Instagram, TikTok and other social-media sites are usually overwhelmed by people showing off what they bought. This year, people are pivoting to something else: displaying how they’re buying nothing.
The “no buy 2025” trend encourages people to purchase as little new stuff as possible. Some people make lists of specific items they won’t purchase, while others vow not to buy any nonessentials.
While it’s occurring on social media, it has very real-life reasons for catching fire. There have been two years of higher prices and rising levels of debt for households. There was also a shorter holiday season that felt rushed, where many Americans on the lower income end cut back aggressively.
Instead of needing to have the latest and greatest viral products, people are finding it’s better to focus on what they already own.
Rachel Holdsworth, a part-time nurse and stay-at-home mom, came across no-buy videos around the holidays. Holdsworth wanted to pay off her family’s $10,000 credit-card debt. The 28-year old and her husband, Macy, also wanted to stop living paycheck to paycheck.
This year, Holdsworth is cutting out hair treatments, manicures and unnecessary purchases like new water bottles.
“We are spending so much less money, it’s crazy,” says Holdsworth, who lives in Jeffersonville, Ind. “It’s been very empowering to live within our means.”
In just a month, they’ve paid down $2,000 of their debt through no-buy and Holdsworth’s side hustles, like selling clothes on third-party marketplaces.
An idea like no-buy has trended before on TikTok (last year, 20% of Americans tried the “no-spend” challenge, says fintech company Chime). Google searches for “no buy challenge” are up 40% year-over-year, while “no spend challenge” searches have hit an all-time high, Google says.
Out of sight, out of mind
Donavan Harnage, a 33-year-old analyst and part-time grocery-store worker in Charlotte, N.C., saw the no-buy trend on TikTok in December and decided to examine his own finances.
He became a first-time homeowner last year and spent a lot of money on decorating and furnishing. This year, he wants to visit Target and TJ Maxx less, cut back on overspending on groceries and cancel his streaming services—except for Netflix.
“If I can’t control what the stores do, I can control how I spend my money,” he says.
People also are adhering to “project pan,” a similar trend to no-buy that spurs people to finish all their skin care, makeup or body-care products before buying replacements. Some are even combining no-buy with project pan.
Elysia Berman, a 35-year-old who works in the beauty industry in New York, had a credit-card and loan balance of almost $49,000 from feeling pressure to dress a certain way for work. Last year, she decided to focus on lowering her debt.
Berman has used up almost 100 makeup products she’d purchased and received over the years. Now she plans to do the same with skin care products. Her no-buy list includes clothes, beauty products, perfume, jewelry, home decor and books, and she plans to cut down on takeout orders and make it to her Pilates classes to avoid cancellation fees.
“It really forced me to re-evaluate my habits,” Berman says. Since she started last year, she’s paid off $35,000 of her debt and will be done paying it off by April.
Rinse and repeat
Rebecca Sowden, a 27-year-old commissions analyst at an adtech company, is buckling down on no-buy this year after trying it in the past.
Sowden, who lives in Corona, Calif., has 12 rules written down for her no-buy year, including a weekly $85 budget for food and $50 a week for discretionary spending.
The tight restrictions help her stick to her budget and avoid temptation. “I want to minimize the amount of times I have to tell myself no,” Sowden says.
Marissa Huertas-Crespo, a 25-year-old financial analyst has done what she calls “low buys” over several years.
Whenever she sees something she likes, she takes a screenshot of the item, puts it in a folder on her computer and—at the end of each month—deletes anything she hasn’t thought about. At the end of every quarter, she’ll allow herself to buy something from this folder with money she set aside in a savings account.
“It gives me a good amount of time to think about how badly I really want something or need something,” says Huertas-Crespo, who lives in Middletown, N.J. She’s earmarking her money for experiences or items that have lasting value, such as a leather bag from a small designer in Spain and a pair of secondhand leather flats.
“When inflation was at an all-time high, cost-of-living was at an all-time high, I’ve never seen so many people telling me to buy things on the internet,” Huertas-Crespo says. “Those two things together have exhausted people.”
