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?

Morning all - reporting at the end of the month on Low Buy. Total Feb tally is a handful of 99p Kindle book deals, a heavily discounted face serum and an AA bath oil from Vinted. Serum and oil could have waited as I had other options but I am using both regularly and enjoying. My bank account is looking healthy at the moment.

Kindle book buying remains a bit compulsive but everything else is under much better control. I am still adding things to a wishlist for a proper wait (and then removing 95+% of them) but there is one clothing item, that has stayed on the list for a few weeks, which I think might make a bunch of other wardrobe items work much better. I am going to travel to a real life shop to try on instead of just clicking 'buy'.

@dudsville - welcome. I recognise your username (I've changed mine here) from a long standing S&B thread and empathise with your challenges relating to a particular 'collectors hobby'.

My February was kind of ok. I bought four garments (all second hand) to replace the ones that became too big or started falling apart. Two things were impulse purchases but I am very happy with them, the quality is outstanding and they filled a hole in my wardrobe. Overall I spent way less than expected and haven’t bought anything just because it was on sale. The bless app and the “shopping my wardrobe” thread in here really helped me to keep things in check.

I excessively used my cc that gives cashback with extra money I put into it in advance to shop for groceries and necessities so at the end of the month I have no debt and made some extra money from cashback.

Unfortunately beauty and makeup is where I failed miserably. No idea why but I now have three cushion foundations 😅 plus two new eyeliners on the way from South Korea. I am going to use them all but I definitely didn’t need them! Everything was cheap but I feel very guilty for losing control.
(BTW, I absolutely don’t recommend the TirTir mask fit cushion. Crappy staying power, turns orange and gives me spots.)

Hi @dudsville
We managed to not buy anything on Amazon during January! We’ve also been pretty good during February because we are trying to be more aware of mindless spending. We’ve had a couple of Amazon orders but mostly essentials like dog food or craft supplies for DD. I also treated myself to a book.
Pretty pleased with ourselves to be honest & trying to carry on being careful.
It’s definitely a good idea to put things into your basket & think about it for a few days rather than checking out straight away.

Welcome @dudsville. Brilliant to have you here. A lot of your post(s) have resonated with me as a fellow almost retiree who needs to set up better habits. I also have one brand of clothes which I completely love and it currently comprises at least 60 per cent of my decreasing wardrobe.

@IndianSummer78I found your post re competing very helpful and thought provoking. I’ve not been actively competing but trying to improve skills in several areas. I did an extra qualification two years ago and found I shopped far less when doing uni work (competing against myself really to get the best possible result).

Next week I’ll have done a full 3 months no buy. It’s been really hard the past four weeks, not helped by the fact I have three exciting travel opportunities over the next year and there is a huge temptation to buy new stuff to wear for those trips. I enjoyed reading the thread about attitudes towards having nice things and it has caused a bit of a wobble where I am seriously wondering about moving to a one item a month low buy. We’ll see. Staying strong for now.

I’ve been making a lot of use of art galleries over the past month and feel looking at art which we all collectively own has been an interesting exercise in visual stimulation without temptation to acquire. Have even stayed strong in those pesky gallery shops

I did it! I made it through February without buying any clothes. I still found it surprising challenging to resist pressing buy but the thought of being able to brag post about it on here kept me on track. I hope everyone else has been able to stick to their goals too.

I'm going to start March with this resolve. So interesting reading how many people have a problem with Vinted. I also rely on it for a dopamine hit. I waste a fortune on it. I could take the money I spend there and buy one really beautiful thing every month, but I think it is about the hit not the purchase.

Starting today with a ban for me. I also will start selling again.

Realised yesterday it's 5 weeks to our holiday so have ordered a swimsuit, bikini, lightweight white jeans and a couple of jumpsuits.

I’m the same. I’m absolutely addicted.

Managed February with only two pairs of boot socks purchased... very happy as this month I need to splash out on a dress as I'm MOB in a few months.

I've really reduced the am of time I spend on Vinted by downloading a stupid app game called mosaic match. Now when I want to tune out I just play the game instead of scrolling through Vinted. It's a somewhat annoying game but it's not that bad and it's better than spending money..I'm just checking my emails to see if I've sold something on Vinted now.

I'm only 2 days in, but so far so good. What's really motivated me is having to take take money from my retirement fund to pay off that cc, and then thinking about my plans for retirement, so it's been a little bit of a depressing weekend.

I've been saving for years to self fund some years off early. Whenever I splurged, I thought, we'll that's only the equivalent of x amount of my retirement fund and I need a little bit of a boost, excuse, excuse, excuse. But I did that several times and now that I'm close to retirement (next year) and I'm desperate to leave I'm kicking myself. I can't now save enough to make up that loss to my savings. So it's been a little depressing, but it's been important to revisit and readjust to my values. Feels unexcitingly "adult".

I've just withdrawn my Vinted funds into my bank account ! Too tempting to randomly spend it otherwise.

Good thinking @coolcahoona! I'm managing to just go straight to my inbox on vinted. I did accidentally start to scroll on Saturday or if habit, but said "oh damn it!" out loud, chuckle to myself and close the app.

@dudsvilleyep I had to as I succumbed to a top last week. Yes it was only £2 but it isn't once you add in the postage etc!

You sound just like me. I bought a new phone and laptop in the winter sales as both were very overdue. But I have managed no clothes/shoes/bags purchases so far in 2026 and hope to manage this for the whole year and in fact have just stopped looking. I probably have enough of many clothing types other than occassional replacement basics to last the rest of my life and I'm 57. I'm trying to save as much as possible this year too.

I'm also set for any occasion in my life @Netcam , and if I had to I could probably go a couple of decades without buying new clothes and shoes. I've been studying my retirement plan a lot to keep my head focused on the real prize!

I actually failed in Feb as had to buy some replacements of existing pieces after noticing how tired they look - vagabond shoes, some underwear, lululemon gym t-shirt....and a lovely piercing ring.

I'm enjoying no spend so far. Checking my bank balance daily

I'm taking a long weekend away at the end of the month. It won't require much spending money, but I'm looking forward to not requiring to spend from my savings.

top tip re all the online ads - I search for things I might like to look at but would never actually buy/afford, or I look at things like industrial shelving or fishig tackle.

And then when I am working all day the advertisments I see aren't enticing - lovely £4000 frocks, bull dozers and shelving.

Well I've spent most of my March budget on 1 item already..aargh..bit it's hopefully one excellent item and that's it now, done for the month !

I'm just about to complete my first week, started 7 days ago. I've made it even harder on myself as I'm also now looking at bringing my retirement date forward. This means I will no longer have the capacity to pay off any cc charges. I'm still thinking about the summer sale though. Can I really not look at it? Would I be happy knowing I've kept that money in the bank for what will be a very limited income in retirement compared to now? It's only for the first few years, but there just won't be the funds for a few years.

I have sooooo many nice clothes, so why isn't this a no brainier? I'm taking a very considered approach to this decision. I know if I don't really think it through and get my values lined up then I'll crack... Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...

How's everyone doing? I'm two weeks in now. I've finally this morning unsubscribed from my most tempting shop.

Still looking and wavering occasionally. I’ve a holiday coming up next month and it’s a bit of a trigger for buying things, as others on
this thread have mentioned. So far I’ve resisted buying anything though.
I don’t actually need anything new for the holiday but I’m looking for a jacket and a bag . I have a jacket I can take with me that’s a bit too fitted (ie tight) compared to current trends and a bag that’s a bit too smart for travelling round Europe on a minibus (monogram canvas- i won’t say the brand but you get the idea)
I have to keep telling myself that no one will care what I wear ( despite the fact that I’ll be clocking what they are wearing). I expect most people (it’s a group tour) will be on outdoor walking gear type of stuff, which isn’t my thing, but I can see that it would be practical.

It's hard to change habits @Itsnouse . I feel that pain, though mine is a little different. I have a flight coming up, and of course the most ideal smart casual loungewear outfit that would be just so perfect is the one in the shop rather than in my wardrobe. Why? How does purchasing/owning a thing seen to demote it?