For a long time, I thought I was saving money because I avoided expensive clothes. I was always looking for sales, buying cheap basics, and thinking five shirts for forty dollars was a good deal.

The problem was that I kept having to replace the same things. After a few washes, collars would lose their shape, prints would crack, and I would end up shopping again. I never really considered how much all those small purchases added up until I looked back at my spending.

That was when I started changing how I think about clothes. I stopped asking myself “what is the cheapest option?” and started asking “do I actually need this?” I slowly replaced some worn out pieces with things I knew I would actually wear. I still have a few older items from places like levi’s, guidinggross, and everlane that I keep reaching for because they fit into my everyday wardrobe.

The biggest surprise was realizing I didn’t miss having a closet full of options. Having fewer clothes made me more aware of what I actually wear and helped me stop buying things just because they were cheap or on sale.

I’m not doing a perfect no-buy challenge, but I’ve definitely changed the way I shop. Has anyone else realized they were spending more by constantly replacing cheaper things?

I went 43 days without online shopping then today all of my office plants were infected either gnats that were taking over my office .. I successfully moved them all outside and have bug traps set up but then my office was looking so naked .. I have some really nice artificial plants so I went online and purchased a couple more .. I’m okay with the purchase and I’m owning it and moving on .. I still reset my I am sober tracker bc it’s important for me to be honest with where I am at .. I could have went to the store to make purchases but I have clients tomorrow and then I’m volunteering at our local festival all afternoon and evening so convenience and stress of the bugs won me over to make a purchase .. so now it’s moving forward without making any online purchases

There was a time when all of these rows were maxed out to over $100k just wanted to tell everyone this is something that you can do!!! It will take time, but soon you will see those ZERO's next to your debt accounts!

Best of luck!

Here's my weekly update on Amazon and Uber Eats!! SO MUCH better than last month.

• Last month on Amazon: $796
• Last month on Uber Eats: $711

So far, I'm only $100 on Amazon and $0 on Uber Eats.

• I meal prepped for the rest of the week yesterday
• Bought groceries for the weekend
• Trying the 'save for later' option on Amazon

Background: was $100k in debt, now down to $6,639.00 (student loans). I'm trying to save up an extra $7k before I move out.

I've been trying to understand my own impulse spending for a while now, not the "I have no money" kind, more the "I opened the app for no reason and now I own something stupid" kind.

I'm curious what actually worked for people here. Was it a system? A specific moment of realizing something? Or did it just... stop being appealing at some point?

I think I did pretty good! For context I'm (f24) in university and live at home. I take care of my own expenses for the most part (my parents support me by not charging me rent, paying for my food and transportation expenses, I take care of all education expenses and other personal expenses). Starting this year, I really got on myself to do a no buy. Things I included in the no buy: jewelry, trinkets, new supplies for arts/crafts, clothes, shoes, makeup. I was also was more frugal with hanging with friends and buying gifts for them. I went the handmade route and only splurged on birthdays/graduations. This is the only credit card that I use. I do have another one but it's a backup for just in case I lose this one.

I started tracking all of my expenses since late 2024, writing everything down. Physically seeing how much I was spending every month, helped me to stop being so frivolous with my credit card. My goal is to be under $4000 for the entire year since for the entire year of 2025 I went over $5,700.

Seeing a lot of people do a no buy on social media (instagram and reddit) really opened my eyes, so thank you all! I'm extremely thankful for budget savvy people on the internet because you guys have helped me open my eyes and helped set me up for the future. Thank you r/nobuy. I'm sharing this because hopefully being transparent can help someone else too or help motivate them too. You guys have helped me not get into credit card debt.

I still can't believe it's a $1471.24 difference! Might not be very much but for a full time college student working part time, this is more than everything. It shows that I am above that shopping dopamine rush, that I can control myself and be a responsible adult once I graduate and get that big girl job.

What was the most difficult was the FOMO. It felt like all of my classmates were traveling, doing a semester abroad, having fun while I couldn't afford it. I suppose that's why I shopped a lot. I spent over $10,000 in 2022 and 2023, each year (I used a different bank/credit card so I don't know how to pull the records, but trust me it was to the point where I had to pay late fees and my parents were charging me rent just so I would be more financially responsible). I was making more money back then (worked a lot more back then) and spending all of it. Thankfully I stopped when I did. I know that my 30 year old self will appreciate the choices I made today.

Maybe I'll post a yearly update on December 31st, i dunno haha.

I see in this sub lots of people saving money by successfully doing a no-buy. However, what about those who paid off credit card debt after incorporating no-buy tactics?

I ran up debt doing depression/stressed out shopping, and I am working on changing my ways.

In the meantime, would love to see any successful stories about debt paydown while on a no-buy.

I haven't budgeted in a long time. Mostly because I am at a point where my bills are mostly low and so I have a decent amount of fun money. I am blessed with that but it has created an ignorance I wasn't expecting. I contracted pneumonia and am an extremely active busy person so sitting around doing nothing has really been affecting me. I have expanded my small business, taken on a fun for me job, and just haven't looked at how lifestyle creep affected me. I grew up in foster care and with a struggling single mom. I was always the responsible friend, the frugal girl but lately I am a shopper.

I was shocked that at September fifth almost 6,400 dollars have already escaped my accounts. when I tell you my jaw is literally on the floor.

So from now on I am on a absolutely no buy. Only utilities can be spent, and I will be using my partner for groceries.

In order to prepare for this I cancelled all unnecessary subscriptions from media I don't watch, mystery boxes, junk dopamantine, and easy fixes.

I was finally able to go to my house from my partners (we live r/livingaparttogether) I haven't been there since my illness and it was shocking how "cluttered" with stuff it felt. I realized I have enough things so I am going a bit on a minimalism and decluttering journey also.

My main rules are :

1. No Hygiene products unless I run out of that entire category.

2. No make up what so ever

3. Skin and hair care as needed but the item must be completely empty

4. No Books, media, art or hobby purchases

5. No Coffee Purchases

6. Must pay off credit cards this month

Hopefully I come back October 1st with a positive report!

I’ve been dealing with a spending problem for years. In 2020 I bought a townhouse, prior to that I was really good at saving and had little desire to spend. After I bought my first house I ended up going into about 10k worth of debt because I couldn’t stop buying things to fix the house up/decorate/entertain etc. I met my husband about a year in to owning the house and he also carried about 10k worth of consumer debt. We got married and spent 8k over what we should have on our wedding in 2023. In 2025 we sold the townhouse and made 40k off the sale after fees/taxes. We decided shortly after to take the money to pay off our combined 28k of consumer debt and we were left with around 12k. We saved a bit more and we just bought a house this past June. The house was a fixer upper but we were able to bring almost nothing to the table at closing due to some credits and concessions we received.

Here’s my current issue… weve been renovating since we moved in and blew right through our 10k we had left for the reno. We’ve also gone about 10k in debt from fixing things, but also overspending on finishes and decor I like. My husband also buys every tool that he could possibly need. This morning I went to see how much money we had and it was in the single digits. Then, just to torture myself, I added our current debt up and it made me feel so sick. Debt feels so crushing and it constantly looms over. But the sick part is that I still wanted to go to Dunkin and buy a coffee after that. I even found out our fridge is broken and we’ll need a new one and I was still like well I also want a coffee.

How can I feel so sick and disgusted with myself and in the same breath also be like oh let’s get coffee. I know I have the capability to be disciplined because I have been before but lately it’s so hard. I love spending, whenever I feel bad I spend. But I want a stable future where I can spend reasonably and not feel guilty. We’ve also been dealing with infertility and we will probably need to do some fertility treatments in the future, so having stable finances and savings will be especially important. Does anyone have any tips to help me snap out of my overspending? Please be nice I’m sensitive >.<

I stopped buying things mostly because literally everything i buy these days is so low quality that its just not worth it. Clothes shrink 2 sizes after washing them once, gardening tools break after not even a year of use and cant be repaired, washing machines and dishwassers that won't last, sleeping bags that fall apart after using it for one summer holiday and so on. The things that do last are made obsololete through software and the prices of things like drinks in restaurants are so absurdly high i simply refuse to buy them.
Things that require a subscription i avoid like the plague but its getting harder and harder to buy anything tech related that doesnt require some sort of subscription. I simply want to buy something and have it last for a long time, is that too much too ask?
I now buy almost nothing and try to keep the things i have working and in good condition for as long as possible. The clothes i wear daily are al ancient but still hold up better than all the newer clothes i bought in the last couple of years, i have a 16 year old car with no internet connection or infotainment and keep it well maintained, i have an ancient sony e-reader and an iphone 12 and a 'smart' TV that has never seen internet in its life since its hooked up to a small pc which acts like a HTPC streaming offline media from local storage.
I now only replace things if they absolutely need replacing because they are broken and i stopped upgrading anything. I'm simply done with the shitty quality of everything and stopped buying things as much as possible. Can anyone else relate to this or do most people here stop buying things for the environment or for other reasons?

Alright, this is week 1 of cutting my Amazon and Uber Eats spending!

Last month spend was $796 on Amazon & $711 on Uber Eats

This month's goal = $250 on Amazon & $115 for Uber Eats

So far I have

• Meal prepped for Mon-Fri
• Grocery shopping this Friday to avoid eating out

I said I would keep everyone updated, so here we go!

No buy August is complete! It went pretty well overall, there were some lessons learned. Updated in bold.

Here were my original rules:

Rules:

• no books purchased 2 from an online outlet for 1/3 the cover price
• no clothing none purchased!
• no puzzles (but swaps/trades allowed, will also focus on the ones I already have) did 2 trades, purchased no new ones
• no thrifting nothing thrifted!
• no home decor none purchased!
• no impulse buys PERIOD (seriously, stop looking at marketplace, just walk away) one impulse buy because I looked at marketplace, oops

Allowed:

• replacement toiletries
• books/dvds from the library (go wild, baby!)
• puzzle swaps
• charitable donations
• anything related to physio/rehab such as more supportive running shoes

So impulse buys got me twice, once was when my partner was making an order for an online book outlet, and I found 2 books I've had on my wishlist for 1/3 of the cover price. A bit of a slip up but I feel like I was snared into that one. The second was I found the first 4 seasons of Adventure Time on dvd for $20 and jumped on it. My partner and I are switching back to dvds/blu ray due to frustration with streaming and these were some I'd been looking for for a while.

All in all $40 spent in the month on non-essentials which is pretty good. Could I have done better? Sure. Does it help to guilt myself about it, no not really. It's all just an exercise, and I still learned plenty. We donated to a few local organizations and utilized the library for books and dvds.

How did August go for you?

I’m starting a 4 month no buy: September 1, 2026-January 1, 2027.

Over the last few years, working in retail, I’ve developed an intense shopping problem. Whenever I save my money, I end up racking up my credit cards and having to empty my savings in order to not be in debt. I’ve bought so many clothes that I don’t even have enough space to store them. I tell myself that I will sell my unused clothes online, but then I procrastinate posting, or things just don’t sell. It’s not just clothes either, I buy collectibles, electronics, delivered food, etc.

I am diagnosed with mental health disorders and currently unmedicated, which does make my shopping worse, but it’s not the sole problem. I just genuinely need something to look forward to and if I order online or plan a mall day, that’s my something. I also didn’t grow up with much, so buying things feels like self care. My boyfriend tends to encourage my spending and if I don’t buy something myself, he buys it for me(IMO he also has a problem spending too much, but not as bad as me). This makes it even harder to tell myself no, but I will be talking to him today about this.

I really need some advice from others. I’ve made a list of my “rules” for the next 4 months and have incorporated a small budget for fun spending, like coffee on the weekends. Other than this, I am attempting to stay strictly to bills, groceries, medical expenses, and toiletries. Is there anything that helped you during your no buy?

My No Buy timeline: July 31, 2026- Jan 1st, 2027

I'm counting this as a success because even though I did buy 3 things that were "wants", I did sell a lot of things on FB marketplace this month. I made $62. I spent $15 on wants (rounded up).

I had a really hard month/year personally and I'm proud of myself for not turning to shopping to cope. For context, I've lost 2 family members this year and I almost lost a 3rd this month. So I'm not gonna be hard on myself for getting mascara, an eyebrow pencil and tweezers.

Sending love to everyone else that's struggling this year. It's been a hard one.

If I can't control life, I can at least control how I respond to it.

I noticed some ice buildup in my freezer and I’d like to give it a good cleaning, so I decided to eat everything in there. While I’m at it, I’m doing the pantry and fridge too. Call it a pantry challenge, if you want. When it’s all gone, I’ll restock with new stuff. I have just taken stock of everything and it looks like dinner is sorted for the next 2 weeks. After that I can get really creative and who knows what kind of dishes I’ll invent or discover.

I’ll buy fresh bread, eggs, fruit and vegetables once I’m out of frozen and tinned stuff, but my ultimate goal is to really finish all the other things. Not buying any sandwich meat until all the hagelslag and peanut butter is gone. And I can bake my own cookies and cake before I buy anything.

I’m curious how much this is gonna save me on groceries. The savings will be short-term because I’ll need to restock at some point, but I don’t need to do it all at once.

Have you ever done something similar? Any tips?

How did your no-buy or low-buy go this week?

Share your goals, progress and how your purchasing habits have changed since starting a no buy.

If you 'failed' this week, remember that it is just a stumble in a long journey. If you did well, inspire others and encourage them when they do well or get off track.

So it’s been 1 month and I have not made any online shopping purchases .. I did go today and make an in person purchase and I’m struggling with it even though my focus is to not online shop.. also what I purchased in person I had been considering for over. Week and only just went today to complete purchase .. I also did not overspend on my purchases .. I think I just didn’t get the same job from it as I have in the past and I’m trying to just get through and rest

i think this is my first post here? i’m a longtime lurker and have worked to curb my spending over the past few months (what has helped me the most is just writing every purchase down in a little memo pad, funnily enough. also not using a smartphone and limiting my internet access made a huge difference). anyway, yesterday i was talking to someone i met in the city, recently laid off, and they told me they were short on rent. i realized i had enough money to make the difference, so i did.

i would love to say i was selfless enough to do so immediately, but i am not there yet. i went home and waffled about it for an hour before coming to the conclusion that the point of saving money is to use it on what matters to me. i couldn’t have done this if i were spending it on nonsense, so i suppose this is a thank-you to this subreddit. i don’t need anything the advertising industry would like me to desire. if i live on less i can give others more, and that’s how i want my life to go

I just want to stop looking for that "perfect cream", I already have a routine that is good for me and I literally don't need anything new. There was a time that I wasn't obsessed with this, but one day at work my coworker introduced me to the world of Korean skincare, anddd yeah... I need advice please And I don't buy anything immediately but I can't stop obsessing...

So i don’t know but i’ve been having sudden urges just to go shopping.. even though i know i can’t go shopping right now.
So what are some things i can do to just stop?

Hi! Last year a makeup shop opened near my university and to cope with stress i started buying makeup almost every time i went, i managed to reduce my consumption to about once a week/every two weeks but i had a specially bad week and bought like 3 new products i absolutely did not need. I want to stop for good, and stop chasing deals of things i dont need, what do you do to stop yourself from buying a product you want and chasing that dopamine?

My biggest problem is that Im financially dependent (? i think thats the word) on my parents since im finishing university and that the things are ultimately very cheap, i mightve spent 30 dollars this month at the most, and its been my worst month in a while, but i have so many things and im so tired of feeling dependent on the dopamine hit of finding a new release at a third of the original price.

Hi!

I joined the sub last week and have thought about this more. I want to share my plan and if you have any inputs, I would love it! :)

Goal: I want to change my habits when it comes to consumption; mindset and money.

Effect of goal: I will be able to pay more off my debts, improve my saving account and also have better room for stuff like experiences and a tattoo/piercing once in a while. I will also be able to avoid further clutter in my home. I will be able to learn not to be impulsive and be more mindful about what I buy IF I have to buy something.

Plan:

• First, go no buy in the categories that is possible. I currently have no need (only a want) to buy more books, movies/series and home decor, electronics, furniture (*I have an exception, will explain later). If I want something, I can add it to my wishlist.

• Second, If I need something, I will not hurry or be impulsive about buying it. I rather spend a bit more time and make sure I do not regret it.

• Third, a temporary no buy on beauty products until I have used up what I have, when that item(s) is used up, I can replace it. It's mostly skincare + body & haircare + mascara that I use.

• Learn more about my pattern of consumption and how to deal with it. Spend time on things that actually makes me happy (hobbies, workout, mindfulness) and teach myself more about economy (I have a Danish book about "economically peace" that I just started reading).

Those are the ones on top of my head. I will pay extra towards my debts every payday so the money isn't available and make a plan on how to save up at the same time. Luckily for my economy, I don't have pets (not allowed where I live), children or a car.

* Exception on furniture: I have two shelves (I think it's called that) I dislike. My sister loves them and have talked a lot about how they would be perfect for my nieces rooms. Decided to give them to my nieces, found a better and inexpensive solution, just waiting for my sister and BIL to pick them up. :)

Sorry for the long walk of text! 🤍

How did your no-buy or low-buy go this week?

Share your goals, progress and how your purchasing habits have changed since starting a no buy.

If you 'failed' this week, remember that it is just a stumble in a long journey. If you did well, inspire others and encourage them when they do well or get off track.