No Spend Challenge…Is It Really Worth It?

How many times have you sat around listening to your friends tell you that they are going to quit doing something cold turkey? I am going to go out on a limb and say probably quite often. At some point, we have all probably been on a kick where we wanted to completely give up pop, cut carbs out of our diet or just stop spending over $2.00 on a small cup of coffee at Starbucks. While we can probably manage to hold out for a short amount of time it usually never lasts.

Let’s put this into more of a financial perspective. Given that it’s the first part of the year, a lot of us are looking to make changes to the way we spend money. We’re looking for areas in our budgets that we can cut out in order to either pay down debt or increase our savings. Some people like to take a drastic approach and completely cut things out in order to save money. Personally, I find that to be counter-productive.

Hypothetically, let’s say that I am trying to reduce my spending by not going out to dinner. I might be able to make it a month or two before I crack, but after that it is all over. I will probably want to go out every night for a week. I love eating out and trying new restaurants. It’s something that I enjoy, so why would I want to give it up. Instead, it should be a game of moderation. If you are the type of person who never cooks a meal at home, give it a shot. Do you need to stop going out to eat all together? Of course not. Just by cutting down the frequency means that you have made positive steps forward. By gradually making a change in your life, you are more likely to succeed in the long term.

In the end, we are all looking to improve ourselves each and every day. Some of us prefer to use a dramatic approach. However, I find the “slow and steady wins the race” approach to be most effective.

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Tagged as: budgeting, frugal living, personal finance