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I decided to buy nothing for 30 days, and here is what happened.
I thought it would be so easy, but the process ended up surprising me. In this article, I’m sharing with you how my experiment went, the rules I followed, if I failed or succeeded, and my biggest takeaways.
I decided to do this challenge because I honestly just wanted to see if I could do it. Being on this minimalism journey, I thought this would actually be super easy for me. I thought, ‘Actually, I don’t really buy that much anyway.’
I have decreased my shopping a lot in the past year or so, yet I did want to prove to myself, in a way, that I could do this. That I could go for 30 days without buying things, other than necessities and things like that.
Through decluttering my home and through this challenge as well, I feel like I’m slowly changing my relationship with shopping.
During June and July, I started to realise that seeing all of the summer items and things people were sharing on social media made me feel a bit of that pressure and a bit of that influence to buy summer items.
I felt like maybe I should buy something for our upcoming holiday in August or just summer things in general. So, I wanted to put a stop, or at least a 30-day pause, on all of that.
Even though this wasn’t my main motivation, it’s always good to save some money, isn’t it? ‘Not buying things is my second source of income‘—that’s a quote by Shira Gill, a fellow minimalist who I love to follow.
Keep reading below or watch the video:
Now, everybody’s got a bit of a different approach to a no-buy or low-buy month.
Here are the rules I decided to follow.
My No-Buy Rules
Obviously, we still bought groceries and things we really needed. And these are the things I didn’t want to buy during August:
- no makeup
- no new skincare or beauty products
- no accessories
- no shoes
- no clothes
- no unnecessary purchases
And I did have one exception on my list—if I ran out of a daily product, like something I actually use on a daily basis and need.
So, are you curious to see if I actually stuck to it or not?
How I did During my No-Buy Month
I made a full table for each day of August to track if I was sticking to the challenge, if I failed, had any slip-ups, or felt tempted or influenced to buy anything.
Straight away, I started being tempted.
August 1st
I wrote down that I was tempted to buy packing cubes that I saw on Instagram.
We were planning for our upcoming trip to Romania, and I was seeing these all over Instagram. I’m not saying they’re not useful, but I decided I wasn’t going to buy them for now. I told myself that I’ll see next year or whenever we travel again.
After travelling, I realised that because we packed quite light, I actually didn’t feel the need for packing cubes. I’m glad I didn’t make that purchase because, in hindsight, it wasn’t that necessary anyway.
August 2nd
I was really tempted to buy a new set of shampoo and conditioner after seeing an influencer or two—probably through a brand deal. They did a great job convincing me that it was a good product! I was *this* close to buying it. So, I added it to my wish list, thinking maybe I’d get it down the line, but I didn’t buy it.
I also have this rule: if I already have shampoo and conditioner in my bathroom, I’m not allowed to buy more until I finish what I have. That rule really helped slow down my impulse buying at that moment.
Then, I did pretty well for the next week or so.
August 10th
I actually wanted to buy Ali Abdaal’s “Feel-Good Productivity“ book, but I added it to my wish list instead because I already had a book I was reading. It’s still on my nightstand, so I decided I’m going to finish that first, and then when I’m done, I’ll order Ali Abdaal’s book.
August 15th
I was tempted by a throw—like an autumn throw—that I saw on Instagram. Now, I do think we need a new throw downstairs in the living room, as one of ours is very old and falling apart, but I didn’t buy it. I just wanted to pause that purchase, so I put it on my wish list as well.
August 17th
I bought a mascara replacement because I had run out of my previous one, and that was one of my exceptions.
Then, August 18th to August 26th went really well. I wasn’t really tempted much.
August 27th
We were away, and I was *this* close to buying a new bag. I almost forgot about the challenge!
I was planning to swap my current changing bag because it’s quite massive. My daughter is a bit older now—she’s a toddler—so I didn’t feel like I needed that big of a bag anymore. I wanted to buy a smaller one, but I thought, “Okay, let’s at least wait until September, give myself a bit of a cooling-off period, and see if I still want the bag.”
**Spoiler**: I did end up buying it in September, but not during my no-buy month.
As you can see from the rest of the table, I was actually successful in this challenge, but I was very, very tempted quite a few times to buy things.
Sometimes, I feel like we buy things without even consciously thinking about it too much—or at least, that’s how it was in my case.
And here are a few things I learned from doing this no-buy month.
9 Things I Learned from my No-Buy Month
1. Reduce scrolling
I stopped scrolling so much, especially on Amazon. We didn’t make any purchases on Amazon during August, and I realised that if I’m feeling tempted to buy something, it’s best not to go on those apps. Reducing my scrolling helped a lot because this tends to have a big influence on me.
2. Have a wishlist
Having a wish list, which I’ve done for a long time now, really, really helps. Anytime I wanted something but didn’t buy it straight away, I’d put it on my wish list, either as a note on my phone or by taking a picture. After a while, I realised that for some of those items, I actually didn’t want them anymore. They were just an impulse, and had I bought them at that moment, I probably would have regretted it later.
3. The time of day and state of mind matters
I also noticed when I was the most tempted to buy things: when I was scrolling on Instagram, usually in the afternoons or evenings after my kids went to bed. That’s when I’m more emotional because, by the end of the day, I’m quite tired. It was a real eye-opener for me that this is when I’m most fragile or vulnerable to being influenced to buy things.
4. Product research is time-consuming
Another thing I noticed was the time I spent researching items. Whenever I wanted to buy something, I’d spend time researching the product or trying to find the best one in that category, which can be quite time-consuming.
Doing this challenge made me realise how much time that takes and gave me some of my time back, which is obviously so, so precious.
5. Have a cooling-off period before a purchase
At times, I also found myself trying to justify a future purchase, thinking, ‘Well, of course I need this because of that.” And I think once we’re influenced and get that desire to buy something, our brains start justifying it to ourselves.
So it really helped me to pause and think, ‘Okay, maybe I need this, but I can wait a few weeks or days to make a proper decision.’
6. Make it hard to slip
One thing I found really helpful in sticking to this no-buy month is making it hard to slip. I learned this from “Atomic Habits“. I wrote this article on things I learned from the book, as it’s brilliant.
When you’re trying to build a new habit, it’s crucial to make it difficult to slip up. For me, that meant avoiding shops unless necessary, like for groceries. I tried to avoid browsing the aisles because that made me less likely to start desiring items.
7. Be more intentional
Another takeaway is that I want to be even more intentional. I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job in the past year, but I want to go even further.
Going into autumn now, I realised I actually have a lot of the items I want in my wardrobe already, especially in my capsule wardrobe, so I don’t really need to buy much.
I’ve been trying to find my style, focusing on things that I’m comfortable with, and sticking to those instead of feeling the constant need to keep up with new trends. I’ve also made a conscious effort to check Vinted first if I need something, like a raincoat, before going for a brand-new item.
8. A shift in attention pays off
What also helped me stick to this challenge was finding ways to distract myself. Instead of spending time scrolling or researching products, I focused on my business. I worked on my YouTube videos and caught up on a lot of things for my blog and admin tasks. It really showed me how much time we might unknowingly spend researching products or looking for things to buy. That was another eye-opener for me.
9. The emotional state influences the desire to buy
My biggest takeaway from all of this is that I got to observe how my emotional state influenced my desire to buy something.
Sometimes, I would feel the urge to go and look for items to buy even though I had no real need for them. I realised it was often just the endorphin rush we get from making a purchase. Many times, I wasn’t actually craving the item itself, but rather the feeling of buying it.
One tip that was really helpful for me was to reflect on an item I had bought recently and think about how I felt about it when I desired it versus how I felt after I bought it. For many products, the excitement tends to fade once the item is in my possession. This perspective helped me pause and stick with the challenge.
Have you ever done a no-buy month? I would love to hear from you. Let me know any tips you have in the comments below!
