There are times when debts are too much to handle, but no-spend days were my difference. A no-spend day is essentially a very simple concept: you commit to spend nothing. Immediately, you will save money. That’s the smallest part of the impact. It helped me pay off $80,000 in debt, but it changed my relationship with money totally. Here are six ways that no-spend days can help you on your quest to being a debt-free person.
1. It promotes Mindful Spending
No-spend days make one deliberate about where his or her money is spent. In preparing the no-spend days, the person involved has to decide and be decisive when to spend and why. For instance, knowing those potential no-spend days for that day, one can avoid the restaurant in favor of homemade meals and, as an aside, wait longer for that impulsive purchase by a little before determining whether a need or desire arises. The more you get in touch with where your money is going over time, the more you start to eliminate those unnecessary expenses that can really make debt repayment that much tougher.
2. Better Planning
Forcing yourself into no-spend days forces you to plan for the next day, and this can be a way of organizing your financial habits. For example, if you choose the day of the week as Tuesday, you are likely to do grocery shopping on Monday and make a shopping list to avoid impulse buying. This kind of planning does not allow for last minute impulse purchases and keeps a person in more control of their spending. As this habit grows, it will spill over into other areas of your financial life, including budgeting and paying bills or even how to plan a debt repayment map.
3. It increases your confidence based on small victories
This whole process of debt repayment may be scaring, but these no-spend days are little victories. Every day you do not spend will increase your confidence, and you keep moving forward. It’s the little wins that gets the brain going on its reward chemical called dopamine to keep moving forward. The more this loop happens, the stronger it gets your commitment to your financial goals.
4. It Reduces Decision Fatigue
That’s terribly stressful having to decide where to spend, especially when one has a whole lot of debt. No-spend days would only make it easier and less complicated since one could not spend anything at all. You won’t waste that day so you wouldn’t be wasting your time wondering whether to get lunch or pack a sandwich. That kind of simplicity is huge and will probably get you refocusing on the goal as well.
5. Redefines Your Financial Normal
This is perhaps the last benefit you want the no-spend days to come with: it redefines your “normal” spending. Spending several weeks or months of no-spend days forces you to regularly realize that all the many expenses for which you so regularly spent hardly gave them much thought are suddenly non-essential: buying a cup of coffee, browsing, eating out. Your no-spend days stop feeling so punitive, just normal. As your spending habits change, so will your savings and debt-paying abilities.
6. Develops Self-Discipline
The more one exercises the no-spend days, the more strength one can gain in willing. Countering all those urges to spend at least for just one day lets you feel even more in charge of yourself. This discipline flows out of these no-spend days, as it ensures being within budget, with less possibility of breaking out the credit cards and making a wiser choice. Willpower can help in staying healthy and in control with one’s finances as well as maintaining a debt-free status in the long run.
Final Thoughts: Road to Financial Freedom
It is as much a psychological concept as that of saving money. I dedicate the rest of this book to urging the reader to be intentional about spending with better planning; achieve small win milestones to have you moving you forward, leading you along to debt-free avenues with a love affair with good money.
There should never be any spend days easily tolerated within your week or month and they go a long way to help you start setting habits which shall last, not just for debt payback but just because you want a more conscious financial life. The more days you have with no spends, the closer you will be to becoming financially free.