“We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like.”– Dave Ramsey

Most of us don’t think twice about our spending habits, meals out with friends, drinks in the pub at the weekend, daily coffee on the way to work, takeaways at the weekend, cinema trips, pedicures, gym memberships we rarely use, a new colour of lipstick, a new dress, etc.

The list is endless and we do it without second-guessing or even thinking about the value of money because it makes us feel good in the moment. But then we wonder why we have no savings, why we can’t afford to go on holiday or buy a new house. I’m not saying don’t enjoy your life and never treat yourself to anything or enjoy socialising with your friends, but when you become mindless of your spending it can become disruptive and lead to anxiety, stress, and debt.

I used to spend so much money on clothes shopping, I’d go every week and blow a load of money on clothes I didn’t need because I found shopping fun. But the thing is, I’ve hardly worn half the clothes, shoes, and bags I wasted money on and I would have a lot more savings if I didn’t waste away my money on things I didn’t need, that now still have the labels on them.

Challenging yourself to spend money only on essential items for one week is a massive eye-opening experience and will help to show you how flippant you usually are with your money, where you’re wasting it and how you can cut back on your spending whilst still enjoying and living your life to the fullest.

It’s great to have a goal and a reason for why you are going to try the no-spend challenge for a week and to document how much you’ve saved at the end of each day to keep you going. You might think it’s only £3.50 for that morning coffee before work but that’s £17.50 a week and if you cut out this habit for a whole year, that’s £910 you’d save!

This is on only one non-essential item, so, imagine cutting back on all the things you don’t need to be wasting money on and think about everything you could do with that extra money. It might be that you’ve always wanted to travel but couldn’t afford it, you’ve always wanted to have a mortgage but are stuck renting, you need money to set up your own business, etc. Have something that you can work towards and you’ll be far less likely to waste your money on pointless things and stay on track of your essentials only spending.

Only spend money on essential items for a week and you will realise how much money you waste and that all the little spending adds up to a lot over time.

But what classes as essential or non-essential?

** Grocery shopping is essential but set yourself a challenging limit to spend on your weekly food shop and only buy basic things you need like fruit, vegetables, meat, pasta, rice, milk, etc, and not a load of luxury items like alcohol, cosmetics, crisps, sweets and chocolate etc.

** Transport is also classed as essential but if possible, try and limit your spending on transportation. If you live close enough to work to walk or cycle then you could ditch the car, bus, or train for a week, get some extra exercise, and save some more pounds.

What are you going to get out of it?

• You will save money
• You’ll see that you don’t need to buy things to make you happy
• You will become more creative and thriftier
• You will find fun new things to do that don’t cost anything
• You will see where you waste your money
• Extra savings toward your goals and dreams
• You will see the value of money and be more aware of your future spending
• You will be more appreciative of the little things in life
• A sense of pride knowing that you can spend less, complete a challenge, and that you don’t need to waste money

Giving yourself challenges is a great way to help you grow, learn, and appreciate the important things in your life. If you stick to only spending money on essential items for one week you will gain more understanding of where your money is wasted and where you can curb your spending.

Save what you would have been spending in a jar or a separate account so you can visually see how much you’re wasting weekly on non-essential things. This will help you after the challenge to stop spending and wasting so much money on things you don’t need because you will have started to save for something you’ve always wanted and this will give you the motivation to keep going.

Tell the people around you that you are doing a no-spending week and this will help to remove temptation because they will hopefully be supportive of your challenge and not pester you to go out and waste money on a meal or drinks in the pub.

Try the no-spend challenge for a week and see how much you save!

“Consider our difficulties avoiding junk food and overspending. Such addictions were carefully planned-for by professional marketing teams.”– Robert J Shiller

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