As you being to read the title, it may be a little misleading at first but when you really start to think about it, it all makes sense. Americans love to spend money. If they didn’t, the economy wouldn’t be where it is today. What if everyone took one month and didn’t spend a penny on leisure items? What if every American paid only their bills that were required to live day by day? How much could you truly save?

We as Americans love to spend money. Take one month and think of everything you buy that you don’t need. Take that trip to the grocery store for example. Did you end up eating everything that you bought? What about that unnecessary trip to the gas station when you wanted to load up on junk food? Was it necessary? Now before we get started, we aren’t negative nancies and want you to live your life as cheap as possible, we just really want to point out how useless purchases are made.

Let’s take an average American family. Studies show that the average family of four makes $40,000-$50,000 a year. After taxes, lets say the family is bringing home about $700 a week. This will resort to $2800 in monthly spending. Now, once we add in the mortgage, car payments, gas bills, Internet, cable TV, etc., it all starts to add up quick!

In fact, some people aren’t even able to stay within their budget, which causes them to overload their credit card. This brings us to our next topic. A budget. Every budget will have an amount you can spend each month on activities such as the movies and going out to eat. What if we took this activity money and never spent it for the month? How much do you think you would be able to save? Do you think you would be able to save more or live even cheaper than how you are now?

Every family thinks of ways to save money when the times are tight. What they don’t come to realize is that if you actually stop buying that pack of gum or stop eating out so much, you will notice a slight change in your budget pattern. Even though it won’t be thousands a month, you will still be able to save maybe a few hundred dollars, which can add up a lot over the years!

If you really want to have a fun test with your family and save money doing it. Take one month and not spend your leisure money. Try and find out ways to not spend money and have fun at the same time. Instead of taking the trip to the movies, go for a walk in the park. Instead of taking the family out to dinner, create a restaurant in your house and have the kids run it. Be creative!