This post is all about my January No Spend Challenge. I’m sharing a recap of the challenge, why I decided to do a no spend month, the rules I set for myself, how I set myself up for success, the challenges I faced and what I plan to do going forward!
If you follow me on Instagram, then you may have seen that I decided to do a no spend challenge for the month of January. I had seen a few others do this challenge and I wanted to try it for myself!
What Is a No Spend Challenge
For those of you wondering what a no spend challenge is, it’s simply a set period of time in which you choose not to spend any money other than your regular bills such as rent, utilities, groceries, etc. It’s a great way to save some money, reset your bank account from the holidays, and/or pay down any debts that you have!
I have an entire blog post outlining how to successfully complete a no spend challenge here with resources, tips and free things to do during the challenge!
Why I Chose to Do a No Spend Challenge
This year, one of my biggest goals is to pay down my student loan debt. I want to really buckle down and work hard to pay off as much debt as possible. Last year, I set a goal for myself that by the age of 25 I would have my student loans completely paid off. Now, my goal is to pay off my student loans AND car loan by the time I turn 25 (May of 2021)! Ambitious, I know but I am determined to do it!
To keep myself on track, I’ve decided to complete three no spend challenges during the year and I’m starting with January. January is a relatively easy month to start with because Christmas is over, so I really shouldn’t be spending money on clothes or “fun” purchases. It’s also always cold and snowy here so we spend most of our days inside. So overall, doing a no-spend challenge in January seemed like a smart choice!
Let’s get into some of the rules I set for myself!
What I Can Spend Money On
- Apartment Rent and monthly parking
- Utilities
- Wifi/Internet
- Car Insurance and license plate renewal (I have to renew both this month)
- Groceries (only what I actually need, no extra snacks or sweets)
- Student Loans
- Car Loan
- Phone bill
- Gas
During my no spend month, I only allowed myself to spend money on necessities. That was it! Only items that I absolutely needed.
January also happens to be the month I have to renew my license plate and pay my car insurance (I pay for 6 months in advance). These were expenses that I don’t normally have, but I had to pay for as well.
What I Can’t Spend Money On
- Clothes/Accessories
- Home Decor
- Uber
- Eating out
- Entertainment/Activities
- Snacks at work
Really anything that isn’t a necessity! I wasn’t expecting this challenge to be overly difficult because I don’t spend a lot of money to begin with. We don’t order food delivery, we don’t go through drive throughs a lot, we don’t drink coffee in the morning, and we rarely Uber.
Where I thought I might struggle was not being able to buy any new home decor or clothes! However, since Christmas was only a few weeks before, I didn’t think this would be too difficult for me.
Setting Myself Up for Success
I wanted to share a few things that I did to help set myself up for success, so that I’d be more likely to follow through and stick with the challenge for the whole month!
- Deleted all the shopping apps on my phone
- Unsubscribed from all retail store emails
- Didn’t go to the mall or a store just to shop/browse
- Tried to go to Pick ‘N Save over Target to buy groceries
- Packed cold lunches every night before work
- Talked about the no spend challenge to my friends/family/coworkers
- Re-organized my closet so I could see all the clothes I owned
- Shared about the challenge on social media to hold myself accountable
Together, all of these really helped me stick to the no spend challenge for the entire month of January.
One of the best things I did to stick to successfully complete the challenge was deleting all of the retail apps on my phone and unsubscribing from store emails. By doing that, and also not browsing on a retailers’ website, I wasn’t aware of any sales going on. So, I wasn’t tempted to purchase anything!
I’m also glad I told all my friends that I was doing a no spend month. They helped me stay on track and find activities to do that didn’t involve spending money!
If you’re looking for budget friendly things to do, check out this post on 35 Fun Things You Can Do at Home for FREE! This way, if you want to try a no spend challenge or are just looking for affordable activities, you’ll have some awesome ideas!
What I Spent Money on this Month
- Car loan
- Student loans
- Cell phone service and phone
- Rent and parking
- Groceries
- Utilities
- Spectrum Internet/Streaming
- Urgent Care
- Car Insurance
- License Plate renewal
- Doctor’s Appointment
- Prescription
So, I did it! I successfully completed the no spend challenge for the entire month of January! And although, it felt like an extremely long month, I am so proud that I did it!
My expenses were actually a lot higher than usual because I had to pay for my car insurance and license plate renewal. However, I knew about these expenses ahead of time. What I didn’t take into account was the doctor’s appointments and prescription that I needed. All of these together totaled $609. Which is $609 that I normally would’ve been able to save or put towards my loans.
Knowing I’d have significantly higher fixed expenses for the month, was another reason why I chose to do the no spend challenge in January. I wanted to still make a large dent on my loans, even with all my expenses.
Looking for a way to track all your finances, monthly bills, expenses, income and debt all in one place? Download my free budgeting template here! This budgeting sheet has helped me pay off over $38,000 worth of debt in the last two years!
Thankfully, because I cut back on all unnecessary spending, I was still able to put $1,000 towards my student loans and $430 towards my car loan. This is something I plan on continuing to do going forward so I can pay off my debt as quickly as possible! This means I will definitely have to continue being conscious about the amount of money I’m spending on clothes, home decor and extracurricular activities. But, since paying off my debt is so important to me, I am willing to do that!
Hardships During the No Spend Challenge
The two biggest challenges I faced this month were not being able to eat out and not being able to buy new clothes. There were days where all I craved was Culver’s ice cream or some truffle fries (those are my favorite)! But, I was able to curb those cravings through other food that I had in our apartment. I also kept reminding myself that the challenge is only temporary and won’t last forever. I just had to make it through the 30 days!
Not buying snacks at work was also pretty hard. I always pack a cold lunch for the office, but sometimes I’ll buy a snack from the cafeteria too. During this challenge, though, I didn’t let myself buy any food at work. That was so hard! It would hit 2pm and all I wanted was a chocolate chip cookie from the cafe. To help that, I started packing myself a little more in my lunch so that I wouldn’t feel the urge to go buy more food.
Another challenge I faced was hearing about sales that going on and not being able to buy anything. Even though I deleted the shopping apps and emails off my phone, I still saw deals through Instagram or through my mom. The one thing that I did that really helped me through this, was not allowing myself to look on the store’s website. So, even if I heard about a sale, I didn’t let myself scroll through the clothes online or go to the mall and browse.
What I Learned from doing a No Spend Challenge
Now I want to talk a little bit about what I actually learned from this challenge, because it definitely taught me a lot more than how to not spend my money!
1. How to Wait
One of the biggest lessons this challenge taught me is how to be patient and wait for things. In the world we live in now, we are so used to getting what we want in an instant. We can order basically anything off the internet and have it shipped directly to us within a day, we can have food delivered right to our door, we can book a plane ticket and go on a trip in an instant, and if something is broken we can call a repair company to come out and fix it. We rarely have to wait for things. But when we do, it’s so incredibly hard to be patient.
This is kind of how I felt during the no-spend challenge. I had to wait to buy any new clothes, eat out, or go do any activities that require money. This was so tough for me! But as hard as it was, I knew it was temporary. Knowing this really helped!
2. Material things don’t bring long-term happiness
Another thing I learned during this month was that buying new clothes and other material items doesn’t make me happy. I mean, yes, in the moment it does! And it feels good to buy new things, but it doesn’t make me any happier as a person long-term. So going forward, when I feel the pressure to by something new and trendy, or another material object that I don’t need, I’m going to remind myself of this before I make the purchase.
3. How to Say No
The last lesson I learned was just how to say no! During this challenge, I was asked “Do you want to do this? Do you want to eat here?” And I had to straight up say no I can’t and explain why I couldn’t. I want to get better at just saying no to things that I actually don’t want to do, instead of saying yes just because I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.
My Plan Going Forward
Going forward, I plan to continue being money conscious. I don’t plan on going out to dinner every weekend or scheduling more activities just to make up for last month. I’m going to remain conscious about where I’m spending my money, but I don’t want to be too strict either. I still want to have fun and buy things when I want to. Just not as much!
I also am planning to do another 30 day challenge for fun! Right now, I’m thinking of doing a 30 day zero waste challenge, but I need to do some research. I plan on sharing the challenge on the blog, so if you have any ideas on what I could do let me know!
Biggest Tip for Completing the Challenge
Here is my best piece of advice for completing a no-spend challenge – Know your WHY. Ask yourself why you’re doing the challenge and what the purpose is. Is it to pay off your debt? Give your bank account a break from the holidays? Or save some money from that vacation you just went on? Do you want to save more money for a house?
Whatever it is, make sure you know your why. Having a goal will keep you on track and motivate you to follow through with it!
If you have other questions about completing a no spend challenge or want more tips, leave me a comment below!
Other Posts you May Like:
15 MONEY SAVING HACKS YOU NEED TO KNOW
MONEY SAVING AND SPENDING TIPS TO LIVE BY
PAY BACK YOUR STUDENT LOANS FASTER WITH THESE 8 TIPS
This post shared a recap of my January No Spend Challenge!
