Joyful July's No Spend Days Challenge!

cathybird
cathybird Forumite Posts: 12,259
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This challenge is all about helping people to save money by setting aside days every month where you deliberately don't spend unnecessary cash. Over the short term, it can help you have a more frugal month. Over the long term, if you stick with it, it can help change your mindset because you get out of the habit of frittering money away and start automatically holding off from spending instead. It also helps you delay purchases, which in turn means you lose interest in a lot of things you might otherwise impulse buy.
Another good thing with this challenge is we're all in it together, and people will help you on bad days and cheer you on on good days, and the support and accountability can really help make it easier to keep going with it. And if all else fails, there's always next month
To join, just post the number of no-spend days (NSDs) you're aiming for in July and you are on your way!
Tips for the challenge:
1. If you've never done the challenge before, it's probably simpler to start with a goal of 10 or (at most) 15.
2. It is fine to exclude necessary expenses eg petrol, groceries, pet food, etc, when it comes to deciding what is and isn't an NSD. It is also completely fine to exclude automated or recurring payments such as bills, mortgage or direct debits.
3. It does help to post every time you notch up an NSD, or at least every two or three days ... it's easy to lose track! If you want to keep track of your NSDs in your MSE signature, that can be really motivating too
4. It also helps to bookmark the thread, it's much easier to find.
5. NSDs are trickier than they seem and easily derailed. It can work better if you notch up as many days as you can in the first half of the month, or think of the month in thirds so if you're aiming for 10 NSDs, try to do 4 days in the first 10, 3 in the second and 3 in the third. And if you feel that you're falling behind, there's no shame in changing your target! Sometimes life just gets in the way, and the challenge should be fun, not a grind.

July

Off to a start = image
5 days =
10 days =
15 days =
20 days = Target reached = Target beaten =

2021 D: 93 2020 D: 96 2022 D: 15
«13456734

Comments

  • cathybird
    cathybird Forumite Posts: 12,259
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    edited 1 July at 3:18PM
    July targets
    beanielou 19
    cathybird 15 Crazycatlady2 18 GeorgianaCavendish 19 IndiJonesi 11 jammy dodger KajiKita 15 lianne1984 10 LittleMissDetermined 18 Makingabobor2 15 MrsCautious 12 mummy2threeboys mummyjane Optimistic Saver Pauper1 QueenJess Rupacomp 15 Saver-upper 15 short bird 18
    Newcomers welcome :)

    2021 D: 93 2020 D: 96 2022 D: 15
  • Makingabobor2
    Makingabobor2 Forumite Posts: 2,093
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    I'm in again. Aiming for 15  this month please. 
    Making the debt go down and the savings go up, one day at a time.

    LBM 2015 - debt £57K / Sept '23 now £34,344

    Mortgage at 1st September 2023  £23,995 (Officially finishes June 2026, but plan to get MF well before that....watch this space)
    Total Mortgage Overpayments in 2022 was £240. 
    Total Overpayments so far in 2023 is £229


    Challenges
    EF #68 £160/£1000
    Christmas 2023 #3  £5/£365 (as I am saving for Christmas & birthdays, total will fluctuate through the year)
    Penny a day 2023 #12 £212.01/£667.95
    Make £5 a day -  Sept £137.67/£150  Oct £0/£125
                                 

    NSDs for September 13/15

    My debt free diary...https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6396218/we-will-get-this-debt-down-the-savings-up


  • lianne1984
    lianne1984 Forumite Posts: 249
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    Thank you for the new thread  :)
    Good luck everyone!
    October NSDs: 1 / 10
    October PADs:  1 / 31
    October Groceries Challenge: £0 / £250
    October Make £5 a Day: £16 / £150
    Current Debt: £3196  | CC £1747 | N £661 | E £200 | C £588
    October Savings Challenge: £62 / £50 
    Weight Loss Challenge 2023: 11 lbs

  • KajiKita
    KajiKita Forumite Posts: 2,115
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    Thank you for the shiny new thread cathybird.

    Just to re-iterate, for newcomers, the rules really are your own. For many years, I always chose to exclude milk and bread (because my 4 children were little/growing, and they are 2 basics that I would hate running out of just to save an NSD.) The other spend I allowed was petrol/diesel, because saving an NSD by running out of fuel on the motorway is a bit silly really  :D )

    Only in the last month or 2 have I started excluding public transport (son's student monthly ticket, and I have started using public transport more since Bristol introduced Clean Air Zone, which charges me £9 every time I drive through it  :o )

    So it is perfectly ok to set your own rules, and change them to suit. The goal is simply to become more mindful of our spends. :)

    Thank you for coming to my TED talk  :D
    I think this is spot on. What I tend to differentiate between, is discretionary spend and non-negotiable spend. So if I have a food delivery that = non-negotiable for me (happens every week, we need to eat, it’s budgeted for) but if I decide I want extras such as posh smoked tofu from the health food shop, unless it comes out of my monthly cash pocket money (set amount each month, once it’s gone it’s gone) then the transaction for that item counts as a spend and that is not an NSD for me. Basically unplanned / extra spends on my credit card are non-NSDs. 

    What I have found, over time is I am no longer spending all of my cash allowance ‘pocket money’ each month (I will only withdraw £40 of the £100 I normally budget each month between the most recent and next payday) so I think my habits and attitudes around all spending is changing too. 

    KK
    As at 28.08.2023:
    - £16,241 of target £10,000 YNAB savings pots and EF
    - When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 <gulp>, now £265,505 end date reduced by 1 month (been catching up mortgage holiday during furlough) 
    - OPs to mortgage = £4,952 to date
    - LTV 52% @ccord, 51% Yopa
    Fixed rate 2.17% deal ends October 2024

    Proud member of Tilly-Tidy Club since January 2022:
    TOTAL for 2022 = £2,008.67
    Jan ‘23 £50.53, Feb £2.52, Mar £55.40, Apr £265.15, May £101.25, Jun £708.10, Jul £3.93, Aug £2.02

    Read 46 books of target 52 in 2023 (Last updated 28th September). 
    Produce tracker: £153.94 of £100 target 😊

    Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your reality. 
  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Forumite Posts: 3,324
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    Declaring a NSD today. Only real spend will be paying for a parcel to be sent, but as it’s a sale I made, it doesn’t count as I’m still up!
    October 2023
    NSD 1/15
    2023 decluttering 33,490🏅💐⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🏅🏅🏅🥉🥈🥇🏅🏅💎⭐️ ⭐️🏆⭐️⭐️💐 ⭐️⭐️ 🏅
    2023 decluttering goals: 🥉3,000 🥈4,000 🥇5,000 💎12,000 🏆 20,000
  • MrsCautious
    MrsCautious Forumite Posts: 1,414
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    Hello, I wasn’t around for June, but I’d love to join in for July please. Thanks so much for running the challenge. I’d like to aim for 12 NSDs. 
    NSDs:
    #15
    Jan: 24
    Feb: 19
    March: 15
    April 16
    May 9-ish 🤣


    Make £5/£10 a day:

    Dec 22: £570.40
    Jan 23: #9 £541.05
    Feb: £830.18
    March £174
    April £522.57
    May £190.01
    June:  £377.42 

    Make £2023 in 2023 #14 £2027.51 ended April. 

    365 day 1p challenge #44 (doing it backwards 😃) £371.49/£667.95 

    Sealed Pot Challenge: #32 2023 total so far: £36.40

    TT-ing in 2023: £535.79






  • cathybird
    cathybird Forumite Posts: 12,259
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    edited 2 July at 2:38PM
    July

    Off to a start = image
    5 days = image
    10 days = image
    15 days = image
    20 days = image Target reached = image Target beaten = image
    July targets
    beanielou 19
    cathybird 1/15 image Crazycatlady2 18 GeorgianaCavendish 19 Crazycatlady2 18 IndiJonesi 11 jammy dodger KajiKita 1/15 image lianne1984 10 LittleMissDetermined 18 Makingabobor2 15 MrsCautious 12 mummy2threeboys mummyjane Optimistic Saver Pauper1 QueenJess 1/17 image Rupacomp 15 Saver-upper 15 short bird 18
    Newcomers welcome :)

    2021 D: 93 2020 D: 96 2022 D: 15
  • KajiKita
    KajiKita Forumite Posts: 2,115
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    1 today 😊

    KK
    As at 28.08.2023:
    - £16,241 of target £10,000 YNAB savings pots and EF
    - When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 <gulp>, now £265,505 end date reduced by 1 month (been catching up mortgage holiday during furlough) 
    - OPs to mortgage = £4,952 to date
    - LTV 52% @ccord, 51% Yopa
    Fixed rate 2.17% deal ends October 2024

    Proud member of Tilly-Tidy Club since January 2022:
    TOTAL for 2022 = £2,008.67
    Jan ‘23 £50.53, Feb £2.52, Mar £55.40, Apr £265.15, May £101.25, Jun £708.10, Jul £3.93, Aug £2.02

    Read 46 books of target 52 in 2023 (Last updated 28th September). 
    Produce tracker: £153.94 of £100 target 😊

    Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your reality. 
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