How Lauren Paid Off $50,000 in Debt and Transformed Her Finances in Just One Year

 I had this moment when I was looking back on 2024, realizing that we had paid off over 50, 000 in debt. And so that was. That was huge. I knew it was working, but to be able to look over a year.

And see that kind of number, that surprised me and just confirmed for me that this system works.  

Lauren, we are so excited to have you on the Financial Coaching for Women podcast to talk about your journey using our Simplified Budget System. 

Thank you so much. I’m super glad to be here.

Yay!   We are just so thankful to have you in our life because you’ve been super supportive and kind to us the whole time we appreciate you coming on here to give your perspective, like Vanessa said, about using our budget system. The first question really is, what made you decide to give it a try?

What was going on when you found us?  

So I started praying in the summer of 2023 that I,  

We actually hear that a lot. It’s so funny.

I  was praying for some sort of solution. So my husband and I for years had used. Excel spreadsheets, essentially to track what we were doing and I knew there was a better way. I just didn’t know the answer. I didn’t know what that was.

So I started praying and I also started doing something that year when I would go on walks in the morning. I started looking, listening  to podcasts. So I literally  went to the podcast app and started looking up podcasts and I say it’s an answer to prayer because I found your podcast within one or two tries.

Started listening and that was like August and then I think it was November 2023. I decided to go ahead and purchase the budget system and I can’t imagine life without it now.  

goodness. Hey, y’all, we didn’t actually tell her to say that. No, we didn’t. We are not. This is

not  scripted. What is so funny, you know what’s so funny, Lauren, is we launched it that August. That

was us literally going out into the woods. Vanessa’s family has a deer hunting camp.

We secluded ourselves to the woods, made it, and figured out what to do. And that was in August, was when we launched it. A couple months later, you were like First  dibs,

Coming in. And I was going to say too, Shannon gave you a, talking about how kind you are at the beginning as an introduction.

And I would even say you have been so helpful and kind to those coming into our Facebook group of answering questions because you do listen to the podcast. You’re so versed in, our vocabulary, our knowledge, and the way we do things. And  you are like one of the first people to jump in and help them. 

And we just spend, we just. We’ve been watching you on there and we’re just so thankful to have you in there because it does like it takes a village And doesn’t it’s not about us. It’s about you guys And so anyways, it’s so funny that you literally have been here from the beginning Yeah, since you launched the very first

one of  these That’s fun.

And I like what vanessa said about takes a village and you saying answer to a prayer because I was listening to our mentor Dave Ramsey yesterday and he was just, he was saying that he has failed at his job because he’s been doing that this for his, he’s way more specifically focused on debt rather than budgeting like we are, but he’s been doing it for over 30 years and our, everybody’s in way more debt than we’ve ever been.

Everybody’s, the credit card debts up, the student loan debts up, national debts up, everybody’s debts up. He’s I failed at my  job, which is, he’s joking, but it’s a problem  and it’s, there’s a lot of different problems in our lives that we have to solve, but this one is just, it’s so icky for some reason.

Like you’re talking about sometimes between marriages, it can, it causes some ick factor. You’re stressed. So you lash out at the kids. You can’t do that. You’re working so hard. Like there, it’s just such a invasive species, of a problem. And then, so like I said, all of these other people, and that’s what I realized listening to Dave, it’s unfortunately the problem is growing.

So we need more and more help and we need to be able to reach more and more people. So I’m rambling, but I’m just,   ,

all true. You said you can’t imagine your life without it. So if you want to give like a little synopsis of, What was your financial situation before you started using our Simplify Budget System? 

Sure. My husband and I both work and, talking about the podcast, I feel like I could recite some of the intro. We felt like we made good money, but didn’t have at least what we would want to show  for it. And I was doing a lot of  tracking, and years ago, my husband took, he did all of our financial stuff, and it looked like literal receipts.

He wanted paper receipts of everything, and then he would categorize it, and that did not, yeah, that did not work well.   And then it was the Excel tracking spreadsheet.  I’m looking in our account. We had one account. We have 15 now. So we had one, one account and I’m trying to figure out where is all this money going.

I essentially felt like I was behind.  I felt like I could not get in front of the  situation and plan and make good, informed decisions. I felt like I was chasing, trying to figure out what happened. And the system totally flipped that for me,  

it’s so funny, because I think everybody wants to do the right thing. Everybody wants to feel like, I’m being a good steward of this money, and so I think some people lean into, the more receipts I have, obviously, the more filing cabinets that are filled, and I’m very organized, it’s like, But it’s still not, it’s not actually  solving the problem and it’s creating a lot of a lot of to  do lists.

And if you’re like me, you like to check stuff off a to do list and you feel like I’ve really accomplished something. And that’s what a lot of the systems out there is tracking and we are not for it. We know, you know that, like you said, you can just host our podcast if you want. We’re not for the tracking.

We’re for planning it, telling you where to go and then watching it do it without having to do anything with our hands.

And  we’ve actually had people message us and say, Hey, can you add a section in this? That budget system about like how so we can track expenses and I’m like, no, you’re missing the point Which you know and not to be ugly, but it’s that’s for so long the mindset that they’ve been in To and they’re thinking that’s the only way if I can reconcile if I can track and I can account them that’s the only way that I can be successful in this and what we’re trying to do is release those chains and show them like, no, there’s, there is, there’s a better way.

I promise.  

Okay. We’re going to have to get that meme. I don’t know if you guys know from friends when I know she does, but I don’t know if Lauren Joey is trying to do a commercial and he has a milk spigot and he says, there’s gotta be a better way. So that’s all I hear every time I say that.

Okay. So you were listening to the podcast, you finally decided to get it. Tell us I know we had messaged a little bit back and forth, like how was it getting started with it?  

It made so much sense to me, like off the bat, when I started looking at it and the simplicity of fill in your income. Fill in your debt, your bills, your spending. Like that just, it clicked in my  mind. It’s so clear. It gave me so much clarity   right off the bat. I was literally obsessed with it.

I spent, I probably didn’t need to spend hours, but I did. I just kept going through it, changing things to see what would happen. It was immediate clarity for me. 

It’s fun to do the math when the math does it  for you.

Yes.

If  I can just play, like change numbers in it math so that I can see what’s possible. That’s fun. Having to do all the math myself. No.  

Yeah. No, absolutely not. So when you were using it, like what was your biggest aha moment?

What was something that surprised you when you were using the budget system that stuck out to  you?

I had more money left over than I thought I did. 

That, that is a surprise. It’s because we get that all the time when we fill out with clients, it’s Oh, I should have 4, 000. Don’t, where’s that going?

So  with that said, what you’re saying, you had more money. So then how did that, how did using the system and it’s showing you had more money, how did that really transform your finances, your financial situation? 

I used the extra on debt, line item, quite a bit. And, I had the, I posted this as a comment in the Facebook group, but I had this moment when I was looking back on 2024, realizing that  we had paid off over 50, 000 in debt. And  so that was. That was huge. I knew it was working, but to be able to look over a year.

And see that kind of number, that surprised me and just confirmed for me that this system works.  

What did your husband thinks since, he loves the receipts and stuff. So he started. You guys are doing it together and everything. So what was his reaction like? 

So initially I told him about the system and the cost of the system and he’s super supportive. He was like, if you think that’s what we should do it. I trust you. And then we started Having budget meetings like you guys recommend. So we started doing that.

So he’s been supportive. I’m the one kind of driving it. He has been totally supportive. And I would say the thing that has been the  most impactful for us is when we are talking about, okay,  we have this thing coming up. We need to send a kid to camp or our youngest son’s getting braces in a couple of months.

We are able to have conversations to say, Where’s that money going to come from? When are we going to start planning for it? And so it just makes the whole conversation about money so much easier and more clear. It helps us make informed decisions. 

that’s so good. I love how that just having it in front of you already set and done the system. And being able to talk through it together is making these conversations easier for both of you. And I love that.  

Did you, so what was your main goal to get out of debt? Is that what you were praying about?

Like something or what was it? 

That was part of it. Generally speaking, I’ve, I felt this burden that we’d been blessed with good jobs, successful careers, and I felt this. this burden that we needed to be good stewards of that. We’re both Christians followers of Jesus. And so I feel like   just at a foundational level, any kind of  money or material possession that we have is being funneled through us for use for bigger purposes.

And I felt really burdened about that. And I did not know how to get to a place where I felt like we were honoring the Lord with our finances really well. 

Yeah, I love that. So I have a fun question. If you could go back before you bought it. Before you knew anything what would you tell yourself now that you  know that

buy it sooner. 

I want to know, you said you have 15 accounts. Girl, this is a competition.  

Yeah, I

know.  We should have a challenge.

We should have a savings bucket challenge. You and Vanessa are right on target there. But, just talk to us a little bit about the system, like in place, you’ve got the accounts, you’ve got transfers going, probably getting different spending and savings buckets funded.

Tell us how you actually, the budget system you buy it and it tells you how to do it with your bank and get all that going. Tell us about the daily financial stuff. How’s that work for you?  

I have a Bills account. We bank with a credit union. I have a Bill, Bills account. I have a, it has a debit card attached to it. But that debit card stays in the nightstand.

Too. That’s where mine is.  

I also have we have a spending account that’s a debit card that, that’s the one that we swipe or, if we’re doing an Amazon purchase, but that account has a few dollars on it.

It really only gets money when I’m transferring from a bucket, so to speak. And then I have a debit card for groceries, because I found that I didn’t  love holding up the grocery line to transfer on my  phone. So I got a debit card for that. We started out with a lot more cash envelopes than we have now.

So we only have two cash envelopes now. One is my husband’s pocket money and one is restaurant money. And then I moved our savings buckets, so I’ve had a little bit of an evolution here, I moved 

been a pioneer. You’re a pioneer. So it makes sense. It’s leading the way. 

I moved our savings buckets to some high yield savings accounts. In a separate online bank the thing that I love the most of, if folks are visual, I’m very visual. What I love seeing is the name of the account, whatever it’s for, like I mentioned, my son’s getting braces. So we have a braces account and I can see the dollar amount. That has been really impactful, so that framework is what I use, 

I think that’s really important because I, I think a lot of people are actually visual people and I know that’s how I function. And so when we tell people about, I think I’m going to even say probably especially the husbands. I think they are the most resistant to opening up all these accounts because I think  it’s super confusing and it’s going to be crazy and,  but it’s so visually like appealing and easy to understand when you have that.

I don’t care. It doesn’t matter if you’re five or 20, but it has the name of what it is and how much money you have allocated toward that thing. And it is so easy to understand what’s going on with your money.

It is.

 Love it. Okay. So anything else that has happened? So now it’s been, a year and a half you’ve been using it.

You did super great in 2024, paid off 50, 000 in debt, which is amazing. So anything else that we missed, do you think, or did you cover it all?  

I’ll share a couple of other successes that I noticed in addition to paying off the debt last year. ’cause that, I really think I had that moment. I don’t know if it was December, early January, when I was looking back over the years, so there was the paying off the debt. We paid cash for Christmas.

We paid cash for travel. We travel a fair amount. That’s a critical thing for our family. We like to travel, so we  take several trips a year. We paid cash for those  and then the one thing that I didn’t think we could do that we actually achieved through using the system was paying cash for our son’s college tuition this spring.

That, that was a moment when I realized this is actually going to happen. So I don’t know, I feel like those results speak for themselves and how I couldn’t have done that without this, without the tool.  

Okay. So let’s rewind. If y’all are tracking the way that I’m tracking, not only did she pay off 50, 000 in debt, she also did A, B, C, D, and E.  There are so many things that you accomplished and paying cash and you paid cash for to be able to make this happen. And I think that’s what, when we talk to some people there they may want to  pay off 3, 000 this month in debt, but.

something came up or whatever,  and they have to end up, they’re only paying a thousand dollars on debt, but they’re paying 2, 000 towards something else in cash, and it’s still a huge win. You have to realize that otherwise you would have been putting that on debt, excuse me, on credit to be able to make that work, but no, you paid cash for it.

And also you’re putting extra on debt. I think that’s huge. And  I want to go really quick. You said at the very beginning before this, that  you had way more cash envelopes When you started and now you have more digital envelopes. And that is really funny because when we first started this, we would tell people so yes, you are an a plus student because we would tell people like you probably want to start off with more cash than digital, especially when you need to be held accountable because when you walk into the grocery store with 20 bucks, you’re not  spending 25 or 21, you’re spending 20,  right?

And so when you get comfortable and you get your. Mindset and your accountability and check with that. You moved on to digital envelopes and that’s how everything is working for you. So I just really love how you, you did it on your own. You figure it out. Look, this is where we need to start, but this is where we are now and we’re good. 

Yeah, it gives confidence, too, when you have literal cash, there’s a sense of confidence and lack of imposter syndrome. That’s the other thing, I could go and spend that cash and know I have this. I’m not, I don’t feel like an imposter swiping a credit card. Yes, 

You have confidence it’s going to go through because it’s literally cash. Like they can’t get denied. You have the money. And but I, but I think there is, now what we say is, and you guys probably figured this out once you felt like you were trusting yourself and doing well as we moved it to digital and it’s a  digital world that we live in.

I don’t, especially after COVID,  yeah, all the things that require it but even still, we’re still technically, cause you said it and I wanted to point it out to alliter, alliteration phrases, cash for Christmas and cash for college. So what had happened in 2024 is because you started,  what did you say?

November in 2023. So you’re really able to get that  whole year. Paying off 50, 000 in debt, paying who knows what for Christmas, setting aside college tuition for for that. And then and then travel it’s bougie, bougie on a budget, we were going to say that. But also, not being able to do that was because you’re looking at a budget and you’re sticking  on a budget.

Because a lot of times, People are trying to do that,  but they’re still using debt. You can’t get out of debt if you’re not using it or if you’re still using it. So that part right there, you weren’t using, you got to the 50, 000. We’re all done. Whatever that whatever that was accumulated and you decided to stop using debt so that you could pay it off.

I think that’s really huge.   ,

absolutely. So I have a quick, I have a fun question. What’s your favorite sheet or tab in the budget system?  

I’m a big fan of the paycheck plan tab.  

Yeah, the paycheck plan is really great.

Why do you like it so much? 

because it tells me what to do with my money. 

Let’s send. Let’s send. Want that.

I  like a list. And so it’s a list that I didn’t, I think you guys say brain calories. I didn’t have to use the brain calories to create it. 

Yes, we’re always for saving brain, save brain, we need like t shirts or something, save brain calories.

You do. 

Okay, last question Lauren, what would you say to someone who’s maybe where you were when you were starting your walks your podcast walks and started listening, what would you say to someone who’s maybe in that sort of situation, they, they’re making good money, but they don’t feel like they’re being as much of a good steward as they want.

What would you say to  them?

Listen to the podcast by the budget system at a minimum.  

I think that was simple. That was simple. It was pretty clear. And as we told, as we mentioned before, we’re not paying you. It’s hilarious. We just, you’ve been like we said, so kind in our Facebook group is let’s go, let’s see if she’ll come talk about her experience on the podcast. And honestly, if we had we couldn’t have written a better script.

No. Which we didn’t, which we didn’t. Yeah. Yeah. So we’re super. Yeah. Good. 

it’s one of those things that I’m grateful, that you invited me to be here and grateful to be part of the Facebook group. And so grateful that the two of you followed what you felt you were called to do because it’s impacting people. And so it’s easy to be excited about it. It’s easy to encourage others.

To do it because I see the difference it’s made for me. And I want that for other people. So thank you both for living out your calling. It’s made a difference.

 Thank you. We appreciate that. I got done coaching a client couple a month ago and she said, I’ve been coaching this guy at work because like it’s on her heart to just help everyone do and get on the system that we have. And she, it’s changing her life. And so we just, we love the ripple effect of it.

And we are we’re so thankful to be here. You guys are the ones that make us here and have a platform for on our podcast. Y’all listen to it. So we’re just so thankful that it’s that it’s working and it is changing our  lives.

Yeah. And so just to wrap things up, we’re going to let everybody know they should probably go get the budget system.

Lauren told them to, and if they do, if they go to a budget besties. com forward slash Lauren, they’ll be able to get a little discount because we’re so grateful. For Lauren for coming on and we totally agree. We want everybody to have this sort of transformation and all of us to get better together and like you said, honor.

Honor the gifts that God’s given us.  So yeah, so go to bunchofessors. com forward slash Lauren.  

So if this podcast, guys, if it resonated with you of things that she said, like we so encourage you to go and learn more about it. If this is your first time ever listening to the podcast. But Lauren, thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you for sharing your story and sharing all of your successes and all your kind words. So we appreciate it.

Absolutely.