No-Spend Month

A month of no spending sounds extremely difficult and confusing, but it’s not as bad as you think.

Were kicking this off in efforts to get closer to some of our 2020 goals. Specifically, paying off as much debt as possible and redoing our master bath. I am a mindless spender. I have set a budget for myself every month and have an automatic deposit go straight into a bill account every two weeks. This basically lets me know exactly how much money I have left over and I BLOW IT.

Obviously, that needs to stop & why would I do it any other way then the extreme way? I have done this one other time and it’s an eye opener to how often I just whip my debit card out.

Honestly, you can make your no-spend month whatever you want it to be. But, I find it best to get Jose involved, let everyone know including friends so they aren’t upset when you decline brunch invites & set strict guidelines with a goal in mind. There will be no spending or shopping for frivolous things for all of January.

NO-SPEND MONTH:

Basic rules: The ONLY things you will be spending money on will be the necessities. Groceries, gas, your bills.

• SET GOALS: What is your purpose of doing a month of no spending? What are you going to do with all of the money you save? For me, I’m doing this to get to a bigger goal in my life and to stop recklessly spending. When I’m done I have to have at LEAST an extra $500-$700 to pay towards my debt.
• SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS: Bring your boyfriend, your friends and family in on this. They will have to support you so you don’t fall off. Also, meal planning will be major. For the first week of no-spend January we have gone to the grocery with a dinner meal plan in mind. They will also help to make sure we have food in the house so we aren’t thinking of going out to eat.
• CANCEL THE FLUFF: This is where I get a little extreme. I canceled Amazon Prime & I’m considering canceling my Apple Music. That’s $25 right there. Every dollar counts.
• NO STARBUCKS
• NO GOING OUT TO DINNER
• NO NAILS
• FIND A F*CKING HOBBY: You know, to keep your mind off of shopping 🙂 One that doesn’t cost money of course.
• USE COUPONS: Your grocery store probably has an app that allows you to clip digital coupons. I’d never ask you to get a newspaper, because that’s rough.
• USE CASH BACK APPS: I personally use Ibotta & Fetch. They each allow you cash back for purchase on your groceries.