The No Spend Challenge
This challenge can fit into our life no matter what stage we might be in. Whether we are deep in debt and just learning how to budget, debt free and building up a solid savings, or financially free but ready to get back to some basic spending habits again. No matter where you are at, the benefits of doing and completing a no spend challenge is vast. Perhaps you have never heard of this idea before or you have tried it and failed. We will go through several steps to take along the way that will help you have direction and success as you embark on this challenge.
Setting Up the Rules- As with any game, challenge or test there are rules. These are not meant to limit us, but are actually there to help us stay within the ditches and reach the desired results we are after. The first rule to set up is your goal. Why do you want to do this challenge? What are you trying to learn or achieve? Perhaps you are using it as a hard reset on bad habits that have set in. Whatever the reason, defining your why will help you keep motivated along the way. This goal could be to have an extra few hundred in your budget at the end of the month, to not buy any new clothes or eat out, or to not rely so heavily on the fear of missing out and all the materialism that comes with it. Once you find the goal, make it specific. An example might be to only eat out once this month, or to not buy any home décor items this month, or to save a certain dollar amount. The second rule it to determine which categories are part of this no spend challenge. This could be the obvious entertainment, clothes, gifts, eating out/daily coffee, hair/nail appointments ect. Or it could be spending less in gas, food, and subscriptions. The third rule is to set a time frame. How long are you going to do this challenge? 2 weeks, 30 days, 90 days, 6 months? Pick a time frame that you can stick to and it can always extend from there.
Situations to Avoid- When you have picked your categories you will now know what situations to avoid. We know this is going to take some effort so why not make it easier on ourselves. For me I enjoyed online and in town shopping for clothes and home décor as a way to keep myself from being bored. On my situations to avoid list I put certain stores, such as the local box stores, thrift stores, my shopping apps and online retailers. To help with this I took different routes to places I had to go so I wouldn’t drive by the tempting store. I uninstalled the apps on my phone to my favorite retailers and I removed my debit cards from my saved digital wallet. This way if I really wanted to buy something, I would have to go to the actual website and I would have to get off the couch to get my card info from my wallet. It is surprising how these extra obstacles we put in our way can be just enough to not only be an inconvenience, but also be a reminder of what we are trying to achieve.
Getting Creative- As you navigate the barriers you put up in your daily life to help you achieve your no spend challenge, you will find your creativity start to flow. Since we no longer can just buy the item we need, we look around our house and network of family/friends to see how we can makeshift something that will work. I can’t count how many times I found something in my house’s deepest corner that was able to fit what I was needing. It might not have been the greatest looking solution but it was already paid for. Sometimes just making ourselves wait a few days to a few weeks, we discover we didn’t need it after all, or we found a better solution. For the items that you find you still need that can’t wait, you can look for free, borrowed, second hand, or get a really good price by searching around. If there is something you come across that you really “want”, add it to a wish list. Many times by waiting that period of time we find we have moved on and the emotional pull is not there anymore. But if after the no spend challenge is done and you still want it, you can buy it guilt free.
Selling Items- While we are doing everything we can to not spend we can also attack this goal from the other side as well. Look through our house and see what we can sell and downsize. Most people are sitting on a mountain of unused items that are just collecting dust and losing value. Clearing out these things will add cash back into our account and make our home feel more spacious and stress free.
Between the selling of extra items in our house and not spending in many categories we were able to save over $1,000 after our 2 month no spend challenge. You may find that this has created some great new mindsets and habits in your life that you will want to keep. Even if it didn’t it is still a great idea to do this challenge periodically throughout the year. The benefits are so vast and affect every area of our life. No thing will make you happy, it can only come from within you. But having extra in our bank than needed, sure puts a smile on our face too.