u/emilygilmoresboa

After another frustrating week of "Where did my paycheck go?" I decided on a whim last night to finally do a "no buy" month for October.

It's illuminating to me how many things I have *already* been tempted to buy and it's not even NOON of the first day yet. Today is payday and I would normally just be waiting for my check to hit so I could go ahead and buy the things I have in mind, stopping before work to grab a drink somewhere.

Long story short, I was a stay-at-home mom for a long time with no spending money. We couldn't afford daycare with the money I made, so it just made more sense for me to stay home. I started working again when my youngest went to kindergarten, but was only making enough to barely cover the bills and gas to drive to work in another city. I started another job in 2024 and started making literally double what I was previously. I swore up and down that I would keep living the way I had been and save/invest all that extra money. You probably know what happened next!

Lifestyle creep got me like a mf. I had never been able to buy "nicer" things that weren't just the cheapest option - shampoos, body products, perfume, clothes, home decor, shoes, even things like extras at the grocery store. Concert tickets. Weekend trips. Gifts. Things for my kids, who just get more expensive as they get older. Using Affirm or Klarna to buy things because then the payments don't seem like a big deal.

While I make more money than I used to, we are not rolling in the dough over here. (I have been making 45k gross since 2024. I just got a 5k raise which will start this week. We live in a rural relatively LCOL area.) I grew up in a higher income household than the one I am the adult in now and it has been a struggle learning that money does not, in fact, grow on trees.

The worst part is I genuinely *hate* this new job, but I have backed myself into a corner. I've straight-up had to be medicated for anxiety and depression since I started. I don't have the savings or cushion to leave or quit while I look for something else.

I feel like I have quite literally nothing to show for the last several years of work at a job I hate. I don't want to keep feeling this way, so something has to change.

Anyway, here are some of the things that have tempted me so far:

-Aardvark book subscription (I already have Book of the Month, I can check out books at the library for free or use Libby, I have a ton of books that I've already bought and haven't read yet).

-Instant Hydration packets - Part of my "no buy" is only eating/drinking things from home. There's a local drink shop where I can easily spend $9-20 a day depending on what I get. I was trying to justify these packets as a replacement, but that's silly. I can buy drink packets when I get groceries for way cheaper.

Here are my rules for the No Buy. I know this is just how some people normally live, but I promise it's a big change for me.

-Only eating/drinking things from home. This is huge for me. So many nights I come home and just don't want to make dinner, so we order pizza or I give the kids money to go get Taco Bell or whatever. I swing through and get coffees or other "fun drinks" all the time. They feel like the only things that pull me through my misery during the work week.

-No books or clothes at all. I have enough.

-Only buying replacements if I run out of something - shampoo, conditioner, hygiene, etc.

-No random impulse purchases from Amazon, anything from ads on Instagram, TikTok, etc. (By the way, I realized literally every video I tried to watch on TT last night was an ad.)

-My birthday is the 14th. If I get birthday money, save it until November or put it toward a payment of some kind. If my husband wants to give me a gift, I have two things in mind I'd like that I can ask for from him.

-I think that's all? I will still be buying my kid's Halloween costumes, giving them money to go do things they have planned. I also haven't mentioned doing this to my husband because I don't want him to feel like he has to cut anything out - this is just about myself. I'm going to see how much money I can have saved up by the end of the month and just make it a fun little challenge with myself and you guys.

I'm thankful to hear anyone's experiences or advice if you've done something similar!

I went to the Indy show last night and knew our phones would be in Yondr pouches, but I wasn't sure about how the pouches worked or when we would have to put the phones away.

I have gotten so used to using Apple Pay for everything I didn't bring my credit or debit card with me. If I had wanted to buy anything, I would have been SOL and I just don't want that to happen to anyone else!

There was a merch booth outside the venue I could have gone to before the show, but once inside the arena I wouldn't have been able to buy drinks/merch/food etc. if I wanted to.

Just some other info for anyone wondering how things went/worked:

We put our phones in the pouches at the same time we went through security entering. They scanned our tickets, printed out a little receipt with our ticket info on them, and then we were given wristbands for the Below GA section.

We did not get to open the pouches until we were completely outside the venue after the show was over.

I was able to wear 2 pouches basically like a crossbody purse all night.

There were designated phone use areas, but the one I saw was pretty far away from where the show was actually happening.

It was a magical experience watching the show without seeing 10000 phone screens held up and recording and I hope more artists implement phone-free shows! Have fun!