HOW TO DO A NO-BUY YEAR: RULES, TIPS, AND NO-BUY GUIDELINES BASED ON MY OWN NO-BUY YEAR RESULTS

A NOTE ABOUT THERAPY. I had always considered myself to be someone who could not afford therapy. That's why it took me until September of my no-buy year to start. I found a therapist who offered a sliding scale and together we settled on a RATE and a FREQUENCY that made it possible for me to stomach the cost. It does not have to be every week—sometimes I take breaks or drop down to one session per month when money is tight. In my experience, anything is better than nothing, and I'm confident that over the years the assistance with healing has saved me at least as much money as the sessions themselves have cost. HOWEVER, I'm aware that some people are entirely priced out of one-on-one talk therapy. Please note that Julia's class is also offered on a sliding scale with the lowest rate being two payments of $38 each: courses.juliafrodahl.com/courses/CCP1-JAN2022?ref=… and there are scholarships available, too. When you are used to "not being able to afford" things like therapy because you are spending so much money on shopping, it can be really hard to adjust to the feeling of paying a bill to a therapist in exchange for something that isn't material. It can feel like that money is just disappearing. To this day I sometimes think "why am I doing this?" when that money leaves my account. It's like a moment of blind faith. But when I look back over the past three years, and I consider how much I've paid to be in therapy and what I would do if someone offered to reverse it—give me all of my money back, and also take away the personal growth and the relationship of support and care that I now have with my therapist—then I can see with crystal clarity how worthwhile it has been. After some hesitation, I included it in this video because it is one of the things that I most fervently wish I could go back and say to my past self.

My plan for my no buy "year" is to wishlist everything I think I want, and then wait until Black Friday sales (and I have a budget set aside for that time) to buy them. Based on my experience, by the time it's been almost 11 months, I won't even want or remember most of the things I put on the list and anything I do want will be heavily discounted. I've already started doing this and it's actually been easier than I expected to just say "I can wait to get this until November 2022 and it'll probably be at least 30% off - I'll use what I have in the meantime." My only other rule is I can buy replacements if I finish every single thing in a category (e.g., no brow products left at all so I need to get one) but I have a big enough collection I doubt that will happen. Thanks so much for doing this work on our behalf Hannah - it's so helpful!

I'm not planning a no buy year but I am planning a LOW buy year! -I will allow myself to buy no more than 2 THRIFTED items per month -no new skin care or make up unless it is a replacement for something(that I regularly use) that has run out or gone bad -can buy socks or underwear as long as I need them -NO NEW SHOES(shoes are my weakness and I already have too many for the amount of storage I have) -no new home decor except for a lamp shade to replace the broken one on my favorite lamp -cannot buy new art supplies until I use up the ones I am already working with -cannot buy books until I read the ones I've been planning to read(although I I think I'll just get a library card at that point because I don't have space for more books) -can buy the things that are already on my replacement list(example: my black leggings don't fit anymore and I plan to buy a new pair because I used them often) What I plan to do with my time instead of shopping! Read. Make art. Practice cooking and baking. Writing. Decluttering/organizing my home. I'll be editing this list and rules over the coming days

Going to be honest, I unsubscribed from your channel after watching you for YEARS because I found myself buying things that you liked. I'm grateful for your minimalist/no buy content and check in from time to time

Another thing I do when it comes to makeup and enjoying what I already have is to watch a bunch of videos of those things. Reviews, tutorials, comparisons. It gets my mind to thinks of it as a new item and I tend to once again love what I have.

Distancing yourself from consumerism is hard when everything in our environment encourages otherwise. Good job to any progress!

I’m someone who definitely fell into the “shop for the life you want, not the life you have” sort of thing and accumulated quite a bit of debt in the process. I’m in a better place now than I was earlier in the year in terms of resisting random urges to buy stuff cuz I wanna be a cool-ass binch, but I still have some work to do in regards learning how to save money and like…actually taking the time to participate in my hobbies? I find that shopping tended (or tends, if I’m perfectly honest) to be the easiest way to get good brain vibes, so I reach for it first instead of other stuff like video games or writing. But yeah, long story short, this video was super helpful! Thank you!

Can I also suggest to people who will do online window shopping, this tip: a couple of months ago, I was doing some Amazon window shopping, and I think I put around ten items in my basket. I couldn't check out, because my payment card had expired and I couldn't be arsed to go downstairs to get my new card to update the details. About a week later, I had to change the card for something I actually needed. When I went into my online basket, I looked at all the previous items and deleted them. I didn't need them, I just had a temporary desire for them. This was a revelation for me. So now, I do this all the time. Put things in the basket and leave them there for a while. It's rare that I actually do to ahead and purchase. To me, it showed me that a lot of the things I want to buy are to make myself feel better in the moment, they are not something I actually need.

I’m giving myself a B- for my first no-buy/low-buy year, but that was much better than I expected to do! 2022 I’m shooting for an A+, and I’m feeling very confident I can do it. The “muscles” are getting stronger.

I think all of us olive people around the “pale/fair/light” spectrum wish we could go back to 2018 and tell our past selves we are in fact olive even if we don’t look like Penelope Cruz (no shade to her, she is gorgeous). Thank you for the video, for the last month I have been thinking of doing a replacement only no buy year, makeup oriented and I decided to commit a few days ago, so this video feels like the universe is screaming at me to fully stick to it and not screw it up. And thank you for reminding me that I make my rules, because I have a habit of gifting myself makeup for my birthday (Lisa Eldridge velvet lipsticks specifically) and I notice that I treasure those above any other “treat myself” makeup purchase, I want to wear them constantly, see how they look on my eyes on my cheeks, mix them together, experiment around, and honestly I didn’t want to break the tradition because it brings me hella joy.

On the same note as make up playtime but for fashion no buys you could do fashion playtime. Try pairing different clothes to make different outfits and play dress up with your clothes :) just an idea

I am in the middle of a "no-buyshadow" year, as I playfully named it. I started mine in September because I saw how much the spending was affecting me financially and emotionally, and I decided to just put my feet to the fire and start the transformation early. Its been really beneficial so I will add that you can start a no-buy at any time, for any reason. My new year's resolutions do not stick because I do not take them serious and putting any major change off until January would have absolutely prolonged any panic buying that was happening in a way that would have done a lot of financial harm. I panic bought a little bit, not a ton but I put in an order or two. My other note right now as someone who is in the thick of it, is to shop from your collection constantly. I rotate my makeup bag, palettes, and make custom palettes ALL the time as a replacement for shopping and it has really caused me to think critically about the size of my collection and get decent use out of things I would have otherwise over looked.

I am going on a “low buy”: replacement items (mascaras, brow wax, skincare) and limit myself to one item each quarter. This would coincide with the Sephora and Ulta sales. That would mean 4 or fewer new items in 2022.

Makeup playtime is one of the best tools I found to stop me buying more things! And therapy was ridiculously helpful to me as a person, even just telling a person something you've never told anyone else is enough sometimes I also found reading self help books super helpful to snap out of some mindsets

You are an incredible human being and I am so grateful you are in YouTube. I feel better going into my no buy year with all the tips and advice at my fingertips. Love your channel and I wish you could do a 3 month check in for those of us that are doing a no buy. I am not buying any type of makeup or skin care, I have a lot. I will go back to reading books, walk more and focus on myself. Thank you for all the help Hannah !!! 💕💕💕💕💕💕

I am going to add another rule - Don't engage in all or nothing thinking. I agree you need to be hard on yourself to follow your rules but if you do slip, getting back on track is much more important that punishing yourself for the slip. If you get to the end of the year with a few mistakes you will still be much further along than if you made it to November with a perfect record, slipped, and called the whole thing off instead of trying to get back into the right frame of mind.

This video is so helpful! I have never done a no-buy anything (day, week, month, year, etc.). I am going to take this year in two month increments, so that every two months I can do a check-in with myself and evaluate how it went and can adjust the rules or my mindset. Committing to a full year sounds too intimidating and it would be easy for me to give up or forget why I am doing it... two months, though? I can commit to that. Then, another two months. Then another... until a year has past.

Using and enjoying what you have and planning using what have is so much fun. Decluttering very intentionally is the way to go, don’t just get rid of something to get rid of it. Shopping your closet, drawers and cupboards is like shopping too. ❤ the no buy idea is so good and very healthy.

I am doing a no-buy year for 2022. I’m following your advice. I do know what my issue is. I spent the first 40 years of my life not being able to buy anything I wanted to the last 20 being able to buy whatever I wanted and now I’m in a position of not being able to do that anymore. Health problems for me and my spouse has prevented that and it is difficult going from being able to purchase everything I want to not being able to purchase anything I want. I’m having withdrawals, however, I’m going to focus on doing some things I’ve been wanting to do in its place. Wish me luck. Thank you so much dear Hannah!

I'm 30 days into my no buy and this video is so timely and helpful! I'm feeling very confident that if I can do this for 30 days, I can do it for 11 more months. I'm excited for the journey and to learn and grow through this experience.