Free No Spend Challenge Printable to Supercharge Your Savings

For many of us, our New Year’s resolutions or goals involve saving money or developing better financial habits. Indeed, you can check out my recent post on my New Year’s goals to see the financial and career-related goals I set for myself for 2024! A great way of setting yourself up for savings success is to create a no spend challenge. A no spend challenge is a fun idea for gamifying savings, concentrating your savings efforts into a manageable period of time, and building better financial habits.

In this post, I’ll go over types of no spend challenges, why no spend challenges are so helpful, and tips for implementing them. At the end, I provide a free 30-day savings challenge template you can use to track your spending and saving.

What Is a No Spend Challenge?

There are a few types of no spend challenges. Each one can help you boost your savings dramatically. However, you may find that one type of challenge better fits your finances and personal situation.

No Spend Month Challenge

The first is a no spend month challenge. For this challenge, you strive to not spend anything on unnecessary items throughout an entire month. You are allowed to spend money on necessary expenses, however. Many people choose to do a no spend month in February, given that it’s the shortest month of the year. Indeed, Nerdwallet’s Smart Money podcast hosts always do a no spend month in February. At the end of the month, you hopefully have extra money saved to put towards your financial goals.

No Spend Day Challenge

For the second type of challenge, you establish no spend days each week. For example, you might make Tuesday and Thursday no spend days. If that sounds too hard, you might just make Wednesday a no spend day. Generally, people find it easiest to make work days no spend days. That being said, if you want to save a lot of money, you might consider making weekends your no spend days.

The amount of money you save for this type of challenge is likely somewhat less than a no spend challenge for a full month. However, this type of challenge is easier to sustain over the long term. It can therefore become a new habit you implement throughout the whole year and even beyond. For a more dramatic challenge, you could establish spending days, like only spending on Friday and Saturday.

Make Your Own No Spend Challenge

You can also establish your own rules for a no spend challenge. For example, some people specify a certain number of days to not spend anything, such as not spending anything for 10 days, then spending regularly for 10 days, and continuing to alternate throughout the entire year. Your challenge rules can vary depending on your personal and financial situation. The important part is to make sure you set boundaries on spending money and divert your saved money to your savings goals.

Why Should You Do a No Spend Challenge

There are lots of reasons to try a no spend challenge! For one thing, a no spend challenge helps build financial discipline. You may be surprised at how often you stop yourself from making frivolous purchases during a no spend month. Drawing awareness to those non-necessary purchases can help you gain perspective on how often and how much you spend. Once the no spend challenge is over, you’ll hopefully approach those purchases with a little more thoughtfulness as well.

A no spend challenge is also a great idea for anyone who struggles with motivation around saving. Gamification is a well-established method for making undesirable behaviors more fun. Many of us find it hard to maintain focus on a goal when the timeline is long and the rewards are ambiguous. If you have shorter-term goals, like not spending for a day, a week, or even a month, it’s easier to maintain focus. Plus, rewards as small as checking off a box or putting a sticker to mark your success are almost as motivating for adults as they used to be for us when we were kids.

And perhaps the biggest thing a no spend challenge is great for is saving money! By dramatically cutting your spending for a period of time, you gain extra money to divert to your financial goals. Doing a dramatic challenge for a month may also be easier for you to accomplish than a more moderate goal to save throughout the year. You can therefore front-load your savings effort and potentially accomplish your savings goals sooner than you otherwise would.

No Spend Month Tips and Tricks

There are lots of great things about a no spend challenge, but there are also lots of obstacles to plan for! The best way to do this is to review your spending on non-necessities over the past few months and assess what you regularly spend money on. Next, assess how you will deal with not spending money on those things for a whole month (or whatever period of time).

Strategies for Common No Spend Obstacles

For example, if you eat out a lot, you might find it useful to set aside time for meal planning at the beginning of each week to find simple recipes you can easily prepare. It’s a big adjustment to suddenly start cooking all your own meals and going to the grocery store regularly. By planning ahead, you can take some of that burden off yourself.

Likewise, if you experience a lot of FOMO, you might consider limiting your social media usage during this month.

Additionally, if your friends or family members have birthdays during the month, you could buy their presents before the month starts (loophole!) Alternatively, you might consider getting your entire family involved in the challenge. They might not want to do a no spend challenge month themselves, but you might come up with a list of ideas for fun, free activities you can do together.

Integrating No Spend Exceptions Into Your Plan

You might also have some activities you really, really love and that are not strictly necessary. If that’s the case, you might consider integrating them as exceptions into your no spend month. For example, I do trivia weekly with my partner and a few friends. I always buy a seltzer water for $2 and trivia costs $3. I am not willing to give up my weekly trivia, even during a no spend month. 

Consequently, if I’m feeling very strict about my no spend month, I might Venmo my partner $20 before the month starts and have him pay for my drink and trivia entry. Or I might just pay for it myself and acknowledge it as an exception during the month. 

If you have activities that are similarly important to you, I have a few recommendations. First, try to limit your exceptions to an activity that is an affordable price. Alternatively, try cutting costs for that activity during your no spend month. If you do a weekly happy hour, consider getting a seltzer instead, for example. Second, limit your exceptions to one or two activities so you don’t completely derail the point of a no spend challenge. You might even consider writing those exceptions down to keep you accountable.

Review Lessons Learned To Inform Your Next Spending Challenge

Finally, at the end of your no spend challenge, take some time to assess how it went. Hopefully you found that the no spend challenge helped you save money and gain important information on your saving and spending habits. If that’s the case, you might want to try a spending challenge again. Consequently, it’s helpful to garner lessons learned for the next time you do a challenge.

Assess how much money you saved and how that compares to your usual savings. Note the obstacles you faced and how you might plan for them next time. And if things didn’t go as well as you thought, that’s totally okay! The first time is always the hardest.

For additional tips on saving money, check out my post on the best tips to save money and the planet! These tips can help you save even more money during your no spend challenge!

No Spend Challenge Template

Another great method for keeping you on track during your no spend challenge is using a no spend tracker. Using a free printable tracker can highlight your progress visually and, as a result, keep you motivated. I’ve therefore provided a no spend month tracker you can download as a digital file for your personal use. Simply click on the download button below to get your instant download.

If you prefer using digital items, you can view and edit it on Adobe reader. If you’re like me and prefer using a physical product, you can print out the template at home or your local library or print shop.

This tracker has a full page for coloring in or marking off each day you adhered to your no spend challenge. It also has space to mark your savings at the beginning of the month and at the end of the month. On the second page, you’ll find journal prompts to reflect on how the challenge went. 

I hope you find these free printables useful as you embark on your own spending challenge!

Final Thoughts on No Spend Challenge

A no spend challenge is a great way to cultivate good spending and saving habits and detox after a period of high spending. Looking at you holiday shopping! 

I hope you try your own spending challenge. If you do, let me know what kind of challenge you’re pursuing and keep me updated on your progress! I’d love to cheer you on! And if you use the no spend challenge printables above, let me know your thoughts on it! I’m always open to feedback on my digital products and how to make them better.

Interested in related content? You can check out my related posts on savings challenges and budgeting, which also includes a free digital download to track your savings challenge and budgeting! I also have posts on starting a side hustle, asking for a promotion, where to save money for any goal, and how to save for retirement. All of these posts will help you develop great savings habits and gain more money for your goals!

Finally, remember that I am not a financial advisor. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a professional.