A group of my mommy friends have decided to do the No Spend Challenge together. Since I did it last year, I have a pretty good idea of the things that need to happen for me to be successful this time around and look forward to the spending reset this will provide for the Hosh and I in 2016.
Here are a few questions I am asking myself before January to prepare.
What's the Point? The biggest factor in sticking to the No Spend Challenge for me is having a goal I am trying to achieve. This year is the year of Baby #2 and, if all goes well with Baby #2, our home addition. Saving towards our renovation and decorating budget is a huge motivator. I hope to save over $3,400 in January by sticking to not spending outside of our budget.
Another goal is to stop our frivolous spending which tends to get out of control after the holidays so we can stay on financial track for 2016. This is is a big factor in my challenge participation.
Lastly, I am going to be KonMari-ing my home in the first part of 2016 and need to run down my pantry which has become to full with items ignored because it's more fun to shop for food than it is to use what I already have. Keeping these three goals in mind will prevent me from spending during the challenge.
What Can We Buy? One of the things I learned during the last challenge was to make sure to budget for things that actually matter to me. Not having spending cash for pre-Chinese New Year shopping last year really upset me because I want to be able to spend money on my mom. This time, I am taking a close look at my calendar, thinking about events and what I really want to spend on. For instance, my sister's and mom's birthdays are both in January so I'll budget for gifts and dinners. I also have a wedding related event as a bridesmaid for my best friend's wedding and will need to buy gifts and my bridesmaid dress in January.
For me, the No Spend Challenge is about controlled spending instead of impulsive spending. Clarifying the difference between wants, needs and priorities. A budget is my road map for achieving what I want with every dollar we make.
Here are links to budget information and budget apps:
Budget Form from Dave Ramsey
You Need A Budget Software
Mint Personal Finance App
What Will We Eat? Dining out is a huge expense in our household. It's so easy to just head out to a restaurant or pick up food on the way home with a two working parent household. During the last challenge, I found that making the time to cook at home improved my kitchen skills but also gave us more quality time at home. Instead of spending time in restaurants and stores, we spent time together going on walks and working on the house which improved our quality of life.
Cooking at home is also time consuming and can be costly unless there's a plan in place so I will be meal planning after taking stock of my pantry and deep freezer.
Here are a few blogs with meal planning templates:
Meal Planners from Money Saving Mom
Weekly Menu Planner from Organized Home
20 Free Menu Planner Printables from Fab N Free
What Will We Do? It really helps to have things to look forward to and non-spending based goals to focus on during the No Spend Challenge. As previous mentioned, I will be purging a lot of things from our home which will take up a lot of time. The Hosh plans on doing a lot of fishing as well as cleaning out his garage. I plan on making better use of my gym membership as a stress reliever instead of shopping.
Here are a few blogs that suggest activities for no-spend weekends in the winter:
102 Things to Do on a Money-Free Weekend from The Simple Dollar.
50 essential winter activities from Today's Parent. This is focused on children.
Top 10 Free (or Super Cheap) Things to Do with Kids Under 5 from Red Tricycle. This is the Los Angeles edition but Red Tri has guides for most major metropolises. What do you do to prepare for sticking to a budget?
0 comments:
Post a Comment