?
Coming back to school, however, was a challenge. Even on my drive home, I almost stopped to get something for lunch when I realized that I’d be breaking my No-Buy commitment. Starbucks was passed up in favor of an at-home brew, and my level of restraint while passing the clothing and beauty sections at Target was impressive. I began to realize how much unconscious spending I did on a week-to-week basis: a coffee here, a bagel there, a random makeup item one day, an Amazon order based on a TikTok I saw the next. By being forced to be cognizant of my tiny spending habits, I uncovered how addicted I was to spending money on frivolous things.
This realization brought me to my next: I was extremely privileged to not even have to notice my spending all the time. I had the funds and support to buy things without a second thought. While No-Buy January saved me some serious cash, it also opened my eyes to the clouded reality I’d been living in—a reality shrouded in unwavering economic privilege.
By the end of January, I’d honestly kinda forgotten about No-Buy January—not because I was spending a ton of money and ignoring it, but because I wasn’t. Instead of lunging at purchases and instantly getting sad about my restriction, I passed them by without a second thought. It was literally like getting rid of a bad habit. You don’t really understand your shopping addiction – or other minor addictions, like social media – until you truly give them up.
The Major takeaways
Do I think living a No-Buy lifestyle is the way to go? Absolutely not. I’m a big advocate of rewarding oneself with a little spending here and there, and constantly berating yourself about money is unhealthy. I do think, however, that we should all take a week—or maybe a month—to do a No-Buy challenge of our own. Not only can it eliminate bad spending habits, but it can encourage you to make more meaningful purchases and declutter your life with things that, let’s be honest, you really don’t need.
I also think that a No-Buy experiment forces you to reevaluate your current belongings. One of my biggest guilty pleasures is buying new outfits on a whim, for every small occasion. No-Buy January forced me to go with what I had, which also made me clean out my closet and restyle a lot of my old pieces, basically giving me a clean new wardrobe. It also made me realize that I don’t need new packs of pens when I go out shopping and, I don’t need to buy another candle. Instead, I can reward myself with those things and actually make use of the ones I currently have.
so, how can you do a no-buy month?
If you want to do No-Buy February or a No-Buy week, here are some tips that really helped me throughout this month. First, when you see something that you really want to buy or would normally buy on impulse, write it down in your notes. You’ll be surprised at the end of the month/week when you look back at those items and realize how unnecessary some of them were. Next, come up with some ways to make cooking at-home or making coffee at-home enjoyable instead of a burden. No-Buy January allowed me to master one of my favorite Starbucks drinks (the brown sugar shaken espresso) and now I make it from home every day. Finally, get your friends involved! It’s so much easier to go on a hiatus from something when your friends are doing it too. Agree to cut eating out and Target trips, and instead opt for cooking a meal together or playing games at someone’s house. As college students, we always center social interactions around spending, like grabbing food, going shopping and going out for drinks. You’ll be amazed at all of the fun things you can do for free that you weren’t doing before.
in the end…
Now that it’s almost February, I’m already working on next month’s resolution. But the habits that I created during this month will definitely be long-lasting. It’s definitely hard to try new things, especially when those things introduce discomfort, extra work, or dismantling habits. But managing your money and analyzing what you’re actually spending each day is a great skill to build now in college. And who knows—maybe your No-Buy experience will help you keep a new resolution in 2022.