{"id":188194,"date":"2025-12-17T12:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/188194\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T12:11:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:11:13","slug":"i-did-a-no-buy-year-and-saved-enough-money-to-put-a-deposit-down-on-a-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/188194\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I did a no-buy year and saved enough money to put a deposit down on a house’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Georgina Shannon said it was relatively easy and saved her a shocking amount of money<\/p>\n

Howard Lloyd Regional content editor<\/p>\n

09:59, 17 Dec 2025Updated 10:13, 17 Dec 2025<\/p>\n

\"GeorginaGeorgina Shannon<\/p>\n

For Georgina Shannon, it was the little buys on Vinted, a new outfit here and there and the occasional splurge in Superdrug that were her downfall. She was never a shopping addict but she came to realise she had too much stuff and not enough space.<\/p>\n

Plus she was worried about how much she bought was ending up in landfill. So in 2022, she pledged to buy nothing for the whole year. Outside food and cleaning products, there were to be no new books, clothes, jewellery, beauty products, gadgets or household bits. She didn\u2019t even let herself buy second-hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a bit of a hoarder and I was finding the clutter a bit overwhelming and depressing,\u201d marketing manager Georgie, 35, says. “And I can be a reactive shopper in that I will see someone wearing a skirt and I will buy it. I realised I was buying things based on how they look on other people and not me. So I was constantly putting stuff I didn\u2019t need anymore on Vinted, doing clothes sales and sorting through piles. And I\u2019d had enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

So she outlined some rules for herself no clothes, shoes, accessories to be bought new, unless something falls apart, now new or second-hand homeware and no additional beauty\/skincare or hygiene products, as she already had plenty in her bathroom cabinets.<\/p>\n

\"GeorginaGeorgina pledged to buy nothing for the whole year other than essentials<\/p>\n

As well as her financial goal of saving for a new home she was also concerned with sustainability. \u201cWe are inundated with messages on TikTok and social media to just buy, buy, buy. I was buying a lot of second hand but I was working with the Cornish Seal Sanctuary at the time and I was doing a lot of beach cleaning and seeing what is happening to our oceans because of consumerism, and I didn\u2019t want to be adding to that,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

She found the challenge surprisingly easy, and with such a clear goal in sight, wasn\u2019t tempted to get her credit card out. The results were amazing. In 12 months she and partner Fred saved \u00a320,000, enough to put a deposit down on a charming cottage in Cornwall where they now live.<\/p>\n

And when the year was up, she\u2019d saved so much that she did not want to slip back into her old habits. Her home felt tidier, her head was clearer and her bank account much healthier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt completely changed my life. And I didn\u2019t run out of clothing, even though I was decluttering at the same time. I still have socks from 10 years ago which are fine.<\/p>\n

\"GeorginaGeorgina was finding the clutter a bit overwhelming and depressing<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just taught me to appreciate what I have and it felt like I was taking my power back as a consumer\u201d, Georgie, who posts on Instagram as @\u200cgeorgies_corner, says. The project was such a success that she is now embarking on a no-buy year in 2026, to save cash for house renovations and pay for a bit of travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be temptations as I know I will want to get new clothes for my trip to Italy. But I will try not to. We all get swept up with this aspirational lifestyle of wanting the new shoes and the new bag, but you can\u2019t throw stuff away that you don\u2019t need. There is no away. There\u2019s just not enough room on the planet for all the stuff we have,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Georgie\u2019s tips for no-buy living1. Delete the apps!<\/p>\n

If you are making purchases on TikTok shop or Vinted, just take away the lure. Get the apps off your phone and you wont be tempted.2. Tell everyone you do not want any gifts<\/p>\n

And that way, they might say the same to you and everyone will consume and spend less. I did buy a few presents in 2022, but only for close friends and family. You will probably find most people will be happy to be part of your no-buy project<\/p>\n

\"GeorginaGeorgina came to realise she had too much stuff and not enough space<\/p>\n

3. Don\u2019t see shopping as a hobby<\/p>\n

Either online or in real life. Avoid town. There\u2019s no need to go into the shops if you don\u2019t need anything. And see if you can distract yourself with a new hobby – like arts and crafts. Or even better, running or swimming – hobbies that don’t require you to buy more stuff.4. Take your credit card details off the computer and Amazon account<\/p>\n

You get a dopamine hit every time you buy something online which will have disappeared by the time it arrives. If you put a barrier between you and those online purchases, they will be harder to make.5. Shop your own wardrobe<\/p>\n

If you have an event to go to, like a party, festival or wedding, take everything out of your wardrobe and see what you already have before heading to the shops. The likelihood is that you already have something that will work that you had forgotten about.6. Do not be hard on yourself.<\/p>\n

If you slip up sometimes, that\u2019s fine. You\u2019re doing this for yourself, nobody else. If no-buy seems too much to you, even reducing the amount of shopping you do can help. Some people do a month of no-buy at a time. Whatever works can make a difference to your savings.7. When you do shop, make sure it\u2019s mindful shopping<\/p>\n

It is like that idea of never going food shopping when you are hungry. Always check what you have first. Often I would some cleanser because it\u2019s on offer, when I already have some at home. We can be so unaware of what we already have, so if you do need to go shopping, take stock before you buy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Georgina Shannon said it was relatively easy and saved her a shocking amount of money Howard Lloyd Regional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245,44619,1243,14193],"class_list":{"0":"post-188194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance","15":"tag-real-life","16":"tag-shopping","17":"tag-your-money"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}