Our family is planning to take an adventure for the month of February into the world of no spending. We have sat down as a family and discussed the benefits of doing this and what we hope to get out of this challenge.
What can be gained though from a no-spend month can prove to be of great value for families. When you are not able to spend, you suddenly see how plentiful your life already is. The richness of what is around you and how little you truly do need to be happy quickly comes into focus.
As a consumer, we become conditioned to spend so I imagine that first initial week will prove challenging. I know the rewards are great though for families who can overcome that hump and break the cycle of spending. A no-spend month does come with challenges, but it also comes with the gratification of knowing that you have let your bank account grow!
When we say no spending, we mean no spending outside of our normal daily living expenses. Some things will still need to be purchased in order to keep the lights lit, food on our table, and diapers on our baby. This is what we have set aside for the month:
Clark Family February Spending Plan:
$250 for the month for groceries (including diapers)
Normal utility payments
Gas for cars
We will be doing our best to not spend on anything else for the month and share our experience with you.
I really wanted to come up with a creative way that people could share about their No Spend Challenge that would be fun and also insightful into what people do when they aren’t out spending money. My brilliant idea was to document it by creating a Flickr group where people could pick up a No Spend Challenge any day, week, month, or year that they would like to document their adventure.
To join the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge group, you simply need to make a commitment towards not spending for a set amount of time. It could be a day, a week, a month, or even a year. Make that commitment to your family and share a picture of what you do each day when you are not spending money. Get your finances back on track and have fun documenting the creative ways you spend your time together.
Would you like to take a no-spend adventure with me? Just think of all of the free time you will have if you are not out shopping and spending for a month.
Here are a few ideas for how you could spend all of that free time!
- Get your finances back on track by trying out a free program like Mint.com and get in better touch with your past spending.
- Dust off those old board games and spend an evening playing them together.
- Watch free movies on Hulu.com or take out the DVD collection and watch your favorite movies again. If you are really craving a new release, sign up on Redbox.com to get a free movie code every Monday and use that to get your movie fix for the month.
- Break out that really old game system and relive those games again with your kids.
- Dig through your old cookbooks and try out recipes using some of the ingredients in your pantry.
- Play a game of Iron Chef with your spouse and let your children be the judge of the best dish by having your very own cooking contest. You might be surprised that even dad’s toasted Pop-Tart might be the judge’s favorite in this contest.
- Actually use the craft supplies that you have bought and start tackling some of your crafty ideas for the holidays.
- Find the floor in your laundry room.
- Look for free community activities that you could do as a family.
- Volunteer or find things in your home that you could donate to those less fortunate.
- Visit the library and actually read the books.
- Clip coupons and plan your grocery shopping in advance for next month.
- Take a wonderful and delicious nap.
- Learn a new skill set or check out books on self-improvement to help make your life better or easier.
- Get free museum passes from the library or check the local museum’s websites for information on their free admittance days. Don’t forget to pack a lunch!
- Have a potluck-style swap night with your friends and exchange three of your things for three of theirs.
- Read that pile of magazines or newspapers that never gets read.
- Exercise.
- Listen to free music on Last.fm and make a fun mix of songs you listened to when you were dating your spouse.
- Take a bubble bath.
- Play on the floor with your children.
- Organize your closet and take inventory of your wardrobe.
- Put batteries in the children’s toys to make them “new” again.
- Tackle a home improvement project that you bought supplies for, but still haven’t finished.
However you decide to spend your no-spend day, weekend, week, month, or year, I hope that it brings into focus how great it can truly be to not spend and that it gives you the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with those around you.
The group will always be open so if February is not a month you can commit to, feel free to commit at any time.
Next week (starting on 1/29), we will be sharing on The MotherLoot an adventure that we got to take with Mercedes. The company is coming out with a more budget-friendly car and we will be giving away $50 Visa Gift Cards for each day that the campaign will run. In total, $250 of gift cards will be given away and I hope I can give these to a no-spend participant to give you a night out on us! I will be sure to let you guys know when these posts start running so you can enter to win!
Would you like to join a no-spend challenge with me? How long will you be committing to? (Feel free to grab our banner and share about your adventure on your own blogs!)
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53 Responses to “The MomAdvice No Spend Challenge”
I so need this after the month of January, let me tell you. It has been riddled with excess spending (so unlike us), kids’ activities, an ill grandparent and now the stomach flu. We are feeling very out of touch with each other and our finances. I am in and will be blogging about it!
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In late December our family had talked about having a no spend month in February. Guess I better get on the ball and have another discussion with them if we’re going to do this. Can’t believe February is only days away at this point.
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I was planning on doing this as well, but decided to wait until my hubby’s job is done at the end of Feb and we will literally go into no spend mode for a few months.
Great way to eat down the pantry or stock pile if you do that….we could live off our pantry for a long time. Might not be fun, but we could.
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Amy, I think this is a great idea – but my problem is my husband! While he's not out blowing lots of money, he does buy his breakfast out when he works & I am unsure of how to get him to give that up.
Maybe I'll just take the challenge for myself!
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Christi- Oh, I bet that is hard. You could certainly do the challenge on your own and inspire your hubby a little bit. Let me know if you want to join in, I think this will be a lot of fun AND challenging too
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we are currently having a “spend as little as possible” month. it feels good after the excess of december. of course we have had unexpected expenses — new car battery, repair to our furnace — but overall it hasn’t been that hard to just say no to spending. i’m hoping that we’ll continue the habit of really considering every expense for the rest of the year.
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Amy, great idea! We will be doing our cash-only diet version of this in a month or so. It did feel so good the few times we did it last year – and I was amazed at how much more we had left!
But, I had to laugh when you put to *actually* use the craft supplies. Did you look in my closet? I was just thinking this the other day!
Good luck!!
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I love this idea Amy! After the holidays and my going to the chiropractor we desparately need to get back on track. This month I vowed NOT to eat out for lunch. I go into my office four days a week and it is so tempting to “treat” myself but it adds up. So far I’ve only gone out once and that was with my boss so I “had” to.
We’re going on vacation in March and although we have a free place to stay I know we are going to need to save up for gas and for food/eating out while we vacation.
Love this challenge!
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Great idea! We’ve sort of been doing this for January so I don’t think I’ll participate for February. Plus, I would like to exchange gifts for Valentine’s Day, even if they are small. It has made us mindful of our spending. Our “splurges” this month have been a humidifier filter and new tire for our son’s bike. Pretty exciting stuff.
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I love the idea of a no spending month and I look forward to joining you in the challenge!
What a great idea.
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I am in. We have to go to my son’s basketball tournament, which is a weekend away, but I suppose we could do it before and after, right?
I think this is an awesome idea, Amy. I’m participating in Financial Peace University right now anyway, so this is a good incentive to help with that as well.
Thanks for the idea.
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That is a great way to save money-and be friendly to the environment! I am just uber impressed that you can get all your family’s needs met for $250 or less!
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Stephanie- Definitely, you can pick it up whenever or wherever you are at in your life. We have been talking about doing this for months, but we have many birthdays in January & the holidays in December. There isn't much going on in February so that was a good month for us to do it.
Willo- Thank you SO much! I do work very hard to stay within our budget. The $50 is a buffer for us with the grocery prices having risen so much. I think this is really going to be a good month for us!
Thank you, everyone, for your excitement- I really appreciate your enthusiasm and can't wait to share our month with you!!
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This could be GREAT!!!!!!! We had a VERY lean month in December (my hubby is self employed in construction) so January- February I am building back up my pantry. However, we could do a “no spending” except on groceries month! I NEED to have a STOCKED pantry… it is a cushion for slow months…. We are NOT big spenders anyway, but even little things add up… like the $14 I spent at goodwill today.
HEather
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I’m in. I will be posting about this on Feb 1st on my blog!
Nicole
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I love your idea of a No Spend Month. And, I love your site. I am not a mom, but I get so many great tips and recipes. Thank you, Amy!
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I’ve done this before. Not by choice.
I was extremely poor. You’d be surprised how little you really need.
I imagine it is pretty difficult if you have the cash though. I wish you all the best.
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I’m definitely intrigued, but given that February is the monster’s birthday, I think I’ll have to pass. I’ll be watching with interest and taking notes for March!
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I am in! This will help me stay on track for my no discretionary spending resolution for 2009.
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Wow, JOHN ANDREWS is participating in a no-spend challenge. If you guys don’t know him he is quite a head honcho at Walmart! I am so honored!
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Oooh, this is tempting! I live in NYC, so it’s so hard not to spend money just walking down the street! I can’t imagine going for a whole month. Will there be moral support? It’s such a great idea, though! talk me into it!!
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Kristi- There will be TONS of moral support and you can take pictures and discuss through Flickr too. I will be documenting it all-vlogging, pictures, writing. Even if you want to set a smaller goal for a week, that would be a great challenge. It is whenever and whatever you feel comfortable with, but you can see my journey through the month of February!
I am getting so excited about this!
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Great idea! Not sure if Feb is the month for me with Blissdom though
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Actually I am not a big spender in general. I can go for a week or two and only purchase groceries. I don’t even use that much gas!
Toni
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I love this idea! I’ll be linking to it/blogging about it sometime this week! I think we’ll be fully apart of it too! Thanks for hosting!
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This sounds like a great idea, but I wonder if I could do it. LOL I think I would have a mutany on my hands if we didn’t get food from out after church. It’s a family tradition. Although, it’s amazing how much more it is when we go to a restaurant versus when we pick up some take out (not just fast food) and eat at home instead. I think we’re more likely to not get any sodas/juice then, and we’re more likely to share food.
Hmmm…I’ll have to think more on this.
Angie
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This is my favorite blog about spending less or nothing for a month:
http://30daysofnothing.blogspot.com/
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I did this with you last time and I am going to try to do it again this time. I am uber worried though because fruits and vegetables have sky rocketed in price and we eat tons of them because of diet restrictions. I’m afraid we are going to be eating lots of beans and rice. Also a little worried about the dipaer supply. Is it legal to stock up first?
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FunkyFrum- Honestly, you can approach the challenge however you like and what you feel most comfortable with. We set aside $250 for our groceries an diapers for the month. This is really more a challenge for us to not spend extra on other things like going out to dinner, getting coffee, paying for play dates, etc…
Would love to have you participate!
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I made a comment earlier; and I know that you saw it since you left a message on my blog- but I don’t see the comment here. Was my comment not approved for some reason?
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Amy-
I actually didn’t receive your comment. I just saw your reply on Michelle’s post. I’m sorry- it must not have gone through! I always publish everything, I promise
Thank you so much for taking on the challenge- I can’t wait!
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I love your tips for how to spend your time during the month of no spending. I bet you’re going to have a blast! Who knows…maybe you’ll keep “not spending” after the month is up?
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I think this is definitely something I need to do. I know I will struggle with it. But if I give it my best effort, any amount of spending less will do me good. And if I blog about it, hopefully it will give me a little more motivation.
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I did a “no-retail” kind of thing for a year. Except for the neccesities, I didn’t buy retail. If someone needed a white shirt for school, I would try to get one at a consignment or resale shop. Same thing with household items that I needed, etc. Doing it the entire year, I think this is key. It ended up we had lots of unexpected bills that year, so while we didn’t save anything by doing it, these bills were not a huge deal.
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Wow, I am inspired!! You know, I do have to recommend that you think about using cloth diapers…. they have all in ones now and they are much easier to use than back in the “old days.” There are also flushable liners available, so no more dunking diapers… (ick!!). Just a thought to make your monthly spending even lower. Good luck and best wishes with the challenge!
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count me in, my husband is a truck driver and things have been tight since December so other than the essentials we have cut out all extra spending, it will be interesting to see just how much my teenage girls “love” me at the end of this
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I’m in for February, and will post updates on my personal blog. I will buy essentials, but nothing else!
Can’t wait to read everyone’s updates!
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I’m going to commit to this for the month of February. We do have to go a short trip to Portland, Or for my husband to go to the Veteran’s Hospital for tests. We will not be driving…taking the DAV shuttle from local VA Hospital…that will save us money. We will have to eat out a couple of times…..I will use money out of Grocery Fund for a couple of meals. Other than this trip….no spending for us. I will blog about my adventures…http://msindy2206.blogspot.com
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We have been working steadily to decrease our spending and pay off bills. For January, we actually have quite a bit of money left in our cash budget envelopes!
So, I was leaning toward joining the challenge, then my husband got laid off this morning, sort of forcing the issue. We need to determine our budget, but I plan to join in.
Amy D. LuvPeytiePie@yahoo.com
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WOW! Interesting! Our family has ALSO planned a no spend February! The Bishop of our ward actually asked all members about 6 months ago to plan on just living off their food storage for the month of Feb. so we all could see where we are at with that.
My husband has received rumors that he will soon be laid off from his job of 16 years. So we decided to go a step further than what the Bishop has asked us and have a no spend Feb. in ADDITION to just living off our food storage. So no groceries will be bought this month either. We had 6 months to plan and we are SO ready! I am excited to see that there are others out there doing the same thing….and in Feb. too. Cool!
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Thank you all so much for your interest in joining in on this challenge. I think it is going to be great and I look forward to sharing with you!
Amy D- I am SO sorry about your husband’s job. I will be praying that something opens up for him soon. ((hugs))
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I live on $741/month for all my expenses. I plan month’s ahead of time for practically every penny I spend. I’m curious what most people live on per month and if THEY could get by on my disability check. I pretty much live your challenge every month.
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My family so needs to do this. There are 5 of us and I am the only one working. And I am SO (insert whatever expletive fits here) TIRED of not eating the last couple of days of the pay period, so my kids will have something. *sigh*
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OK. I think my family will find this idea more palatable if I tell them for a day or a week to begin with, and then stretch it into a month. Anyway, here’s my kick-off post! http://backporchervations.blogspot.com/2009/01/pink-haired-butterfly-princess.html
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I went on Hulu.com just to see what is what is available in the movie category. Many of the titles and clips available are skanky. The word sex was listed three times in movie clip titles on the first page and some of the pictures would be inappropriate for family viewing. I don’t want to have to weed through that to find something to watch.
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I would suggest looking under the Family category for shows. My children have watched the Veggie Tales movie off of there and we have watched many great shows without any vulgarity. If you are worried about viewing inappropriate shows, I would search only under the Family category.
Use your own discretion, of course!
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We just finished a “30 days of nothing” challenge for January. You will really be amazed at the things you learn along the way. It was a wonderful experiment for my family and we are going to try and maintain the frugal lifestyle that we started. I wish you the best of luck. We will join in maybe again in a few months!
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In an effort to cut back on our spending this year, I’m doing a “Where’s My Money Going?” Month this February (on the blog and personally). I think seeing where it goes will make a big difference in knowing where we can cut back.
Good luck with your no-spend month!
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My husband cut up his credit cards in January, and we’re determined to get back on track. We’re going to participate in this challenge for this month, it was something we were already planning on our own, but seeing how others are doing it, this will be a great way of keeping us motivated. I can’t wait to see what the month holds!
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We plan to do this for Lent this year, the 46 days before Easter. We start on February 25th. It’s true that you have to do some planning and think about what you can and cannot count as spending. I loved your post and plan to implement some of the ideas into our plan. I’ve been developing my “plan” on my blog. We are looking forward to it!
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I am planning on joining you for the month of February but might do a slightly different twist. My plan is to limit all spending to $150. My husband is not joining the game so that will not include what he spends. I do all the grocery shopping however and put gas in our van so that will need to come out of the $150. Utilities will be additional. I might throw in a Valentines gift in the $150 so my “no spending” won’t neccasarily be only nessesities but I will attempt to stay under $150. I will be posting on my progress.
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I have to ask how reliable and more so safe is mint.com, I’m not a fan of giving out my banking information onkine, Thanks.
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My wife and I decided to do the same thing this month only we’ve been calling it our ’spending moratorium’. I hope this idea spreads! We’ve done so well we’re going to continue on through lent. I’m glad I came across your blog (especially the enchilada sauce recipe!), I’ll look around more later. I’m also tempted to try the pancake syrup. Thank you.
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we are starting today. than you so much for the inspiration, it is just what we need. we will try it for a month, but i think we can do it for a longer time.
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