Speaker 1: Episode one sixteen, How to Make Budgeting Work for You
Speaker 1: with Rachel Cruz. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where
Speaker 1: you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liver
Speaker 1: with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends Podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name's Jill, and we are over the moon excited. I
Speaker 1: say that all the like every interview, but we're over
Speaker 1: the moon excited to have the one and only Rachel
Speaker 1: Cruise with us on today's show. Yeah, you know, you
Speaker 1: know her, You know who she is, right like, we
Speaker 1: don't need to introduce her now she's on our show. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So Dave Ramsey's daughter money saving guru in her own right,
Speaker 1: and she's hanging out with us for a little it
Speaker 1: to talk about how to make budgeting work for you,
Speaker 1: regardless of your personality or spending type. Yeah, all types
Speaker 1: of tips. Were excited to get into it, but first
Speaker 1: our sponsors. Sponsors also brought to you by taking one
Speaker 1: for the team when you experience something awful so that
Speaker 1: others don't have to, or you learn a new lesson
Speaker 1: the painfully hard way so that others can pick it
Speaker 1: up easily. Kind of like taking a soccer ball into
Speaker 1: the face at recess, taking one for the team. It's
Speaker 1: not pleasant, but the rest of us are so grateful. Yes, amen,
Speaker 1: So I always got soccer balls to the face at recess.
Speaker 1: I never did because I never played at me, neither
Speaker 1: me neither. I was always on the sidelines or hanging
Speaker 1: out by the slide, and still these ball would be
Speaker 1: hitting me in the face. So sad, it was not pleasant.
Speaker 1: I had my fair share of taking one for the team.
Speaker 1: And now we can watch other people take one for
Speaker 1: the team with their budgets, and then we can just
Speaker 1: learn from them. Beautiful. Isn't that nice? Beautiful? That's the
Speaker 1: nice thing about having a podcast and hearing other people's stories. Yes,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't feel so alone when I get
Speaker 1: hit in the face. Well, enough about that that, let's
Speaker 1: get to Rachel. Yes, so, best selling author Rachel Cruz
Speaker 1: from Ramsey Solutions is here with us, So let's get
Speaker 1: into that interview. Hey, Rachel, thanks so much for coming
Speaker 1: on the show. Yes, absolutely, thanks for having me. We're
Speaker 1: glad to have you on, even in this quarantine life.
Speaker 1: We actually scheduled this before quarantine was a thing, so
Speaker 1: we're in a different world. We are. We are, so
Speaker 1: we're super glad that, yeah, that you could still make
Speaker 1: it and be with us today. So we wanted to
Speaker 1: just pick your brain about how people could budget better,
Speaker 1: you know, because everyone is so different, and so I
Speaker 1: feel like even though we use this word budget as
Speaker 1: a blanket term, I feel like we can still they're
Speaker 1: still tips to budget better for your individual lifestyle. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of what we're going to talk about today.
Speaker 1: So how can somebody we'll just kick it off, somebody
Speaker 1: that like bust their budget every month? How can someone
Speaker 1: like that safeguard themselves to stop spending out of control? Yeah? Absolutely, Well,
Speaker 1: budget really is it's your it's your your guard rail
Speaker 1: if you will. And so what you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: do is make your budget realistic. So if you really
Speaker 1: are busting it every single month, either have two problems.
Speaker 1: One you just don't have the self discipline to say
Speaker 1: no to yourself, so we can talk about that, or
Speaker 1: number two year, which is not realistic. And when it's
Speaker 1: not realistic and you think, okay, I'm gonna just spend
Speaker 1: two of you know, on food at the grocery store
Speaker 1: every month, well that's probably realistic if you're a family
Speaker 1: of five or a family of two. I mean, like right,
Speaker 1: foods expensive, and so you just need to know, Okay,
Speaker 1: if you just set this expectation that that's what you're
Speaker 1: gonna spend, but you know you're gonna bust it every month.
Speaker 1: You have to change the numbers and you have to say, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna up that category and then to lower some
Speaker 1: others because you do have to have it balanced out.
Speaker 1: You wanted to equal zero, where every dollar coming in
Speaker 1: as assigned to a category. And so we're again making
Speaker 1: a bound of realistic. But if it's just you just
Speaker 1: wanting stuff and saying, yeah, I'm I'm gonna go into Target,
Speaker 1: and I don't care what I spend. I just want
Speaker 1: to because I deserve it and I like spending money,
Speaker 1: and that's it. Well, that's when you get into a
Speaker 1: heart issue, a little bit of a discontentment issue, a
Speaker 1: little bit of a maturity issue. I mean, because there's
Speaker 1: a point that we all have to put our big
Speaker 1: girl pants on, is what I like to say, and
Speaker 1: we have to realize, okay, in order to in with money,
Speaker 1: you have to be in control, which means part of
Speaker 1: that is saying no to yourself, and so start small
Speaker 1: if you're not used to it, and grow that habit,
Speaker 1: because that's gonna put self discipline in place, because if
Speaker 1: you let your money control you for your entire life,
Speaker 1: you're gonna wake up probably broke one day. M M.
Speaker 1: I love how you describe this as a guard rail
Speaker 1: and with it going along with that illustration. Guard rails
Speaker 1: aren't right up on the edge of the road. They
Speaker 1: do have a little bit of room to them, and
Speaker 1: I think that's part of it, as being able to
Speaker 1: anticipate what other things might be coming into play each
Speaker 1: month and don't have it so tight or stringent or
Speaker 1: or no wiggle room in it. Yes, that's why I
Speaker 1: always recommend having a miscellaneous category in your budget so
Speaker 1: when those things do come up, because they will, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, life is going to happen. Things are going
Speaker 1: to come up. So when they do and you have
Speaker 1: it plans for them, either throw it there in the
Speaker 1: miscellaneous category, or maybe you adjust your budget throughout the
Speaker 1: month and you say, okay, well we're you know, we're
Speaker 1: spending less on restaurants right now, so we're gonna lower
Speaker 1: that up something else because we know we're gonna spend
Speaker 1: money and this other category. But it is fluid and
Speaker 1: it does need to go with your life and that's
Speaker 1: the key. But people that are getting out of debts
Speaker 1: or they're building up an emergency fund, there will be
Speaker 1: more of a sacrificial budget. If you will, you will
Speaker 1: be cutting your lifestyle in order to make that traction
Speaker 1: to get those gains in your life. Where once you're
Speaker 1: past that, you can be a little bit more flexible
Speaker 1: with your budget. But again it needs to reflect reality
Speaker 1: because you will be really really discouraged if you keep
Speaker 1: busting it every single month because the numbers aren't realistic. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I like the idea of doing the like budgeting more frequently,
Speaker 1: so doing like either per paycheck or every other week
Speaker 1: stuff like that, because I feel like you you need
Speaker 1: a lot of practice with a budget to like get
Speaker 1: get traction with it, and so if you just do
Speaker 1: it more often, you can get that more practice in
Speaker 1: less time. Yeah, and I recommend I recommend doing doing
Speaker 1: it before the month begin so doing a month long budgets,
Speaker 1: but then checking in on it, so you need to
Speaker 1: be looking at it almost daily to say, okay, here's
Speaker 1: my transactions. Here, we're at and keep a pulse on it.
Speaker 1: You can't just do it and walk away for thirty days,
Speaker 1: because that's you know, that's gonna really mess you up
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have no clue where you are. So
Speaker 1: part of it is it being That's why I even
Speaker 1: love budgeting apps on your phone, that it's just with
Speaker 1: you all the time and you can adjust as you go.
Speaker 1: And I think that's that's really the key to it,
Speaker 1: is to know that this is a this is for
Speaker 1: your life, and so you get to create it. No
Speaker 1: one's having to tell you what numbers are, what dollar
Speaker 1: amounts need to be in each category. It's up to you,
Speaker 1: Like you get to make that decision because it's about
Speaker 1: what you value, what you want to spend your money on.
Speaker 1: I like what you're describing about self discipline because I
Speaker 1: think that that is what it comes down to for
Speaker 1: a lot of us, and the way that this does
Speaker 1: intersect with our whole person. Budgeting isn't just about finances.
Speaker 1: It's mental, emotional, relational, all of these pieces, and that
Speaker 1: sometimes it causes us to look at that part of
Speaker 1: ourselves and how content are we and are we doing
Speaker 1: this to kind of fill a different kind of void
Speaker 1: that requires another kind of solution to it. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: something I feel like for sure a lot of people
Speaker 1: can fall into, especially when you know Americans specifically, I
Speaker 1: feel like we are so heightened to believe, Okay, well
Speaker 1: this thing is gonna make me happy. And so if
Speaker 1: that's your motivation of why you're spending money, it's because
Speaker 1: you think it's going to fulfill you, like you're saying, man,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be a rat and a wheel for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life because stuff, well, I think it's
Speaker 1: great and I think it's fun. I want you to
Speaker 1: have some great stuff. I just don't want your nice
Speaker 1: stuff to have you and it has you and your contentment,
Speaker 1: your identity, who you are, your happiness is all dictated
Speaker 1: by the stuff that you own. Because that stuff it
Speaker 1: will never it will never fulfill you. And I think
Speaker 1: that's a really important point. Just to know what's your motivation.
Speaker 1: Ask yourself why. I even ask myself if I'm buying something, Okay,
Speaker 1: if no one else saw it, what I still want it,
Speaker 1: Like if no one saw these pairs of shows, one
Speaker 1: saw me drive this car, Like whatever it is, whatever
Speaker 1: we purchase, you know, making sure that it really is
Speaker 1: for me or for my family, and that's it, because
Speaker 1: when you start with the motivation of other people as well,
Speaker 1: that can get you into spending, going down to spending. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think we can rationalize that, Oh, no, one's
Speaker 1: going to see this instant pot but like social media,
Speaker 1: you know you're going to throw it in the background
Speaker 1: with some like meal prep to brag about how good
Speaker 1: you're doing on your diet. But like just to try
Speaker 1: and take social media out of the equation, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: would you have this if you weren't able to post
Speaker 1: it on social Yes? Exactly right, Good word, Rachel. We've
Speaker 1: got other listeners, I'm sure who are on the opposite
Speaker 1: end of the spectrum, and we'd love to pick your brain.
Speaker 1: What about for the person who is hoarding their money
Speaker 1: and that might be keeping them from reaching financial goals,
Speaker 1: what kind of budgeting tips would you give to them? Yeah, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that there's there's an element that we you
Speaker 1: have to spend money right there. There is an element
Speaker 1: that you have to spend it in order to survive
Speaker 1: in today's economy, and so you're going to be forced
Speaker 1: to spend it to spend it, and so you have
Speaker 1: to be able to say, Okay, here's where it's going
Speaker 1: and still be being diligent. But the three basic things
Speaker 1: you can do with money is give it, save it,
Speaker 1: and spend it. And you want to do all three.
Speaker 1: You kind of want to build all three money muscles,
Speaker 1: if you will, because if you just give everything away,
Speaker 1: that sounds noble, but it's really irresponsible if you have
Speaker 1: a family to feed, you know, bills to pay, unless
Speaker 1: obviously something, you know, God calls you to do something extreme.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I'm not putting him in a box
Speaker 1: by any means, but you know that that's one thing
Speaker 1: you have to realize. Okay, yeah, you do have to
Speaker 1: take care of your household. If you save everything, and
Speaker 1: you hoard everything, you're probably not a natural giver. Then
Speaker 1: that means you probably really do kind of see money
Speaker 1: more in a closed fist mentality, and you're not having
Speaker 1: any fun, You're not enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Speaker 1: You are, you're hoarding it probably for a you know,
Speaker 1: for a sense of security, and where some of that
Speaker 1: is very responsible, getting that emergency fund, saving for the future.
Speaker 1: When you're just hoarding it over and over and over
Speaker 1: and you have money in the bank to spend, and
Speaker 1: you're just refusing to because out of probably a lot
Speaker 1: of fear of thinking, well, I don't want to go
Speaker 1: back maybe to a place that you were, maybe you
Speaker 1: hit a really hard time financially and you just think, man,
Speaker 1: I just want to have all this money. And again
Speaker 1: having an emergency fund very wise, that's what we teach,
Speaker 1: but that money is not going to solve that internal fear.
Speaker 1: Eventually that still will be there, and so you kind
Speaker 1: of have to dig deeper into that. And then again
Speaker 1: on the same on the spending spectrum, Yeah, you can't
Speaker 1: spend everything you make or you're gonna be broke, like
Speaker 1: you're not gonna have anything. So really it's balance and
Speaker 1: you have to learn to do all three. And we
Speaker 1: naturally kind of way either towards a natural spender or
Speaker 1: a natural saver. And I'm more of a natural spender.
Speaker 1: I can spend it. I enjoy it. Even my husband
Speaker 1: we're making a big purchase we saved up for and
Speaker 1: he was like, we got the total just two days
Speaker 1: ago and he was like, oh, he was like, man,
Speaker 1: are you sure you think this is good? I'm like yes.
Speaker 1: I was like, it's like let's just do it like
Speaker 1: I could do it so much easier, much more of
Speaker 1: the of the saver. And it's a bit of that
Speaker 1: hoarding mentality, but you're they're doing it out of a
Speaker 1: safety and as I, let's end them, and so you
Speaker 1: kind of just you really have to find the balance
Speaker 1: of all three things, giving, saving, and spending. I love
Speaker 1: the simplicity of it, and I think you're you're dead
Speaker 1: on and saying that we've got to find the balance
Speaker 1: with it. I mean, there's there's a way that can
Speaker 1: seem good. It can sound so noble as you say
Speaker 1: to be saving or to be giving, but without the
Speaker 1: other two, it falls flat. It doesn't actually get you
Speaker 1: to your financial goals. Yeah, I totally relate to that
Speaker 1: because that was kind of my issue and something I
Speaker 1: still to this day struggle with is that scarcity mentality.
Speaker 1: I'm afraid that the money I have will always be there,
Speaker 1: so I'm afraid to spend it on things even if
Speaker 1: I need it. And it kept me for a while
Speaker 1: from paying off my debt, Like I would save the
Speaker 1: little bit of money I did have and not pay
Speaker 1: off my debt because I wanted to like have that money,
Speaker 1: like just in case, but totally not understanding all of
Speaker 1: the interests my student loans were building up. So it
Speaker 1: was this like mindset that I have and I still
Speaker 1: work on getting over to this day. Yeah it is.
Speaker 1: And again I think knowing your natural tendencies is is
Speaker 1: really good. But I think anything on the extreme side,
Speaker 1: on again either side of the spectrum and starts to
Speaker 1: be unhealthy. And so I'm not saying yeah for the
Speaker 1: listener to change who you are because you're being a
Speaker 1: natural saver is a good thing. Like that, there is
Speaker 1: strength in that. And so you know, knowing kind of
Speaker 1: that balance, kind of going out you know more to that,
Speaker 1: to that middle ground is really really healthy. But we
Speaker 1: all will have our natural bents. So when somebody is
Speaker 1: budgeting and getting started maybe with the cash envelope system
Speaker 1: or or the clip system, how can that make Because
Speaker 1: I know that's a really good way to like start
Speaker 1: to get into your budget is to just you know,
Speaker 1: carry cash and then once you spend it, it's gone
Speaker 1: and you can't bust your budget that way. But like
Speaker 1: what if somebody isn't comfortable carrying cash all the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think you can either leave some envelopes
Speaker 1: at home and if you're running to the grocery store,
Speaker 1: you just grab that one. I think you can kind
Speaker 1: of finagle it. And really this is for people, really,
Speaker 1: I think when you're starting budgeting, it's just a great tactic.
Speaker 1: I think it's a good principle. When you physically have
Speaker 1: cash in your hands and you have to like go
Speaker 1: of it in order to gain something else, something happens
Speaker 1: in your mind. I mean, your your entire purchase looks
Speaker 1: different versus just swiping a card, even a debit card,
Speaker 1: and taking that with you and taking home which you
Speaker 1: just bought. There's something there that that changes, that shifts,
Speaker 1: and so in order to give up something, I think
Speaker 1: it's a good mental process to go through. And and
Speaker 1: so yeah, I think if you're uncomfortable carrying a lot
Speaker 1: of cash, maybe you just carry a little bit at
Speaker 1: a time, knowing that, okay, this will cover this purchase
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna go out and make and just planning
Speaker 1: a little bit more ahead. But studies have shown when
Speaker 1: you spend with cash, you do spend less. And you
Speaker 1: it's kind of your accountability partner right there. You're like, wow,
Speaker 1: this is keeping me accountable that I cannot overspend and
Speaker 1: when it's gone, it's gone, and all those visual extremes
Speaker 1: because we're such in a digital world now, is really
Speaker 1: good to go to, at least when you first start budgeting,
Speaker 1: to really adopt that for a few months and and
Speaker 1: see how that works for you, which helps to also
Speaker 1: build intentionality into how you spend that. Yeah, you will
Speaker 1: have to have some forethought in carrying cash and where
Speaker 1: are you going to go and leaving certain envelopes at home,
Speaker 1: but it does cause you to be more in tune
Speaker 1: with your spending habits, with where you're going to be going,
Speaker 1: with what you're going to be spending, So all around,
Speaker 1: I think it's a good exercise to do. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: helps definitely. The spontaneous purchases probably go down for Yeah, yeah, definitely, Rachel,
Speaker 1: what about for someone? What suggestions do you have for
Speaker 1: someone after they break their budget? Right? We don't always
Speaker 1: do this perfectly, and sometimes it doesn't line up the
Speaker 1: way that we think, either by getting an unexpected bill
Speaker 1: or we've made a mistake when we went into Target
Speaker 1: and came out with twelve things instead of the one
Speaker 1: thing that we went into. What do we do after that?
Speaker 1: How do we pick ourselves back up. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: you you have to give yourself chrice and no, life
Speaker 1: is going to happen. It's not when it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: It's going to happen. Things are gonna come up that
Speaker 1: you totally forgot about, or just spontaneous things like we
Speaker 1: were just invited. I don't know if I should say
Speaker 1: it's over quarantine, but it's true to a friend's house
Speaker 1: because their little daughters is turning four and she invited
Speaker 1: two families over. If we were like, sure, we'll come,
Speaker 1: and it's a birthday and I kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: we want to get her a little gift, but we
Speaker 1: didn't budget for birthdays this month because we just figured
Speaker 1: that's not happening. So yeah, so figuring out, hey, it's
Speaker 1: so where do I where do we put that purchase?
Speaker 1: Even down to those those small purchases, things are going
Speaker 1: to happen. They're going to come up, And so I
Speaker 1: think the big key here is to realize it still
Speaker 1: has to equal zero. Everything has to balance out because
Speaker 1: I will never encourage you to spend more than what
Speaker 1: you make or than what you have. So if you
Speaker 1: did go to Target and buy twelve things and you
Speaker 1: really don't have the money and you would to step
Speaker 1: for it, I'd probably tell you you need to go
Speaker 1: right back in the store and return it five minutes later. Yes,
Speaker 1: exactly exactly, and so so yeah, i'd say that. But
Speaker 1: on the tactical level, again, if one, you know, bill
Speaker 1: came up, they're like, wow, you're gonna have to lower
Speaker 1: other categories. Or if it's an unexpectability you have to pay,
Speaker 1: and you have that thousand dollar emergency fund or an
Speaker 1: emergency fund in place, dip into that if you have to.
Speaker 1: If it's a large bill that you have to go
Speaker 1: and pay, you can dip into your emergency fund for
Speaker 1: that and then refund that obviously and get it back up.
Speaker 1: But again, I think working within that monthly budget is
Speaker 1: really key of just balancing it and knowing things are
Speaker 1: going to happen. So maybe you have to lower the
Speaker 1: clothing envelope or the clothing category because something else came up,
Speaker 1: and that's what it is, and there's a level of sacrifice.
Speaker 1: But but I promise, like it sounds so like strict,
Speaker 1: but it really does give you this freedom of control.
Speaker 1: Like I mean, you could go through your whole life
Speaker 1: just spending spending and having no clue where your money's going,
Speaker 1: and that's ultimately not going to let you win in
Speaker 1: the long term. And so what you're doing is you're
Speaker 1: kind of going through the growing pains of learning it.
Speaker 1: Because once you start budgeting, once you get out of debt,
Speaker 1: once you get that emergency fund in place, you start
Speaker 1: to have more wiggle room. You actually do start to
Speaker 1: have margin to say, Okay, you know, we can add
Speaker 1: a little bit here and there, and it does completely busted.
Speaker 1: But especially those that are are sacrificing to get out
Speaker 1: of debt, it is a tough time to really really
Speaker 1: be strict and buckle down. But it's for a short
Speaker 1: period of time. You know, you're not going to live
Speaker 1: like that forever. Eventually you get to live like no
Speaker 1: one else and give like no one else is our hope. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a great example of putting your big girl pants
Speaker 1: on again. Of there's not permission to say, oops, I
Speaker 1: spent too much. I guess I just went over this month. No, oops,
Speaker 1: you spent too much. Now how you're gonna fix it?
Speaker 1: And now you maybe can't go out to dinner this week,
Speaker 1: or we can't do the entertainment we thought we were
Speaker 1: going to do or whatever the case is. It's it's
Speaker 1: not as if I get to go over and and
Speaker 1: now I have permission for that. That's this is part
Speaker 1: of maturing. Yeah, and I love how you refer to
Speaker 1: it as control, because really it does seem restrictive, but
Speaker 1: you are in control of the restriction. And studies have
Speaker 1: shown that people who have a strong locust control have
Speaker 1: can weather storms easier, they can bounce back from failures easier.
Speaker 1: Over the trajectory of their life, they will make more
Speaker 1: and be more financially secure. And so even though this
Speaker 1: restriction is feels really bad in the moment, you are
Speaker 1: strengthening your internal locus of control so that you can
Speaker 1: succeed more in the future. And that's really what the
Speaker 1: budget and saying no to yourself and like you know, change,
Speaker 1: returning your you know, eleven items to target is like
Speaker 1: really doing. It's putting you in controls, yes, And on
Speaker 1: the flip side, it makes spending money enjoyable. So you
Speaker 1: do have you know, a clothing budget, or you do
Speaker 1: have a budget to go to target, then you get
Speaker 1: to spend freely. You don't get to say, okay, all
Speaker 1: bets are off. I can spend whatever I want. But
Speaker 1: that money you do have to spend, you spend it
Speaker 1: without guilt, without shame, without questioning. It's already plans for us.
Speaker 1: You can actually and joy it, enjoy those purchases so
Speaker 1: much more knowing that you've planned for them, and man
Speaker 1: that that's the satisfaction as the spender. That's what I
Speaker 1: love about it. Sales that are going on in every
Speaker 1: store that I love. I'm getting emails constantly and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I say no to night out of ten, but maybe
Speaker 1: I do want a cute new shirt from Jay Crewe
Speaker 1: or whatever. Well, I have money in my clothing budget.
Speaker 1: If the sale is good, if I have the money
Speaker 1: for it, sure I'll order it. That's great, and I
Speaker 1: can do it and enjoy it and it's fine. It
Speaker 1: doesn't completely take me out, and so that's that's the
Speaker 1: good part of it, is that you can spend without
Speaker 1: stress and without questioning. Speaking of fun, freedom, satisfaction and
Speaker 1: stress free things. I think that's time for the week.
Speaker 1: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 1: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. That's built buff Bill, Bill Clinton. This
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week, all right, Rachel. Every
Speaker 1: week we invite our listeners and guests to share with
Speaker 1: us their favorite bill, and so we asked you ahead
Speaker 1: of time if you had one for us, and you do,
Speaker 1: would you share it with us? Yes, we're actually just
Speaker 1: talking about this place, but are all of our favorites Target? Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I went and I had to get some baby stuff.
Speaker 1: I had to pick up a couple of groceries that
Speaker 1: I needed. I don't want to go to grocery store.
Speaker 1: I had a couple of things and in my head,
Speaker 1: I was okay, I kind of tattily up things in
Speaker 1: my head when I'm doing this, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: that's probably gonna crost us. And I went and somehow
Speaker 1: I just did the math wrong and it was so
Speaker 1: lower than I was expecting, and I was like, this
Speaker 1: is the best Target experience of my life. So that
Speaker 1: was it was a highlight for sure. I love the
Speaker 1: one time in your life where you go into Target
Speaker 1: and you're like surprised by howllo, the bill that's legit
Speaker 1: happen doesn't happen very often. That speaks to a lifetime
Speaker 1: of building contentment and sticking to a budget that you
Speaker 1: get to spend less than you thought you would at Target.
Speaker 1: That's amazing math and not doing math right in my head. Yeah,
Speaker 1: or not conquering second grade mathematics either way, Thank you math. Oh,
Speaker 1: thanks so much Rachel for sharing that bill. If you
Speaker 1: all listening want to submit your bill of the week,
Speaker 1: whether it's a lower bill from Target than you anticipated,
Speaker 1: or a bill that you paid off or your friend
Speaker 1: named Bill, please submit it to us at Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash Bill will listen to it, m hm,
Speaker 1: and we'll we'll laugh with you. And now it's same
Speaker 1: for delightening Pip. You that was Rachel. You're you're getting
Speaker 1: real acquainted with the podcast right now. You didn't know
Speaker 1: how many sound effects there were down the volume as
Speaker 1: we make our noises. So for today's Lightning Round, we
Speaker 1: are going to all share our most recent budgeting flop
Speaker 1: and how we recovered from it. So these aren't like
Speaker 1: old time like happened a few years ago, like these
Speaker 1: are recent, so we're not surprise surprise, Yes we will,
Speaker 1: we'll let you start. Okay, mine was one food went
Speaker 1: way over the grocery budget in April, thank you Quarantine.
Speaker 1: And because I was like, I'm going to cook at
Speaker 1: home more and we would save so much money by
Speaker 1: cooking at home. Well, some of the recipes I decided
Speaker 1: to make call for the randomness, random little things. But
Speaker 1: yet you know it's just add it up, added up
Speaker 1: instead of just my staples that I go to that
Speaker 1: I kind of know what's gonna be happening. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: went off. I went off the rails. And by the
Speaker 1: time that happened, I realized I had a whole other
Speaker 1: grocery shopping week to come, and I had already gone over,
Speaker 1: and I thought, wow, that is that is something Quarantine.
Speaker 1: You just ate my entire um. So yeah, we we
Speaker 1: cut out. Honestly, we still had had a babysitting line
Speaker 1: item in our budget, but we haven't been going anywhere.
Speaker 1: So we took kids babysitting money that usually pay a
Speaker 1: babysitter and put it in our food category. Kids Christie's
Speaker 1: not coming over this week. We got herbs has got
Speaker 1: to eat. We got smoked sea salt. That's it. Six
Speaker 1: dollars from some random little container. I thought, what did
Speaker 1: I do this? What did I do? Yeah, you gotta
Speaker 1: have some enjoyment in quarantine. And usually that's food, I know,
Speaker 1: snack snacks, snack. Kids. Man, they just eat everything all
Speaker 1: the time. And I'm like, wow, so that's it for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I have a one year old, he just turned one,
Speaker 1: and like he's starting to eat regular food, and well
Speaker 1: he does. That's all he eats now. And it's like, man,
Speaker 1: I thought I had enough dinner for me, but now
Speaker 1: I have to share it with you, Like it's thrown
Speaker 1: off my food budget. All right, so mine, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get real raw here. So in April, I was fifty
Speaker 1: shades of anxious. All of the social media and the
Speaker 1: news was just making me anxious so like and that's
Speaker 1: not normally me, so like for our people that deal
Speaker 1: with that all the time, Like I really I'm feeling
Speaker 1: for you. But I was reading about layoffs in all
Speaker 1: of these industries and came across like our local newspaper
Speaker 1: and how they had to lay off more people. And
Speaker 1: all of my friends at my former job were all journalists,
Speaker 1: and so I just like felt really intensely for them.
Speaker 1: And so I was like oh my gosh, like I
Speaker 1: need to I need to support local journalism and to
Speaker 1: buy a I need to buy a subscription to the newspaper.
Speaker 1: And like, I don't read the newspaper. And so without
Speaker 1: even like thinking or looking at the budget or anything,
Speaker 1: I just like dropped seventy seven dollars on on a
Speaker 1: newspaper subscription. And I telled Travis and he was like,
Speaker 1: you don't read the newspaper. But I was just I
Speaker 1: was crying, and I was like, so sad about layoffs.
Speaker 1: And so so what we did is I got the
Speaker 1: refund and we are giving that. We've already started to
Speaker 1: give that money and more to actual people instead of
Speaker 1: just one company, but like people who are affected by layoffs,
Speaker 1: like across different businesses. So I'm not wasting my money
Speaker 1: on something I'll never use, but it's still going to
Speaker 1: support the reason that initially I had spent it, so
Speaker 1: and it's doing it a better job of it. I
Speaker 1: was with you when that happened. That was a on
Speaker 1: opportunity to see how you and Travis navigated that together.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, you were He was not thrilled, but
Speaker 1: you guys got through it. Yeah, No, he was right right,
Speaker 1: so it's not thrilled. So for me, similar to you, Rachel,
Speaker 1: it's food. It's always, always, always food. I am a
Speaker 1: bit food motivated, but yet simultaneously it's so overwhelming for
Speaker 1: me to have to think about food all the time.
Speaker 1: And I realized, especially right now with what's going on
Speaker 1: with COVID and quarantine, that the pendulum swings for me
Speaker 1: that sometimes I do fantastic and we don't spend a
Speaker 1: dime eating out, and I'm really good about meal planning
Speaker 1: and prepping and all of that, and then I'll get
Speaker 1: to the next pay period and I'll be like, all right,
Speaker 1: I did so well. I'm so done with cooking, and
Speaker 1: now all we're doing is ordering out. And that happened.
Speaker 1: The pendulum swung, and I thought that I could reward
Speaker 1: myself with just going out all the time, and that
Speaker 1: blew our food budget. Thankfully, we're not going or doing
Speaker 1: anything else, so we could borrow from our gas budget
Speaker 1: when we have for gas, because that has cost us
Speaker 1: a total of thirty dollars each month. So that's great.
Speaker 1: And I'm aiming at the radical middle at this point,
Speaker 1: realizing that I need both, so not swinging so far
Speaker 1: to the right or to the left, but doing some
Speaker 1: meals at home, some take out. But what I also
Speaker 1: realize is helpful for me is to do a combination. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, I might pick up a couple of chicken
Speaker 1: tenders from Chick fil A and add it to my
Speaker 1: own salad, so I feel like I've gotten out, because
Speaker 1: that's part of it for me, is feeling like a
Speaker 1: bit of a reward and something that I didn't have
Speaker 1: to make myself, but yet that only cost me like
Speaker 1: five dollars, and I can add it to my own
Speaker 1: salads or sandwiches, and that feels easier to me. So
Speaker 1: that's my radical middle with food budget it. I love that,
Speaker 1: and I did the same when we cooked all of
Speaker 1: April beginning of May. I was like, we're going out
Speaker 1: every night heading for a Chick fil A. We're heading
Speaker 1: for you, so get ready. All the lines are so
Speaker 1: so long a Chick fil A these days, but they
Speaker 1: go through them, it's like so fast, it's insane. Clients,
Speaker 1: they got it, they got it. Yes, yes, Oh my gosh. Well, Rachel,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for hanging out with us today. It's
Speaker 1: been super cool. We didn't get to meet you when
Speaker 1: we were in Nashville and back in October, you know,
Speaker 1: because you were like having a baby or something, but
Speaker 1: super glad to hang out with you. Now, what do
Speaker 1: you have going on? Where can people find you? And
Speaker 1: well they know where they can find you, but like,
Speaker 1: what do you have going on for people? Yeah, well
Speaker 1: we always have the very teal Cruise show going with
Speaker 1: podcasts and the video versions. You can check that out
Speaker 1: on YouTube and Facebook and wherever you listen to podcasts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're kind of just doing lots of content around this
Speaker 1: COVID stuff. So if you need help you can do.
Speaker 1: We're given away actually a fourteen day free trial of
Speaker 1: Financial Peace University, which is our nine lesson course. So
Speaker 1: you can go to day Ramsey dot com slash hope
Speaker 1: and sign up for there just binge watch some videos
Speaker 1: if you need help and guidance on what to do
Speaker 1: with your money, how to get out of debt, how
Speaker 1: to budget like we've been talking about, and then everything
Speaker 1: from gosh, insurance to real estate, I mean, anything you
Speaker 1: need to know when it comes to personal finance, we
Speaker 1: have it for you. So make sure to check that
Speaker 1: out as well. Yeah, I checked it out recently, and yeah,
Speaker 1: you can get a lot in just fourteen days, So
Speaker 1: definitely highly recommend that Dave Ramsey dot com slash hope
Speaker 1: so cool awesome by having me on. I so appreciate it. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks all right and recording well, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: end the recording, but awesome, perfect rapp Thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much. I appreciate it. Yeah, of course, we appreciate
Speaker 1: you taking the time and and hopefully at least I
Speaker 1: will get to see you maybe in Orlando and August. Good,
Speaker 1: so yes, I know if it all continues on hopefully
Speaker 1: hopefully hopefully awesome, awesome, awesome, thank let us know if
Speaker 1: there's anything on our hands that we can help you
Speaker 1: guys with. Perfect for sure. Thanks, enjoy the rest of
Speaker 1: your day. That was awesome. I'm so glad that we
Speaker 1: could get Rachel on the show and uh have a
Speaker 1: really good conversation with her. A treat and an honor.
Speaker 1: So we're very glad and pleased to share this with
Speaker 1: you all and excited to hear your feedback and what
Speaker 1: your takeaways were from this interview. Yeah, and whatever side
Speaker 1: of the pendulum you swing on with personal finance, Like,
Speaker 1: all of Rachel's tips were super factual and can help
Speaker 1: anybody with their budgets, So don't assume budgets are not
Speaker 1: for you. But a plan is so essential for meeting
Speaker 1: any goal or even realizing goals that you may not
Speaker 1: have known you had. But as you start to plan
Speaker 1: and budget more, your mind starts to open up to
Speaker 1: the possibilities in your finances and it can create goals
Speaker 1: for you. So we really hope that you will take
Speaker 1: these tips to heart and make budgets that work for
Speaker 1: you and that are sustainable for you. Yeah. I love
Speaker 1: this simplicity. I think it's always a good reminder of Okay,
Speaker 1: if I feel like I'm stuck in the weeds or
Speaker 1: the woods somewhere, I can come back to the basics
Speaker 1: of give, save, spend, look at this like a guardrail,
Speaker 1: be realistic, plan ahead like that. It's it's so helpful
Speaker 1: to kind of realign back to the middle, back to
Speaker 1: these foundational pieces and then go from there. M M exactly.
Speaker 1: So thanks for listening, and uh, we want to thank
Speaker 1: you for also sharing the podcast for reviewing it like
Speaker 1: this awesome review. It's from Fancy Care Again, which I
Speaker 1: as a former figure skater kind of especially appreciate that name.
Speaker 1: And she says financial literacy made easy. It happens to
Speaker 1: be five stars. She says, I've been looking for resources
Speaker 1: to become more financially literate as a woman in my
Speaker 1: late twenties and have found this is a fantastic resource
Speaker 1: for getting started and feeling empowered. They tackle a lot
Speaker 1: of different topics and everything feels especially relevant and important
Speaker 1: in the era of COVID. So yeah, that's trudful. I
Speaker 1: think that we've been hoping that that's the case. I mean,
Speaker 1: first of all, putting out some relevant content right now
Speaker 1: as we all are walking through this. But I think
Speaker 1: frugality in general is just a needed topic right now
Speaker 1: for all of us, because even if we are able
Speaker 1: to hold down jobs right now, it highlights the fact
Speaker 1: that whoa, anything could happen, and I need to get
Speaker 1: serious about my budget and my spending and my savings
Speaker 1: and my debt payoff and my financial goals. So really
Speaker 1: pleased to be offering relevant content. Definitely some fun. We
Speaker 1: are friends, and there will be fun and banter sprinkled
Speaker 1: in frugal fun, fantastic, fabulous friends and alliteration. And definitely
Speaker 1: we also want to thank all of you are friends
Speaker 1: who are sharing these episodes. So whether you're tagging us
Speaker 1: on Facebook or Instagram, when you share the latest episode,
Speaker 1: we are going to thank you by entering you into
Speaker 1: our drawing for every five tags and reviews, so this
Speaker 1: is going into the review pot two we get each month.
Speaker 1: We're going to be giving away a ten dollar Amazon
Speaker 1: gift cards, so it's one for every five, so your
Speaker 1: odds are pretty good. And we do give these out, yeah,
Speaker 1: we do. We literally do. People have gotten Amazon gift
Speaker 1: cards in their inbox from us. Yeah, we just do
Speaker 1: them like way after we record, so like it's hard
Speaker 1: to talk about them in every show, so keep leaving us.
Speaker 1: Those reviews on iTunes are Stitcher and sending them, sending
Speaker 1: a screenshot to Frugal Friends Podcasts at gmail dot com,
Speaker 1: and don't forget to tag us at Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: on Social perfect. Thanks everybody, do your next week do.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syrian.
Speaker 1: Oh um, how's your dinosaur so good? If you're on
Speaker 1: the YouTube, you'll be able to see my dinosaur. If
Speaker 1: we share video, I think we might just do voices,
Speaker 1: but there is a dinosaur that Jen wanted to share
Speaker 1: with everybody. If Facebook community group. We can show a
Speaker 1: picture of you and your dinosaur, which is actually Kai's
Speaker 1: first birthday gift. Yeah, it's not my dinosaur, which I
Speaker 1: guess makes it a little better. But kauys, he's tapping
Speaker 1: the mic. Um got he got a dinosaur for his
Speaker 1: first birthday from his godmother, and and it's still in
Speaker 1: my office, as are all of his gifts. Because that's
Speaker 1: the foregal thing to do, is give him a gift
Speaker 1: at a time in a way that a one year
Speaker 1: old can enjoy gifts exactly. And it's not just because
Speaker 1: I'm too lazy to put them away or anything. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm doing it intentionally. We're not giving it, you know,
Speaker 1: one at a time. It's a parenting technique. It has
Speaker 1: nothing to do with the organization. Nope. Um, so just
Speaker 1: me and Dinah over here, sitting with our floor full
Speaker 1: of gifts, looking cute, feeling cute, feeling cute. Might delete later, No,
Speaker 1: we won't delete this. Bye bye,