"No Buy 2025" is a trend in the US | 8 ways of thinking to prevent wasteful spending and improve your mind and life

Good morning. It's miko!

With prices continuing to rise unabated these days, many people are probably reassessing their household finances.

So, I would like to share with you the "No Buy Challenge 2025" which is currently popular in the US, and also share the "No Buy habits that you can naturally and effortlessly continue" that I actually practice on a daily basis!

Well then, let's get started!

Introduction | What is No Buy 2025?

"No Buy 2025" is a consumerism movement that originated in the United States.

As the name suggests, this is an attempt to "not buy anything until the end of 2025 and live with what we already have!"

Americans have always had a culture of taking out loans to buy things, and they tend to have a strong consumer mindset. However, the price hikes of the past few years have had a major impact, and statistics show that the amount of loan balances is at an all-time high.

So, the first thing to do is to reassess your shopping habits, use the money saved to repay your loan, and try to reduce your loan balance even a little! That's the general trend.

By the way, I believe that many of the readers of this blog are exhausted by our mass consumption society in the first place.

Over the past few years, I have been working towards a simple and sustainable lifestyle by identifying what we truly need, so I can easily understand why this movement has arisen.

However, if I may add something to this movement, I would like to see a focus not just on saving money and paying off loans, but also on taking stock of more sustainable household finances, reassessing values, rediscovering who you are, and reducing the burden on the environment .

My experience: A "No Buy" lifestyle that can be sustained naturally

In the past, I would let stress build up, big and small, and end up making pointless purchases.

I often found myself regretting, "I wasted money again...", and it often made me realize that my approach to shopping was unstable.

However, at times like that, I felt like "I can just earn money again anyway..." was like a motto, giving me an excuse.

However, it was my experience during the COVID-19 pandemic that completely changed my thinking.

At the time, I was running four beauty salons in Taiwan and had been steadily increasing my profits every year. However, the situation changed drastically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the company's balance of income and expenditure began to deteriorate.

In the 10 years I'd been running my company in Taiwan, I had experienced my first loss... This experience prompted me to reevaluate not only my company but also my personal life.

As I searched for all kinds of money-saving tips and tried various things, I eventually realized that a sustainable, frugal lifestyle is one in which you don't have to endure and you respect your own values.

Simply restricting the amount of money you spend will make you feel poor in your heart. Instead, by thinking about and focusing on what is meaningful, and thoroughly cutting out what is unnecessary, you will be surprised at how much less guilty and stressed you feel about spending money, and you will naturally have more money and time.

Below are some real and specific "No Buy" habits that I easily maintain in my daily life.

8 No Buy Habits You Can Easily Maintain

1. Make things visible in your home

Why do we buy things we don't need? It's because we don't know what we have and we always feel like we're missing something.

Even though I have a ton of clothes in my closet, I don't have anything I want to wear when I go out.

Even though I have food in the fridge, I end up buying the same thing and letting it go bad.

I end up buying so many of the same stationery, cosmetics, and detergent items that I can't use them all...

Have you ever experienced anything like the above?

So in my case, I started by taking an inventory of the entire house. I took everything out of each category, such as closets, kitchens, and bathrooms, and separated them into what I needed and what I didn't need. I put back only what I needed so that I could see where everything was. By knowing where everything was, I was able to reduce the effort of searching for things, and I also realized that I already had enough, which reduced impulse buying.

Creating an inventory list was particularly effective. By creating and managing the stock of essential daily necessities and food, we were able to reduce stockpiling and use up the items.

② Review your unconscious "inexpensive spending"

You may have gotten into the habit of stopping by a convenience store on your way home from work, or you may end up buying a drink from a vending machine... These "unexpected expenses" may seem small individually, but they add up to a big expense.

I use a household accounting app (CW Money Pro in Taiwan and Money Forward in Japan) to make payments by card or smartphone whenever possible, and link my expenses to the app to visualize my monthly spending.

I always checked the categories where I was spending too much, the stores I frequented, and any unconscious spending habits, and if there were any stores where I was prone to spending money, I even changed my route home so that I wasn't physically near those stores.

In addition, the habit of bringing your own food also leads directly to savings.

I've tried various things, such as filling a thermos with tea instead of using vending machines, packing lunch three times a week to reduce the cost of lunch, using smaller eco bags and not buying so much that the bag becomes full, etc.

These actions not only cut down on expenses, but are also good for the environment and have a direct impact on your health.

3) Choose things based on the values of "non-status goods"

Are you familiar with famous economist Robert Frank's concept of "status goods" and "non-status goods"? This is the idea of decoupling the source of your happiness from "comparison with others."

Status goods are things that are easy to compare with others, such as luxury brands, tower apartments, and luxury imported cars. Even if you have them, you will feel inferior if others have better things. In short, it is a feeling of superiority that arises from comparing yourself to others, so it is a happiness that does not last long.

On the other hand, non-status goods are things like health, a youthful body, freedom, time, and family connections. These are values that are not compared to others and are fulfilled within oneself. This will give you a sense of happiness as long as you hold them.

[Status goods] Luxury cars, brands, luxury houses, buying a brand name cat from a pet shop, social status...

[Non-status goods] Health, vitality, freedom, sense of belonging, adopting a stray or rescued cat, family, love…

After learning this idea, my standards for the "value of things" changed drastically. I began to ask myself, "Does something really enrich my soul?"

I then decided to "completely withdraw" from the game of comparing and competing with others, and began to regain my own sense of self-worth.

Currently, we are very happy to be able to live in a housing complex that costs around 50,000 yen, without having to commute, and to be able to work and live at our own pace.

4. Reset your spending habits with a "No Spend Day"

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was still in Taiwan, I learned about a way to save money called "No Spend Day" (called No Money Day in Japan). This is a day when you consciously don't spend money.

I've started recording my "no-spend days" on a calendar and making it into a game, a way to hit the pause button on my daily shopping habit.

For example, you could set every Monday as a "no money day" or decide to do it every 10 days. You can continue at your own pace with almost no stress.

By deciding "I won't buy anything today," you can plan a menu using ingredients you have at home, thoroughly clean the house without going out, go to the library to read the latest magazines when you want to go out, take home-brewed coffee to the beach and relax on the shore, and realize that you can enjoy a day without spending a lot of money. You will also realize that you can make unexpected ingenuity and substitutions.

This is the calendar page of my planner for 2022. The colors have faded with age, but it looks like I didn't spend any money for 86 days this year.

⑤ Review the things you can do without

Have you ever thought deeply about whether you really need multiple detergents for different places, deodorizers in the bathroom, living room, and entrance, and scented fabric softeners?

I think that "it's convenient to have" is not the same as "it's difficult to live without it." Moreover, have you ever wondered if it has any effect on the human body? It's time to question your current habits. This is also an important review.

My standard for reviewing things is to ask myself, "Was that around 50 years ago, when I was born?"

If you look into it, you can get all kinds of information for free on the internet these days. It's not just because everyone else is using it, but it's important to question your current habits. I've recently come to realise how important this is.

In my house, we don't use any synthetic detergents. Instead, we use

• Scallop powder (baked scallop powder)
• Citric acid water
• Oxygen bleach
• Bar soap

With just this, you can cover everything from cleaning, laundry, washing dishes, and washing your hair. It's great value for money, environmentally friendly, and makes inventory management so much easier, so you won't want to let it go!

Environmentally and healthily friendly! 100% natural material! 618 scallop powder (scallop shell calcined powder) 150g

Upcycled scallop shells from industrial waste. A natural powder that is highly alkaline and can be used for cleaning, deodorizing, and sterilizing when dissolved in water. Irritation is less than distilled water. Safe for people with sensitive skin, babies, and pets.

The idea is that rather than having different detergents for different areas, if you separate them by the type of dirt, this will be all you need.

By the way, in my house, there is only soap and citric acid water hanging in the bathroom. I wash my body and hair with hot water using cotton towels and bath mittens, so I only use soap occasionally. On days when I use soap, I can pour citric acid water on my hair and it becomes smooth. By the way, when I used shampoo and treatment, I suffered from seborrheic dermatitis. For more information, please read the related article below.

Related article - The fear of surfactants! Recommendations for going shampoo-free and skin fasting to avoid health risks

　　　　　The challenge of going shampoo-free – how to break the addiction and get healthy hair back

No soap required! 100% organic cotton body towel that removes sebum stains with just water [Watabana Series]

No soap required! 100% organic cotton body mitt that removes sebum stains with just water [Watabana Series]

6. Choose by imagining what's behind the low price

Extremely cheap clothes and everyday items may look like a bargain at first glance, but I try to imagine what the story is behind the price.

Behind the cheap prices often lies labour exploitation, environmental destruction and inferior raw materials.

Getting into the habit of thinking about "who made the product, where, and in what environment?" will help prevent unconscious waste.

I myself have had many failed experiences buying things just because they were cheap. I didn't check the ingredients and ended up throwing them away, they broke within a year of use, or I got tired of them quickly and had to throw them away. Shopping like that just increases waste and contributes to environmental destruction .

Nowadays, I try to stay away from fast fashion stores as much as possible. Instead, I look for good quality second hand items on Mercari, and when buying new, I choose simple designs that I won't get tired of, made from natural materials like linen and organic cotton, and with sturdy "Made in Japan" stitching so that I can use them for a long time.

Related article: The scary traps lurking in the allure of Chinese e-commerce sites: What you need to know to minimize risk and shop safely

7. Get rid of the "disposable" habit

Kitchen paper, plastic wrap, zippered storage bags, plastic containers... They may be convenient, but our throwaway culture wastes both money and resources.

In particular, I run a YouTube channel with a large audience in Chinese-speaking countries, and I am always amazed at their high level of environmental awareness, which is incomparable to that of Japanese people.

Taiwan was the first country to eliminate plastic bags, disposable straws, and disposable cutlery from supermarkets, and many people now carry their own water bottles and cutlery.

In the very first video from 5 years ago, where I was making staple dishes, I was using plastic wrap and plastic bags a lot. If you look at the comments section, you'll see that there were a lot of critical comments that were enough to cause a flaming incident. Lol

There are still very few Japanese cooking YouTubers who are conscious of this. They just cut up plastic wrap and use Ziploc bags without hesitation. There are no critical comments about this. I was already criticized for this 5 years ago, so I've always felt the difference in awareness. Disposable behavior that is common in Japan is often surprising overseas. In order to cultivate this sensitivity, I think it's important to have the sense to question the current Japanese lifestyle where disposable culture is developed.

However, I also realized that even in Japan, there are many great traditional products.

For example, bleached cloths, enamel containers, glass, ceramics, cleaning tools such as dried loofahs, cotton cloth woven with gara yarn, Kamenoko scrubbing brushes, etc. There are many high-quality items in Japan that can be reused, so if you switch to these, you will be surprised at how much less garbage you create, it will be easier to manage your stock, and you will have to go shopping much less often.

There is no need to save up points, rush to the drugstore once a month, and stock up on all sorts of disposable goods.

It becomes a habit from those who use it! Sushi Chef's Exclusive Sarashi “Shari Sarashi” M size (20 sheets)

It becomes a habit from those who use it! Sushi chef's exclusive sarashi “Shari-Sarashi” L size (10 sheets)

A set of 2 organic cotton mini towels for washing dishes that can remove oil stains with just water.

This specially made 100% cotton mini towel can remove oil stains with just water. Organic cotton without pesticides or chemicals.

⑧ Cultivate the ability to think of alternatives

Instead of separating detergents according to their intended use, try separating them according to the type of dirt they're dirty with, reuse empty bottles as much as possible instead of buying storage containers at 100 yen shops, turn paper bags or newspapers you've been given into food waste bags... By "using things creatively" instead of buying things, you won't accumulate things and your creativity will increase.

Instead of thinking, "I don't have enough storage space, so I'll buy storage items," try organizing your house first, and you'll probably find some storage items that you're not using.

First, get into the habit of thinking about what you can use instead.

By "creating creative solutions instead of buying," you will come to understand the importance of things and it will also help you feel more positive about yourself.

Before making a purchase, always consider whether it is consumption, waste, or an investment.

Before making a purchase, get into the habit of asking yourself, "Is this a consumption, waste, or investment?"

For example, when buying food

• Consumption = things that are absolutely necessary for life (e.g. fresh food items needed for daily life such as rice, vegetables, eggs, meat, etc.)
• Wastefulness = Impulse buying/stress relief shopping (e.g. snacks, instant noodles, juice, etc., which are short-term luxury items that may be harmful to your health)
• Investment = spending on health, learning, and personal growth (e.g., organic vegetables delivered directly from farmers, cage-free eggs, supplements to make up for nutrients you lack, and other important nutrients for the future)

By adopting this perspective, you will be able to establish a foundation for how you spend your money, and you will be able to make more expenditures without regrets.

Conclusion | What are the choices that will truly make you rich?

"No Buy 2025" is not about "endurance."

I think it's a choice that allows us to realize the ``richness that can only be seen by not buying.' '

This might sound like an advertisement at the end, but...

At our shop, Shoukakukou ( @shoukakukou ), we only stock products that I have actually used and would definitely recommend to everyone!

Most of the products are made in Japan and are kind to both the body and the earth, and are produced by visible producers.

The store is filled with items that help organize your life, such as additive-free seasonings made using traditional methods, reusable everyday items, and household goods that you will grow to love the more you use them.

If you are too obsessed with "not buying," you will end up with a backlash, so I believe that by acquiring the ability to "choose truly meaningful things," you can live a sustainable and happy life.