My husband and I decided we would try a no buy month. Actually, I announced to everyone suddenly that it was “no buy month” and demanded they all follow suit- effective immediately. 

Hm. 

It last for about 15 hours before my husband had spent over $100 on a diet program. I have to say, I thought for sure what broke him would be Home Depot. I am honestly scared every time he goes there because I never know what he’s going to come home with. It won’t be what was on the list, though!

After his diet program, he then bought his lunch. 

Hey… did I mention it was “no buy” month?

This ensued for awhile. My son gave up his Tuesday pizza at school. Which was actually a blessing in disguise because I forbade him at the beginning of the year. The thought of him shoving greasy, cheesy, non-organic, gluten-y, cholesterol-raising, delicious, ooey-gooey pizza in his body once a week made me sick. Over time, he wore me down. 

Hey, did you read my post about being a parent? This is starting to make sense now….

Anyway! 

Aside from the occasional lunch purchase, no buy month was quite good! I had no idea we were so spendy. By we, I mean my husband. He is so spendy! We made it about three weeks and then we all broke it when I said we needed to get outfits for the boys for my brother’s wedding.

We went to the outlet mall to try the Ralph Lauren jackets I saw on Poshmark on the boys. We purchased two matching white dress shirts for them and ties and got the correct fit for the jackets. All would have been fine had we left right then and there but the kids were hungry. 

Of course they were. 

“Well, a few french fries for all to share and then home,” I said. But on the way out we passed a converse store. I think I was the one who casually mentioned, “Those would be cute with a suit” and before I know it, my husband is leaving with four matching pairs of converse for him and the kids. I 100% participated in the epic fail of no-buy month and almost took some home, too! 

I needed shoes for the wedding so I headed to Saks Off Fifth to scour the designer section for killer deals and try on Carrie Bradshaw’s sparkly blue Manolos just for fun. No shoes. No Carrie moment. No luck but that meant no spending so, go, me! 

My husband informed me his birthday was coming and wanted to know if I would like to see the (expensive) sunglasses he wanted for his birthday. By then, I was really starting to panic. 

I said, “Okay,” to be the gentle-speaking obliging wife I keep striving and failing to be but once I saw the price tag, I angry whispered in front of the sales lady, “Are you kidding me?! You didn’t even get me a birthday present! Or a Christmas present! I bought myself a $50 watch!”. 

I huffed and I puffed and blew out of that store with my three little piggies in tow.

It was time to leave. So we tried to leave. And the kids, the baby, they were all a hot mess. Starving, screaming, crying, needed to go pee. We walked past a chain restaurant and stopped to eat dinner. It was gross and expensive. 

From that point on, no buy month was totally ruined. My husband went home and scoured the internet for a cheaper version of the sunglasses and ordered himself them for his birthday. I have to admit, they do look really nice on him. I ordered pants for the boys online for the wedding and a dress for the baby.

Update- the dress is gorgeous. Also, it’s too big. I kept it because it was from Etsy and someone in the Ukraine made it and shipped it here and I don’t have the heart to ship it back. Plus, it sparks joy. So I bought her a new dress on Poshmark, only $10!

$700 later, between food, children’s suits, running shoes, baby dresses and meals… and my husband still doesn’t have an outfit for the wedding. 

Being married to a Dominican man can be very expensive. 

Our “no buy” month was a colossal failure. But hey, I did get that $130 Ralph Lauren suit jacket on Poshmark for $20 at least! 

Side note- my husband also forgot to do anything on Valentine’s Day (what?!) so I got him back and bought myself Chloe shoes for the wedding. Found them for a steal on the Posh. Saved a sweet bundle. Used my earnings to purchase them to technically, it’s like it never happened.

Have you tried to do a no buy month? I really loved it. I’ll be coming back to it again when we do the kitchen! 

After my husband sends me on a European shopping spree that is. Ahem. Lots of room in my closet now thanks to our January series.

Until then, I’ll continue to keep trying to reduce our family’s spending, reuse what we have, and recycle what we can to repurpose. 

So fresh!