From Overwhelmed to In Control: How Missy Paid Off $17K and Saved $2K a Month with One Smart Move

  📍 What was really huge for me was re quoting my insurance. That saved thousands of dollars. That was a huge win for me.

 So Vanessa helped me get all that budgeted, so when that month came that I had to pay my car tags and get my tires, I had all that money sitting in the bank and I’m like, oh my God. This actually really works.

 I have money for my high maintenance levered anyway pet dog.

I have money for my Christmas. I have money for taxes, and if I wanna go get something for the house or this or that, I have money for that too.

 I’ve actually paid off an additional $17,000 in debt since January.

 Nope. Never. No, because it makes you feel like a failure. You’re like, I’m this age, and why do I not have money in the bank? honestly, I’m not the only person and everybody else is out there doing the same thing, but they’re afraid to admit it.

 Do it. Invest in yourself and do it because it is so worth the money.

 So we’re going to just jump right in. Yeah. So Missy, tell us a little bit about yourself. 

Alright. So I’m Missy Ryan. I work two jobs. I have a full-time job and a part-time job. My fun job in the evening is a massage therapist, so I. That’s always fun to do and help people feel better. Taking on another job, starting a new job. I’m gonna become a travel agent, 

Ooh. Oh girl. Look at you doing all the things.

 I know. 

Yeah. 

about it. So that’ll help retirement when I get there. Finally. 

Okay. 

just travel like I want to, 

Yeah. Who? Yeah. And you’ll know how to afford it better too. Yeah. And all the secrets. Yeah. Budget to help. Yeah. You’ll have the secrets. Okay. Awesome. Okay. So we’re, you’re on today with us because we were gonna talk about your story, your amazing story when you were coaching with us.

So tell us a little bit about what got you, what led you to us, what circumstance made you be like I think I’m gonna do some coaching. 

Yeah. So I was actually looking for a budgeting program and that’s what I Googled and you guys were the first page that came up. I. I started listening to your podcast and I listened to them for quite a while before I actually downloaded the sample sheet and, printed off bank statements and figured out where my money was going.

And I’m like, oh my. 

Oh. 

that was very eye-opening for me.

Then I bought the entire program Filled all that in, and then I just decided, I’m I need to do the one-on-one coaching because I’m not good at following through with things. 

Yeah, you started off with our group coaching program too. If I. So you bought the system, you were in our group coaching program for a very short period of time that we had that. Yeah, don’t worry about that. And and then you moved into one-on-one coaching and you were ready, determined just on fire and just you just had all your ducks in a row, like you were ready for change and you could tell.

I wanna back up though and talk about what you said. First of all, if you’re listening, I’m gonna tell you that you can go to budget besties.com/budget template and get that free sample page. We don’t talk a lot about that, but it’s a little golden nugget Easter Egg for Missy’s episode.

But you’re not alone. It is every time we hear it, it’s oh, eye-opening. Oh, I looked at everything and look at what it, I didn’t think it was gonna look like that, or it’s shocking. So what what. W for example, we had one of our clients do it, and I just, I always will remember, she said, when I saw how much I was spinning on eating out, I wanted to throw up on shoot on restaurants.

So what was eyeopening for you in that moment? 

Just not really paying attention to what I was spending it on.

If somebody needed to borrow money I’d give them money or, if we were out to eat, I would just pay for everybody’s, it was just trying to get a control on it I do make good money, and then at the end of the month I’m like, okay where did all go?

 I remember like the first budget we made, I was like, Hey, you have all this money left over, and you were like, what? 

right, 

And it was just a surprise to you because you had never really. Held yourself accountable or held your bank accountable to the money that was in there. And I think doing that process really did help.

But, to Shayna’s question, what was like that one point? What was that turning point for you? Because we have a lot of people that. Have dabbled, like they’re here, they’re listening, they’re downloading the free stuff. I just got a new client the other day that says, I’ve literally been listening to you guys for a year, and I finally pulled the trigger.

And she’s and this has been the best decision that I’ve made. And we’ve had two sessions. And so what is, what was that turning point for you? Okay, I’m done. I need to coach, I. 

Yes. I think when I refinanced my house to remodel it. And just all the extra money that I was putting into my house and I’m like, oh my gosh. I was, going to Lowe’s and Menards and I was getting the credit cards, just so I could get that little bit of a discount.

Then those credit cards add up really quick, 

Yeah. That is a game that we don’t usually win. Even though we try to play, we try to play that rules. They make you think you’re winning, but they still win. Yeah. 

It adds up really quick and it’s then once I finally looked at I had in the credit cards and what I was spending, I’m like, oh no, this is not good. 

Good for you for realizing that. I think it’s funny that she says that about her client that. I don’t know. I think sometimes we just do ourselves a disservice by putting off the thing that we know we need to do. And I know that life is busy and there’s so many other things calling for our attention, but, one of the, this is one of those things, if you can just tackle it and then you can move on and just focus on being a travel agent, but you gotta get it in order. You gotta figure it out, gotta get it set up and then, you can go live out all your wildest dreams. But I just heard on a podcast yesterday, a lady was saying. She realized she’s not the kind of person that’s gonna take a course and sit down and do it and whatever.

She’s I need someone to tell me what to do exactly when, how, and then hold me accountable to doing it. And then I, and then, and only then will I do it. And she actually said it was really interesting, Vanessa, like that, that it ends up being more it seems like it might more be more expensive to get a coach, but actually it’s more, it’s cheaper in the long run because then you get all that stuff set up faster.

And going. And that accelerates your progress. 

Yeah, because I did have people me that, like why are you paying somebody when you’re trying to save money? 

That’s a good question. 

the help. I need the help. 

Yeah. And look at the small investment that it was for you, and look at what you paid off like it was. I. Astronomical the amount of success that you had in the six months of coaching and and you had one income, like one source of income was you coming in? Yes.

You have two jobs, but it was only you and you made so much progress. A lot of people think it’s an income problem and you and I really looked at it and it’s not, it’s an, it was an expense problem and an organization problem. So as you got going, you dabbled, you did come to group coaching, you tried, but then you got going with Vanessa.

What really started to change things for you, or what did you start to learn or do or implement that kind of changed it for you? 

Just little helpful hints, like with the car payment, skipping a car payment one month and using that money off debt. What was really huge for me was re quoting my insurance. That saved thousands of dollars. That was a huge win for me. 

Yeah.

 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.

 Yeah. And then just selling my house and downsizing to a condo.

I had all that extra money left over from the house that I could put towards 

Oh, wait, let’s pause here. This is a big deal. Okay. You had this in the works before. Okay. But you came, you just said that you came in because you’re like, I just got a, what is it? A, a HELOC or something on your home to remodel it? That’s when we started. And then how it’s how it’s going is I’m now downsized after I talked to Vanessa.

For what, one minute or what. So what was like the what was the story? There are you were remodeling so you can sell it.

Okay. So yeah. 

It was me and my mom in the house. My mom has since passed, and so it was just me in the big house, and I don’t need a big house. So I downsized and got a condo and everything’s wonderful now, 

And I think sometimes with that, having a second opinion or someone to go back and forth with like I think this is a good idea, but do you see any downsides? It probably helps. We ran the numbers. The very first session we had together, we sat down and ran the numbers. If you were to sell the house at this price, this is what you would get for it.

This is how much debt you could pay off. We ran it all. However the sale of the house took, I think it was. Three extra, four extra months. I think it was four extra months than we thought. So by the time you actually sold the house, we had paid down so much debt because you had all this extra money that the amount of money that you really needed at the end of that to put towards debt was way less.

And so it was such a huge benefit. It was a blessing in disguise because you just had. You did all this hard work ahead of time and pay down that debt and you had this extra, so I just think it was really cool to watch your journey through all this. Every month. I was like every, every session I was like, Annie, need on to sell outta the house.

And you’re like, Nope. Yeah, I have a couple clients like that too. I’m like, please just lead with telling me that the, it’s sold. Yeah. You have a closing date. Yeah.

Okay. So then, you know what are some of the bigger, obviously that was probably one Vanessa’s alluding to is paying awesome debt. So what are some big breakthroughs or big wins that you had while you were coaching? 

Oh my gosh. Just, instead of spending the money, putting it in the high yield savings accounts.

For the future, like for the home expenses, for my annual expenses for the dog. I call her

Dollar wonder here because she’s, you just, she’s high maintenance. Just getting all that organized and like in Indiana when you do your car taxes, it’s expensive.

Money and then I needed car tires at the same time and they 

Huh. 

be due at the same time. And I’m like, oh my God. So Vanessa helped me get all that budgeted, so when that month came that I had to pay my car tags and get my tires, I had all that money sitting in the bank and I’m like, oh my God. This actually really works. 

Yeah, can I share how much you’re around, how much you’re saving every month? I did save that. You went from not being able to have any savings buckets, no extra in your budget to saving over $2,000 a month in your savings buckets. Now, like consistently with everything, you have Christmas, you have annual bills, you have travel, you have pets, your pet, you have all of that done, and that’s.

Equating to over $2,000 a month. And to have that as a safety net for when those things, it’s not, if they happen, it’s when they happen. We all know that. You have the money there. 

Absolutely. Absolutely. 

I think it’s really I. Especially with things like ’cause we’re, we are fortunate down here.

We don’t have car taxes. We do have registration that comes, but all of those are big bills and it’s just a nice, it’s a nice maneuver to make. A nice change to know that you’re saving for these big moments and you don’t have to panic in the moment. And the other thing that’s happened though, when you’re doing that you’re looking at your budget and you’re being more intentional because you know that you’re setting stuff aside.

For those moments instead of it. ’cause a lot of times we budget and you might’ve been budgeting this way. I have money in my bank account, therefore I spend it like, that’s my budget. Ta all done. And and, but there’s not really a why because we’re not looking at it. Like you said in the beginning, I’m not looking at it.

So I don’t really know why I would not spend it. But once I lay this plan out and it feels so good, you think it’s gonna feel restrictive. You think it’s gonna feel overwhelming, but actually it feels. So good to know, like vanessa just said, I have money for my high maintenance levered anyway pet dog.

I have money for my Christmas. I have money for taxes, and if I wanna go get something for the house or this or that, I have money for that too. That’s the new amazing, awesome transformation that we get to have. And it’s awesome. And I think people forget Hey, how much do you cost in a year?

That is the aha question that we have with people and. And hey, now we’re gonna put that in your budget monthly. So that way you’re consistently saving for that switch, that light bulb. And then printing out that savings bucket tracker and just taking a couple months to fill it in. ’cause it’s, you’re not gonna fill it in right away.

You’re gonna remember things in a couple weeks, in a month or so. But, knowing that, like Shana said, you have that money because you’re now consistently budgeting for it is a game changer. I do have a question. Tell me what is a funny or memorable moment that you had during coaching that just sticks out to you?

Was like. 

because I still catch myself doing this. If something happens, I’m like, okay, what would Vanessa do? What would Vanessa tell me to do? 

We’re gonna get you a, we are not gonna get you a bracelet that says WW PD you’re right, Missy. We have we can be your little little self subconscious right here. Yeah. For a little while until it, it becomes you, it does become what you you, what would I do? But for a minute you can borrow our our little watching over you vibes. Anyway, we can help. Or the other thing I hear Missy, people say, I knew I was gonna have to come back and talk to you about it, so I did it. I, so they, yeah, they knew they were coming back to the coaching session and then so they made a better choice, which is like whatever, if that’s what it takes to get you.

Going, like for six months or however long you got, you work with us. Fine. Just do it. Just be okay with it. And then you will get to the point where it’s not someone else that’s making you feel you, you stay accountable. It’s you, but you just need that little bit of time. 

Yeah. Yeah. And she never judged me

At all. It was always very helpful. I just, I can’t appreciate her enough for everything that she’s done for me. 

You are a wonderful client. It was so fun. Yeah. What are some of your takeaways though? So now you’re graduated. How long have you been graduated? Missy. 

Since December, 

Okay.

 Once I closed on the house she sat with me for January so that we could figure out the condo expenses 

Oh, good. So what do you, now, you’ve been doing it for a quarter basically on your own. What what are your takeaways? What are the lessons that you’ve learned that you’re now applying yourself? 

Just stick into the

Figuring out what’s gonna be, I’m gonna need for that month. I’ve actually paid off an additional $17,000 in debt since January. 

What mic drop. 

I’m sticking to it. If I’ve, with my income tax money that I had left over from the sale of the house, any bonuses, I get is going towards that.

My goal is to get my car paid off this 

Yeah. That was our goal. Okay, so you said that your go, your. Putting every extra dollar towards debt. But do you still feel, do you feel restrictive in your budget with the amount of money that you have to spend on yourself? 

No, 

Tell me more. 

And in fact I’ve had a few little changes in my budget that I’ve had to take more and put into my savings. 

Oh, okay. 

So yeah, I’m actually saving more as well. 

I remember when we first made like your spending, like your fun, what do you call it? You have a, it’s what do you call your spending account? You’re mad money. Oh yeah. Missy’s Mad Money. That’s what it was. I remember when we made that, you were like, I don’t really need anything. And I’m like, we’re going to put something because you need to have money to just spend on yourself whenever you want.

But I would imagine that you are, you feel in abundance in your spending category, in your budget.

Okay. Yeah. Alliteration is important. So Missy’s mad money. That’s important. Yeah. And honestly, the more savings buckets you do get, the less you feel like you need for. Spending because you have a lot of things covered that you normally would spend.

So that is normal. But listen, Shayna doesn’t have any mad money. Or I don’t have a cool name like that, so I’m gonna work on it, but I always am gonna need spending money. Let’s just be real honest about that. Like half of this whole business is because Shayna needs, what did I tell you?

My mom said it’s. Burning money. The, it’s burning a hole in your pocket. Yes. Yes. So then I have to put it in a different pocket. No, I’m just kidding. 

Exactly. 

So that’s what we’ve worked, it’s in the, it’s in the bank account pocket. 

Yes. And I think I have a total of like 13 accounts now. 

Oh yeah. You’re like in, in the race to the top for you’re a VIP. Yeah. Graduated client for sure. Yeah. Okay. So I remember when we were coaching, you were actually trying to help coach people at work and really help them on their own. So tell us what, did anyone encourage you along the way?

What were their thoughts or opinions, or do they have anything to say about, how did they react when you were doing, going through all this? 

actually and it’s, people that I have lunch with they would sit there and say my gosh, I just paid my car tags and, that’s an abundance of money. And, and I’m and I would just sit there and tell ’em, okay, you’ve paid it this month. Now you need to divide. Divide that by 12, put that money in the bank and then you’ll be set for next year when it comes in. they’re like, oh, okay. And then like when I wouldn’t, when I would miss lunch, I’m like, I gotta have my budgeting call today. they’re like can you tell us a little bit more about that?

I’m 

Can we listen in? 

Yeah. 

Good, I’m glad. 

everybody that I talked to was very encouraging, 

That’s great. That’s great. And it’s a weird, it’s a weird thing to talk about with people, but it’s very personal. All of our clients, I’ve noticed it gives you an opportunity. Because people are hurting. Other people they’re just, they’re almost as bad or not okay.

That’s not, any of those words are not Correct. Everyone is having their own situation with money. That they’re struggling with. Whether it’s better or worse doesn’t matter. But you talking about it and shining a positive light allows them to start thinking about it. Maybe we can talk about it.

It’s not like this taboo topic we can. Talk about this simple little, like you said, Vanessa gave you a simple trick. Now you’re giving them a simple tip of starting the savings account. So we’re just, it’s like this ripple effect of a positive money conversation instead of it always being, negative or taboo. 

right, you know what, I even have people on my massage table that’ll, say something about their finances or whatever, and I’m like, okay, start listening to this podcast. 

Oh, super fan. 

It’s helped me tremendously in any, if I can help somebody, better themselves, I’m 

Oh, that’s so sweet. So are you saying that you don’t play it while they were getting their massage? It’s not the right vibes, Missy. It’s not the right vibes. Oh goodness. Oh my goodness. It’s just a side note, side suggestion. 

me afterwards. What was the name of that podcast again? 

Good. Awesome. That’s awesome. Okay, so what was your favorite part about working with Vanessa other than she wasn’t judgmental?

You already did mention that one, which is a big one. 

She was very encouraging. Gosh, just her knowledge and just getting me on the right track and, making me feel like I could do it

And giving me that confidence to do it.  

Yeah. Did you ever imagine that you would just open up and like verbal, vomit all your financial stuff to someone? 

Nope. Never. No, because it makes you feel like a failure. You’re like, I’m this age, and why do I not have money in the bank? honestly, I’m not the only person and everybody else is out there doing the same thing, but they’re afraid to admit it.

So 

And look how quickly. Yeah, no, I love that. And you have such a good heart. But look how quickly you have money in the bank now. Yeah, like less than a year later. Wait less than a year later. How much debt you’ve paid off the decisions you’ve made, your mindset shift, like all of that has changed and now you have so much money in the bank moving forward that now you can start investing you and you feel good about it.

And and you’re gonna pay off your car this year, which is huge. You have your, and I just wanna reiterate, you are saving over $2,000 a month. And by the way, you also paid off another $17,000 since January and we’re, this is beginning of April. Yeah. So you are making huge progress and you’re making your money work for you.

And I think that’s huge. And now you have that information. Like from a session. I actually had a lady the other day on a call and she said, can you guys just do one or two months of coaching? And I was like no, and I’ll tell you why. And I think you would probably agree, like it’s just not enough time to make the change the habits, get the information, the knowledge, all that, that you need to be able to be successful on your own later on. 

yeah. Yeah. And it really helps having someone hold you accountable. You have to come in every month. Did you do this? Because I had homework, after every session, as you guys know. and if I didn’t get that done, I was like in a total panic. So I was always making sure that I had that done and had my ducks in a row for those classes.  

Yeah. Good job. Gold star, a plus Les. We’ll send your gold star in the mail. The thing I wanna circle back a little bit on is feeling like a failure, because that is why we’re here.

When you talk about, okay, let’s put it this way. When you talk when you say maybe I didn’t ever expect to verbal, vomit all my financial stuff, Vanessa and I didn’t expect to have a podcast with three episodes a day talking about financial coaching.

That wasn’t in our cards either. But it’s on our heart because we know that feeling. When you say feeling like a failure, it literally breaks our heart because we know so many people feel like that. And it’s, I’m not a fair kind of person, but it’s not. Fair. The reason for that is that nobody taught you, it’s not because you are a failure.

It’s not because you’re, we always say it’s not because you know what to do and you’re doing, you’re literally on purpose doing the wrong thing. It’s literally no one showed you. And I think things just get more complicated as we, as we get older, the bills the dogs, right? All the things just start just slowly piling up and all of a sudden you’re sitting around what?

What happened, where am I? Where’s my money? And we want to fix that for everybody. It’s working it’s, one person at a time at this point. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. Is there anything else that you wanna share or what encouraging words would you say to somebody that may be thinking about coaching or has really held off on wanting to coach ’cause they’re not really sure?

What would you say? 

Do it. Invest in yourself and do it because it is so worth the money. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

afraid and just do it. 

Yeah, I think that’s probably the consensus that we hear every time we ask that question. Yeah. I think that is a period dot pretty good. And you’re right, it’s that simple. Yeah. Just stop, think second guessing, stop overthinking it, you’re not gonna regret it.  

You’ll be amazed at the results. 

Yeah I was just gonna say the what you invest in yourself as a dime in the bucket compared to what you get out of it.

And you are a testament to that. And so anyways, Missy, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story. We know that it’s gonna help somebody and inspire somebody else, so we appreciate your time. Yes, thank you so much. I.

 Thank you.