Latest news with #NoBuy2025
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Want to crush your debt? Financial experts suggest trying a money crash diet
Crash diets are extreme and unhealthy, but the financial version might actually make sense. Scott Terrio recommends them to his clients sometimes, as manager of consumer insolvency for Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Licensed Insolvency Trustees. The firm helps people filing for bankruptcy, or making deals to avoid it, with offices across Ontario. Terrio sees clients with a lot of debt, but if it's a relatively modest amount — maybe $5,000 or $10,000 or so — he tells them to try an 'extreme austerity program.' The premise is simple: Aside from rent, groceries and internet, cut absolutely all other spending, and live like a monk. Commit to this lifestyle for a handful of months, or more if you can; the short timespan will make it more tolerable, Terrio said. No takeout, no Uber, cancel your subscriptions, get a cheap phone plan, tell your friends you can't go out to restaurants or bars, he said. Pick the winter months when you're not tempted by summer patios. After a stint with the crash diet, you can take a break and return to normal life. If you aren't able to tackle all of your debt in one go, you can resume the crash diet later on in the year to reduce it further or eliminate it for good. On this plan, you can gain more ground on your debt in a much shorter time — especially with high-interest debts such as credit cards. Extreme austerity can save years on your repayment plan, Terrio said. 'Putting $300 down on your credit card is [nothing],' he said. 'But putting $700 for a few months is going to help you.' 'The downside is that it sucks, but you're on a mission,' he added. 'When you do all this, you will have taken what is a blip in your life of 12 months and fixed the problems that would have otherwise taken up 20 years of your life.' It's definitely not for everyone, Terrio said, but it's very effective for those with discipline and financial goals. Robin Taub, CPA and author of The Wisest Investment, sees the potential in a hard reset. A short-term crash diet can change habits and help 'subscription creep,' when you lose track of smaller monthly recurring payments, she said. Taub likened it to a recent experience where her credit card was compromised and she was issued a new card — all those websites and subscriptions didn't have her new card info, so she found herself updating them all individually. 'I was just reminded: Do I really want to give them my new credit card number and keep paying for this?' The answer was often no, Taub said. 'They really do add up without you noticing — it becomes a bit of a habit, and you're not as mindful of your spending. I think the idea [of a crash diet] is to regain that awareness and mindfulness around your spending.' Frugality trends with similar premises have been circulating on social media for years, Taub pointed out. Loud budgeting involves telling everyone you are on a strict financial plan so you don't feel pressured to spend money socially, while 'No Buy 2025' is a movement to make it through the year without buying any non-essential items. Cutting spending is also about sustainability, Taub said, which resonates with younger people. This demographic is also just simply feeling the pinch of the cost of living. 'A lot of young people are feeling this way,' Taub said. 'My kids say to me: Every time they walk out the door, it costs them $100, whether they're buying groceries or trying to do something fun with their friends. It's just really expensive these days.' Sean Cooper made the news for his extreme frugality — the Toronto-based mortgage broker and author of Burn Your Mortgage went viral for paying down his mortgage in just three years. Cooper owned his home outright at age 30. A major part of his financial plan was collecting rent: He lived in the basement of his home and rented out the rest of the property. But in addition to a strict budget, Cooper picked up side jobs as well. 'Earning an extra source of income is great,' he said. 'There are so many different opportunities to earn income these days. So it's looking at a skill and how you can make money from it, whether it's making YouTube videos or freelance writing or freelance web design, even pet sitting, dog walking — just find something that you enjoy and try to monetize it.' Make it hard to spend money, Cooper advised. Don't bring your credit card when you go out, take your credit card info off your phone, delete the info from online shopping sites, apps, and subscriptions. 'Do you really need five streaming services?' Cooper said. 'There's so many free streaming services you can watch.' After the crash diet, you might have found new useful habits, free hobbies, or the realization some past spending wasn't serving you. Another perk? A higher credit score. 'If you're paying your debt this aggressively, you're also rebuilding your credit,' Terrio said, 'because you're not only addressing 35 per cent of your score — which is transaction history — you're also addressing another 30 per cent of your score, which is credit utilization, because your debt is coming down.' 'So you can watch your credit score go crazy … You're pulling the two biggest levers of your credit score at the same time, over a short period.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Want to crush your debt? Financial experts suggest trying a money crash diet
Crash diets are extreme and unhealthy, but the financial version might actually make sense. Scott Terrio recommends them to his clients sometimes, as manager of consumer insolvency for Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Licensed Insolvency Trustees. The firm helps people filing for bankruptcy, or making deals to avoid it, with offices across Ontario. Terrio sees clients with a lot of debt, but if it's a relatively modest amount — maybe $5,000 or $10,000 or so — he tells them to try an 'extreme austerity program.' The premise is simple: Aside from rent, groceries and internet, cut absolutely all other spending, and live like a monk. Commit to this lifestyle for a handful of months, or more if you can; the short timespan will make it more tolerable, Terrio said. No takeout, no Uber, cancel your subscriptions, get a cheap phone plan, tell your friends you can't go out to restaurants or bars, he said. Pick the winter months when you're not tempted by summer patios. After a stint with the crash diet, you can take a break and return to normal life. If you aren't able to tackle all of your debt in one go, you can resume the crash diet later on in the year to reduce it further or eliminate it for good. On this plan, you can gain more ground on your debt in a much shorter time — especially with high-interest debts such as credit cards. Extreme austerity can save years on your repayment plan, Terrio said. 'Putting $300 down on your credit card is [nothing],' he said. 'But putting $700 for a few months is going to help you.' 'The downside is that it sucks, but you're on a mission,' he added. 'When you do all this, you will have taken what is a blip in your life of 12 months and fixed the problems that would have otherwise taken up 20 years of your life.' It's definitely not for everyone, Terrio said, but it's very effective for those with discipline and financial goals. Robin Taub, CPA and author of The Wisest Investment, sees the potential in a hard reset. A short-term crash diet can change habits and help 'subscription creep,' when you lose track of smaller monthly recurring payments, she said. Taub likened it to a recent experience where her credit card was compromised and she was issued a new card — all those websites and subscriptions didn't have her new card info, so she found herself updating them all individually. 'I was just reminded: Do I really want to give them my new credit card number and keep paying for this?' The answer was often no, Taub said. 'They really do add up without you noticing — it becomes a bit of a habit, and you're not as mindful of your spending. I think the idea [of a crash diet] is to regain that awareness and mindfulness around your spending.' Frugality trends with similar premises have been circulating on social media for years, Taub pointed out. Loud budgeting involves telling everyone you are on a strict financial plan so you don't feel pressured to spend money socially, while 'No Buy 2025' is a movement to make it through the year without buying any non-essential items. Cutting spending is also about sustainability, Taub said, which resonates with younger people. This demographic is also just simply feeling the pinch of the cost of living. 'A lot of young people are feeling this way,' Taub said. 'My kids say to me: Every time they walk out the door, it costs them $100, whether they're buying groceries or trying to do something fun with their friends. It's just really expensive these days.' Sean Cooper made the news for his extreme frugality — the Toronto-based mortgage broker and author of Burn Your Mortgage went viral for paying down his mortgage in just three years. Cooper owned his home outright at age 30. A major part of his financial plan was collecting rent: He lived in the basement of his home and rented out the rest of the property. But in addition to a strict budget, Cooper picked up side jobs as well. 'Earning an extra source of income is great,' he said. 'There are so many different opportunities to earn income these days. So it's looking at a skill and how you can make money from it, whether it's making YouTube videos or freelance writing or freelance web design, even pet sitting, dog walking — just find something that you enjoy and try to monetize it.' Make it hard to spend money, Cooper advised. Don't bring your credit card when you go out, take your credit card info off your phone, delete the info from online shopping sites, apps, and subscriptions. 'Do you really need five streaming services?' Cooper said. 'There's so many free streaming services you can watch.' After the crash diet, you might have found new useful habits, free hobbies, or the realization some past spending wasn't serving you. Another perk? A higher credit score. 'If you're paying your debt this aggressively, you're also rebuilding your credit,' Terrio said, 'because you're not only addressing 35 per cent of your score — which is transaction history — you're also addressing another 30 per cent of your score, which is credit utilization, because your debt is coming down.' 'So you can watch your credit score go crazy … You're pulling the two biggest levers of your credit score at the same time, over a short period." This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025. Nina Dragicevic, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The 'No Buy 2025' movement to cut back on shopping comes as online sales are at a record high. Some people want to change that trend.
Two months into 'No Buy 2025,' the latest iteration of a grassroots movement that encourages people to curb their consumerist tendencies, the U.S. Census Bureau released figures showing that online sales continue to set records, rising by 8.1% in 2024. 'Online sales of retail products have doubled in the last 10 years,' Kevin Ketels, associate professor at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University, told Yahoo News. 'COVID exacerbated the desire of people to make online purchases. Since then, companies have become very, very sophisticated at marketing to folks online.' On Friday, many people around the world will participate in a 'no buy day,' a 24-hour economic blackout that organizers say targets corporate greed by cutting back on unnecessary purchases. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. 'For our entire lives, they have told us we have no choice, that this is just how things are, that we have to accept these insane prices, the corporate greed, the billionaire tax breaks, all while we struggle just to get by,' John Schwarz, one of the leaders of the Feb. 28 'economic blackout,' said in a recent Instagram video. 'For one day, we are going to finally turn the tables.' But the no-buy trend has been around for years and is motivated by multiple reasons. In 2019, Kim Butler, founder of the financial services and life insurance company Prosperity Thinkers, proclaimed 2019 to be a no-buy year for clothing and skin care products. 'I got tired of having stuff and I just decided that most of the stuff I was buying wasn't really needed and it had become an absolute habit,' she said, adding, 'I knew I needed to put a stop to it and I'm kind of a cold-turkey person, I guess.' She and her husband live in a small Texas town and have come to rely on sites like Amazon to shop for many items, yet the ease of smartphone shopping also presented a 'fox guarding the henhouse' dynamic that resulted in unhealthy habits when it came to certain product categories. For Butler, no-buy challenges are 'about wanting to curb habitual, unconscious spending.' In the smartphone age, Ketels said, tech companies wield tremendous power over consumers. 'If you do a search anywhere, it seems like you will then see ads for those products almost instantaneously in your social media feeds and other places,' he said. That bombardment of advertisements juiced by algorithms that feed users tailored content can cause big problems for many people. A 2023 study by researchers in Finland found that 'low self-regulation in an online environment facilitates online shopping addiction, which further leads to dissatisfaction toward personal money management through indebtedness.' Omaha, Neb., resident Melissa Welch, who makes a living helping people declutter their homes, said social media is supercharging impulse buying because of direct advertising as well as the role of influencers. 'Influencers are paid to promote things all the time, and because of the parasocial relationship we sometimes feel like, 'OK, they're our friend. So a friend is recommending this, therefore I should buy it,'' Welch said, adding, 'A lot of the people who I've talked to who are interested in doing a no-buy, we discuss strategies like unfollowing influencers, unsubscribing from email marketing and stuff like that to actively resist and put up a buffer.' Somewhat ironically, social media has also become the go-to place to find tips on how to succeed with a no-buy challenge. Tracy Bassett, a real estate agent in Mansfield, Texas, said on Instagram that she and her husband had begun a No Buy 2025 challenge to pay down debt and to save for retirement and putting their son through college. Her rules, she said, included canceling her Amazon Prime membership. 'I will not be hopping on Amazon anymore to make purchases willy-nilly like I have been,' Bassett said, noting that she 'will be adding no new subscriptions or memberships or apps to my phone.' On her Instagram feed, Rebecca Sowden, a social media content creator and commissions analyst in Corona, Calif., also said she was motivated to join the no-buy bandwagon out of concerns about her financial security. 'I looked at the money I had put in retirement and I looked at my savings, and I thought, 'Is this all that I've been able to save financially for myself? Is this really where we're at?'' Sowden told Yahoo Life. 'Because my closet is absolutely bursting at the seams.' Sowden's plan includes forgoing purchases of new clothing and shoes (unless shoes are completely worn out) as well as a ban on trying new makeup or skin care products, and she regularly documents her journey in Instagram posts, a practice that Butler says can be 'a valuable tool.' 'We all need accountability buddies. Sometimes that can't be our own family, for whatever reason,' Butler said. 'I believe social media can create that community. It can be five people, it can be 5 million, it doesn't really matter. It can help you become aware of your own unconscious behavior.' But Butler also does set some cellphone parameters. 'Make your phone go dark at a particular time of night. That makes it virtually impossible to shop because you can't see the colors of the clothes,' she said. 'I also do not allow myself, other than a 10-minute period of time, to be on Instagram, because it's so easy to shop from there.' With our phones and social media activity now fully integrated into daily life, coming up with specific steps to cut back on online consumerism is crucial, Welch said. 'I have total empathy for everyone who has a clutter problem or a shopping problem,' Welch said. 'People shop for many different reasons. Sometimes it's a stress response, sometimes it's a mental health issue, sometimes it's a dopamine response.' Welch advises shopaholic clients to increase the amount of time they spend watching movies with a spouse, reading, or playing games with others instead of spending time on a cellphone at the end of each day. 'I think cellphones have made shopping much more prevalent. Certainly there are some people who enjoy shopping and take themselves physically to a store to buy things in person. I just think it's way more common because our phones are so connected and we are seeing all these advertisements,' she said. While Ketels applauds the aims of no-buy challenges, he's not entirely convinced that the outcomes will prove life-changing for most people. 'Anyone who does it and is disciplined about it, that's great, but I'm skeptical that there will be large-scale changes in society and our addiction to instant gratification from online purchases,' he said.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Feb. 28 'economic blackout': What's behind today's boycott of major retailers like Amazon and Walmart
A grassroots organization is calling on Americans to participate Friday in what it's calling the "Feb. 28 economic blackout" by refraining from buying goods from major retailers for 24 hours. The nationwide protest comes amid rising prices on everything from gas to groceries — including, notably, eggs — and is similar to social media-fueled economic efforts that have cropped up online in recent months, including the "No Buy 2025" challenge against overconsumption. The Feb. 28 boycott is an initiative by the People's Union USA, a self-described 'grassroots movement dedicated to economic resistance, government accountability and corporate reform.' See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. The group, founded by John Schwarz, says it is not affiliated with any political party. According to the organization's website, its goal is 'to unite Americans against the corruption and greed that has kept us struggling for decades.' The daylong boycott has been promoted online by several celebrities, including John Leguizamo, Stephen King and Bette Midler. "For our entire lives, they have told us we have no choice, that this is just how things are, that we have to accept these insane prices, the corporate greed, the billionaire tax breaks, all while we struggle just to get by," Schwarz said in a recent Instagram video. 'For one day, we are going to finally turn the tables."' According to Schwarz, the idea is to halt all purchases from big corporations, both in store and online, from 12 a.m. through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28. 'No Amazon, no Walmart, no fast food, no gas,' he said. 'Not a single unnecessary dollar spent.' On its website, the group is urging consumers to not spend money on 'non-essential' items. For essential purchases like food, medicine, or emergency supplies, Schwarz is encouraging participants to buy them from a local small business rather than a big-box retailer. "Do not go out and shop at any big, major store,' Schwarz said in the video. 'If you have to, go to the local pizza place, the small local boutique." Some supporters of the blackout have suggested boycotting specific corporations that have ended their diversity, equity and inclusion programs following President Trump's executive order targeting DEI initiatives. But while the People's Union calls the abandonment of DEI programs 'regressive and unacceptable,' the Feb. 28 boycott is aimed at all major retailers, regardless of their stance on DEI. 'If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message,' the organization said on its website. In a follow-up video posted on the eve of the planned blackout, Schwarz told his Instagram followers not to be discouraged if they see people shopping on Friday. "Remember: There are 340 million people in America, and not all of them will stand with us," he said. "But millions will." Schwarz told USA Today earlier this month that he hopes to boycott other businesses "that are really the biggest offenders within the system." The People's Union is already planning weeklong blackouts aimed at specific retailers, including Amazon, Target and Walmart. The first, targeting Amazon, is scheduled to begin March 7.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Feb. 28 economic blackout: What's behind today's boycott of major retailers like Amazon and Walmart
A grassroots organization is calling on Americans to participate Friday in what it's calling the "Feb. 28 economic blackout" by refraining from buying goods from major retailers for 24 hours. The nationwide protest comes amid rising prices on everything from gas to groceries — including, notably, eggs — and is similar to social media-fueled economic efforts that have cropped up online in recent months, including the "No Buy 2025" challenge against overconsumption. The Feb. 28 boycott is an initiative by the People's Union USA, a self-described 'grassroots movement dedicated to economic resistance, government accountability and corporate reform.' The group, founded by John Schwarz, says it is not affiliated with any political party. According to the organization's website, its goal is 'to unite Americans against the corruption and greed that has kept us struggling for decades.' The daylong boycott has been promoted online by several celebrities, including John Leguizamo, Stephen King and Bette Midler. "For our entire lives, they have told us we have no choice, that this is just how things are, that we have to accept these insane prices, the corporate greed, the billionaire tax breaks, all while we struggle just to get by," Schwarz said in a recent Instagram video. 'For one day, we are going to finally turn the tables."' View this post on Instagram A post shared by John Schwarz (@theonecalledjai) According to Schwarz, the idea is to halt all purchases from big corporations, both in store and online, from 12 a.m. through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28. 'No Amazon, no Walmart, no fast food, no gas,' he said. 'Not a single unnecessary dollar spent.' On its website, the group is urging consumers to not spend money on 'non-essential' items. For essential purchases like food, medicine, or emergency supplies, Schwarz is encouraging participants to buy them from a local small business rather than a big-box retailer. "Do not go out and shop at any big, major store,' Schwarz said in the video. 'If you have to, go to the local pizza place, the small local boutique." Some supporters of the blackout have suggested boycotting specific corporations that have ended their diversity, equity and inclusion programs following President Trump's executive order targeting DEI initiatives. But while the People's Union calls the abandonment of DEI programs 'regressive and unacceptable,' the Feb. 28 boycott is aimed at all major retailers, regardless of their stance on DEI. 'If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message,' the organization said on its website. In a follow-up video posted on the eve of the planned blackout, Schwarz told his Instagram followers not to be discouraged if they see people shopping on Friday. "Remember: There are 340 million people in America, and not all of them will stand with us," he said. "But millions will." Schwarz told USA Today earlier this month that he hopes to boycott other businesses "that are really the biggest offenders within the system." The People's Union is already planning weeklong blackouts aimed at specific retailers, including Amazon, Target and Walmart. The first, targeting Amazon, is scheduled to begin March 7.
