303 | How She Paid Off $25,000 in 6 Months: Renegotiating Debt, Canceling Subscriptions, and Going Cash-Only

 Okay. Here’s the real truth. We talked a lot and we know you guys like episodes that are less than 20 minutes. So we talked a lot about how these clients of ours got out of debt and we’ve decided. We should split it into episodes. Yes, absolutely.

So this is part, one of how they paid off $25,000 in debt.

That’s the client one. And then the second one we save for later. Yes.

 Okay. So first client, she’s amazing. She just graduated. So they brought in around 9, 000 a month. So that, I think that was pretty, that’s a decent amount and that’s conservative, right? And they were the, obviously , she’s married and has a family of four. And they had,. Oh, I know. I’m speaking to you guys as if you know her. Hold on. If they only made 9, 000 a month and they paid off 25, 000, I can’t wait to hear more details. Yeah, she they worked really hard and even during this time She ended up stepping back and going part time So that way she could be home because she had boys that needed to needed her at home during the summer But okay, so she the types of debt that she had in her debt tracker, where like phone debt, medical debt, personal loan to family.

She had student loans. She actually has three vehicle loans, her car, her husband’s, and they have a camper. And they obviously have a, they have a mortgage and they have, they had to get windows on their house that was unexpected and they had to get a loan for that. So that’s what she came to coaching.

That’s what she had. Yeah. Okay. So then she paid off. So here’s the, she had all of that guys and the personal loan. She paid off all the phones. All her credit cards and her nurse’s student loans. That was a huge win for her. Gosh, and okay, so part of we didn’t intro with it, we just got right into it, but we asked in the, our Facebook group who listens to the podcast and some questions and They went in there and answered these clients that we’re talking about, they answered with what we’re about to tell you.

So we decided that would be a good podcast to share. And I just think she’s, she mentioned in the post that she she had to be convinced about coaching the fee, right? The fee, the investment. She you convinced her that it was an investment, but she wasn’t necessarily thinking that in the beginning.

And I just think about The relief that she had when you say imagine your debt tracker, right? Imagine your list of debt with all those big old numbers and just cross off the personal loan that you own to owe to family. That’s a bad, that’s not good. Juju’s cross off the phone debt, which means your payment went lower.

Okay. That feels amazing. Credit cards always feel good to cross off credit cards, but then student loans, that’s usually one that sits really heavy for people. And so she, cause it’s like never ending. Yeah, it really feels that way. And so she was able to cross off all of that weight that was on her shoulders by doing all this.

And I bet it felt amazing. Yeah. And so just to give context, she listened to us for months, guys, months. And during that time, our fee for coaching actually increased. And she’s still signed up for coaching. And she even said in the post, like it was an investment. And she said, I would do it all over again, because what she got out of coaching is like the lifelong systems, knowledge, information, tools, resources that she’s going to have to be able to implement for the rest of her life.

And not just hers, but also her kids and grandkids. It’s changing generations. And for her, when we, it was hard for her to get the system set up. She’s a mom of two. I actually think she had three, I think I’m, I think she has three kids at one was a little older. But she she was working a lot and they’re in sports, her husband’s working full time.

So there wasn’t a lot of time to hit the bank during the nine to five hour, right? When they’re only open. And so it took her a little bit to get this going. But once she opened up her account, since she saw the system set up to where she could The spending accounts were getting funded. The savings accounts were getting funded and the only thing happening in the bills were, was paying of the bills.

No, no other spending was going on. It was huge for her to see visually how everything worked together. Yeah. And so what does she do? Vanessa already said 9, 000 a month compared to six months paying off 25, 000. You’re like how do I duplicate that? I would love to be able to say I paid off 25, 000 in six months.

So how did they, how did she do it? Yes. So she renegotiated some of her monthly payments. So she called the creditors and told her that, listen, we’re in a financial hardship. Can, is there any way that you can cut me some slack here? Can I get my monthly minimum payment lower? Can I get my interest rate lower?

And she was able to, on some of those, get that deal, which was really great. She also cut out unnecessary subscriptions and she re quoted her auto insurance. Okay. And and she really, I think for them, the biggest thing was, and she had a really conservative budget, but for her, it was watching her spending.

She didn’t realize how much money they were blowing each month. And so when we separated her spending from her bills and gave each. Like her husband, an account to spend money out of her and account to spend money on him. We had the kids money. I think she did that one in cash and she had the gas and groceries when she was visually able to see all that separated and gave it a name and a job and really held them accountable to where everything was going.

Okay. And then also she paid from that point on when she decided to start coaching, she paid everything in cash, which was huge. So no more, there was no bills, nothing else going on credit at all from the time that she started coaching. And it reminds me and I want, I wanted to talk to you about this offline, but we’re going to talk about it online, which was, I was listening to somebody and they were talking about how when they got married, they had to use cash.

They they use our system now with the digital products, but our digital envelopes, sorry, but they had to use cash for years. Just so they could get on the same page with money. And I was thinking we used to be more adamant about that. And I think it is a big deal.

If you’re coming from a place where you are not, you don’t really know what’s happening with your money and you’re not you’re like, even if you have a bad relationship with that, or you’re like, I don’t know where all my money is going. I feel like I make good money, but I have nothing to show for it.

Really actually doing the hard thing of using cash for even a month or two. It can really enlighten you. Like it’s a whole different ballgame having to hand over every dollar bill. And then you really truly see where you’re spending your money. I was going to say I’ll humble you real fast.

Oh yeah, for sure. And you may hate it. Absolutely. I’m not saying you won’t, especially we’re in such a digital. However, the more and more my husband and I go out to spend money, the more and more we see cash prices versus credit or even debit card. It doesn’t matter. Card prices. And so I think it’s I think we’re reversing a little bit here and I love it.

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Now let’s jump back to today’s show. 📍

But yeah, I think using cash is huge. We’ve had plenty of clients tell us you wanted me to use cash and I fought you on it. and now I love it because it does hold me accountable. So somebody’s listening right now and they’re like, that’s me. I’m literally rolling my eyes at you. We, I, we would challenge you.

Yeah. Try it for two months. What if you just did two months and every spending item you had to use cash, which is annoying as Vanessa said, yes, but it will change the game. It will change it. And it will help you to build the system, to build relationship with money, to see exactly what’s going on with your money.

And then Once you get that really down, then you can go to the digital for sure. Yeah. While she’s doing all of this. During her budget months, just I want to paint the picture of what some of the things that she’s paying for. She her husband has double the spending money that she has.

That’s very common. Okay. Yes, it is common. But at the beginning we first started it, she gave them both the same amount and he was like, absolutely not. I feel restricted. I don’t want to, and he was there was a little bit resentment there, which is fine. We get it. So she doubled his and he was really excited.

He loved it. And that was the perfect amount for him. She didn’t need as much. So she kept hers the same. So I just want to say he had double the spending money. And during her time with coaching, she also had school supplies guys. She that she had to pay for. She had trips that she went on child care for the summer before she.

Before she went part time. School pool supplies, because pool was opening, I think, in May for, April, May for them. So she had to do all the maintenance and chemicals and stuff for the pool. She had a couple car problems. She had to pay for that in cash. Birthdays she had. She had a women’s church retreat that she was able to pay for in cash.

So it’s not just about paying off debt. She was actually able to still live and do all of this. Yeah. And I wanted to double back to the spending money because it is I said fairly common. It’s definitely something we see where the husband has more spending money or I guess it could go the other way.

I’m not sure. I can’t remember an instance where I saw it the other way, but why do you think that is? What is really going on? Okay. For if the wife has come into us for budget help, she is usually really invested and she can see a little bit sooner how well everything, how this is going to work to their advantage.

And she is so stressed out, right? If you’re listening to this, you’re like, you’re so over the stress and anxiety that you’re like, I will spend 1. If you tell me that’s what I need to do. And I’m willing to to do that. Sacrifice that or whatever and I think it’s so interesting because what they do is what you just said, they go from spending thousands of dollars to actually being like, I am so committed to this working.

Give me 100. I’ll make it work. And it does. It does. And so what happens though, is if some, if the other spouse or partner or whatever is not on board, That’s okay. Let’s bring them on gradually. Let’s first let them see that budgeting doesn’t have to be restrictive, that budgeting is a budget is going to help you reach your goals, and you’re going to love the situation.

And then once they do see it working, maybe they will want to put more money toward a different goal besides spending. But if that’s the sacrifice you have to make to get the whole thing working or going, a lot of times People are willing to do that. Do it. And I think it goes along the lines of going out to eat and in groceries.

Some people are overspending in those categories and we get it. But don’t your first month of actual budgeting going we’re gonna cut that in half right now. It’s like you won’t and then you’re gonna feel like system isn’t working. It’s broken. I’m the problem. No, don’t do that. Just go ahead and start with that number and then you can gradually decrease it from there.

Yep, and you will so we’ve said it before it’s like the first time you go through your closet and you’re like No, I don’t want to get rid of it. But then you get that like taste of, Oh, I have a little more room. I know I feel a little better about less and more. And then you’re like the next time you’re a little more ruthless.

And that’s how this goes. Like once you get. on a budget you’re like more willing to commit more to the budget than you were before because it’s working you see it and all that so to recap in here i want you to listen to this list and think this is what i’m going to do one of these things i want you to pick one okay so she Renegotiated her monthly minimums and interest so she called all their creditors and said can we do something different here sometimes?

They say no, but it’s worth a phone call, right? She cut out subscriptions and this is another one sometimes they will take one out and then the next month they’re like, okay, we got rid of that one, too And then people get more they’re more excited about saving money than spending it.

So goes through your subscriptions Can you cut some of them out? She re quoted her auto insurance. Have you done that lately? Do you need to do it now? And and she used cash. Yeah. And she used cash. So those are four things that you could do right now. You could pick one and you could do to help you on your debt payoff journey.

Yeah. And you’re going to see a huge difference and let us know how it goes. Yeah. Okay. So

okay. So we hope that you like that. We know that the conversation cut out, but just think of it as a, you know, there’s going to be a sequel and it’s all gonna come together with the next part, because we talked, remember we talked so much that we know that you didn’t have time to listen to all that. I just had so much to tell you.

Yeah. And so next time when you come back, you’re going to hear about our clients that paid off $13,000 in one year, and exactly what they did to pay off that 📍 debt.

Okay. Okay. Welcome back. Okay. This is part two. Hopefully their brain, their, your, their ears got rested from.