Welcome back. Okay. This is part two. Hopefully

their brain, their, your, their ears got rested from.

these clients they work with us. This client, particularly in this session, worked with Shana for a year and we are telling her story and how she paid off $13,000 in debt.

Another client that we had paid off, it took them they’re actually making about the same amount of money, 10 but they paid off 13, 000 in a year. Okay. And I think this story is super relatable because they were not and they know who they are and I love them.

Not as disciplined. Perhaps is the right word we could use. Okay. We’ve had, we have had a year of working together. I absolutely love them and I’m so excited about their future. Like they are, I tell them every session, you’re literally going to be rolling in the dough. We look at their when we look at their debt free budget, I’m like, what you aren’t, you won’t even be able to spend this much money.

And we can see it. That’s what I love about it. It’s sometimes you’re so stuck in it that you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. And, but we’ve done that so many times that we can. So it’s fun to be able to paint that picture for them. But there is, so they’re still

working on all of the discipline, but the systems that we put in place that they put in place are the saving grace, right?

Even when they go off the rails and we’ll talk about that in a minute. Okay. So they, all we have paid off is credit card debt. They have vehicle debt, but they don’t have any student loans or medical debt or anything like that. So it’s a lot of credit. So you can tell, like the probably the problem with spending, right? We want to spend money. So that is still going to be a problem that we need to address whilst we’re budgeting and doing a better job that, but we just know that’s where that all got racked up.

So We And one thing that I wanted to highlight about their debt was it’s just a bunch of different credit cards Costco You don’t need a store. You don’t need a store card. Don’t I want like here’s another this is a bonus tip I wasn’t even gonna mention. I am so good at no. Thank you. I don’t use debt How every single time you go to check out somebody, they’ll say, would you like our store card?

Whatever it is. And you’re gonna say, no, thank you. I don’t use that. Or find a phrase and just get used to saying it. Don’t care what their offer is. Don’t care what their deal is. You’re, it’s a hard, no hard pass for you.

Don’t even think about it. Like just the words are coming out of your mouth as they’re saying it to you.

So you don’t get tempted because that’s 30 percent off, 40 percent off, 50 percent off or whatever. There’s telling you. You guys have to understand that their marketing strategies, like their marketing budget is more than we’ll ever make in a lifetime because they know that if they can just get you to open the card, you’re going to spend so much more money with them

and you don’t need it.

You don’t like when you want to go, when you need new clothes or whatever it is. Go buy it with cash. You don’t need the temptation to spend more, right? So just be nice to yourself and don’t do that. Anyway, and then I think like how you could spend 5, 000 every time you go to Costco if you wanted.

If you’re gonna get a credit card, get it at the dollar store. No, just kidding. But no, ma’am. That’s like getting let me get a credit card at Tiffany’s or something. No! No. So anyway but they also had PayPal accounts. And here’s something that’s interesting, they each had their own PayPal account.

Oh no, there’s, this is damaging. Couldn’t use just one. And you because you can tell that would probably happen if you’re not talking about your finances a lot, or you’re, you’re just over here buying this thing, and I’m buying this thing, and maybe we don’t even know we each have a PayPal account.

Or if we do, we just, we’re not planning what to do with our money, so we’re just spending it wherever we want. Which feels good possibly at the moment, but then you end up in this situation where you have a bunch of credit card debt, right? So anyway, PayPal though. Can we just say, please don’t do it. We’re, we advise against all debt, but definitely PayPal.

Yeah, don’t

open that.

Even

though, I think now there’s a Venmo credit card and stuff. Don’t get sucked into any of that. Yeah, don’t do that. Or the Karma, what is it? Is it? Karma, Afterpay, Sizzle. Sizzle, all that.

Klarna. Klarna, yeah. So many. It’s so interesting. So all of those are a big no for you, but PayPal is very interesting because they are zero interest period.

So they loop you, I think they, they loop you in with that super sneaky. And then, and it’s you have to, this part of the balance is zero interest for another month or whatever, or it’s who can keep up with that? All I’ve had several clients try

and they try, I think that’s the point though, right?

They try to confuse you enough, right? So you don’t even do anything about it. So they just

it’s confusing. It’s, it gives you enough in your mind, enough, wiggle room oh, okay, I’ll be able to pay this off for sure in six months. But no, the answer is you’re not going to for the most part.

But just don’t play what is the phrase? Love you. Love you. Saying this with love. Play stupid games, get stupid prizes. That’s what we’re doing. We’re not playing stupid games. We’re not getting stupid prizes. It’s a fun conversation I have with my dog recently. He loves it. Yeah. So anyway, but I did want to say in this instance, they had two PayPals, as I mentioned, to pay off and And one of them we didn’t get to in time for the interest to hit.

So one time we had to go into the debt tracker and add like a thousand bucks or whatever it was. It was a gut wrenching moment. And And but the next one we were able to completely pay off, and they actually paid that one off last month. So that was really exciting. And then they’re paying off they’re putting 500 on one of their cards.

As we speak, as you’re listening to this, they’re doing it, which is super exciting. And so they paid off seven, they have paid off seven credit cards since we’ve been working together. That’s a lot that’s a lot off their shoulders. And I want to say, Not, it’s not been this if you think of a line, like it’s been up and down and like it wasn’t like a straight path.

We’re just, there’s a bit, a lot of wandering off the rails a few times.

Yeah, but it still worked, right?

That’s the point. That’s what I want to say. So when I think about your client in six months paid off to 25, 000 around the same income and also married family with four, right? I think about them and they’ve done a terrific job and, but they have one really, they have lived.

Okay. And we’ll talk about that in a minute. But they also just have gone off the rails a few times, and they know it, and they admit it. But and so one time, and I love this my favorite example that I use is when one of my clients bought a sheep with their emergency fund, okay? They bought a sheep with their emergency fund.

That is not an emergency. A sheep is not an emergency. I remember when you texted me right after that coaching

call, and I was like,

oh, that’s

fun.

It’s a first time. I know. I love it, and I love that it’s funny to all of us, like I’m giggling about it. But anyway, this one was different too. This hit different.

Okay when we came in and put or, we’re doing the numbers, and basically it turns out he’s, Love him. Love him. Wherever they live, there’s an auction every year for alcohol. I don’t understand what’s happening. My husband would know about this. Yeah, and so it’s the end of the year and you can get bourbon for cheap or something.

I don’t know. But he spent 1, 300 and that was in the Christmas time. So it was fine. We had that money. There was definitely extra money. Okay, but stuff like that would happen. And I think when you budgeted,

Only a couple of hundred dollars for it, right? No, we didn’t budget. It wasn’t even in the budget.

But you had talked about him doing it, but it was only supposed to be like a small amount, right? No. Okay. Not at all. I remember y’all talked about it.

But what I want to also tell you guys, just so you know, the type of coach I am, I didn’t even go put bourbon. Like I didn’t put it in the budget because I was a little, I was a little salty.

I was like, I’m not putting that we spent 1, 300 on bourbon. Okay. I’m like that was your Christmas present. I hope you really enjoy it. And that’s how we’re going to label it. Okay.

But anyway no. Happy birthday. Merry Christmas. Happy anniversary. Yeah.

Anyway but, and so they also, oh my gosh, I felt so bad.

Like really soon after we started something happened and the grill, his electric. Girl didn’t turn off or something and the roof, like the outside roof, something happened. They had to replace that. She was laid off, I think, or yeah, something happened. It was like, you know how it is one thing after another.

So they’ve had fun times with bourbon and they’ve had literal emergencies, happen and they still paid off 13, 000 in debt. They got a new car, they got a new dog, they got a new vacuum cleaner, they got a new TV. Okay. So there have been moments that they went off quote unquote off the rails, but they still have been able to pay this off.

And we’re going to talk about how in a minute, but and I also want to say, they also. And they have been funding their emergency fund or refunding it, as we just discussed. And they have been putting money aside for their annual bills. They have been putting money aside for tire, or no, we pay for tires in cash, but then they For their oil changes and vehicle maintenance, they’re setting aside for vehicle maintenance.

They’re setting aside for Christmas. So last year, other than the bourbon, that was an additional bonus. They know exactly how much they spent on Christmas. They didn’t use debt, which is great. And so this year we know exactly what we needed to be funding and they got,

Their pets are very need a lot of money, at least lately.

They got bougie pets. Yeah I think he’s training one of them to be a service dog or something. So they’re costing a lot of money. Anyways, so we throw money in their pet. So they’re saving. And they, going from people who were using credit a lot, obviously, because their bank accounts probably didn’t allow them to spend.

It was a habit. Now, when we log in, they have money. And all these accounts just piling up and they’re not even spending it. Hey, and they can just see how the system is working. It’s really great. But what did they do to pay off debt? They set very specific spending limits, right? So they have separate accounts, separate spending accounts.

I think that was really big for them. Each, they each have their own, but it’s all, everything is separated and that took a minute to set up.

I think that’s, we see that all the time. That’s a huge part of all of this is organizing your money, setting it up, setting it apart from what is paying bills, and having those spending accounts, whether it’s gas and groceries, whether it’s a gas is separate, groceries is separate. Your pocket money is separate. Kids is separate. Like however you want to do it. And here’s the thing is, we will blow, like if you, Oh yeah. You will blow so much money if you don’t know where it’s going, how it’s going, when it’s going, like all of that.

You will. Yes, easily. But if you have it in an account specifically labeled for something specific, like I said, then you’re going to know that there’s some guardrails around this and it’s not that it’s trying to be limiting, but it’s like, Everyone needs a little bit of direction, and that’s what this is doing for you.

What was I saying? Okay, their spending has, is not low, right? They started off I think at 250 or something a month and what they’ve done is they’ve upped it every time, not every time, but once we started getting to the bigger credit cards, every time they pay one off, I’m like, okay, you want to add a little bit next to your spending category or spending budget because We know that we want to reward what we’re doing, right?

We want to feel that as we go, as we’re doing all this hard work, right? They, another thing that they did, which I actually, Not sure I’d seen it before, but they opened accounts for each of their kids. This is the as I’ve been working with them for a long time now, but I thought that was really interesting.

So their daughters, which I normally wouldn’t want my kids to have a debit card or whatever, or have their own account, but they each, they put money into each of their daughter’s accounts every month. And this is big guys. This is all the money they get. Like this is the amount that I, we, it’s just a hundred dollars each kid.

They do pay for like activity fees or whatever. But like for fun stuff, the kids have to use their amount. And not even just fun stuff. It’s if they need a new pair of shoes, that’s what this money is for. So I’m going to show you how to do that. And it’s a really cool way to do that.

So the first thing you want to do is go to the website, and you want to type in the name of the company. older and so the older one, which is very interesting, she has her own job. And so she, this is her account as well. Mom and dad are just funding some of it. And so we just had a conversation this last session, um, about what, what they’re funding, which versus what she’s funding.

And so that’s very interesting, but having kids can steal all of your money. Okay. They really can. And if you have a goal to pay off debt, if you don’t set some sort of parameter there, they will, and it’s not just kids, but it can easily, like I said, it can easily be blown. It can easily go somewhere else.

Setting those caps knowing that the kids are covered and they just have to work out the amount is really important But one other thing that we had to do We implemented is we pay off debt together on payday. We, the way that they get paid is very consistent. So he has two paychecks that come in on the end of the month basically.

And so we were able to set the entire budget up. And we fund all of the spending and savings with her paychecks, which come week, biweekly. And so on the coaching call, we do the entire budget, make sure everything’s good and we pay the, pay it then. Why do we do that? Possibly because it disappears to make sure it happens, we’re just helping you

out.

Yeah. Yeah. So we paid on and it’s super fun because, because he gets paid and we’ve got him a paycheck ahead, right? So they would have, they started not that way, but we’re a paycheck ahead so we can start the month. Yep. Having paid a thousand dollars on debt, and like It’s if you work out in the morning, where you feel like, Okay, I’m probably gonna Stick to my diet or whatever throughout the day because I started the right way.

That’s what really makes a difference for them, I think.

No, I love that. It reminds me of a client I just had a session with this past weekend or the weekend before. But anyways we paid off $3,200 on her, one of her business credit cards. And I, and she’s yeah, I’ll get that done. And I was like, oh no, we’re doing it right now.

I said, I’m selfishly wanna be involved in this. Yeah. And we’re gonna do it on the call. ’cause I’ve been staring at this debt for, I think I’ve had her for almost a year and a half, and they’re just wonderful. And so we did it on the call. We did a fun dance and it was good to watch that go away.

Yeah, it is fun. And if you want to pay off debt and you want to call us, we’ll be there for you too. So another thing that, that they did is they didn’t necessarily go smallest to or do the snowball method, right? They, like I talked about that one, we needed to tackle that before the interest.

Hit on that and so they went in order in a different order as they went to pay off debt So just understand like your debt story is a story. It’s not like cookie cutter So you need to make sure that you’re being strategic with

that and that’s another thing that we like to tell people is listen, this is your budget around your life and what you have going on and how many kids you have and your job and your travel situation and whatever.

And so it should be very unique to your situation. And I love these two stories. And one thing I forgot to mention is my client was also paying or saving, excuse me, 436 a month into her savings buckets. So they’re, both of them are able to live. They’ve got pocket money. They had spending money for gas groceries.

They had parameters around it. They had boundaries set in place. And they were also paying off thousands of dollars in debt.

Yeah. That’s the whole lesson here, right? Is you can do it. And then one other thing that they did is. Get some part time work here and there to to pay extra on debt.

And then like they sold weights, plates or whatever, for a pretty significant. I was like, what all did y’all have? I didn’t know about this. And they were able to throw a huge chunk at they just got, they get creative. And I even remember this client.

She’s so funny. She’s I’m hoping that they don’t actually get to come to town. Cause then I can save that 300 that we set aside and I can put it on debt. And I was like, okay we’ll secretly tell your family that either. And but truly. Because I don’t, sometimes we internalize it, but we can’t, we don’t feel the weight that you feel from your debt, right?

You feel the weight, even if you’re trying to avoid it, or even if you think it’s not that bad or whatever, you feel the weight. And so as you start to see that lift, as you start to actually make progress, you get crazy. What can I sell? What parts, who’s, who can get my blood? What? It becomes like a game.

Yeah. And it’s it’s addictive in that you’ve loved, you like to see it go away and you feel the relief. And so you want to do more of that faster. And so if you can just get started and be disciplined and do any of the action steps that we’ve given you, any of the little ideas that we’ve given you on how to pay off debt, the actual house.

Then, it’s, you can get started. You can have the same

story. Absolutely. It reminds me of a client that I had a free call with and she was like I have my car payment, but that’s fine. I’m just going to leave that. And and she started moving on. I was like hold on. Why don’t you want to pay off your car?

She’s the interest rate’s 2%. And I said, yeah, but you’re, it’s 600 that you’re paying. If you pay that off, you have 600 back in your budget. That concept of having that money back in her budget, she’d never thought about. She only really thought about. The interest and how much she would be quote unquote, like saving paying that off versus paying this penalty credit card that she had.

And I think just allowing somebody else to look at it with a different perspective coming in going have you thought about this? What if you did this and all the money that you’re paying on debt right now? What if that was back in your pocket? It’s basically like you’re getting a raise, right? Yeah.

So anyways, I just wanted to throw that in there.

Yeah. And that, that, so having someone to look at it, we can be those people. You can join group coaching. That’s a great if you don’t, if you’re not really ready for one on one all in that’s a great way, but also get group coaching is budgetbesties.

com forward slash group, but also you could do the whole budget system that we sell. And that would really help you figure out how to do these things with your hands. But you can do it. It is possible. You being debt free is definitely

a cool thing that we want to see you do for sure so go to budgetbesties.

com forward slash budget if you’re interested in our system and Then if you get in there and you’re like listen, I love this, but I need some more accountability then join group coaching We’ll be there for you

all right. So we hope that

this little mini series that wasn’t supposed to be one, we just talked a lot, but you guys are used to that by now. We hope that it helped you. We hope that you take these tips, some of these and, and start implementing them because you can be the kind of person that pays off $25,000 in debt to, you can see from what we were talking about with them.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility. You know, there’s plenty of things you can do.

Yeah, there were actionable steps in each of these, at what our clients did to be able to pay off all this debt. So like Shannon said, we hope you take that back and implement it and let us know how.