My No Spend Month - Part 3
The view from the South Quay Foot Bridge (Canary Wharf)
I’m moving through my No Spend Month and it’s definitely been challenging! A few weeks has sometimes felt like a few months! But it’s also forcing me to get out of my comfort zone and explore what I really want to spend my money and my time on.
The real challenge
My main struggle with this challenge so far has come from realising that a lot of things I do in my spare time involve buying “things”. Going for a manicure involves spending a lot of money in Selfridges. Reading new books involves making trips to Waterstones or going online to Amazon. The actual purchase is nothing in terms of time. It’s the wandering around and exploring before that I enjoy and the finding new things. It’s the exploring that stops me feeling bored but there are other ways of not feeling bored that cost nothing!
The solution
To stop my mind from feeling like it needed to spend money on shiny new things I found that I could use substitutes. These are free or cost very little money. So instead of buying new books to learn or get manicures here’s the top few things I now do:
YouTube- is fantastic for the amount of knowledge that is available for free. You can literally find videos on everything including how to make a youtube channel even. YouTube is quickly becoming an alternative to traditional TV and is becoming a super powerful search engine. YouTube will even recommend videos to watch based on your history. If you worry that you will go down a rabbit hole of being on your phone too long then set a time limit and stick to it. My top recommends are Jay Shetty for his powerful life-wisdom videos , Blogilates for free workouts & Amy Landino for productivity tips. I watch their videos and then make a promise to use what I learn in my life. The video featured is my all time favourite Jay Shetty You Tube video. It is super inspiring and worth watching when you need a boost
Podcasts - As with YouTube there are so many free amazing podcasts to choose from. All you need to do is download a free podcast listening app from the Apple store/Google Play store and you’re ready to go. I use Podcast Player by Castbox. These are easy to listen to while you cook, clean or workout as you can do your task while listening to something engaging. I’m currently listening to Cultivate Your Life by Lara Casey and On Purpose by Jay Shetty to name a few.
Spotify - I’ve got my own Spotify account (you can have free or upgrade to premium if you want offline access to your playlists) which comes in really handy. When I’m doing the washing up I play my music on the speakers and 20mins of doing a mundane chore flies by. I also use music when I’m procrastinating. I tell myself to start for 10mins of a project and have my favourite music playing in the background. One of my favourite happy songs right now is “A Place Called You” by Emma Stevens. It has such a cute upbeat feel that you can’t help but smile.
Moving my body - no I don’t mean going for a run or doing a super hard exercise class. I mean just going for a walk around my local area. What I have started doing this past week is substituting my metro journey for a 35 minute walk to work. In that time I listen to Podcasts or my Spotfiy playlist and I stop every so often to take photos of what I see along the way. Not only is it free but it allows me to have proper me-time before a hectic day at work and I’m not stuck on crowded trains with a hundred other people that don’t want to be there. The cover picture at the top was taken when I walked to work over the bridge.
Planning a weekend - after reading Laura Vanderkam’s book “What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast” I got thinking about what I do with my day. I now plan my weekends loosely to ensure I get a mix of experiences, activity, reflection and relaxation time. The below picture is an example of yesterday’s to do list. (which is coincidentally how this blog post got finished!). The mantra in the cartoon is also important. Do What Makes You Happy!
Fancy starting a No Spend Month? Or have another challenge you would recommend that involves living intentionally? Let me know in the comments below and I’d love to hear what you’re excited about.