How the no-buy challenge can save you money: NPR

Elysia Berman remembers the moment she realized her shopping had gotten out of control. Last December, she stopped by the store to buy a pair of gloves and came out with a $600 coat she didn’t need or could afford.

““That was my breaking point,” he recalls.

So Berman, 35, decided to do something drastic. She tried the “no-buy” challenge, a popular social media experiment that encourages people to buy fewer things. For a set period of time—in her case, an entire year—she stopped spending money on non-essentials. No clothes. No makeup. No home decor. Instead, she used what she had and bought second-hand items.

The challenge is harder than it seems. Berman, who documents her no-shopping journey on TikTokshe had to break her habit of buying 10 to 30 new items a week. And as a fashion professional, she was surrounded by the temptation to shop.

Since starting the challenge in January, Berman has saved tens of thousands of dollars, paid off a quarter of her debt — and says her mental health has improved. “I’ve basically detoxed and gotten off the dopamine that you get when you shop.”

Anyone can try the no-buy challenge. Whether it’s to cut back on spending, cut back on fast fashion, or reduce your carbon footprint (around 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions come from the fashion industry, according to the United Nations), here are some tips to help you get started.

Create a shopping list of “yes” and “no”

Grab a pen and paper and write down a list of non-essential things you won’t buy—and will continue to buy—for a set period of time. This will help you identify the things you tend to overspend on and be more intentional about what’s really worth buying. It can also help you focus on the goals of your no-purchase experiment.

“The no-purchase rules will be different for everyone,” Berman says. She knows she has a weakness for fashion, so her no-purchase column included clothing, cosmetics, perfume, jewelry and swimwear.

Your “yes” column should focus on things that enrich your life and encourage your hobbies, she says. Berman’s list included fresh flowers, museum tickets, Pilates classes and cheap travel.

Set a schedule and rules

Berman has decided to make the No-Buy Challenge a year-long endeavor. If that seems too restrictive, maybe try it for a few months — or even a few weeks.

You can also change the rules of the experiment to make it more fun. Sustainable Fashion Writer Aja’s hairdresser runs an online community where she encourages people to be more mindful consumers. “I challenge people not to buy a single new dress this year. It forces people to be a little creative, but it doesn’t limit them completely,” she says. “I also challenged my readers to buy 50 percent of their clothes second-hand.”

Reduce the temptation to shop

In a world of flash sales and ads that follow you from page to page, the temptation to buy is everywhere. So limit your exposure to bargains—and “master your social media,” Barber says.

• Unfollow any social media accounts that encourage you to spend moneysays Berman. This includes fashion influencers, stylists and clothing brands.

• Unsubscribe from your favorite brands’ email listssays Barber. Getting daily or weekly updates on sales and price drops isn’t helpful.Block websites where you make impulse purchases. Berman did this to some of her best fashion sites at the beginning of the year, when she wasn’t buying. “That way, I didn’t even feel like browsing,” she says.
• Follow influencers and groups promoting conscious consumption. Berman made it a point to follow people who were also working to change their shopping habits. “They became almost like a support group,” she says.

Change your shopping habits

It’s easy to overspend on fast fashion. But when you start to humanize its supply chain, you start to see that the incredible offerings of, say, Shein dress for $8is not that amazing.

Fast fashion is fast and cheap because companies save on everything they can and on every cost, says Dilys Williams, director Sustainable Fashion Center at the University of the Arts in London. This often means using oil based fabrics such as polyesterwhich are not biodegradable, as well as factories that pollute the environment and often pay drastically low rates or treat their workers badly.

As a result of this system, people are consuming more than ever before, and the consequences are real, Barber says. In Chile’s Atacama Desert, there’s a giant pile of discarded clothes so large it can be seen from space. And beaches in Ghana have been flooded with discarded clothes that have washed ashore.

So re-evaluate your idea of ​​what is normal when it comes to how much clothes cost. Support sustainable fashion brands. And understand the harms of fast fashion, Barber says.

Months into the challenge, Berman says her no-shopping journey has helped her consume more mindfully. And there have been other benefits, too.

“I’m so proud of myself,” she says. “I’ve seen a new level of dedication and focus that I didn’t know I was capable of before.”

The audio portion of this episode was produced by Margaret Cirino and edited by Malaka Gharib. The visual editor is Beck Harlan.

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