No Spend Month Rules To Save Money
If you’re looking to try the no buy month challenge then you’ll want to set some ground rules to ensure your success.
Following these no spend month rules will help you meet your goal, plus I’ve got a free printable savings tracker to help you stay motivated.
The rules for this savings challenge are centred around avoiding all unnecessary spending. For example, you’ve still got to eat, but you don’t have to eat out!
And it’s crucial if you are following a no spend month with your partner that you agree to the rules in advance to help ensure your success with the challenge.
Having followed the no spend month challenge several times – usually at the start of the New Year right after Christmas – I can tell you that taking note of these essential rules will help you succeed!
And you may find yourself adopting these rules, or some of them, into your daily life once the month is over so you can benefit from a more frugal life.
What is a no spend month?
A no spend month is where you cut out all unnecessary, non-essential spending from your budget.
This means you do not go out, buy new clothes or other things that are not essential, and you stick to your monthly meal plan like glue.
The idea behind a no spend month is it strips your budget right down to the basics and gives you the opportunity to top up your savings.
Why bother with a no buy month?
There are plenty of great reasons to get started with a no spend challenge month. There’s lots of motivation to be found here:
- Jumpstart your savings.
- Help you top-up your emergency fund.
- Boost your savings towards something you really need – such as a house deposit.
- Reset your money mindset. You may be surprised at how much you didn’t miss all of the stuff you normally spend your money on.
- Makes you appreciate what you have.
- Inspires you to get creative. You may find you discover recipes you never would have tried when you replace your usual favourite takeaways and meals out.
- Keeps the clutter out of your home. If you’re not buying stuff you don’t actually need then you won’t be filling your home with more things!
No spend month rules
A successful no spend month works best when you agree the rules in advance.
You can tailor them to fit your own lifestyle and the set of circumstances you have coming up in the month you choose.
For example, there may be a family birthday which is an avoidable expense, even though in the context of a no spend month it may seem frivolous.
It’s for this reason that picking the right month for your challenge can be crucial.
Choosing December is going to be quite tough, for example, but January is a month when most people are cutting back anyway so you won’t be missing out on much when you avoid going out.
Remember these are example rules and you can set your own.
No takeaway coffees
Or smoothies for that matter.
Whatever drinks and/or snacks you like to pick up on the go, ditch them in favour of drinks you bring from home.
Make lunches at home
Instead of buying a lunch at a cafe, work cafeteria or restaurant, you pack one up at home and bring it in to the office with you.
The same goes for your kids, assuming they don’t benefit from the free school meals.
No impulse purchases
That new-in dress. Those shoes you just spotted in the window. The new bag your favourite brand just emailed you to say is selling out. The 2-for-1 deal at the supermarket for food you weren’t going to buy this week.
Everywhere you go, including home browsing on your phone, someone is trying to sell you something.
During a no spend month you resist the lure of the impulse spend. Anything that you weren’t even considering buying earlier in the day, but caught your eye and is tempting you to buy on the spur of the moment, you need to avoid.
If you’re tempted, agree with yourself to wait until the end of the no spend month. Then reassess – was it actually something you need or just something you want? And how much better does your bank balance feel for having resisted!
No beauty/spa treatments
This may take a bit of adjustment if you have always considered your nails or facial an essential spend.
Consider whether you can go DIY and pamper yourself at home for the month to save the cash.
Cut out takeaways and meals out
Ditch those takeaways in favour of new recipes at home.
There are some amazing ones that are easy to make – I recommend Simply Cook kits. They’re cheaper than a takeaway and the results are great!
Meal plan and avoid top-up shops
If you’re not having takeaways and meals out then it’s a good idea to agree on what your budget will be for meals.
Meal planning is an essential part of sticking to a budget. You can find tasty cheap meal ideas here.
Look for free fun
We all need to have a little fun every now and then but it doesn’t have to cost you the earth.
Find free fun near where you live – such as library and community events. Consider visiting somewhere in your local area that you’ve never been, such as a park or town you could take a walk through.
Steer clear of your triggers
Identify your spending triggers before you get started and set out ways you will avoid them.
For example there may be particular brands that you love that send you email marketing that tempts you to spend.
Unsubscribe from those emails, or send them to a different folder, for a month so you can avoid temptation.
If there are other triggers then set out how you will avoid them. It can help to tell friends about your no spend plan so that they can help keep you on track too.
Needs not wants
Have this mantra in your head throughout the month.
A need is something essential to your day-to-day life. For example, if you drive every day and your car tyre gets an irreparable puncture, then you need a new tyre.
A want usually tends to be something like a new dress, make-up, or similar splurge.
Agree your essentials
Items that you are still allowed to buy in a no spend month will probably include:
- Rent/mortgage
- Household utility bills
- Groceries
- Household essentials – including pet food and cleaning products
- Fuel for your car
- Replacements for essential stuff you cannot repair – ie children’s school shoes
How to do a no spend month
So you’ve set the rules for your no spend month – now how do you actually go about it? Try these tips.
Identify your motivation
What is your goal in trying to do a no spend month? Is there a specific amount you want to save and what is it for?
It can be really helpful to set a clear goal that you can visualise during the month, as this will keep you motivated.
It could be saving towards a holiday, a new house or putting money aside for a new baby.
Have a clear start and finish point
Once you’ve agreed on the rules then a clear start and end point is crucial, especially if there’s more than one of you in the household.
This will help you commit to the process.
Keep track
It can be a good idea to countdown the month so that you’re motivated to keep going.
A printable tracker can really help – you’ll find one to download in this article.
Set out your list of essentials
Agree what the stuff you are allowed to buy is up front before you get started.
Having a cash envelope system may help to keep on track with this.
Cash envelopes involve setting out essential spending categories, then writing those categories down on the front of separate envelopes.
You then allocate your budget to each envelope. So you may have envelopes for fuel and food, for example.
Try a budgeting app
A budgeting app can help you keep on top of your spending and lets you set clear limits.
Many banking apps allow you to create digital envelopes and budgets that will help you keep on top of spending in certain categories.
You set how much you have allocated to spend, and the app will alert you if you go over budget.
It’s a good way of keeping track!
No spend month food
Having a list of meals that you enjoy as a family can really help you to stick with your no spend month and not tap your Deliveroo app when it gets to Friday evening.
Calculate what you saved
Once you’ve finished the month, work out how much you managed to save.
This can be a great wake up call to just how much you may be spending on non-essentials.
You don’t have to do a no spend month every single month, but if you are hoping to save more money in the future then this could help show you where you could cut back.
No spend month printable tracker
This no spend challenge calendar will help you track your progress and keep you on track!
Simply click the link to download and you will get a free PDF. Print off as many copies as you like! Then colour in or cross off the days as you get through the month.
Write down your motivation – what you are trying to save money for – on the tracker to keep you going.
Want to save more money?
If your savings goals are lofty then you could consider extending your no spend month to a no spend year.
You may need to adjust the rules a little here, as a no spend month can be much stricter because it’s such as short and sharp time period.
With a whole year you should consider setting aside a small amount for the fun stuff. This is important as it will mean you’re less likely to run out of steam halfway through the year.
Planning in advance is key to this. So calculate what fun stuff you definitely don’t want to miss, such as birthdays and holidays.
Then figure out how you can make those fit somehow into your no spend mindset. So can you cut back to a shorter holiday or take a trip somewhere that’s cheaper than you would normally go?
If you’re looking for more inspiration for saving cash then check out these savings challenges, tips for how to stop spending money on clothes and these tips for saving £10,000.
