No spending days are precisely what the name advertises, days on which you spend no money.
How you do this and for how long is up to you.
But one thing is for sure, no spending days not only help your budget, but they also increase your money awareness and overall financial health.
Find out the five ways incorporating no spending days into your habits can change your bank account for the better.
1. Save Money by Spending Less
During a no spending day you try to spend no additional money.
That means no buying a sandwich, or quick morning coffee, no mindlessly buying shopping online, or taking an Uber home.
Therefore, you have to plan ahead, for example, by packing your own lunch and reining in your impulses.
This requires organisation and self-discipline. Both are very valuable traits to develop.
Although you will naturally save money through a no spending day, I do not advocate this as a savings method.
Rather, no spending days are a good exercise to increase your awareness of your money and spending habits.
This then results in a positive effect on your savings.
No spending days will help you learn about the small expenditures that are adding up and slowly draining your account or the emotions whcih trigger spending splurges.
However, just as with weight loss, a overly restriction diet leads to binging.
There is no value in forcing yourself to spend absolutely nothing for an entire week if you then end up splurging your entire budget the next day.
Start small with just one day, then work your way up to consecutive days.
Incorporating these no spending days will not only save you money but they will also give you insight into your money habits.
2. Break the Spending Habit and Start the Saving Habit
I started my first no savings day without having read about the concept before.
One day I realised that I was constantly spending money on items, without a clear need or consciousness of where my money was going.
I was spending on coffee, and an Uber, and then maybe in the evening browsing online shopping sites.
Quickly these small amounts added up and made a significant dent in my budget. Without me even realising it!
To break this cycle, I decided that the following day would be my first no spending day.
Since then, I have incorporated no spending days into my money habits and regularly incorporate them into my goals for the week, especially when I notice I am slipping into mindless spending again.
Their key function is to act as a money reset.
Firstly, they remind me of all the mindless purchases I usually make and how often these purchases are emotional not rational.
Secondly, they add remind me that saving can be just as satisfying as saving.
Seriously.
Its feels great to tick off several days off in your calendar as days where you spent nothing.
Then watch your bank account grow.
3. Find Out Where Your Is Money Going
The most annoying financial advice that millennials have had to endure as the reason for us not being able to afford a home is the “luxury” habit of buying coffee every day.
This has even been deemed the most annoying financial advice in a survey of Americans.
I am not telling you that if you stop buying coffee or having avocado toast that you will be rich.
But,
Do develop an awareness of the purchases you make out of necessity and those that are due to boredom or habit.
No spending days are an opportunity for you to re-evaluate your spending habits.
Focus on those expenditures that are necessary for your life and happiness, and eliminate those that are boredom fillers or emotional crutches.
4. Learn from Your Spending and No Spending Failures
An important part of the no spending day is to review how it went and what went wrong.
Learn from your no spending failures.
Failure can signal an item that you can not give up,
Or a failure can signal a lack of preparedness, for example by not preparing lunch for the day.
Whatever it is, review where and why it went wrong and learn from it.
Distinguishing why a no spending day failed, is an important part of the learning curve to better money habits.
Part of this is teaching yourself the cost of certain reductions, both in terms of money and time.
Maybe you decided to cycle to work everyday rather than taking the train.
But if this new commute results in you having to get up one hour earlier, only to arrive at the office in a sweaty state, you may decide the cost of not spending is actually higher than the train fare.
Work out what you can easily let go of, and what is important to you.
Only you can decide what is an important expenditure for you.
That’s why blanket rules, like a ban on buying takeaway coffee aren’t very effective.
If that coffee helps you be the most productive and pleasant coworker to be around, then maybe it is an essential expenditure.
Key is finding a balance that works for you.
5. Reset Your Money Mindset
The best feeling is successfully completing your no spending day and crossing it off in your calendar.
This good feeling is then associated with saving.
This is a key mindset change that needs to take place for you to reach your financial goals.
Saving should not feel like punishment with the reward of spending sometime in the future.
Rather, if done right, the act of saving itself should feel good.
Every 100 CHF that you save, is 100 CHF closer to a core financial goal you hold.
Doing a no spending day right means seeing them as a positive reinforcement of healthy money habits.
By building greater spending awareness and healthy money habits, you will have already made a significant step towards building your wealth.