Viral “no-spend” challenges gaining popularity among Colorado residents

By Ashley Portillo

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    DENVER (WBZ) — Viral “no-spend” challenges are becoming more popular among consumers in Colorado. It’s a commitment to only buy the essential items you need and not spend money on the unnecessary items you want.

It also comes as prices of items continue to rise. According to the latest Consumer Price Index, prices have increased 2.8% annually, which has left many more people paying closer attention to what they’re spending their money on.

Some people choose to do no-spend challenges for a day, the weekend, or even a whole month. While it’s not easy to give up those Starbucks runs, trips to Target, or convenient online shopping, no-spend challenges are easy ways to learn more about your spending habits.

First, look at how much money you spent last month and give yourself a budget. Decide what you need and don’t need. You need to pay for rent, groceries, gas, and other necessities

But do you really need that new outfit, the expensive dinner at a restaurant, or coffee to-go?

Leah Ryan, a Parker resident, said she saw the trends online and wanted to be more mindful and cut back on spending when she went shopping. She took the challenge and learned she’s an impulsive shopper.

“You have to be very conscientious of what you’re doing and what you’re buying and try to really stick to the plan and have a lot of self-control in doing so. But it worked out pretty well. I saved a good amount of money, and I was able to reuse and find ways to use things that I already have,” said Ryan.

Ryan added that she learned it’s best to have a plan in place before going to the store.

Woman’s hand paying with a blue credit card Detail of a Young black woman’s hand paying with a blue credit card at zero waste store Jordi Salas / Getty Images “If I really budget and I really am trying to save pennies, that’s the way to do it, and just kind of have a pre-plan before you go in, so that you don’t allow yourself to spend money that you shouldn’t on things that you don’t need,” said Ryan.

Meanwhile, other local shoppers like Erin Jones found participating in the no-spend challenge was difficult. As a single parent with two teenagers, expenses have been adding up, and while she couldn’t fully participate in the challenge, she did learn to be more mindful with her spending.

“We’ve had to really pay more attention to what we’re spending our money on and where we’re choosing to put those dollars,” said Jones. “I have learned that instead of completely cutting myself off, like some of the trends are doing, I do a lot better about focusing on being mindful. If I completely cut things out, I tend to kind of binge the other direction.”

Jones said she learned to save up for busy days or special occasions. She also made a more conscious effort to buy items in bulk when it makes sense.

“Some of the things that we’ve done is, I pre-loaded my Starbucks app with a monthly budget. If there’s money left over at the end of the month, we can roll it into the next month,” said Jones. “So, we try to be a little bit more mindful about saving it for special occasions or meetings.”

So, what can you do after you’ve saved all that money? You can pay down credit card debt or student loans, put the money toward your retirement or investment accounts, like a Roth IRA or brokerage account, or put the extra money it into a high-yield savings account for emergency savings. You could also put the money toward saving for a home or a vacation.

Other advice you can keep in mind to stay on track includes:

Planning your meals, so you’re not relying on Door Dash Instead of that impulse buy, add the item to a wish list because chances are in 30 days, it won’t be something you really want Share your no-spend challenge with others, which will help you stay accountable The bottom line is that spending less money on non-essential items means more money to put toward other important things.

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