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?

3 of the 4 jumpsuits went back. I kept the jeans, a bikini and a swimsuit. So a low spend.

I'm ready to swap into spring clothes now so will move some things around in my wardrobe over the weekend.

Thats brave it was baltic here in the NW today!

It took me a long time to realise that, for me at least, I was investing the clothes I don’t yet own with the power to transform me into a cooler more attractive woman. The clothes I already own, although bought in the hope that they would effect such a transformation, have failed to do so. Realistically I know that clothes cannot turn me into the person I was twenty years ago. I just need to remember that each time I want to buy something.

Couple of birthdays & a hotel stay here which involved spending and I did pick up some new prescription sunnies but was able to claim those back via health insurance. I also picked up a years supply of undereye patches and electrolytes which saved me a lot of money compared to buying them from boots. Resetting on Monday and going back to a hard no spend!

I had a hat on when we went for a walk last night so I may be a little premature 😆 but I'm bored with wearing the same things and need a little change.

I caved last weekend as we were visiting family in a very lovely village with very good charity shops! I came away with a brand new Zara pastel yellow jumper , which wonderfully soft, a long pastel pink cardigan and a soft blazer from Jigsaw; a skirt for DD and some jeans for DS. £40 for everything!

My mindset has changed as that felt very profligate. I used to spend that on seasonal tat in TK Maxx without batting an eyelid.

The pastel colours have lifted my usual beiges and blacks ready for spring. Back to hard no spend!

This is so much harder than I thought it would be and I think I need to do a total no spend April to prove to myself that I can !! I've converted two meet ups with friends which would have been lunch/shopping into walks/coffee/lunch at home vibes so this will massively help. All the new Spring stuff and colours in the shops is not helping.

The long wet winter is not helping with temptation! Unsubscribing from sales email has helped and I have not bought a single item of clothing or shoes so far ….. but I did have my lips and Botox done yesterday which I’m not compromising on. But I would normally pop into shops before hand and blow a few hundred quid before my appointment. I’m using up all my subscription stock pile and not buying new products and I’ve packed in my nails which was 35 quid plus tips every fortnight. Every little bit helps

Morning all - checking in on low spend.

Clothes spending containment is going ok. Nothing in March so far and a bandana in Feb. Skincare/beauty spend is starting to ramp up so need to be careful. Nothing that I won't use but I really want to stop building up a beauty 'stash'. I need to keep remind myself that things go on offer all the time so, unless an absolute favourite item is being discontined, there is no point stockpiling.

On a positive note, just back from a 4 day visit to central London (staying just off Regent Street) and the only extras I came back home with were a new concealer and a small pack of notecards.

I almost bought 3 tops on Vinted today, however my credit card has expired so I couldn't even use my vinted balance and now I am holding out updating my card!

Today I put my vinted account on holiday mode. I took some things out of the dresser where I keep the things I've put on vinted. That felt like shopping! I will go back to vinted to sell, I'm sure, but for now it feels like a relief not to have to check.

Halfway through March and I've so far managed to avoid any splurging on pointless things I don't need. Slowly reprogramming my brain.

A few times I've filled up an online cart and not checked out. It's getting easier to do that. If I buy anything now it has usually sat on a wishlist for a few months first and I'm not panicking any more if things go out of stock because I know there'll be something else I like coming along soon.

I let a discount voucher expire the other day. There's nothing specific I wanted. In the past I'd have bought something completely unnecessarily just to use the voucher.

What has helped loads is since I've started decluttering I'm really feeling the weight of the things that remain. I didn't used to notice it before, how everything needs attention, deteriorates without regular maintenance or use, has to be moved to access something else, the way people constantly change age/height/shape/size and then things don't fit or aren't comfortable any more, the yellowed pages of books, the damage sunlight causes. When I want to buy something I hesitate now because I don't want to add to that mental feeling of weight.

@IndianSummer78 - in case you've not come across, there's a great book called 'Goodbye, Things' by Fumio Sasaki that talks a lot about the burden of things and the mental load of owning them.

I've done a lot of decluttering over the last few years and it's very liberating.

I’ve been quite spendy due to birthday money. One dress was second hand. Others were things I had saved on wish lists that were all reduced. The wish lists don’t seem to be helping me massively when it comes to sale time.

I did but tickets related to one hobby so some delayed gratification there. I’ll have a weekend away for another hobby so conscious of my spending on crap I don’t need! I have reduced my audible to a cheaper subscription now my deal has run out. I need it to run alongside my library app for some audiobooks unfortunately.

I haven’t bought a new leather jacket despite looking and comparing 101 of them. I have a beautiful leather coat already that I know makes me feel great when I wear it so why am I even looking for something else? I didn’t buy some low profile Adidas trainers as every week I see a pair I’d like more…

@D20 , what was the cheaper audible subscription, please?

@dudsville Just what they offered me to stay when I tried to cancel. Still a bit more than I’d like (5.99) but I don’t get the coffees out like DH does so meh I shouldn’t cut my nose off to spite my face. Got a couple more books in a series to buy then will be able to cancel for a bit and make-do with the library app alone.

I'm going to give that a try @D20 , thanks!

Thread's a bit quiet. How are we all getting on with spring sale temptation? I'm 4 weeks in now and still going strong with not buying clothing, but I know my big test re sale/shopping temptation isn't until summer. Today I'm wearing a dress I don't think I've ever actually worn. It's silly how much I've acquired of things I really love. I don't need to endlessly acquire, it's all psychological for me, but so far so good.

Hi @dudsville. Things are going fine and I am almost at the four months stage of no buy. It ‘s getting increasingly hard though! I’ve been wondering on and off about moving to a low buy. Very, very tempted by some new Spring and Summer stuff which is coming into my favourite shop. Trying not to look!
My wardrobe is looking very organised though, as I’ve finished ebaying and only have stuff I love. I feel I am dressing much better from a more limited selection.

It’s going ok thank you. I did wander round some clothes shops yesterday but didn’t buy anything. I am being much more discerning I think. Partly I have a better idea of what I already have thanks to logging it all on Indx So I was looking at a dress and realising I already had similar and didnt need another. Partly the quality was poor and the prices high.

I'm doing ok, I brought nothing in January one item in February, that's good for me, March so far 3 thing's, a sale pair of summer trousers with splits up the sides from m& s £14, a sleeveless black top with white spots again m& s £20, my most expensive buy, a pair of white leather sandals from John lewis from gabor, they were £95, the most I've ever spent on a pair of shoes, but last year I bought the tan pair in the sale, and they were the most comfortable sandals I have owned, I did sell just over £100 of clothing on ebay, so I don't feel so bad .

I’ve bought 2 planned replacement purchases and generally doing well, I’ve had to pull myself back from the brink of a basket checkout many times though!! I’m actually finding it stresses me out now, scrolling and searching and I feel much better when I don’t. Which I think is the biggest progress

Oh but I did have one purchase, a white company cashmere mix, bought by my DH - had my eye on it for ages and loved it then it popped up half price. Does it count if I don’t buy it ?! 😂

I feel like one necessary purchase coming is some smart summer work shoes, I have a big in person meeting in a hot country coming up and no smart footwear. I’m not sure how I deal with that without buying !

Checking in. A couple of clothing items (jumper and dress) bought in the sales. Nothing too excessive and I will use these but I'm now a bit irritated with myself for buying and resent having to track the packages. I need a bit of a spring wardrobe sort out to remind myself of all my options.

One other unneceessary item was bought - some perfume samples. Cost was less than £10 but there was really zero need (I have tons of perfume samples and travel sizes from previous beauty boxes/kits). Sheer boredom/dopamine hit.

Need to reset a bit.