Getting Started with a No-Spend Challenge

Well, it’s February 1st. Today is the day our family is getting started with a no-spend challenge – our first one ever! If you are just new to this, be sure to check out my post about how to do a no spend challenge.

As a recap, we’re attempting to spend as little as possible for the entire month of February. We set 5 rules for our challenge, the most challenging of which is lowering our grocery budget to $60 for the whole month. Our goal is to save at least $500 by cutting our spending as much as possible. I would love to save even more than that but I think $500 is a very doable goal.

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Obviously, since this is our first time attempting a full out challenge like this, I don’t have a lot of insight to share…yet! I’ll be sure to update this when the challenge is complete.

However, I have been reading lots of people’s experiences with no spend months and this is what I’ve learned about starting a no-spend challenge.

The most important part of a no spend challenge is committing to it fully and seeing it through.

If you and your spouse are not in agreement, this isn’t going to work. If you are not determined to keep your spending as low as you possibly can, this won’t work. Like so many other things in life, I think we will get out of our challenges exactly what we put into them.

It’s also important to remember that your no spend challenge can (and honestly, probably should) look different from mine. It’s why I am excited to give this a try because this challenge can be customized to our family and our circumstances. Remember these three things.

  1. You set the length of your challenge.
  2. You set the rules of your challenge.
  3. You set the goals of your challenge.

In case you were wondering how we could survive a month without spending ANY money, we aren’t! That just isn’t possible in this day and age of grown-up life and bills. We’ll be paying all our non-negotiable bills as usual. Other than that, we’re focusing on needs instead of wants and attempting to live as frugally as possible this month. 

If you’ve done a no spend challenge before, I’d love to hear any of your advice! And if this is your first one, I wish you the best of luck! Be determined and work hard at living extra frugally! 

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5 Comments

  1. Oh yes! I sure did make a mistake!!! So sorry. Today is Thursday!!! You can tell my week has been horrible! I have heard that the emails from the Friday free item from Kroger will change to a smart phone. Have you heard anything about that…

    1. Ha. Quite alright, Kathy! No, I hadn’t heard that it was going away. I did see there was the option to receive texts to remind you of the Friday Freebie now, but that’s all I know. We’ll see what is free tomorrow – on Friday! 🙂

  2. Have you heard anything about the Kroger free item on Friday going away? I always get it sent to me by email, but nothing today.

  3. If you’re going to pick a month, February is probably the best as you have 2-3 less days to struggle with than any other month of the year. I know it’s ‘just a couple of days’ but I’m sure every day counts as far as making it to the finish line. Good luck.

    1. Ha. That’s exactly what I told my husband! 🙂 Thanks for the best wishes! We’ll see how it goes…

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