Hi everyone. So recently I was inspired to do a new financial challenge. I follow
all these amazing people from the debt free community on Instagram.And I
noticed there's a really popular trend at the moment and that is a zero spend
challenge. So at the moment I'm actually saving for something really special. And
I'm a little bit behind on round three of the thousand dollar project. So I
thought this was the perfect opportunity to do this challenge for myself. But
whilst this is very similar to my annual frugal February challenge. It's a little
bit different. I set the challenge for 10 days only and
also I approached the challenge with a totally different mindset. Normally with
frugal February. I look at it in a place from scarcity and depriving myself. But
this time I limited it from a place of financial peace and harmony. And having a
bit of a holiday away from spending all the time. So I was actually really
excited about doing this challenge. And I actually made you guys a vlog whilst
doing this challenge. So you can watch me go through the ups and downs and
discover and learn new things with me. But before I publish this vlog which I
will be doing so next week. I wanted to share with you the key things that I learnt
and experienced from doing this challenge. And also give you some advice if you
want to do this for yourself. Alright what did I learn well I learned that my
desires really deepened, and they went to a place of self-love and nurturing.
Instead of like a desire to maybe buy a new item of clothing or some makeup. I
actually found the desire to buy fresh flowers and vitamins and high-quality
food. And that felt so much wiser and more respectful of my spending, and who
an my values as to what I stand for. I also experienced the awareness and
the need to actually invest in higher quality food. The desire to buy a sweet
muffin shifted to. The desire to buy a really healthy fresh salad. That would
give me the right amount of energy to get through my day.
I also learned the hard way that is really important to plan and prepare
this challenge. Things like packing lunch the night
before. Communicating to people that you were doing the zero spend challenge, and
also being prepared for their questions and their possible judgement as to why
you are doing this challenge. Also I don't recommend doing this challenge
ad hoc. You need to look at your diary and work out what is the best time for
you to do this. You do not want to try and do a zero spend challenge when
you've got a lot of things happening at work. Or you've got a lot of social
events, it's going to set you up for failure. So look in your diary as to when
there's a week, or a 10 day period where you don't have much on. And you can
really make the most of this challenge and embrace it. Now one of the beautiful
things that I realized experience from doing this challenge is. The awareness
and appreciation for the environment. Whilst this was a zero spend challenge.
The theme or the, I guess awareness of the environment really kicked in. And
this ended up being a really nice element of zero waste. And I'm really now
proud of this awareness and new habits that I have that really incorporate the
environment. Along with zero spend. Another great thing that came out from
doing this challenge was. It broke my financial block. I hit a bit of a plateau
with a thousand dollar project. I had all this money that was outstanding to me.
That was sick of waiting for it to come in, and I was kind of in a bit of a lull
or a bit of a flat of place. Of where I'd get new ideas and inspiration for
hustling and earning some extra income, or some extra cash, or finding new
savings. And this completely broke that block. I'm now refreshed and rejuvenated
to smash through my next couple of thousand dollar parcels, for the thousand
dollar project and get back on track. And then the final thing that I experienced
and learnt from doing this zero spend challenge was. I experienced guilt. I felt
really bad and embarrassed for not supporting my local cafes and dry
cleaners. Places where I would normally go in and to spend money. I felt that I
was having a negative impact on their own flow of money and abundance. And I
didn't like that and I actually ended up breaking it. So would I recommend this
challenge for you? Absolutely! I would say the people who would really
from this are people who have a high spending habit. They like to constantly
buy things, and they don't shop mindfully. It is a fantastic challenge to do where
you realize, that desire to spend unnecessarily comes up all the time. And
if you can just take that moment to step back. Let that feeling pass, whilst also
acknowledging it. There is so much personal growth that comes from doing
this challenge. Also you've got to be open to a form of financial meditation
that comes from this. The stillness, the calmness, the tranquility from not
spending is incredibly powerful. And incredibly enlightening. So I really hope
this video inspires you to do this zero spend challenge for yourself. If you
haven't subscribed to my channel make sure you do. And also make sure you
switch on that notification button. So you can see exactly when next week when
I published my zero spend challenge vlog.