January and February are great months for fast starting savings because there are fewer social activities due to the cold weather. By saving more these months, it makes me feel good, and motivated to do so for the rest of the year. I invited all the people in the Save My Cents club to a No-Spend Challenge, where we try to spend as little as we can on non-essentials. They were able to track my progress through my latest money diaries (currently only available to Save My Cents club members) when they reported their progress. I’m so so so proud to report that for the month of February, every member who checked in has saved at least 10% of their gross, pre-tax, pre-deductions income!
In each of the last two months, my husband and I, spent less than $10 each on gifting, healthcare, leisure, and home goods, and we each spent less than $60 on eating out. I spent nothing on clothing. We were able to back out an extra $250 of savings each month against our budget as a result of our challenge. Every year, I try to meet my No-Spend Challenge with more creative ideas. This is what I tried this year:
Determine your values
I learned to value the following more than stuff: Quality time with people I love. Learning and engaging my brain. Rest.
The no-spend challenge is called a challenge because it IS hard. I may have whined a couple days, okay I probably whined for a week. And there were some categories where we did spend (advance travel booking, paying a credit card annual fee). In order to meet the challenge, you have to come up with values that transcend money spending, such that you can sustain joy throughout.
Talk about money
Part of the mission of Save My Cents is to encourage more talking about money. I tell people directly that a restaurant or activity is out of my budget, or that by living off of one income, I just cannot afford that event at the moment. The more we talk about money, the less shame there is attached to it. As a society, we need to be celebrating saving money more!
When hanging out with friends, find non-spend activities
I eat in a lot and try to move hangouts to potlucks. We have hosted plenty in the past, and this winter several of our friends treated us to meals at their homes, it was really lovely. What is most important to me, is spending time chatting and getting to reconnect with friends, more so than how fancy the food was that we ate.
Carry less cash / no credit cards when out and about
On some of the nicer days, I was able to make it out of the house to walk about. In these cases where I don’t really have an agenda, I tend to leave my wallet at home and carry only my subway card, my ID, and my keys. There is no way I can spend money I don’t have on hand!
Gaming can be a good thing
At some point, my husband and I developed cabin fever. Then, he found a way for us to play a childhood favorite video game together – this was after we played free games of Battleship and Stratego online. While I certainly did not expect to suddenly start dreaming of what I want to build in Age of Empires and how I can outsmart a computer, we were able to pass several evenings together this way.
Don’t let free food go to waste
I work at a company that provides a lot of free food. So much of that food goes to waste when we over-estimate the number of people attending an event. Thus, I have no shame in eating my share once it looks like no one else is going to take the food. I took full advantage of carrying some goodies home or eating enough at work so that I don’t have to eat my packed lunch. Check out these collapsible storage bowls that you can keep at your desk to take food home.
Unfollow viciously
In the past few years, I’d been unsubscribing from retailer marketing emails. This year, I began being more conscious of who I follow on social media / Instagram. In many instances I got over myself and un-followed anyone who posted too much of the following: luxury travel. Luxury food experiences. Nice clothing. Beautiful homes. I realized that these images are misaligned with my values, so I don’t really want to see them. The accounts I tend to follow these days celebrate entrepreneurial grit, community, family and babies (I follow a lot of babies), and love.
Am I destroying friendships by un-following friends? I don’t think so. I separate social media interactions vs. maintaining friendships. The friends I care about, I’m always going to reach out to hang out. Just because there is a disconnect in what we post on social media, does not mean that I do not care about them as people. This is probably the most extreme thing I have done in the name of saving money.
Rest is amazing
I haven’t slept as much as I did in the month of February in months. Part of it is because I had less intense days at work, but it’s also because by doing less, I decided to gift myself the time to rest and sleep in, just because. At first I felt a lot of guilt, but I realized that this was all in my head. I was not allowing myself to feel joy. So every day I woke up and chose joy.
Does this resonate with you? Join the Save My Cents Facebook group to gain access to password-protected posts in the future. Members are added every business day. Want to get serious about saving money? Join the Save My Cents Club to learn to save 10 – 20% of your salary.
