SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- In a time where people are always looking for ways to save money, there's a growing trend called the “no-spend” month challenge that's helping people stick to what they need versus what they want.
Amea Wadsworth has documented her no-spend challenge in videos she's posted on social media. She started when she was 18 while working for a company that provides sustainable spending guidance for people.
"There was no way for me to adequately guide people through the process of learning how to spend less and really like reflect on your spending habits unless I went all in on it myself," Wadsworth said.
The no-spend challenge is a financial strategy where people commit to not buying anything outside of their necessities. They still pay for their utilities, monthly bills and buy groceries, but the point is to cut down on things you don't need -- such as eating out, buying an extra cup of coffee during the day, purchasing new clothes or even spending on alcohol.
Wadsworth said though her goal was to save more money, she also wanted to develop better spending habits.
"No longer buying things that I didn't need that cluttered up my house and that stressed me out later. So, I did look through a lot of my recent spending and tried to see where it mostly coming from," Wadsworth said.
A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows many more Americans are planning to be more cautious when it comes to spending. Data shows consumers expect their monthly spending growth to be in the 3% range for next year, which is a step back from the 3.3% expected monthly growth.
Wadsworth said this challenge also helped her kick the habit of impulse spending, which ended up saving her thousands of dollars over the course of eight months.
"You are what you buy and that you shape your identity though the things you own didn't have to be true to me. Like could really love the beauty of those things, but I didn't HAVE to buy them," Wadsworth said.
Wadsworth said with the money saved, she was able to move into a new place that was once out of her budget.
"If I didn't feel like I had that backup I would have never been able to take that leap just because the cost of living changes so much and having those savings for us was really helpful," Wadsworth said.
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