No-Spend Month – Save Money with a 30 day Spending Freeze

Every year I do a no-spend month to help me pay down debt, save for trips, or build up savings. and every year, IT WORKS.

When I started my blog, Simple Life of a Frugal Wife, I didn’t quite know how to begin writing. All I knew is, I wanted to help people save money, get out of debt, and live frugally.  I wanted to share things that may help people who are struggling financially, because I know the story all too well.

I knew what it was like to live almost a lifetime living low income, or struggling to make ends meet. It’s really only in the past few years it has gotten a little easier for us. A huge part of the reason it got easier for us is because we learned how to make wiser choices with our money.  Even on a modest income, we discovered we could live well if we worked hard to cut costs and be frugal.

And because I’ve been there, lying on the kitchen floor in tears because I can’t pay the bills, or staring at the ceiling at 2 in the morning not being able to sleep trying to figure out how I was going to pay for it all, I know first hand the stress and anxiety finances can cause. We all want the best for our families, and when we can barely make ends meet, we often feel like we are failing our spouses and our children.  When you are looking through the tunnel and can’t see any glimmer of light, it can literally feel hard to breathe.

OUR FIRST NO-SPEND MONTH

Years ago, when I started getting serious about the change, our family embarked on a 30 day spending freeze. We wondered what a 30 day no-spend month would do for our budget if we only used money for necessities, nothing else.

That’s right.  30 days of spending on nothing but necessities.  (Because, while you can avoid the coffee shop drive thru or those cute shoes calling your name, you still gotta eat and pay for your electricity!)

We chose January because it was the easiest month for us. Christmas had come and gone, and we were tired of spending and going out. Plus, we live in Canada and January is downright cold which means we are often more than happy to stay at home, cuddled under blankets with cups of hot coffee. It was the perfect time of year for a money saving challenge.  Picking a time of year that you have more chance of success is key.

Our first spending freeze was such a great success, we decided to make it an annual event, one year going as long as 3 months. That was the year we were able to not only save money to put towards debt, but also to save up for a family trip to the mountains of Colorado.

Let me tell you, when you embark on a 30 day no spend challenge, and you see results, it will be eye opening.  Not only will you be able to see where your money has been going, but the feeling you get when you realize you actually have more money than you thought you did can be life changing.

Because once you realize how much extra money you have when you don’t spend it on things that aren’t necessities, you can work harder towards your financial goals and dreams.

Sometimes when I share with people that we did a no-spend month people are interested, but unsure if they can do it. That’s why I decided to make this FREE eBook, all you need to do is subscribe to my email list and you will get access to this eBook among other resources in the resource library.  I wanted to help people get started on saving money with a spending freeze, even if they feel intimidated at the idea.

Because, I believe you CAN do it. I believe it CAN help you financially.  I have watched it help my own family year after year, and now I want to help you.

 

BUT HOW DO YOU DO A SPENDING FREEZE THAT WILL GIVE YOU RESULTS?

Maybe you want to do a 30 day spending freeze but are unsure of where to start.  Maybe frugal living is completely new to you, or you’ve been living frugally for quite some time but want to take it to the next step.

This eBook will not only walk you through your spending freeze, giving you rules and guidelines to help you, but it is also filled with printables to help you succeed.

The first part of the eBook will help you with setting some rules that will work for your family, how to save money in various areas during the challenge, what to do when you feel like you spend money you shouldn’t have on the challenge, along with explaining exactly HOW to do a no-spend month.

In the second part of this eBook you will find workbook printables such as a savings tracker, a budget sheet, goal and progress trackers, a list of 75 things to do that will cost you NO money, and more!  The hope is that as you use these sheets throughout your challenge, that it will keep you focused, motivated, and determined.  With a little planning, success is within your reach.

I’ve also included workbook printables to help you save in the kitchen such as meal plan printables, pantry and freezer inventory sheets, lists of substitutions to avoid too many trips to the store when you are out, and more.  We all need to eat, but how great is it if you can cut your grocery bill down by a bit of planning?

This is a great eBook to get at this time of year, before the rush of the holiday season coming in a couple short months. You can do a 30 day no-spend month challenge anytime of the year, but my favorite time is January.  Others prefer to take part in a “no-spend November.”   Having the time to go through this eBook before the planned date for a no-spend challenge definitely helps in being as prepared as you can be for success!

What would you use the money for that you saved up from a no-spend month?  Every year I get excited while I dream of what we will do with the extra we save.  Sometimes it’s something exciting and big, like the Colorado trip I talked about up above, other years, it’s smaller, like putting money towards homeschool curriculum.  However, no matter what the money is used for in the end, it is always something that is beneficial and helpful to our family.  It sure beats that buyer’s remorse we feel when we’ve spent too much money bringing our family out to eat instead!

Whether you decide to sign up for my emailing list and download this this eBook or not, I want to encourage you to do a yearly spending freeze.  Anyone can do it, no matter what.  As long as you put some planning into it and are committed to succeeding, there is a good chance you can see results from your efforts.