In the beginning of the month I decided to streamline my expenses and set out to spend at least 25 days this April without expending any money from my wallet, bank, credit card, or participate in any other way the exchanging of my money for goods or services. Half way through the challenge now so I just wanted to post a quick update.
This is my first time tracking my no spend days, and so far so good, I’ve spent 12 out of the last 15 days without spending a penny. I don’t drink coffee so I think that makes things easier from the start. I don’t go out much either, so that is another helpful excuse to not spend (stay at home.)
image source: spongebobtumblrpants.tumblr.com
Unfortunately there has been an unexpected surprise. My strata company (or HOA equivalent) decided to paint the exterior of the condo which resulted in a special levy for every unit owner, such as myself. I have until next month but I paid now since I have the money available, and wanted to get it over with. It’s not so bad though considering how expensive levies can become. I bought this condo in 2009 knowing it’s over 30 years old, so something like this was expected to happen sooner or later (-_-‘)
Overall this no spend challenge hasn’t really affected me in any big way. My social life is taking a back seat for the moment but I explained what I’m doing to my friends and they understand it’s only temporary. I filled up my car late March so I shouldn’t have to get gas again until May (that’s one benefit of living close to work.) I also have lots of food left over from last month. The only thing I’ve run out of now is fresh fruit and veggies, but I still have some frozen carrots and potatoes, plus tons of other food in the freezer. The company I work for also has a basket of fruit in the kitchen (^_^) Today I took a kiwi and an orange. I also have uncooked oatmeal, pasta, canned mushrooms, and other goodies with long shelf lives, so I can easily go without grocery shopping for another 2 weeks.
Once April is over I will show a more detailed breakdown of my spending for this month.
[Edit] Here is the final conclusion and review of this challenge [/edit]
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Random Useless Fact: According to Amazon.com‘s web traffic analyzing subsidiary, Alexa Internet, Inc. my freedom 35 blog appears to be very popular among young women in my age group. They also seem to have respectable social economic statuses. Here’s an excerpt below.
“Based on internet averages, freedomthirtyfiveblog.com is visited more frequently by females who are in the age range 18 – 24, have no children, received some college education and browse this site from home… Also, relative to the general internet population, people with income from $60K to $100K a year are greatly over-represented at freedomthirtyfiveblog.com. ”
Source: www.alexa.com
That’s great no-spend day progress! I’m kind of jealous. I need to get up the motivation to do a challenge like this.
For sure. I don’t pay for parking on a regular bases though so you can set your own rules.
2 days left! That’s great; nice work! One more day for gas and groceries and another unplanned day and you’d be set! 🙂
That’s a great demographic you’re hitting as well! 🙂
Thanks, only 14 more days to go.
Never would have thought it possible… You are making great progress. To compare, I’ve (we’ve) had 3 no-spend days… But I have a family, 2 places, 2 cars and many automatic set-up expenses… When I read your post on your intention to do this it prompted me to ponder how I’d fair… It seems no spends are not for me… That said we are on track to have spent half as much this month on things in comparison to my average monthly spending so at least I’ve managed somehting 😛
I would like to have a family of my own someday like you. I realize no-spend days will be very difficult to pull off at that point though. I think the present stage of my life is a good time to try out any of these experiments, since there are very few external factors that could influence the outcome. I don’t think no-spend days are that effective to begin with. Spending half as much money on things is a lot more relevant than how many times spending takes place.
To have two consecutive no spend days for me would be a real mental challenge. Every day, there seems to be something that I have to spend money on.
Wow 25 no spend days in 1 month!? That’s some serious willpower! I read about other finance bloggers aiming for about 10 in one month and even that seemed like a lot. Nice work man. Just don’t sacrifice too much of your social life to make that happen.
I will try, thanks. Maybe I can think of some free activities to do with people.
I cannnot believe you did it!!! I believe Congratulations are in order… Did you learn anything about yourself and your habits doing this exercise?
Thanks. I just had to be in the mindset of being happy with what I have instead of what I want, then I realize I don’t need to buy anything for this month because everything I need is at home. I learned I can save a lot of time by not going out and buying things.