Speaker 1: Episode two eight six, Should you try a no spend challenge?
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill A. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are talking about whether or not you
Speaker 1: should do a no spend challenge? Should you? Should you not?
Speaker 1: You'll know by the end of this episode. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: in all honesty, there are a lot of ways to
Speaker 1: do a no spend challenge wrong, and if you are
Speaker 1: doing them for the wrong reasons, it won't be as
Speaker 1: successful as we know it can be. And we want
Speaker 1: you to know the ways to do it wrong when
Speaker 1: you treat it essentially, when you treat it like a diet.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, we are going to go through all
Speaker 1: of that, kind of the benefits and dangers, some of
Speaker 1: the arguments against it, so that you know how to
Speaker 1: do it right. We love looking at both sides. We
Speaker 1: love diving into the hot takes. We love it when
Speaker 1: someone's got pushed back and we and we can push
Speaker 1: right back. We're not afraid to push back gently and
Speaker 1: without any malice but through words. So yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: we're talking about today. But first, our sponsor, given it
Speaker 1: a try, because you should always try everything at least once,
Speaker 1: or most things, wink wink. Giving it a try. Whether scary, overwhelming, disgusting,
Speaker 1: out of your comfort zone, slightly illegal, give it a try.
Speaker 1: Speaking of, you can give our new YouTube series to try.
Speaker 1: It's a whole bunch of debt free stories from listeners
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Speaker 1: Friends podcast YouTube channel. Yeah, we got a YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: Give it a try. You won't be disappointed, and it's
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Speaker 1: all right, So No spend Challenges. If you are interested
Speaker 1: in a no spend challenge, we have a ton of
Speaker 1: resources for you. Personally, as me, Jen the author of
Speaker 1: the No Spend Challenge Guide, I have a slightly biased
Speaker 1: feel towards no spend challenges. You know that I love them,
Speaker 1: but I don't love them for the original reason that
Speaker 1: most people love them so and we talked about that
Speaker 1: a lot on the podcast. So we've got episode one
Speaker 1: ninety how to prepare for a no spend challenge and
Speaker 1: the secret to sticking to it, and we got episode
Speaker 1: how a no spend Month can help your finances um
Speaker 1: and then also in my entire book, the No Spend
Speaker 1: Challenge Guide, which is on Amazon. And we love no
Speaker 1: spend challenges for what they can do, but we hate
Speaker 1: no spend challenges when they are done poorly. And it's
Speaker 1: not the no spend challenge that we hate, it's the
Speaker 1: it's the ulterior motives people take into them. Yeah, or
Speaker 1: sometimes the implementation that gives no spend challenges a bad rap. Yes,
Speaker 1: and and honest to goodness, they may not before everyone.
Speaker 1: So so it is a true question, should you do
Speaker 1: a no spend challenge? It's possible The answer is no,
Speaker 1: even though Jen has written a book on it. Absolutely yes,
Speaker 1: I and every episode, hopefully we can give you the
Speaker 1: you know, nothing is gospel here, it's always a a
Speaker 1: diving into a topic to see Yeah, it's always it's
Speaker 1: always pre mental over here, right, so, and it's the
Speaker 1: same with no spend challenges. We will gladly talk about
Speaker 1: what's worked for us and why it's worked for us,
Speaker 1: But you're not us. So this is this is a
Speaker 1: fact that unfortunately I have to come to terms with.
Speaker 1: So our first article comes from I love this k
Speaker 1: rinky do finance, and that's how I'm going to choose
Speaker 1: to say it. Rinky do Finance. The logo is a
Speaker 1: is it elephant? It's so cute. It's a very cute logo,
Speaker 1: and it's all about the benefits and dangers of the
Speaker 1: no spend challenge. I think they take a great measured,
Speaker 1: tempered approach where they're looking at just the pros and cons.
Speaker 1: So we're just gonna highlight all of the different pros
Speaker 1: and cons of a no spend challenge. Of course, we're
Speaker 1: assuming that you understand what a no spend challenge is
Speaker 1: that for a period of pre selected, predetermined time, you
Speaker 1: are deciding to not spend, typically on specific categories. Of
Speaker 1: course you still need to spend on food, water, shelter, transportation,
Speaker 1: healthcare utilities, but generally you're deciding other categories and maybe
Speaker 1: all other categories that you're not going to spend on.
Speaker 1: But it's it can be relatively loosey goosey. But that's
Speaker 1: a quick little overview of what even a no spend challenges.
Speaker 1: We're not going through how to do one. We're going
Speaker 1: through whether or not you should do on pros and cons.
Speaker 1: So let's first talk about the benefits of a no
Speaker 1: spend challenge. Jen back to you. Yeah, so the first
Speaker 1: benefit of a no spend challenge is that it will
Speaker 1: help you achieve your goal faster. If you're just looking
Speaker 1: at numbers, yes, it does that. So this example is
Speaker 1: a little extreme for me. It says, let's say you
Speaker 1: plan on taking a vacation in five months. If the
Speaker 1: no spend challenge saves you a hundred dollars every weekend,
Speaker 1: you'll be two thousand dollars closer to your goal. I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone should stop spending money on the weekends
Speaker 1: for five months. That has never been my aim. But yes, mathematically,
Speaker 1: if you were to not spend money a hundred dollars
Speaker 1: every weekend, then yes, you would save two thousand dollars
Speaker 1: for whatever goal you have. That's a reasonable thing to see.
Speaker 1: How can I propel my savings goal for or but
Speaker 1: I love. What I do like that they've highlighted here
Speaker 1: is that there's a specific goal in mind. It's not
Speaker 1: always in forever, and it's not arbitrary. It's I have
Speaker 1: a certain amount in mind. I know that if I
Speaker 1: save this amount and can cut in other areas, then
Speaker 1: I will have X amount of money for this specified goal,
Speaker 1: which I do think is aimed at a good reason
Speaker 1: to do a no spend challenge. Absolutely. The next benefit
Speaker 1: is that it does help us to exercise self control,
Speaker 1: and so when it comes to spending in ways that
Speaker 1: we don't want to spend, a lot of times it's
Speaker 1: tied to impulsivity making financial decisions purchases that we're not
Speaker 1: necessarily planned for, and so doing a challenge like this
Speaker 1: can help us to rain in and exercise that muscle,
Speaker 1: to learn a bit more of what it feels like
Speaker 1: to say no to ourselves, which isn't always the most comfortable,
Speaker 1: but when practiced, when we exercise that muscle, it can
Speaker 1: become easier and easier, especially when we realize the benefits,
Speaker 1: because it's not just about deprivation, it's about saying no,
Speaker 1: experiencing self control for a specific reason, and that kind
Speaker 1: of lends to the next one that gets into really
Speaker 1: the core reasons why I love no Spend Challenges is
Speaker 1: that it can help you identify hidden impulsivity issues or
Speaker 1: like I like to say, spending triggers. So when you
Speaker 1: stop spending money altogether, and this is a this comes
Speaker 1: down to decision fatigue, right, So when we make a
Speaker 1: lot of decisions in a day, our decisions get progressively
Speaker 1: worse and worse throughout the day, and that's called decision fatigue.
Speaker 1: When you take the decision off the table and the
Speaker 1: decision is always no, then you become a lot your
Speaker 1: head becomes a lot clearer and able to identify spending triggers.
Speaker 1: So things that you wouldn't have even thought of crossed
Speaker 1: your mind when you're making all kinds of decisions and
Speaker 1: you're just trying to get through the day become glaringly
Speaker 1: obvious when you give yourself pause and the space to
Speaker 1: identify them. So that is really what I love about
Speaker 1: no Spend Challenges, and I think you can accomplish that
Speaker 1: in a short amount of time. I don't think it
Speaker 1: takes a long time to start to identify those issues.
Speaker 1: If it does. No spend challenge probably isn't for you.
Speaker 1: It's probably you're probably already spending in alignment with your
Speaker 1: values and you are in tune and mindful to all
Speaker 1: your expenses, and that's fantastic. This isn't for you. But
Speaker 1: if you are spending money and busting your budget and
Speaker 1: you're like, I don't know my budget says I should
Speaker 1: be able to do this, yet I'm never able to.
Speaker 1: This is a great way to pause without actually pausing
Speaker 1: your life and identify some of those things that you
Speaker 1: can work on to improve the way you stick to
Speaker 1: your budget. I agree. I do think this is one
Speaker 1: of the core, most core reasons and pros to do
Speaker 1: a no spend challenge to really get to the foundation
Speaker 1: of what's going on for me, because it absolutely will
Speaker 1: highlight when we've already said I'm going to say no
Speaker 1: to this to most of these things. What surfaces it
Speaker 1: kind of is that that crucible that like shaking ground,
Speaker 1: the sifting ground to show, Okay, here's where the true
Speaker 1: thing is that I need to tackle, because ultimately it's
Speaker 1: not just the spending behavior, it's what it's tied to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you can save a lot of money doing a
Speaker 1: no spend month, but that saving ends at the end
Speaker 1: of the month, and when you're focusing on identifying, uh,
Speaker 1: those spending triggers, those are savings that carry on for months,
Speaker 1: years beyond, and those savings compound more than the four
Speaker 1: dollars you might save on one month of a no
Speaker 1: spend challenge. This last benefit that they list is one
Speaker 1: of my faves in that it can help discover ways
Speaker 1: to have fun without spending money, and that I think
Speaker 1: also helps us to exercise this kind of creative muscle
Speaker 1: for us, this problem solving muscle of it. Again, it's
Speaker 1: not just about deprivation. It's about creativity and filling in
Speaker 1: the gaps in other ways, identifying alternatives so that maybe
Speaker 1: it's not just about this ultimate savings goal, but reorienting
Speaker 1: some behaviors and habits all together that we can take
Speaker 1: with us beyond the no spend challenge. And this is
Speaker 1: one of them. When we're talking about exercising muscles of
Speaker 1: self control, I think that's what this one is too.
Speaker 1: How can I be creative with the way that I
Speaker 1: spend my time, my resources. What happens when something is
Speaker 1: taken away? Really interesting? This is reminding me I was
Speaker 1: just chatting with my husband Eric and another friend, both
Speaker 1: of whom are musicians, and they I was more so
Speaker 1: listening into this conversation, but they were commenting on how
Speaker 1: better their creativity and their creation of music is when
Speaker 1: they've got limitations. This friend was also describing this in
Speaker 1: a video production project that they were doing as well,
Speaker 1: like they put these certain limitations on themselves that you
Speaker 1: would think, oh, you're not going to be able to
Speaker 1: do as well, or you're not going to be able
Speaker 1: to have the best product if you don't have all
Speaker 1: of the things. But they were commenting on the phenomenon
Speaker 1: that when they took away all of the expensive equipment
Speaker 1: in or had a time limitation or different just whatever
Speaker 1: kind of limitation you want to input here, it helped
Speaker 1: them be more creative to see, well, what can I
Speaker 1: do within the confines of this where they almost like
Speaker 1: those are some of their favorite projects where I didn't
Speaker 1: have the best of the best equipment, or I didn't
Speaker 1: have all of the mics I would have preferred, or
Speaker 1: I didn't have the camera that I wanted, or all
Speaker 1: the time in the world, and those constraints made me
Speaker 1: more creative in the process and I think there's some
Speaker 1: correlation to what we're talking about here that when we
Speaker 1: put constraints on ourselves sometimes that can create space for
Speaker 1: the play, the creativity, the discovering new things or skill sets.
Speaker 1: I I think it's worth implementing for everyone at some
Speaker 1: point in life, whether it's a no spend challenge or
Speaker 1: other types of constraints to discover more about ourselves. It's
Speaker 1: a worthwhile exercise. Yes, that is my favorite. That is
Speaker 1: my second favorite thing about no spend challenge is that
Speaker 1: forced creativity because when we are so used to solving
Speaker 1: all our problems by spending money, not only do we
Speaker 1: wonder where all of our money has gone, but we
Speaker 1: lose the satisfaction and the like yeah, self satisfaction that
Speaker 1: comes with being creative and thinking critically and figuring things out,
Speaker 1: which is not even like great for our self worth,
Speaker 1: but it's actually great for our brain health function as well.
Speaker 1: I think it also helps us to get started on
Speaker 1: something that we want to get started on. Oftentimes our
Speaker 1: barrier to entry is I don't have all of the
Speaker 1: tools and resources in order. But this can give freedom
Speaker 1: of you don't have to just begin Like one of
Speaker 1: the things I want to do soon is get back
Speaker 1: into painting and drawing. But I'm like, oh, I don't
Speaker 1: have all the paints, but like hearing this conversation of
Speaker 1: Eric and and this friend, it's like, oh no, I
Speaker 1: actually love the challenge of start with what you have
Speaker 1: and see what comes of it. So yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: getting me excited. You can see where I land on this.
Speaker 1: You know, Bob Ross only painted with I think like
Speaker 1: eleven colors. Eight colors are going right now? Yes, I
Speaker 1: knew this. I was like, it's got to be like
Speaker 1: nine or eleven eight colors because somebody got us. Somebody
Speaker 1: got kai this like Bob ross color book and when
Speaker 1: he was an infant and I and so I know
Speaker 1: all the color colors now because they're in the book.
Speaker 1: But think of Bob Ross and the empire of painting
Speaker 1: that he did. He used eight colors, eight and the
Speaker 1: weird even if you don't have all of the resources. Yeah,
Speaker 1: back to our sponsor, right, let's talk about the dangers
Speaker 1: of the No Spend Challenge, which we haven't covered a
Speaker 1: ton of. But whenever I see somebody talk negatively about
Speaker 1: a no Spend challenge, I just want to clap back,
Speaker 1: like because I because I have something to say, and
Speaker 1: and then I was like, oh my god, I have
Speaker 1: a podcast. I know exactly where I can say it.
Speaker 1: So here are the dangers of the No Spend Challenge,
Speaker 1: and uh, the first is that they focused too intently
Speaker 1: on small picture. So it says during the no Spend Challenge,
Speaker 1: people tend to focus on eliminating relatively small short term
Speaker 1: expenses like coffee, dining out, snacks, streaming, and so, to
Speaker 1: paraphrase ramat Seti's famous adage, adage, thank you, these are
Speaker 1: three dollar problems. And we agree we would much rather
Speaker 1: focus on three thousand dollar problems and thirty thousand dollar problems,
Speaker 1: which is why we love the uh long term focus
Speaker 1: of a no spend challenge and focusing it more on
Speaker 1: how can I spend better long term because that's gonna
Speaker 1: save you three thousand dollars in a year, whereas focusing
Speaker 1: just in the month or week that you're doing it,
Speaker 1: that that gets you thinking in solving three dollar problems.
Speaker 1: So that is an actual danger of the no spend Challenge.
Speaker 1: But I think it's a danger in frugality in general
Speaker 1: that if you are trying to become frugal and you're
Speaker 1: trying to listen to the Frugal Friends podcast to find
Speaker 1: out how I can save money on coffee, dining out
Speaker 1: and snacks. We're gonna give it to you. We actually have.
Speaker 1: We have a full episode on how to save money
Speaker 1: on coffee. It's not that we're not gonna not like
Speaker 1: we're not going to give it to you, but that
Speaker 1: is one episode and two six because that's a three
Speaker 1: dollar problem girl lapping back. While we have probably got
Speaker 1: fifty episodes on how to save money on food in general,
Speaker 1: and we've got ten, maybe twenty episodes how to save
Speaker 1: money on housing, um and transportation, we've got a lot
Speaker 1: more episodes on how to how to mindfully spend. Those
Speaker 1: are the big decisions. I think it's worth identifying the
Speaker 1: potential pitfalls because I think it can help us lay
Speaker 1: a good foundation for entering into a no spend challenge.
Speaker 1: Well like this. They're not wrong about identifying this as
Speaker 1: a pitfall. And it comes back to motivation. What are
Speaker 1: you doing this for? What is the end goal? If
Speaker 1: it's just to not by a latte, then we might
Speaker 1: be missing the mark. If it's to identify some of
Speaker 1: our behaviors and root causes and reorient some of our
Speaker 1: cycles and patterns. Then then great, we're on the right track.
Speaker 1: And those small things, those three dollar things, will absolutely
Speaker 1: bear weight on the thirty things, because if we're not
Speaker 1: doing well with the smaller things, we're definitely not going
Speaker 1: to do well with the bigger things. Amen. The next
Speaker 1: potential danger is, as they identify, establishing a false sense
Speaker 1: of security. I have mixed opinions on this. I don't know,
Speaker 1: tell me all your opinions. I just don't know how
Speaker 1: much of a potential pitfall this actually is. So what
Speaker 1: they're saying here is that if you're putting in a
Speaker 1: ton of effort towards not spending on something, that can
Speaker 1: lead people to believe, oh, because I'm in a lot
Speaker 1: of effort, the numbers will work themselves out and it
Speaker 1: doesn't work that way. And I would agree, but I'm
Speaker 1: not sure how many people are actually thinking that way, like, oh,
Speaker 1: just because I'm working at not spending this is and
Speaker 1: maybe maybe maybe yeah, I think it's a very it's
Speaker 1: almost an elitist view of the problem. It's saying like,
Speaker 1: if you're not doing it honestly, it's saying like, if
Speaker 1: you have an income problem and you're just doing a
Speaker 1: no spend challenge to focus on your expenses, then you're
Speaker 1: doing it wrong because what else is there? Like yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I would also say doing something is better
Speaker 1: than nothing. And the lowest barrier to entry thing that
Speaker 1: you can do to get good with money is to
Speaker 1: decrease your outgo Like, yes, you you might have an
Speaker 1: income problem, and I don't even like to say that
Speaker 1: it's an income problem. You may more opportunities will open
Speaker 1: up to you with more income. You can't deny that.
Speaker 1: So we always want to be working towards that if
Speaker 1: it's in alignment with their values. But that takes time.
Speaker 1: It takes no time to decide, like I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: a no spend challenge next month and try to get
Speaker 1: better control of my expenses. Like I guess this is
Speaker 1: just like an easy enough pitfall to be aware of
Speaker 1: and keep a pulse on, because they give the example.
Speaker 1: You know what if you cut a ton of your
Speaker 1: discretionary spending for a month and you say five dollars,
Speaker 1: but what you actually needed was an additional one thousand
Speaker 1: dollars that month, And so yeah, they're saying you'd be
Speaker 1: better off focusing on your income My pushback to this
Speaker 1: one would be, if we're doing a no spend challenge,
Speaker 1: chances are you're the person who's looking at the money,
Speaker 1: you kind of know what you need to be bringing in, Like,
Speaker 1: the no spend challenge isn't typically where people's start, Like
Speaker 1: this is kind of step two, three, four five in
Speaker 1: the financial journey. So I don't know how much of
Speaker 1: a pitfall this is for the common person, but it
Speaker 1: is worth being aware that even though a lot of
Speaker 1: effort may be put into a no spend challenge, it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's going to solve our financial issues.
Speaker 1: And I would agree with that. I just don't think
Speaker 1: that this is the most important pitfall to highlight. Don't
Speaker 1: think that this is what most people are gonna run into. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I would actually, I would absolutely agree rephrasing it like that,
Speaker 1: and I would, I mean, and I would say, the
Speaker 1: no spend challenge gives you space to be able to
Speaker 1: think more clearly and creatively about Okay, so maybe I
Speaker 1: do need an extra thousand dollars a month, maybe I
Speaker 1: do need to earn more. Well, now I'm not you know,
Speaker 1: automatically going out to happy hour or going out shopping
Speaker 1: when I'm bored, I can start to think of ways
Speaker 1: two increase my income. I can start to think of
Speaker 1: ways at work that I have saved the company, Brentie money,
Speaker 1: or brought more in that may warrant a promotion or
Speaker 1: a race for me. So it also gives you that
Speaker 1: space to think about this. I think this is more
Speaker 1: a pitfall of a scarcity mindset, just like our constant
Speaker 1: mindset of like I just don't ever do anything with
Speaker 1: my money. It's not even connected to a no spend
Speaker 1: child challenge. Why am I not doing better with my finances? Like,
Speaker 1: I think that's more of a mindset thing that requires
Speaker 1: some of these tools and resources to dig into. Why
Speaker 1: is that the case? Why do I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: putting in so much effort and not seeing any results?
Speaker 1: And what are the big things that need to shift?
Speaker 1: If anything? And No Spend Challenge could highlight this reality. Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: when you think, oh yeah, I can, I can definitely
Speaker 1: do a no spend year, which I hear a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, around January, everyone's starting there no spend
Speaker 1: year and they realize very quickly, probably by the time
Speaker 1: that they're listening to this episode, that it's not possible,
Speaker 1: so there's a good amount of time to think about
Speaker 1: how to compensate. But yeah, I mean it's yeah, probably
Speaker 1: not one I would think of, but sure it gave
Speaker 1: us a chance to talk about it. Uh. The next
Speaker 1: one is actually a pitfall. It is a justifiable like
Speaker 1: should be on this list is binge spending, And it's
Speaker 1: exactly like when we've been like when we diet, it's
Speaker 1: you're trying to go too hard, too fast, too restrictive,
Speaker 1: so you fail, and then you binge eat and you
Speaker 1: feel guilty and shame and next month you start the
Speaker 1: cycle all over again. That is a real reality that
Speaker 1: can happen with no spend challenges, is that you try
Speaker 1: to go too hard, too fast, not prepared, fall off
Speaker 1: the wagon, and then just compensate by bench spending and
Speaker 1: then start the whole thing. I'll overreaka next next month.
Speaker 1: I could see beinge spending happening even on both sides
Speaker 1: of a no spend challenge, like being aware that a
Speaker 1: no spend challenge is coming up and wanting to give
Speaker 1: yourself that ability and freedom to Okay, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be able to do this for a while, So
Speaker 1: what do I need and want and what might hold
Speaker 1: me over and then afterwards, oh, I did so well,
Speaker 1: I got to reward myself and that's just not going
Speaker 1: to give any benefit to a no spend challenge. So
Speaker 1: here you go. If you know that this might be
Speaker 1: in your realm of behaviors, if you think that you
Speaker 1: might fall victim to binge spending, this would probably, in
Speaker 1: my estimation, be one of the number one reasons that
Speaker 1: and no spend challenge might not be for you. If
Speaker 1: you think that bench spending is going to be too
Speaker 1: much of a temptation or too much of a reality
Speaker 1: for you, it's too much of the pendulum swing, this
Speaker 1: would probably be the number one reason that though spend
Speaker 1: challenge is not going to actually serve you. Well yeah,
Speaker 1: And if you have found this to be true for you,
Speaker 1: but you still really want to try one, I would say,
Speaker 1: don't go all discretionary spending. Don't do all your spending,
Speaker 1: but just pick one expense that you are making a
Speaker 1: lot that you want to make less of, or one
Speaker 1: location of spending. Think about your spending triggers and just
Speaker 1: choose one thing. So maybe it's coffee, maybe it's target,
Speaker 1: maybe it's I'm you know, I'm not going to get
Speaker 1: food at Chipotle on the way home from the grocery store.
Speaker 1: Pick one thing and do go with that instead of
Speaker 1: all of it, because I think you'll still find that
Speaker 1: you have space to contemplate, but you are not um
Speaker 1: feeling the pressure and the burden to be perfect. Because
Speaker 1: especially like with like I mean, they mentioned like eating disorders,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it's that extreme. Every all of
Speaker 1: us can be subject to bench spending, but especially if
Speaker 1: you have something, If you have a d h D
Speaker 1: and you know that you are not capable of doing
Speaker 1: some things, then don't try to do those things when
Speaker 1: you are under stress or know that you're not in
Speaker 1: a season to do that, or stay within the boundaries
Speaker 1: you know you already know work for you. Okay, don't
Speaker 1: try and go against things if you've already kind of
Speaker 1: figured out something that works for you. Just play within
Speaker 1: those rules. You can adapt. It's your no spend challenge
Speaker 1: if you want to do it, but again, it also
Speaker 1: for reason, may not be for you. The next one
Speaker 1: that's really connected to this is that and no spend
Speaker 1: challenge could simply just defer discretionary expenses. I think this
Speaker 1: is one and the same as almost binge spending. That
Speaker 1: it's not as if you're not spending and saving money,
Speaker 1: you're just not spending it right now, you're spending it
Speaker 1: later on. So yeah, that could be another pitfall of
Speaker 1: a no spend challenge is that you're still going to
Speaker 1: spend the money, just maybe not today. That's not going
Speaker 1: to do you any good either. But I also don't
Speaker 1: think it's it's horrible like to create a list of
Speaker 1: wants and to actually force yourself to have time before
Speaker 1: you impulse by them. Well, which is connected to the
Speaker 1: next one. There you go, Jen, Yeah, shaming yourself for
Speaker 1: reasonable wants, Like I feel like you could it's not
Speaker 1: bad to like make that, like add those things to
Speaker 1: your Amazon cart and just keep them there until the
Speaker 1: end of your challenge, because hopefully half of them you're
Speaker 1: not going to want anymore. But the other half may
Speaker 1: have been reasonable wants, they may be in alignment with
Speaker 1: your values. So it's not We're not here to shame you,
Speaker 1: not even for reasonable wants, just your wants, your unique wants,
Speaker 1: Like they don't have to make sense to other people.
Speaker 1: They can just be things you want and love, and
Speaker 1: you don't have to justify them to anybody. And on
Speaker 1: the flip side of that, delay in gratification is a
Speaker 1: helpful thing. I mean, we don't have to do it
Speaker 1: always and forever all the time with everything, but deferring
Speaker 1: isn't a bad thing in and of itself. At least
Speaker 1: there are days where you're not spending. You're not going
Speaker 1: to get those days back, and like always backtrack on
Speaker 1: each of those days and spend the money you thought
Speaker 1: you were going to spend. And it can help to
Speaker 1: build those habits of putting something in the cart and
Speaker 1: letting it sit there just It might be simply deferring
Speaker 1: it to another day and the money to get spent,
Speaker 1: but it could also be that you've given yourself time
Speaker 1: to think and sit on it, and that's helped to
Speaker 1: bring more clarity on whether or not you actually want
Speaker 1: that thing. So I think there's two sides to that
Speaker 1: deferment coin, and it's not all a danger or a pitfall. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well that leads us. Since we're already down this rabbit
Speaker 1: trail of potential pitfalls, let's just dive right in now
Speaker 1: to the deep end. We are ready with an article
Speaker 1: that's just going to point out I have my hands
Speaker 1: ready to clap back why a no spend challenge just
Speaker 1: doesn't work. They're not even talking about the pros of it.
Speaker 1: They're only talking about the cons. They want to convince
Speaker 1: you not to do one. And and we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about it, and apparently Gen's gonna clap back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm ready. Uh. And so I think it's really healthy
Speaker 1: to look at the reasons why a lot of people
Speaker 1: do know spend challenges, and there are value that's valid
Speaker 1: reasons why they won't work. If these are your motives,
Speaker 1: or if you say, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm going to
Speaker 1: look at my spending triggers and think long term. But really,
Speaker 1: because if you've ever been on a diet, you've probably
Speaker 1: experienced Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna get healthy. This is gonna
Speaker 1: be good for me long term, but really, I just
Speaker 1: want to be skinny for bikini season. See, it always
Speaker 1: comes to backfire for you, and it is the same
Speaker 1: with no spend challenges. We've got to do them for
Speaker 1: the right reasons. And here are some of the wrong
Speaker 1: reasons in this article. So that's what we're here for. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So they really only have two arguments against no spend challenges,
Speaker 1: but these are common arguments so it is worth looking
Speaker 1: at so that we know all of the different sides
Speaker 1: and angles of this thing. Yes, so the first one
Speaker 1: is that it's not sustainable, and that's true, honestly, that
Speaker 1: is so true. I see people doing year long, two
Speaker 1: year long no spend challenges, and that makes a great story.
Speaker 1: If you're trying to write a book or an article
Speaker 1: or get some media attention, you will definitely be able
Speaker 1: to do that by not spending money for two years.
Speaker 1: That is something that you can do. But there is
Speaker 1: a law of diminishing returns with no spend challenges where
Speaker 1: it transitions from helpful two almost like holds you back
Speaker 1: to an extent. So, and this is in the case,
Speaker 1: like you learn what you can about yourself and you're spending,
Speaker 1: and then you have to implement it. Then you have
Speaker 1: to go out and go back to spending and possibly
Speaker 1: mess up, possibly make a mistake. And mistakes will happen,
Speaker 1: and we have to be strong enough and resilient enough
Speaker 1: to take those into consideration, learn from them, and implement
Speaker 1: what we've learned. And so if you're doing a no
Speaker 1: spend challenge that's lasting a whole year, you can very
Speaker 1: much put that off and just live in the comfort
Speaker 1: of saying no, that's more hurtful than helpful. I feel
Speaker 1: like we're practicing for debate club, Like we're on a
Speaker 1: debate team and we're like, what does the other side
Speaker 1: say about this? And what do we love debating people
Speaker 1: that aren't available to take exactly that to give a
Speaker 1: closing argument, But they do have their article and we
Speaker 1: are responding to their article. One of the things too,
Speaker 1: that that I would add to this about no spend
Speaker 1: challenges they're referencing as far as the not being sustainable
Speaker 1: piece fasting and how not sustainable fasting is, and that
Speaker 1: it would be better to have a lifestyle change and
Speaker 1: rather than kind of deprive yourself and then binge. My
Speaker 1: pushback on this is, certainly none of these things that
Speaker 1: are extreme and nature are meant to be for the
Speaker 1: long term, but that doesn't mean that there's never a
Speaker 1: time and place for it. People have to fast before surgery. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not sustainable. You're not going to do that all
Speaker 1: of the time, but it's necessary to then get the
Speaker 1: help that your body needs in the following day. People
Speaker 1: fast for religious reasons. It's not sustainable, but it can
Speaker 1: be a really amazing spiritual practice that benefits some people,
Speaker 1: so they're like, and I am not a fan of
Speaker 1: extremism either. It's why we've you know, termed our financial
Speaker 1: approach the radical middle because as we often go to
Speaker 1: the different extremes, But that doesn't mean that the extremes
Speaker 1: don't have something to teach us, or that we should
Speaker 1: never ever visit the extremes. Sometimes experiencing something in full
Speaker 1: force helps us to find the radical middle. I think
Speaker 1: we often don't know the radical middle until we have
Speaker 1: an understanding of what's this side of the pendulum, what's
Speaker 1: this side of the the other side of it, what's
Speaker 1: the spectrum of it, and where is my radical middle?
Speaker 1: I would say the point of a no spend challenge
Speaker 1: is to identify what is sustainable for you. It's that
Speaker 1: same concept of fasting for surgery, right, It's it's not
Speaker 1: going to happen all the time. But if we're identifying, oh,
Speaker 1: there's a problem with my spending, but I don't totally
Speaker 1: know what it is, sometimes we need to really rein
Speaker 1: it in and pull it back. Or if we want
Speaker 1: to talk about you know, when we're sick and we
Speaker 1: just stay at home, that is not the goal for
Speaker 1: the rest of life to only ever stay at home.
Speaker 1: But it's necessary because there's an issue in our body. Okay,
Speaker 1: so if there's an issue in our finances, what might
Speaker 1: be a necessary approach that I'm not going to implement
Speaker 1: forever and always, but really reins it in, pulls it back,
Speaker 1: and gives space for greater understanding, clarity, diagnosis, and next steps.
Speaker 1: Snaps for you, Thank you, I'm snapping for you. The
Speaker 1: final argument that they make for why and no spend
Speaker 1: challenge doesn't work is that it doesn't bring about meaningful change.
Speaker 1: I think we've said enough on this topic in the
Speaker 1: reality that it depends on what your approach is going
Speaker 1: to be. Yeah, certainly, if you're just doing it for
Speaker 1: a week or a month and then you go right
Speaker 1: back to your behaviors and you entered into it mindlessly
Speaker 1: and you didn't have a real goal in mind, it's
Speaker 1: not going to produce meaningful change. But if you approach
Speaker 1: a no spend challenge with a goal of maybe just
Speaker 1: identifying what prompts me to spend? What barriers am I
Speaker 1: going to run into if I try and tell myself?
Speaker 1: Know what happens when I try and practice creativity or
Speaker 1: find free activities, then great, Like it really depends on
Speaker 1: what your motivation is going into it. We and again,
Speaker 1: if you're just identifying that this isn't for me. I
Speaker 1: can identify my patterns and makeshifts in my lifestyle without this,
Speaker 1: then that's great, go for it. But we're definitely going
Speaker 1: to have some pushback on saying this is never going
Speaker 1: to bring any benefit. It absolutely can bring benefit, and
Speaker 1: the goal is not to remain in this place always,
Speaker 1: in forever. It serves a specific purpose for a specific time, Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean that's it. You know what else serves a
Speaker 1: specific purpose for a specific time. It's I mean it's specific.
Speaker 1: But like almost every time, the bill of of that's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: Duck bill, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clint, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hi Jen, Hi Chill. This is Katie.
Speaker 1: I am a fellow money nerd who loves learning more
Speaker 1: and more about money, and I got into your podcast
Speaker 1: last year when I adopted a senior dog and wanted
Speaker 1: to make good use of my time out in a bottle.
Speaker 1: So it's only fitting that my bill of the week
Speaker 1: is for bet treatment for my little old lady dog.
Speaker 1: It's related to her being attacked by the neighbor's dog
Speaker 1: six weeks ago. First off, she wasn't too badly hurt
Speaker 1: and is totally fine now. Second, the visit to the
Speaker 1: doggy er and two follow ups came to twenty bucks,
Speaker 1: and my pet insurance carrier did not hesitate to pay
Speaker 1: out the pent she has covered for. And Third, about
Speaker 1: ten days before getting notice of the payout, the attacking
Speaker 1: dog's owner gave me two hundred dollars towards the bill,
Speaker 1: knowing it was going to be at least that much.
Speaker 1: He knew I had insurance. It's so rare that things
Speaker 1: go the way they should when it comes to a
Speaker 1: bill you're not really responsible for, and I just wanted
Speaker 1: to share my appreciation for both the good neighbor and
Speaker 1: the good pet insurance for doing the right thing. Thanks guys.
Speaker 1: M Katie, Oh my gosh, another one for pet insurance.
Speaker 1: I would have to say of the bills of the week,
Speaker 1: we've received more pet insurance thankfulness than any other bill.
Speaker 1: I also appreciate how you are choosing to highlight a
Speaker 1: financial situation going well. I think you're so right. Oftentimes
Speaker 1: bills we are not technically responsible for, we still sometimes
Speaker 1: find ourselves responsible for. But you may become a really
Speaker 1: great proactive decisions, namely the pet insurance to not be
Speaker 1: in a really tough, difficult financial position right now with
Speaker 1: your pup. And I'm so grateful with you, and yeah,
Speaker 1: gratitude for the neighbor for taking ownership of his pets.
Speaker 1: Choice is glad to hear your your dog is better
Speaker 1: and fully recovered and that this bill did not become
Speaker 1: an overwhelming insurmountable bill. So much to celebrate with you, Katie.
Speaker 1: If you you all listening, happened to have some great
Speaker 1: pet insurance that follows through and pays your bills, or
Speaker 1: neighbors who pay some bills, or if you are a
Speaker 1: person named Bill, visit through first podcast Bill, leave us
Speaker 1: your bill. We're ready for it, and now it's time
Speaker 1: for poor m hm wow, okay, um dope. Anyways, Today's
Speaker 1: lightning Round question from our sweet manager Goldie. Goldie here
Speaker 1: the best love her, love you she does listen to
Speaker 1: every episode because it's her job. What do your no
Speaker 1: spend week slash month generally look like? And I'm so
Speaker 1: glad that she asked this question because I get to
Speaker 1: say I haven't on a no spend week or month
Speaker 1: since the last month we were paying off debt, so
Speaker 1: that is I think July of twenty seventeen. So they
Speaker 1: don't look like anything. And that's because we slow down
Speaker 1: on like we don't have like while we raised our
Speaker 1: income enough to where we could say we can afford
Speaker 1: our short term financial goals without having to do a
Speaker 1: no spend challenge, and because we're just like in tuned
Speaker 1: with our values and wants and to communicate. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: like a no spend challenge for me? Co hosts of
Speaker 1: The Frugal Friends, author of the No Spend Challenge guide,
Speaker 1: No spend challenges aren't for me? Right now? Whoa the
Speaker 1: hottest take, Tony I have ever been a part of.
Speaker 1: I'm just so glad to share that. Like, well, I
Speaker 1: think it still is a support of the no spend
Speaker 1: challenges because it highlights the fact that it's a tool,
Speaker 1: a tool that can be picked up and put down
Speaker 1: given the level of skill or job that is currently
Speaker 1: being required. The tool does work and can point to
Speaker 1: some solutions when necessary, but there are times that we
Speaker 1: don't need that tool anymore. Golly, it can't wait till
Speaker 1: my renovation is over and I don't need some of
Speaker 1: those tools anymore. The goal is always to not need
Speaker 1: the tool anymore. That's the goal with any tool, is
Speaker 1: to use it so that you no longer need it.
Speaker 1: And when you need it, Yeah, so when you no
Speaker 1: longer need it, you don't hold onto it. You find
Speaker 1: a different tool because you have a new project, or
Speaker 1: you share your tool with your neighbors. Oh, I love
Speaker 1: this illustration and metaphor that's happening. Um For me, I
Speaker 1: can't say that I've ever needed to fully engage in
Speaker 1: a no spend challenge. That doesn't mean that I don't
Speaker 1: do it in my own way, which we are also
Speaker 1: advocating for. Figure out what works for you. I am
Speaker 1: not much of a spender, so really raining that in
Speaker 1: and identifying my reasons for spending has never been much
Speaker 1: of a specific issue for me. That said, I will
Speaker 1: use the tool of a no spend concept to help
Speaker 1: me towards a certain goal in specific areas, So I
Speaker 1: typically pick up the tool of a no spend challenge
Speaker 1: to focus in on food honestly, uh, and that will
Speaker 1: have to do with identifying a specific amount of money
Speaker 1: that I want to spend so that I can put
Speaker 1: it towards right now renovations. So recently it's been a
Speaker 1: lot of challenging myself to cook at home for like
Speaker 1: a week to two weeks at a time, giving space
Speaker 1: for eating out, but challenging myself to a specific budget
Speaker 1: and meal plan. It has gotten me so good at
Speaker 1: cooking at home, repurposing food, reducing food waste. I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful for the way that the way that I've set
Speaker 1: up the challenge to hone in a skill set for me,
Speaker 1: it has challenged me in helpful ways that has helped
Speaker 1: me free up some cash to put towards the renovation. Um.
Speaker 1: But it's not a deprivation of everything for me, And
Speaker 1: it does include factoring in money for going out and
Speaker 1: enjoying a nice meal, not binging, not you know, completely
Speaker 1: deferring just to spend all of the money all over again.
Speaker 1: It's a part of the plan and I think that's
Speaker 1: that's another thing we need to recognize with the no
Speaker 1: spend challenges. What is your plan to celebrate the accomplishment
Speaker 1: of it factor that money in when you're planning for
Speaker 1: the no spend challenge? Absolutely well. I hope that this
Speaker 1: has been a helpful episode for you if you are
Speaker 1: interested in doing a no spend challenge, that you really
Speaker 1: get the mindset behind what we say when we talk
Speaker 1: about a no spend challenge. So thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: And if you did enjoy the episode, if it was helpful,
Speaker 1: if it did help you make a breakthrough in something,
Speaker 1: please uh leave us a review on on Apple or Spotify.
Speaker 1: We love reading your kind reviews, especially this one from
Speaker 1: Wren one seven four nine three zero one six says
Speaker 1: I stumbled on this podcast a few weeks ago do
Speaker 1: in part to my love for budgeting podcasts, and man,
Speaker 1: I wish I found it sooner. I'm binge listening. Is
Speaker 1: that a thing? Yes? It is. Wran to these episodes
Speaker 1: like crazy, and I can't say enough good things to
Speaker 1: add to the fund. I'm right down the road outside
Speaker 1: of Tampa. What are the odds it's meant to be?
Speaker 1: Thanks for a great podcast, gals mmmm in seen. Thank
Speaker 1: you what a kind review that you've sent to us.
Speaker 1: And this is when binging is great. We don't want
Speaker 1: to binge spend or binge eat, but binge listen. What
Speaker 1: to Frugal Friends, Oh my gosh is the best binge.
Speaker 1: So thank you, Thank you for listening. And again, if
Speaker 1: you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to leave
Speaker 1: a rating and review. It helps potential new listeners know
Speaker 1: what our show is all about. We're not about clipping
Speaker 1: cupons or cucumbers to spend as little as possible, but
Speaker 1: we really want to spend well, and we want people
Speaker 1: to know what they're getting into when they get to
Speaker 1: the podcast. See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced
Speaker 1: by Eric Sirianni Okay, Jim, Jill, what's for lunch? All right? Um,
Speaker 1: I'm actually gonna go out to eat with a friend.
Speaker 1: But yes, he invited me, so I don't think I
Speaker 1: have to pay. It's not a date. It sounded a
Speaker 1: little weird. It's a business colleague, colleague, Pierre, you're pretty
Speaker 1: sure he's paying? Pretty sure? Wow, don't be a business
Speaker 1: right off if I do have to pay? Um? Yeah, Jill.
Speaker 1: In adulthood, when a man asks you to lunch, he pays.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I get more men asking me to lunch. No,
Speaker 1: I think he's going to ask me a favor, like
Speaker 1: a business favor, not a weird favor. God, this is
Speaker 1: sounds sounding real. I wish you hadn't asked me this.
Speaker 1: I mean, rablem isn't the question? Ible? Is the way
Speaker 1: you're in answering it. I am going to have lunch
Speaker 1: with the business colleague who has already stated that he
Speaker 1: has like some kind of business proposition for me, but
Speaker 1: not in a way. It's like I want you to
Speaker 1: invest in my crypto exchange, like something I would feasibly do,
Speaker 1: I'm sure coming from this person. So gonna be waiting
Speaker 1: with bated brale to find proposition. Well what am I
Speaker 1: getting myself into whether or not you get a free lance?
Speaker 1: There so such thing as free lunches. You're right, and
Speaker 1: I know that's why it's the business thing, is there? Yeah? Okay? Well, um,
Speaker 1: keep your phone on you text me if you need help.
Speaker 1: I'll be near your house and out. I could be
Speaker 1: a friend whose kitchen is on fire. You have to
Speaker 1: leave right that minute because apparently I don't have the
Speaker 1: number to the fire department. Do you get them to
Speaker 1: come and help me? Perfect? And then maybe by your house, yes,
Speaker 1: so that I can call on you if needed. Sounds good.
Speaker 1: I'll keep my phone on all right,