A No Spend Day is one of the best ways to implement mindful spending. These days supercharge the mental money muscle. They ingrain healthy money habits. No Spend Days are one of the most effective ways to slow impulse spending and find money you never knew you had.
Thanks to a sleek well, run advertising industry, impulse spending are responsible for a good portion of our money being mindlessly spent over a year and multiples more over a lifetime.
Understanding the importance of managing small spends makes all the difference when it comes to successfully saving or diving further into debt.
What is a No Spend Day
A No Spend Day is any day where you do not spend money other than groceries or essential bills.
You need to keep up with the monthly bills, a roof over your head and healthy nutritious food in your belly.
The aim is to curb the spending that is soon forgotten or ends up in a landfill in a few months. The focus is on meeting all of your needs and being disciplined in your wants.
Instead, the aim is to channel your money towards things that make life a little better, and less stressful and build memories that will last.
Here's the secret
We have all been fooled into thinking that taking care of small amounts of money won't make a difference. I will show you that this is not true.
Managing small spends can make dreams happen.
No spend days are like magic; they compound many small, seemingly inconsequential spends and roll them into something worthwhile. Saving money is not always about income. What a person does with that income is just as important.
The Benefits of a No Spend Day
The benefits of a No Spend Day are many when it comes to your financial well-being. Frankly, there are many benefit you your overall well-being too.
Here are just a few more obvious ones.
1. Your time
Practising No Spend Days increases the respect and value that you place on the days spent working to earn that income. They leave you with more money in your pocket at the end of the month without frugality or deprivation.
2. Curbs unnecessary spending.
A No Spend Day puts mindfulness front and centre when it comes to making spending decisions. They encourage you to pause and think, 'Do I really need this?' before tapping the card. It helps when planning the day ahead and lends itself to a more organised life.
3. No Spend Days train you to look for value
No spend days enhance mindful spending. They put a buffer between you and the fancy advertising. When money is spent, it is with purpose and not a whim. Falling into poor spending habits puts all your hard work at risk.
Not least, mindless spending puts you at risk of trading long commutes and years of your life away from your family; for a wardrobe full of clothes with tags on and expensive snacks on the go you'll never remember. Your life is worth more than that. You are worth more than that.
4. Allows easier tracking of spends
Tracking spending can sometimes be tedious and dull if there are a huge number of easily forgettable transactions. It is easier to track spending and understand where your hard-earned money is going when all spending has been thought through, and deliberate, easy to remember
5. Channels your money in the right direction
Money that would otherwise be mindlessly frittered away on things you'll have forgotten a week later or end up in a landfill in six months. Can now be put towards things that make a positive difference. This extra money helps to pay off debt faster, increase savings & shore up rainy-day funds. In addition, they accelerate time to money goals, giving an increased feeling of security and putting you back in control.
6. No Spend Days feel fantastic
No spend days are not about hiding away and waiting for it to be over. They are about finding ways to enjoy yourself without resorting to the crutch of spending money as entertainment. There is a sense of achievement around completing a No Spend Day. Ticking off the calendar after a successful day of no spending is satisfying. One that is repeatable as often as you want.
Keeping track of No Spend Days and trying to beat a personal best week after week and month after month can become quite a fun game.
7. No Spend Days makes your money more meaningful
Once this habit is in place, automatic mindless spending becomes a thing of the past. The value derived from a transaction is thought about on a deeper level. When money is spent, it feels good and worthwhile.
Final Thoughts
A No Spend Day is a simple tool that is easily applied but will rocket your ability to save and raise your confidence with finances. It is a great way leave the money rut behind to get ahead with money. It helps to find money that you never knew that you had. It is wealth borne out of thousands of tiny decisions made daily.
Small actions over time, many tiny positive steps forward, add up to big jumps that will build your money, confidence and peace of mind.
A No Spend Day does not have to be a day where you hide under the duvet and pray for the morning. Make it something to look forward to, invite friends over, cook at home, and plan out free activities, a free festival or event, game night, movie night, or going to the park.
Make it part of your lifestyle, and build No Spend Days into your week. Make a game of it. It'll open your eyes to many new activities, past times and ideas that may only have manifested if you take the time to do it.
Try one and see how good it feels.
If you are interested in getting on the No Spend action, get your free No Spend Day tracker here and start mastering this life-affirming skill.