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?

I am wondering if they are genuine and actually donate the items to charities.

@DrMadelineMaxwell Happy to help.

@Godesstobe from the website, it looks as though they give 60% of proceeds to charity.

@LuminousStar think of it as good karma for the people getting the freebies.

Some charities like BHF do home collections or you can donate by post to Oxfam for free if you order a bag online.

No spend day 🥳

Quite a few of my friends tell me to sell clothes on Vinted but to be truthful, I cannot be arsed with the faffing so it all goes to the charity shop. I think of how pleased somebody will be when they get a bargain like I am when I find a charity shop bargain buy that somebody could have sold on Vinted too 😊

Dh spent £12 on some bits in coop we needed and I've just ordered some sympathy flowers for a family member who has lost a parent (£26 )
I think that's acceptable

@Floopdifloo congratulations!💪you've given me an idea that I need to track all the days I spend zero (including groceries etc) and see how many I get when it gets to the end of the year. Maybe aim for 70% or something!

@AwardGiselePelicotTheNobelPeacePrize that is a lovely idea. I hope I get some good karma!

I'm just looking forwards to all the free space when it is all gone!!

I spent £30 having my nails infilled today but I’m not cutting beauty maintenance out 😅

I've bought £12 of gel base/top coat and a colour set the other day from Amazon now our nail lady has stopped doing them. DD has just done my nails for me, which will last until my next nail appt. I'm hoping to alternate doing them at home and in the salon instead of going to nail appointments every fortnight.

No gel nails = bitten/broken nails for me though.

Well I managed to only spend on our meal, which was £59. DD got a much needed new iPad which she will pay back straight away. She also treated me to a hot chocolate and a couple of half price goodies from hotel chocolat (win, win). It cost me £5:10 for the train so a really good day in all. I really wanted to try some winter boots on in Clarks but needed a wee and thought I’ll call back. Needless to say I couldn’t be bothered traipsing back. Plus I have a much loved and well worn pair of leather waterproof emu boots I have put into repair as the lining has worn and they started rubbing my ankles. I didn’t even know they could be repaired until I spoke to the cobblers. Apparently they can re-line them for £35 which is a lot less than a new pair. I’m going to do more repairs rather than buy new.
I also like the idea of having a percentage of no spend days at the end of the year.
I’m seeing some great tips on here and they are really inspiring and motivating me. Thanks everyone. I think checking in regularly here will help too.
Thanks @LuminousStar

Spent £18 on school uniform trousers which was a need. Nothing else.
my cowshed sale order was delivered which should last me for a year or so 😂

@Albusmum so happy you are finding it helpful! You sound like you're doing well so far, and I wouldn't have known about relining at the cobblers, so have learned something new here as well!

I'm focussing a bit more on the decluttering at the moment (doing well) and just had a quick supermarket trip but won't be going again for a few days (sooner than I wanted but forgot the onions!!).

At some point my aim is to start making bits of money to add into the mix - either by selling old stuff, bank switching and any other offers etc etc. Maybe aiming for a net zero spend is too ambitious (LOL) but if I could add a little pot each week to offset any essential spending it will help.

I've worked out what 70% no spend days would be - pretty much 5 days a week of no spending. 😱😂I'm now wondering if my 70% goal is perhaps a little too high. Maybe 4 days a week no spend is a bit more realistic but who knows!? Still it's good to give it a try.

Didn't find a mattress to buy so didn't spend on sat.
I've just checked my bank app and the 15 quid cashback offered if I subscribed to the daily mail (currently 1.99 a month) has tracked and is sitting in my pending cashback.
Thank you lloyds.

@LuminousStar I think 70% could be achievable if you're not counting essential food shopping top ups.

I had quite a spendy day today, with overpriced meds and special food for the dog, and then expensive OTC medicine for my son, but none of it could be helped.

I've decided I'm going to ring someone to repair the dishwasher since I have enough for the part + labour, and even if it's not the most economically efficient in the long term at least it won't be on my credit card when I am likely to have further vet expenses.

@LuminousStar yesterday was a complete no spend day, but I’m also going to count any days where I have paid bills, bought petrol or done my supermarket shop etc but not spent anything else. My target is to curb unnecessary spending, so I will celebrate each day where that is the case even if I’ve had to spend money on essentials.

We’re pretty much snowed in so we can’t go anywhere to spend or acquire ‘stuff’ today. Yay!

I’ve culled Christmas decorations before putting them away for the year and have some lovely pieces to donate, Had planned to drop them to a Charity Shop today but it will have to be next weekend now.

I’ll tackle to the Airing Cupboard today. I cleared old, unused bed linen last year so I am focused on a ‘dump’ shelf we have in there.

Spends today: online grocery shop, and some items for the renovation project (on the allowed list). I won’t be buying anything else so going to mark it as a no spend day 🥳

Up to now no additional personal spending. We did a grocery shop with a list online with family budget and that came under what I’d planned. We attended a family get together yesterday evening and I drove. I’d planned to get posh non alcoholic drinks and snacks but realised we had soft drinks and snacks at home already so that’s a win. Before I would’ve treated myself for sure. To what end? The stuff I took was fine and I didn’t feel like I’d missed out. It really is a mindset shift for me!

@Melancholiest @Floopdifloo good thinking - agree the "no spend days" should exclude bills, essential groceries and so on! Perhaps "spend days" would be anything you don't strictly need that goes above and beyond the usual basics. Going to start my spreadsheet today!! And may also track actual spending as well, something I have never managed to do in my entire life.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

Can I recommend the budget planner from MSE? It’s a useful exercise to work out your finances (although slightly depressing also). Grab some bank statements for the last few months, and work out how much you actually do spend.

Set up a separate bank account, and automatically send money across for holidays, Christmas, emergency fund etc. (we had over five hundred unexpected car expenses in November, plus needed new hoover - expensive month!).

Its a useful exercise to do once a year.

@rahlikeatiger you're inspiring!

I have had a couple of beers so far this year - now am wondering if that would count as "non-essential"?! Perhaps I need to give myself an alcohol budget each week of like £5. I do like the odd beer to wind down and prefer not to give it up even though it is not the healthiest.

@Snowmanscarf that sounds great if terrifying!! I am pretty scared of looking too deeply at what I spend, but it sounds like a necessary exercise. thank you!

Off to town in a bit DD1 needs a new coat and bag for college. I'm also on the lookout for a new gold necklace for my birthday, aiming for under £50 if that's possible. That's it and all that is on the shopping list, don't need or even want anything else. I must avoid bodycare as that is my nemesis.