My No Spend Year
It sounds cool to do a no spend year until you realise just how tough it actually is to not spend on anything! It also made me realise how easy it is to quickly go on Amazon, click a few buttons and end up with a box of goods on my door. Technology is brilliant at making it easy to instantly buy new shiny things. BUT do you really need that many new shiny things???
When I set a goal of having a no spend year back in January - the intention wasn’t to never buy anything fun ever again. It was simply to be more intentional about WHAT I was spending my money on.
These were my core principles or rules if you like:
1. No spending on books, read everything on my bookshelf and when I feel like buying a book, I add it to my list on Trello called ‘Books I’d like to buy one day’. Once I add books to that list, I no longer feel like buying it!
2. No impulse spending on stationery. When I run out of supplies, I top things up like pen refills and functional stickers etc.
3. A new addition as of May 2021 – no more buying workout clothes until I lose a significant chunk of weight. I have so many exercise clothes that I now do a separate load of laundry just for workout clothes!
Progress as of June this year:
1. I haven’t bought any books at all this year. When I need a boost, I take a look at my book reading list and remind myself of all the amazing unread books I have coming up. I’m not putting too much pressure on finishing all the books by a certain deadline as I want to enjoy them and learn from each book I read.
2. Apart from ink pen refills and functional stickers I haven’t bought any new stationery items e.g., pens or notebooks. Hopefully I can maintain this!
3. Ok so……Popflex Active launched their Marble collection and I caved! I bought one pair of leggings and I have to say – it’s the softest pair of leggings I have EVER owned. I used my loyalty points to “purchase” these but I’m still counting it as a rule break because I spent points on something new! If you want to try their collection let me know and I can send you a referral link. Their clothes and products and extremely reasonably priced and some of the best workout related gear I’ve seen for women (ignore if you are doing your own no spend challenge!).
My tips for intentional spending through the summer and rest of the year:
- Remind yourself that you’re spending intentionally. I put a No Spend sticker in my planner at the start of each week to remind me of my no-spending focus.
- Focus your mind away from what you are not allowed to spend and focus on things that you enjoy. For me this is reading books, doing Pilates and doing coaching work. The less restricted you feel the easier it will be to continue a no-spend challenge. The mind doesn’t like to feel trapped, and hobbies help with this! Focusing on positives also helps you focus on the good in life instead of feeling limited by money.
- Sharing the cost of things you want to buy with friends and family can help to significantly reduce how much you spend. If I buy a fitness programme I look at splitting the costs between my friends so that we can share workout videos together and also keep each other accountable. It’s less spending and more sociability in one go!
If you’re thinking to start a no spend year, what kind of rules would you set for yourself? What are some of the things that you like to buy on impulse? I’d love to know in the comments.