Finance/ Money Management/ Budgeting/ Investing

Ready for a No-Spend Month? 3 Ways to Get Ahead

Are you ready for a no-spend month? Are you one of the many who always seems to be pushing it back? You may be nervous, but that’s normal. When you ease into it, it will be easy and your future self will thank you. Check out a few ways to thrive in your no-spend month.

1. Reframe Your Mindset

When you think about a no-spend month, what’s on your mind? Frugal living? Restriction? Or even deprivation?
If you think about any of those, you aren’t alone. But will that help?
What if you see it as a chance for your financial situation to take a leap?

Our minds can do amazing things. But whether it is here to stop you or help you, that’s to be determined.
Luckily, you are the one making the decision here.

Maybe you aren’t devoting your life to frugal living, you chose to spend your money wisely, which in this month, it means not spending.
Maybe those aren’t restrictions, those are guidelines for you to live a more fulfilling life.
Maybe you aren’t deprived, you are the one deciding that you don’t need to have those items.
PS. Do you know that fasting can have health benefits? Sometimes, no food can be good for you just like having food does.

Take out your expenses in the last few months and look at how much you can save from your no-spend month and write down what you will do with the money.
Are you paying off debt?
Are you saving for a down payment for your future dream house?
Are you saving for your kid’s college fund?
Give the money you will have saved a purpose and keep reminding yourself of that.

2. You don’t need a predetermined start date

A day is a day, Jan 1 is no different from Jan 2 and no different from Feb 15. We are the ones giving meaning to a date. Therefore, if you want to do a no-spend month, maybe you should just start.

You are still going to get essential items in a no-spend month, therefore it should be obvious that there shouldn’t be items you need to get before the month begins.

If you are someone that tends to push off a challenge like this, this may be the key for you to finally start. Why wait when you can start today?

3. Warm-up

Maybe a no-spend month sounds daunting. Maybe you have tried to start but ended up pushing it back.
A no-spend month can feel like a marathon if you have never even run a mile. Why not start small and ease into it, as you will with any other sport?

A week before your month starts, start ramping down your spending. By the time the month starts, you will be getting started with positive momentum. And if you encounter any problems in the trial week, you still have time to fix them before heading into the main show.

4. Dangle a Carrot

When you come out of the challenge, you are going to have a good sum of money. Maybe you can schedule a reward for yourself.

If, for you, being able to achieve your goal faster is a reward big enough, then feel free to skip this and keep going. If you want ice cream after finishing the challenge, you should let yourself have it.

At the end of the day, we aren’t saving money and investing just to stare at numbers. Money is a way for us to solve our problems and a tool for us to achieve our dreams, but it shouldn’t be your ultimate goal.

If you want a reward, let yourself have it. But remember to keep it small. You didn’t go through the challenge just to spend all of your savings in a day, right?