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Last year I did a series of monthly posts with questions to ask yourself about your budget at the end of each month. I’m going to keep linking to those in these monthly posts, but this year I’m going to instead focus on what I’m calling “Low Buy 2025.” You might have heard of “no-buy” months, or even no-buy years. This is when you make a commitment not to buy anything that’s not absolutely necessary. I came into 2025 intending to do a no-buy January, but it turned into more of a “low-buy” January. I did my best, but there were some deals I just couldn’t pass up. I still felt like it was successful, so I’m going to continue it all year!
There are several reasons I wanted to do this. First, I feel like we are experiencing some lifestyle creep, which is when you increase your spending with your income. We make more money now than we did a decade ago, and we have gotten used to spending more on unnecessary things. Another reason, though, is that we have new expenses. Braces and music lessons are a big part of our budget now, and so that means there is less discretionary income. The third reason is that we have a big item we’re saving for, and being more intentional with our spending will allow us to do that much more quickly.
Defining “Low Buy”
Committing to “low buy? is less restrictive than committing to “no buy.? As a result, it can be harder to sustain “no buying? for a long time. It’s a great challenge for a month, like when you’re trying to clean out your freezer or your pantry. But “low buy” gives you a bit more freedom while also encouraging you to limit unnecessary spending. Truly, you get to define what you consider low buy—it will be different for each person.
How I’m Doing “Low Buy”
My version of “low buy” is to have some categories in our budget as “no buy,” such as clothing and entertainment. It also means no little treats—candy at the grocery store checkout, a Sonic drink during Happy Hour. Other categories are low buy, such as groceries. I will try to buy only what we absolutely need, but if I find a good deal on a staple item, I will buy it. We do each have a category of “fun money” in our budget, which is the same amount. I’m spending that money as I want, up to the amount I have. The ability to splurge a little here and there without messing up the rest of the budget helps me stay on track.
Low Buy January | January 2025 Budget Recap
First, I wanted to go back and compare how much we have previously spent on discretionary items, which are the main categories I’m focusing on. (Sadly, I can’t reduce how much we spend on braces each month!) For us, these categories include kid expenses, groceries and other household items, eating out, gas, and the dangerous “miscellaneous” category. Our budget software lets me look at trends, which is really helpful. I was shocked at the end of this month to discover that I cut our discretionary spending by 37% in January 2025! This amounted to more than $1000, and this wasn’t even doing “no buy.”
I also compared our overall spending, which includes all our fixed expenses and other yearly sinking funds. Our January 2025 spending was 30% less than our monthly average for 2024. While it wasn’t a true no-buy month like I planned, I’m still really pleased with how our low-buy month ended up. If we can cut our spending by 30% each month over the course of the year, that will be a huge amount.
I found it helpful to look back over some of the choices I made this month about spending.
What we did buy in January 2025
- Eating out at McDonald’s with friends (planned before the month started)
- New shoes for a child (these were necessary)
- Gift cards for a neighbor who had surgery
- School supplies (tape, backpack)
- Rat traps (yuck!)
What we didn’t buy in January 2025
All month I kept a note on my phone of things that I wanted to buy, but that weren’t absolutely necessary. Here’s my list:
- Large glass mixing bowl
- Alarm clock
- Salad tongs
- Christmas tree storage bag
- Fake greenery for home decor
- Iron
Now that the month is over, some of these seem much less important. I realized I have a large stainless steel mixing bowl, which I don’t like as much, but I also haven’t needed it that much. I also don’t feel the need for the Christmas tree storage bag now that we managed to get the tree back up in the attic in a box that was falling apart. I’ll revisit that next Christmas, I guess. The other items are still things I think I want, but I’ve been keeping my eye open at the thrift store for these things, which is a much better option than buying new on Amazon.
If you’re interested in questions to reflect on your spending, check out my post from last January: End of Month Budget Questions for January 2024.
