Frugal February: I’m Doing a No Spend Month!

Yep, you read that right. I, Summer Lee, self described shopaholic with little self control, am not spending a single dollar in February. Excluding necessities, of course. Today is officially day one, so I though it would be a great idea to document the journey with y’all as I go through it. In today’s post I’ll be breaking down how I’m doing it and how I’m feeling throughout the process, and if I cheat (which hopefully I don’t.)

WHY I’M DOING IT

First off, I want to mention that I first got this idea from my friend Audrey Stowe, who did one for the month of January. I thought it was such a brilliant idea, and an amazing way to recover after the absurd spending I did during the holiday months. After weeks on weeks of #treatyoself, I think this will be a great way to refresh my space, and of course, my bank account.

Also, since February is technically the shortest month of the year (only by a few days, I know) I figured this would be a good gateway into hopefully doing this more long term. One of my goals this year is to get better at ‘adulting.’ As much as I hate to admit it, I tend to make rash purchases rather often. When I don’t have an exact budget, I can tend to overspend very often. On top of that, at work I eat out way more often than I should be, only because of convenience. Cooking and eating at home is so much more healthy, and so much more wallet-friendly. Plus, this’ll give me a great way to learn different recipes and try new things at home. Hopefully this will also help me shed some holiday weight. 🙂

HOW I’M DOING IT

So lemme break it down for y’all. Today’s post is going to be our rule book to follow for the month, for anyone who wants to join me on this journey. Obviously doing a complete no-spend month would be pretty difficult, considering that you need $$$ to live. So I’m sticking to only the necessities. What are the necessities, you ask? Let’s break it down. It’s pretty simple, there are two categories: allowed & not allowed. You can feel free to cater this to your own living styles- if you can’t quite commit to giving up your daily morning coffee, do what works best for you. I’m personally someone who needs hard and fast rules or else I’ll cheat all over the place, so I’m sticking to these guidelines as best as I can. Here’s my list below of what’s not allowed and what is allowed. I’m also attaching another one at the bottom of this post, so y’all can print it out and make it your own. It also includes a budget tracker, so you can see how much money you’re actually spending this month.

Since I’ve never actually done a no-spend month before, I’m anticipating a lot of hiccups down the road that may make this a little more difficult. However, I’m planning to stick to absolutely NO eating out. I’m anticipating that I’ll probably crave a cup of coffee or have to get lunch with coworkers throughout the week, but I’m going into it planning on not spending at all.

Here’s my overall budget breakdown for the month:

Hope this all makes sense- let me know if y’all have any questions on what’s allowed or not allowed! Also, don’t feel pressured to do it exactly the way I’m doing it. Tweak it to make it your own! Let’s all save some $$$ together. Comment down below if you want to join in the fun!

SAVE THIS PRINTABLE BUDGET TRACKER TO JOIN IN