New year, new savings goals! Originally I had planned to try a ‘no-spend’ month for January.  Take care of the essentials, of course…but try to limit the discretionary spending.  Think you can make it a whole month?  Experts say, it’s not necessary to start there.  Pick an amount of time that seems like a challenge to you.  Is it a week? 10 days? The timeline is up to you, but it needs to take some effort. Once you have your goal, try not to spend money on any discretionary items during that time. Think: movies, dinners out, new clothes, trips to the mall, etc. It’s about identifying the difference between needs and wants. You should still be paying your bills on-time and getting necessary gas and groceries, of course, but once your household is taken care of then you stop! Experts argue that the more you challenge yourself and the longer you can make it, that it’s likely you won’t even miss those discretionary purchases! (Ha! We’ll see!)