As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, I have just undergone a massive decluttering spree that actually left me with a lot of space in the room that I currently occupy in our house – space that, quite frankly, would only be too easy to fill up with weird junk that can only be amassed through many late night binges of online shopping.

I knew that it would be hard but for the preservation the hard fought tidiness that I currently have, I knew that I had to keep myself from mindlessly buying more things. And then it hit me: why not try to go through the rest of January without spending any money on the “non-essentials”? I figured that even if I fail the challenge spectacularly, I still would have gained some ground because I would have at least jump-started my dying savings account.

Here were the rules:

1. Gas/Petrol for my car is essential – commuting to and from work is NOT an option
2. I can eat only food that was from our house OR was explicitly given to me. No more lunch orders from Food Panda
3. Absolutely no orders from Lazada or Shoppee
4. All bills (life insurance, car insurance, phone bills, etc) must be paid in full
5. Immediately list down all expenses in a spreadsheet on phone to keep me aware that I was spending money

Personally I think I did pretty well with the rules for most of January. Surprisingly, I still had the chance to socialize because my brother and his wife were nice enough to treat me to dinner twice! As expected, there were highs and there were lows. Here’s a list of lessons that I’ve learned from this challenge.

1. Never underestimate the powers of Sodexo coupons/vouchers. Late last year I won a couple of gift certificates (Sodexo from our office Christmas party and a thousand-peso voucher from Uniqlo during one of their random raffles) that were really handy when my whole family went to Uniqlo to shop for cold weather clothes. I honestly wasn’t planning on buying anything since I had most of the basics but I came across these jean pants that were on sale for only 590PHP. Needless to say, I was weak and I gave in. I don’t regret the purchase but it will be the only piece of clothing I’ll be purchasing this year.

2. It is literally impossible for me to NOT buy food while I’m at work. It may be because of boredom or stress or hormones, but after one week of not buying anything, I realized that I physically cannot survive without getting myself some snacks. My excuse is that the act of walking to 711 or to our small honesty store is enough time away from my desk to clear my head. I usually also spend this time with office friends and that does help abate the stress levels a little bit. By week two I had set myself a 200PHP limit for week for all the miscellaneous stuff I come across.
3. You don’t need to have an item immediately. When I was putting on the final touches to my room, I quickly realized that I didn’t have a clock. Sure, one can argue that I can always use my phone BUT one of the things I’m trying to work on is to get rid of distractions so a physical clock would come in very handy. My first instinct was to grab my phone and find one in Lazada. Very quickly, I found this really cute one that was made from wall decals and would go perfectly in the space on top of my TV. I was about to click Check Out when I remembered my No Spend month. Long story short, the wall clock is still sitting in my Cart and I have yet to buy this item. I’m still contemplating.
4. FoodPanda is out to get you. I was on my last week of this challenge when I received the email below. I can give you a bunch of excuses but you don’t deserve that so I won’t. I was weak and I went over my 200PHP allowance just for that one meal.

 

5. The simple act of noting down the money you’ve spent as soon as you’ve spent it really does make you more aware of your spending habits. Sure, I still occasionally forget to jot it down but I make sure to do so as soon as I remember, which does help with the mental conditioning of “YOU ARE SPENDING MONEY RIGHT NOW”.

All in all I’ve quite enjoyed doing the challenge. Apart from the FoodPanda boo-boo, I think I did pretty well. While it didn’t really help me save money, doing the challenge made me aware of how I spend it and gave me enough awareness to re-shape my monthly budget into a more realistic one that I can actually follow. I also liked having the 200PHP hard limit per week and I think I’ll keep that habit for the rest of this year.

Have you ever spent a no-spend month or week or year? Let me know about your experience because clearly, I need tips.