Finding Balance: Project Money Teams Navigate Spending And Saving

August 15, 2018

Celebrating its 10th season, Project Money is a chance for four teams to take control of their finances and improve their daily lives. Throughout the program, the teams work directly with a Summit financial coach who provides personalized strategies to help change their habits.

This month, our teams learned that financial well-being is all about finding balance. There will be times in your life when you need to spend a little more and other times where you can cut back – and that’s OK. See how our Project Money teams worked with their financial coaches to navigate these money moments with confidence.

Jaclyn & Kiara
Jaclyn and Kiara have been hard at work finding ways to save – whether it’s meal prepping or making DIY birthday gifts (HBD, Jaclyn!). They’ve also had success using our budget planning spreadsheet to stay on top of their ongoing expenses. The money they saved, combined with some savvy loan refinancing done with the help of their coach, was enough to pay off one of their credit cards COMPLETELY. Nice work, ladies!

Megan & Scott
Proud pet parents to three senior dogs, Megan and Scott know that spending is sometimes unavoidable, but they’ve found a few tricks to save on pet care that make it more manageable. They’ve also been able to cut costs on food, groceries and other necessities by using coupons. Their pro tip? Buy what’s on sale, not what you need in the moment. It seems counterintuitive, but you can find out why it works in their Couponing 102 blog post.

Angie & Cris
This month, Angie, Cris and family learned that sometimes life gets in the way of your savings goals. When tragedy struck their community, they had to shift their attention to other priorities. Things happen. Angie and Cris got back on track the following week, and meanwhile their kids started a lemonade stand to help those in need and raised more than $500 to help support the recovery effort! Balancing spending, saving AND giving is a tough lesson to learn – and they aced it.

Sara
Sara knows what matters most to her: family, friendships and doing good for others. These priorities are what motivate her to take on some of her biggest financial challenges, especially credit card debt. With support from her financial coach, Sara was able to pay off one of her two credit cards. Meanwhile, she’s practicing good financial habits, like setting up automatic payments and savings deposits. You won’t be tempted to spend the money if you don’t see it, right?

Looking for more ways to save? Check out our Project Money Blog for even more tips and tricks from the Project Money 10 teams.