I just wrapped up what I called the Two-Week No Spending Challenge. For two weeks my husband and I committed to not spending a penny. Other than the $10.12 we spent on some medicine to treat my nasty bug, we succeeded. We ate the food that was already in our fridge and pantry. We entertained ourselves with freebies. And we learned some valuable lessons along the way.
* Fun Can Be Free: I must admit, I was a little nervous that we would get bored during the two week challenge, but I was wrong. We rented free movies using codes we found for Redbox and Blockbuster Express. We played games. We hung out with friends and family. We baked. We read books. We worked on projects around the house that we already had the supplies for. Truthfully, we accomplished quite a bit because rather than starting new projects we worked on finishing ones we had already started.
* There is Freedom in Not Spending Money: Normally our weekends include running errands, shopping and other activities that involve spending money. When we forced ourselves to not spend money we were actually giving ourselves an excuse to just relax and enjoy what we already have.
* We Can Do Better: Although neither of us are big spenders, my husband and I realized that we can do better with our budget. The Two-Week No Spending Challenge highlighted areas where we can cut back. Some of those areas are small, but I believe they will be noticeable. For instance, we ran out of pancake mix so I quickly looked up a recipe for making my own. I realized that this is much cheaper than buying a box of ready-made mix so from now on this is how we’ll do it. We also used this time to reevaluate our budget and start using The Envelope System. Every two weeks we will fill designated envelopes with cash for that budget item, such as food, entertainment and gas. Once that money is gone, it’s gone. But if there is money leftover we can roll it into the next two-week period or put it into savings.
We decided that we would not make the Two-Week No Spending Challenge a one-time event. In fact, we decided we would challenge ourselves in this way every two to three months. It’s a great way to refocus your priorities, save money and simplify.