Buy Nothing Challenge
I would like to reduce my ecological impact and disassociate from the consumerist mindset. I don't like the direction the US government is taking and I would like to decouple from the US economy.
My challenge is to buy nothing* for one month, and at the end of the month, see if I can continue for another month.
*I will continue to purchase items that I consider necessities.
Necessities that I will buy as required:
YES: Food
YES: Health and medication
YES: Daily necessities (toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.)
YES: Bills (phone, rent, insurance, taxes)
YES: Repairs (home, bicycle, vehicle)
YES: Gas/Transportation (walk or bike when you can)
YES: Receiving gifts, trades where no money is exchanged
YES: Camping, hiking, bicycle travel
YES: Giving charity
Items I will avoid purchasing during the challenge:
NO: Fast food, coffee shops, restaurants
NO: Entertainment devices, books, subscriptions
NO: New clothes or impulse purchases
NO: Hair services
NO: Amazon orders, streaming services
NO: Vehicles
NO: Acquisition of things for new hobbies
NO: Use of credit (credit cards or loans)
NO: Hotels, vehicle based travel
NO: Google, Meta, Reddit, X products
I'd put a question mark at hobby equipment, since hobbies help with destressing and contribute positively to mental health.
Same for books (assuming you consider reading relaxing). Unless you pirate ebooks of course to bypass Amazon purchases and the likes.
One of the spending problems I have is I get into hobbies and it becomes an obsessive gear collecting activity. For example, backpacking. You can go backpacking with very basic, cheap equipment, but eventually I seem to end up wanting the most expensive gear. So hobby purchases is something I want to stop. I want to learn to do hobbies without expensive gear.