Michelle McGagh has been writing about money for over a decade. You'd think that would make her a whizz with her own cash, right? Wrong!

Spending with abandon and ignoring bank statements were her modus operandi. Just because she wasn't in serious debt, apart from her massive London mortgage, she thought she was in control. She wasn't.

Something needed to be done but rather than cut back here and there, Michelle's approach was more radical. She set herself a challenge to not spend anything for an entire year. She pays her bills and she has a minimal budget for her weekly groceries and household essentials but otherwise Michelle doesn't spend any money at all. She is finding creative ways to get the things she needs, to travel and to still be able to enjoy her time. Not only has she saved money but she is happier: no longer feeling the desire to buy things all the time or feeling the pressure of being sold to. Her relationship with money, with things, with time, with others has changed for the better.

The No Spend Year is Michelle's honestly written and personal account of her challenge. But it is more than that, it is also a tool for life that will help you get to grips with your own financial situation. She talks about money in an accessible, unintimidating and often entertaining way and interspersed throughout are really brilliant personal finance tips and life hacks about interest, mortgages, savings , pensions and spending less to help you live a more financially secure life too.

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