No Spend Challenge is all about being mindful of your money. It is not only about saving money but also about improving your budgeting skills and being more conscious of your spending.

The first step to tracking your no spend challenge is to decide what you are spending money on. When I started out, I was a little confused about what I could track. I didn’t have a lot of extra money, so it seemed daunting to add up all the things I could be spending money on. Then I tried tracking no spend challenge on the bullet journal, which is something I had wanted to do for a while. This gave me a good point to start. I have included lots of suggestions and links for inspiration.

This is a very personal challenge, and I encourage you to follow the tips that suit you and your lifestyle. It is not a goal to be achieved. It is about having a new perspective on your money and becoming more mindful of how you spend your money. As a reminder, I am tracking the money I spend on my blog and any money I spend on our food budget.

How to start a no-spend challenge?

The first step to tracking your no spend challenge is to decide what you are spending money on. A great way to start your no spend challenge is to create a budget. 

Once you have a budget, you can start thinking about what you cannot spend. For example, you can no spend on food. You can also no spend on clothes. You can no spend on travel. You can no spend on entertainment. There are lots of ways you can no spend on things you buy. The more you know about your spending, the more likely you are to be able to make changes and adapt.

There are a few different ways you can do a no spend challenge. You can do a monthly no spend challenge or a weekly no spend challenge. You can also do a challenge based on your budget. I have created a list of the different ways you can do a no spend challenge.

Monthly No Spend Challenge

A monthly no spend challenge is a great way to start your no spend challenge. It is easy to track and easy to stick to.

A monthly no spend challenge can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. The key to a successful monthly no spend challenge is to stick to it. The more you stick to it, the more likely you will succeed.

There are many ways to track your monthly no spend challenge. You can do it either with a notebook or use a spreadsheet. You can make use of a calendar. You can utilize a free online budgeting tool. The list goes on and on. The important thing is to find a way to track your monthly no spend challenge.

Weekly No Spend Challenge

 The idea is simple; you need to avoid spending money for a week and document it. For the week, you will be documenting all your expenses. You are not looking at any other kind of spending but will be documenting the following:

Gas/petrol

Groceries

Misc/Furniture

Health/Dental

Water/Electricity

Internet/Phone

You will be doing this for a whole month. On the first day of the challenge, you will be documenting all your expenses. In case there is any money left at the end of the month, you will put it in your savings or donate it to charity. Weekly no spend challenge is way easier than monthly no spend challenge for a newbie.

No Spend Challenge Based on Your Budget

The third way you can do a no-spend challenge is to do a challenge based on your budget. If you have a budget, you can choose the amount of money you want to spend on non-essential things. For example, if you have a budget of $500, you can choose to no spend $500 on things that are non-essential. You can choose to spend that money on things that are essential. You can challenge yourself to spend no more than $25 per week. You can challenge yourself to spend no more than $10 per day. The list goes on and on.

It is important to understand that this is a challenge based on your budget. If you don’t have a budget, you need to create a budget first. Once you have a budget, you can use it to track your no spend challenge.

I will be using a budget that I created to track my no-spend challenge. To demonstrate this point I am challenging myself to spend no more than $5 per day. This means that I am spending no more than $150 per month. I have been doing this for a whole month.

If you are a student, you will be able to use this budget to track your no spend challenge. For example, you can challenge yourself to spend no more than $5 per week. You can also challenge yourself to spend no more than $1 per day.

Challenge Based on Your Goals

If you are a goal setter, you will use a no-spend challenge to set yourself goals. If you want to save more money, you can challenge yourself to no spend $10 per day. You can challenge yourself to save $250 per month. You can challenge yourself to spare $500 per month. The list goes on and on.

Other Ways to No Spend Challenge

There are many other ways you can no spend. You can no spend on meals. You can no spend on snacks. You can no spend on drinks. You can no spend on gifts. You can no spend on extra gadgets. You can no spend on anything you purchase. You can no spend on all of the above.

You can choose to no spend anything you purchase. If you do this, you choose not to spend on any of the above. If you do this, you will be able to track all of your no spend challenges.

Conclusion

1. Here is how you do it. Be sure that the most important thing is to have a vision for your goals and then set goals for each area of your life. Each goal should be measurable.

2. Write down all your goals. Make sure to write them out in terms of what you want to do rather than just what you want to lose. For example, I’m not going to eat chocolate until I lose 30 pounds. That’s too abstract. Rather set your goal to that I want to have a chocolate-free week every month until I reach my weight loss goal.

3. The No Spend Challenge (NSC) concept is that it is not an easy way to save money; it is the best way to save money. So how does it work? Every week, you commit to spending nothing. At the end of the week, you get a freebie or a small gift for yourself. I call it a “No Spend Challenge” because it isn’t about saving money for the whole year. It’s just a challenge to spend no money this week. Why? Because I want to see what I can do if I stop spending money on myself for a week. It’s amusing, and I think it will make you feel good about yourself when you see how much you can spend less than usual. What will you be doing? I want to give you a list of ideas to start an NSC with me this week. It might be something like:

– You buy a lunchtime sandwich for $3 instead of a full meal

– You buy a coffee instead of a latte

– You pay $3 for your sports club membership instead of $35

Remember, you can’t afford to give up everything. What I mean by this is that your lifestyle has to fit within your budget. That is a no-spend challenge.

4. Find things you enjoy doing that don’t cost much money.

5. If you can’t afford to give up something, reward yourself for sticking to your goals. That could be a meal out or a treat.