For some time, “no buy” challenges have been featured all over social media. However, you have to do more than just buy nothing for this to make a meaningful impact. This article covers the step-by-step process to make this self-imposed discipline more than “just a trend.”
How to Do A Buy Nothing Challenge RIGHT
Some of my best money advice for anyone on the come-up is to minimize or eliminate excessive spending.
And the majority of you understand that as you work towards financial freedom, luxury items are a hard pass.
But, we aren’t talking about the obvious purchases like that here. We are talking about the small things you buy out of convenience…
WHICH NEWS FLASH! ADD UP!
These “little purchases” are almost more dangerous because we tend to swipe our cards and forget ‘em.
So, to make your “buy nothing” challenge worthwhile, you should look to past spending for clues…
Examine Past Spending Habits
The first thing to do is to select the category of purchases you’re not going to make during your no buy. The most impactful strategy is to target your weaknesses.
Figuring out what those are is easy…
LOOK OVER YOUR CREDIT CARD AND BANK STATEMENTS.
There you’ll notice patterns like…
“I spend how much on lattes every month?”
“I have a tendency to buy more than I need when I shop at certain stores.”
The list of examples is endless. But, make a list of everything you buy that is unnecessary and pick a category — or a few — to eliminate for now.
At this point, you should make a solid decision to buy nothing of each kind of item within a time frame.
For example, “I will give up spending money on takeout for 90 days.”
Now, it’s time for the hard part…
Commit to Buy Nothing Non-Essential
The next step is clear from the name of this exercise…
BUY NOTHING YOU DON’T NEED AND/OR COMMITTED TO NOT PURCHASE.
Look, I understand that giving up treating yourself is difficult — especially in the beginning.
But, spending on these things to “feel better” is not:
- What you really want and need.
- Or, get you to the real goal.
With that in mind, I do have several tips to help you when you feel like you wanna cave.
A smart idea I read in an article on “no buys” from AP News is to write down whenever you want something non-essential. Then you can — after the during of the challenge — buy it if you still want it.
That way you don’t feel you are denying yourself. That being said, you more than likely won’t want it after you’ve thought about it…
Final Thoughts on the Buy Nothing Challenge
Ultimately, I think making a game of smart financial decisions is a good idea. It builds discipline and changes your perspective on these choices.
But the fact of the matter is that you can’t “buy nothing” forever.
Eventually, you have to fix the real issue — which is how to earn more money.
Keep checking back to this site for more content on how.
Be Great,
Grant Cardone
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