Is a no buy easier than a low buy?

Thoughts as I approach the end of a year long no buy

Nearly a year in and i’m still making new outfit combinations! One of the outfits inspired from Sundays theme for The Wardrobe Playdate

As I embark on the last 15 days of my year long no buy wardrobe challenge, I’m left wondering what comes next?

While I know I don’t want to go back to the level of consumption I was at before I started my no buy, I honestly feel a little more daunted by the prospect of doing a low buy than another no buy.

Here’s why….

For the most part, and its cool if you don’t believe me, I’ve actually found this no buy, dare I say it, pretty easy. Sure there were moments when I danced with temptation, and there were inevitably many things that made there way to my wishlist. But I made guidelines that felt fun and made me infinitely more creative with my wardrobe than I was before I started this challenge. My guidelines were simple and I didn’t have to overthink anything.

When I think of a low buy and having to limit my purchases to a certain number my head already pictures the decision making of each item feeling heavy and pressurized. If I’m only allowed a certain amount of items, what if I see something better later? I picture myself struggling to commit to choosing an item when nothing is off limits?

Maybe time will prove me wrong, but I genuinely think a no buy is easier than a low buy because there’s less decision fatigue. The constraints (namely not shopping) fueled my creativity. I had to think outside the box at times which in hindsight was actually when I enjoyed this challenge the most. Previous to my no buy, my brain was overworked, over stimulated by the endless offerings of social media, and constant fomo. There was always a new trend, a new ‘must have’ item and an indescribable urgency around my need for instant gratification. So much of my time was spent thinking about what to buy, how to make my wardrobe ‘perfect’ and how to impress people, that I didn’t actually like.

When I get to the end of my no buy officially, i’ll share a round up of takeaways, but one thing I also can’t get over is how much my screen time went down by not shopping! Instead of thinking about what new thing ‘I needed’, I found myself reading more, writing and getting back in touch with other creative pursuits that had long been ignored or delegated as a source of joy.

Making a handmade card and gift wrap for a friends gift

In addition to helping me enjoy my wardrobe, and really wear everything in it, my no buy gave me the mental space to make some really big life decisions. Decisions I’m not sure I could have made if I hadn’t opted out of shopping, at least for a little while. I had the capacity to confront several painful truths, namely that I was unhappy. In order to carve out the mental noise something(s) had to give. Looking back I think deciding to do a no buy was the first domino to fall that sparked a multitude of changes in my life that have helped bring me back to myself.

This one decision sparked the birth of what i’m jokingly calling life 2.0, and the desire for a big little life. However much I’ve had to go through this past year that was undoubtedly painful, I will always look back fondly on my no buy for what it enabled me to confront. The things I had pushed into the darkest crevices were in the dark no longer, even when it meant disappointing others, people being mad at me and starting again with no road map. I was willing to put everything on the table and be a beginner again.

One thing I’ve come to value maybe more than anything, is my mental clarity and the capacity to be creative.

I’m getting to know myself intimately and it’s a relationship I continue to prioritize now. One of the things I’ve had to confront is my obsessive nature and my all or nothing thinking. It has both helped me be very successful by societies understanding of success (money, buying property, followers, recognition etc) and it has also been my down fall. It had me chasing someone else’s life, and with it a definition of success that sounded nice in theory but one that felt empty (for the most part). Sure it wasn’t all bad, I liked having money, but even when I had money, it never felt enough. There are memories I want to keep and some quite honestly I’d rather forget.

One could argue that my all or nothing thinking helped me successfully do this no buy, and that doing a low buy is the challenge I do need now to see what else there is to learn, but my no buy didn’t feel hard. It didn’t feel restrictive and at no point did it feel like a punishment. Instead it was the best gift I could give myself, time and space to play, to create, to really consider what do I want life 2.0 to look like?

One of the main reasons I wanted an end date to my no buy is because I think what comes next is just as important as what came before. I’m fascinated to see what does it feel like to be able to shop again and of course document those experiences to the best of my ability here. I’m curious to see if I miss my no buy, and it is interesting that my brain is way more confused by the thought of a low buy, than a no buy. For those of you who have done or are doing a low buy, I’d love to hear your experience.

I hope this serves as a reminder that life is a series of starting over, again and again. It’s never too late to do things differently, to try again, to try something different, even if (especially if) it makes zero sense to anyone else.

Thanks for reading!

Harry x

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You can learn more about my No Buy Styling Course here, and you can find a links to my wardrobe here (contains affiliate links).

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