10 Common Misconceptions About A No Buy Challenge
Is a no buy right for you? Plus some recent looks
As more people’s curiosity peak around the idea of trying a no buy in 2025, I predict there will also (naturally) be more pushback on why we shouldn’t do one and why a no buy is bad or harmful. The main presumption being a no buy is a way to ‘right our wrongs’ and a punishment for over consumption, vs an opportunity to get creative with what we do have and consider how we would like to shop moving forward. After 300 days into my own no buy challenge, I want to offer up what I believe are some common misconceptions around a no buy challenge.
No 1. A no buy is a slippery slope to minimalism
You don’t have to be a minimalist or want to be one to do a no buy, and you don’t have to downsize your wardrobe. If you have a wardrobe full of clothes you love, great! Let’s get you wearing them! And if you have a wardrobe of stuff that you don’t wear, surely the first thing to do is consider why you don’t wear them? If things no longer fit or are damaged it makes sense to remove these items and/or replace them, but when it comes to the rest of your wardrobe, curiosity sparks creativity. Learning how to style your existing pieces can unlock new ways to wear what you already own. It’s also true there are pieces we own that are seasonal. For example I live in LA, so while my thick wool coat may only see a couple of wears a year, i’m not going to get rid of it because I need it when I travel somewhere cold.
No 2. A no buy makes you morally superior
A no buy doesn’t make you morally superior. You can do a no buy and still be a dick! And I hate to break it to you, but if you’re out there thinking you’re better than everyone else for any reason, chances are… you could well be a bit of a dick. I could have used my no buy as a way to highlight how sustainable I am now, and while that’s not not important to me, if you saw the state of my recycling bin, you’d get that i’m no angel. Like most people, i’m a work in progress, i’m not striving to be a martyr. Even if I do break my no buy I won’t consider myself a terrible person or think of this experience as anything less than a fascinating experiment, a way to collect data and a way to get to know myself better.
No 3. The goal of a no buy is to build a capsule wardrobe
While you might find yourself building capsules of sorts within your wardrobe for certain scenarios or occasions, a no buy has nothing to do with the number of items in your wardrobe. Not everyone wants to wear jeans and a trench coat, and they don’t have to. While I genuinely think capsule wardrobes were created with good intentions, it can feel rooted in right or wrong, a correct number of pieces to own, and more times than not it’s become synonymous with everyone having the same wardrobe. One of the things i’m most grateful for my no buy is how it helped me reconnect to my understanding of personal style because I was able to watch trends come and go. I had time and space to consider whether something is or isn’t for me irrelevant of whether other people liked it. I found myself reaching for antique pieces of jewelry that held sentimental value and added personality to my looks. When everyone started saying oversize pieces were out of fashion, I felt very comfortable knowing they were what I felt best in. My no buy gave me permission to be ‘uncool’ or ‘out of style’ and feel more at home in my own style than I ever have before.
No 4. Restraints of a no buy limit creativity
I would argue the opposite is true. I’ve talked at length about the link I experienced between creativity and limitations. It was and continues to be the thing I loved most about doing a no buy. It got me trying new things, it helped me think outside the box and I became really good at problem solving without buying more stuff. I liked that I could still surprise myself. The fun ironically was in the creative constraints. It infused my creativity with a new lease of life when it came to getting dressed because I was looking at my style from a whole new lens.
No 5. There’s a ‘right way’ to do a no buy
There are so many ways to do a no buy, and it’s important to remember, you make the rules, including the timeline, what’s included etc. And I always say in my no buy styling course, if you don’t like the term ‘rules’ because that feels heavy, create guidelines instead. Choose guidelines that would make a no buy challenge feel like a fun experiment, vs something you can get wrong. Doing a no buy for any length of time can be life changing. Just because I am doing it for a year, doesn’t mean you have to.
No 6. You’ll never shop again
The goal is not to never shop again. While a no buy can teach you how to fill in gaps and shop with intention, not every purchase needs to be practical or intentional. My hope is that a no buy highlights what makes you feel at home in your body, and it helps you reconnect to getting dressed as a form of play and self expression. Naturally there will be times when pieces find us, pieces that hold sentimental value, or pieces that make no sense to anybody but us, and really that’s the whole point. What a no buy gave me was the knowledge i’d be ok if I didn’t buy every item I wanted in that moment. It helped me unlearn the instant gratification that if I’m honest, I had become very accustomed to before my no buy.
No 7. You’ll reach wardrobe nirvana
Without a doubt my no buy challenge has helped me see my own wardrobe in a whole new light, and revel in the magic of making my existing pieces feel shiny and new without buying anything. But the idea of wardrobe nirvana feels attached to achievement, and in many ways brings us back to the moral judgements of good and bad, the idea of being finished, which for me isn’t helpful. Yes I want to build a wardrobe of quality items that I wear the hell out of, but I also understand my body will change throughout my life, and potentially my likes and dislikes. There are times when we feel a lot of gratitude for our wardrobes, enjoyment, and there are times when we might not feel the need to buy anything, but style is fluid. While I feel very grounded in my personal style at this time in my life, I have no idea how I will feel ten, twenty, thirty years from now.
No 8. A no buy has to be centred around saving money
When I started my no buy back in February, a lot of people were surprised to find out it wasn’t inspired by saving money or trying to pay off debt. My intentions were purely creative. I find it interesting that people always ask me ‘how much money i’ve saved’ which I did write about here, but I get less questions about how has it affected my relationship to my personal style. The latter is why I started this Substack in the first place. I can’t speak for other people, but i’m pretty sure if I had set out to do a no buy as a way to save money or downsize my wardrobe, that’s what would have made this feel more like restriction, and ultimately a punishment. My lovely friend Gina wrote an amazing post about this which I also recommend giving a read.
No 9. You have to start building your wardrobe from scratch
While I have no doubt that come January we’ll see more ‘I got rid of everything in my closet’ videos on social media, a no buy doesn’t mean you have to get rid of everything you currently own. The beauty of a no buy is it helps you reconnect to what you do own, and it gets the creative juices going so that you can think of new ways to wear your pieces, that you might not have thought of before. It also helps you normalize/celebrate outfit repeating, and really that is a goal that is important to me, to really wear my clothes!
No 10. A buy is a punishment
I don’t who needs to hear this, but it doesn’t have to be. If it feels extreme or like you’re trying to punish yourself, it makes sense you’ll resent doing a no buy and approach it with the same mindset as that of being on a restrictive diet. That’s why the introduction module in my no buy course actually helps you reframe ‘your why’ behind doing a challenge like this. When people avoid doing a no buy because they see it as a punishment, it stops them experimenting. They miss out on the opportunity to find out what is helpful and what isn’t when it comes to getting creative with what they do have, and rethinking how they would like to shop moving forward.
Inside my no buy styling course you’ll learn everything from how to create no buy guidelines that feel fun and exciting, all the styling tools and philosophies to help you fall in love with what you already own as well as how to navigate a no buy when temptation calls. I hope this post has helps reframe what a no buy can be, whether you do it alone or do it with the course, i’d love to hear how you get on. This will most likely be my last post until after Christmas, so all that’s left to say is thank you for being here and i’m wishing you all a happy holidays!
Thank you for all your support this year. Substack is my happy place and you have no idea how grateful I am to be here.
Harry x
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I’ve got a week left to my 2024 no-buy (exception: worn out running shoes can’t be worn to run so must be replaced) and I have to say…it was fantastic and enlightening on many levels. I’ve kept a wish list all year…adding and deleting. There are exactly 2 items that remain on the list and they were the first 2 on it. Very interesting! I’m excited to shop, but now I really know what I want. 10/10 recommend. And on that note also beauty products. Replaced when consumed but have not ventured to new brands. So…nothing “new” there. I did it for me. I felt overfed and over influenced, like the way one can sometimes feel when the holiday season is over and you feel bloated and dried out and need a reset.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to start my no-buy Jan 1! I’m literally printing out the course workbook as we speak so I can always go back to the challenges and prompts throughout the year.