📍 And still I felt like why am I feeling like I’m living paycheck to paycheck? I just, I was just getting so angry about it, like, this makes no sense at all. Where is my money going? I always felt like, oh, I shouldn’t spend money on myself. I can go to the coffee shop and not feel guilty. I’ve got my pocket money. I don’t have to  second guess everything I’m doing it’s very freeing. I  love to be bougie don’t.

Care for makeup hair, but I love to travel. I like to cruise. I like Disney World, you know, that’s my bougieness. I’m not a rice and beans kind of person, so that works for some, not for me.

behaviorally now it’s like, nope, not booking that until the Bank of Amanda has enough to pay it in full.

 Hey, Amanda, thank you so much for coming on our podcast to talk about your experience with our simplified budget  system.

having me. I’m very excited. 

Yes. Well, you are so kind, you’re so so active and helpful and in our, and encouraging about everything. So maybe tell us what sort of led to you seeking out something like our budget system. 

So your intro, I think, was written for me. Like last summer I was walking a lot and I was listening to podcasts, primarily financial ones because I’m at a point in my life where I’m making more than I ever have. And still I felt like why am I feeling like I’m living paycheck to paycheck?  just like in your intro and.  I just, I was just getting so angry about it, like, this makes no sense at all. Where is my money going? So I found another podcast at first and it was a lot of cash tracking, which was fine. Kind of similar to your 90 day audit, but that’s not something I wanted to do forever. And I needed  to know what to do with my hands, like you guys always say.  And so, yeah. I’m walking and I hear that intro and I’m just like, you know, tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Yes. you know, you want your lattes? Yes, I do. And so I started listening and it was just what I  needed and I, oh, so I was  hooked on the podcast. I looked at the system and then I’m like, no.

Should I buy it? Should I not? I’m kind of Google. Google Sheets. Maybe I could come up with this. Amanda, you would blow this money in a heartbeat on something else. Just do it. And yeah, game changer. Game changer. So, 

Oh, oh my gosh. That’s so funny because that is exactly what Vanessa and I would try to do. We would be like, okay, we’ll we’ll recreate this. Yes. And it’s like, okay, wait for the, for one trip to target. Mm-hmm. You’re gonna spend two hours, five hours, 20 hours trying to recreate your own budget in Excel.

Yeah. That’s exactly what I would’ve done. Oh, for sure. 

Yeah. 

said so many words at the beginning, and one of the things that you said was that you first were tracking, like that’s what a lot of people were recommending, and you said it’s a lot like your 90 day audit, which I wanna pause right there because that is a one time thing, right?

So when we talk about. Going back  and looking at three months of whatever you had going on,  that is literally a one time deal. One, you know, once and done. Whereas what you saw and what a lot of people are trying to quote unquote, budget doing is tracking all the time, every day for the rest of their lives.

How exhausting. Mm-hmm. No, I don’t like that. 

Yeah.

don’t wanna do that. Nope.

I don’t have time for that. And honestly, yeah, I don’t know what purpose it would serve on an ongoing basis. Like it was helpful to at least see what I was spending. Great. You know, see what maybe subscriptions I didn’t wanna  keep. Okay, fine. But yeah, it wasn’t  telling me. What to do.

It wasn’t solving the fact that one of my paychecks was going towards mortgage and maybe gas electric and the other one was going towards everything else in life. And so, yeah, it’s not a helpful 

goodness. 

for going forward. Yeah.

Okay, so tell me what, so you start, so you got the budget, so how did it get, how did you get started? How did it, how did it start off for you? 

Yeah. So I bought the budget system and I. in headfirst and I spent the entire weekend watching every video and going through every 

Wow. 

re-listening to podcast episodes. Like I just, that’s all I

I feel  like we got, we literally have to send you a gold star. I was gonna say, we hit the jackpot. We’re gonna send you a gold star because you deserve it. Like woo.

Oh but  I was just, so, I was in it, I was in the game now, that month had already started, this was like early November, so I just said, well, I’m gonna still plug in my numbers, you know, and this’ll be kind of like a, a mock month, if you will. and then. You know, and, and at that point too, I had some bank accounts, but I was like, well, this is probably enough bank accounts. And then I immediately realized, no, it’s not.  You know, because again, like for instance,  groceries, I couldn’t just go to the store and know exactly what was there. I had to think what else is in this USAA account, what’s gonna hit from Amazon or wherever? So yeah, it was that. First month was a lot of like, oh, this is why, just trust the process, Amanda, just listen to them. So yeah. So then, December it was like full on, had all the accounts, everything was moving on its own, and it was just like. 

Magic. Was it magic? 

Magic. Magic. Yeah. And you know, those first few months, there are still a lot of tweaks that happen. You’re like, oh yeah, I totally forgot about this annual bill, or, you know, that  type

Mm-hmm. 

maybe I need to shift a little bit more into this account. But yeah, just to watch it happen. Like, I like to look at my budget every week, maybe sometimes more, but that’s ’cause I’m geeky. But you really don’t have to, you know, it’s, 

Yeah. Mm.

once  you have it up and everything’s moving to the right accounts, it just happens.

It’s, it’s amazing. Yeah. 

I love how you said trust the process. ’cause I feel like after people think we’re crazy, so like, I think people go through phases with us. They’re like, they listen. They’re like, oh, those girls are nuts. What are they talking about? Like five accounts or 20? Vanessa has how many? Like why? But then they do it and we, you know, one of our sayings is like separate to simplify, which sounds kind of like an oxymoron. 

But it, it does help. And it’s so nice to know,  like you had to, you had, you had to try, like, okay, step one was like open one account, one separate spending account, right? And then you’re like, oh, this isn’t enough. Right. And I think one of our other testimonial was Becky Sauers. She was another one that said, I tried the one and then no.

Now I have to have many. But you think it’s gonna be complicated. You think it’s gonna be more to manage or harder to manage, but actually it’s not. 

It’s not, and it’s so freeing another one of your taglines,  freedom

Yeah. 

But that, I listen to you guys all the time if you couldn’t tell, 

Okay, I 

I re-listened  to

spoke spokeswoman. 

But it’s true, like I just. To be able to go to the grocery store and I know exactly what’s in that account, ’cause that I only use it for groceries, but so I know exactly what’s in there. I don’t have to do the mental gymnastics at the cash register. It’s just boom. Okay, good. You know, another thing was pocket money.

I never used to give myself pocket money. I would just  swipe everything and then at the end of the month pay for it all.  but it is freeing. To have my pocket money and I’m divorced, so I don’t have to, you know, have anybody else have their pocket money? Well, my team does, but she gets her own. Anyways, yeah.

I mean, I can go to the coffee shop and not feel guilty. I’ve got my pocket money. I don’t have to second guess everything I’m doing. Yeah. It’s just, it’s very freeing. Yeah. 

Yeah, I, I agree. And I, I, for me, the, the thing with groceries, you know, so all of us have our pain points that led us to like, trying to solve something. Like I getting to, you know, mid month or toward the end of the month and not having money for groceries is like, still, I think it’s still haunts me. Like it’s tr I’m traumatized from that, right?

Because I have. People, I’m supposed to feed them, they actually want to eat every day.  So for me, like, like you said, having that money completely  separate. Mm-hmm. And knowing it’s there, knowing that we can still get food and my bills are gonna be paid. I don’t even, and I, I love that too. The other thing I wanted to say that, well, I wanna get back to the automatic automagically transfers because those are fun.

But when you said you like to look at your budget, you know, we made the budget to make you wanna look at it and there is a satisfaction. So I think that the reason  that all of that tracking and stuff is popular is because  we know we want to do, we wanna be a good steward. So we feel like if we’re doing something, then we then we’re, we’re, we’re gonna get the Gold Star a plus hundred on the test.

But you don’t have to do all that. So, but our budget does solve some of that for you, right?   📍 You can go in and check everything off and you can still feel good. Like I did, I did it, I checked the box. All of the things are done. It looks pretty, it’s really satisfying to know.  Like I, I know that things are covered, but I, I actually have all  of the math right here proving it, and I’m, I’m try, I’m like checking things off as it happens. 

That is, it’s like the best of both worlds. You can, you know, it’s what that things are happening and it looks pretty and it makes you feel like that girl in school. I raised my hand, I got an A plus. Good job. Well, and I think that like. You know, when, when Shana’s talking about people get these tracking apps or whatever on their phone and they’re always in there, it’s always beeping them, always alerting them or, or whatever.

 Hey guys. In case we haven’t met yet, I’m Shana.

And I’m Vanessa. We’re the budget besties. We’re best friends and master financial coaches and we love talking about the B word. We help women who make good money but have nothing to show for it. Finally, set up a budget system that fits their bougie lifestyle. If you’re liking this so far, hit the subscribe button and stick around.

Your budget is about to get a major glow  up.

And you feel like that’s what you’re supposed to be doing to be a good student, but you’re just, you’re doing nonsense. It’s busy work. Yeah, it’s busy work. You’re literally doing nonsense. Whereas our budget, when you check boxes. And you literally just say, yes, my money transferred over to my spending accounts and my savings accounts.

Like that is actual tangible  success there. And I think that there is a huge difference in being  busy or actually doing good work, the right work. Well, I just think it’s really nice to, it just gives you another layer of peace, like having to ch checking everything off as it goes.

Like, you know, hopefully the, the longer  that you do it, you know the money’s gonna be there for the bills. You know, the money  is transferring automatically, but it’s like an extra layer like. Of peace and comfort and not in the opposite of anxiety. To know that I’m checking things off and it’s all like dimming away.

Mm-hmm. And it’s all going, it’s all closing. And the same. So that heal, I think that heals any bad  or it starts to heal the bad feeling that we have with budgeting  and the bad history that we have with money management and all that. Mm-hmm. Just like having actual spending money on purpose that I’m allowed to spend on purpose For sure.

In my budget. That also heals only for me, only for me. That also is healing. ’cause we want, we don’t need to have this bad, weird relationship with money. It needs to just be neutral, right? Yeah. 

Yeah.

And it’s so true because, you know, and I was a single mom for many years. I got a couple adult kids and then one teen at home. But yeah, I always felt like, oh, I shouldn’t spend money on myself. should, should shoulda, shoulda, you know, enough  of

Mm-hmm. 

really just budgeting for that. You know, another thing, I love to be bougie don’t.

Care for makeup hair, but I love to travel. I like to cruise. I like Disney World, you know, that’s my bougieness. Yeah.  

Yes.

I  can do that with this, you know, nobody’s saying I can’t, I’m not a rice and beans kind of person, so that works for some, not for me. And I loved that. This wasn’t it. Going back to the system too, like. I find there are many valuable tabs in it, like the   📍 paycheck plan when I was first starting. I really loved that because it was new to me going to the ATM every paycheck and taking out money, you know, so it was just that nice kind of visual as don’t forget to do these things. now that it’s kind of been going, I don’t use that tab as much, but the,   📍 the debt tracker,   📍 the asset tracker.  I reveal   📍 goals every month when I’m closing out the last month and starting the next month. Do I need to shift any goals?   I’m fifth. I’d like to retire in 10 years, maybe.  Fingers crossed.     📍 So I

Yes.   

budget tab, you know, so I could kind of see  like

Yeah.

would I  need? So it’s just, there’s so to it.

That’s why I call it my game changer. Like it just changed everything.

Aw.

Yeah.

Aw. Thank  you so much. So you don’t know how much that means to us because we literally created this from scratch. Mm-hmm. And we really wanted to serve our, our clients, serve our customers and wanted to encompass everything that we can think of that would not  necessarily, like every tab isn’t gonna be for you.

Not everybody wants to  compare budgets. Not everybody wants to look at their financial status all the time. That’s fine. But there will be a tab in there that, that you do look at something that, that you use to track. There’s a debt-free budget in there that may not be you, you may be outta debt, that’s fine.

But the person who’s not outta  debt that has 30 lines of minimum debt payments,  yes. I’m sure they’re looking at that going, I cannot wait and this is what budget’s gonna look like when I’m debt-free. Right. So there are so many different tools based on what journey you’re on. So thank you for speaking to that.

Yeah. And it’s just this whole idea of taking ownership  of it because. Before it’s felt scary,  an anxious, overwhelming, whatever. And so if you can start to feel like I, I know my numbers, like I’m not, I’m not shying away from it. I feel confident about what’s going on. That’s really where we want everybody.

We want you to know that you can retire in 10 months, we, or 10 years.  Wow.

love

That  escalated quickly. That was quick. Okay. Or we want you to know that the Disney trip is, is done a done deal. Like we, that’s, that’s the, the vibe. Yeah. So really happy that that’s happening.

The only thing that I did wanna go circle back to real quick is when you said that automatic transfers, so how, tell us like, you know, the, the system teaches you to create a budget and then like you said, the, the paycheck plan tells you when to set up the transfers or how to do the transfers.

So tell us how that feels like that your budget basically runs itself. 

it’s wonderful. So I do mind just slightly different than you recommend and I. Posted this on the Facebook group, like I work for an HR software company so I can just go in the app and change my direct deposit’s pretty easy. But yeah, I mean, I have my big chunk go to bills. I have, sorry, I have three banks too, so trying to condense, but we’re getting there. but 

Mm-hmm. 

Money comes into my other main account, that goes off, I think I have six savings buckets at that bank. And then I have one other bank that has like my grocery account, high yield savings and my travel, which is also a I. a little extra interest on that one. But yeah,  I

Yeah. 

it just all happens. The pop from work the same day and then those transfers that are internal in the bank, I do the, just because I’m always a little paranoid of what if the direct deposits a day late? Yeah. everything just happens. I log in and there all my money right where it’s supposed to be. 

Yeah. 

I love how you said that at the very beginning, the paycheck plan was very useful for you because you are, you know, making sure everything happened and trying to figure out what you needed to do. And, you know, it’s just, like you said, it teaches you what to do with your hands. And we’re kind of like that as well with our clients.

Like we, I. When we set the budget up for them, we are showing  them like, this is what the paycheck plan tells you to do. But once you set  everything up automatic, it’s maybe a tab that you don’t need as much anymore. But it’s a, it’s a tool for you at the very beginning to show you kind of what to do. And there’s no question, like, you don’t have to guess what amount goes where, when, and all that.

Like it’s all done. The math is done for you. No more guessing. Yeah. Okay. 

No more guessing. And I mean, now I feel like I have such a, a plan going forward, which again, wonderful feeling like, you know, like I started this in November, you know, December  timeframe, and I knew I had like a couple of big  hits of money coming in, which was very nice. But you know, it was just RSUs that I was cashing in a quarterly bonus, but without this. I would’ve just, I don’t know, I probably would’ve blown it on stuff I like to spend, what  can I

Yeah. 

But yeah, instead, you know, I really focused on getting those savings buckets up. ‘Cause that was one thing too, I was a little worried like, oh, should I put this all towards debt? And I listened to one podcast episode that was like, well if you’re coming into a, a little bit of money, maybe beef up those savings buckets first.

And that was such good advice. ‘  cause I was prepared for a whole bunch of  things that. needed it for. but yeah, even beyond funding those and, and funding you know, my trips, ’cause I do love my travel. You know, I’ve paid off almost, it’ll be $25,000 worth of debt since I started with you guys.

So that was what 

One. And you said since November is that. When you bought the budget,

So I just checked it

wow.

like,  what am I at? And it’s like 24 8 and I’m like, oh my gosh, I’m so close. But again, had I not been so focused with the plan, I wouldn’t be anywhere near that. Yeah,

Yeah,

near

and,  and love that you call it the plan. It, it wasn’t like, well, I, I ate beans and rice for six months so that I. I’m not trying to be mean, am I? Is that mean? That’s mean, but I’m not, I didn’t eat beans and rice for six months so I could pay off 24. Right. $5,000 of debt. I made sure my savings buckets for traveling and whatever else were happening.

I made sure I had spending money and, and mm-hmm. Not, or, and I paid off debt. Yeah. It reminds me of my client, like  when we first started coaching, he was like, listen, I’ll pay  off debt. I am not giving up my travel. And I was like, fine, we’ll meet in the middle. But you are not putting any more travel on debt, right.

So it was like a compromise. So he did the same thing. He paid off so much debt like you did, but also lived at the same time. And what we’re trying to tell you is you can do both, but for so long we’ve been taught or told that we’re not supposed to or we can’t. It’s one or the other. And you are a true testament that, that it’s possible and not just you so many people, but we appreciate you coming on and sharing your story. 

Yeah. And, and what you just brought up though, it, it really does, there is that behavioral aspect to it. You know, if I had kept putting things on my card, this would not work. You know, it, you have to make those behavioral changes too. Like one of my things, I used to love booking trips before I had the money for it, then have to. it off quick before the interest 

Oh yeah.

which  is stressful. Yeah. But yeah, so behaviorally now it’s like, nope, not booking that until the Bank of Amanda has enough to pay it in full. So yeah. 

Oh my gosh. Bank of Amanda. Oh my gosh. I love that. Well, we always say be your own banking girl. She just did. 

Yes.  Yeah.

Wow.

same  thing, like I’d love to get a new fence. ’cause my fence at my house is a little rusty, but it’s not till the Bank of Amer or Bank of America. No, we’re not paying you any money. Bank of Amanda has enough to pay for the fence. Yeah, 

Yeah. See, I can tell that you’re in a good spot because you’re having a good time. You’re laughing, you’re, you know, we’re making jokes. You’re paying off debt, you’re going to Disney, like, you’re thinking about getting a fence, like it’s all going well. Mm-hmm. Amanda, it’s, it’s going well. We’re really so grateful that you came on Yeah.

And, and gave us your story. Your, you did like your, again, gold star. Here’s your gold star. I mean, we’ll talk later about having three banks, but we’re just not gonna talk about that right now. She said, she said she knows, she’s condensing. She getting there. She’s, I’m, I’m working on,

I’m moving away from one.  I

okay.

have  to wait for those 

Yeah.

that  card to come.

That’s okay.

Perfect. Yeah. But, and, and that’s the other thing we do try to pride our, well, we do try to say that it’s not cookie cutter. Like here’s what we have figured out the basics, and then you wanna make it your own. For sure. Can tweak it. Yeah. Okay. Amanda, if you had your favorite feature of the budget system, what would it be?

 I’m going to say, gosh, this is so hard. say the monthly budgets, I probably spend my  most

Yeah,

yeah.

yeah, yeah, yeah. And they all pay it forward.  Yeah.

mean, because it’s

What’s  your favorite   📍 thing?

you know, every month carries over to the next month. So it’s not like you have refill out the sheet every month. You’re just tweaking little things. It’s so easy. Everything’s right there you know, carries through to the other tab. So I think that’s, that’s why I would say that one, but that’s a really tough question because as I  said,

Yeah, it was, I, I do not like the favorite questions either. I’m like your top three. Okay. And then how about the whole overall system? You seem like you might have an idea for that different Yeah. 

Yeah. I just love that everything’s automated. Like it’s just like having a personal assistant. It’s so hands 

Yeah.

It’s  just, and it’s doing  what it

Yes. 

Yeah. Yeah, 

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you’re not, you’re not messing it up ’cause it’s doing its job. I love that. Okay. Money is, her money is working for you. So last question. What would you tell anybody who maybe is like Amanda? She was walking. And listen to podcasts, like what would you tell them if there, there were, like maybe in the shoes that you were in? 

The process just do it. Like, honestly, whole thought was. What do I have to lose? I have the price of the system to lose, and I have blown more than that on other things.  if you’re not a, and you call  it a DIYer. If you’re not a DIYer, you know, maybe try the coaching then, you know, but it, there is so much value in it, just do it.

What’s the worst that could happen? You’ll feel a lot better 

Mm-hmm.

a plan  for your money. That’s what.  Yeah.

Yeah. 

It’s just, it’s, it’s a whole different ball game. I feel so much more financially secure now, and as a single parent  like

Mm-hmm.

was  important to me. Like, the only breadwinner. I gotta make sure that I’m doing the right thing with my money.

And now I feel like I am. Yeah.

That’s  so good. Thank you so much for not only coming on, but being active in our Facebook group and helping those that are just starting and have questions. We really, truly appreciate you. Mm-hmm. And we know that this is gonna help help others like in the same situation that you were in and maybe.

Somebody out there, Amanda is literally walking the beach and is going to turn on your podcast. Wouldn’t  that be

so.

fun? Yeah.  Yes. Full circle. Full circle. Yeah. It’s all right. Well, thank you so much for coming on, and we can’t wait to just keep hanging out with you in the Facebook group and on and in earbuds, I guess. 

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It’s, I’m just delighted. I love you guys.

Aw, we love you too. 

Alright, thanks. So. 

Yay. Thank.