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Welcome to the 5-Day No-Spend Challenge! I’m excited you’ve decided to join us.
I’m Shane, an ADHD money coach and a fellow impulsive spender. I created this challenge to help fellow ADHDers take the stress out of spending and start building habits that actually work with your brain (not against it).
This challenge is just the beginning. My goal is to build a supportive ADHD community that empowers ADHDers to live a life free from financial stress.
That’s why I created a podcast, ADHDollars, and a Facebook coaching community, ADHD Money Club, where we dig deeper into things like budgeting that doesn’t feel like punishment, understanding spending triggers, and building a financial life that actually feels good.
Now that you’ve signed up, you may be thinking:
What difference is 5 days going to make?
or
How am I going to make it 5 days without spending any money?
These are common thoughts and completely normal, so let’s break them down.
Feel free to jump to the thought you are having or skip them both if they don’t apply.
What difference is 5 days going to make?
So your real goal is to stop impulsive spending entirely, right? Well, here’s the hard truth: that’s probably never going to happen.
Why?
- Because even neurotypical people engage in impulsive spending
- Impulsive spending feels good
- Our entire society, with marketing and advertising everywhere, is designed to get you to spend
The real goal is to create a life where impulsive spending aligns with your financial means. Achieving this means:
- Planning for and putting aside money that allows you to spend impulsively
- Reducing the frequency and cost of impulsive spending to stay within your means
Five days is not enough time to achieve either of these, but it’s just the right amount of time to introduce new behaviors and start the process of creating new spending habits.
How am I going to make it 5 days without spending any money?
You’re not!
And that’s okay, because that’s not actually the goal. A no-spend challenge is about avoiding unplanned expenses. If you go grocery shopping every Monday, you’ll still go grocery shopping on Monday during the no-spend challenge. If you need gas, you’ll still get gas.
What you’re not going to do is…
- Suddenly decide it’s time for a fancy steak dinner, no matter how good the sale on steak is
- Join your friends for an impromptu road trip, using a quarter of your gas budget in one day
- Order things on Amazon just because you got bored
When we talk about “stopping impulsive spending,” many people hear “stop enjoying life”—and that couldn’t be further from the truth!
The real goal is alignment. The real goal is planning. The real goal is getting to enjoy all the same things—but in a way that doesn’t cause you financial stress.
During the no-spend challenge, we’re going to help you explore the causes of impulsive spending, techniques for controlling these impulses, and easy ways to give yourself permission for controlled impulsive spending.
Let’s get ready…
The No-Spend Challenge will start on Monday, July 28.
The Friday before, you’ll receive a “Day 0” email with everything you need to get ready.
For now, just sit back, relax, and join our private Facebook group so we ADHDers can tackle this challenge together.
Click here to join