I'm only focusing on one area of my spending this time round (that's quite enough, the amount of research it has taken me to get this far 😂), but usually repairs or replacements would be in my rules for the month.

This Saturday Savers Club post has the information from when we did the first no-buy month with more detail (sorry, you have scroll down a bit to get to the right section).

In essence, I agree with you: whatever rules you decide for your no-buy time have to work for your situation.