Last May, I studied abroad in Germany for three weeks. The experience was amazing, but I ended up coming back pretty broke with no summer job waiting for me. Since then, I've been working on building my bank account back up through my hours working in my campus dining hall. Still, thinking about the expenses that I have, I knew that something needed to change, and I couldn't keep spending money on pizza, snacks, and other things that I didn't really need. Every now and then, I would go to Walmart for nothing and leave with things like oversized dishes and a Harry Potter poster.
That was when my friend showed me this thing called "No Spend November." It meant that I was not permitted to spend any money for the month of November except for absolute necessities. In the beginning of the month, I put aside about $40 for necessary things and an evening out that I had planned with some friends a couple of months in advance. Then, I felt ready to take on the challenge and see what kind of a change not spending money would cause.
Of course, this proved to be much more difficult than expected. On November 1st, I headed up to campus and immediately walked into the campus coffee store to buy myself a muffin. Luckily (or unluckily, I guess), I remembered my pact and went up to the dining hall instead, where my meal plan could kick in.
There were also other instances that I considered "exceptions" or "extreme circumstances" during the month, where I allowed myself to buy something small during times of a lot of stress. This was infrequent, but it still felt like I was occasionally cheating my system and not succeeding with my challenge.
Still, for the most part, I think I did all right with my "No Spend November." I survived without spending recklessly, and I think (well, hope) that what I learned from this month will carry on into the future.
Will I do another spending fast? Probably not, but this one was an eye-opening opportunity to see how much money I really spend every single day on things that I don't need. I hope that from this experience, I will be more intentional about the things that I buy, and learn to put my card away when I know that I won't need it.
