No Spend Year

Has anyone ever done a no spend year? I have not but I decided I think 2024 is the year for it. The concept behind a no spend chunk of time be it a month or up to an entire year is to not spend money for a specific amount of time on non-necessities such as eating out, clothing & services on non-necessary items.

So, I am throwing my hat in the ring and trying this out. Initially I think a year is a LOT to do for my first time but I will see how it goes. The impetus for this challenge is that I have some debt I wish to pay off.

Often people choose to budget more stringently and there are suggested ways out there to budget such as the 50/30/20 rule. 50% towards monthly expenses. 30% towards things you want and 20% towards savings and investments. While I like this rule, I do not need the 30% towards things I want. One could even say the 20% towards savings could be all or partly included in my debt reduction plan.

For me, I pay all bills that are due every other Friday when I get paid. I then transfer a predetermined amount of money in to a joint account that B and I have for things like groceries and animal expenses. Whatever is left over I put as extra payments on my debt. This leaves me very little in my checking account but if I need something I have room on my credit cards to utilize. Of course this reduces the amount of extra I put towards debt but I think it’s better to pay a maximum amount and utilize a small amount if in need.

This month I plan to put an extra $500 on one of my cards and with my tax return plan to pay it off in February. That is still utilizing it to pay for a car rental & air fare in February for a trip we are taking. The airfare will utilize miles so for me it’s a minimal expense.

Tell me your thoughts on a no spend year.