Magnificent May's No-Spend Days Challenge!

Welcome to Magnificent May's No Spend Days Challenge! 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 this month and you are on your way!

Tips for the challenge:
1. It's totally up to you but 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.

May

Off to a start = image

5 days = image 

10 days = image 

15 days = image 

20 days = image 

Target reached = image 

Target beaten = image

To see the updated results for May on phone or tablet, click here :)
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Comments

  • CrazyBee787
    CrazyBee787 Posts: 560 Forumite
    500 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Thank you very much @cathybird May your month be filled with JoyXX
    I am trying to raise a new cash pot of £101 from prolific and other sources By 31.05.25 I have £40.04/£101 which is 39%
  • Caeraugirl
    Caeraugirl Posts: 578 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Thanks @cathybird - hoping to do better in May, so will keep my target of 20.
    #21 Save £12k in 2025 £8377.35/£20000

    April NSD Challenge 9/20
  • cathybird
    cathybird Posts: 15,364 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Thank you @Crazybee787 and @Caeraugirl xx :):)
  • Hi, please can I join! Last month was a bit of a disaster so will try better this month. 10 days please x
    14.05.2014 Total unsecured debt £15,360.99
    20.06.2024 Total unsecured debt £15,087.29
    29.07.24 Total - £15,681
    12.09.24 - £16,187 oops…..
    Oct 24 - £18,325
    Nov 24 - £18,185
    Dec 24 - £18,131
    Jan 25 -£18,347
  • cathybird
    cathybird Posts: 15,364 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    hi birdsfoottrefoil image, good to see you and welcome back image to our lovely thread! I've added you to the list, best of luck with the challenge! image
  • Dizzycap
    Dizzycap Posts: 851 Forumite
    500 Posts Photogenic Debt-free and Proud! First Anniversary
    Awesome as always, cathybird :D;)<3 Fantastic emoji :D:D @ 15 & 20 days - Going for a full house again in May
    @ CrazyBee787 - Thank you for the link on the April Thread :)
    @ birdsfoottrefoil - Welcome to the NSD Fast Train :) Enjoy the challenge <3
    ~ NSD 2025 - NSD May 0/20 💰💰💰💰💰
    # No.36 Make £2025 in 2025 £507.79 / £2025 (25.1%) (3) 💯💯+
    # No.27 Save 1p A Day 2025 £603.29 / £667.95 (90%)
    # No.12 Save £2 a Day 2025 2025: £730/ £730 💯
    # No.34 Save £12k in 2025 £9423.18 / £12,000 (78.5%)
    # No.19 52 Week Env Challenge £1170.23 / £1,378 (85%)
    ~ Reduce Essential HH Expenses 2025: £3610.53 / £3000 Be Savvy, Haggle🤣, & Get What You're Entitled To! 💰💯+
    ~ Totally FREE Christmas 2025 - 🎁✉️🏷🎀💐🪪🗒🧺
    ~ Decluttering Awards 2025: 🏅🏅☕️⭐️💐🏅⭐️⭐️☕️
  • Doris17
    Doris17 Posts: 864 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    15 for me please.

    "Make Everyday Count"



  • Hi, can I join? This is my first attempt so I’d like to try 10 no spend days. 
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