Happy 2020!

Quick recap on the MIA status of yours truly…

I’d been saving and looking for a home and… I found one! I’m hoping I can get more into a groove and reintroduce you guys to the me I am becoming so if you’re still subscribed… thanks 🙏🏽 and I plan to have some good, more consistent content for you guys now that I’m more settled.

So where was I? Yep! Okay… new home, new responsibilities… intro to me introducing a “No Spend Week” into the mix of my life. I heard as a new home owner, in order to make sure you don’t go in the hole and curve your spending to prepare for the spending that is home ownership; you should have a week were you don’t spend. Now let’s be clear on what that looks like. I’m not spending on the following:

1. Non grocery foods ie eating out/ snacks/ beverages
2. Clothes & shoes
3. Make-up
4. Amazon. Periodt.
5. Apps & in app purchases
6. Entertainment

It was ROUGH. Let me start by saying I failed the first day lol. I bought a bag of chips. 🙄. But after that it was smooth (lies it was hard work) sailing. Oh, did I mention that you can’t overcompensate spend prior to or after that week?

No spend weeks also means there is some degree of preparation. So to the people who do this and this is their norm… I applaud you. To those of us who have let “convenience” rule our pockets… there is help for us!

Where my money at?!

So off rip I know most of my money goes to outside food. Here is a non prep day for me usually.

Coffee – $2.00

Breakfast (milk & cereal single serve) – $3.00

Lunch cafeteria – $8.00

Midday snack – $3.00

Dinner (fast food) – $9.00

That’s $25.00 a day give or take and that’s just food.

And I don’t even want to consider the caloric intake but I’ll say this. I’ve gained 20lbs and I can see why now.

I go out at least once a week. Not happy hour but probably worse because my “go out” is usually to a fabric store or skating or some activity that triggers the need to go eat afterwards.

Not to mention my online shopping to “reward” myself for not going out. Listen amazon prime paired with Pinterest on a quiet Friday night is the devil.

The real silent killer is in app purchases… fingerprint purchases. 👀 This one week… I spent FORTY DOLLARS on the Covet app. Needless to say I let that app breathe for like two weeks after that.

But… it adds up. And quickly. Now the no spend week isn’t punishment but it should bring some fiscal / health / mental balance to your approach on adulting.

Prepare ye!!!

So like I said you ABSOLUTELY have to prep for a no spend week if you want your life to mirror your spend weeks.

Food:

I get up earlier in order to make my coffee and breakfast (NO OVERNIGHT OATS)

I definitely had to make sure my grocery shopping was done before I started this week because if you’re anything like me lack of food can lead to over spending.

A LITTLE variety is the spice of life… I went between cereal (frosted mini wheats) and smoothies for breakfast. I realized my taste gets bored when I know that I don’t have options. And I’ll tantrum starve myself which will lead to… spending to eat. So I switch it up. I DO buy Healthy Choice frozen dinners to break up left over lunches and curve fast food nights.

The biggest thing I learned was that it’s possible to NOT be wasteful. And you SHOULD eat everything in your fridge not save it for a just in case because that’s how food gets spoiled.

Kale was a LARGE part of my week / in smoothies… sautéed for dinner…

Take Aways

A no spend week with proper planning can work and save you money and help you adjust your spending habit better than a cold turkey approach. Case and point, when my no spend week ended I went with my homegirl to McDonald’s for breakfast because she was braiding my hair. When we were done it was evening and she was like “do you wanna get Philly cheesesteaks?” (We had been talking about them) I ended up declining because I realized I’d already spent $7 on food AND I still had food in the house. Small changes!

• Plan – start by writing out what you tend to do on a daily basis
• Be consistent – don’t use the no spend week as a week to let go of like… coffee. Creating immediate lack can set you up to fail so rather account for the things you normally do and consider no spend alternatives
• Be present – don’t hoard shop anything. If you don’t cook a new meal every night. This isn’t the time to try it.
• Avoid – avoid emails and cut off instant alerts that tell you about sales. Mute them if you can. I missed a few and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. It did. So avoid Fomo by ignoring the sales alerts altogether.
• Communicate – let your peeps know this is a no spend week. They can keep you accountable AND they won’t pressure you to hang out and spend… some of the great friends may even postpone a festivity until your no spend week is over. That OR cover you!

This honestly was a success and anyone who is interested in saving or prepping for aggressive saving, I would encourage them to try this first.

Spend wisely!