Is it possible to go a month without spending money? What if that month was budget-unfriendly December, when gifts are traditionally exchanged, traveling to see family and friends is mandatory—and oh yeah, you still have to feed and clothe yourself like any other month?
Peter Macedo, a member of the faculty at Virginia Tech who blogs at Soxite.com, is nearly done with an experiment he’s calling the Don’t Spend December. The rules, which he explains in full in a guest post at the Budgets Are Sexy blog, stipulate that you’re allowed to pay your bills (rent, insurance premiums, previous credit card bills), but that you cannot spend any expected income, nor can you use gift cards or cash you had hanging around before the month-long test begins.
So how does he survive? Mostly by eating what’s already in his house and garden, and with lots of bartering: The rules say it’s OK to accept gifts—restaurant meals, hopefully—from others, especially if you’ve previously cooked them dinner or helped them out with chores. If he can sell anything he’s bartered for or receives as a gift, the money gotten in that transaction is deemed OK to spend.
I had to find out more (like, how does he wrangle up presents for Christmas?), and Macedo answers my questions below:
What spurred this idea on? Were you spending too much on certain things, and if so, what?
Peter Macedo: I was thinking about how people give up things for 40 days during Lent. Give up something you consider to be a vice, something that will make you respect yourself at the end of the days and hopefully you change your ways significantly on the way out. But why only during Lent? Giving something up is much harder when you’re going it alone though, that’s for sure. What would happen if you lost your job and had to last a month without income? Chances are it’s not going to occur at a convenient time. I wondered what it would be like.
My first no-spend was actually 40 days and hit sometime in late August 2008. Last year I chose to do No Spend November mostly because of alliteration. This year I decided to try it in December. I had a vacation planned already for November so I didn’t want to skimp on it since vacations for me are so rare. The other reason is that while last November was difficult it wasn’t as big a stretch to pull off. Christmas is a big spending time and I found that instead of really saving on holiday spending, it was just held off until December. So was it really no spend? Tough call.
No Change November 2010 popped up to show what happens in a typical month for me. Since the only noted difference between last year and this year is that I am not allowing Christmas presents to get stockpiled ahead of time, I needed to see what it was that I did the month before December. A benefit of this activity is for me to see how well I can track my spending when the numbers get big. In this age of digital payments I rarely look at bank accounts or credit card statements.
What kind of things do you normally spend money on that you’re just going without for the month?
PM: I really don’t keep a budget. I do well without one and have been very lucky not to need one. Typically if I need (or want) something, I buy it. Clothes, tools, project materials, cooking gadgets, electronics, and anything from Target are all general purchase for me. It’s hard to talk yourself out of wanting things when you feel that you deserve to be allowed buy them for yourself.
My rules actually allow for minimal spending, you just can’t spend any expected income. Because of that I don’t think that there is anything I completely go without, but food is my big expense. I can look through my credit cards for a month and they have the little categories. Restaurants are the primary culprit. One of the worst things is ordering pizza online. I always order more than I need because there’s a minimum charge if you want it delivered. On top of that I have to pay a delivery fee, an online service fee (because I am too lazy to go pick it up a phone) and a tip.
What do you eat? Mostly stuff you’ve stockpiled or what?
PM: Stockpiled isn’t the right word. I have a pantry that I swear has a link to Narnia. There are things in there that are completely unnecessary (3 bottles of molasses?) so I can only assume Aslan left it for me. If you’re creative, you can do some good stuff with it. Being able to cook for yourself is essential. Being able to cook well enough for others is even better. One of the rules I’ve set out is that you can barter. If you make dinner for someone with your own food you can get them to make you a meal or to take you out for dinner. December 2nd I made some great stir fry for 3 people and got 3 owed meals off of it. All the ingredients were sitting in the kitchen: frozen chicken, frozen shrimp, honey, soy sauce, corn starch, garlic powder, minced onions, pepper, crushed red pepper and rice. Payback came in the form of a couple of gyros, home made squash calzone, and a bento box lunch.
I also expanded my garden this summer. It was a lot of work and I had quite a bit of help but from it I have canned salsa, jams, jelly, apple sauce (lots of people have apples around town that they don’t want on their lawns), pickles, and hot peppers. I’ve also dehydrated apple chips and seeds and made a lot of pies from squash and pumpkins. Even if you don’t have a garden of your own, farmers markets are pretty common now and you can pick up great items for a fair price. Jars of jalapeno jam have gotten me a lot of favors this month. I’m saving the apple butter for an emergency.
Looking for something dirt cheap and good to eat? Try making ramen noodles with hot sauce and pour in a beaten egg while stirring. It’s delicious. Pizza dough has 3 ingredients, sauce cost $1.50 and cheese is cheap if you go generic. Add to that my long list of pies and you’ve got a great bunch of food.
What with this being December and all, how are you dealing with presents? Any creative strokes of genius that other people with low budgets might be able to follow?
PM: I know that much of this requires skill sets that you might not have, but now you have a whole year to take some adult education or cooking classes to learn how! Here’s some of what I put together:
2 Books
Food I prepared and canned or preserved: apple butter, apple sauce, banana pepper jelly, jalapeno jelly, salsa, apple chips, toasted pumpkin and squash seeds.
Pies: apple, squash, eggnog, s’mores, mocha
A barely used computer monitor still in the box
A teddy bear I received with a donation to Habitat for Humanity
Stocking stuffers from the dollar store and thrift store.
What do you find are the easiest things to go without — that you don’t even miss, but that you normally drop some money on?
PM: Gas. I’m very lucky to have a house right downtown in a college town. I picked my house for just this reason so it’s not really a surprise. My commute to work is a 15-minute walk. Anywhere I can’t walk, the busses (free to staff and students) take me the rest of the way. Getting rides from people is fun and most are happy to do so. Especially if I trade them jalapeno jelly. In order to get home for the holiday I got gas cards in return for installing a sink for a friend. It was a great way to guarantee that I will have the money to pull off a 5-hour drive.
What are the hardest things to go without? What are the toughest sacrifices for you personally?
PM: Hardest thing to go without has to be food. I definitely eat a lot of good food, but I have to fight specific cravings all the time. I stay away from prepared frozen foods, limit brand name purchases. It’s a psychological game where losing means being disappointed in yourself. My entry for the 14th gets at this pretty well:
It was an interesting experience wandering around the store. There were so many things I wanted. Lucky Charms, juice, candy, extra pie pans (just in case I need them). But every time I looked at something I thought about the $46.36 in my pocket. I had to make it last. This has been a huge mental fight for me. I refinanced my house and thus got to skip a payment, received a bonus from the state, got a promotion at work that will go into effect in two paychecks, and I can’t spend any of it!!! December is a real challenge, but I know that after this month, I’m going to be proud that I pulled it off, and anything that I buy for myself will be much more rewarding. I just keep reminding myself that I am really lucky. I don’t HAVE to do this. But there are plenty of people that do.
READ ABOUT MORE CONSUMER EXPERIMENTS:
What I Learned by Not Getting into a Car for a Year
Q&A: 100 Days, $100 for Food, and Lots and Lots of Coupons
Q&A: The Year of No Clothing Purchases
A Blogger’s Year of Getting Discounts Just By Asking for Them