A couple saved $11k doing a "no spend year" - by cancelling Netflix and Disney plus subscriptions and ditching meals out.
Brighton Peachey, 33, and her husband, Michael Hofer, 36, a medical resident, decided to overhaul their finances after they realised they were living paycheck to paycheck.
With Michael coming to the end of his studies in 2024, the pair realised they will have to pay back $120k in student loan bills - so needed to be smart with their money.
The couple - who are parents to three children aged eight, six and three - also want to buy their own home in the future so cut back to be able to save up.
During their no-spend year they continued to pay for essentials - such as rent, bills and groceries - but went without "luxuries" such as subscriptions, eating out, going to the barbers and expensive days out.
They estimate they save $2000 every month - and say they've managed to save $11k overall so far.
Brighton, an a content creator, from Portland, Maine, US, said: "As we were approaching this year, Michael was coming to the end of his medical training so we have a lot of bills.
"We felt like we were living paycheck to paycheck. The month would roll around and we would be like 'where did our money go?'.
"Last year I did four months of no spend.
"Our motivation is to save money so we can start paying off our student loan debt and save for a house.
"We went from saving no money each month and now we save around $2,000-a-month."
With Michael coming to the end of his studies, the couple realised they will soon need to start paying off his student loan.
Brighton said the couple also had $7k of credit card debt that they wanted to pay off before they started saving for a house.
She said: "We got the idea to do this a few years ago and we have successfully done a no-spend January a few times.
"We have only spent money on rent, food, gas and health insurance and really cut back everywhere else."
Brighton said it was the small purchases would add up and made a big dint in their bank account.
The couple used to spend $200 on subscriptions each month.
Brighton said: "Our biggest problems were the small purchases - like meals out and subscriptions.
"At the start of the year, we cancelled a bunch of subscriptions like Spotify, Audible, Hulu and HBO.
"They were costing us $200-a-month."
As well as giving up subscriptions, Brighton has stopped going for meals out - which would set them back £200-a-month.
They have also given up having professional haircuts - which would set the family back around $100 every few months.
Brighton said: "Eating out was a bit one, mostly for my husband. He commutes to work so he eats out a lot.
"Instead we have started packing lunches at home.
"We have also started doing our own haircuts at home which has stopped us from spending a lot of money.
"The first time I did my husband's it wasn't great and it looked a little rough but the kid's haircuts have gone well.
Brighton Peachey, 33, and her husband, Michael Hofer, 36, a medical resident, decided to overhaul their finances after they realised they were living paycheck to paycheck.
With Michael coming to the end of his studies in 2024, the pair realised they will have to pay back $120k in student loan bills - so needed to be smart with their money.
The couple - who are parents to three children aged eight, six and three - also want to buy their own home in the future so cut back to be able to save up.
During their no-spend year they continued to pay for essentials - such as rent, bills and groceries - but went without "luxuries" such as subscriptions, eating out, going to the barbers and expensive days out.
They estimate they save $2000 every month - and say they've managed to save $11k overall so far.
Brighton, an a content creator, from Portland, Maine, US, said: "As we were approaching this year, Michael was coming to the end of his medical training so we have a lot of bills.
"We felt like we were living paycheck to paycheck. The month would roll around and we would be like 'where did our money go?'.
"Last year I did four months of no spend.
"Our motivation is to save money so we can start paying off our student loan debt and save for a house.
"We went from saving no money each month and now we save around $2,000-a-month."
With Michael coming to the end of his studies, the couple realised they will soon need to start paying off his student loan.
Brighton said the couple also had $7k of credit card debt that they wanted to pay off before they started saving for a house.
She said: "We got the idea to do this a few years ago and we have successfully done a no-spend January a few times.
"We have only spent money on rent, food, gas and health insurance and really cut back everywhere else."
Brighton said it was the small purchases would add up and made a big dint in their bank account.
The couple used to spend $200 on subscriptions each month.
Brighton said: "Our biggest problems were the small purchases - like meals out and subscriptions.
"At the start of the year, we cancelled a bunch of subscriptions like Spotify, Audible, Hulu and HBO.
"They were costing us $200-a-month."
As well as giving up subscriptions, Brighton has stopped going for meals out - which would set them back £200-a-month.
They have also given up having professional haircuts - which would set the family back around $100 every few months.
Brighton said: "Eating out was a bit one, mostly for my husband. He commutes to work so he eats out a lot.
"Instead we have started packing lunches at home.
"We have also started doing our own haircuts at home which has stopped us from spending a lot of money.
"The first time I did my husband's it wasn't great and it looked a little rough but the kid's haircuts have gone well.
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FunTranscript
00:00I guess we're not spending any money this year?
00:02We're going to do a year of no spending challenge,
00:04which means we're not going to buy anything all year
00:06unless it's a necessity, like...
00:08Food, gas, and rent.
00:10So things like shampoo,
00:12deodorant, sunscreen, those would be considered
00:14a need, but makeup would not.
00:16And if there is something we need, like a cleaner,
00:18we have to use up everything we have in the house first
00:20before we buy more. I like that idea.
00:22I agree. We are going to buy our kids a birthday present,
00:24but we always try and shop second-hand first.
00:26We don't get a lot of gift cards, but if we do
00:28get one, if it's just like a general gift card,
00:30like a Visa gift card, we'll use that for necessities
00:32like food or gas, but if it's one
00:34to somewhere specific like REI,
00:36then we can buy whatever. We don't want it to be a super
00:38boring year, though, so we're not going to count
00:40experiences as, like, things,
00:42but we're not going to go, like, ham-hoggled.
00:44Ham-hoggled? We're not going to go
00:46bamboozled and dramdroozled.
00:48Okay.
00:50Hey, uh...
00:52Why are we doing this again? So the purpose of the
00:54no spend challenge is to break the habits of
00:56impulse spending and to learn to be
00:58super intentional with our purchases.
01:00Also to save up money to pay off your student loans.
01:02That's not going to happen for a long time.