I don’t like sharing YouTube on here, but one of my favourite YouTube channels, The Financial Diet, shared a really good post about what they call ‘micro debt’ which is small debts and habitual spending that adds up.

I experienced a lot of freedom when I practiced a #NoBuyYear2025 and restricted non-essential purchases so I could cut through the noise and actually understand my #financial situation.

I do have to confess, we did a lot better because of that #NoBuyYear, but we still had forms of micro debt that we didn’t want to face, mainly in how we kept using #BNPL, which was a vicious cycle because we would keep spending approximately what we could afford to pay off each week, keeping us in that debt. Another way to put that is if we hadn’t needed to make repayments to Afterpay, we could have purchased everything outright that we needed for that week. It was all ‘essentials’ but sometimes some essentials are less essential than others and some of it could have been reduced with more creative thinking.

I do think there are good uses for BNPL, like being able to buy better quality clothing and footwear that will last longer or like the time we bought a whole beef rump which we still have some of in the freezer and have more than paid off.

That being said, now we are blessed with a little bit more income than last year and my goal is to get to 0 BNPL debt at least once this year. I banned the use of it at The Warehouse and Bunnings to help us reduce mindless spending and hopefully it will become a tool that works for us not against us.

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxtX-9G3dT6ZT5nEeykUUjxzidR8EtW41B?si=P4V2BgVq_jM1nlll

So, the new #NoBuyYear has stealthily started for me. I didn't get around to jot down the rules yet, I still have to do that. I'll try to make some time tomorrow for that. Because I would like to have some minimal wiggle room at some strategic times of the year. But I need to put my thoughts into writing and then think some more.

Anyway, wanna join in? Buying nothing in 2023 that's not necessary, like food and such? Write your own rules and join! I already did a similar year in 2019 and it was enlightening and super helpful.