It’s No-Spend July! This month, I’m committed to doing a reset on my spending and I cannot spend money on anything but necessities. The parameters of my challenge include:
- I can spend money on groceries, but not Ubereats or fast food. If I’m spending time with friends or family, I can spend money at a restaurant.
- I can spend money on toiletries and household supplies, but I cannot buy beauty supplies like skincare products (I shouldn’t run out of anything, but if I do, I’m SOL.).
- I can spend money on my car, such as if I need maintenance or gas. I cannot buy accessories for my car or take it through the car wash.
- I can only buy litter, treats, and food for the cats. No toys this month! (They’ll survive.)
- I can buy any gifts necessary for friends and family this month.
- I can make plans with friends and spend money on experiences. Experiences > things.
- Subscriptions will go through as normal; no changes.
- I can spend money on any medical expenses that my FSA card won’t cover.
- I cannot buy books or clothing or organizational items or new earrings or Etsy prints or anything that is not a necessity.
- I can load up my Starbucks card when needed, but I can only get Starbucks during my writing dates with Mikaela.
Every week, I’ll take you through what I spent each day (I’m not including anything that gets autodrafted by my bank, like rent, bills, savings, etc.) and how I’m feeling about the challenge. This will be helpful for mostly me because I need this kind of accountability, but hopefully someone will also find some solace in these posts and recognize that finances are a difficult topic and we’re all doing the best we can.
Monday, July 1st
- No money spent
Today’s the day I decided to go on a spending freeze for July! And that means I have to take out the books I added to my cart on my Book of the Month app (I was so excited to get my hands on a copy of The God of the Woods!) Instead, I sadly push the button to “Skip this month.” Wah.
Tuesday, July 2nd
- No money spent
Nothing to report – normal day.
Wednesday, July 3rd
- PetSmart ($15) – cat food
Lila’s being picky about the (less expensive) cat food I bought her, so I picked up the (more expensive) cat food that she likes. (This was a small package to tide her over for the time being.)
Thursday, July 4th
- No money spent
Today was hard. It was a day off and I am always tempted to put in an Ubereats order because it feels like the weekend and nobody should cook on the weekend, right?! Alas, I had to keep telling myself, “You have food to eat at home,” like I’m a grumpy teenage boy who just wants to grab McDonald’s while he’s out.
Friday, July 5th
- No money spent
Another hard day! On Friday mornings, I meet my mom at the gym at 6am and we do an hour-long workout. Afterwards, I typically stop by Einstein’s for a bagel and a large iced coffee. I was very sad I had to just go home and have oatmeal for breakfast. But also – this breakfast costs me $10 and if I have it every week, that’s $40 monthly! It’s not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it can add up.
Saturday, July 6th
- Starbucks ($25) – reloading my card
- Publix ($124) – grocery shopping for the week
- Publix ($8) – birthday card (it was a special one, but dang, birthday cards are so expensive these days!)
- Target ($33.50) – paper towels, hand soap (2), Zevo refill cartridges, conditioner
- Amazon ($46) – bulk package of k-cups
This was a spend-y day, but all of it was within the parameters I set for No-Spend July. I was happy that my grocery bill came under $150! I felt like I bought so much stuff (tried to get extra snacky things so I’m not tempted to go out to eat). I picked up some necessary household supplies at Target and also finally decided to stop buying the Keurig packages at Publix (it’s, like, $14 for 12 k-cups!) and instead placed a bulk order at Amazon. It’ll mean spending a lot less money in the long run but oof, $47 is a hit to the pocketbook.
Sunday, July 7th
- Ice cream ($21)
My mom, my brother, and I had a fun day out to celebrate her birthday (which is today!). While my mom footed the bill for most of the fun, I paid for the three ice cream cones we got at the end of our evening. It was the very least I could do!
What’s the last thing you spent money on?
Oh my gosh! Isn’t it WILD how much the bare essentials end up costing? That’s always my takeaway from no-spend months.
Honestly, it’s comical how much money we spend on just the essentials. Sigh! I’m hoping I only need to worry about food for the rest of the month, but we shall see!
Oh, I’m so impressed by this! It’s a fine line between little treats to keep you going and overspending, for sure (and one I walk constantly). I love your do-able parameters and look forward to seeing how you take on the no spend month. One of my “I can’t sleep” scrolls are the R29 Money Diaries (on the US, Australian, and England sites); it’s always so fascinating to see how people navigate expenses!
I’m also so very fascinated by the way people spend money! And the different expenses people have for things I may not have ever considered. Finances are something we all contend with, but all in vastly different ways!
Nice job so far! I feel like my entire family needs to do a “no spend” month. Both my kids are constantly telling me they “need” something from amazon and it adds up FAST. I THINK I could personally do a no-spend month (if I could still have my Starbucks a few times a week???) but then again I’ve never tried it- I’m sure it would be harder than I think. i’ll be interested to follow along your month!
What a no-spend month reveals is how routine our spending habits are! And how automatic it can feel to spend money without really thinking about it. I’m keeping a list of items I wanted to buy during this spending freeze, and it’ll be interesting to see how long that list is by the end of this challenge!
Nice job! I feel like most months are no-spend months for me. LOL. I’ve been trying to up my summer office wear game a little bit and spending money on clothes and shoes and it feels really weird.
The last thing I spent money on was $3.50 for an ice cream cone at our local ice cream place when Anne was visiting my town! I tipped $1.50, too, so the total was $5. Well worth it!
Your spending habits are an inspiration! I wish I felt that way.
It will be fun to follow along! I have never done a no spend month! I hope it’s not too painful for you. I bet it will be very eye opening.
While you are not spending much, I feel like I’ve been spending more. I bought 2 nice work dresses in late June. I need more comfortable summer work dresses that I can wear in hot climates. I realized that most of my dresses don’t work for like DC in the summer for example. So I bought 2 dresses and will wear 1 of them on my work trip this week. I also bought a skort at Target last week. I need better casual weekend clothes but I don’t like shorts and capris are too hot! I liked the skort I bought so I got 3 more! That’s totally how I am, though. I find something I like and then buy like 4 of it.
It’s been a little painful so far, but feeling more in control of my finances are worth it!
Sometimes, you just have to spend the money! Those dresses will probably last a while and you have to be comfortable in the heat.
You’re doing so well! Good work! And happy birthday to your mom!
Things like skipping Einstein’s are going to feel so much easier after a few weeks of it.
The last thing I spent money on was Bubbl’rs at Walmart this morning. They are my little drink treat!
I hope it starts to feel easier! Or I’ll just be REALLY excited to get that damn Einstein’s on August 2nd, haha.
Oh wow! I don’t think I knew you were going to do this. Colour me impressed! I was just thinking I was going to have a low-expenditure month but I think I need a new sports bra. That seems like a necessity though! I am so impressed with you – good job on your first week!
Thank you! After too many months of spending SO much money, I really needed this reset, and to remind myself that I don’t need to buy everything that pops into my head!
I feel like I need to do this. I track spending each month and it has just been…a lot lately. Partly because everything is just SO much more expensive now than it was a few years ago.
Last money I spent was $5.75 on a capri romper at a thrift store. I’ve been looking for one for YEARS and have even tried to find ones I like new. This one is great and I loved the price 🙂
Everything IS so much more expensive. My brother and I were talking about this and we looked up the price of rent for his first-ever apartment he lived with his now-wife and the rent price has TRIPLED. It’s been 15+ years, but still. That seems crazy!
I’ve never tried a no-spend month, what a great idea. I should try this, but will have to wait until after I buy my serum, I’m almost out. I like your parameters, they seem pretty reasonable, and it will help give you a good idea of how much of your regular spending is discretionary. Then you can move forward from there.
I also send birthday cards, and holy cow, they are spendy!
Yes, that’s a great point! Now I can see how much money I *really* have as discretionary when all is said and done.
Other than necessities like groceries, prescriptions, and cat food, I guess the last thing I spent money on was a few things from Lands End, and at least they were 50% off! Oh wait, that was Friday, and I did treat myself to lunch out on Saturday. Well, close enough.
The idea of trying a no-spend month makes me nervous, which probably means I really should try it! I’ll think about it. I do think I should be more mindful of where my money goes.
I’m ALWAYS nervous to start a no-spend month. It’s hard! And scary! And it makes me want things more than I should, haha. But it’s also a great way to reset my spending habits and make me take a step back and really evaluate my finances.
You’re doing well keeping your purchases down. It can be a challenge [obviously] but also kind of fun to track how well you’re doing.
We brew a pot of coffee every morning, so I have no idea how much K-cups cost. I’m intrigued that you can buy them in bulk, but am glad you found this cost-saving approach. Seems sensible.
It’s fun to keep track like this and report the good stuff! And it’s keeping me honest. 🙂
Yay for you! I think it’s cool how this makes you aware of not just what you are spending money on, but what you’re NOT spending money on. I hope you are tallying all the money that you’re actively not spending – I think that would be really satisfying to see.
Birthday cards *are* so expensive! My mother hates getting cards because she thinks they are a waste of money.
The last thing we spent money on was dinner out tonight with friends. Our portion of the bill was over $200 – taking the whole family out to eat in the city is so expensive. I try to remind myself that that is the bill for five people, so the per person cost ($40) is not terrible. But still…
I hope it’s really satisfying to take a look at the end of the month and see how much money I saved. A part of me is scared I’m going to be like, “Wait. That’s it???”
I love that you’re trying to get back on track, Stephany and I hope this exercise in writing it down helps with that. It’s really eye-opening where the money goes. I usually don’t spend much during the week at all – but I always have a bigger shopping trip on Fridays for all the essentials (and yes, ugh, it’s a lot.)
I always get birthday cards at TJs for $0.99 – I don’t think I could stomach spending $8 on a card. That’s crazy. (Happy birthday to your mom!)
I need to stock up on birthday cards at Trader Joe’s! The prices for birthday cards these days are insane.