Try a low-buy month

Shopping less might help you save time

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to try a low by month. You might
try minimizing new purchases for a month and see what happens.

(00:26):
People often save money, but handled right, it's possible you
might save time. So I have noticed that people love
month long challenges dry January, Nino Raimu, which is National
Novel Writing Month, thirty days of yoga, the whole thirty diet,
and so forth, and I understand the appeal. A month

(00:48):
long commitment feels doable, but it's also long enough to
be meaningful. You can make real progress with that in mind.
A lot of people have sung the praises of doing
a no by month. Now I know it's my questioner
side coming out, but I doubt most people who do
a no by month truly by nothing. Groceries are an

(01:12):
obvious exception, and most of us are still going to
pay for ongoing services, or at least we should. If
your kids are signed up for piano lessons, you will
pay for piano lessons during your no by month. If
you get a parking ticket, you should probably pay for
your parking ticket. In general, money is a tool, and

(01:33):
in many cases money can be used to solve problems.
I have zero problem with that. I also think many
people might enjoy spending more on experiences. It would be
stupid not to go to a girl's night at the
Paint your own pottery studio with your dearest friends because
you happen to be in the middle of a no
by month. However, I know that a lot of people

(01:56):
feel they have way more stuff than they need. Buying
less of that could be a worthy pursuit. So let's
reframe this as a low by month. Before purchasing another
thing that isn't strictly necessary, consider waiting a while and
evaluating what would it feel like to try that. When

(02:19):
people do try this, they often realize that they shop
for entertainment. Your board while sitting in your kid's room
while waiting for them to fall asleep, and hey, looks
like Nick and Zoe is having a sale. A hard
day at work leads to stopping at paper source, which
happens to be located where your train stop empties into

(02:40):
the mall. A low by month could help you identify
that this is what is going on and encourage you
to find new forms of entertainment. Maybe you could read
an ebook as part of the challenge, you find something
in the public domain or borrow it from the library. Perhaps,
instead of stopping at them, you meet a friend for

(03:01):
a wine down walk or a glass of wine, which
again would not be a no buy option, but might
be cheaper than a department store hall. A low by
month can also help with clutter. If you don't acquire
much new for a month, the clutter won't build up,
and you might start making progress on using the things

(03:21):
you have. Novelist Anne Patchett wrote about her own experiences
with a no by year. When she ran out of lipbalm.
She was deciding whether buying more was allowed, but then
she poked around in what she already had and she
found five lip balms. She realized that when she bought

(03:41):
toiletrees she didn't like, she didn't throw them away, she
just put them under the sink. I'm using them now,
she wrote, and they're fine. A low by month will
perhaps obviously save money, but I think it can also
save time. The tree is that shopping can take a

(04:02):
fair amount of time, and some of this time isn't
strictly necessary. If you love shopping, that is one thing.
But if it is more transactional, then spending less time
shopping could be a big win. Anne Patchett noted that
in October, I interviewed Tom Hanks about his collection of

(04:24):
short stories in front of seventeen hundred people in a
Washington theater. Previously, I would have believed that such an
occasion demanded a new dress and lost two days of
my life looking for one. In fact, Tom Hanks had
never seen any of my dresses, nor had the people

(04:44):
in the audience. I went to my closet, picked out
something weather appropriate, and stuck it in my suitcase. Done.
Now again, there's no reason to be militant about a
low by or no by month. I'm picturing someone refusing
to buy a child a birthday present, or sending a
kid to a party without a present, just to keep

(05:06):
the challenge going. Don't be that person. I'm pretty sure
my kids would roll their eyes if I told them
we couldn't go to Starbucks together anymore for a month
because I was doing a no buy challenge. It is
one thing not to spend money on yourself. Refusing to
spend money in ways that allow for spending time with
other people you care about could be more problematic, but

(05:29):
I do think many of us have more stuff than
we need. Many of us have stuff we could repurpose
and other ways we could fill our time. If you agree,
then a low by month might be a way to
tap into that creativity. And hey, you can always use
the money you save to go on a big spree

(05:50):
at the end. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

(06:10):
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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