How’s Your No-Spend Challenge Going?

At the start of this month that is so laser-focused on positive change, we put even more pressure on by encouraging you to join us for a no-spend challenge. That’s no spending outside your planned, recurring expenses for an entire 31 days.

A lot of you who said you would participate were excited to funnel cash from mindless spending into your savings account instead. Some of you decided to focus this month on one specific category of spending: Coffee and alcohol, vending machines, and clothing all got mentioned when we kicked things off.

So… how’s it going so far?

I’ll share my own experience, which has been (big sigh) challenging. I decided I wasn’t going to spend any money after 10 p.m., whether that be on drinks, snacks, or anything else that might tempt me—both in real life and online—late at night.

And on three occasions (out of 14 opportunities as of this writing), I’ve totally blown it.

Last Thursday, I was so excited to find a coffee shop open past 9 p.m. that I ordered one of my several hot beverages around 11. (Your girl over here is a night owl with a big freelance deadline coming up.) I didn’t even realise I broke my own rule that day until I sat down to write this post.

The very next night, I was already out when someone asked if I wanted to meet them at a bar. Guess what time I arrived at the bar? 10 on the dot. I paid for one round of drinks and a Lyft ride home.

The night after that, you know what I did? Ordered a pizza at 10:30 p.m.

I’m not impressed with myself. But I wrote the transactions down in my little notebook (I’m keeping a handwritten ledger this month, as I’ve mentioned), and I have started again. I’m not letting myself get discouraged by those days I didn’t meet my goal. Instead, I’ve recognised what contributed to those nights of giving in (they all took place late in the week, when I was worn down by a million little things). Now, it’s a matter of building up a streak of not spending, one night at a time.

Of course, because life is never simple, I have friends coming to visit this weekend. Can I live up to my own challenge? Can I convince them all to support me as I struggle under the weight of the collective peer pressure of society? Tune in at the end of the month to find out.

All the rest of you no-spend challenge-takers, let us know in the comments how you’re doing so far!

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