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A week of it (or, why no spend days aren’t for me)

I read a lot of PF blogs. That much is probably obvious.

And yet, I tend to skim over spending recaps and “no spending” challenges.  I understand why people do it, and yet in a sense, I don’t really “get” the concept, For those who tend to spend frivolously – think latte factor, I guess – it can be a great motivator. A challenge to cut back, one day at a time.

But what would I get out of it? I would simply try to cram my purchases into even fewer days, I guess…which would have the same net result, and probably stress me out.

Looking back on what we’ve bought this week  (this doesn’t include T’s personal expenditures…I have no idea what his spending diary would look like. Maybe he’d benefit from a few no spend days himself ;))  there really aren’t any purchases I regret. It’s a fairly typical week for us, although granted, we had a free dinner on Friday night, which we might otherwise have paid for. I guess I’ve just never been the kind to impulsively buy a bag of chips or a cold smoothie, you know?

Aug 26 – 9.90 on a magazine in which I had two pieces published, 28.80 on topping up my bus card
Aug 27 – 500 rent
Aug 28 – 20.99 on batteries and food, 65 on gas, 7.20 on breakfast for two
Aug 29 – 167.31 groceries
Aug 30 – 0
Aug 31 – 0
Sep 1 – 0

Are you a fan of no-spend days? How do they help you?

7 thoughts on “A week of it (or, why no spend days aren’t for me)

  • Reply Tasha September 2, 2010 at 22:27

    I can’t rationalise writing the details of my purchases. Just like you, our weeks are mostly typical and we are good about no-spend days. If we do spend on personal items, they’re from our allowances that are already accounted for. What I watch out for are unbudgeted things, such as petrol top-up when we have unplanned trips to friends who live out of town. I also skim through posts like that.

  • Reply findingserenity2010 September 3, 2010 at 08:29

    It definitely helps people who’ve fallen into habits of spending constantly and not keeping track of how much is being spent week by week. Also, I hate using my checkbook register – instead I type everything into Excel. It takes 5 minutes, then I don’t have to hang on to receipts anymore (except if I keep them for tax reasons!)

    I might also add that part of me needs my blog readers to yell at me for spending too much to keep me on track!

  • Reply Stephany September 3, 2010 at 14:01

    My biggest problem lies on the weekend after I get paid. I use it all up on bills and then buying small stuff. And then the next 2 weeks are basically shot. I want to figure out how to stretch it through the entire 2 weeks but it’s hard. 🙂

    • Reply eemusings September 3, 2010 at 14:08

      I get paid fortnightly, but budget weekly. As in, plan my spending one week at a time, and only have that much in the account. (It’s a hangover from weekly pay/rent – I have everything set up the way I like it and am reluctant to change.) Maybe you need to shorten your timespan until you get a grip on it? But at least you’re getting your bills paid first. I think the best way is to align your bills with you pay as much as possible.

  • Reply me in millions September 5, 2010 at 04:35

    I don’t really see the use of no spend days for those necessary purchases. You’re really just displacing them all to one day instead of spreading them out. I wrote about this awhile ago and it generated some interesting comments: http://meinmillions.blogspot.com/2009/10/no-spend.html#comments

  • Reply Serendipity September 5, 2010 at 09:32

    I think if your the type of person the latte factor does apply to, like me, it helps alot. I can easily blow 5 bucks here and 5 bucks there and then not realize the damage until my misc money is gone and I still have a week to get through. But it seems like your not a big misc spender, looking at your spending report.

  • Reply Revanche September 20, 2010 at 07:08

    They don’t “help” in any real way when it comes to necessary purchases, but what it does help with is reducing the frequency of impulse buys because it trains me to forget about spending in general. The more no-spend days I have, the less I revert to the solution of spending during a typical day. While that’s not usually a big problem for me, I don’t have any wiggle room in the budget for it to become a problem at all, so it’s good to practice mindfulness.

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