Low Buy Challenge
I currently find myself in the midst of another round of decluttering. A recent holiday has made me realise how little possessions we actually need and the amount of items in our home are starting to make me feel ‘heavy’ and bogged down - I know I can’t be alone here. Even though I have been practicing minimalism and have had an obsession with Marie Kondo for awhile now, it feels like we still possess WAY too much stuff for our needs (how did we end up with 15 pens and 10 highlighters?!?).
Even though I am setting an intentional budget each month and we are meeting our savings and investment goals, I have noticed a certain level of complacency creep in since paying off our mortgage.
While I am all about enjoying your money now whilst saving and investing for the future, some of my recent purchases have not aligned with my values.
It is here that the "low buy challenge" enters the picture! Whether your aim is to save a bit of money to pay off debt, set up your emergency fund or to simply to restore a sense of purpose and intentionality in regards to the items that enter your abode, this could be the challenge you didn’t know you needed.
Step One: Get clear on your why.
Mine is to be more intentional with my spending and to stop bringing more ‘stuff’ into our home willy nilly. Other reasons and benefits include reducing environmental impact, saving money for a specific goal (such as paying off debt or building up an emergency fund) and culling the habit of impulsive shopping.
Step Two: How Long?
Decide how long you will do this for. I personally set a time frame that is going to push me outside of my comfort zone but still feels realistic which is 3 months. If the thought of doing this 3 months makes you wanna crawl up under the covers, start off with a month or even a few weeks and extend it from there. You can’t do this wrong!
Step Three: Rules of engagement.
You get to set your own rules and boundaries #adulting. Don’t know where to start? Personally I like to set rules that are in alignment with my ‘why’. Mine is to stop bringing more physical items into our home and being more intentional.
Ready for a real life example?
Categories that I will stop purchasing are: clothes, skincare, makeup, homewares
Categories that I will continue to purchase include: experiences (dining out, holidays, etc) and gifts
Exceptions: replacing items that are fully used up (e.g. we currently have one scented candle in our house and I can buy a new one to replace this once this is used up but I can’t buy an extra candle on top of this). With clothes I can buy a new item to replace an existing item that is worn (but not just buying a new item and getting rid of one old one so it has to be the same item and that item has to be worn out - e.g. socks with holes in them that need to be replaced or leggings for the gym that have seen better days.
Step Four (optional): Transfer ‘saved’ money to a seperate account
This rule is especially useful if you are wanting to save money towards a specific goal. Set up an account called ‘low buy challenge’ and transfer any money that you would have spent on an item if it wasn’t for the challenge. Real life example: If I had the urge to buy a $100 dress that I would have purchased pre-challenge, I would transfer $100 to the new account. At the end of your challenge you will probably be pleasantly surprised at how much this amounts to! You can then put this towards your financial goal ** cha ching **
Step Five: Set your environment up for success
Ditch temptations For me personally things that trigger me to impulse buy include: emails from certain stores, magazines, watching design videos on you tube and certain instagram accounts. So I am going to unsubscribe from emails from stores, stop watching design videos, unfollow people that make me want to buy things on insta, you get the drill……..
Find inspiration Decluttering inspires me to own less and stop bringing items into my house, I also love watching videos and reading about other peoples low buy experiences.
Happy NOT shopping :-) xxx
