2026 No Buy

[Eatingmusselsfromashell]

I am planning a strict 2026 clothes no buy. I’ve tried in the past but the maximum I achieved was 3 months or so.
I’m sick of the cycle of seeing/ wanting / buying. I want to couple my No Buy with some other habit changes. I would like to limit screen time to one hour a day (except when listening to podcasts/ books and language learning). This is the year to brush up my Spanish and German for trips later in the year. I am annoyed at the hours of life I have wasted scrolling online sites.
I’ve tidied wardrobe in preparation and am ebaying / charity shopping anything which isn’t currently working for me.
Anyone else want to join me for moral support?

Also a big fan of a museum shop. Does anyone remember that catalogue that came with the Sunday papers that had so much museum stuff? Each page was a different era and they’d always have a scarf, jewelry, comedy book, serious book, mug and a gadget

It sold almost immediately (not to me) so that is that temptation sorted.

Was it Past Times?

Ohh they had some lovely things !

@ThisIsMyBurnerPhone I’m in a similar position- I have a top from Mint Velvet that I adore but it’s two sizes too big, browsing Vinted and someone is selling it with matching trousers for £45 - sitting on my hands to stop myself clicking buy!

@Leftsidefacing - I wish I lived in the Highlands with a small department store and cafe, I’m on the outskirts of East London and temptation is never far away. I too would have purchased the mug and it would make me happy each time I used it.

Stayed strong today, was tempted by some new pillowcases this morning, I purchased two fitted sheets from Rise Fall in the Black Friday sale and have had to use all of my willpower in order not to buy a full bed set - I have at least 6 bed sets, and do not need any more, but the thought of getting rid of the perfectly comfortable ones and ‘investing’ in new ones is so tempting. For now I have decided to wait until the end of the year and I’ll maybe ask for a new set or two for Christmas.

Also returned two items ordered online before Christmas ☺️

Listed some stuff on vinted and sold three things this evening so will drop them off tomorrow,

No spend continues here - I bought toothpaste today, definitely allowed.

My daughter offered to do some Vinted selling for me today, I told her she could keep the proceeds but she said no - maybe split the proceeds? Would be good to get the decluttered stuff moving out of the door. Any profit could go towards some gaps in my wardrobe - there aren’t many though.

£7.99 spent this evening ordering cedarwood blocks after I went to pick out some nice warm things from the winter accessories drawer and found the bastard moths have been at a wool beanie hat which I've always liked, and also an expensive cashmere scarf which I'm going to have to try and get repaired. Gah 🤬

I did this yesterday and it was amazing. I deleted them all off vinted and took them to the charity shop in a giant bag, gift aided and felt very virtuous all round. I did buy some socks today :(

Also deleting vinted and hiding Instagram and Facebook away from my homepage as the ads are non stop - the algorithm has twigged that I like nice jumpers and I get jumper shop adverts all the time now- dangerous

I fell foul of that with ebay. Opened an account to sell in 2021 and did really well over that summer, I was so proud of myself.

Then I started buying. Not just clothes, which had always been my weakness, but other things, particularly antique sewing machines to do up, which was a new hobby. I spent far more than I’d earned through selling and my cupboards filled up again.

That couldn’t continue so I closed my account for about eighteen months and have been back, just selling, for a year again now. I use it to buy once in a blue moon and hope I can keep it up this time. Still have eight old sewing machines I don’t really know what to do with though 😐. I’ve never used vinted but it seems people get in a similar situation with it.

We’re planning on moving this summer/autumn and my aim is to have clearer cupbosrds and a larger bank balance by the time we do!

Well, I’ve just bought some Ugg slippers on Vinted. New without tags.
I’m telling myself that getting them for half price is better than what I would have done last year - just got them new, without thinking about it.
Baby steps.

@Johaanah It sounds idyllic but small towns have their bad sides and farming is a hard life. Don’t even get me started on the constant power cuts - as I write we’ve been snowed in for the past four days with no end in sight.

Funny you should mention it - I take my holidays in London. Last year it was Kensington and I had a fabulous time visiting Linley Sambourne House Museum, the Design Museum, Muji, Zara Home and Japan House. If I could find a lovely hotel in that area I’d love to do that trip again. Another reason to stop shopping and save some money up!

Well done on the vinted sales and stay strong on the bedsets!

Was it Museum Selection ?

Sounds like you have an infestation, cedar wood blocks (or lavender, or natural sprays) won’t do anything, they just may deter moths if you don’t already have them.

You need something to trap and/or kill them and a really good physical clear out and deep clean, they set up in the fabric of the house so will come back if you only treat your cupboards.

For some reason that’s usually seen as a controversial thing to say and people swear that natural solutions work against existing moths, but the truth is that they don’t.

I'm sure that's true @Leftsidefacing , but it's two small items which were together in one (now cleaned) drawer, the other items in there made from natural fibres are now in a bag in the freezer and nothing else has been affected so far 🤞

I had similar with a lone sweater about ten years ago and did the same and they didn't come back then, so I'm not going to be chucking napthalene around my flat just yet 👍

@RobinEllacotStrike I'm in the declutter thread, I've been doing it for a few years now. I'm a bit of a pack rat, reached capacity and needed to do something about it before I ended up with a hoarder home.

@lostntranslation I found when I have the right amount of items maintaining them etc isn't a problem but once I developed an excess amounting to a bit of a hoard it became really noticeable how much time it takes up. From keeping things in good condition to needing to move things around because they're in the way, the physical and mental energy of organising the available space in the best way (which of course changes over time as the differing amounts of what I have changes) all adds up in terms of time and effort.
There's a long running frugal living thread in the money section where I'm sure you'd find the answer to your question about the app, if you need any other suggestions.

@ThisIsMyBurnerPhone sometimes donating (and the clean break with buying/selling platforms it provides) is the best option, at least while you're attempting to go cold turkey.

I failed a bit on Jan 3rd, so that didn't take long.

I've been coveting a particular hoodie for aaaaaages. It's similar to an old battered one I have worn to death, but refused to part with I love it so much. So it came back in fashion and I've been eyeing up this one and couldn't resist when it came on sale. That wouldn't have been so bad except, being me, I had a little splurge in the sale. I did have store credit to use up so I'm ok on the spending side, but I'm confessing to two hoodies in different colours that will go with everything since I love them so much, a pair of jeans in a newer style that I don't already have and two pairs of thick winter socks which is something my wardrobe is lacking in. Between the sale and my store credit I got the whole lot for the full price of one hoodie. The amount looks bad, but a year ago I'd have bought a lot lot more than that, so I'm considering it progress to have ignored the majority of my wishlist. Kind of feels like a neutral.

Also bought 4 t-shirts elsewhere, which I don't count because they're necessary replacements for ones I've outgrown, they're winter layering so needed now. This is a huge success for me, because I had to search for them amongst all the winter jumpers (my weakness) and walk past the sale rail too and I didn't buy anything else, which is unheard of. I'm awarding myself a gold star ⭐ because I deserve it 😁 (and I need to get those dopamine hits somehow!).

Fine, Just trying to offer friendly advice based on my professional experience, and didn’t say anything about ‘chucking napthalene about’, so there’s no need to take it so badly.

I really didn't; I've been buying mostly second hand clothing for decades, and moth-awareness is part and parcel of that.

I'm irritated by the scarf, but it could be worse and nipping it in the bud immediately will almost certainly have nailed it. Had I not known that, I would have posted a separate thread asking for advice rather than derailing this one.

Yes I'm having a declutter as I go along. I have a huge pile to list on vinted that I really need to get cracking with. I just keep putting it off though.

I've not caved yet. I spent my January budget almost immediately as I'm doing it payday to payday. So the new personal spends will kick in on the 23rd Jan. I have a small list. Wide leg black trousers (not linen) and some press on nails, I got rid of another spendy habit last year which was my trip to the nail salon every 3 weeks. Really loving the press ons and my nails are in much better condition.

So I've listed a load of stuff on Vinted and have more to do today, it's actually really given me pause for thought of the things I bought not thinking clearly that I'm now selling cheap. Alot of it is duplicates, why do I do this. I'm alot clearer now on what I have. Now to try and use the vinted balance for things I actually need (toiletries) or withdraw the balance - already seen something I like, aaargh.

I've spent half of my allowed treat budget already for January. So not great but it's a very small budget so was always going to be hard but it is helping as there are several things I have stepped away from mindful of the budget.

Well after 5 no spend days today it's all about spend. Apart form few big household necessities - like changing flooring costs, that was very much planned and needed I went and booked year of dance yourself fit for myself. It comes as less then 6 euro per week, and while I don't like most of the dance classes (they are live, over zoom) I love their motivational talks and the weekly coaching session and the yoga classes are worth more to me then the cost.

Spendy day but I feel it is good investment. I did their summer self development programme and got a lot out of it.

It is unnecessary spend but I feel it will pay off over the year. After all hour of dancing or listening to motivational talk is better then hour browsing shops online :)

To preface this, I have an gift voucher with a balance that covers these purchases today.
I caved into the big reductions that M&S offered today, jeans and wide leg black trousers (16 Arlington collab) at 75% reduction.
Not sure about the trousers - will see when I get them but they were well reviewed. I’ve ordered as collect in store so if not right, they will be returned straightaway so not going to lie around waiting for me to get round to returning. (And probably forgetting.)
And a camel coloured Jaeger T-shirt down to a tenner - a colour I’ve been looking for as workwear.

I’m the same, yesterday I sold an item on vinted for £4 that still had its £30 label on 😡 Also own at least 20 plain black t-shirts and the same number of white ones, when I go into Uniqlo for example I’m drawn to a plain white cropped T-shirt - (the kind that are hip length not belly tops lol) even though I have tons of them in the wardrobe.

I'm still staying strong - not sure how, but I am. I haven’t given myself an allowance but I may do once I’ve got through January.

The side stripe trousers @Quella ? I found they were quite short. Lovely, but short.

I use a little mantra - “look around. Everything you see was once money & will one day be in landfill or burnt”.

it helps me keep everything in perspective especially in these early days when the change of habits & mindset feels a bit uncomfortable.

The “I want” and “I need “ thoughts will soon settle down.

objects really only have the value you bestow upon them. Even Liz Taylor’s most fabulous jewels can have “zero value” if they are in a box in the back of some dudes wardrobe & forgotten about.