There is one thing every no spend year needs… Guidelines!
A no buy year isn’t just something you can make up as you go. There has to be some ground rules in place to help make it successful. This will make future decisions easier. I gave myself a few months to really think about the specifics of what I wanted to include.
No two people will have the same no buy rules because everyone’s priorities are a little different. If you want to see what led me to do a no spend year check out this post.
Here are my no spend rules:
What I can’t buy
Clothing. I cannot buy clothing unless it is a real need. As a mom of two, I may need to purchase some items for my girls as they grow. If I need to purchase anything, clothing will be second hand.
No eating out/take out. This includes coffee shops. This will be one of the hardest things as I love to support local restaurants and try new places.
No buy gifts. This includes Christmas and Birthdays. I will either give the gift of quality time, make gifts, or find gently used, quality things for free.
What I can buy
Stuff for the garden. We grow/preserve a lot of our own food. I can guarantee we will need some money as we are adding to our garden area.
Food and household items. This includes necessary food and vitamins but it does not include junk food items.
Use money for Vacations. I think this is important for the whole family to get out and experience new things.
Make Up. I can buy makeup but I can only buy something when I use up something first.
Extras
- I can sell any items and use the cash as I see fit.
- I can use gift cards however I want.
- Cut out spending money.
- I can receive things off of my local buy nothing page.
When coming up with your own set of rules for a no buy period, list your priorities. What things are wants and what things are needs. What are your goals for your no spend year? Use your goals to help you come up with the rules. My main goals are investing and spending time with the family. This is why I chose to add vacations to the stuff I can buy. Since I want to invest a lot more this year, I really eliminated a lot from our normal budget.
Now I know I did not cover everything. There may be some things that come up in the future but I can use these rules and guidelines to help lead the way.
