10 Life-Changing Things I Learned From a Month of Not Shopping

In the past 18 years, since my freshman year of college (though I’m now 35), I’ve only had a single source of income: my wife and I’s blog, which began as a hobby. While many of my friends went on to high-paying jobs in finance and tech, I was content living on less, as it allowed me to avoid commuting and travel the world, all while working in a field I enjoyed.

If there’s one secret I discovered about making this work, it’s that you really don’t need as much money as you think to have a good life. Consumerism has tricked us into thinking money buys happiness, but that’s far from the truth. All you need is enough to meet your basic needs and a little extra, and you’ll still be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life in abundance.

But this lesson didn’t just come to me overnight— it’s something I had to experiment and learn for myself. And I did so in a way that might seem a bit extreme at first.

About a decade ago, I went an entire month without buying anything that I didn’t absolutely need. I paid for rent, groceries, and utilities, but that was it. No eating out, no impulse purchases on Amazon, and no new clothing for the month.

That experiment had a few unexpected results. First, I realized that I had more than enough already— I wasn’t nearly as deprived as I first imagined. More importantly, I saw clearly how many of my purchases were born out of restlessness rather than true need.

These two insights have stayed with me ever since, and continue to shape the way I think about money. That’s why I highly recommend everyone to try this experiment for themselves and to see what they might learn from it. To get you started, here are some of the most interesting takeaways from my own month of not shopping:

You don’t need to spend money to have fun

Instead of paying for entertainment, I found myself coming up with more creative ways to entertain myself. I went on more walks, read more books, and spent more time with friends.

Boredom is often disguised restlessness

At first, it was hard not to reach for my phone and buy something when I was bored, but I quickly realized that boredom doesn’t kill you— you just think it will. After a few minutes of riding it out and letting my thoughts wander, I was always back on to a new and interesting train of thought.

It’s hard to spend money intuitively

When you’re really forced to think about what you need, the lines between wants and needs become more categorical and less fuzzy. Normally, if I really want something, I can make myself believe it’s a need. But with nothing being allowed, the two categories naturally emerge, and you can see more clearly what really matters.

Sometimes you just need to reset your expectations

One of the most noticeable effects of my month-long fast from spending was that I started to appreciate the things I already had— and I started to get excited about using them. Over time, our expectations of what we “deserve” begin to grow, but intentionally doing without resets our expectations in a way that I found to be extremely healthy.

You probably have enough already

The best part of this practice, I found, was that at no point did I feel truly deprived. I was enjoying the friends and food in my life like normal, and was grateful to have a roof over my head and even a comfortable bed to sleep in each night. By focusing on what money can buy, we begin to think of these aren’t important, but I promise you they are.

It can be a good way to save some money

If you choose to give this idea a try, one of the side benefits is that you will almost certainly save some money from the practice. There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself to little extras, but I realized over time, I had begun to take them for granted and no longer appreciated them. Now, I try to space them out in my life and enjoy them.

You might start to see time differently

In the world of online shopping, it’s so easy to buy something that it almost feels like a kind of magic. You can make a decision with your thumb in seconds, and the item will show up a few days later. One of the things I noticed during my “month of no spending” is that my sense of time began to lengthen; this was, I think, because my expectations for when I might get that brief thrill of spending money were lower.

It’s a simple way to practice self-control

While the act of not doing something isn’t as easy as it might seem, it’s still a far more straightforward application of self-control than most other forms. No spending just means no spending. And that clear, black-and-white rule made it a practice I could repeat and stick with day after day without any guesswork or ambiguity.

You’ll realize life is what you make of it

If you’ve ever done a fast of any kind, you know that it’s not that hard to stop spending or eating for a bit— simply deciding to do so will get you most of the way there. The only hard part is deciding to do it and not looking back. Once I got through the first day or two, I realized I could decide to do most anything I wanted; it was only the initial decision that seemed hard.

Removing a crutch makes you grow stronger

My goal for the month was to stop buying physical things and paying for experiences (like restaurants), which could have meant paying for conveniences or to save me time. Without this outlet, I had to reorganize my life and make choices I wouldn’t have made otherwise. For instance, I wasn’t able to eat out as much, which meant I had to make my own meals more frequently.

It’s not that hard to change your behavior

I’m naturally an optimistic person, so I did have some hope that this month of not buying anything would change me, at least a little bit. However, I was surprised by how much it made me pause and rethink my default behaviors. It’s amazing how doing without, even if you’re doing without something you don’t really need, can make you grateful for the things you already have.

My month-long experiment of not buying anything I didn’t need was both a challenge and a pleasure. It was surprisingly satisfying to remove these options from my life and realize I could still thrive. The simple pleasures of life— friendship, nature, good food— were more than enough to fill my days.

I hope this list inspires you to think about ways you might shake things up a bit in your life. Sometimes, it’s only by doing something extreme (and ultimately temporary) that you can truly see your default behavior for what it is. Consider trying your own experiment and seeing what you learn.