Merry

I like this tip and do it often. I think putting off instant gratification is a great exercise in discipline and helps sort out “needs” from “wants”.

A corollary is to implement a specific ban on buying certain things. For example, I’m going to try to make it through this winter without buying any new clothes.

Judith Levine wrote a book called “Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping”. Although her politics are quite evident in the book and may annoy some, it was an interesting chronicle of someone choosing to opt out of the consuming whirlwind that is so much a part of our culture. If your going to seriously implement this tip for a month, it’s a nice tie in.

Jane

When I was single this was a strategy I stumbled upon after a break up. Just staying in on the weekends saved me about $75 a week. Once I saw that I did it more intentionally with great results. It’s a great way to add to wedding savings when you are engaged.

Andrea

As a follow-up to Merry’s post about “Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping” – check out Freecycle.org. I’ve obtained the following free items: a shop-vac, a 27″ Sony TV and plants for my gardens. Green frugality!

Caleb Nelson

I think that this is an incredible tip. About two months ago I set a goal to not eat out. At the age of 24, I was eating out more often than not, nearly every meal. I didn’t know how much this affected my wallet until I stopped. I figured that it evened out to eating in, minus the cooking. It’s amazing the difference it has made in my finances. Now that I’m not eating out, I honestly don’t spend money 5 days a week. If it weren’t for the weekend, most of the time I would keep my wallet closed.

Caleb
http://www.mefinanciallyfree.blogspot.com

Julie

You are assuming everyone spends money everyday. I spend money one weekend every other week with getting groceries and paying bills due. I will also get anything else needed like a repair or replacing clothing that has worn out. I will go out usually once or twice in the next 2 weeks to pick up milk or anything we’ve run out of. We don’t go out to eat but twice a year. We don’t do entertainment that cost money except for about 2-3 times a year.

So, your tip saves me $0.

You promised no “latte factor” type tips – these are ALL like that. If you don’t do that in the first place, you can’t save money on not doing them!

MK

Thanks for the great tips. Some will work for me (such as this one), and some won’t. But it’s really great to have this series handy in order to think about some of the things I’ve been spending on, and figuring out which things I can give up and which ones I can’t.

I don’t understand the attitude of the people who’re complaining. One size does not fit all, and maybe they’re expecting one-on-one coaching.

I’m really benefiting from this challenge, and I look forward to the rest. Thanks Ramit!

A Dawn

Good tip. How about adding this to it: we can add up things we usually spend on daily and then put that in a savings account(because we saved that by not spending). After one year it should turn into a good amount.
A Dawn Journal
http://www.adawnjournal.com

Julie

Sarah – these are the same rehashed tips that have been around for ages. They just get recycled and repacked. And, if you’re already serious about saving money, you’re already doing them.

And you can’t possible save $1000 in a month on your income – are you skipping rent? no food this month? live with your parents?

Also, ask yourself this. How does a psychology major become an expert in finance?

Funny about Money

Once a week? If only! I’m at three no-spend days every week, and counting upward.

A whole no-spend week, though: wow! I’m left in awe. How does this person get to work? My commute requires a fill-up a week. Even if I could tolerate sitting on a miserable bus for two hours and ten minutes to make the 25-minute drive (no joke: I tried it!), I’d still have spend something on the bus fare.

Naturally Frugal

I’ve written about this tip in my blog, but suited it to my needs. I usually don’t spend money during the week, but spending money on the weekends is always easy. I’ve made my own challenge to have a no-spending weekend once a month, and may work my way up from there.
Oh, and Funny about Money – Yeah, it sucks to pay for gas, but lots of people commute that far and a bus fare vs. filling a car up is sometimes a little bit more frugal. However, I wouldn’t want to spend 2 hours of my day commuting on a bus, so maybe you could try only spending money on essentials, and one of those would be gas. Keep up the good work, not spending money even just one day a week is great, so 3 is even better!

Kyle

Is this tip even necessary? It seems completely obvious that one can save money by not spending it (unless it is spent on something that can generate a profit.)

Want to save gas? I suggest a “No Driving” day.
Want to save brain cells? How about a “No Paint Huffing” day?

hungryelmo

Some of you complain about this tip and other tips previously mentioned are common sense tips… I agree, but the problem is, we know what we should do to save money, we just don’t do it. There are enough of us who spend money without thinking about it too much… and at the end of the month, surprised to see the bank account balance low and credit card statement high. “But I didn’t buy anything expensive!” we say. For people like that, this tip is useful. It will stop us from impulse shopping and a trip to Starbucks.

Aya @ Thrive

I agree, this method is relatively easy and rewarding with pretty immediate results. I always keep a daily log of my spending and I feel really good on those days that I don’t have to write anything, because I didn’t spend any money! I’ve been trying to walk around with less cash too; I don’t have a credit card and having little money in my wallet reminds me that I shouldn’t be spending it more actively.

hello

Hey, where are the tips of the previous days?

Kyle

I hope those comments aren’t directed at me, because I never said I was the master of personal finance. I was just pointing out how obvious it is to say that you can save money by not spending it.

PDXGirl

I plan on making Wed & Thur no spend days this week and next. I hope to save $20 that might otherwise have aimlessly left my pocket

I have found this project somewhat helpful, even though these tips are nothing new visiting the site everyday is making me think about them everyday, so for example, I’m not tempted to turn the Tstat up to 67 ’cause I’m a little chilly. It’s right on the forefront of my mind so I can act accordingly.

My goal is to save $500 this month. Considering that I only make $1700 (after taxes) it will be quite a feat but I’m on track so far.

Sarah Hudson

Julie – stop being a bitch.

I never said I could save $1,000. I’m doing this to save as much as I can whether it’s $100 or $500; Any money saved would be improving my financial situation- as it would anyone else’s (yes, even YOURS).

You can’t possibly be that naive to think that just because someone majored in one subject, they’re completely incapable of having any valid insight on another topic. If that IS what you think, you’re an idiot. Everything is related. You don’t think finance and psychology relate to eachother?? Come on, Julie. How the hell do you think any progress is made in the world if none of us ever seek help from others who know something new or different than we do? That’s exactly why I’m reading this blog- unlike you, most of these tips are ones I haven’t heard or tried before and they’re working for me. I don’t give a shit if the guy writing about them is an expert in finance or not (which he never said he was, by the way so get your facts straight). He’s helping me and I’m grateful for that.

Get off this blog and go do something productive with your life. Helping someone else rather than attacking any and every “pitfall” they may or may not have would be a GREAT start.

matt @ Thrive

Julie, I’m curious who you think should be experts on personal finance? Economists, to a large extent, are interest in large-scale economic systems, ignoring the behavior of individuals. MBA’s are more interested in business than than your specific purchasing behavior. Who would you propose should be PF experts?

As the behavioral psychologist here at Thrive, my previous research was what made the company seek me out: I worked entirely on issues of judgment and decision making, with a specialization on self-control and the choice environment. Spending behavior is human behavior, and it is psychologists, in cooperation with other scientists, policy makers, and finance experts, that generally deal with issues in that domain.

That aside, I’m often disappointed by these sort of “tips”, in that while they may be interesting, they aren’t necessarily psychologically valid. This tip is the equivalent of a yo-yo diet, coupled with a lot of highly cognitive features where people are “thinking” about their spending and discovering “wow I can live without this, which almost never actually happens over any long term.

What you want is a general behavioral change that turns into a habit. That is usually a product of repeated minor improvements. Take dieting as a perfect example: not eating once a week is unlikely to produce real, sustainable eating change. Instead, you cut down on your calories a little every day. You make changes to your diet, substituting one thing for another and then creating a habit out of that.

A potentially more valid way of doing something like this is setting goals that involve smaller decreases, and aren’t targeted at a global spend (like purchasing at all, since purchasing anything then “breaks” that goal for the day). You want to cut back a little, not completely, since completely is unlikely to be something you can do over the long term. Try giving up one of your cups of coffee per day and replacing it with some free water from the water cooler. Consider exchanging one meal out with one meal in. Cut back in small, manageable chunks and make them part of your habit, so that they are no longer changes but just the way you are used to doing things. Then you can cut back a little more, until you are on the level you want to be at.

rasalghul

Julie, if this site isn’t doing it for you, please go somewhere else or stop commenting. Stop being a troll.

I’ve been considering this for a while, and it’s encouraging to hear that it works for some people.

Spork

Sorry ras, my comment was directed at Carla.

Tim

The next level of saving is when that Sunday comes along and you are out grocery shopping you are getting some money back from your purchases. How can it be done? Well i got a chase freedom cash back credit card from cardz.com and i get 3% cash back on grocery stores, gas, some restaurants and 1% on all else. I just use one card for all purchases, pay one bill at the end of the month and reap the benefits without changing anything else. Got the card here: http://www.cardz.com/Compare_Credit_Cards/Cash_Back

Allese @ wesabe.com

Hey all-

We at Wesabe have been following Ramit’s challenge this month (I am the community manager at Wesabe). You can see a very similar debate about helpful versus non helpful spending/saving tips in our “Save $1000 In A Month” group (https://www.wesabe.com/groups/4-saving-up/discussions/2703-save-1000-in-30-days-can-you-do-it).

I wanted to leave a comment regarding No Spend Day as a handful of members at Wesabe are following a “No Spend Month”. A few people started this right before Halloween and people have joining since then. It’s been really successful and cool to see how supportive people have been in helping each other reach this goal.

Anyways, just thought you might find it interesting: https://www.wesabe.com/groups/4-saving-up/discussions/2579-no-spend-month

Cheers and good luck to all those following the challenge!
Allese

G.L.

Julie, I understand your angst and know where you’re coming from. I too disagree with some of the advice Ramit has dispersed (especially #6). However, you ought to keep in mind that, obvious though these tips may be, they are being read by thousands of people. Some of the others out there never considered doing the things Ramit is proposing, and his blog helps them. Constructive criticism is always welcome, though – so next time you disagree with Ramit’s advice or think you can do better – post a tip of your own! (I did so when commenting on one of the earlier articles – I suggested buying a video game console to avoid going out.)

Alice

Other than gas and groceries, I hardly spend a nickel on MOST days. This one is way too easy for me.

Larry Lennhoff

This is the easiest of all the tips for me to implement. As an observant Jew, from an hour before sunset on Friday to an hour after sunset on Saturday I’m obligated not to spend money, among other things. The problem is that the run up to the Sabbath can be very expensive! :>)

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Debbie

This is related and usually leads to no spending days each week.

All my monthly bills like the mortgage and utilities are auto drafted so all I have to do is make sure there is enough at the beginning of the month to cover it all. My part of my January income is put into the autodrafted account for February’s bills so I’m never in a pinch come the first of the month.

Then each week on a Monday (this is important) I give myself an allowance of sorts (for me it’s $100) to spend on gas, groceries, entertainment and so on. Since I usually want to go out on the weekend I’m very careful how I spend that $100 because I want enough to have for Saturday night. If I have cash left over I carry that over to the next week. For example if I have $10 left over one week I only take out $90 the next Monday giving me again $100 to spend that week.

This all but eliminates my need for a credit or debit card although I have them so I don’t carry them with me at all eliminating most impulse buys. It also helps out the small local businesses I like to patronize by not using a card that costs them money to process. Plus it feels good to have some actual cash in my hand. Call me old school

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