No-Spend Challenge: 1st Month Plan and a Book Review

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“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time is now.” – Chinese proverb

This quote sums up my feelings for where I am in life at the moment.  There are so many things I wish I had done years ago, but instead of putting them off any longer, I am doing them.  Today.  This applies to so many more things than just finances and money, but for the sake of this book review, we will focus on the No-Spend Challenge.

I had been considering doing another No-Spend challenge.  I did one last January after feeling so overwhelmed with Christmas.  In some ways it was successful, but in other ways, it was not.  I succeeded in my goal, but my mental mindset did not change.  After my month of not spending, I went right back to old habits.  I want to try again, but was lacking motivation.

I found this quote in a book I read the other day.  It is called The No-Spend Challenge.  I randomly found it on Kindle Unlimited and I am so glad I did!  It was the motivation I needed to step forward with my plans for a No-Spend Challenge. It was a great read, and I wanted to share some of my favourite points with you!

The No-Spend Challenge Guide: How to Stop Spending Money Impulsively, Pay off Debt Fast, & Make Your Finances Fit Your Dreams  By Jen Smith

The No-Spend Challenge Guide: Review

In this book, Jen Smith talks about how so many people view spending money as a hobby.  I never thought of it in those terms before, but once I read it I could not agree more.  It is how I have viewed money without realizing it.  Spending money is fun.  As a parent, I want to instil the value of money into the mindset of my children.  Spending money in this fashion is teaching them lessons about money that I don’t want them to learn.  I want them to see money as a tool to better their lives, not one that in itself brings value.  I want my children to value going camping and spending time with our family, instead of valuing going to the mall to spend their hard earned money.

In the chapter Stop Spending to Start Living, Jen Smith talks about shifting your mindset.  So many people want to be able to help others but, as Dave Ramsey says, broke people can’t help broke people.  We need to get ahold of our own lives, our own finances, our own ideas in order to do the things we really want to be able to do.  We need to build solid foundations so we can not only help ourselves but so we can also help others.

Jen Smith, in The No-Spend Challenge Guide, also talks about how budgeting alone will not bring on the changes we desire.  We have to work to develop our willpower and motivation into ingrained responses which our mind will begin to do naturally.  Doing this challenges will, over time, allow our mindset to shift from impulsive spending to conscious consumerism.

In order to prepare for this challenge, she recommends creating community.  Whether it is online through social media platforms like instagram (#nospend), or in person with friends and family.  Jen Smith recommends telling people that you are doing this challenge so they can add to your motivation and hold you accountable.  Your friends, whether online or in real life, can be your motivation and can hold you accountable.  They may even join your challenge!  She also reminds us that it is likely you will succeed, but it is also likely that you will fail in the process.  She talks us through moving past failure and allowing success to manifest itself into our lives.

Her final chapter is one of my favourite topics – minimalism and decluttering.  She makes a very valid point – if you declutter during a no spend challenge, you will be less likely to replace the things you just got rid of because you are not spending money!  It is so true!  How often have we decluttered something, only to go out and replace it with something comparable?  You need to break the habit, and doing a No-Spend Challenge in conjunction with a Decluttering Challenge, is an excellent way to do just that!

If you need motivation for decluttering, don’t forget to check out our Decluttering and Cleaning Challenge over on our youtube channel!

My No-Spend Challenge: The Plan

I really want to do a no-spend year.  I know it will be very challenging, but I am up for it. Or at least I think I am at the moment.

I am doing this in hopes of changing my mindset.  This past year I placed 80 orders with Amazon Prime.  That is a lot.  That did include a lot of homeschool items, like paints and markers, and Christmas presents, but it also included a lot of unneeded, spur of the moment, impulse buys.  It is those impulsive buys that I want to move away from.  I want to be a more conscious consumer.

This challenge is for me.  It is not for my family.  It is not for my husband.  It is not for my kids.  The No-Spend Challenge Guide focused a lot on doing it for financial reasons, like paying off debt, but that is not my motivation.  My motivation is to become a better version of myself – saving a bit of money won’t hurt though.

Of course, since I am a reasonable adult, I will still be spending money on necessities.  We still need to pay rent, pay bills, and get groceries.  What I don’t want to do is buy unneeded items.  But what classifies as a needed item verses and unneeded item?  Honestly, that is what I am trying to figure out.

Right now I live a pretty minimalistic lifestyle.  I am enjoying having less.  I have more because I have less.

My plan is to only buy things, for me, if I have to replace something.  My running shoes, for example, will need to be replaced at some point this spring.  They are being worn out.  Since I only have the one pair of running shoes, they will need to be replaced so I have something to wear on my feet while out hiking or playing soccer with the kids.  That is not a new purchase, it is not a frivolous purchase.  It is needed.  Perhaps one of my pairs of pants gets a large hole in the crotch. If I can mend them, I will.  If I cannot mend it, then maybe I need to get a new pair of pants.

I plan to allow myself one day a month, around the 1st of the month, to buy what I need.  If I can buy it second hand, that would be great, but if not then that is fine as well.  I plan on making a physical list of everything I think I need throughout the month and then when it does come time to purchase things, I can take an honest look at what is on that list.  Perhaps I can live without that extra pair of pants.  Giving myself the time to really ponder that decision and live without the item in question, will help decided what is truly needed or unneeded in my life.