Get Ready For A No Spend Month
A ‘no spend’ month is exactly what it sounds seems like. It is a period wherein you stay away from trying to spend any money at all. Therefore it is essentially a sort of financial fast. Now when it comes getting ready for an entire ‘no spend’ month, you need to keep a couple of things in mind such as the ones we are about to discuss in this article. Here they are:
Make Sure You Choose The Right Time
Before you start your entire ‘no-spend’ month, make sure you are choosing the right time to do it. A decision like this can really turn out to be a very bad decision when it is taken around the holiday season especially. Therefore, firstly rule out all the vacations and holidays. Also, other things that you need to keep a note of are birthdays or any other special occasions that you might have in that month.
Establish Proper Ground Rules
You need to establish proper ground rules before you get started on this entire month of financial fasting. There obviously will still remain expenses that you have to bear in this month as well. These can include rent, mortgage payments, utilities, and many other things. You can set aside some money specifically for these essential payments only and then get started with the whole ‘no-spend’ challenge.
Start Planning For Your Food
Food is one of the major areas wherein one ends up spending money on. So before you get started on this month-long ‘no-spend’ challenge, make sure to stock up well. Go through your entire refrigerator and kitchen shelves. Find out all that you need to buy beforehand and then go ahead and buy them in bulk for an entire month. You will also save up a lot of money while you are doing so. This is because buying in bulk always has some discount offerings.
Start Making Spending Hard For The Coming Month
You have to make your entire living space ‘spending-proof’ before you start with the ‘no-spend’ month. This includes minor things such as cleaning our emails which have lucrative deals and discounts on the products you have wanted to buy for long. Removing shopping and food delivery apps from your phone and so on.
Think About Your Future Goals
You will obviously start panicking before taking on this month-long challenge of not spending at all. This is totally normal. During these times, you need to start thinking about what you can do with the money you will end up saving in that month. Be focused on the future. This will motivate you to take this challenge on with a positive mindset.
Don’t Be Too Hard On Yourself
Do not, at any point, go overboard with this challenge. It can start making you be very strict with yourself. Even after this challenge ends, you might start feeling guilty for every little purchase you make. This is one of the drawbacks of this challenge, unfortunately. Learn to keep it under control.
This brings us to the end of our discussion on how you can get read for an entire month of no spending. Now, let us know if you have ever tried out this challenge for yourself. Also, tell us what strategies you use during the entire month of this challenge.
