Six Figures Under

Personal Finance Made Public

  • About
    • Our Story of Paying Off Six Figures of Debt
    • We’re Debt Free!
    • Contact
    • Favorites
    • Guest Posting
  • FRUGAL LIVING
    • at HOME
    • FRUGAL FOOD
      • cooking from SCRATCH
      • growing & PRESERVING
      • Grocery Shoppping
      • Food Storage
      • other ways to SAVE on food
      • Quarantine Food Storage Challenge
    • with KIDS
    • SPENDING wisely
    • NO-SPEND month
    • Feats Flops & Funnies
    • ATTITUDE is everything
    • Holidays
  • FINANCES
    • Budgeting
    • Guide to Getting a Month Ahead Financially
    • Our Financial Situation
    • Personal Finance Made PUBLIC
    • Financial Safety Nets Series
  • DEBT
    • Smash Debt GUIDE
    • Getting STARTED
    • MOTIVATION
    • SPECIFIC Situations
    • Debt Smash-athon
    • Staying ON TRACK
    • OUR Repayment Updates
  • EARNING EXTRA
    • Start a BLOG
    • More on BLOGGING
    • Earning on ETSY Series
    • Earn Gift Cards with Swagbucks
    • AIRBNB Hosting
    • OTHER Ways to Earn Extra
  • Shop
You are here: Home / FRUGAL LIVING / How to Save with a No-Spend Month

How to Save with a No-Spend Month

January 30, 2019 by Stephanie 2 Comments

Having a successful no-spend month will save you hundreds of dollars (or more) that you can put toward paying off debt or saving for your next vacation! Here's how to do it!

Are you going strong in your financial goals?  Want to keep up the momentum?

Or maybe January was a struggle and you want to reset and start over.

Either way, a no-spend month could be great for you!

Let me tell you what’s involved.  It’s not as scary or as hard as it sounds.

Why would you want to have a No-Spend Month?

Most people probably don’t plan a no-spend month just for the heck of it (though that was kind of how our very first no-spend month started).

Having a good reason is an important part of planning a no-spend month.  Without a solid reason for restricting your spending, you might have a hard time keeping up the motivation to follow through.

Some great reasons for having a no-spend month are:

To build up your buffer so you can get a month ahead and start living on last month’s income

To put more money toward paying off debt or some other financial goal

To reset your spending habits, serving a function similar to a fast or a cleanse would serve for your eating habits.

To cover an upcoming expense like a trip or a home improvement

Decide now what you’ll do with the money you save during your no-spend month.  Get your whole family involved and motivated by your goal.

In fact, if you’re up for a fun challenge, you can join us for a no-spend month in February! We hopped on Facebook Live yesterday to officially invite you all to participate with us!  Keep reading (or watch the video below) to hear about how the “rules” work.  Then, at the end of this post, I’ll tell you exactly what our rules will be.

What are the rules for a No-Spend Month?

Before anyone asks if you can do this or that during a no-spend month, let me firmly lay down my strict rules:

Rule #1: Set your own rules.

Rule #2: Follow the rules you set.

Seriously.  You will get the most out of a no-spend month if you set your own rules instead of trying to do exactly what we do or following someone else’s guidelines.

And it kind of goes without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway), but you should, of course, continue to pay your bills.  Pay your mortgage and your utilities.  Pay your credit card and any other payments you owe.

Some Ideas of Rules for Your No-Spend Month

Here are some rule ideas to get you thinking.  Figure out what will work best for your family.  Be sure to do something that’s a challenge and a sacrifice, but don’t go to crazy extremes that will make you cave and give up completely.

Remember these are just ideas. Do what works for your own family!

–Cut your normal grocery budget in half.  Force yourself to get creative with what’s in the pantry and freezer.

–Set an amount each week to allow yourself to get some fresh produce or dairy.

–Cut your food budget out completely and eat from your pantry, freezer, and food storage.

–Cut out all eating out. Plan ahead and bring your lunch to work everyday and don’t let yourself get takeout at night.

–Cut out all entertainment spending.  If you have something already planned, you could set that as an exception at the beginning of the month.

–Cut out any all discretionary spending.  Wait until March to see if you really need whatever it is that is tempting you.

–Reduce fuel spending if you have another mode of transportation.

–Take a look through your own budget and see what else you could give up for a month.

As you’re thinking through the rules you want to implement, keep track of how much money you’ll save by not spending the money you would normally budget to these categories.  Having that chunk of money to put toward your goal will keep you motivated when things get hard.

Our No-Spend Month Rules for No-Spend February 2019

When we were paying off six figures of student loan debt, our all around spending was very low.  We didn’t have any budget for eating out or entertainment.  We spent very little on household miscellaneous.  Our kids weren’t in any paid activities.

Since we didn’t have much else to cut, we cut our grocery budget out completely along with any other household spending.

Now our spending, though still low by some standards, is much higher than it was back in our studen loan payoff days.  We have a lot more that we can cut now, which means we will be able to save more with our no-spend month than we have in the past.

Here are the “rules” we have set for ourselves.

A total of $100 grocery spending for the month.

I’m sure we could survive without doing any grocery shopping at all, but for my own sanity we will allow ourselves some wiggle room.  We have been out of cheese for the past week and, well, we love cheese.

No Clothing / Household / Fun

No clothing and no entertainment will be pretty easy I think, but no household miscellaneous will be hard.  Our household category was over $300 the last three months in 2018.  It will help to not go to the store, but I’m sure things will come up where we’ll be tempted to spend.  We’ll stay strong!

Exceptions

Our oldest son has a wrestling tournament in February where they charge admission for adult spectators.  We’re planning this as an exception to our no-spend month.

Want to join us for a No-Spend Month in February?

Come on, you know you want to!  February is a nice short month!  If you already have some spending planned, just add it into the rules as an exception.  There’s never going to be a month where it’s easy peasy to go without spending, so why not give it a try now?

In addition to my other blog content, I’m planning to have weekly no-spend month posts and videos up here each week.  If you’re on my email list, you can also watch your inbox for encouragement and ideas for your no-spend month adventure!

Are you in?

  • Have you ever done a no-spend month before?
  • What will be the hardest part of a no-spend month for you?

Filed Under: FRUGAL LIVING, NO-SPEND month

« Switching from YNAB 4 to the New YNAB– Plus a hack to make it better
Real Family Budget Update– January 2019 »

Comments

  1. Alex says

    April 8, 2019 at 8:42 am

    I call my no-spend month my ‘One-Month Clutter Challenge’, as I focus more on getting rid of stuff than saving money, but I’m happy to see we’re going in the same direction!

    Reply
    • Claire says

      December 20, 2019 at 7:22 am

      Great idea, sounds positive. Thanks

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Our Big Goal

Want to start a money making blog?  You don't need to be a tech wizard!  Here's the step-by-step photo tutorial!  You can do this!

Top Posts

  • 🥛 7 Smart Ways to Use Almost Expired Milk (Don't throw it out!)
    🥛 7 Smart Ways to Use Almost Expired Milk (Don't throw it out!)
  • Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent with Zote
    Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent with Zote
  • 🍅Homemade Tomato Sauce from Tomato Puree 🍅
    🍅Homemade Tomato Sauce from Tomato Puree 🍅
  • We're Doing Something Big and We Need Your Help
    We're Doing Something Big and We Need Your Help
  • Why I don't freeze soup (and what I do instead)
    Why I don't freeze soup (and what I do instead)
  • Why My First Blog Failed-- Don't Make These Mistakes
    Why My First Blog Failed-- Don't Make These Mistakes
  • My #1 Garage Sale Pet Peeve-- Don't Make This Mistake!
    My #1 Garage Sale Pet Peeve-- Don't Make This Mistake!
  • Easy Homemade Pie Crust in Bulk-- Frugal Festivities Day #12
    Easy Homemade Pie Crust in Bulk-- Frugal Festivities Day #12

Find it On AMAZON!

Now there is a simple and powerful way to track your blogging income and expenses to know exactly how profitable you are!

READER FAVORITES

Expert Tips to Save Money on Road Trips
How and Why to Live on Last Month's iIncome
Earning on Etsy Series
How to Set Up a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog

Copyright © 2013-2023 Six Figures Under

Privacy Policy · Copyright © 2023 ·Tasteful Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in