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Unless a person needs to cut down on expenses for some reason, why not enjoy what we have earned?

"Unless a person needs to cut down on expenses for some reason, why not enjoy what we have earned?"

Oh, I don't know...

...To pay off taxes, credit cards or other debts?
...To build up savings and cash reserves?
...To contribute more money to the 401K/IRA?
...To save money for the next move/car/vacation/Christmas/new business/job-change so that there's less to have to charge?
...To be able to donate funds to church or charities?
...To simply explore more fulfilling things to do with one's life besides shop?

I dont think buying nothing (other than the necessities) is a difficult thing. Get a library card and have get some movies, go for walks in the park. My big suggestion is to give yourself a reward at the end of the week. something small and not expensive (obviously) like a brunch out, or a new hat

bepsf, the things you mention are of course reasons to cut down on expenses, but if you already have enough money set aside for them, why not sip Veuve Cliquot and have somebody clean your chamoise boots with down feathers?

In that case, by all means go for it.

On the other hand, "if you're low on cash," which is the first sentence of this post, cutting expenses is the way to fix that.

This is definitely hard to do for a student who has no time to cook! I'm planning on doing it though- just starting next week (no, I don't keep saying this- its when school ends AND is pay-day)

I am getting organic local farm deliveries for $20ish/week when the growing season starts, so I might do this as much as possible as my groceries are covered all summer.

bromelia, if you don't have a reason to cut down on expenses, then you're probably not low on cash. This post is referring to people who might be low on cash (hence starting the article with "if you're low on cash").

I have at least one "buy nothing" week every month or so, and I take that extra money and drop it into an emergency funds savings account (i've needed to tap into that account a couple of times, so I know how essential it is to have one).
But I try not to look at it as a "buy nothing" week and look at it more as a "spend more time at home / by yourself" week. Instead of going out to a movie, I'll stay home and entertain myself (read, knit, sew, clean, dance around the apartment, organize... or maybe open a bottle of wine, make a big bowl of popcorn and just lounge around on the couch).
I find that I'm always so busy and I often forget how AWESOME it can be to stay home by myself and just enjoy everything that I have at home, without any distractions.
I guess you could consider my buy nothing weeks kinda like a staycation. :)

tough proposition? Hardly. This is what we do most weeks. There are libraries for good books and videos and there's a kitchen with stove for baking up any goodies you might want with the staples you already have in your house. And then there's the company of your family and friends....

This isn't hard at all. From the moment I got my first job, I've always set goals for myself. Goals like "If I save this amount of money, then I'll let myself spend this amount on myself." I end up saving much more than I spend on needless things. If there's something I want, and I wait to buy it, I find that I didn't really need it in the first place and end up not getting it, most of the time. I've managed to cut down on a lot of clutter too. I never buy books and opt to go to the library instead, and rent everything else (movies and games). Those extra dollars add up really fast, and I was able to take a great overseas vacation, and still have enough for an emergency fund.

I believe in prudent spending, but "buying nothing" isn't doing anything to stimulate the economy.

sypage: buying nothing doesn't stimulate the economy, true. But that is if you have money to spend. If you have money, this is the best time to get deals on almost anything. However, "if you're low on cash" the best thing that citizens can do for the economy is to become fiscally sound, have an emergency fund and lower their debt ratio. Please, please do not buy into that propaganda that everyone needs to spend, even if they don't have it to spend, just to "stimulate" the economy. That is trash, and we should all be working to get our own houses in order, and demand that Congress does the same.

I don't think I do spend on more than the essentials most of the time - but my definition of essentials (eg what food I buy) may need some tweaking. What this exercise could show me is how I could spend on treats and cut down on some groceries.

It seems prudent now to spend on capital items which may be cheaper as savings get nothing.

aside from take out once a week- this IS how we live. And have since long before the recession. Paid off grad school loans, bought a big place...But in nyc it is easy to live on very little-- so many free things (except babysitting....)

I do this already. I've been looking for a job for about two months now, and there's only so much application-submitting and resume-sending and check-up-calling one can do. I mastered the separation between stuff I want and stuff I need years ago. I'm a frugal person in general, but the stuff I want or even think I need now goes on a list of stuff to buy once I do have a job.

There are things that have been sitting on that list for two months now that I find I don't want/need anymore. And there are things that just make waiting seem more desirable. That list helps me sort it out so when I'm not strapped for cash anymore, I don't just go out and buy stuff because I now can.

'buy a new hat'..: )

We're at the start of a buy nothing week ... eating only what's in the pantry or freezer, packing lunches, etc. Should be an interesting challenge for a family of four, especially since we didn't do any stock up beforehand.

If we make it, we're going to Best Buy next weekend and getting Rock Band 2, with all the goodies. Yeah!

My husband and I took a month off non-essential spending in March and were absolutely stunned at how much money we saved. Before, we were constantly stressed about our seeming lack of money and always wondering where it went to. It turns out that if you don't buy stuff, you have more money! Sounds stupidly obvious but really hard to grasp. We used Mint.com to help us track our spending which really helped us stay honest. It turns out that when we cut out non-essential spending we were able to afford a vacation to Hawaii for our 5th anniversary and save up to buy our first home.

Moral of the story: Even if you don't need to save money, you can learn a lot about what you can and cannot afford if you simply don't spend all your extra hard earned cash.