by Elizabeth S.
No spending on coffee, snacks, or meals
I like to think I am pretty good about this stuff, but lately I’ve been atrocious. I will make my iced coffee at home, and prepare my lunch each night before work. There are meal replacement shakes and a can of nice, hearty soup in my desk if hunger strikes. No excuses. Every single meal I have this week will be homemade or out of someone else’s pocket (i.e. if my work buys lunch).
One trip to the grocery store mid-week
This will be tricky, because I often have the perfect meal in mind, but tell myself I need to shop for one or two things to complete the meal. In reality, this turns into a $30 to $40 trip, usually with some fancy cheese or (unnecessary) exotic vegetables making their way into the bag. I’ll need to plan my meals and the things I need for the house in advance.
No drinking during the work week
The summer of hedonism must end, unfortunately. Nothing gold can stay. I was reaching for the odd glass of wine with dinner, or a cold cocktail on my west-facing porch at sunset, but it’s become a little more frequent than I would like. Cutting back on the adult social beverages should help me with my finances because alcohol is an avoidable expense. I also have less time to spend money when I’m active and then exhausted from being active!
Hit the pavement and the gym
My (cheap!) gym membership is deducted from my paycheck and I think I’ve only been once all summer. YIKES. It’s a waste of money right now. I have a corporate discount and pay $40 all in ($20 bi-monthly) for access to a nice gym franchise. It includes access to all locations (and there is one across from my office and one a half-mile from my house), towel service, swimming, fitness classes, etc. I need to use this. I want to lift weights twice a week in addition to my outdoor run training, which I will commence this Wednesday. Historically, fitness activities really rein in the excessive grocery and entertainment money. And the best part is, none of this adds money to my monthly expenses.
WIll goals help?
I like making SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. I think my goals for the week fit the bill, and I’m looking forward to this little achievement. After that, I would LOVE to try a no spend work week!
Has anyone else had success with no spend challenges? I’d love some tips before I consider how to set myself up for success with that goal.
Elizabeth is a single woman in her early 30s, working as a manager at a software company and living in the most expensive city in Canada. She hopes to blog about her journey to eliminate debt and build savings for home ownership someday. Whenever she has taken two financial steps forward, she’s always taken a step back with a bad credit card purchase (we’re looking at you, unnecessary iPhone of May 2019). Elizabeth lives alone with her fur kids, a dog and cat, and when she’s not in front of the computer, she enjoys running, camping, reading, and baseball.
Elizabeth,
You have set some really good and SMART goals for the week. To help you achieve the goal of only one trip to the grocery store, make a list of what you will need. If grocery pick up services are available, you might try it since you would not be tempted by items you see in the store since you do not go into the store. It has helped me a lot buy only foods that are good for me.
Wonderful goals, good luck! If the alcohol is hard to break try a mocktail or even a soda instead.
One tip that might help with that mid-week grocery trip (or really any grocery trip) is to walk into the store with a list; then have your blinders on to anything that’s not on the list. If you didn’t need it before you walked into the store, you don’t need it as you’re wandering the aisles.
In place of alcohol, try tonic water on ice with a lemon or lime – so refreshing!
Nice goals, and a nice affirmation in the first section — “I will…” Those gym memberships! I know how that goes. You will have more time for that without the patio beverage activity. Well, maybe a cool glass of water afterward.
I typically do better doing what your doing this week, targeting a specific line item. No spend weeks don’t usually work for me because I then use it as an excuse to splurge the next week. Like you I have to be super specific with my goals(and my rewards for meeting benchmarks.)