Are you considering challenging yourself to a no/low spend month? If you are, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve compiled some of the best no spend month tips here for you.
Spending money has almost become second nature. A no spend month is the perfect way to begin to kick your over-spending habit.
I’m going to help make it super easy for you to keep track of your no spend month too, I made a *ton* of templates to help you out!
Quick Access
Benefits
The biggest benefit of this challenge is that you will grow more mindful of the way that you are spending your money. Financial awareness is the first step to financial freedom.
Not only will you be saving money, but you’ll also be building up your self-control. It’s easier to spend frivolously on something you want than to deny yourself of it. Especially now that it only takes a simple tap of your card.
Less mindless spending will also help reduce your ecological footprint. You may also be able to boost your savings. There are so many things to gain and so few things to lose from participating in this type of challenge.
Rules
When I’m talking about no spend month tips, I really mean low spend month tips, because sometimes not spending any money is just not possible. You need food to eat, your car needs gas to get you to work, your bills and taxes still need to get paid.
What you’re actually doing is not allowing yourself to spend any money on things that are non-essential. Allowed essential spending usually includes groceries, rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, phone/internet, transportation and pets.
The things you’re looking to cut out are the WANTS not needs, like takeout / drive-thrus / fast food, expensive coffee, bars, clothes, beauty products, and entertainment.
This will challenge you to find creative solutions and identify your spending triggers. What do you tend to spend your money on that you don’t really need? Maybe it’s time, a place or a person. That’s why it’s important you establish the rules for yourself.
I think it’s fair to give yourself one free pass – but try to not use it as soon as the month starts. We want to be building some discipline with your funds after all.
Planning
Planning for your no spend month in advance will also help a tremendous amount. Search for local activities that are free. You can check in local facebook groups, community centers, libraries or just online. Some businesses like museums also have occasional free events you can attend.
Make a meal plan. This is something that is beneficial even when you aren’t doing a no spend month. Not only does it save money, but it also helps reduce food waste. If you have your lunch packed, the temptation to stop and grab some fast food is greatly reduced.
If you use shopping to de-stress, find alternative coping mechanisms to retail therapy. Don’t make things more difficult for yourself by still going to “window shop” either. One of my most important no spend month tips is to figure out things to do instead of shopping.
Set Goals
I know this is one of the no spend month tips you might be tempted to skip, but trust me – you want to set at least one goal. When we save money just to save it, that doesn’t really motivate us. It can be a lot easier to fall off when we don’t have a specific goal in mind.
When you don’t set a goal, it doesn’t really matter to your brain – the money wasn’t for anything specific anyway. That’s why even small goals are good.
Think about what your motivations are for attempting this no spend month challenge. What would you like to accomplish? Your goal might be saving money to pay down your debt, building up an emergency fund just in case, or saving to go on a special trip.
But your goal doesn’t even have to be something that concrete. Maybe you just want to be more conscious of your spending to create a more balanced budget, to shift your money mindset or just get your spending under control.
Share
It’s important that you share your plan for a no spend month. Friends and family are likely to unknowingly tempt you back into old spending patterns if you don’t. Not because they don’t mean well, but because they just don’t know what you’re doing unless you tell them!
The extra support can also be very beneficial! They may have even more no spend month tips to offer, or even want to join you on the challenge.
When
Which month you choose is entirely up to you. However, I wouldn’t suggest a month with a lot of holidays, like December.
January is a popular month to start the year off not spending frivolously, but there’s no need to wait for a new year to do this. You can start at any time, it doesn’t even have to be the beginning of the month. Start today and just count out 30 days from now!
I personally will be doing a no spend September to start getting the holiday fund fattened up. What month are you leaning towards?
Bonus Tips
Go easy on yourself if you aren’t perfect, just don’t give up.
When you’re done, be sure to celebrate your success and reward yourself – but in a way that doesn’t undo all the progress you’ve made during the past month.
Tracking your progress is also so important. Having a visual reminder can make all the difference. So make sure you get the templates I’ve offered above to make it super easy!
If you struggle with completing this, even with all of the above no spend month tips, don’t feel bad. It can be so difficult to not spend money and that is by design.
Commercials and advertisements are everywhere, impulse buys are waiting for you at the register and new, improved products are coming out all the time.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with spending money. Money has been likened to many things – but truly money is just a tool, a resource.
A no spend month is meant to help you work on banishing shopping addictions, stopping impulse spending, building healthier money habits and becoming more resourceful. 30 days seems to be the sweet spot for challenges. This no spend month challenge is simple and more importantly, it works.
I know you can do this and I would love to hear about your success! Let me know if you’re going to try your own no spend month challenge in a comment below!
Comments are closed.