No, Spend Month
July is one of my favorite months! It’s my birthday month!!! Yay!!! Also the fourth of July has a special place in my heart. ❤ My husband Ryan and I first started dating on the 4th back in 2003! =)
This July we have decided to do a no spend month!
Ryan and I have put this no spend month challenge on ourselves!! This challenge is going to help us get a little closer to our goal of FI! {Financially Independent!}
Read more about our FIRE journey here.
Ryan and I have been very aware of our spending these last few months but the temptation to fall back into a spending mindset is real. Commercialism is EVERYWHERE!!
So to help us stay on track we are challenging ourselves to a no spending month.
What is No Spending Month?
Simply put, a no spend month is where you don’t spend unnecessary money, and stop impulse purchases throughout the month. This helps you become aware of and stop, your unnecessary spending. ??
When you’re getting started on your journey to financial freedom, no spend month are more about becoming aware of how much you spend, and how often you make impulse purchases. Speaking from experience, it’s amazing how much money gets spent on unnecessary items.
What Are The No Spend Month Goals?
Our goal for this month of no spending is to simply stop the unnecessary shopping, including grocery shopping. Okay, you might be thinking groceries! YES!! In general society, our family included way overspends on groceries each month.
A recently published study funded by the United States Department of Agriculture found that American consumers waste about one pound of food per day or 225-290 pounds per year. This means that roughly 20% of all food put on the plates of Americans is trashed every year, or enough to feed 2 billion extra people annually.
This study makes me so sad we are jut wasting our resources! We try to utilize any old food we can by either giving it to our chickens or putting it into our compast to later put back into our garden.
The rules for our No Spending Month
- NO Grocery Shopping
- NO Gift Buying
- No Restaurants {Minus maybe on my Birthday} we have taken out cash for this already.
- No Online Shopping
- This includes dare I say it my doTERRA monthly order ?
What we can buy this month
- Paying our bills
- Gas for my car
- Medical Emergencies
- Rental Property/Business doesn’t count in this challenge.
How we prepped for this no spend month
We sat down Friday and made a meal plan and list of items we needed. We also took inventory of all the food we already had and basically purchased the basics and items we didn’t have in our 3 freezers and fridge. In all seriousness, we could totally survive on all the food we have in our freezers without shopping for this month.
Friday night we sat down and started adding items to our Wal-Mart Grocery App. Click here to get $10 off your first order! =) We didn’t submit the order or schedule a pick up yet. We wanted to think about what we had picked just in case we changed our minds or needed to add anything. Plus Saturday morning we left super early to go camping so we knew we didn’t want to get the groceries late Friday night.
Sunday was the last day of June so it was our last opportunity to purchase any food or must have items before today July 1st!
We got home from camping recruited the kids to help unpack the truck and camper. Ryan and I headed off to Costco!
Costco had several items that we couldn’t get at Wal-Mart. I kept my Wal-Mart app open to price compare any items we had on the list… There were several things like coffee, cheese, butter…. that was cheaper at Costco. As we shopped I took items off at the Wal-Mart List. Once we were done shopping we sat down in the Costco dining area and finalized our Wal-Mart shopping list. We scheduled to pick up the order later that afternoon. I totally recommend the pickup or if it’s worth it to you have them deliver it to your house for $7.95! But we decided to just pick it up this time. By not going into the store we know we saved a lot of money because you always find other stuff you “NEED”…
We picked up our groceries and headed home.
There was only 1 item they didn’t have so I got a credit back from that. SO I jumped on Amazon and ordered the item plus some netting for my chicken coop. Then we concluded our shopping for June.
Would you like me to keep you updated on our no spend month?
Have you ever completed a no spend month? I would love to hear your stories. Leave me a comment below!
Hi!! I’m Kristin McConnell, I am so glad you are here! I am a wife to my amazing husband and a Mom of two fabulous kids. I love gardening, raising chickens, bee keeping and baking sourdough bread!
Kristin McConnell
Hi!! I'm Kristin McConnell, I am so glad you are here! I am a wife to my amazing husband and a Mom of two fabulous kids. I love gardening, raising chickens, bee keeping and baking sourdough bread!
24 Comments
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Rhonda
What a marvelous idea. I will check back to see how it goes I think with planning this could be a great way to get my over spending in check
Kristin McConnell
Thank you! =)
Cara | Zenspired Lifestyle
I’m gonna try this. I really need to get my debt paid off and focus on making money vs spending! It’s gonna be a big challenge!
Kristin McConnell
Yay!! Good luck!! Let me know how it goes!!
Krizzia Scollon
Omg this challenge is something I don’t know I can do but it’s definitely something I would like to try as I spend too much lol
Kristin McConnell
Krizzia! You should totally try it! It’s really not as hard as it seems! =)
Sam @ The Haunted Housewife
I’ve been wanting to do a no spend month too! Mostly for my husband to learn how impulsive he is lol
Kristin McConnell
LOL that’s too funny! Yes, you should totally do it!!! =)
Tiffany La Forge-Grau
You started dating on the 4th of July?!?!? That is so cute and quite a magical little anniversary!
Kristin McConnell
Thanks! =)
janna
good for you! very ambitious – don’t think I could stick to it but I try my best to eat at home as much as possible. I also hike/cycle play tennis so I can work out for free. every little bit counts!
Kristin McConnell
Absolutely, every little bit helps =) I bet you could do it!! Give it a try!
Geeky Daddy
No spend months are interesting ideas and I do see how it could put how much you spend on impulse buys (my biggest weak spot) in perspective. I do wonder how many people over spend the month prior (to stock up) and the month after (to replenish the shelves).
Kristin McConnell
That is a good point! It would be easy to overspend before or after! We tracked our spending before and we will track it afterward once this challenge is done. I will be doing a followup post about this! =)
Sj
Confession – I’ve never done a no spend month! I’ve thought about it, but just don’t know if I could do it for 30 days!!! I’ll be following to check your updates on how it’s going…good luck!
Kristin McConnell
You can totally do it! Its actually not as hard as it seems. You just have to be in the right mindset! =) Let me know if you give it a try!
Lina
I love this idea! I need to do a no-spend month to get me back on track. We do have 3 freezers and 2 fridges so we could literally live off the food we already.
Kristin McConnell
Thanks, Lina! Isn’t it amazing how we have so much food in our homes but yet we feel we “need” more!! Let me know if you do a no-spend month! =)
Rebecca @ Boss Single Mama
A no spending month is a great way to get your budget back on track. The most important thing is having a plan for the money you save. That can help you stay motivated to keep cutting back on spending. Great tips!
Kristin McConnell
Thank you Rebecca! Absolutely, a plan for the saved money is very important. We are maxing out all of our retirement accounts with an extra money we have! =)