my 2025 no buy rules
originally published to Racing Debt Feb 2024
I am doing a No Buy Year to deal with my impulsive spending. There are NoBuy years/months/days/etc and there are Low Buy ones. I am specifically doing a No Buy not a Low Buy because I can't be trusted with leeway and I do well with structure. My No Buy specifically includes not buying any nonessentials outside of my clear rules. Having rules for your No Buy/Low Buy is the key to making sure you stick with it while also giving yourself a framework to operate in.
I recommend being realistic with your rules. Mine work for me and have for almost two months now, but I am a full time creative who lives alone in Los Angeles and travels frequently for work. Be realistic with your lifestyle, where you live, and what will make you want to continue to have the will to live.
Here are my rules. Not in any real order. This is also an ever evolving list and does not include things like birthday gifts for friends and the like.
1.) Only eating out alone 1x a month
I have worked really hard on my anxiety to enjoy eating alone in restaurants and now its one of my favorite things to do. However I have to be realistic about that fact that I also have expensive taste and like good restaurants so quiet a lot of my spending from last year went to restaurants. Of course I need to eat but I don’t need to go get expensive cacio e pepe for lunch. Obvious leeway here when I travel as I often have no choice but to eat out but that falls into my work spending so it wouldn't affect my personal spending anyways.
2.) No books
I love reading. I love buying books. I have bought so many books that my physical To Be Read pile is probably a whole bookshelf so I have plenty to read. I also cancelled my Audible subscription but I do have a few credits still stocked up so I am finishing those off. I still have my Kindle Unlimited subscription but we shall see if I get rid of that as well as I am on the lesser month cost currently. (editing side-note i am currently at a book convention to review and it is physically paining me to not buy books from authors after they pitch to me -_-)
3.) No clothes
Pretty self explanatory. I like nice clothes. I like cheap clothes. I like clothes. I have a sweater collection. I had a bad habit of buying something or multiple somethings when I was going to an event or traveling for an event. Absolutely insane no we are done with that. If there are any events in 2025 where I need a specific item (say a gown for an award show) and nothing I already own will work I am permitted to rent an item for said event. I have a (currently paused so no charges) membership for Fashion Pass and being in LA is good since there are multiple in person rental spots I can hit up fairly last minute.
4.) No merch
Fairly self explanatory and you might think this falls under the no clothes rule but as a lifelong fangirl I have a merch of all sorts problem. I have a whole post planned to discuss the merch debacle with Formula 1 fans specifically (I was shocked to see someone assumed my no buy year was entirely because of F1 merch??? nearly $40k in the whole for f1 sweaters? please be serious) because I think thats the most front facing of my fangirl obsessions lately. However I just love the things I love and if I find cool or cute merch for say 5 Seconds of Summer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel, DC Comics, F1, LA Kings, Dodgers, Angels, LA Sparks, Hatsune Miku, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc I would buy it. So no merch except...
5.) 1 magnet per event/new place
I have a magnet collection. I started it because I always loved playing with all the magnets on my Grandma's fridge growing up and I want to have that for my future. When I had to evacuate from the LA Fires I was kicking myself for not grabbing even one magnet when I left. Thankfully my apartment and my magnet collection was safe but it showed me again how important this collection is to me. Magnets are small and it's already something I am collecting so I do not mind allowing a little spending wiggle room here. I am allowed to buy only 1 magnet per event or travel stop and the magnet cannot exceed a price of $11.99.
6.) allowed to eat out with friends 1x a week
Yes friend time gets more leeway then personal time. Because 75% of my time is spent alone and I like my friends. I know shocking. And social interaction is important for me staying sane and not becoming a public safety hazard. Still must be within reason price
wise.
7.) 1 personal experience/sporting event a month
This is specifically when no content is involved. Part of my content is reviewing events and I have a substack called Spectator where I review and share about in person sporting events I go to. I am allowed to go to one for fun and not content a month. Price obviously must be reasonable.
8.) cancel all extra/not often used subscriptions
Self explanatory I would hope???
9.)No Doordash
I live too close to a grocery store to be doordashing a bagel and coffee every morning when I work from home and have a perfectly working kitchen. I spent over $3200 on Doordash last year. Embarrassing. Not allowed. Cancelled.
10.) No Instacart
See rule 9 basically same reasons
11.)craft materials can only be purchased for specific uses and must search internal stockpile first
One of my other non financial goals for 2025 is to make one creative project a month to stoke my creative fire yada yada yada. However I need to not just buy supplies because I "might use it eventually". Joannes has announced they will be closing a bunch of stores so I will hopefully be able to get supplies for my specific projects I have planned at a possible discount.
12.)no notebooks/journals
Im a writer with a collecting problem of course I have a diabolical collection of unfilled journals.
13.) no decor
I spend alot of time in my apartment so I like to make it look nice but frankly decor items are not hitting for me lately anyways. I do like antique items but I am committed to paying off my debt this year so that is also not allowed. The only apartment addition I am allowed to do is a dining table because I still don't have one after a year and a half in this apartment. But it must be a good quality one that I know I will keep for years and exactly what I want before I pull the trigger on it.
14.) beauty treatments only for special events
As a creator I spend a disproportionate amount of time staring at my face. I am going to cancel my Hey Day membership (monthly facial membership) and I will not renew my eyebrow wax membership (already paid off) once I’m out of sessions. I previously would go get gel manicures and pedicures at least once every three weeks but now I will only go before special occasions (like my friends wedding next month) and honestly regular gel polish like that low key destroys my nails. I do get botox and PRF but I only do that about twice a year. Some of you will hate that I even do that but as I said this is my no buy year and I spend a large part of time in front of camera. It's my face and if I want to fuck with it I will etc etc.
15.) no buying things just because the vendor watches my channel
This might seem like a stupid rule but I have anxiety and if someone recognizes me in an artist alley (a lot of my viewers are artists so this happens regularly) I instantly start looking for something from their table to buy. Which I do not regret doing! But i clearly have a spending problem that is exacerbated by my anxiety! As much as I love supporting artists I also love maybe being able to buy a house one day and all those little purchases add up.
Do you have any rules for your No Buy or Low Buy?