The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
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What is a no-buy year and how does it work?
And what if that something is harming your personal and financial lives? This episode will help you break that bad habit for good. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. I'm Sean Piles.
And I'm Elizabeth Iola.
This episode, I'm joined by Sarah Rathner to answer a listener's question about how to stop a debt spiral from blowing up their life.
But first, we are going to talk about what you can get from doing a low or no buy year. So here to talk with us about this is NerdWallet personal finance writer, Amanda Barroso. Amanda, welcome back to Smart Money. Hi there, Shawn and Elizabeth. Thanks so much for having me back. All right, Amanda. So to start, can you lay out exactly how a no or low buy year works and what's your goal?
So the gist of a low buy or no buy is to create, you know, one or more spending goals for yourself and to stick to those goals for a certain period of time. So it could be a year like what I'm trying to do here, but it could also be shorter like a month. If you're anything.
What are the benefits of participating in a no-buy challenge?
like me, your social media feeds were full of people doing low buy or no buy challenges in December, at least sort of setting up their challenges for the new year. As I was scrolling through those videos, it really got me thinking about my own spending habits and what goals I wanted to set for myself in the new year. Cutting back on areas of overspending and encouraging more mindful consumption are my two main goals, but there are others that you could pick too, like reducing clutter or making more ethical consumption choices.
So it seems like the overarching goal of a low or a no buy, however you want to do it, is to really reset kind of from the ground up how you are thinking about your spending habits.
That sounds right. Yeah.
What are the specific rules guiding your no buy year, Amanda?
This is a tough question. This is like something I really sat and was trying to be really conscientious about. I think if I had to sum up my big goal for this year, it would be this. Like, this is sort of like my mission statement. I want to have less financial stress, a more thoughtfully curated life, and the freedom to plan new experiences without guilt. So that's my little mission statement. One of my biggest goals for the year is not buying any new clothes. I'm allowing myself to thrift clothes or to buy secondhand, but the items that I purchase, this is the rub, the items that I purchase have to be made of better quality than what I currently have. So we're talking 100% cotton, we're talking wool, we're talking cashmere, silk, denim, no more plastic clothes.
I really want to build a closet that I love and that also reflects my personal style. And, you know, it's changed a lot. I have two kids. I just turned 40 last year. And so I've just sort of decided I'm not going to be spending any money on plastic clothes anymore. The other thing is non-essential items. So makeup, perfume, like unless I need to replace something, I'm not buying it this year.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is a no-buy year and how does it work?
1:15–2:22
2
What are the benefits of participating in a no-buy challenge?
2:22–4:53
3
How can financial therapy help with overspending?
4:53–6:48
4
What are practical steps to curb impulse spending?
6:48–11:57
5
How can you track your spending habits effectively?
11:57–14:13
6
What strategies can help with budgeting and staying debt-free?
14:13–16:21
7
How to deal with emotional spending triggers?
16:21–19:29
8
What are some tips for mindful consumption?
19:29–31:55
Speakers
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