Why a No-Spend Week Might Be Exactly What Your Finances Need
Even the most financially savvy among us can make unnecessary splurges. From throwing random Amazon products in your cart to buying a Starbucks coffee when you have perfectly good coffee at home, the small purchases here and there can add up. Enter the no-spend week, a financial challenge that has picked up steam on social media and has the potential to reset your budget. Here’s everything you need to know about the beneficial trend.
What Exactly Is a No-Spend Week?
As its name suggests, a no-spend week is when you commit to only spending money on essentials for seven days — and refrain from buying anything else. That means no takeout, no shopping for a new pair of jeans, no buying a random pack of gum in line at the grocery store. Spending money on rent, gas, and necessary groceries is allowed, but anything outside of the essentials should be put on hold.
Why Are No-Spend Challenges a Thing Now?
No-spend challenges aren’t entirely new. They often aren’t even relegated to one week — while some choose to challenge themselves to a day or two without spending, others engage in no-spend months. But a confluence of factors has made no-spend challenges more popular, including inflation, an acknowledgement of overconsumption, and the threat of another recession. On TikTok, the hashtag #nospendchallenge was attached to over 25,000 posts in January 2025, proving that this new savings trend has plenty of interest.
How To Plan for a No-Spend Week
The first step in planning a no-spend week is to set clear goals. Why are you participating in this challenge? What motivates you? Once you’ve solidified why you’re doing this, take inventory of the items you already have in your home — groceries, entertainment, household supplies — so that you can plan for any additional essentials you might need. Make a detailed list of your meals for that week so you don’t make any unnecessary purchases at the grocery store, and plan free activities that will prevent the urge to spend money on a movie ticket or other entertainment. Finally, be sure your entire household is on board so that you can turn it into a group challenge and support each other.
What Are the Benefits?
The most obvious benefit to curbing unnecessary expenses is that you’ll save money in the short term. But there are other silver linings as well. By limiting what you spend, you’ll gain a better picture of how you might waste money and what you can do to avoid extraneous spending. A challenge like this also helps spark a mental reset around money, and helps you reconnect with low-cost activities.
Mistakes To Avoid
You wouldn’t run a marathon without a training plan, right? The same goes for a no-spend week, where planning will help you avoid common pitfalls like impulse spending. Make sure you plan out your week to identify the money you have to spend, as well as where you might face urges to spend money on unnecessary items.
Once the week ends, don’t spend a ton of money to make up for what you just saved during the previous seven days. That defeats the purpose and throws all of your hard work out the window.
Finally, don’t go into this no-spend period with a negative outlook. This isn’t a punishment — it’s a way to regain control of your spending choices. Having a positive attitude when it comes to not spending money will only benefit you.