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?

Well done @Floopdifloo .

Its amazing how often there’s essentials that need paying - I don’t mean the obvious like food and petrol, but haircuts, opticians, car tax etc

@Snowmanscarf I know what you mean about all the mystery extras! This week am having to get a railcard among other annoying essentials, it all adds up.

For haircuts - I'm not sure if you're near a college that trains hairdressers, but in my local one you can get a cut by a trainee student for under a tenner. It does take a lot longer (couple of hours) but it's all supervised by professionals and I must spend about £10 per year on haircuts as a result (I go about once a year - should go more I know!!). I think they also do very reasonable bleaching and colouring and so on as well, again all supervised. Might be worth considering if you are open to a cheaper option. For my kid I bought some clippers - every time we go to the barber I always hate what they do so I have taken to cutting it myself. It does take longer but I must have saved so much over the years.

There are always ways and means to do some stuff a bit cheaper, there will be compromises though. And some stuff you just can't scrimp on unfortunately!

I am loving this thread as a bit of a therapy/support group 🩷😂 I’ve been adopting the ‘clear out one thing a day’ approach and avoiding spending anything unnecessary (with moderate to good success so far!) I had noticed that my house feels a little lighter, the kids clothes drawers feel a bit clearer… and then my friend turns up with a bag full (and I mean huge bag full) of toys and clothes! I am extremely grateful but I think it totally negated my clearing out so far! At least it didn’t cost anything - and I can pass on some additional things to make space. I - of course - am not ungrateful! Just to be clear! She is a wonderful friend (who is also clearing out her house too haha)

Checking in... Not doing too badly. Have bought a couple of things on Vinted but have sold more so it balances out. Have resisted any cafe trips at the weekend and have stuck to the park/walks instead. DH and I have decided to allocate £30 a month from Feb onwards to eating out (not including any special meals such as birthdays or meeting up with friends) so just for the three of us on weekends. Will amount to either one lunch/breakfast out or two outings for coffee and cake. If we can avoid spending it we will, but it's nice to have the option on rainy weekends when more park just doesn't appeal! Apart from that, I bought a Fitbit this week, bit of an impulse buy as I saw my mum's one and got tempted, but I'm also on a weight loss and fitness journey so money well spent I hope. Finding the stats fascinating so far. Still need to buy a new hairdryer, as the travel one using is pretty low powered but maybe after payday now that I've bought the Fitbit!

@cloudengel @Sunshineandlollipop interesting re the baby clothes... I have 8 boxes of clothes stored in my garage from DD, now 2, saving them for the second which we are TTC but aware that if it's a boy or born at a different time of year about 7 out of the 8 boxes will be redundant. We're hopefully moving house this year if we find somewhere suitable and lugging them will be a pain but equally I'd be annoyed if I had another summer girl and had chucked it all!

@LuminousStar Yes, I bought a railcard this week as well!

(Although I saved on my first trip, so that’s half the railcard paid for already)

hello all! I definitely have the january blues here - basically am stuck at home 24/7 at the moment as it's too cold to leave the house!! So at least I'm not spending but I am certainly feeling very miserable. (I know I should get out and do something - I have plans for the next few days so will be leaving the house tomorrow and the following days).

God I hate January!!

Sorry, I’ve been missing in action for a few days! Some spends from me but mostly food shopping and I filled my car up which was £28 and will last most of February. I did buy a couple of cheap storage boxes so I can organise my wardrobe but they will make life easier in the long run.

Haircuts are very annoying! I pay £30 for a wet cut at my local hairdressers which takes the grand total of 5 minutes. Seems very expensive, especially as my hair is really short so gets cut every four weeks. Tried doing it myself with clippers but it doesn’t look as nice!

@LuminousStar It’s really cold isn’t it! We have thick fog as well. Hopefully you’ll feel better once you’ve managed to get out. January is such a joy 😆

It is really cold! But I do try and get out every day. I've got a gym membership for the local council gyms so have been going to aqua classes or swimming most days.Only £21 a month.

@NessaSmith that sounds like a real bargain!

Food shop today so a necessary spend.

In December I placed an order with Ikea. Long story short - deliveries have been missed, items have been broken, lots of calls to customer services etc. The issue still isn’t resolved BUT I have so far received two lots of refunds back into my account as compensation, and was told last night that once they’ve sorted everything out and the case is closed that I should get even more money refunded. So I’m not at all happy about the hassle, but it’s turning out a lot cheaper than I originally thought! It really drives home how much unexpected time goes into purchasing things though, even when they’re necessary.

In exercise bike news, it’s a couple of days since I was really close to just buying it because I wanted it. I didn’t buy it, and now that intense I NEED IT NOW feeling has completely gone. It’s an interesting thing to observe in myself and quite scary actually, how marketing affects us as just regular consumers. I may still choose to buy one after shopping around in the coming months because I do need to sort my cardio fitness out, but sitting back and observing how impulse purchases happen has been quite eye opening.

Also had a food shop today, but at Aldi so at least cheaper than most places!

Still no Vinted 💪🏻

I really need a new waterproof winter coat. Going to see if DH's Blue Light discount can also be used on sale items 🤞🏻

The usual play centre spend this week for toddler and I, plus his hair cut, but this is what I mentally class as the Child Benefit being used for when not needed for new shoes (his feet just keep growing!).

Pay day is end of the week for me thank goodness. Still got some Christmas spends to pay off my credit card, but at least hardly any January spends.

Still going on with groceries and essentials only. £2 on a charity shop book for my kid today though! Not bad, considering it's 23rd Jan and I've not spent a lot since the NY on non-essentials.

@Floopdifloo I think you are right. It is really interesting to see how the desires wane after a period of time.

Hey - I’ve been down with a bad cold so not spent a lot at all.

I had a small victory today that I feel I have to share. I got an email about an author I follow on Kindle. I would usually buy the book right away but I stopped and added it to my wish list. Then I remembered borrow box and went to check on there but it wasn’t. I thought no matter I’ll wait. Then had the inspired idea to check the library catalogue. Boom. It’s there. I ordered it and I will get an email when it comes in at my local library! Very impressed with myself! 🤣

Hope everyone else are having small or big wins today! X

Failed a bit on my plans as I finally passed my driving test so bought a car, tax, insurance, some P plates, blind spot mirrors & now going out to buy a car seat.

But I'm saying these things are essential.

Congratulations!

@VelvetWildflower that's amazing news and well deserved spending!!

That’s an essential, not a ‘fritter’. Congratulations!

Congratulations! These are definitely essential purchases.

Congratulations, @VelvetWildflower what a brilliant use of money! Driving opens up the world to you, well done.

Good morning all! had a bit of a day outing yesterday but was so good to get out and about for a change. Still sticking with not buying anything on the whole (days out excepted!). I am finding that I am getting a lot more time on my hands to work and do other things. The amount of time one spends shopping online or researching or waiting for deliveries is mad! And not missed. At some point I will need to buy some new clothes (hate clothes shopping at the best of times) but will leave it a little while, hopefully lose a bit of weight first.

On a related note I am also keen to spend less time online (this thread excepted). I have realised what a time drain it is to spend on social media, MN, FB etc etc and I can while away hours on my phone or laptop! Must try to channel away and back into productive stuff. It's too easy to waste a bit of time or punctuate my day with MN or whatever but that time could go into something better - even watching TV is better for relaxing.

@VelvetWildflower congrats in passing, nothing like that feeling!
@LuminousStar i still gave my social media accounts but deleted the apps. Makes it a bit more cumbersome to get on there now. I saw on a bbc live well programme that setting your phone to black and white can really help with doom scrolling. I am doing better, less instagram and comparison but screen time is a difficult one to break. I’ve started on here and the kindle app instead. Oh and Dreamlight Valley (a Disney game). Very time consuming 🙈 I will endeavour to tackle this with my scream time filters I think.

a spend day yesterday for me - £180 on two new tyres! 🙈 great stuff!

none today! So far x

@rahlikeatiger that's a good idea - I never heard of setting your screen to black and white!! I am wondering if I should change my phone to a dumb one - radical idea I know which would take quite a bit more planning. I just wish there were an in between option for a smart phone with just "useful" apps e.g. bus app, banking, maps, possibly camera but no social media and so on. I think these things exist but are a bit fringe at the moment. Some apps you just need when out and about! So annoying.

My first payslip following promotion was available to view today - if I don’t piss it away on pointless purchases I could save SO much money this year. Having worked out what my necessary expenditure is, calculating how much I would have at the end of the year if I saved the majority of the rest of it is a real motivator. I’ve never really been in this position before and it’s pretty exciting actually.

I’m now going to immediately contradict myself and say that I’m still thinking the exercise bike would be a good purchase (obviously looking for a good deal). Still haven’t done anything about it - my plan is to transfer all “spare” money into savings after all bills have gone out in February and then see how I feel about having to withdraw any money for an exercise bike. It might just put me off if it goes into savings first and I see that number grow.

@Floopdifloo could you frame the bike as a reward for getting a payrise and promotion? I think if we are too harsh on ourselves we set ourselves up to fail, so it could be justified given what you've achieved.

Still struggling through with winter blues here. On the plus side it's too damn cold to leave the house or go anywhere so in that context at least I am not spending!!

@LuminousStar yes I could, but I’ve been guilty of using that framing whenever I bloody want in the past 😂

I probably will end up buying one in February, but by that time it will have been something I’ve thought about for a while and not just an impulse spend which is what I’m trying to focus on this year - I usually give in to that feeling immediately and I haven’t done that here which I’m happy about. It doesn’t even feel like an exciting purchase any more which I think is great, it’s now all about the focus on improving my health and that’s what will drive the purchase in the end.