Should You Try a No-Spend Challenge?

Published Feb 21, 2023, 8:00 AM

We love no-spend challenges for what they can do, but we hate no-spend challenges when done poorly. The no-spend challenge may not be for everyone so hopefully, by the end of this episode, you can get an insight into whether or not you should do a no-spend challenge by looking at its benefits, dangers, and arguments against it. 

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Episode two eight six, Should you try a no spend challenge? Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill A. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are talking about whether or not you should do a no spend challenge? Should you? Should you not? You'll know by the end of this episode. Yeah, but in all honesty, there are a lot of ways to do a no spend challenge wrong, and if you are doing them for the wrong reasons, it won't be as successful as we know it can be. And we want you to know the ways to do it wrong when you treat it essentially, when you treat it like a diet. And so yeah, we are going to go through all of that, kind of the benefits and dangers, some of the arguments against it, so that you know how to do it right. We love looking at both sides. We love diving into the hot takes. We love it when someone's got pushed back and we and we can push right back. We're not afraid to push back gently and without any malice but through words. So yeah, that's what we're talking about today. But first, our sponsor, given it a try, because you should always try everything at least once, or most things, wink wink. Giving it a try. Whether scary, overwhelming, disgusting, out of your comfort zone, slightly illegal, give it a try. Speaking of, you can give our new YouTube series to try. It's a whole bunch of debt free stories from listeners like you all on video Super Fun over on Frugal Friends podcast YouTube channel. Yeah, we got a YouTube channel. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed, and it's not illegal or disgusting. Okay, don't do anything illegal I said slightly illegal or unethical. We don't promote saving strategies that are illegal or unethical, but we do promote sharing debt free stories YouTube dot com, slash Frugal Friends. We've already got a bunch up there and more are to come so that we do support. Give it a try. Yes, all right, So No spend Challenges. If you are interested in a no spend challenge, we have a ton of resources for you. Personally, as me, Jen the author of the No Spend Challenge Guide, I have a slightly biased feel towards no spend challenges. You know that I love them, but I don't love them for the original reason that most people love them so and we talked about that a lot on the podcast. So we've got episode one ninety how to prepare for a no spend challenge and the secret to sticking to it, and we got episode how a no spend Month can help your finances um and then also in my entire book, the No Spend Challenge Guide, which is on Amazon. And we love no spend challenges for what they can do, but we hate no spend challenges when they are done poorly. And it's not the no spend challenge that we hate, it's the it's the ulterior motives people take into them. Yeah, or sometimes the implementation that gives no spend challenges a bad rap. Yes, and and honest to goodness, they may not before everyone. So so it is a true question, should you do a no spend challenge? It's possible The answer is no, even though Jen has written a book on it. Absolutely yes, I and every episode, hopefully we can give you the you know, nothing is gospel here, it's always a a diving into a topic to see Yeah, it's always it's always pre mental over here, right, so, and it's the same with no spend challenges. We will gladly talk about what's worked for us and why it's worked for us, But you're not us. So this is this is a fact that unfortunately I have to come to terms with. So our first article comes from I love this k rinky do finance, and that's how I'm going to choose to say it. Rinky do Finance. The logo is a is it elephant? It's so cute. It's a very cute logo, and it's all about the benefits and dangers of the no spend challenge. I think they take a great measured, tempered approach where they're looking at just the pros and cons. So we're just gonna highlight all of the different pros and cons of a no spend challenge. Of course, we're assuming that you understand what a no spend challenge is that for a period of pre selected, predetermined time, you are deciding to not spend, typically on specific categories. Of course you still need to spend on food, water, shelter, transportation, healthcare utilities, but generally you're deciding other categories and maybe all other categories that you're not going to spend on. But it's it can be relatively loosey goosey. But that's a quick little overview of what even a no spend challenges. We're not going through how to do one. We're going through whether or not you should do on pros and cons. So let's first talk about the benefits of a no spend challenge. Jen back to you. Yeah, so the first benefit of a no spend challenge is that it will help you achieve your goal faster. If you're just looking at numbers, yes, it does that. So this example is a little extreme for me. It says, let's say you plan on taking a vacation in five months. If the no spend challenge saves you a hundred dollars every weekend, you'll be two thousand dollars closer to your goal. I don't think anyone should stop spending money on the weekends for five months. That has never been my aim. But yes, mathematically, if you were to not spend money a hundred dollars every weekend, then yes, you would save two thousand dollars for whatever goal you have. That's a reasonable thing to see. How can I propel my savings goal for or but I love. What I do like that they've highlighted here is that there's a specific goal in mind. It's not always in forever, and it's not arbitrary. It's I have a certain amount in mind. I know that if I save this amount and can cut in other areas, then I will have X amount of money for this specified goal, which I do think is aimed at a good reason to do a no spend challenge. Absolutely. The next benefit is that it does help us to exercise self control, and so when it comes to spending in ways that we don't want to spend, a lot of times it's tied to impulsivity making financial decisions purchases that we're not necessarily planned for, and so doing a challenge like this can help us to rain in and exercise that muscle, to learn a bit more of what it feels like to say no to ourselves, which isn't always the most comfortable, but when practiced, when we exercise that muscle, it can become easier and easier, especially when we realize the benefits, because it's not just about deprivation, it's about saying no, experiencing self control for a specific reason, and that kind of lends to the next one that gets into really the core reasons why I love no Spend Challenges is that it can help you identify hidden impulsivity issues or like I like to say, spending triggers. So when you stop spending money altogether, and this is a this comes down to decision fatigue, right, So when we make a lot of decisions in a day, our decisions get progressively worse and worse throughout the day, and that's called decision fatigue. When you take the decision off the table and the decision is always no, then you become a lot your head becomes a lot clearer and able to identify spending triggers. So things that you wouldn't have even thought of crossed your mind when you're making all kinds of decisions and you're just trying to get through the day become glaringly obvious when you give yourself pause and the space to identify them. So that is really what I love about no Spend Challenges, and I think you can accomplish that in a short amount of time. I don't think it takes a long time to start to identify those issues. If it does. No spend challenge probably isn't for you. It's probably you're probably already spending in alignment with your values and you are in tune and mindful to all your expenses, and that's fantastic. This isn't for you. But if you are spending money and busting your budget and you're like, I don't know my budget says I should be able to do this, yet I'm never able to. This is a great way to pause without actually pausing your life and identify some of those things that you can work on to improve the way you stick to your budget. I agree. I do think this is one of the core, most core reasons and pros to do a no spend challenge to really get to the foundation of what's going on for me, because it absolutely will highlight when we've already said I'm going to say no to this to most of these things. What surfaces it kind of is that that crucible that like shaking ground, the sifting ground to show, Okay, here's where the true thing is that I need to tackle, because ultimately it's not just the spending behavior, it's what it's tied to. Yeah, because you can save a lot of money doing a no spend month, but that saving ends at the end of the month, and when you're focusing on identifying, uh, those spending triggers, those are savings that carry on for months, years beyond, and those savings compound more than the four dollars you might save on one month of a no spend challenge. This last benefit that they list is one of my faves in that it can help discover ways to have fun without spending money, and that I think also helps us to exercise this kind of creative muscle for us, this problem solving muscle of it. Again, it's not just about deprivation. It's about creativity and filling in the gaps in other ways, identifying alternatives so that maybe it's not just about this ultimate savings goal, but reorienting some behaviors and habits all together that we can take with us beyond the no spend challenge. And this is one of them. When we're talking about exercising muscles of self control, I think that's what this one is too. How can I be creative with the way that I spend my time, my resources. What happens when something is taken away? Really interesting? This is reminding me I was just chatting with my husband Eric and another friend, both of whom are musicians, and they I was more so listening into this conversation, but they were commenting on how better their creativity and their creation of music is when they've got limitations. This friend was also describing this in a video production project that they were doing as well, like they put these certain limitations on themselves that you would think, oh, you're not going to be able to do as well, or you're not going to be able to have the best product if you don't have all of the things. But they were commenting on the phenomenon that when they took away all of the expensive equipment in or had a time limitation or different just whatever kind of limitation you want to input here, it helped them be more creative to see, well, what can I do within the confines of this where they almost like those are some of their favorite projects where I didn't have the best of the best equipment, or I didn't have all of the mics I would have preferred, or I didn't have the camera that I wanted, or all the time in the world, and those constraints made me more creative in the process and I think there's some correlation to what we're talking about here that when we put constraints on ourselves sometimes that can create space for the play, the creativity, the discovering new things or skill sets. I I think it's worth implementing for everyone at some point in life, whether it's a no spend challenge or other types of constraints to discover more about ourselves. It's a worthwhile exercise. Yes, that is my favorite. That is my second favorite thing about no spend challenge is that forced creativity because when we are so used to solving all our problems by spending money, not only do we wonder where all of our money has gone, but we lose the satisfaction and the like yeah, self satisfaction that comes with being creative and thinking critically and figuring things out, which is not even like great for our self worth, but it's actually great for our brain health function as well. I think it also helps us to get started on something that we want to get started on. Oftentimes our barrier to entry is I don't have all of the tools and resources in order. But this can give freedom of you don't have to just begin Like one of the things I want to do soon is get back into painting and drawing. But I'm like, oh, I don't have all the paints, but like hearing this conversation of Eric and and this friend, it's like, oh no, I actually love the challenge of start with what you have and see what comes of it. So yeah, it's just getting me excited. You can see where I land on this. You know, Bob Ross only painted with I think like eleven colors. Eight colors are going right now? Yes, I knew this. I was like, it's got to be like nine or eleven eight colors because somebody got us. Somebody got kai this like Bob ross color book and when he was an infant and I and so I know all the color colors now because they're in the book. But think of Bob Ross and the empire of painting that he did. He used eight colors, eight and the weird even if you don't have all of the resources. Yeah, back to our sponsor, right, let's talk about the dangers of the No Spend Challenge, which we haven't covered a ton of. But whenever I see somebody talk negatively about a no Spend challenge, I just want to clap back, like because I because I have something to say, and and then I was like, oh my god, I have a podcast. I know exactly where I can say it. So here are the dangers of the No Spend Challenge, and uh, the first is that they focused too intently on small picture. So it says during the no Spend Challenge, people tend to focus on eliminating relatively small short term expenses like coffee, dining out, snacks, streaming, and so, to paraphrase ramat Seti's famous adage, adage, thank you, these are three dollar problems. And we agree we would much rather focus on three thousand dollar problems and thirty thousand dollar problems, which is why we love the uh long term focus of a no spend challenge and focusing it more on how can I spend better long term because that's gonna save you three thousand dollars in a year, whereas focusing just in the month or week that you're doing it, that that gets you thinking in solving three dollar problems. So that is an actual danger of the no spend Challenge. But I think it's a danger in frugality in general that if you are trying to become frugal and you're trying to listen to the Frugal Friends podcast to find out how I can save money on coffee, dining out and snacks. We're gonna give it to you. We actually have. We have a full episode on how to save money on coffee. It's not that we're not gonna not like we're not going to give it to you, but that is one episode and two six because that's a three dollar problem girl lapping back. While we have probably got fifty episodes on how to save money on food in general, and we've got ten, maybe twenty episodes how to save money on housing, um and transportation, we've got a lot more episodes on how to how to mindfully spend. Those are the big decisions. I think it's worth identifying the potential pitfalls because I think it can help us lay a good foundation for entering into a no spend challenge. Well like this. They're not wrong about identifying this as a pitfall. And it comes back to motivation. What are you doing this for? What is the end goal? If it's just to not by a latte, then we might be missing the mark. If it's to identify some of our behaviors and root causes and reorient some of our cycles and patterns. Then then great, we're on the right track. And those small things, those three dollar things, will absolutely bear weight on the thirty things, because if we're not doing well with the smaller things, we're definitely not going to do well with the bigger things. Amen. The next potential danger is, as they identify, establishing a false sense of security. I have mixed opinions on this. I don't know, tell me all your opinions. I just don't know how much of a potential pitfall this actually is. So what they're saying here is that if you're putting in a ton of effort towards not spending on something, that can lead people to believe, oh, because I'm in a lot of effort, the numbers will work themselves out and it doesn't work that way. And I would agree, but I'm not sure how many people are actually thinking that way, like, oh, just because I'm working at not spending this is and maybe maybe maybe yeah, I think it's a very it's almost an elitist view of the problem. It's saying like, if you're not doing it honestly, it's saying like, if you have an income problem and you're just doing a no spend challenge to focus on your expenses, then you're doing it wrong because what else is there? Like yeah, I mean I would also say doing something is better than nothing. And the lowest barrier to entry thing that you can do to get good with money is to decrease your outgo Like, yes, you you might have an income problem, and I don't even like to say that it's an income problem. You may more opportunities will open up to you with more income. You can't deny that. So we always want to be working towards that if it's in alignment with their values. But that takes time. It takes no time to decide, like I'm gonna do a no spend challenge next month and try to get better control of my expenses. Like I guess this is just like an easy enough pitfall to be aware of and keep a pulse on, because they give the example. You know what if you cut a ton of your discretionary spending for a month and you say five dollars, but what you actually needed was an additional one thousand dollars that month, And so yeah, they're saying you'd be better off focusing on your income My pushback to this one would be, if we're doing a no spend challenge, chances are you're the person who's looking at the money, you kind of know what you need to be bringing in, Like, the no spend challenge isn't typically where people's start, Like this is kind of step two, three, four five in the financial journey. So I don't know how much of a pitfall this is for the common person, but it is worth being aware that even though a lot of effort may be put into a no spend challenge, it doesn't mean that it's going to solve our financial issues. And I would agree with that. I just don't think that this is the most important pitfall to highlight. Don't think that this is what most people are gonna run into. Yeah, no, I would actually, I would absolutely agree rephrasing it like that, and I would, I mean, and I would say, the no spend challenge gives you space to be able to think more clearly and creatively about Okay, so maybe I do need an extra thousand dollars a month, maybe I do need to earn more. Well, now I'm not you know, automatically going out to happy hour or going out shopping when I'm bored, I can start to think of ways two increase my income. I can start to think of ways at work that I have saved the company, Brentie money, or brought more in that may warrant a promotion or a race for me. So it also gives you that space to think about this. I think this is more a pitfall of a scarcity mindset, just like our constant mindset of like I just don't ever do anything with my money. It's not even connected to a no spend child challenge. Why am I not doing better with my finances? Like, I think that's more of a mindset thing that requires some of these tools and resources to dig into. Why is that the case? Why do I feel like I'm putting in so much effort and not seeing any results? And what are the big things that need to shift? If anything? And No Spend Challenge could highlight this reality. Yes, absolutely, when you think, oh yeah, I can, I can definitely do a no spend year, which I hear a lot of you know, around January, everyone's starting there no spend year and they realize very quickly, probably by the time that they're listening to this episode, that it's not possible, so there's a good amount of time to think about how to compensate. But yeah, I mean it's yeah, probably not one I would think of, but sure it gave us a chance to talk about it. Uh. The next one is actually a pitfall. It is a justifiable like should be on this list is binge spending, And it's exactly like when we've been like when we diet, it's you're trying to go too hard, too fast, too restrictive, so you fail, and then you binge eat and you feel guilty and shame and next month you start the cycle all over again. That is a real reality that can happen with no spend challenges, is that you try to go too hard, too fast, not prepared, fall off the wagon, and then just compensate by bench spending and then start the whole thing. I'll overreaka next next month. I could see beinge spending happening even on both sides of a no spend challenge, like being aware that a no spend challenge is coming up and wanting to give yourself that ability and freedom to Okay, I'm not going to be able to do this for a while, So what do I need and want and what might hold me over and then afterwards, oh, I did so well, I got to reward myself and that's just not going to give any benefit to a no spend challenge. So here you go. If you know that this might be in your realm of behaviors, if you think that you might fall victim to binge spending, this would probably, in my estimation, be one of the number one reasons that and no spend challenge might not be for you. If you think that bench spending is going to be too much of a temptation or too much of a reality for you, it's too much of the pendulum swing, this would probably be the number one reason that though spend challenge is not going to actually serve you. Well yeah, And if you have found this to be true for you, but you still really want to try one, I would say, don't go all discretionary spending. Don't do all your spending, but just pick one expense that you are making a lot that you want to make less of, or one location of spending. Think about your spending triggers and just choose one thing. So maybe it's coffee, maybe it's target, maybe it's I'm you know, I'm not going to get food at Chipotle on the way home from the grocery store. Pick one thing and do go with that instead of all of it, because I think you'll still find that you have space to contemplate, but you are not um feeling the pressure and the burden to be perfect. Because especially like with like I mean, they mentioned like eating disorders, and I don't think it's that extreme. Every all of us can be subject to bench spending, but especially if you have something, If you have a d h D and you know that you are not capable of doing some things, then don't try to do those things when you are under stress or know that you're not in a season to do that, or stay within the boundaries you know you already know work for you. Okay, don't try and go against things if you've already kind of figured out something that works for you. Just play within those rules. You can adapt. It's your no spend challenge if you want to do it, but again, it also for reason, may not be for you. The next one that's really connected to this is that and no spend challenge could simply just defer discretionary expenses. I think this is one and the same as almost binge spending. That it's not as if you're not spending and saving money, you're just not spending it right now, you're spending it later on. So yeah, that could be another pitfall of a no spend challenge is that you're still going to spend the money, just maybe not today. That's not going to do you any good either. But I also don't think it's it's horrible like to create a list of wants and to actually force yourself to have time before you impulse by them. Well, which is connected to the next one. There you go, Jen, Yeah, shaming yourself for reasonable wants, Like I feel like you could it's not bad to like make that, like add those things to your Amazon cart and just keep them there until the end of your challenge, because hopefully half of them you're not going to want anymore. But the other half may have been reasonable wants, they may be in alignment with your values. So it's not We're not here to shame you, not even for reasonable wants, just your wants, your unique wants, Like they don't have to make sense to other people. They can just be things you want and love, and you don't have to justify them to anybody. And on the flip side of that, delay in gratification is a helpful thing. I mean, we don't have to do it always and forever all the time with everything, but deferring isn't a bad thing in and of itself. At least there are days where you're not spending. You're not going to get those days back, and like always backtrack on each of those days and spend the money you thought you were going to spend. And it can help to build those habits of putting something in the cart and letting it sit there just It might be simply deferring it to another day and the money to get spent, but it could also be that you've given yourself time to think and sit on it, and that's helped to bring more clarity on whether or not you actually want that thing. So I think there's two sides to that deferment coin, and it's not all a danger or a pitfall. Yeah, well that leads us. Since we're already down this rabbit trail of potential pitfalls, let's just dive right in now to the deep end. We are ready with an article that's just going to point out I have my hands ready to clap back why a no spend challenge just doesn't work. They're not even talking about the pros of it. They're only talking about the cons. They want to convince you not to do one. And and we're going to talk about it, and apparently Gen's gonna clap back. Yeah, I'm ready. Uh. And so I think it's really healthy to look at the reasons why a lot of people do know spend challenges, and there are value that's valid reasons why they won't work. If these are your motives, or if you say, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm going to look at my spending triggers and think long term. But really, because if you've ever been on a diet, you've probably experienced Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna get healthy. This is gonna be good for me long term, but really, I just want to be skinny for bikini season. See, it always comes to backfire for you, and it is the same with no spend challenges. We've got to do them for the right reasons. And here are some of the wrong reasons in this article. So that's what we're here for. Yeah. So they really only have two arguments against no spend challenges, but these are common arguments so it is worth looking at so that we know all of the different sides and angles of this thing. Yes, so the first one is that it's not sustainable, and that's true, honestly, that is so true. I see people doing year long, two year long no spend challenges, and that makes a great story. If you're trying to write a book or an article or get some media attention, you will definitely be able to do that by not spending money for two years. That is something that you can do. But there is a law of diminishing returns with no spend challenges where it transitions from helpful two almost like holds you back to an extent. So, and this is in the case, like you learn what you can about yourself and you're spending, and then you have to implement it. Then you have to go out and go back to spending and possibly mess up, possibly make a mistake. And mistakes will happen, and we have to be strong enough and resilient enough to take those into consideration, learn from them, and implement what we've learned. And so if you're doing a no spend challenge that's lasting a whole year, you can very much put that off and just live in the comfort of saying no, that's more hurtful than helpful. I feel like we're practicing for debate club, Like we're on a debate team and we're like, what does the other side say about this? And what do we love debating people that aren't available to take exactly that to give a closing argument, But they do have their article and we are responding to their article. One of the things too, that that I would add to this about no spend challenges they're referencing as far as the not being sustainable piece fasting and how not sustainable fasting is, and that it would be better to have a lifestyle change and rather than kind of deprive yourself and then binge. My pushback on this is, certainly none of these things that are extreme and nature are meant to be for the long term, but that doesn't mean that there's never a time and place for it. People have to fast before surgery. Yeah, it's not sustainable. You're not going to do that all of the time, but it's necessary to then get the help that your body needs in the following day. People fast for religious reasons. It's not sustainable, but it can be a really amazing spiritual practice that benefits some people, so they're like, and I am not a fan of extremism either. It's why we've you know, termed our financial approach the radical middle because as we often go to the different extremes, But that doesn't mean that the extremes don't have something to teach us, or that we should never ever visit the extremes. Sometimes experiencing something in full force helps us to find the radical middle. I think we often don't know the radical middle until we have an understanding of what's this side of the pendulum, what's this side of the the other side of it, what's the spectrum of it, and where is my radical middle? I would say the point of a no spend challenge is to identify what is sustainable for you. It's that same concept of fasting for surgery, right, It's it's not going to happen all the time. But if we're identifying, oh, there's a problem with my spending, but I don't totally know what it is, sometimes we need to really rein it in and pull it back. Or if we want to talk about you know, when we're sick and we just stay at home, that is not the goal for the rest of life to only ever stay at home. But it's necessary because there's an issue in our body. Okay, so if there's an issue in our finances, what might be a necessary approach that I'm not going to implement forever and always, but really reins it in, pulls it back, and gives space for greater understanding, clarity, diagnosis, and next steps. Snaps for you, Thank you, I'm snapping for you. The final argument that they make for why and no spend challenge doesn't work is that it doesn't bring about meaningful change. I think we've said enough on this topic in the reality that it depends on what your approach is going to be. Yeah, certainly, if you're just doing it for a week or a month and then you go right back to your behaviors and you entered into it mindlessly and you didn't have a real goal in mind, it's not going to produce meaningful change. But if you approach a no spend challenge with a goal of maybe just identifying what prompts me to spend? What barriers am I going to run into if I try and tell myself? Know what happens when I try and practice creativity or find free activities, then great, Like it really depends on what your motivation is going into it. We and again, if you're just identifying that this isn't for me. I can identify my patterns and makeshifts in my lifestyle without this, then that's great, go for it. But we're definitely going to have some pushback on saying this is never going to bring any benefit. It absolutely can bring benefit, and the goal is not to remain in this place always, in forever. It serves a specific purpose for a specific time, Yes, I mean that's it. You know what else serves a specific purpose for a specific time. It's I mean it's specific. But like almost every time, the bill of of that's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck bill, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clint, this is the bill of the week. Hi Jen, Hi Chill. This is Katie. I am a fellow money nerd who loves learning more and more about money, and I got into your podcast last year when I adopted a senior dog and wanted to make good use of my time out in a bottle. So it's only fitting that my bill of the week is for bet treatment for my little old lady dog. It's related to her being attacked by the neighbor's dog six weeks ago. First off, she wasn't too badly hurt and is totally fine now. Second, the visit to the doggy er and two follow ups came to twenty bucks, and my pet insurance carrier did not hesitate to pay out the pent she has covered for. And Third, about ten days before getting notice of the payout, the attacking dog's owner gave me two hundred dollars towards the bill, knowing it was going to be at least that much. He knew I had insurance. It's so rare that things go the way they should when it comes to a bill you're not really responsible for, and I just wanted to share my appreciation for both the good neighbor and the good pet insurance for doing the right thing. Thanks guys. M Katie, Oh my gosh, another one for pet insurance. I would have to say of the bills of the week, we've received more pet insurance thankfulness than any other bill. I also appreciate how you are choosing to highlight a financial situation going well. I think you're so right. Oftentimes bills we are not technically responsible for, we still sometimes find ourselves responsible for. But you may become a really great proactive decisions, namely the pet insurance to not be in a really tough, difficult financial position right now with your pup. And I'm so grateful with you, and yeah, gratitude for the neighbor for taking ownership of his pets. Choice is glad to hear your your dog is better and fully recovered and that this bill did not become an overwhelming insurmountable bill. So much to celebrate with you, Katie. If you you all listening, happened to have some great pet insurance that follows through and pays your bills, or neighbors who pay some bills, or if you are a person named Bill, visit through first podcast Bill, leave us your bill. We're ready for it, and now it's time for poor m hm wow, okay, um dope. Anyways, Today's lightning Round question from our sweet manager Goldie. Goldie here the best love her, love you she does listen to every episode because it's her job. What do your no spend week slash month generally look like? And I'm so glad that she asked this question because I get to say I haven't on a no spend week or month since the last month we were paying off debt, so that is I think July of twenty seventeen. So they don't look like anything. And that's because we slow down on like we don't have like while we raised our income enough to where we could say we can afford our short term financial goals without having to do a no spend challenge, and because we're just like in tuned with our values and wants and to communicate. Yeah, so like a no spend challenge for me? Co hosts of The Frugal Friends, author of the No Spend Challenge guide, No spend challenges aren't for me? Right now? Whoa the hottest take, Tony I have ever been a part of. I'm just so glad to share that. Like, well, I think it still is a support of the no spend challenges because it highlights the fact that it's a tool, a tool that can be picked up and put down given the level of skill or job that is currently being required. The tool does work and can point to some solutions when necessary, but there are times that we don't need that tool anymore. Golly, it can't wait till my renovation is over and I don't need some of those tools anymore. The goal is always to not need the tool anymore. That's the goal with any tool, is to use it so that you no longer need it. And when you need it, Yeah, so when you no longer need it, you don't hold onto it. You find a different tool because you have a new project, or you share your tool with your neighbors. Oh, I love this illustration and metaphor that's happening. Um For me, I can't say that I've ever needed to fully engage in a no spend challenge. That doesn't mean that I don't do it in my own way, which we are also advocating for. Figure out what works for you. I am not much of a spender, so really raining that in and identifying my reasons for spending has never been much of a specific issue for me. That said, I will use the tool of a no spend concept to help me towards a certain goal in specific areas, So I typically pick up the tool of a no spend challenge to focus in on food honestly, uh, and that will have to do with identifying a specific amount of money that I want to spend so that I can put it towards right now renovations. So recently it's been a lot of challenging myself to cook at home for like a week to two weeks at a time, giving space for eating out, but challenging myself to a specific budget and meal plan. It has gotten me so good at cooking at home, repurposing food, reducing food waste. I'm so grateful for the way that the way that I've set up the challenge to hone in a skill set for me, it has challenged me in helpful ways that has helped me free up some cash to put towards the renovation. Um. But it's not a deprivation of everything for me, And it does include factoring in money for going out and enjoying a nice meal, not binging, not you know, completely deferring just to spend all of the money all over again. It's a part of the plan and I think that's that's another thing we need to recognize with the no spend challenges. What is your plan to celebrate the accomplishment of it factor that money in when you're planning for the no spend challenge? Absolutely well. I hope that this has been a helpful episode for you if you are interested in doing a no spend challenge, that you really get the mindset behind what we say when we talk about a no spend challenge. So thank you for listening. And if you did enjoy the episode, if it was helpful, if it did help you make a breakthrough in something, please uh leave us a review on on Apple or Spotify. We love reading your kind reviews, especially this one from Wren one seven four nine three zero one six says I stumbled on this podcast a few weeks ago do in part to my love for budgeting podcasts, and man, I wish I found it sooner. I'm binge listening. Is that a thing? Yes? It is. Wran to these episodes like crazy, and I can't say enough good things to add to the fund. I'm right down the road outside of Tampa. What are the odds it's meant to be? Thanks for a great podcast, gals mmmm in seen. Thank you what a kind review that you've sent to us. And this is when binging is great. We don't want to binge spend or binge eat, but binge listen. What to Frugal Friends, Oh my gosh is the best binge. So thank you, Thank you for listening. And again, if you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to leave a rating and review. It helps potential new listeners know what our show is all about. We're not about clipping cupons or cucumbers to spend as little as possible, but we really want to spend well, and we want people to know what they're getting into when they get to the podcast. See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Okay, Jim, Jill, what's for lunch? All right? Um, I'm actually gonna go out to eat with a friend. But yes, he invited me, so I don't think I have to pay. It's not a date. It sounded a little weird. It's a business colleague, colleague, Pierre, you're pretty sure he's paying? Pretty sure? Wow, don't be a business right off if I do have to pay? Um? Yeah, Jill. In adulthood, when a man asks you to lunch, he pays. Oh gosh, I get more men asking me to lunch. No, I think he's going to ask me a favor, like a business favor, not a weird favor. God, this is sounds sounding real. I wish you hadn't asked me this. I mean, rablem isn't the question? Ible? Is the way you're in answering it. I am going to have lunch with the business colleague who has already stated that he has like some kind of business proposition for me, but not in a way. It's like I want you to invest in my crypto exchange, like something I would feasibly do, I'm sure coming from this person. So gonna be waiting with bated brale to find proposition. Well what am I getting myself into whether or not you get a free lance? There so such thing as free lunches. You're right, and I know that's why it's the business thing, is there? Yeah? Okay? Well, um, keep your phone on you text me if you need help. I'll be near your house and out. I could be a friend whose kitchen is on fire. You have to leave right that minute because apparently I don't have the number to the fire department. Do you get them to come and help me? Perfect? And then maybe by your house, yes, so that I can call on you if needed. Sounds good. I'll keep my phone on all right,

Frugal Friends Podcast

Controlling your spending is hard to do. On every episode of Frugal Friends, we'll try to help you gโ€ฆ 
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