I’ve spent a few days reflecting on what I learned from this “No-Spend” month.  It was a great challenge…and some days were easy…and some were not!  My girls and husband were troopers about the whole experiment.  For example, over the past two weeks, my husband has driven his truck without a door handle because it broke off (he had to roll down the window of his ’83 Chevy S-10 and open it from the outside)!

I know for some of you, this may have seemed like a frivolous challenge–you have to live every month spending the least amount of money that you can.  Although it’s been a few years, I remember the challenges when we lived on a private school part-time teacher’s salary, and I know it’s hard.  My  hope with this challenge was not to offend, but, rather, to inspire.  Really, I hoped to get us all thinking about how much we have–and how much we often take it for granted.

Here are a few things I learned from our no-spend challenge:

1)  Shop less:

I know, I know…it seems basic, but I will often hit two or three different stores during the week to get the best sales.  Even though I use a list and know what I want to buy, I’ve found the more time you spend in the store, the more you end up buying!

This month also made me clump my errands together to conserve gas and time.  Setting aside one afternoon to run all your weekly errands will keep you from spending too much time in various stores, too.

Shopping less not only applies to grocery stores, but other stores as well (*ahem, Target*…so thankful I don’t have one near me)!  Try to evaluate by asking yourself questions like “Do I really need to go look at those clothes?”  In my case, I probably do since I have a pitiful wardrobe, but evaluating what you really need is critical before you go shopping!

2)  Menu planning is vital.

I did a pretty good job at keeping a menu in place this month.  I’ve found that when you are trying to really stretch your budget and food you need to be diligent about having a plan in place.  Making a list and using your store’s sales flyer can really help you cut your bill.  (See my short post about menu-planning here.)

You should also keep several inexpensive meal ideas on hand no matter what your menu plan says.  That way, if you decide you don’t want what’s on the plan or you don’t have enough time or energy to make it, you can just pull out some simple ingredients and whip up an easy dish.  It’s also nice to have some items in the freezer.

3)  Instead of making an impulse purchase, make a list.

Books are my weakness, and I saw this month how often I buy a book here and there…and it adds up (especially with cheap eBooks)!  Instead, I made a list of the books I wanted and found out if they were available at the library.

I think this idea can apply to any kind of impulse purchase–instead of buying right away–write it down and wait.  You can also check to see if there is another way to get what you want (by borrowing it, finding it at a garage sale, etc).

The most important thing is to make yourself wait at least a week.  You may realize you don’t need it quite as badly as you thought!  Writing down a list and waiting on those purchases definitely helps in the “clearing the clutter” department, too.

4)  Use what you have.

Again, basic, right?  But I like doing crafty things with the girls, and I’ll often just go pick up some new supplies.  That means we have a whole closet filled with barely-used craft items!  This month, I sorted through our closet, and we’ve done several of the projects I found hidden in the back.

Use what you have applies to much more than craft supplies though.  For instance, my large crockpot broke last month.  I was not happy since I use it at least once–if not two or three times–each week.  Instead of going out and buying a new one, I just made do with the {much} smaller one that we have.  Eventually I’ll replace it when I find a good deal, but for now, we are making do with what we have.

5)  It is a lot less work.

I keep all my expenses in an envelope system on the computer, and I make myself write down each expense (which helps keep me accountable and discourages me from buying as much).  I barely had to write anything down and it was a great feeling!!!

Obviously, if you have your financial program set to automatically pull all of your expenses, this wouldn’t affect you in the same way.  But, I’m weird about it and like to keep tight tabs on where the money is going (and forcing myself to enter each expense is one way I do that).

********************************************

Overall, I feel like our no-spend month was a success.  It helped us to:

• Practice self-control.
• See that we can live on less.
• Put a nice chunk of $$ on our extra house payment.  Originally, we were going to put the extra towards a new-to-us car, but over the month, we decided making another lump sum payment would be the best idea at this point.  We are plugging away at that goal!  I want to be “gazelle intense” (to use a Dave Ramsey term).  And we’re getting there…

I would highly recommend trying out a no spend month to anyone!  Especially if you have credit card debt or are lacking an emergency fund, you could make quite a bit of progress by setting a goal and becoming super-intense about it!

If you have ever tried a no spend month, how did it go?  What did you learn?