If you’ve been keeping up with my recent posts, you may have seen that through this past month i’ve been embarking on a no buy April. Where other than bills and a few exceptions, I wasn’t to spend any money and I wanted to come back with an update style post to keep a diary and to also update those who were interested in how I found it!
Here is how I found doing a ‘No Buy April’..
So, before I properly get into my update I thought it would be best to back track and quickly refresh on what i’d set out to do from this no buy April and what thing were, and weren’t allowed in terms of spending. So in terms of what I wanted to achieve, essentially it was to save as much as I could, whilst also challenging myself to stop buying unnecessary things. Granted being in lockdown has massively helped as a large amount of expenses have reduced. For example, I have filled my fuel tank once and it is still full four weeks later, so there’s that. As for things that were allowed, these included the obvious things including any bills and essential food things. I also allowed myself to purchase any necessities that had ran out, so deodorant, toothpaste.. things like that. As for things banned, it was basically anything that didn’t fit into the above categories. Sounds pretty self explanatory doesn’t it? Anywho, lets get into how I got on!
How Did I Find It?
In all honesty I found it fairly easy but I know if life were more normal then, it would have been a little more of a challenge for sure and once life is back to normal I will definitely try doing another no buy month, to see how it would compare. Having said that, it was still challenging given the fact that i’ve been at home on furlough, and every other email i’ve received is ‘here have 20% off, on us’ which are the emails that would have really caught me out before hand, but i’ve been quite restraint for me!
Did I Succeed?
Truthfully, yes and no. In some breathes I did succeed because I have saved a whopping £775 and that doesn’t include a refund of nearly £300 for our Barcelona flights that have sadly been cancelled. So when you look at it like that, I feel like I have very much succeeded on what I set out to do in saving as much as I possibly could, but at the same time I did make a few purchases of which i’ll list below.
-Two colleagues birthdays – £20
-Lockdown care package for three of my gals pals – £18 + £9.30 postage
-A cheeky Look Fantastic order of a couple of The Ordinary products – £14.30 (with discount)
–Cycling shorts to wear on my runs – £15.99 (with discount)
–DIY supplies – £15.72
-Random Tesco shop that contained a few necessities – £5.98
TOTAL: £99.29
All in all I am pretty happy with how little I spent. Yes, some of the purchases listed above weren’t necessary but everything I purchased was needed/justifiable in some way. My gal pals loved their little care packages that I did for them, and it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling doing something nice for them during this time, especially as I don’t know when i’ll next see them. The products from The Ordinary have changed my skincare routine for the better, and my skin has never looked so good! The cycling shorts have made running in this beautiful Spring weather so much more bearable. Finally the DIY supplies are for a DIY project that i’ve wanted to do for ages, and during lockdown/furlough i’m finally doing the things i’ve wanted to do for ages.
As I mentioned in my no buy April plans post, the money that I was going to save through this no buy month, I had planned to put towards my car as everything is due on my car through May. Although the amount I have saved doesn’t quite cover the total cost of everything I need to pay for, it definitely covers my car insurance and tax, so i’m still going to take that as an achievement!
Will I Do It Again?
100% yes! In fact, I am going to continue this into May as I really enjoyed setting myself this challenge and I want to see how much I can save next month! Given the fact that I am on furlough, my pay has now been reduced for the next two months so I don’t think i’ll be able to save as much as I have this month, but we’ll see! Same rules apply as the previous month and i’m going to try to limit down my spending even more! I think there is no time like the present, and with all restaurants, bars etc not being open, its a perfect opportunity to try to save where you can.
Have you tried a ‘no buy month’ before?
