Sometimes it’s good to stretch ourselves, see if there are ways to change things up and live a more purposeful life. Tweaks, edits, baby steps. I’ve been doing some Intentional Living Experiments and I’ve got a new one on deck. A Low Buy Month is an intentional challenge to consume less for four weeks.
Low Buy Month
Why?
I love a good challenge and a Low Buy Month is simply a way to check our family’s consumption and focus on being more intentional with the things we purchase. It’s a good practice in gratitude and a surefire way to be thankful for what is right in front of us. A Low Buy Month is also a way to focus on experiences instead of stuff.
What?
No spend months have been a trend and a Low Buy Month is a version of that idea. It’s a reset of sorts, being hyper aware of consumption and cutting back on unnecessary purchases. It is not a detox or a no spend month. It’s something in between.
The great thing about a Low Buy Month is it can be tailored to the needs of each person or family. Some families may choose to only spend a specific amount on certain categories. Others will choose to spend nothing on nonessential items for a month. Every person and family can customize the Low Buy Month to make it work for them.
What will our Low Buy Month look like?
For our family, we will continue to cover our needs: housing, gas, food, utilities, insurance, etc. For us, the Low Buy comes in when purchasing unnecessary goods: clothes, toys, books, extra stuff that isn’t essential.
We are giving ourselves a budget of a whopping $0 for nonessential goods for our family this month. We will simply not purchase any unnecessary stuff for the next four weeks. Our focus will be on experiences instead of stuff. To be clear, we will still purchase consumables (soap, hair/skin product replacements, ink cartridges) and we will still spend money on experiences (post-bike ride ice cream stops, coffee dates, etc.) throughout the four weeks. We will also allow ourselves to purchase gifts for birthdays and anniversaries (because we have a lot this month).
Our Low Buy Month will run March 15 to April 12. Because of our schedule, it didn’t work to begin at the beginning of the month.
I am curious to see if buying nonessential items one weekend a month would be an option for our family. For example, if I want to buy a tank for this summer or a new book to read during quiet time, I would wait until my buying weekend to purchase instead of buying immediately. The waiting sets up friction to see if it’s truly something I’m interested in after some time has passed. It may seem silly and inconvenient, but it’s one small way to be intentional with our consumption. I’m not sure we will go this way long term, but this experiment will help us decide.
I will report back at the end of our Low Buy Month to fill you in on our experience and results.
Tell me: Have you ever done a Low Buy Month?