‘No Buy 2025’ Won’t Fix Your Financial Problems
The popular social media challenge meant to rein in needless purchases will backfire in the long run.
Resisting the lure of shopping.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
A couple weeks into a new year and the shine of “new year, new you” has started to dim — but one personal finance trend, “No Buy 2025,” has taken hold for millennials and Gen Z on social media. Whether it’s in response to a few years of post-pandemic “revenge spending” or just balancing the books after the holidays, people are locking down their wallets in the hopes of a changed relationship with consumerism, or at least a fattened-up savings account.
In a “no buy” (or “no spend”) challenge, participants aim to go an extended period without making purchases beyond the essentials. The rules can be modified to fit the participant’s life — many people continue to shell out for haircuts and other beauty routines, for instance — but the spirit of the challenge is to minimize discretionary spending.