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?

Same with Vinted! I kid myself that I’m just selling stuff then sneaky buys come in. It’s only 3 pounds, 5 pounds etc. I haven’t gone on in January or December. I hid my wardrobe and yesterday deleted the wardrobe and popped all the clothes that haven’t yet sold into a charity bag. I am redoing my guest room come office so it’s a nicer place to work and have people to stay. I need the space so the old clothes have to go. I’ve been watching Sort Your Life Out again with my DD and it is good inspiration for decluttering! I’m on it again today collecting donations and just letting go.

inspired by @Floopdifloo I wrote down my spends for Jan and started for Feb today. Jan had 23 no unnecessary spends
15 no spend days - which is reflected in the balance at the end of the month so far!

So happy that you can get £1k back! Disaster averted!

thank you @Cottagecheeseisnotcheese! I've been trying to do less washes for clothes etc and cut down on shower time.

I'm just so furious that the water company pollutes our rivers and seas then pays its shareholders massive bonuses whilst simultaneously raising our prices to crazy levels.

All the while the customers who deserve clean water and environment have to mess around trying to shower less and save water due to their incompetence. Not that saving water is bad, but a 50% increase in bills is crazy especially given how crap they are.

Just posting to say I am trying to resist buying some insanely expensive toothpaste. Maybe writing on here will help! 😂

@rahlikeatiger I had to admit to myself I had a vinted problem. Oh its from my 'vinted balance' has become a big joke at home!

I'm a sucker for the 'recommended for you' section. In fact I nearly succumbed and bought a bag on there yesterday and then read your post and stepped away!

I've lost some weight so have needed some new bits but I have enough now. I'm still selling on vinted but transferring straight to my bank account now.

Bought myself a full sized perfume today after using the sample up throughout January. This was on the allowed list and I had the money in my spending money account so all good!

@coolcahuna its the little things that add up totally! Well done on the weight loss and the immediate transfer idea. Both next to tackle on my list. I imagine I have about 4 stones to lose! Eek.

I've just realised that I've only bought two clothing things this year. A pale grey cashmere scarf half price in the white company sale and some amazing fleece lined black smart leggings from next for £26.

This is way less than usual so far. I've been tempted but resisted a few other things

I'm going to aim for one to two new items per month. Only things I genuinely need or love. The test will be when the shops are full of lovely spring things!

OK, all the birthday gifts are bought. I'll have to pick up some more bits in 6-9m for my 5m old, but other than that, I really shouldn't be buying this month. The big plan for this month is to take food with me, so I stop buying food on my 3x daily nap walks with him 😵

Just checking in to say still no Vinted or Amazon for me 🙌🏻 I'm still spending money at the supermarket/ taking toddler places, but no frittering on random Vinted bargains that aren't actually bargains because they don't fit / aren't in as good condition as the seller claims them to be.

Came home on Wednesday after evening shift to find dh and dc had treated themselves to takeaway pizza - so much for the no-takeaway policy we have at the moment. (Although more annoyed the dishwasher hadn’t be emptied, and I did get a slice of left over pizza).

That's not too bad, except that takeaway pizza is often very expensive for what it is.

My DH bought a Ninja Slushi last week. A very expensive slushie machine in Winter. He's making noises about how great it'll be in summer.

⬆️ The only saving grace that he spent the £300 on it out of his spending money. Maybe I'm secretly looking forward to frozen cocktails when it's warm. 🍹🍹

Sounds like you're all doing really well! Things here pretty good. Not been great at the grocery cut outs. but on the whole not recently bought any non-food not necessary items outside of that.

Hang in there people!

Just checking in to say i havent bought anything ( except replacement moisturiser) but havent decluttered yet either! Ill keep that on the to do list😬

Got annoyed with myself yesterday. Plans changed so went to supermarket to do top up food shop and ended up spending twice I intended. That’s the perils of going to a different supermarket than normal (for a change). Some of the extra stuff are basics and household items, but at least half of the extra stuff was non-essential goods. Eg fresh cakes, bread, even though we already have enough for the weekend.

I've stopped all vinted frittering as well. It's never that great unless you're shopping for a specific item you already know fits. I seem to have replaced my vinted buying with charity shop buying though! At least I know it fits and it's for a good cause.

Good on all of you who are giving up Amazon! I'm going to give it up altogether and shop with small businesses instead. These billionaires are dangerous and don't need any more money. And it's getting crazy expensive.

So many people I know giving up Amazon as well! I know it is convenient but I think we forget that we can get things elsewhere at times.

And giving it up is great for saving money as well - win / win!

I don’t like shopping on Amazon anymore. I wanted to see if they had a specific dog collar (brand and type). I had to scroll through several other brands before finding the one I wanted. Annoying.

Hi all, I was doing really well until yesterday when we bought a new mattress - £1100! However I haven’t been sleeping well on our current one so it’s much needed and hopefully, will make a big difference and be worth every penny. I also bought my lunch at work on Friday as I really couldn’t face a tin of soup again 😂. I’m really struggling if I’m honest as I’m so used to ‘treat yo self’ days. I really have to have a word with myself every day to stop myself. Who knew you could enjoy buying cleaning vinegar! Onwards and upwards! Good luck everyone, have a great week.

I've done no amazon/ebay/vinted shopping for unneeded or impulse buys.

Yesterday was expensive, but all on a supermarket shop to fill the cupboards and a tank full of fuel for the car.

Guilty of placing a small Shein order 😌. I've lost weight and have a party to go to next month. I don't want to spend a fortune on new clothes whilst I'm in between sizes. We've also spent on a nice hotel for the night to make it a bit of a special weekend away for us, its based in the nearest city and we don't visit as much as we should.

It wasn't budgeted for this year as it wasn't a invitation I was expecting but it'll be nice for DH and I to do something together, we don't get to do that often.

No spend day today. Or yesterday.

And bonus in that Welsh water HAVE paid out the 1k towards the plumbing pipe replacement work we had done.

So we've not got rather a healthy credit amount on the account!

Feeling frustrated with my no spend policy but holding fast. Would loved to have brought concert tickets today, but they were more than I wanted to spend. Was hoping they’d be cheaper, as he’s not that well known in the UK.

everyone is doing so well! Not a lot to report here - not really been out anywhere for weeks!! So in those terms am staying on track.