In 2026, I am being mindful of my spending habits. To do so, I have decided to do a low/no buy year. If you have never heard of a “no buy” or a “low buy” it is where a person decides to cut back on spending on unneeded products. A lot of people focus on this when they are looking for a more sustainable approach for their lifestyle. Listed below are ten categories that I am going to try my best to refrain from purchasing and why.
- Lip products
This is going to be a struggle for me since I constantly have a gloss or a balm on me and I lose them so often. I *should* have enough in my project pan list to last me throughout this year.Â
- Perfumes/Fragrances
I have around 10 bottles of perfume/body sprays that I rarely use, mostly from Bath and Body Works. This year, I would like to pan them out so that I can get more into higher quality products.
- Sneakers/all shoes
I have around 30 pairs of shoes, most of which I rarely wear, occasionally breaking them out for events and holidays. When it comes to shoes, I mostly wear my Nike AirForce 1s, the other sneakers I had from my retail job, I will be wearing these until they die. Until then, no more footwear.
- Lotions
I am horrible when it comes to buying products, especially from Bath and Body Works, and because of this I usually buy matching fragrance sets, complete with the lotions. Unfortunately, the fragrance in the lotions irritates my hands when I use it. Right now I currently have two large bottles of BBW lotion that I am going to try and pan out, and three different small purse hand lotions I need to use up. Once those are all gone, I will be strictly using non-fragranced lotions like Aveeno, or just using Aquaphor or Vaseline.Â
- Books
I have so many physical books in my To Be Read pile that I am not allowing myself to purchase another book (class books are an exception) to read.Â
- Purses, bags, and wallets
I have so many in my collection that have either been gifted to me or were a hand-me-down and it is to the point where I don’t have a use for half of them. This also applies to reusable shopping bags and fashion totes
- Phone Cases
This does not apply much to me now, but I am still going to hold to this one. With my old phone (iPhone 15 Pro) I had 3 different cases that I would switch between, which protected my phone greatly (until I dropped it one day)!Â
- Wall Plug-ins
I used them a lot before this fall but once I came back home for winter break I noticed I wasn’t able to sleep well. It wasn’t until I kept waking up with my nose and throat dry that I unplugged it, so far I’ve been right!Â
- Stationary/ Art Supplies
In high school I would deconstruct my notebooks and add the unused, now looseleaf, lined paper to a folder, now I am not allowed to purchase or look at another notebook until all of that paper is finished. With writing utensils, I have drawers and drawers of pens, pencils, and highlighters that I need to finish up.Â
- Clothing
When I came home for winter break, I brought all of my clothes back, yes all of them. While my collection of clothing didn’t grow, somehow I couldn’t fit over half of it back into my closet or dressers, that was my sign that I cannot buy anymore.