I made a fake online store that helps people fight shopping addiction.

I built Just Buy Nothing after realizing how easy it is to fall into the trap of impulse shopping . Especially late at night, especially when you're stressed, bored, or just seeking a hit of dopamine.

Big ecommerce platforms are intentionally designed to be addictive. From scarcity tactics to endless upsells and one-click purchases, they exploit our psychology while delivering lower-quality products at higher prices. I wanted to flip that experience on its head.

So I made a site that looks and feels like an online store. Complete with product pages, discounts, add-to-cart buttons, and checkout but you can’t actually spend a dime. Instead, you shop using fake currency called “JBN dollars,” which you earn by completing anti-consumption activities like deleting shopping apps, donating unused items, or brewing your own coffee.

It started as a side project to help myself stop impulse buying, but after a Reddit post about the idea blew up, I realized this could actually help others too. People with ADHD, anxiety, shopping addiction, or just burnout from capitalism all reached out and said, “I need this.”

Now I’m building it into a full therapeutic experience with daily rewards, gamified savings challenges, and even a Chrome extension that pops up before real checkouts to ask:

“Are you sure you really want to buy this?”

I’m funding this myself, and it’ll always be free. The goal isn’t to monetize it’s to build a safe, fun, judgment-free outlet that helps people reclaim control from endless consumerism.