No spending challenge

julieanne912 · February 2016

So I've been reading various blogs where families decided to do a month long no spending challenge. Some just did no spending on groceries, others did no spending at all. Has anybody here done this?

I'm trying to convince H that we should do one. I think I could make it, but his response was "I could only make it if I slept for the entire month, and I'm not a bear and winter's almost over". I'm also thinking about doing a no grocery spending challenge, but again, I'm not sure he'd be down with that either... maybe he'll start traveling again so I can try it? haha.

cbee817 · February 2016

This would be insanely impossible for us- we go through so much fruits and vegetables every week plus our gas tanks usually need to be filled every 7-10 days for work. Maybe I could do a "no spend at Target" month.. but even that is pushing it!

julieanne912 · February 2016

cbee817 said:

This would be insanely impossible for us- we go through so much fruits and vegetables every week plus our gas tanks usually need to be filled every 7-10 days for work. Maybe I could do a "no spend at Target" month.. but even that is pushing it!

Yeah I would definitely need to make some "allowances" so it would work... like for necessities like gas (I fill up once a week to get to work), and for fresh produce.

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2016

we've done no spend months on everything outside gas and groceries.

totally impractical for us right now, with an infant things just keep coming up, or we have predictable things in the future that if we find a deal (sale or yardsale post) we go for it...I bought a highchair yesterday because the one I really wanted got marked down.

vlagrl29 · February 2016

There is no way I could do a no spending on groceries challenge. Food is important to us especially since we don't eat out much.

jessica490 · February 2016

We've never done this and we'd probably have a hard time doing it in any category unless it was a dire emergency not to spend money (layoff's etc). We save/invest money and have our fun but are pretty conservative and don't waste money on material stuff or junk we don't need.

emily1004 · February 2016

Hmm, now you've got me thinking! I bet H and I could do it. As long as we started with two full tanks of gas. H could carpool with a friend from work. The fresh fruits and vegetables might be a challenge, but we have lot of frozen stuff, that we could eat in that month. We also have so much excess in our house right now, it might be a good plan to downsize a little...Plus we spent way too much over the past few months.

julieanne912 · February 2016

I joked with H that we could try the no grocery thing, but he probably wouldn't like what I'd come up with, especially towards the end. He doesn't think chips and salsa is an acceptable dinner LOL!

But yeah that part wouldn't be too hard I don't think. We've got a decent amount of stuff in the freezer and pantry that I could make work if I HAD to.

brij2006 · February 2016

I haven't done it to this extent, but we've done it where we spent $50 on groceries and no extra gas except our commute and 1 trip to the grocery store. It was shocking how much stuff we were able to make stretch and how much we cleaned out the cabinets.

However, I felt like the months before and after we did it, were heavier on the budget. We had no staples in the house and needed to re-stock and had put off all errand running that was needed that month. So I'm really not sure how much ahead we came out. Maybe a few hundred dollars.

short+sassy · February 2016

Between his "bear and winter" comment and his "chips and salsa" comment, I am totally cracking up over here. He and I are definitely kindred spirits in that regard.

It's always interesting to read those kinds of stories, but it just isn't for me. Though I think that kind of exercise can be valuable because it forces people to think a little outside the box. They get creative (in a good way) in their food choices and their entertainment. I think it can also underline the little things people spend money on, without even realizing it, until they aren't allowed to use money for a month.

The closest I have come, and it's not that close, is cutting back on what I buy at the grocery store to force us to go through more of the food in our pantry/freezer.

LillibetteV · February 2016

I challenge my husband to this fairly regularly because I sometimes get the feeling that he enjoys the acquisition of things (particularly games) more than actually using them! My spending freezes come out of a desire to declutter my house more than saving money - but saving money is a nice bonus!

hoffse · February 2016

I think I would have to do a serious grocery stock up to make this work, and that would kind of defeat the purpose...

cbee817 · February 2016

julieanne912 said:

cbee817 said:

This would be insanely impossible for us- we go through so much fruits and vegetables every week plus our gas tanks usually need to be filled every 7-10 days for work. Maybe I could do a "no spend at Target" month.. but even that is pushing it!

Yeah I would definitely need to make some "allowances" so it would work... like for necessities like gas (I fill up once a week to get to work), and for fresh produce.

We don't have much in the freezer or in the pantry- the girls like fresh stuff and I'm not going to deny them good food. I get away with frozen berries but only because we make smoothies with them. And they love frozen peas/corn for some reason. DH and I are the same way- the only canned items that are as good as fresh are my mom's homemade spaghetti sauce and jelly. We have some staples like quinoa, rice, pasta, cheerios, nuts, but not anything that could last us an entire month. Our fridge is very empty by Saturday every week- kind of like it that way.

csuave · February 2016

We haven't done that officially. Closest we have been is when we are stocked up on food and I try to get rid of things that have been around the pantry too long. But we shop just in time so this doesn't happen very often.

And now that we are in a mode of less spending we have drastically cut our dining out budget. We are doing really well this month, especially since we went out three times this month without paying: one was a mystery shop and the others we used coupons for free fast food meals.

We could probably do no entertainment for a month since we do so many things that are free anyway, but we wouldn't want to put that much of a damper on our social life. Like last week we met friends for drinks. We enjoyed catching up with them and think it was worth buying a couple drinks for that kind of spend in the entertainment category.

labro · February 2016

hoffse said:

I think I would have to do a serious grocery stock up to make this work, and that would kind of defeat the purpose...

Same. We try to keep a couple basics around but I don't think I'd make it through a month without needing to supplement in some way. I try to be really strict with meal planning so we don't have lots of wasted extras too.

kmurphy2131 · February 2016

I've done a no spend month for my personal spending (what we call our "fun money/mad money/etc"). So no coffee/tea out, no lunches/dinner outs, no clothes, no manicures, nothing new for the house etc. But I would never try to do a no spend for groceries. I love to cook and am a foodie. Plus, if I run out of everything it will have to be replaced the next month and if I knew it was coming I would end up spending a ton prior to it starting I'm sure to stock up.

Mustard76 · February 2016

We could never do this. We've been able to stretch our grocery trips to every two weeks, relying heavily on freezer contents. The closest we could get to a no spending challenge would be no eating out for a month. That we could do, probably pretty easily.

blondie42107 · February 2016

The only no spending challenge we could do is no spending beyond essentials. Those are the only no spend challenges I've ever read about. Otherwise it just makes no sense to me. I have to pay my mortgage, I have to buy gas so I can get to work, I need groceries to eat, etc. And like it was mentioned in a PP, it doesn't make much sense to buy a TON of groceries the month before to just not spend for a month.

als1982 · February 2016

Our budget is super tight as it is, but we have high stress and long hour jobs, so we need a little set aside for weekend entertainment. I do pretty regularly have weeks when we'll do a freezer and pantry clean out instead of going to the grocery store during that budget period.

csuave · February 2016

blondie42107 said:

The only no spending challenge we could do is no spending beyond essentials. Those are the only no spend challenges I've ever read about. Otherwise it just makes no sense to me. I have to pay my mortgage, I have to buy gas so I can get to work, I need groceries to eat, etc. And like it was mentioned in a PP, it doesn't make much sense to buy a TON of groceries the month before to just not spend for a month.

Agreed, but I like how PP mentioned trying to get creative to make a stretch work, like carpooling. I am walking distance to work but I drive a lot during the crummy weather. If I really made the effort I could walk more and drive less thus saving on gas.
H and I couldn't go the entire month without buying gas but, if we wanted to, we could put effort into making the gas go further. So I guess a "spend less" challenge would be better for us than a "no spend" challenge.

Or next month we were planning to buy tickets to a fundraiser dinner, well now we got on the volunteer list so we are still doing that event but for free.

LillibetteV · February 2016

blondie42107 said: The only no spending challenge we could do is no spending beyond essentials. Those are the only no spend challenges I've ever read about. Otherwise it just makes no sense to me. I have to pay my mortgage, I have to buy gas so I can get to work, I need groceries to eat, etc. And like it was mentioned in a PP, it doesn't make much sense to buy a TON of groceries the month before to just not spend for a month.

the people that I know who have done this recognize that they obviously need food, but that they are also tempted too much to buy non-essentials if they go out shopping every week. by stocking up and then avoiding the store they remove that regular temptation. I think the practice for some people is to remove opportunity to spend because they overspend.

julieanne912 · February 2016

LillibetteV said:

blondie42107 said:

The only no spending challenge we could do is no spending beyond essentials. Those are the only no spend challenges I've ever read about. Otherwise it just makes no sense to me. I have to pay my mortgage, I have to buy gas so I can get to work, I need groceries to eat, etc. And like it was mentioned in a PP, it doesn't make much sense to buy a TON of groceries the month before to just not spend for a month.

the people that I know who have done this recognize that they obviously need food, but that they are also tempted too much to buy non-essentials if they go out shopping every week. by stocking up and then avoiding the store they remove that regular temptation. I think the practice for some people is to remove opportunity to spend because they overspend. Yes, in what I've read, people do a challenge like this to be more mindful of how they're spending their money. I myself am already pretty frugal out of necessity when it comes to stuff like groceries, but I was hoping I could get H on board to do one so he can be more mindful too... but I guess not.

No spending challenge

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