No-Buy July: Testing the Internet’s Favorite Money Challenge

In 2019, Christina Mychaskiw was a full-time pharmacist and a part-time style blogger. She was also about $100,000 in debt, thanks to student loans and a compulsive shopping habit she just couldn’t seem to kick.

Mychaskiw, now 38, says she was constantly worried about the financial hole she was digging herself into. Her vacation time went unused because she could never afford to take a trip, and her lack of a rainy day fund meant occasional inconveniences like an unexpected car repair came with crushing anxiety.

But paradoxically, Mychaskiw says, she dealt with that stress using the only coping mechanism she had: by buying as many trendy, designer clothes as she could squeeze from every paycheck.

“I realized I was never going to live the life that I envisioned for myself if I didn't change something,” Mychaskiw says. Launching headfirst into a “no-buy” challenge, a perennial social media trend like "No-buy July" that resurfaces every so often and inspires participants to eliminate superfluous spending, seemed like her ticket out.

Mychaskiw committed to a year-long no-buy with strict rules, chronicling her journey through shopping addiction on YouTube. She budgeted for the essentials— rent, electricity, groceries, transportation — and cut out everything else. She kept her gym membership and a handful of streaming services.

“The detox really opened my eyes,” Mychaskiw tells her 330,000 followers in a 2019 video. “Without the crutch of shopping, I had to face who I was, my emotions, insecurities and financial mistakes head-on.”

Today, her endorsement of the no-buy lifestyle comes with a caveat. No-buys aren't a magic wand for quickly getting your finances in order. But if you do them right, she says, they can deeply influence your mindset around money.

Who's actually doing no-buys?

At its core, a no-buy is exactly what it sounds like: choosing not to purchase certain items for a set period of time.

The practice looks different for everyone. Some people cut out their biggest discretionary expenses—books, skincare, takeout—while others commit to making zero purchases for months, years or longer. Social media platforms like TikTok, Reddit and Instagram have become hubs for participants to chronicle their progress, posting updates about their struggles and successes.

It’s an exercise that can, at times, seem a bit out of touch. In an era when more than half of Americans report living paycheck to paycheck, a social media challenge that urges people to “just spend less” overlooks the reality that, for many, expenses are already cut to the bone.

Out of 44% of Americans who are doing or considering a no-buy this year, 25% haven't saved much; day-to-day expenses still eat up most of their monthly income, according to a survey by Inuit Credit Karma.

No-buys aren't the secret to financial freedom, but for many people, they’re a useful tool nonetheless.

Take Alyssa Barber, a 25-year-old content creator.

After working at a boutique for seven years, she had a well-established shopping habit. In 2022, she did her first no-buy: no clothes, no shoes, no accessories for an entire year. To make styling easier, she did a “closet audit,” pulling her favorite and most-worn outfits front and center. When she got the itch to spend money on new clothes, she borrowed from her sister's closet or hosted a clothing swap with friends.

There were some bumps in the road. Throughout the year, Barber says she kept a running list of everything she wanted to buy — often scrolling through the websites of her favorite clothing brands (and the Instagram accounts of her favorite influencers) for the express purpose of adding to the list.

“I realized I kind of missed the point of doing the no-buy in the first place,” she says.

When the year was up, Barber decided to try a different approach. First, she aggressively curated her inbox and social media feeds; unsubscribing and unfollowing newsletters, influencers and brands that encouraged her to shop. She also reconsidered the rigid rules she made for herself. In hindsight, Barber says, a year-long no-buy with no exceptions may have done more harm than good.

“There were moments in the summer where I would've done anything just to buy a pair of shorts that fit me better,” she says.

The financial savings that first year were modest — just a few hundred dollars, Barber says — but the no-buy sparked a profound shift in her mindset. Time and energy that would've been spent shopping were redirected towards experiences: Concerts, nice dinners and other activities that allow her to spend quality time with the people she loves. Barber also hosts an annual clothing swap at a local shop — and put together a free digital guide for anyone who wants to do the same.

These days, when Barber does shop, it's usually for second-hand furnishings to decorate her new home — “a home I would not have been able to afford had I stuck to my old shopping habits," she says.

A more thoughtful approach to spending

Cutting back on impulse buys is a marathon, not a sprint, and it takes some brain rewiring to get across the finish line.

Like most people, Ashley Viola bought what she needed from stores like Amazon and Target, and didn't think twice about having an occasional retail therapy session. But the more she understood the human and environmental cost of her hauls, the less excited she was to press checkout.

Some accounts struck a personal chord. Accra, Ghana, where her family is from, is drowning in fast-fashion waste from countries like the U.S., U.K and China. Every week, millions of garments flood into the city — clothing that's intended for resale, but overproduction and cheap design send much of it straight into informal landfills that choke the city's waterways and beaches. Over the last decade, this situation has gotten exponentially worse, Greenpeace reports.

Learning about this environmental crisis fundamentally changed Viola's relationship with consumption.

“This ideological shift got me off the hamster wheel,” she says. “I'm not looking for that shopping high anymore and my quality of life has only gotten better since.”

For Mychaskiw, the real marker of success — besides settling her six-figure student loan debt in 2022 — was permanently adopting more balanced and intentional spending habits. Her life, and her bank account, are better off for it.

Mychaskiw loves fashion, and carefully styling her wardrobe is something she genuinely enjoys. But while it once wasn’t uncommon for her to drop $500 at a brick and mortar clothing boutique, walk out, drive home and immediately go online and buy more clothes, she’s found a more meaningful way to engage with the fashion world.

Now, if she gets the shopping itch, she calls up a friend and heads to a thrift store.

“[It’s] a pleasant way to spend an afternoon,” Mychaskiw says. Mindlessly scrolling through Amazon “just to feel something,” she adds, is not.

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