After the holidays, we often feel like our spending habits need a reality check. Similar to the Dry January concept, a No-Spend Month is the perfect way to hit the reset button on your finances and reset your baseline spending. We typically do this once a year and we’re starting today. Here’s how we plan to do a No-Spend Month in 2025.
What’s a No-Spend Month Anyway?
Think of it as a money detox: you commit to spending only on essentials for a whole month and skip the rest. It’s not about depriving yourself; you can still use any gift cards you have laying around (in fact we find this often forces us to use gift cards we’d forgotten about) and can be as creative as you want in the rules. Some years anything we sell on your favorite social media marketplace, can be used. Other years, like this year, we are going a bit stricter. Ultimately, this endeavor is all about making sure you know where your money is going.
Set Some Ground Rules
First, you need to figure out what counts as a “need” versus a “want.” Here’s our quick cheat sheet:
Things You Keep Spending On (Essentials):
- Rent/mortgage
- Utilities (cell phone, electricity, water, internet)
- Groceries (planned ahead and if you want to go further, see how long you can eat from your reserves if you have them or set a stricter budget for this)
- Gas
- Insurance (car, home, etc.)
- Childcare
- Pet Food and Necessities
- Other essentials
Things to Hit Pause On (Non-Essentials):
- Eating out or ordering in
- New clothes (we already limit this and tend to favor consignment and thrifted items)
- Entertainment (current subscriptions like Netflix and Disney+ are fine, movies in the theater, nope.)
- Hobbies that cost extra or aren’t planned for (A No-Spend Month is not the time to take up a new hobby!)
- Subscriptions you can live without for a month
Steps for Success
- Set Your Goals Why are you doing this? To save for a trip? Pay down debt? Just to see if you can? Pick a goal that keeps you motivated when temptation strikes. Again, for us, it is a reset and reminder that we can be purposeful in our spending habits.
- Plan Ahead Prep meals, look for free activities, and plan how you’ll spend your free time, so you don’t default to spending. If there’s a birthday coming up for someone you know, take care of it ahead of time. We take this into account when choosing the month we use for our No-Spend Month.
- Get Everyone on Board If you live with family or roommates, let them know what you are doing and why. Talking about it ahead of time, even to your toddler or preschooler is much easier than trying to do it without everyone involved knowing.
- Watch for Triggers Online shopping ads? Boredom? Stress? Figure out what makes you want to spend and have a plan to deal with it (like taking a walk or diving into an established hobby). Also, take note of what makes you reach for your card. Is it convenience of UberEats versus heating up leftovers? Comparison? Annoyance fulfillment (this thing will fix this problem)? Something else? You can use the month to gain better insight into your own spending habits.
- Track Your Wins Keep a little notebook or use a budgeting app or spreadsheet to see how much you’re saving. Seeing the numbers add up feels AMAZING. This is where you note the amounts of all the items you considered purchasing but didn’t!
Dealing with Challenges
- Friends Want to Hang Out: Be upfront! Suggest free things like a game night or a hike instead of going out. You can get creative and host a coffee date at home. Or make a movie night with homemade popcorn.
- An Unexpected Expense Pops Up: Life happens. If it’s a true emergency, take care of it. In 2019, we had a car repair that occurred during our no spend month. But stay strong against excuses to splurge.
- Feeling Unmotivated: Remind yourself why you started. Maybe even treat yourself to something small and meaningful at the end of the month if you hit your goal.
What Happens After the Month Ends?
Congrats, you did it! Now take a minute to reflect:
- How much did you save?
- What surprised you about your spending habits?
- Which no-spend habits could you keep going forward?
Maybe you loved cooking at home or realized you don’t miss buying coffee or found clothes in your closet that were exactly what you almost bought. You probably used up that extra pantry item or other thing you somehow ended up with more than one of. Done right, a No-Spend Month doesn’t have to feel depriving, it can help you reset and build healthier money habits and crush your financial goals.
