No-Buy Year One-Month Update: 5 Surprising Realizations So Far

No-Buy Year 2025: 5 Realizations After Month One

Our family was hit with a flu wave just in the beginning of February, and we were all home sick, just trying to get through our daily routines with doing the bare minimum.

Our toddler has gotten more TV time this past week than she probably has during her whole lifetime, which is a bit terrifying.

But, as we’re slowly starting to recover, we’ll also have more energy for other activities together.

This year 2025, our family has decided to stop shopping for fun. We’re instead focusing on buying only essentials for a whole entire year.

This type of challenge is usually referred to as a no-buy year, low-buy year or no-spend year. Learn more about why we decided to stop shopping in my earlier blog post.

Everyone makes up their own rules about what is allowed spending, and what isn’t. You can read more about our rules and what we’re not buying as a family in 2025 here.

As we’re now already well into February, I think this is the perfect time to reflect a bit on how the first full month of our no-buy year went.

Next, I’ll share five realizations about what it’s been like for our family since we started our no-buy year challenge and stopped shopping for other than essentials.

1. A New Sense of Clarity and Calm As a Parent of Young Kids

I had coffee with one of my best friends just at the end of January, and I tried to explain how I feel like I had entered a new season of calm after starting our no-buy year.

Last time I was pregnant I spent almost every day shopping for stuff that I thought we ‘needed’ for our baby.

I did this, because I thought that was what I was supposed to do.

Call it FOMO, or fear of missing out, hormones or nesting, I’m sure new mom’s can all relate to this.

I wanted everything to be perfect for our baby.

And, I would do anything to create the most perfect Pinterest-worthy nursery set-up. Still there would always be some little detail not quite right, that we would have to go out and buy another piece of cute decor or a different shade of curtains to match the whole.

Now I’m at the end of my second pregnancy and we’re expecting baby number two to arrive any day now! **Update: Our baby decided to arrive at the time of editing this blog post. We are now officially a family of four!

Because we’re committed to our no-buy challenge this year, I had suddenly created boundaries for myself when it comes to shopping.

I wasn’t allowed to just listen to my hormonal cravings to do non-stop shopping for cute baby stuff anymore.

Now that I wasn’t ‘allowed’ to just buy whatever I wanted, I realized the constant anxious feeling of not being good enough actually started to fade a bit.

I feel so much more calm, collected and clear now about the type of home I wish to create for our growing family.

Realizing this has given me so much more confidence in finding that what we have is enough, and that we are enough as new parents. Even if we didn’t have the trendiest nursery set-up with perfectly matching decor items.

2. Avoiding Non-Essential Spending Has Felt Surprisingly Easy (So Far!)

Maybe one month in is just too early to tell. But, I feel like not indulging in buying stuff just for fun has felt quite easy.

Just before the beginning of the new year we created a list of things we would avoid buying.

One thing we didn’t really think about when creating our list was our current habits of eating out. This is something that has stuck out now, that we’re otherwise avoiding non-essential spending.

I’ve written down every time we’ve eaten out or went out for coffee with each other or with friends. It’s actually quite a lot.

It’s interesting how creating boundaries for ourselves in one area of shopping, has made us shift our attention to other areas that haven’t even crossed our minds before.

3. I’ve Started Thinking More Creatively

I’m noticing a slow shift in my thought process when it comes to acquiring new stuff.

This year we’re not allowed to just take the easy way out and buy whatever we need, whenever we feel like it.

My typical thought used to be ‘I want to buy this thing next; which mall or store should I visit today to get this item?’

…and, ‘what else could I buy while I’m there?’, because I might as well make use of the opportunity.

These past few weeks I’ve had to think differently. And, instead I’m noticing how questions in my head are popping up in a different form:

‘I really need to come up with a solution to this problem. What could I use that we already have at home?’

4. We Used to Spend Weekends At Malls or Big Box Stores As a Family Activity

Don’t get me wrong, I love hanging out at malls or big box stores like Ikea with kids, because they provide everything to make your life more convenient.

Play areas, changing rooms, cafés and restaurants to keep you and your kids fed, while you browse around and look for new, cool stuff.

Stores repeatedly change their products and have new interesting things to look at every week. It’s addicting!

If the weather is even a bit uncomfortable, it’s so easy to meet up with a friend at a local mall, because you know all your needs will be covered.

As tired moms this is all we want and need. To just be cared for and have that social time for ourselves to vent with a friend over a cup of coffee.

Well, now instead, we’ve had to come up with other things to do. Because I do realize visiting malls are big spending triggers for me.

During our first month of committing to our no-buy challenge, we have been hit with a flu wave at the same time and doing much of anything else than just surviving our daily routine hasn’t exactly been in our thoughts anyway.

Once baby arrives and I get to start recovering from birth and really begin enjoying my maternity leave, hanging out at malls can become a huge temptation once again.

I’ll really have to do some hard thinking about where and how to find that same fulfillment without being surrounded by shop windows and product displays.

5. I Enjoy Being At Home More Now

At the same time as we started our no-buy year we also committed to doing some serious decluttering of our home this year.

Read more about how we plan to declutter our home and reduce at least 50% of our possessions, while raising our toddler and newborn in 2025.

Our main goal is to create more mental space for us as new parents to deal with raising (soon!) two kids under 2, while having less stuff to manage and maintain.

In the last few weeks as we started our no-buy year I’ve clearly felt how spending time in our home just feels better each day.

We have less stuff just randomly entering our home, and we’re being very mindful of what we take in.

Also, if someone offers us anything for free, we’re committed to thinking twice before saying yes.

This also has to do with the fact that saying no can be difficult, when someone offers you something out of kindness. I will definitely have to work on this skill, because I have a strong tendency to want to please people, and not hurt anyone’s feelings.

We are also slowly but steadily shifting our minds towards getting rid of our old excess stuff.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by our home, and wanting to get out as quickly as I can on the weekends (ironically to spend time at malls or other places where shopping is very easy), I actually don’t mind staying in.

In the past few weeks I’ve made it into a game to think about what we should let go of next.

I’m also constantly coming up with new ideas to make our home feel a little more peaceful, one little step at a time.

Is a No-Buy Challenge Stopping the Influx of Stuff Entering Our Home?

I’ve been surprised about how we still accumulate stuff into our home, although we’ve intentionally stopped shopping for anything non-essential.

I’m keeping a list of gifts and items we’re receiving for free throughout the year. This is just to see how many new possessions we’re actually gaining despite our efforts to create a more minimal lifestyle.

I’m not saying that giving and receiving gifts is inherently a bad thing.

But, in today’s day and age it’s so important to try to be mindful of what decide to accept into your home, and also what you offer others.

We should all be giving a little bit of thought to how we might be causing each other even more problems and cluttering up each others’ homes.

Carrying over bag after bag of hand-me-downs to family friends with kids, who are too kind to say no, is most likely done out of love, but it can create so much new clutter and overwhelm a family, that is already in survival mode by just surviving their day-to-day with raising children.

At the same time donation centers are overflowing with stuff to the point that they’re giving away stuff for free. Some donation centers are even refusing to take in stuff that they think won’t sell.

This means accepting your loved ones’ hand-me-downs could literally cause you even more problems, if they’re not easy to get rid of.

Also, there is the feeling of guilt. We might feel too guilty to let go of the stuff given to us, or lack the mental bandwidth to start decluttering, packing, taking pictures and trying to sell stuff online. And, constantly accepting new stuff as we’re offered them can become a real burden.

After we started our no-buy year I’ve quickly realized how I’ve been contributing to this problem myself. I haven’t always thought through whether the person would even appreciate the item I’ve been offering to give them, or even thought to ask first, before just shoving it into their hands.

Intentional gift giving is something I’d like to continue to work on going forward.

No-Buy Year 2025 January Update: Realizations After Our First Month

After one full month of our no-buy year challenge in 2025, I can already feel a shift in our family’s mindset.

What started as a simple decision to stop shopping for fun has led to unexpected realizations about

how we consume,

spend time, and

even think about our home.

I’ve felt a sense of clarity and calm as a new parent, avoided impulse purchases with surprising ease, and started thinking more creatively about solving problems without buying more.

We’ve also become more mindful of how much time we used to spend at malls and how much new stuff still enters our home despite our no-buy efforts.

This challenge is about more than just avoiding unnecessary spending. it’s helping us redefine what actually adds value to our lives.

As we continue into the year, I’m excited to see how this mindset shift will shape our habits, our home, and our relationship with stuff.