Have you heard of a low buy/no-buy year? This is something that I came across on Youtube, and I recently read a book by Cait Flanders called The Year of Less and I'm really intrigued. The idea is to really pay attention to your shopping habits and try to spend less. Before purchasing the next thing you've decided you need, take a step back and see if you have something similar or might change your mind about the item. I've done spending freezes before, and it really helped to reset my brain from impulse purchasing. The longest I've gone was 30 days. I am an impulse shopper, especially when it comes to makeup and beauty items. At the same time, I also get overwhelmed by stuff and love to declutter and give away items I'm not using. I want to end this cycle and be a more conscious consumer. 

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to an entire year. I'm going to start off with 3 months. I would love to do an entire year, and I really do think I will. I'll check back in at the beginning of June and decide if I'm going to continue. I'll also track the personal purchases that I do make each month and post about them. For the month of March, the only item I've purchased so far was a replacement item that I ran out of. I'm doing alright so far...

Here are my rules; I'm allotting 100$ (25$ a week) to personal spending per month but the goal is to actually save as much of this as possible. 

Skincare: I can only purchase replacement items when I run out of a product

Clothes: I'm not a big clothes shopper, so if I really need an item I can purchase it. (clothes don't tempt me much)

Beauty: 1 item and/or replacement items, and I probably won't run out of much. 

Books: I'm a big ereader but I can only purchase one full-priced book per month, and only if I read it immediately. I read on my reader and there's no point to buy a book full price and leave it on the ereader for months. If books on my wishlist do go on sale I can purchase them but the goal is to not spend much. No buying books because I see them on sale and it wasn't on my wishlist before. I'm going to try to use my library service first for full-price books.

Birthdays: I'm usually given money for my birthday which is coming up in April and that can be used for whatever I want. No rules for this one. 

Tea: Only if I run out or I have free referral credits on my account. I purchase most of my tea through The Dollar Tea Club and I do get credit when my referral code is used. 

These are the areas where I feel like I might spend the most when it comes to my personal spending.

Since the pandemic began, I've hardly gone shopping in the stores. It's primarily been for groceries only. This is my chance to also stop online shopping. It's not that I'm a huge spender, it's more about wanting to appreciate what I have and get use out of what I already own. It's about minimizing clutter. I did amazing in 2020 until about Christmas and then I bought items for myself that I didn't need. I want to save more. When the pandemic hit and my husband was about to be laid off, we looked at our finances and knew how far we could wait without a paycheck before we needed to worry. That was so amazing because not everyone has savings. Thankfully, he was only laid off for two weeks and was called back as an essential worker. The goal of this challenge is to save my personal spending money, but at the same time, I'm working on saving in general. I want to build that savings more. Having more savings is having more peace of mind. I actually really enjoy budgeting.

Have you ever done something like this or heard of a low buy year? What are your thoughts? 

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