Our Frugal Journey

Learning how to save more and spend less while living life to the fullest

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It’s Back: Our Month of No Spending

January 29th, 2010 · 20 Comments

Starting Monday, Feb. 1, we won’t be spending any money. The entire month.

No groceries, no movies, no large diet sodas through the drive-thru, no clothes, no gifts. No discretionary spending, period.

No kidding.

Unless, of course, we can devise some other way to pay for the item in question that doesn’t involve money. Bartering? Yes. Credit? NO. Borrowing? Yes. Debit? NO.

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because we survived a month without spending last February. In truth, we more than survived. In a lot of ways, our family thrived.

We spent more time together playing games, building puzzles, baking, watching TV shows together and, wonder of wonders, talking to each other.

Whenever possible, we left the car in the garage and walked.

And most days, I simply stayed at home, leaving me to muse it was the first time in my 21 years as a stay-at-home mom that I actually STAYED HOME.

All that time at home left me with lots more time to get things accomplished such as organizing the house, selling our clutter for cash, planning our meals and working on other projects I had been meaning to get to but just never had.

We ate meals using the food we had stocked in the pantry, freezer and fridge. If I didn’t have an ingredient, I borrowed or improvised.

As much as I like shopping with coupons and chasing the deals, it was nice to take a 28-day break from trolling the aisles of my grocery and drug stores.

Most important, it gave us all a new appreciation for all that we have and all that we take for granted. What if this wasn’t a self-imposed exercise in extreme frugality, my husband and I asked ourselves more than once.  

All in all, we decided it was a challenge worth repeating.

Here are this year’s ground rules for our Month of  No Spending.

1. We won’t spend any money on groceries. Like last year, we’ll be creating our meals from food we have stocked in the pantry, fridge and freezer.

2. Similarly, we won’t spend any cash on cleaning supplies, personal items, clothes, entertainment, gifts, etc. Basically, if it’s discretionary, it’s not permitted.

3. We will, of course, pay all our normal monthly bills.

4. We will also pay for the Girl Scout cookies we have on order, the tickets to a family event scheduled at sweet Caroline’s school and the deposit on her Girl Scout summer camp fees. These were all expenses that came up last February and I know they will recur this year. 

5. Unlike last year, I won’t be able to attempt going the entire month without having to refill my gas tank. Now that sweet Caroline is in middle school, I’m responsible for carpooling five kids to Raleigh once a week, which is a 35-mile round trip. BUT, I will attempt to keep my gasoline usage to a minimum. I’ll keep you posted on how I do. The DH, of course, will fill his tank as needed to get to work and back.

Here’s my fine print: We will use coupons and the gift cards I have on hand (earned from using coupons and sending in rebates) to buy milk, produce and an occasional treat. And I do mean occasional. Since I earned these gift cards through thrifty means (or received them as gifts), I won’t feel guilty using them, but I also don’t want to use them all up in one month. Remember, we live thrifty 365 days a year.

Anybody out there willing to take the No-Spend Challenge with us? If you don’t want to commit to an entire month, how about trying it for a week. Or even one day.

Leave me your thoughts in the Comments section.

Tags: No-Spend Challenge

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