Tips for a Successful No Spend Challenge
Do you need a money reset after the holidays? Would you like to save a few hundred dollars next month? If you do, incorporating a no spend challenge will help you save extra money and reset your spending habits!
This is a popular time of year when people start ‘No Spend January’ or ‘No Spend 2025,’ but the great thing about a no spend challenge is that you are in charge of the rules and how long your challenge will last!
What is a No Spend Challenge?
A no spend challenge is where you spend money only on necessities for a designated amount of time. This is a great way to save money and reset any poor spending habits. This challenge has taken off on social media as many people are going all in on the under-consumption trend and I’m here for it!
You can choose to participate in a no spend day, week, month, several months (i.e. quarterly), or a year-long spending freeze. Again, the great thing about this is that you set the rules and decide how long your challenge will last. If you have never completed a no spend challenge, then maybe a weekend or week would be a great start!
4 Tips for a Successful No Spend Challenge
1. Be Prepared
In order to be successful during a no spend challenge, you need to be prepared and know when exactly you are going to start your challenge. For example, if you are going to participate in a month-long spending freeze, prepare 1-2 weeks before the new month.
Set up a budget – If you have never created a budget before, sit down and write down your income and all of your fixed expenses. Then figure how much you have left over for variable expenses such as groceries, utilities, gas, etc.
You can look at my previous post here about creating a bare bones budget. This will be a great budget to have for a no spend challenge.
Look at your time period of the challenge. Are there any events, birthdays, etc. that you will need to purchase something for? If so, that’s okay! Make sure to include this in your budget so there won’t be any surprises!
2. Determine Your Necessities
This goes a step further after you have a budget created. You need to decide what variable expenses you are going to spend your money on and how much. You will want to spend money on groceries, gas, utilities, etc. but determine a dollar amount that you will spend for the month. I suggest looking back at your previous 3 months bank statements and adding up what you spent on these categories and taking an average, so you can come up with a reasonable amount.
*Tip: this is a great place to really look at your grocery budget. This budget category is the easiest one to trim down. I have started monthly meal planning, and it has saved us hundreds of dollars each month. Try to plan all of your meals in advance and do grocery pickup or delivery and see if you can’t cut $100 off of your usual grocery spending for the month.
Also, you need to determine if you’re going to have ‘fun’ money. Everyone is different, but this is your no spend challenge, so make it your own!
Some people will only spend money on the absolute necessities, but if you are doing a multiple month or year-long challenge, I would recommend including some fun money into your budget. Try to keep this amount minimal, say $15 per week or $50 per month, but this will help keep you going and keep you motivated!
3. Keep Track
Every morning, take 10-15 minutes and track all of your expenses from the day before and compare it to your written budget. There are many different options including pen and paper, spreadsheets, or an app. Personally, I think pen and paper, or a spreadsheet is best because you really look at your spending and see where your money is going.
This step is crucial for you to have a successful no spend challenge, because if you are not keeping track of where your money is going, how do you know where you are in your challenge?
I think this step also creates a great habit of looking at your spending everyday and will make you more aware of where your money is going. You will also be able to see each day whether you are over or under budget for the month.
4. Have Fun!
This challenge is not meant to be boring and depressing! This is a great way to save some extra money and accomplish your financial goals!
Create a vision board with some images of things that you are wanting to save money for and/or are trying to pay off. Keep it in a place where you can look at it everyday and remember your why!
Also, if you have a few impulse purchases, don’t beat yourself up over it! Keep going! You will still be better off if you continue and complete your challenge as opposed to giving up and spending even more money that was unplanned.
If you need extra motivation, look up some accounts on social media that are participating in a no spend challenge. There are plenty of people participating in these and sharing their own journey and it is so motivating to see!
Tips for a No Spend Challege – Summary
This is not an exhaustive list of tips, there are many others, but I believe these are the top 4 to help you be successful! Again, be prepared, determine your necessities, keep track and have fun! This will be a great experience if you allow it to be. I have learned on my debt free journey that I do not need more ‘stuff’ and I am much happier when I am not scrolling social media seeing what everyone else has.
I hope these tips will help you be successful for your own no spend challenge! My family has some big financial goals to reach, and this will help us get there!
If you have any other tips that have helped you be successful during a no spend challenge, let me know in the comments below!