There may be many reasons why you have come across this page; you want to clear debt, save for a holiday or save for something larger like a house deposit. But, you’ll be surprised to hear that a no spend year (or no buy month, if you want to take it a step at a time) will bring so much more to your life than financial freedom. It will completely transform your mindset. It will give you a new understanding of money and how you use it in your every day life. And boy, it will be worth it!
So let’s get into the best advice I can give to help you be successful in your own no spend/buy month or year.
Tips for a successful no buy year.
Find your why!
The reason your are tracking your spend and reducing it is vital. That reason is what will keep you focused throughout, so make it a good one. To help you with this you could have a visual image, maybe on your phone, framed art or set as a screensaver to help you get that regular reminder of why you are doing this. Any time things get tough, turn to your reason. It will keep you motivated and help you to get back on track.
Know your income and expenditure.
You need to know exactly what money is coming in and what essential bills are coming out. What’s left is the focus for the no spend month or year. It is this money that gets spent on a range of items – some more essential than others. Bills are part of life so we are not including this as the focus.
However, food is an area that you may be spending more on than you need to.
Often, you may go multiple times a week to the shop, we don’t take a list and we don’t plan out our meals for the week. It means we buy more food than we need and often lots of food goes to waste or just sits in the cupboards or freezer. Work out what you already have – make in inventory. It doesn’t have to be exact – i.e. a bag of frozen peas/half bag of sweetcorn, etc. but once you have an idea of what you already have, you won’t then end up buying duplicate items. With your inventory you can then decide what meals you want (roughly) each week and write an ingredients list. With this in place you can cross off any items you already have in the fridge/freezer or cupboards. Only buy what is left on the list. Then the final, and often most important trick, is to stick to that list when you are food shopping. Avoid the seasonal isles, household goods and picking up other treats, etc. This is where the additional pounds get added onto the food shop. You could save hundreds a month doing this. Easily!
Work out what you spend your ‘spare money’ on.
Is it cosmetics, clothing, gifts, takeaways, books, subscriptions, meals out, etc. It will help to look back at the last 2-3 months worth of statements to gain a good picture of your spending habits. Know your totals for each of the categories mentioned (and any others you might spend on). With this, you can look at where you could reduce your spend. You could limit spend in each area to a certain amount. Or alternatively, you could go cold turkey and only give yourself a set overall ‘spend amount’ (kinda like pocket money) and you have to stay within this for all categories.
Plan any expenses with a sinking fund.
This is those occasional expenses that come up, such as MOT, car repairs, car insurance, christmas and birthdays. These occur every year. Whilst it can be frustrating to pay for some of these areas, you will inevitably be buying gifts for birthdays and Christmas. So my advice is to plan for them with a sinking fund. A sinking fund is a pot of money put aside for specific items. You can put this aside in advance and then when you need to pay for these items, the money is available. It allows you to be prepared. This means you can pay for items such as insurance in advance for the year, which also saves you money (direct debits add on a % fee). This means more pennies in your pocket and it soon adds up.
Reduce your clutter.
Reducing the the amount of items in your home can really help you to understand the value of ‘things’. We fill our homes with a range of duplicate items, ornaments, plants, cushions, 3 cupboards full of mugs. Items that we buy over and over without an actual NEED for them. When you declutter the unnecessary items in your home, you begin to realise quite how much money you have spent on different items over the years, as well as acknowledging how little the item is used or needed. I have a range of videos on my youtube channel that covers how to declutter, so check them out!
Use up items.
I’ve already mentioned about using up food items to reduce waste, but why not use up other products to help keep costs down. We all have a stash of different cleaners under the sink, or shampoos and conditioners in the bathroom. Use these items up. There is generally not a need to stock up on these items. But do you need 12 different shampoos? Probably not. They take up value space in your home and using them up will mean not having to spend on these items for a little while.
Find free things to do with friends and family.
If you are someone often found wandering the retail stores, when you start your no spend year (or month) you will have an abundance of time on your hands. You will have spent more time shopping than you realise. So now is a good time to think of all the free and fun activities that you can do with your loved ones and reconnect with one another. This will do a lot for your wellbeing, which in the current climate is more important than ever.
A month or year?
I really hope you will join me in a no spend year and I have ever faith in you being able to do this. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. This can be applied to a month at a time or a whole year. The choice is yours.
Rachel, Declutter your life
For more little acts… https://declutteryourlife.co.uk/minimalism/little-acts-of-decluttering/
For more ideas, check out my youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/c/RachelNoakes
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