I decided to do a no spend month for February. It’s my first time ever doing something like this! Basically, you challenge yourself not to spend anything extra aside from bills, groceries, or essentials. A lot of people allow themselves a weekly limit for extras that may come up.
On January 31, I loaded up my transit card, bought close a month’s worth of groceries, and I’ve set a weekly limit of $20/week. I know that’s very low, but the purpose is to challenge myself to stick with the budget and not eat out or buy things just for the sake of it (As a minimalist I’m not a huge spender, but I do have my weak days). So far I’m on the 7th day and I’ve only spent $17 so far this week so I have made my target for the first week!
The $20/week allowance allows me to grab a coffee or a little pastry if I happen to be out or to stock up on grocery extras like bread, potatoes, eggs, etc. throughout the month.
The real challenge will come on my next pay day since that’s the “big” pay cheque where I don’t pay rent. Instead of going shopping and eating out a bunch, I’ll put the extra money onto the credit card and a little into savings. I’m actually stoked about this challenge and it’ll help me get ahead.
I’ll likely be doing a no-spend month a few times this year. It helps you assess where your weak areas are with spending so you can be more conscious of it. I think it helps you focus on mindful spending and it can channel some extra money into savings or debt. I will post an update on how the rest of the month went! 🙂 Wish me the best please. ❤
Have you ever done a no-spend month before? How did it go?
Musings Of A Wildflower 
It’s good to try and budget, I never seem to get the hang of it though.
Yeah I’m hoping this will create some better spending patterns. I can relate though – budgeting doesn’t come naturally to me either.
I’d struggle so hard with this challenge…
hahahaha this is the first time I’ve ever done something like this – I love eating out and grabbing hot drinks while I’m out so it’s quite the challenge for me. I’m determined to make it work. XD
You got this!
Thank you, Lily-Anne 🙂
This is a good idea, I might do it sometime. Not this month though… I would have already failed 😀
Yes I’m excited to do this every other month or so. Just to keep me on track. The faster I pay off debt, the faster those payments will go to me again. XD
Damn right and money despite being common is hard to come by
I’ve never done a no spend but I have tracked to see how much I spend. I really don’t spend much money when it comes to frivolous items. Best of luck!
Yes I think there’s a few ways that help control spending. To be honest, I rarely buy anything frivalous, but I do eat out a fair bit and I don’t have a high income. This is to help me conquer always being broke.
Good luck! It’s a really good idea!
Thank you. 🙂 On day 9 now and holding strong. LOL
This gave me a good idea of what to expect! I have been wanting to do a no-spend month too but I keep wondering about the unexpected costs that might turn up (for instance, just today, I had to pay for my punctured tyre, which was so unexpected). This post gave me an idea of how to plan a no-expense month beforehand.