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It’s easy to become comfortable with the familiarity of routine. Enjoying the morning coffees, vending machines on break, and getting a snack while paying for gas—the little purchases add up over time.

These small charges can affect your budget. If you’re falling short on your savings goals, now is a good time to take a step back and make some adjustments.

Rethinking your spending may make it easier to get back on track. That’s where taking a no-spend challenge comes into play.

What’s a No-Spend Challenge?

A “no-spend challenge” is an activity where you try to avoid spending money on non-essential things for a certain amount of time.

The challenge lets you take a step back and examine where your money is going. It lets you focus on how non-essential spending may have dented your budget. How long you undertake the challenge and how often is entirely up to you.

Why Take a No-Spend Challenge?

There are both personal and practical reasons to take a no-spend challenge. Here are some reasons why you might want to take the plunge:

• It helps you rethink your spending priorities. Maybe it’s been a while since you last checked on your financial resolutions for the year. Being face-to-face with your spending habits lets you reflect on your choices and provides room to realign your goals.
  
• It aids in adjusting your lifestyle. Doing without the non-essentials allows no-spend challengers to experiment with alternatives. For example, many people do away with fast food as part of this challenge, leaving room to practice meal preparation and make better grocery shopping decisions.
  
• It lets you rebuild savings. Money saved during a no-spend period can be used to reconstruct a savings fund or reach a more meaningful goal. If small purchases can make a difference, then making small savings over a week or even a month can have a noticeable difference, too!
  

Now that you know the no-spend challenge and how it might help, here’s what you can do to get started.

How To Take Part in a No-Spend Challenge

First, remember that the no-spend challenge should help with your daily life. There aren’t any concrete rules to follow. Instead, there are practical guidelines that you can adjust as your needs and priorities change.

Also, remember that “no-spend” only applies to non-essential purchases. You still have to cover living expenses, like your rent or mortgage, utilities, bills, groceries and toiletries, health care and medications, and transportation. “Non-essential” purchases are items and services that you can probably live without and may include:

• Fast food and restaurants
• Subscription-based services
• Media subscriptions and entertainment
• Clothing and footwear
  

There have been many different write-ups on no-spend challenges. We’ve summarized one of these approaches from Bankrate below (click here for more information):

• Have a goal. If this is your first no-spend challenge, having a concrete goal might be an excellent starting motivator. Maybe you want to rebuild an emergency fund. Or, you are planning a holiday vacation and need to bulk up your savings. You can even use the no-spend challenge to save for a down payment on a car or other big purchases. The money you avoid spending will ultimately go towards this goal, so try to keep it in mind.
  
• Have a timeline. A no-spend challenge typically lasts for a set period. See if you can avoid non-essential spending for a week or an entire pay period. Afterward, check your progress and see how well you stuck to the plan. More advanced challenges may involve going a whole month or even longer. Some people find it easier to have their timelines coincide with events, like saving a gift in time for someone’s birthday or a road trip during the holidays.
  
• Set rules and exceptions. Define what a “non-essential purchase” is to you. These will be things you will avoid. Or, give yourself a “break” and allow one or two specific non-essential purchases during your challenge period. Remember your goals and be prepared to reference your budget when making these exceptions (Here’s a review on creating a budget.)
  
• Adjust your lifestyle accordingly. Doing away with a luxury may require lifestyle adjustments. For instance, if one of the things you deemed non-essential is coffee shop visits, you may need to set aside time to brew your own coffee. If you go out to eat a lot, you’ll have to prepare your meals or make them in a batch to save time.
  
• Check your progress. Compare your spending over previous months to see if saving made a significant difference. For example, if you spent a lot on dining out and did the no-spend challenge to control it, check your spending now against what it looked like before.
  

Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t see significant savings immediately. Take our latest example: letting up on takeout may have caused you to buy more groceries for meal prep. This is a chance to review your grocery spending and adjust your strategies.

How you approach your no-spending goals will depend on your lifestyle, preferences, and priorities. For more tips on tamping down spending, try this article about resisting the urge to spend.

What To Do When You Complete a No-Spend Challenge

When you’ve completed a period to practice your no-spend challenge, evaluate your performance. Check your spending from previous months and find the difference that a no-spend period made.

Celebrate the wins. Congratulate yourself on any savings you’ve made. The money you’ve kept during this period can go towards your savings goals, pay down outstanding debt, or put away in an account for safekeeping.

If you came up short, you still have reason to smile. You are taking active steps to be more mindful of your spending, and the lessons you learned can be applied to future challenges.

Taking on a no-spend challenge is one of many different ways to strengthen your budgeting and saving skills. With First Florida, you have the resources to stay in good financial shape. Visit our site to find additional tips on budgeting and money management.