After spending most of 2020 at home, I really started to change my relationship with shopping and spending money. I was already making headway with spending less and not shopping the sales but 2020 kicked this into overdrive.
I did treat myself to a few things throughout the year and even, rather optimistically, bought some holiday bits, despite the fact that every single one of my holiday plans were cancelled.
So this year I've decided to attempt a low buy year.
What this means is that I will be making conscious decisions when I do choose to buy anything. It's all about wants versus needs/essentials. And to make myself even more accountable, I want to share my low buy year journey on here too. Starting with;
My 2021 low buy year rules
- I can only buy essential clothing/clothing that I need to exist right now (so if I needed a new coat, which I don't or badly needed new underwear, pyjamas, etc., I don't need to worry about purchasing these)
- I'm aiming to only buy essential beauty items and replacements for ones that I use up this year (obviously I do get sent items to review on here but I also buy way too much)
- I have to wait at least 24 hours before making any purchase (particularly those online)
- I can only buy 99p Kindle books or ones that I use a gift card for (I'm planning on asking for an Amazon gift card for my birthday, solely for this reason)
- I'm not buying any physical books this year (they're much harder to read in low light and take up too much room)
- I am allowed to make 12 non-essential purchases in 2021 (1 each month that can also roll over to the next month(s) if I don't use them)
And I actually feel like it may be more than possible to do this in 2021.
You can obviously make up your own rules, in terms of which categories you'd like to work on most, if you're taking on a similar challenge. But I know that beauty, books and clothing are where I spend the most.
Would you ever attempt a low buy week, month, 6 months or year? Which category in your life could you do with cutting down? And would you like to see updates on how I'm getting on with my 2021 low buy year?
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