This article will advise on successfully performing a no spend challenge.

No spend challenge

The purpose of a no spend challenge is to reduce the amount of money that leaves your bank account, without adding genuine value. Expenses that do add real value could continue, such as; rent or basic food. This is usually kickstarted by the realisation that spending has gotten a bit out of control, or is not as effective as you would like it to be. The motivation is personal and should be present, to assist in keeping it up.

The duration of such a challenge can be a month, for starters. There is no time- limit, nor minimum. If successful and it feels good, feel free to extended it indefinitely!

Prerequisites and tools

A budget, for which we have written a different article 44 Different budgeting methods. It is important to really know what you are spending, so creating both a current state of affairs and desired end goal is a good place to start. After the challenge period, you can compare both the before and after situation, against your budget.

A key preparation is minimising credit: By reducing how much you can spend without, immediately, paying for it, the lower the chances of it happening. This can be extra difficult in case of a savings account being added to the payment service, since these generally offer a higher interest rate than regular big banks. The decision whether to risk it, is entirely yours. Just be aware of the risk that you use these savings a (mental) collateral for buying on credit.

A good way to somewhat reduce the difficulty level is by searching for alternatives. Once you have found a cheaper item, ask yourself if it is good enough. Congratulations, you have already talked yourself out of buying the original widget. Now we simply need to decide not to buy the replacement, this can be done via realising that it is not a vital part of your life, or by deciding that it is inferior, so not worth it. A different method is replacing something that you do not need, with something that you do need, just be careful not to overdo this. Please note that this is a risky method, since it does not fully reduce spending, simply moves it from one category to another.

Stop window shopping: It is vital that you stop seeking any form of distraction that could lead to failure of the no spend challenge. This is difficult if your basic distraction, much like most of the global population, involves scrolling on a phone. But that is why this is called a challenge. Try to seek a different distraction or accept the boredom.

It is perfectly fine to still spend money on a few things that you truly like, such as a hobby. Social activities that require company are also fine, just be careful not to get dragged in by the wastefulness of others. If there is a planned big expense coming up, try to do it before the challenge, to avoid entering a spending mood or potential cycle of increased expenses.

General points

Informing your (direct) relations is something that can be done, so they can take it into account when inviting you for something. Should be noted that this can easily backfire; if you buy something that is a part of your financial, non wasteful, plan; they may perceive it as needless spending and attack you over it. Also, they might continue making plans nonetheless and consider your frugalness as absolute nonsense.

Starting the no spend challenge is something that can be done without a real motivation, that just makes it harder to refrain from spending. If you aren`t spending already, there is no real reason to partake and if you are, there should be some kind of motivation for the challenge to stop the senseless spending.