Buy nothing in 2025 challenge (or minimal purchasing!) - anyone want to join in!

[LuminousStar]

Hello! In the vein of the decluttering threads I've been thinking about doing a challenge where I buy as little as possible in 2025.

I realise buying "nothing" is impossible, especially as a parent. But as my life is endlessly complicated by clutter and junk and taking care of objects, as well as money (or a lack of) so I am going to try to buy as little unnecessary stuff as humanly possible in the coming year. Not to mention all the clutter sitting around making me feel guilty because I haven't used it / read it / sorted it! So I wondered if stopping the junk coming in as much as possible might change my mindset!

Instead what I will do is write down anything I am tempted to buy and hold out instead. If something becomes absolutely necessary I will allow it. But there are often other ways around problems that I am often inclined to ignore (mend, home made solutions etc) I will have to rely on more.

Obviously groceries and essentials are allowed, as are non-physical items or treats (holidays, events, e-books, subscriptions within reason). But I figure that even my grocery shopping could do with a bit of pruning! And if I need something that makes life infinitely easier, of course I will buy it.

And at the end of the year I am perhaps planning a little treat if I manage to do a good job - maybe a budget for some new clothes or something.

Would anyone like to join in?

What counts? I know this is for 2025 but as an example I just bought a new watch band because my current one is white and looks dingy no matter how I wash it. However I didn’t buy the £300 Hermes one (because £300) that I loved and instead bought a £6 one on Amazon 😅

Yeah I want to join but a month at a time! I'm aiming for pre-planned purchases only to ensure I only buy what we really need.
Our main problem though is take aways...

I desperately need to join in on this!

Currently on SMP, moving to £0 from January 🙊

I’m also aware that I buy things to make me feel better and that has to stop! I buy too much in the way of beauty products - anything that promises to make me prettier or younger…

I was gifted lots of beautiful things at Christmas so I’m going to try and use up all of my products before even considering buying anything else.

I'd like to join please! I really really need to declutter and i big part of that has to be drastically reducing the amount that comes into the house. I think biggest challenge will be that we are expecting new baby in feb. With my now 2 year old I bought soooo much stuff when I was on mat leave, often in the hope it would make my life easier or just out of boredom during late night feeds or endless pram walks. This time we shouldn't need nearly as much as we've hung onto most of the stuff we got for the first born. I also want to resit buying too many new clothes for myself until I'm settled into whatever size and shape my body is going to be, which I'm expecting to take time.
I do feel
Like I need some proper rules to stick to that will allow us to make purchases we actually need without being tempted to find loopholes to justify things we don't

I'm aiming to do similar this year, moving house on the 9th Jan and it made me realise how much stuff there is crammed everywhere and things like the 5000 duplo pieces that seem to migrate through the house so I can step on them.

Rough set of rules I have so far are:
Food is allowed, but no takeaways or ready meals and I will try to stick to a grocery budget
Basic toiletries are allowed, shampoo, conditioner etc but no makeup or luxury skincare etc as I have enough to last ages from Xmases past and present
Clothing- allowed for my toddler DD as she grows out of things in 5 minutes but operating a one in, one out rule and trying to sell outgrown on vinted to keep costs down. I have more than I need, so I will only be buying for me if something is worn out completely e.g. socks with holes

Sure there's plenty else to think about, be great to hear other people's ideas

welcome! And that sounds like a sensible start! I think the rules need to be a bit flexible for each person to suit them as otherwise it will be totally unattainable if it's too hard! but maybe we can help each other along if we are confused about a purchase and give advice etc.

welcome! perhaps you need a budget for takeaways (max £ per month) and a plan for alternative meals or something.

I'll join. Hoping to retire soon and need to get monthly spending down. Also have way too much stuff!

welcome to the thread! yeah it's funny how easy it is to overspend on this kind of stuff. I too am guilty of endless beauty product purchases when I need nothing. On a similar note I have about 7 tubes of toothpaste half used up, four foundations and so on

@KatRee welcome! it can be a tough time when you have young kids as there is so much stuff that comes with it into the house especially as they grow fast.

@Sunshineandlollipop welcome and I love those rules. I am trying to lose weight and only have a few decent items plus lots of horrible old clothes and ones that don't fit. Not sure how this is going to work alongside my idea but will give me more of an incentive to lose weight perhaps so I can re-fit into the older clothes. Might be being ambitious there

@BettyBardMacDonald welcome to the thread!

I badly need to declutter so will join for motivation. My worst habit is buying stuff I don't need from charity shops because it seems like a bargain!

I'd love to join please. I'm making this coming year a low spend, use what I've got and improve my finances year.

@YesExactlyYes @Seiheiki welcome!

I'm not buying clothes or toiletries for a year, I have so many I don't need anymore, it's an environmental thing more than a frugal thing.

I'm also doing this

The only thing I need is pants and socks so I've been and bought some multi packs in TKMAXX yesterday and am now going to attempt no more clothes buying for 2025

I want to do this.

Really want to cut down on spending and reduce clutter.

We've sorted out our food cupboard today and have so many duplicates and things that have gone out of date that we could have used.

I've got enough clothes, jewellery, toiletries so need to make good use of what I've got.

@Bananalanacake @66babe @Anotheremmaemma Welcome!

I am already feeling better about 2025 with this goal in mind. i found the below video which has some good tips from someone who did it.

Having just tried to clean out my kitchen and coming across duplicates of everything that are open it has made me even more aware of the need to cut down and stop buying.. for everything including non essential food! Alongside it I'm going to keep trying to declutter as well, maybe try one thing a day.

Me too! I want to get rid of debt and over pay mortgage in advance of remortgaging in 2026.

I have to much skincare and haircare. I am determined only to buy as i need, to sell from my bursting wardrobes, and to be very careful this year.

welcome @21ZIGGY !

Thanks @LuminousStar
The other thing I feel like doing .. but don't want to come across as tight or mean .. is continue paying almost a bloody fiver for a coffee
I pop into town every Saturday and have a mooch around the shops .. I go in to a local cafe and was so shocked to see that my normal latte is now £4.70 - that is just ridiculous so I'm planning to not bother , go home and make my own 😂

I agree...I love a coffee shop coffee and tend to treat myself most weeks, but the prices for a single coffee are crazy. Don't know a way around that.

For clothes I like the idea of buying less, but as a pp has said, making really considered purchases rather than buying random crap.

We were just talking about this today.
We are going to stop eating out randomly and eat at home as it's often nicer anyway.
No take away coffees all the time.
We are only buying something if it's a one in one out policy on worn out stuff.
We are not booking and paying for a large family holiday this year for all 12 of us ( dh,me 3x dd's and partners and step daughter and family x4 )as it's crazy and we don't have never ending money!
We are looking forward to enjoying time together in our lovely home and at our lovely DD's houses.

Can I join please? One of our main problems is food waste so I just made a meal plan which includes using up stuff in the freezer & trying not to fill the fridge with things. I’m terrible for doing top up shops where I go for say bread & milk & end up spending at least £20. I only work part time & really struggle to make my wages last until the next payday, despite sometimes having shopping money from DH, so going to look at all my outgoings to see where I can save.