Stop the shop

Your Challenge

This challenge is all about avoiding buying anything new for a whole month. Here are some tips on how you could approach it:    

• You could start by going through your home and taking a look at what you own. How many toiletries do you have? How many unworn outfits? Are there jars of herbs and spices going out of date? We’re all guilty of buying things and using them once or buying something and discovering that we already have another spare at home. Sometimes we’ve accumulated items we no longer want or need.
• You could consider repairing and reusing items, to help prevent unnecessary waste or the cost of buying new. This is particularly important for clothing and food waste, as these have a high impact on the planet’s resources.  
• You could also give away or sell some of the things you no longer want or need, helping to keep resources in use for longer. Again, this prevents all the emissions associated with making new items.
• Of course, the no-spend challenge doesn’t include essentials like food, but you can add a further target of using up leftover food as much as possible. For example, can you use up all those random pasta packets, or that old can of beans at the back of the cupboard? Take a look in the bottom of your freezer - are there some gems in there you forgot you had that could make up the perfect meal?