Is anyone else doing a no spend challenge?

I'm doing pretty well at no spend January. I don't include things I need, even if it's crafty items, so I did buy some black cardstock.

I have some pretty big wants, so I need to save up. They include travel, furniture, and window treatments. I also want to budget for a monthly house cleaning.

Not really a challenge, but I've realized that I was depressed the past few years and haven't been completing craft projects or otherwise taking care of that kind of thing, so I've challenged myself to make a dent in my stash, get rid of outdated clothes, etc before buying anything.

Hope it’s ok to post a few tips from when I have done no/low spend in the past.

If you have any self care items in your stash you forgot about it’s a good time to use them. I have some shower steamers I forgot about and am trying to use them and enjoy them. Same with sheet masks.

I’m going through and organizing and found I have more melting chocolate than I should have so I plan to try and use some this month and I just checked and I have Valentine’s Day sprinkles - hoping to use some up this month - yes I know it’s only January but I need to start using them.

Do you have supplies for a house project. During a no spend is a great time to do it.

Go through your craft supplies and maybe you will find something that inspires you. I bought a few things but several more are calling my name but trying to use what I have vs buying anymore.

I have a large candle/wax stash and am trying to use a few this month. I have told myself no more until I get down to a smaller stash.

I still need to go through my freezers and make a plan but have been mostly eating from it except I was bad an added a few things from really good sales. Now to avoid stores snd make a large dent.

I had good intentions but so far have not been practicing it...

I'm not going to do a complete "no spending" BUT I am going to a lot lot lot more deliberate with my spending. Amazon is my achilles heal. I need to chill.

I am trying to pare down my pantry and my freezers. I just added a half beef to my freezers, so they are really full now. I had a lot of larger bulky items in there from Christmas, and I just need to organize it better. It's hard when I had to quickly cram in a lot of beef. I do put that stuff into the stiff sided grocery totes, so I can lift out to see what is below. It helps keep it better organized, instead of just random packages thrown in. I have another quarter in there to take to one of my kids, so that is not helping me get organized. I need to keep that separated.

Money wise. Lord. Normally we pay most expenses in December, but this year we did not need any more expense, so we pushed it into January. The bill sitting on the top of the stack is 108K That's the biggie, but there are some other sizeable ones. Ooof... painful.

Hope to get a couple loads of fats sold here soon. They are ready and we need to get them out of the barns to make room for calves.

I’ve been doing a no buy/refill only on skincare and cosmetics since 2020. My stash was absolutely beyond stuffed and I am still sticking to it pretty well. I allow myself to indulge when I have gift cards but otherwise I only buy to replace empties.

I’m doing a low buy in general this January and I’m not doing the best. I’m doing well with shopping our freezer and pantry and only buying fresh produce but I’m finding myself indulging in new clothes for me and my son. I need to rein it in! I did get my credit card statement and it’s lower than usual so that’s a good sign but I could be doing better.

I did clean out my closet last week and found some things I forgot I owned so I’m challenging myself to wear them before I buy anything else new.