A friend told me the other day that he can’t go a week without spending money. At first I laughed because, well, it’s funny, but then I realized I used to be the same way. In fact, I couldn’t have gone an entire day without spending anything! So one day during the good ol’ Catholic season of Lent I decided to give it up – for an entire 40 days.
And when I say “gave it up” I mean I didn’t spend a dime on anything at all non-essential. I could pay the bills, and get groceries and what not, but that was it. No shopping online or trips to Best Buy. No treating myself to all-night benders or fancy restaurant dinners – nothing. Unless, of course, I conjured up ways to do so gratis 
Now you may me asking yourself what the point of all this is, and the answer is simple – to see if you could do it. As untemplaters we’re always trying to hack the rules and live on our own terms anyways, so why not take on another challenge? A challenge that will truly help you understand your spending habits and help grow your appreciation for the free things in life. It’s crazy, and you’re gonna get some shit for it when out with your friends, but whatever. If you could rock this you’ll be that much closer to financial freedom.
So with that, I, J. Money, challenge YOU Mr./Mrs. Untemplater to a 30 day “No Spend” challenge!
You can tweak the rules to better apply them to your specific situations if you’d like, but the concept remains the same – NO SPENDING on anything non-essential. Things like:
- clothes/accessories
- electronics
- lunches/dinners out
- online purchases (Amazon, Woot, Guilt)
- iPhone apps, lottery tickets, any other $1-$2 finds
- Craigslist adventures
And on and on. I’m sure there will be things you’ll say you can’t avoid, but again use your own judgement and do what you have to in order to give this a shot. It was by far the most INFLUENTIAL thing I ever did to get my finances back on track, and I promise you it could only help.
Budgeting & saving is sexy, but there are just some things you really can’t realize until you’re in the thick of it all. So don’t let any barriers hold you back friends – make it happen! At the very least, you come away with an extra lump of savings at the end of the month.
{ 22 comments }
Why would anyone want to do this? So stupid. Life is about getting the most out of it, having fun, friends, family… living! Sadly these days, this often means you need to put your hand in your pocket. Not spending a dime in 30 days means you will miss out on some good stuff…. and who really wants to miss out on good stuff?
*unless you take hand-outs from friends – but what good friend does that?
You can live a perfectly full life without spending money on unnecessary stuff. I’ve limited myself to 5 “unnecessary” purchases per month since November, and some months I don’t even make it to 5! It’s really all about your mindset. I’m actually *more* social and get out more often than I did when I used to buy things.
So you’re saying you can’t have fun w/out spending money? Interesting…This is def. not for everyone, just an idea for those who want to work on cutting back and getting a better game plan on lock. A month won’t kill ya.
I know what you mean, but there are ways to have fun without spending money. Part of the point here is to see if maybe the non-money options are actually more interesting than your normal routine.
Great advice here – I haven’t done this for 30 days straight – but even going a week at a time without spending is good practice, or eliminating spending during the week and limiting yourself to only weekends – all good practice to save a little cash. Although, as you said, easier said than done…
yup! all about getting into the habit of it….not easy, but do-able if you care enough to give it a shot
I do this once in a while as well. It helps me see that that shirt, book, game, I dont really need it. And it helps me to save a little more too of course!
I do this once a year. It’s the month of Samurai September. Good to save up, spend less before the BLITZ that is holiday season!
Best,
Sam
Haha…as long as you don’t forget about my birthday I’m all for it
I need to get back to doing my “no spend days.” I doubt I could go 30 days without it, but I really don’t need to either…. I would always shoot for 15 or so in a month.
Actually, I will be this summer when I have no income of my own to speak of.
Can’t spend what isn’t there! (My motivation to get jump-started on freelancing for sure.)
On a similar note, I make less than $1000 a month, and I find that I live just as full a life, if not a fuller one, than my boyfriend, who makes closer to $2500 a month. When you don’t have money, you don’t spend money, and you also become more creative in finding ways to enjoy yourself that don’t involve spending money.
yeah there you go!!! i mean, as kids and poor college students we still had fun doing whatever and hanging out, right?
@Kelsey – exactly! i mean, it’s okay to spend money and have fun doing whatever with it, but it’s not necessarily *needed* to have fun…all about the mentality.
This is interesting, because the majority of my non-essentials spending goes toward eating out. It’s the primary way I have to socialize with people. Dropping so much money on food is getting really old though, these days I keep trying to encourage my friends to let me cook for them, instead. We tend to have more fun that way, to be honest, and half the time it tastes better anyway. I definitely believe you can have fun for free.
Instead of buying tickets to see a movie, it’s cheaper to gather at somebody’s house and choose a film from someone’s collection. Instead of going to the mall, I like to go discount, warehouse, or bargain store hopping — but only if I’m actually looking for something I need. My boyfriend and I go buy groceries together and then cook a meal. I’ve been going swimming lately, which costs about $3, but now that the sun is coming back out, a walk is free exercise that lends to socialization quite easily. Instead of going to a chain bookstore, I prefer to go to the library and hang out there among the books, or to a used or discount bookstore. I’m trying to get set up with a chess set and some board games so that no matter who I end up socializing with, fun can be had that doesn’t cost a play ticket or the price of a dinner. I am a musician, and a jam session is one of the cheapest ways to have fun that I know of.
I love my friends, but I have very little income right now, and have to be original about having fun.
love board games! just played Settlers of Catan for the first time the other night w/ some PF bloggers – def. fun and def. free. Friends don’t really care if you have money or not, they just like hanging out.
I did this for half a year once—I got a streak going, but at some point I just “needed” something nonessential (if that even makes sense). However, I do 30 days on a regular basis without even thinking about it.
6 months is great man! No way I could pull that one off
I’m impressed.
When I switched to working part time, my income became so low that I pretty much had no way to buy anything other than necessities without using a credit card, and so I got really used to just…not buying anything. In fact, I got so used to this, that my debit card actually expired in November and I didn’t even realize it until mid-February! My boyfriend and I have a card that goes to a joint account that we only use for necessary expenses (groceries, rent, etc), and I realized that I had literally not bought anything of my own since November. I didn’t miss it.
I love this idea! My wife and I have spent a lot of time cleaning up our finances and will be in a much better financial position in about a month or so (finally!*?) To solidify our new habits, I love the idea of 30 days of no non-essential spending. Thanks J.
yeah dawg, you really can’t go wrong giving it a shot. really opens your eyes on where your money is going – even if you go back to it once the month is over
but at least then you’re consciously doing it!
As someone who just quit my 9-5 a month ago to start my own business, I love this challenge! I have been cutting back in many different areas, but I have decided to really stick to “no spending” for the next 30 days – I’ll let you know how it goes!
Congrats on starting your own biz!!! That is awesome, I really admire that in people…. still trying to grow the balls to do it myself
Def. let us know how the challenge goes! I bet you can do it for sure.