No Buy Challenge

Challenge preparation checklist

Fifteen short steps to prepare any no-buy or no-spend challenge: categories, length, rules, calendar, triggers and check-ins.

Challenge:Start date:End date:
  1. Choose one to three categories (or kinds of spending) to pause
  2. Choose a length: 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, a calendar month, 90 days or a year
  3. Write the start and end dates
  4. List what is always allowed (essentials first)
  5. Write a replacement rule for things that run out or break
  6. List the exceptions you can already see coming (gifts, work, travel)
  7. Check the calendar for birthdays, events, sales and paydays
  8. List bill due dates so nothing required is missed
  9. Do a ten-minute inventory of one paused category
  10. Decide where wants will go (a pause list with reconsider dates)
  11. Reduce one or two easy triggers (an app, emails, saved card details)
  12. Plan meals for the first week if takeout is paused
  13. Pick a weekly check-in time
  14. Decide whether to tell a trusted person — or keep it private
  15. Write one sentence about why you are doing this

Always allowed — essentials are never part of the challenge

Groceries and basic household supplies · Medicine, health care and prescriptions · Rent or mortgage, utilities and phone · Transport I need for work, school or care · Required bill and minimum debt payments · Necessary repairs and replacements · Things I need for accessibility, work or safety