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<\/p>\nCHARLOTTE \u2014 In this economy, it\u2019s important to save every dollar you can, but finding a strategy to do that can be difficult. Channel 9\u2019s Erika Jackson sat down with one man who shared his method for saving hundreds of dollars a month.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Thomas is a new dad, so he knows how quickly expenses can add up. He shares his money-saving expertise through his Facebook page \u2014 Money Saving Solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cSavings should be a habit, but oftentimes, because we believe we\u2019re consumers, we just spend and our money goes every which way,\u201d Thomas said. <\/p>\n
Thomas decided to take on a challenge to limit his own spending and boost savings through the \u201cno spend challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a week, and I did all cash, so whatever I had in my hand, that\u2019s what I did, and that\u2019s it,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce my budget was out, I\u2019m out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas said he prepared for the challenge by filling up his gas tank and stocking up on groceries.<\/p>\n
He says to find a plan that works for your family, like spending nothing on some days of the week or going cold turkey, with no spending days or weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it allows people to be more cognizant on not only what their budget is, how much things are costing them, the cost to live, as well as the cost of living, and then create a different money management system from it,\u201d Nadia Vanderhall, financial planner and CEO of Brands and Bands Strategy Group, said.<\/p>\n
Vanderhall recommends doing a \u201cno spend challenge\u201d quarterly since spending habits change throughout the year. Then, she recommends investing what you saved into a high yield savings account.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re able to say, \u2018Okay, this is what I would have spent, but this is how I actually can align it a little bit better within my budget,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Thomas said these kinds of challenges can free up cash for Christmas gifts, birthdays or vacations.<\/p>\n
He said the hardest part was meal prepping instead of spending money on fast food.<\/p>\n
Thomas says he plans to use the $500 he saved on other luxuries for his family. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs disciplined as I would like to be, I\u2019m still human,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it showed me that, hey, there are still ways that you can be tighter.\u201d<\/p>\n
VIDEO:<\/b> \u2018Like winning the lottery\u2019: You may have money just sitting there with your name on it<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2018Like winning the lottery\u2019: You may have money just sitting there with your name on it <\/p>\n
\u00a92025 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE \u2014 In this economy, it\u2019s important to save every dollar you can, but finding a strategy to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[69024,64,69031,69029,69026,69033,69032,43939,69025,69028,69027,425,50,30193,255,69030,273,67,132,68,989],"class_list":{"0":"post-108073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-action_9","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-carolinas","11":"tag-channel_9","12":"tag-edwina_champion","13":"tag-eewitness","14":"tag-indian_trail","15":"tag-jason","16":"tag-jason_stujanki","17":"tag-lilian","18":"tag-lilianne","19":"tag-local","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-north_carolina","22":"tag-personal-finance","23":"tag-south_carolina","24":"tag-ukraine","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-video"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114948987382605976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}