No Spend January? Is that even possible?

Welcome to our No Spend January Challenge! Wait, Whaaaat? We're trying to spend ZERO dollars this month? 

Well, sorta. *shrug*

We are trying to spend zero FRIVILOUS dollars this month. What does that look like, you ask? 
It means, no eating out unless we have a gift card. (This one hurts me. Kristy LOVES to eat out.) No getting a manicure, or a massage, or new clothes, or shoes, or video games, or even any new board games. It means no new books, or DVDs, or planner stickers. It means staying home and enjoying the things we already have, or going outside and enjoying nature. It means hosting a potluck dinner with friends (if the lock down ever ends). It means spending time riding Dan's cycle together. It means spending time with the people we are locked down with at home. It also means, in theory, that at the end of January, we will have a decent chunk of change to tuck away for a rainy day, to build our emergency fund, or plan a fun trip for someone's upcoming birthday. 

To answer the inevitable questions: 
Yes, I will pay my bills.
Yes, I will purchase my son a gift for his January birthday. 
Yes, I will put gas in my car. 
Yes, I will tithe to my church. 
Yes, if my _______ breaks, I will replace it IF it is a need, not a want or a luxury item I can easily live without. 

This is not about depriving ourselves of anything, but more of being content with what we already have. For instance, The Man Crew House owns somewhere between 75-90 games right now. ( Y'all, I KNOW, okay? It's an addiction. Corona made me do it.) My point being, we could play a different game EVERY DAY for nearly 3 months without playing the same game twice. Plus darts, a pool table, and an air hockey table. We own 400+ DVDs, and we have a Netflix subscription, so we can watch movies 24 hours a day for a month and not put a dent in the amount of things there are to watch. We have pets out the wazoo that we can brush and bathe and pet and play with all day long. We have food to make and bake and eat and chat about. We own hundreds of books, ahem, Kristy owns thousands of books, and could happily read for months without stopping and not be finished. Dan and Derek could play Minecraft for 24 hours a day for weeks without ever leaving the living room. We have house improvement projects underway that can be finished. We have a backyard full of vehicles that need repairs. We have homeschool to work on, organization and decluttering projects to complete, and dozens of outdoor areas within an hour of our house to go and explore. 
None of that is intended to sound as bragging about what we own, but to simply point out that we've all been sold a lie that we constantly need more, and better, and more, and new, and more, More, MORE. We all have enough already. We just need to look around and notice that we have plenty. And that our discontentment doesn't come from an external source, but an internal one. Ouch, stomped on my own foot right there.

All of that to say, we are staying home this month, eating good food from our Pantry Challenge, playing lots of board games, and remembering to be content with what (and who) we already have in our lives. And that doesn't cost a tiny shiny penny. 

If you're playing along, I'd love to encourage you! Drop me a line in the comments so I can rejoice over your No Spend January Challenge victories. 

I'll post an update each week during January to keep you all in the loop of how it is going here.