A no spend challenge is when you challenge yourself to not spend in certain categories for a certain period of time. You can do it for a week, a month or a year, and you can customize it to fit your needs and goals. Obviously, you will need to spend money on necessities, but even spending on things you consider necessities could be reduced during a no spend month. You might not be able to reduce your rent, but you could reduce your food spending by eating pantry items instead of grocery shopping.
The great thing about no spend challenges is that they are completely customizable. You decide the length of time and the rules for the challenge. Once you commit to those rules, you just have to check in daily and make sure you’re sticking to them!
Why would you want to do a no spend challenge?
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Maybe you’re trying to break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck, and save a small buffer this month. Or your income is limited and you’re trying to see how much you can stretch a dollar right now. Or you’re saving up for a purchase or big debt payment and you just need a little extra push. Or you want to interrupt your impulsive spending habits so you can become a mindful consumer.
Benefits of a no spend challenge
The biggest benefit is that you get a chance to reflect on the triggers that urge you to buy. When you just want a beer after a hard day of work, or a mid-day vending machine snack, or a pick-me up shopping trip to the mall, a no-spend month shines a light on what is causing these urges.
When you decide not to spend money to relieve or avoid difficult emotions like stress, boredom or sadness, you get a special opportunity to develop healthier coping mechanisms that don’t involve spending money.
Another benefit is that not spending money opens many opportunities to become more creative and resourceful. Instead of buying something new when an item breaks, learn how to repair it. I always get to practice my sewing skills during no-spend challenges.
If you need to give a gift, you have an opportunity to create something unique and handmade. When you find yourself in need of a very specific item, you can get resourceful and reach out to your family and neighbors to see if you can borrow one. Buy nothing groups on facebook are also great for this.
No spend challenge can help you be more eco-friendly too! Borrowing instead of buying things we won’t use much is better for the environment and your wallet. So is fixing things instead of replacing them!
During a no spend challenge, you can also seek out money you were wasting, and stop the flow! You could save hundreds looking through your bills and canceling subscriptions you don’t even use.
I like to think of no-spend challenges as pattern interrupts. Often we get into patterns of living and buying that become so second nature that we don’t even question them anymore. By putting the brakes on and interrupting our normal spending patterns, we get an amazing opportunity to reflect and find out places that we were spending money that don’t align with our goals, and stop spending that money!
How do you do a no spend challenge?
There are five simple steps to successfully completing a no-spend challenge. The reason you’re challenging yourself, by the way, is because gamifying something makes it more fun and more likely that you’ll stick to it.
Step 1: Commit to the challenge
Know your why
First, you want to know why you’re doing the no-spend challenge. Do you have a particular spending habit you want to break? Are you trying to figure out how you manage to spend you whole paycheck every month? Or do you need to save money for something important? Define your “why” so you can keep it in mind if the challenge ever gets tough.
Get your spouse or family on board
Next, you’ll want to get your spouse or family on board. If you’re doing the challenge on your own, just let them know what you’re doing and why, so they can support you. If you want to do it as a group, it helps to agree on the why and decide on some benefits together, so everyone is on board. Then, go through the rest of the planning process with your spouse or family so they have input on the rules.
Step 2: Set your timeframe
Decide how long the challenge will be. Remember the only real requirement is that your no spend challenge is, well, challenging.
No-Spend Day
No-spend days are a great way to test this out. You will need to plan ahead, and it will be a good opportunity to test run some rules for a longer challenge. Even one day of not spending will help you identify some unconscious spending habits.
No-Spend Weekend
No-spend weekends require more planning, and also have a bigger payoff. It’s often harder to not spend on the weekends than it is during the week so this adds an additional level of challenge.
No-Spend Week
No-spend weeks can go from Monday to Friday or Monday to Sunday. Be sure to use your weekend before the challenge week to prep everything you’ll need. Not spending for 5 to 7 days means you can possibly do the challenge with no exceptions. If you have your food and gas figured out the weekend before hand and no bills due that week, you could potentially spend absolutely nothing for 5 to 7 days.
No-Spend Month
No-spend months are something you can work up to or just dive right into. The first no-spend challenge I did was a month long, and while there was a learning curve for the first week, I was able to really get into the swing of not spending for the next 3 weeks. Doing a whole month of not spending gives you a lot of time to explore where your spending urges and triggers are, as well as unnecessary spending habits. Since it takes about 21 days to build or break a habit, a no spend month can be long enough to get rid of a bad spending habit.
No-Spend Year
You could even do a no-spend year. I mean it! People have blogged and written books about it. Obviously there are exceptions when you don’t spend for a year (like you still need to buy food), but challenges on this scale can be completely life changing. Two books on the topic are The Year of Less by Cait Flanders, and The No Spend Year by Michelle McGagh.
Step 3: Write the Rules
There’s two main ways to start writing your rules, by deciding what you can spend on or deciding what you can’t spend on.
Decide what you can spend on
The first way is to decide what spending is allowed, such as gas and groceries. These things are the exceptions to your no-spend challenge. Anything that’s not on this list of exceptions is not allowed. You can list out the categories that you’re allowed to spend in (and how much you plan to spend in them). You can also write out specific planned purchases. If something doesn’t make it on the list of pre-approved purchases, you’re gonna have to wait until the challenge is over to purchase it.
Decide what you can’t spend on
The other was is to exclude certain types of spending. Do you have certain items like eating out or shopping at Target that really seem to bust your wallet? Do you have daily or weekly spending habits that you’re not sure are in alignment with your goals? Maybe you want to challenge yourself to no impulse spending. Whatever it is that you explicitly want to stop spending money on, list these things out as the rules.
Step 4: Get prepared
Meal planning
A major part of most no-spend challenges is meal planning. To avoid going out to eat, or picking up convenience items, you’ll want to know what you’re planning to cook at home during the challenge. Then you’ll want to set aside the appropriate grocery budget, or purchase those items before the challenge starts. You might even want to do some meal prep as well.
Tell friends and family
You’ll also want to tell your friends and family that you’re doing a no-spend challenge, so they’re aware and won’t tempt you to spend money. Maybe they’ll even opt to support you by doing a potluck instead of a dinner out, or a free hangout instead of a paid activity.
Get necessities
It will also be important to get the necessities. These are things that you know you will need during the challenge. Maybe it’s food or pantry staples like flour, pasta, toilet paper, soap or dog food. By getting them before the challenge starts, you can avoid a tempting trip to the store during the challenge.
Remove temptations
You can remove temptations by unsubscribing from sales emails and even blocking your favorite online shopping portals using a browser extension. If you want to avoid commercials, consider recording your favorite shows on DVR so you can fast forward, only using a commercial free service like Netflix during the challenge, or turning off the TV altogether while you challenge yourself to save money!
Step 5: Learn about your spending habits
A no spend challenge is a wonderful opportunity to start understanding your spending habits. It can be really helpful to use a journal to keep track of when you feel the urge to spend during your no-spend challenge. Note where you are, what you want to buy, and your mood when the urge strikes.
If you’re able to use the no-spend challenge to stop spending money impulsively or out of habit, you can start to align your spending with your goals and values.
When you use a no-spend challenge to learn more about yourself and to break bad money habits, you can create a foundation to save even more money in the future.
Your turn:
Have you done a no-spend challenge before? Comment below if you have any tips for no spend challenges or saving money.
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