No Spend October

We are not spending any money this month.  Well, that’s not totally true because that’s impossible.  But we are going to spend less.  Far less.

Last October we did Ruth from Living Well Spending Less’s No-Spend Challenge.  I’m not sure if she’s doing it this year as I didn’t see anything about it on her blog but the past few years she has challenged her readers to take one month and cut out all non-essentials.

Basically you set some ground rules before hand about what you will spend money on and you try to make the most of what you have.

In years past she has had an activity for each day to help you along.  You can now get the challenge details in paperback from Amazon.  For example one of the first things you do is to go through your pantry and freezer to take inventory of what you have.  Food is a huge expense so looking to save money in that category is helpful.

After taking stock of what food you have on hand you make a plan of meals trying to use mostly what you have and adding in just a little from the store when needed.  This past Saturday I went through the pantry and freezer to inventory.  Then I made a meal plan and shopped for a few items I needed to round out the week (mostly milk and a little fresh produce).

Basically our plan is to spend money on necessities (bills, groceries, and gas for the cars) but nothing more.  There will be no shopping for fun or eating out.

Last year we did really well.  We were not perfect (we did eat out a very few times) but overall it was a super month for us.  My hope is that we will do even better this year!

Have you tried the Living Well Spending Zero Challenge before?  Or tried your own no-spend challenge?