It’s that time again – time to lock the credit card down and do another ‘no-spend’ February! If you’ve never done a no-spend month, I would highly encourage you to try. For us, its a month to really cut back on any unnecessary spending. It helps us see where our money is going, and helps us save a little extra too! I’m not going to lie – I purposefully pick a short month, that’s in between seasons, so I’m not nearly as motivated to shop 😉 You can google plenty of ‘rules’ for these types of things, but I’ll tell you, we make our own rules to fit our family. Here’s how we do our no-spend months:
- Plan for no unnecessary spending. Buh-bye Target (at least for the month). And certainly no dollar spot! The idea of a no-spend month for us means that we aren’t shopping for anything ‘extra’ this month. Household essentials (toilet paper, soap, etc) are not part of that. We’re talking clothes, toys, extra home things that aren’t necessities. I stay on track by keeping a running list of household NEEDS we have and then limiting my trips out for just those items.
- Step up my meal-plan game. The idea for us is to (try to) eliminate eating out for the month. That may not be completely realistic, as there are times we’ll be out and about and eating a meal out will be unavoidable. But I try to stick to my meal plans for the week and stay on track. I usually go to the grocery store on Sunday and then try not to make any ‘in-between’ stops to cut back on spending! I’m planning on sharing my weekly meal plan ideas on my IG found here.
- Get creative with the fam. COVID makes this a little easier this year – but we’re getting creative with the family and not spending money for activities/entertainment. Instead, we’ll be doing movie and game nights, and weather permitting, outdoor activities like hikes, bike rides, and other free fun ideas!
Not only does this help save money for our family, it also helps us ‘detox’ a bit and see what we really do/don’t need. It’s amazing how much ‘stuff’ we can accumulate that we don’t need. Scaling back your spending shows you what you truly use and need. Additionally, it helps you really get a look at your spending to see where you baseline is for bills, and home/family needs. This really helps us be mindful of a budget moving forward.
Are you ready? Let’s do this and see what we can do this month!
