We get a little help from our friends and they get a little advice from us

Hello wonderful people! Welcome back and thank you for your consistent support and just for following us! We have decided to take this opportunity to express how grateful we are for the Project Money program by not only expressing how it has changed our lives, but so many friends, family and co-workers’ lives. All of us know we get used to living one way and one way only. We get stuck in bad habits but don’t think about it as a bad habit until we sit down and really look at the whole picture. What we are saying is that before we started Project Money, we did not think about our spending habits until the day came and our coach Jamie asked us to take a look at our monthly statements to see where most of our money was going. It then hit us and we saw things in a completely different way. We went from thinking things such as, "hey this laundry soap is on clearance, lets buy it" to looking and seeing that we were stocked with enough to have clean clothes for the next year or two. Also, instead of living the "what do you want to eat" and going to fast food restaurant life, we transitioned to meal prepping each week. An even bigger one is going from the "let's stop and get coffee at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks" to making a cup at home so on average going from spending $3-$4 on a single cup of coffee to spending about 20 cents per cup by buying an 80 pack of K-cups for only $15.99. Project Money has been a wonderful journey for us thus far. We have been able to create budgets for ourselves and to get to use great tools like Money Minder to keep track of all of our spending and saving habits. 

So with that being said, this week’s blog is going to be a bit different. We are going to be featuring numerous comments we have received since we started the Project Money season in order to let everyone know just how much others pay attention and take from what we are trying to accomplish. Along the way, we have gotten asked so many questions about finances and in no way are we professionals, but we learn from what we have been taught by our AMAZING financial coach Jamie and pass those teachings along. We took the chance to ask others the following question and see how they responded. We were expecting only two or three responses but the responses not only exceeded our expectations, but made us feel awesome in the process! So here goes nothing! 

Question:

"Hey friends and family, we have a question... Have our Project Money blogs and our journey affected your financials in any way? What we mean is has it changed your spending habits, helped you set up any budgets, or made you think twice about where all you money is going? If so, let us know!"

Here are all of the amazing responses:

Julie: "Well it is definitely making me think more about finances and goals but I haven't acted on it. The seed is planted though."

Joe: "Yes, I started taking a set amount of cash instead of my card.” (In regards to a blog where we talked about going out and making sure to not be tempted by the ease of swiping a card!)

Lindsay: "A conversation about decreasing charges (gym memberships, etc.) sparked me to look through and see what I could eliminate to save money." 

Claire: "I downloaded an app that tracks my spending and savings. I learned how much I spend on unnecessary expenses like going out to eat. I have become more mindful of my spending. Also, I realized I had access to money-saving tools because of having Summit as my financial institution." 

Joc: "Yes! I set up a meeting with a financial advisor at Summit Credit Union to set up a budget."

Logan: "Oh girl, we really cracked down this month in response to that conversation we had and are on track to save $3,000! I picked up extra hours at work and really worked hard to stay within the budget we created so we could save that "extra paycheck" this month."

Allie: "Yes- I have been paying more attention to my finances more recently. By tracking my spending and trying to put more money in savings."

Eric: "I have not changed any spending habits but I do believe that your blogs will help people make better financial decisions."

Anonymous: "I have loved watching your blogs! And it has definitely made me look further into our financials, and where our money is going. And, we have a loan that I'm looking into finding cheaper percentage rates to pay it off. But with wedding planning, we’re spending more than we normally would lol."

Lindsey: “Hearing about the changes you two have incorporated into your budgeting and planning financially has inspired me to take control of my own budget! I have made some small changes into how I manage my finances after hearing about your changes; every pay check, I make very small payments for all my collection bills. I also budget a certain amount monthly to specific expenses like animal food, my food, gas, etc.”

We just wanted it to be known that these are not the only conversations or comments that we have received throughout the past three months but these are the direct responses we received to the question that we asked. We are just amazed as to how much others have read, watched or paid attention to this program. This shows that Project Money is not just about trying to win the grand prize but also truly about bettering the financial situation of the people competing and the actual community surrounding us! It feels great to not only help others but to be an inspiration! We plan to keep living this financially stable lifestyle not only during this competition but forever! We also hope that our journey has been an inspiration to you and your family!