How:
Hey don’t judge me, I had all the food I needed and all the drinks were already chilled in my ice box, didn’t need to buy gas or anything else. It was a regular week and I finally reached a milestone. I always thought that this would be difficult to accomplish when I started blogging, but I can now say that I have done it at least 3 or 4 times in the last 4 months. It all started by tracking every penny I spent in my handy dandy notebook. The days of the week that I didn’t spend any money vary, sometimes the spend fast week started from Friday to Friday or most recently from Sunday to Sunday. As you would be shocked that I didn’t make a purchase during the weekend, I will let you know that it could be done. So if you want to accomplish a similar feat for all mankind or maybe just for your wallet, start tracking every purchase and then make drastic cuts by planning ahead of time. Groceries should be purchased to last you through the week, your gas tank should be filled prior to as well, and for crying out loud avoid any major retailers.
Why:
As you might be asking yourself why did I put myself in such a predicament of being a terrible consumer and not adding to our nation’s GDP. Well if you may ask I did it to add to my Net Worth which is my very own GDP. Another word for this extreme sport as per shopaholics everywhere, is basically called a spending fast. I had a goal in mind as a way to test myself to think differently and I was going to achieve it no matter what. Every step taken financially will hopefully lead me in the right direction towards achieving my goals. Not a single online purchase, not a single candy bar, and not a single article of clothing purchased in that week.
Conclusion:
The end result if I do this more often than not, I will reduce my annual expenses and systematically increase my savings. I have so many goals in life and I want to achieve them as badly as we all need air. Well maybe not that bad, but you get my point. Sometimes to achieve something you have to make drastic changes and this is my major change as of right now. I can not say that I will keep the spending fast going for long or that I might not spend money on something as dumb as a $150 dollar pair of Jordan’s. I can clearly state that I am more focused and determined than ever to do what I have to do, which is to be in a more stable personal finance foundation while growing my net worth.
RichUncle EL
First, please let me say that I'm relatively new to your site and I find some of your posts interesting and useful. However I think you missed the boat on this one.
You actually did spend money this week. The only thing that changed was the timing of the outlay of cash. By purchasing your tank of gas, and cart of groceries early in the week, you prespent the money for items you didn't actually use until later in time. If you accrued your expenses to the time you actually used the items, then you spent some money everyday by driving (and using up some of the gas) and eating (and using up some of the groceries in the cart)
It really is of little consequence (unless you are an accountant and need to accrue costs correctly), but I think it is important to understand that it is impossible ( or very difficult) to reduce expenses to zero. People who write and post "I didn't spend any money this week and so can you" need to do a reality check. They are likley only fooling themselves.
Doug I appreciate the comment, and yes you are right it is of little consequence that I pre-spent those items that I desperately needed to survive like food and gas. The point I was attempting to make was the fact that in a 7 day period I did not charge anything on my debit card or use cash for anything, so for the purpose of the post I did spend 0. But for technical persons maybe if someone else paid for the groceries and I did not drive at all in 7 days, then that is considered an absolute no spend week. Thanks for the comment.