No buy or low buy 2023

[TheOGCCL]

Starting a new thread for the new year. I really must do better. Pretty sure I am in need of nothing after my 2022 spending spree.

Ironically I think this board sets me off a bit.

I’m better with a blanket no spend but how dull. Still thinking about my ‘rules’, eg set a budget or an item limit.

I need to avoid the sales as many mistakes happen there.

All welcome who want to cut down for environmental or ethical or financial reasons, or simply the satisfaction of buying second hand, or the ease of getting dressed when you have less stuff.

I can recommend Lauren Bravo’s book How To Break Up With Fast Fashion.

Its a bit like eating meat, if we all collectively did it a bit less, the world would be a better place.

I made it through January with a clean slate - no beauty, fashion or luxury.

We’ve fallen in love with a private school, which is giving me extra incentive to save money for the next 9 years

@DashboardConfessional that's not a bad thingin one way you now know exactly what you have got and in what colours so having identified what you need and what colours you want you can shop for those items not trying to second guess what you might have in your wardrobe

I'm finding this really interesting.

We lived abroad for a few years and everything was so expensive that I just didn't buy. I'd stock up in the summer then it has to last the year. Though admittedly I was heartily sick of it all by Easter and my mum would comment that she'd 'seen that shirt a hundred times'. She hadn't, I had four the same.

Anyway, as I got out of the habit, I don't really go shopping as a leisure activity any more and I do wear things to the death. But I found a few things I don't wear anyone and popped them on vinted. I get quite excited when people favourite them 😁

January purchases:

2 jumpers from my wish list, both preloved so I jumped on them rather than risk losing the opportunity and having to find them all over again

2 bikini bottoms for early summer holiday, got online at 70% off so am counting this as a wise early bird purchase 😇

wooly hat to replace a old tatty one, Vinted using money from sales

2 shoelaces and 1 bag strap to help me get more use out of existing items, plus a few sewing kit bits to make minor repairs (thread, buttons, etc)

No skincare or makeup, got some immune boosting vitamins in Boots as we’re all heartily sick of being sick

(Quite deliberately not counting the uncharacteristic E5P clickbait purchase that had me in therapy a few posts ago. It went back and my lesson is learned, say no more!)

Total spend: £105

Sold quite a few bits on Vinted too, so am comfortably in credit this month.

In Feb, my wish-list item is a jumper dress, as the one I have just isn’t the right shape for me. If I don’t find it next month, it will have to wait until autumn.

My total spend was £214.40; corduroy trousers, black t-shirt, denim jacket, black boots, pair of trainers and a floaty thin broderie anglaise top. 6 items, 5 out of the wishlist and one impulse which, tbh, I've worn ten times already. 5 wishlist items were also replacements, so the old ones have gone to textile recycling.

I didn't spend anything on beauty apart from my £20 liberty subscription. Nothing on home decor etc but £7.99 on a book.

I did eat out, order takeaway and go to cafes, but that's just normal life for me and not really the reason I'm doing a low-buy.

Definitely aiming for no-buy in Feb, apart from a mascara which is almost finished.

That's what I'm a bit scared of @DashboardConfessional

I do sort of dream of having swishing space in the wardrobe though and not have to cram things in.

Maybe I should follow your example and just do a category at a time. I bumped into an old colleague recently and put the top I was wearing then into the "clothes for gardening cleaning and decorating in" drawer once I'd washed it. It was definitely passed its best but still fully functional.

After 0 spend in Jan I managed to pop into the local Chazza and buy some knitted trousers, a hobbs skirt and some M&S combats that will be good for spring, £10.50 total spend. Nice things but nothing I actually needed...

I think in total I spent around £25.00 in Vinted in January. I really wanted to do 'no buy' but I did make a small amount on eBay, over £50, so that cancels it out.

I think I said I wanted new loafers (office, when there) and would be buying more tights (though I have approx 40 pairs I'm going to sort out first, that's what the delay is.

Aiming no buy, but not new if I must. I bought too much last year, still unworn, and probably developed a bit of a clothes shopping habit if I'm honest.

The dress I bought on Depop was unfortunately refunded by the seller. However, the good news is that means I didn’t buy any clothes in January

Blown it out of the water today. Went into a local independent to see if they had a mustard jumper as per my wish list. Ended up with a fabulous evening dress for our forthcoming cruises which I definitely didn't need. DH saw it on the sale rail and insisted I tried it on. OMG it fitted like a dream and has more than a hint of old school Hollywood glamour. Not the sort of thing I would have tried at all had I been on my own. Even better DH bought it for me for my birthday.

I really don't need anything else 😁

Only bought a pair of UGG slippers that needed replacing and were in the sale and replaced my cleanser and exfoliator that had run out.

Can I join you, a bit late, but starting today, hoping to achieve no spend 2 years to Feb 4th 2025. I confess to having intended to start on 1st Jan, but after having a huge wardrobe clear out decided to renew my jumpers in the January sales. Ordered loads of different things to try and sent most of it back, but now have some wool knits that I really like to keep me warm in the winter with reduced heating in the house, which is what I was missing. Now I really am doing no spend for myself and I've also promised DH I won't ask if we can buy this or that for the house. My spend rules are: I can buy food, wine, toiletries, cleaning products and anything essential for the house, such as something that breaks and needs replacing or fixing. I can pay for anything that my 2 teenage sons need, such as bus passes, clothes, educational stuff, trips etc. I can buy coffee out if I am with friends and we are going to a cafe, but I can't eat out. For holidays we intend to drive and self cater, DH isn't into restaurants anyway so that is fine with him. I can pay for parking and petrol. I can replace any essential electrical items if they are no longer functional. I can ensure the house and vehicles are maintained/serviced. I can buy compost/seeds or other consumables for the garden and our veg growing. I can't just buy myself something because I fancy it, but the rest of the family, who are generally quite frugal, can do what they like. I feel like I need some like minded people to share this with and help me stick to it. How does that sound?

Welcome @Netcam those sound like a good set of rules!

I’m allowing myself to buy stuff for the home and kids and anything that counts as groceries. Nothing for me - especially not clothes/accessories/beauty/luxuries.

I got some new season things from the supermarket. It cost £60 which surprised me when I looked it up, I thought it would come to more of the bill. If that's all I buy in February I'll be happy.

@LivingDeadGirlUK what a bargain. My local charity shop would have charged £10 each.

@NeedWineNow that dress sound great. Happy birthday 🎉

Thanks @IndianSummer78 I’m very pleased I have to say. It’s a long time since I have put something on and felt so good straight away, even though I know I’ve still got a stone to lose.

I had been idly looking for a parka , but not holding out much hope . The ones I saw were never quite right so I gave up hope of ever finding one .
Then on the Lands End thread I saw (£200) but managed to find it for £120 on a promotional discount . Result !
They are timeless .

And though I;m not an impulse buyer and certainly not a fan of TKMaxx , I can't be bothered with the searching and looking at the RRP/TKMaxx price and thinking Yeah right , it was never the RRP I saw the most gorgeous blouse . In TKMaxx/HomeSense I know they won't be there if I go back ..so I bought it .

Not shopping for clothes is making me calmly assess my wardrobe and see what’s missing. A list is forming. I hadn’t anticipated that as I thought I did this usually. If I happened upon any of the missing things I wouldn’t not buy them but am still hoping to manage without until 01 April. I know if I buy one item, I might buy twenty.

Its also nice not to be dealing with returns every few days.

@TheOGCCL Same. Although I did shop in Jan, I'm making a conscious effort to wear things I haven't for ages. I wore a dress to work last week I hadn't worn in years and forgotten how great it was - and the next day I wore a jumper which was so itchy I had to take it off after a few hours - so off to the charity shop pile it went. I plan to do this with everything I own.

So far, I've bought a children's book for £5.99 but I am largely excluding kids things from my no-buy as we keep kids stuff fairly minimal. And I donate clothes and books as soon as we grow out of them.

I'm still dreaming of a beautiful wool blazer but they are terrifyingly expensive.

Sounds like a great plan. I agree, even buying one new item can involve numerous purchases, returns and refunds just to find the thing you like. I got married in October (for the second time) and trying to find that one dress to wear for the wedding was a nightmare. And I didn't want a proper wedding gress, just something I loved that looked like it would work for the wedding but I could wear again for other special occasions. I bought and returned so many, had a to keep a list to keep track of refunds. In the end I found one and realise I needed to go through that process to find 'the one'. But it was very time consuming.

I very rarely buy online. Such a faff and sizing and fabrics are so variable.

Another part of The Plan for me is to order less online generally.

I hate getting a huge sack of clothing and half the stuff in there is stuff I would have rejected out of hand instantly if I'd seen it in a shop just from the feel of the fabric.

I've done OK so far (donated some clothes and jackets, and I bought a recycled fabric ear-warmer). No new clothes at all, secondhand or otherwise.

But this month is my birthday, and for some reason I felt the need to treat myself to some fancy skincare for £60 (which is lovely stuff, to be fair, but I REALLY didn't need it right now). This may sound odd but I think rubbing nice smelling serums etc. into my skin is how I'm trying to cheer myself up after a tough couple of years for our family. I'm enjoying them, but I just have too many. Must focus on the using rather than the purchasing!

Good luck for February to all.

Currently fighting the urge to redo my whole winter wardrobe….

All I can say is, having had a big winter wardrobe overhaul, not replacing things but adding to it, I bought so much it has to be a no spend 2 years. Even wondering if I should do 5 years, with just Xmas and birthday presents from DH permitted for things I really want. I think it was a combination of the house being much colder this winter and being 53 in January.

Well this month hasn't gone to plan so far ...
I spied a brown woven m&s leather bag I'd missed in the sale on eBay. So that was my birthday present to myself. But then I saw some button fronted cropped jeans on eBay, that had completely sold out online on m&s, before I'd had a chance of buying them. And I bought them in two different sizes 🤦🏼‍♀️. So including the £20.00 I made on eBay I'm down £60.00. Hence I've listed several items on eBay for payback. I'm planning on a monthly expenditure of up to £40.00, so as long as I can recoup £20 or more, I'm fine. Plus, I might well end up relisting one of the pairs of jeans.
The good news is that I'm wearing my restretched Cashmere in several bright colours - bright 🍑 today. Plus I've shrunk my too big crinkled cotton shirts in the dryer & it's worked well.