Learn how to save money easily with this simple No Spend Challenge!
Saving money is hard. After that initial burst of motivation and willpower fades away, the day to day task of cutting back begins to feel more difficult and the urge to spend becomes STRONG. It’s a lot like going on a diet. Once you decide to cut something out, you crave it even more than before.
This year my husband and I are saving for 2 new heat pumps to replace the incredibly inefficient models we currently have. They cost about $10,000 (eek!), and so we had to trim our budget quite a bit.
Looking through our bank statements, we quickly realized we were spending close to $60 throughout the week on food (in addition to my big Sunday shopping trip). It was craziness! So we set a goal to not spend any money during the weekdays (Monday – Friday). And you know what? It hasn’t been all that hard.
With a little planning each weekend, our weekly spending freeze will save us over $3000 in 2018!
Related Post: 11 Money Saving Challenges to Boost Your Savings
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No Spend Challenge
One of the big things I learned when we were setting up our budget was just how much I was spending on little things throughout the week. It’s so easy to overlook all those small purchases! Between a quick stop at the grocery store, dinner at the fast food place down the street and a coffee or two, it adds up unbelievably quickly.
A weekly spending freeze is such a clever money saving challenge because it is super easy – just don’t spend any money Monday through Friday. While it does take some planning to do it right, it’s actually a pretty painless way to save thousands of dollars a year!
To prepare for your weekly no spend challenge, there are a few things you need to do. Click the image below and print out your free, no spend challenge worksheet to help you plan out your weekly spending freeze!
1. Make a Meal Plan
This is the most important part of a successful weekday no spend challenge. If you have meals planned out for every day of the week, you won’t feel the need to stop by the grocery store or pick up fast food.
Over the weekend, come with a meal plan for the week. Write it down and stick to it!
Bonus Money Saving Tip: Coming up with enough recipes for an entire week can be tricky. Try these three resources for help with meal planning and cooking ahead. They really make things a lot easier!
Personalized Meal Plans and Shopping List . I LOVE this service! Meal planning can get tedious but this site makes it so easy. Plus you can try it FREE for 14 days!
Freezer Cooking Meal Plan (another HUGE time saver). Sign up for the FREE Freezer Cooking workshop.
2. Stock Up On Groceries
When you are creating your grocery list, make sure to think about what you will need for the entire week. You won’t be stopping by the store at all for the next 5 days, so it’s important to plan ahead.
Bonus Money Saving Tip: Sign up for Ibotta (Get a $10 reward too!) and Checkout 51 to earn cash back on those groceries!
Check out full Ibotta review here!
3. Fill Up and Save on Gas
Somehow I always forget this one! Make sure you fill up on gas before your Monday morning commute.
Bonus Money Saving Tip: Use sites like GasBuddy.com to find the cheapest gas prices near you.
4. Take Care of Those Errands
Finally, run any of those pesky errands over the weekend. Not only will this help you not spend money during the week, it’s nice to get them out of the way!
Since my family started doing this weekly no spend challenge, we have saved an average of $60 a week. That’s over $3000 a year! It is such a painless way to save money and grow your savings account – I encourage you to give this easy no spend challenge a try!
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