Budgeting in a Hard Season: How to Stay Stable Without Extra Income | 578

0:00I open my account today and I'm like, oh my god, it's$400 less. Like it just keeps going down and I just panic. What if my money just gets depleted and I have no money left? Make your budget match that and make it zero with that. I don't eat. That's what it is. It's been phenomenal. The first Christmas I've ever had where I did not have to touch. I didn't go over budget. Do you make good money but have nothing to show for it? Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Do you have big dreams for your financial future? Do you want to get debt free, but you don't want to live on beans and rice?

0:31Or you don't want to give up those pumpkin spice lattes? If you don't already know how to budget, or if you're using credit cards to get through the month. If you want to seem like you have your finances all together, or you're not on the same page with your spouse when it comes to finances. We know what you're doing probably isn't working, but guess what? You're in the right place. We're Shana and Vanessa. We're best friends, business partners, and master financial coaches trained by Dave Ramsey. We've been in business since 2019, helping hundreds of amazing people like you create budgets, get out of debt, stop living paycheck to paycheck, and know exactly what to do with their money.

1:05In this podcast, we'll share with you everything we know, plus everything we're working on with our clients so that you have the best chance at reaching your financial goals. We want to help you take the guesswork out of your budget, improve your marriages, and even bring your kids in on the conversation. We can help you no matter where you're at, whether you're the single mom who's never had$500 in her savings account, or the millionaire who's paid off four real estate mortgages. And we're not going to shy away from the tough love. We'll tell you what you need to hear and encourage you at the same time.

1:32This is the Financial Coaching for Women podcast. Hey, Chantal, thank you so much for coming on the Financial Coaching for Women show. We are so excited to have you to hopefully help you with whatever situation you got going on today. Hi, guys. Thank you so much for having me on the show. It is exciting and nerve wracking to be here at the same time, but. Oh no, you've been around for a while. We, when we look in our inbox, we've seen you just being with us on this journey for a minute. Yeah. I joined, I think it was late October or November actually. And yeah, it's been, I think I've listened to every podcast on Spotify, on all of my trips to wherever I have to go.

2:13And it's just been just really just refreshing and reassuring to have someone who understands my brain and how to do money the way that I would like it to be done. So I'm pretty excited to be on board. I've tried several systems. I was a Dave Ramsey girl. I feel guilty saying was, but I think your system is just, it makes everything so much easier for me. I was just going to say, we also love Dave Ramsey. He's like our old grandpa. Yeah. It's like the grandpa. We were saying yesterday, like sometimes he yells at you. Sometimes he just loves you and loves you through whatever. So we don't know which one we're going to get, but we doesn't matter.

2:50We love them too. And we don't have to feel guilty. We, and I think a lot of people take the basic principles of what he's saying and they build on it as they, as they move on. So, well, they evolve like you evolve. We've evolved. We've seen what our clients like, what they don't like, and we've just made our own. Yeah. Oh, we're so glad that it's working and that it's making sense and that it's helpful. Yes. So tell us specifically, are you sent over your budget and everything? Tell us specifically like what you got going on, what's your, what, maybe if there's a specific question or some challenge that we can walk through with you and talk over.

3:17So just let us know. This budget system was, when I first saw it, I'm like, yeah, that's not for me because I'm not bougie in any way. But I felt, okay, I'm going to listen. There's something you said about your calling and your purpose. And I'm like, hold on a second. Okay. And as I listened, it really hit home. A lot of the things you were saying, but in my situation, I don't consider myself bougie. I'm actually at this point of my life, I had to resign from my job and I'm, I would say a stay-at-home mom, but I'm never home. So I'm just taking care of my son. What is that? But my job right now, full-time job is being an advocate for my son and a medical marriage of his life.

3:56Income wise, I don't have a nine to five job nor income. I would say hustle, but I am building things up. And when I was working the steps, I felt, what if my money just gets depleted and I have no money left? Oh my gosh. Because I did get to that place where I think I had like the paycheck ahead thing, but that threw me off tremendously. And like right now I'm in a season where like next month we won't be, I won't be able to do any, pick up any jobs. So I'm like this paycheck planning thing and just like having a paycheck ahead, it's going to start shrinking. How am I going to manage that? And so I think my biggest question is, is how much of a paycheck ahead should I be paycheck ahead?

4:36Because I can see that with a reduce in my income next month, I'm going to be using money from that plot that I've seen. That makes sense. Okay. Do you have something? Okay. A couple of things that come to mind. First of all, paycheck ahead is not necessarily the first goal, especially if you're in storm mode, which it sounds like we're looking over your budget here and you have a big medical something going on coming up here. And that is storm mode. So we really want to keep our head above water and storm mode. So that is a little bit, we can get it. We'll, we'll dive into that a little bit more.

5:10So don't focus on that. Focus on keeping everything paid, everything good, having money to feed people, all of that. And then also the good thing is, as you said, is you have a little bit, you had a little bit more income. So maybe if you don't use that all from January, you can pay yourself in February. And this is for everybody. Like when, when you have this side hustle, you can keep some of it back. You don't always have to spend it or put it towards something, keep some of it back for especially organizing. This season might be one of your heavier seasons, but then nobody cares about organizing in July or whatever.

5:42There's, there is a balance to be had there when you're planning those, that income. I think that's a really good point. The rollover amount that you may have at the end of each month, you don't necessarily have to do anything with it. You can hold onto it and keep it because you are in store modes. You are trying to make things work. I will say the income we're looking at your budget, the income that you have coming in, I would try to make your budget as close to the guarantee, like with your guaranteed income, make your budget match that and make it zero with that and not need any extra side hustle money.

6:14So that way, when that money does come in, you can hoard it for times that you're going to need it, especially if you have some medical situations going on. And I see you have some debt here. I would call them, talk to them, have conversations, tell them what's going on and see if they can help you in any way. Because a lot of times they're willing to help as long as you make the first point of contact. Yeah. Do you have questions on that? Because I have something else, but I want to make sure we get that settled. One of my dads, like I'm pretty much in legal mode with them. They were not willing to flex.

6:44It was pretty unfortunate. But so the amount's not being paid. So I just kind of whatever I would be paying based on the terms we're going to agree on. I've just been saving that amount and just putting it in a like a sink funds for whenever we do start making the payments. It's there. I don't think I can do anything less than that. but yeah I think like my anxiety is just like my account today I'm like oh my god it's$400 less like it just keeps going down and I just panic and I guess it's just like my ADHD my anxiety I don't know but I do understand that like at the end of the month it's not like I have zero this money there but yeah it's just that I guess that anxiety but yeah handle it do you have business expenses in your budget no I didn't put any of that as you had just because I just started like my whole decluttering thing.

7:32And no, I didn't put, I didn't. I don't think I need much business expenses right now because I started that way ahead of time. I had supplies. I just did a big collection of stuff at the beginning. So I don't need necessarily that stuff. Okay. So in general, back to what Vanessa was saying about your minimum budget, a lot of times we have people that don't, aren't able to do their savings buckets with their regular budget. So in your case, your savings buckets would be fueled by your side hustle when you get the money. Other people use commissions, bonus, like quarterly things that are coming in to fund the savings bucket.

8:07So that might be something you look at in the future budgets once maybe the dust has settled. I have a question though, because you have not very much money listed for groceries. So there's something going on here with the budget. And I would like to hear a little bit more. I don't eat. That's why it is. I just don't eat. It's not really an option. No, I'm in Canada and there are certain allowances that are made for people who are in my situation who are not working. There's access to food banks and stuff like that. I've been pretty good like in the last year when I gave up my job. I've always had the ability to just use what I have, rice and beans.

8:41I'm totally fine with it, ladies. I can actually make it really good. I believe you. I cannot. Get creative, yeah. I'm going to hook you guys up. But we have like the food banks here are really good. You just register with one and I just get so much stuff. Apart from that, just because of the season I'm in, I'm always helping people and people just randomly show up with food. Praise God for that. That's awesome. My steps, like just now somebody just dropped off. Here's$40 towards grocery. I'm grocery. Then I'm like, oh, great. So I don't necessarily always have to buy food. Okay, I'm just going to put it in there.

9:14God's got you covered. Got you back. The government's got you. God's got me covered. So that's perfect. My freezers are full and I'm good. But so it's just my fresh stuff. That's what I do. Yeah. One thing I loved what you said, like the season that I'm in, I just want you to hang on to that and know that this is just a short season and that you're going to get through this. We're going to. Yep. I know it's hard. I was just actually just having this conversation with myself last night. You're in a short season and that you're going to come out of this and you're going to put your head down. You're going to only pay for right now what you need to pay for.

9:45You're in that. It's not something that we love to talk about. We talk about being bougie on a budget, but let's be real. sometimes that doesn't always happen. It doesn't work. It's not for you in this season right now. And that is okay. So you're going to make a budget only down to the nitty gritty. God's got your back and you're going to keep all your side hustle money to be able to put in these savings buckets for future use. Yeah. Okay. So put, I see what you're saying. So next month, if I do have, I did start do a quick overview of my February budget. I hit all the other tabs. So that might not show, but like in my February budget, I know I won't be working for one week.

10:20So I didn't include that, but you're saying if there's anything left over in that February month, then I can put that towards my savings. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Everything in your budget is covered. So yeah, that's what I was looking at was your February budget. So if everything is covered and you end up making more than what you put on here, don't make more expenses for yourself. If you don't need it, take that money and put it in a savings bucket for medical or for rollover for March if you don't anticipate making as much in March. We've got to take that money and make sure that it is specifically for a situation.

10:52Yeah. And the other thing I want to say in reference to what Vanessa was talking about with this is being a season is there's one of our, all of our favorite Bible verses with your, you're faithful with a little, you'll be faithful with much. And I think you guys, you obviously have gone from much and now you're in a little, unfortunately, because of the circumstances. But I always think, cause I have single mom, we'll have single moms that come on or whatever. And I'm like, look at what you're doing. Look how well you're doing with, it's hard. Like you don't have, you have to, you really have to budget.

11:20You really have to be wise, be discerning and do a really good job. So imagine, and it will, when your income goes up, it's going to be so nice. It's going to be so easy. If you can do it now, it's going to be so nice and so easy. That's like a hair commercial or something. Nice and easy, but in the future. So just understand the skills, the discipline, the tenacity that you have right now. It's going to pay off. I think it's already paying off. people are blessing you and you're being a blessing as well. So I think that's great. It's time to enter your coaching era because making good money should feel like making good money.

11:53Yeah. Imagine six months of private coaching where we'll tell you exactly what to do. No guesswork, no confusion, and absolutely no judgment. It's a done for you system that actually works. You don't know what you don't know, and that's not your fault. And that's why we're here. Financial coaching with us looks like two coaching sessions a month, personalized recaps, and after-hour support, you can text and email. So you're never stuck wondering what to do next. Together, we're going to build your budget, set up your system, and tackle any challenges that come up along the way, which, by the way, they always do.

12:26If what you're doing isn't working, and you're tired of trying to figure it out on your own, sign up for financial coaching at budgetbesties.com forward slash coaching before all of our spots fill up, and we will help you go further, faster. Six months from now, you'll wish you started today. The other thing that you said is my account is going down. My account's going down. It's supposed to. It's okay. Yeah. It's not only going to just go up. You have to pay the bills. You have to make the money. But you have your little bit of emergency fund set aside. That's correct. You're doing what you can and you're paying the bills while you're on this slower income season.

13:03So the situation is you're you're staying home for the medical stuff. Is that sort of unknown? Like how long this is going to be? It's been three years and then I was on medical leave for this, but now I had to just resign because they wouldn't allow any further leave. So it's been a while and this is the year that we're just hoping that we get the answers we need. But in the meantime, I'm not used to sitting down. I did start businesses. I did start writing and have income coming in from multiple streams and just to get the ball rolling so that when things do get better, like I'm not at ground zero, I'm already moving and moving in those areas.

13:43And maybe I'll go back to a nine to five. I don't know. I just feel. If you're able to do something at home and build something or be your own entrepreneur and have these side hustles and work around your son's, your son's schedule, do that. Yeah. And I think that's where we were. We were, were on a fixed income, basically great fixed income, happy, blessed to have it. But then our business was able, every inch that it grows, the more that, you know, that we can do as a family, the more we can save or whatever. And so that's where you're at. Yeah. We're unemployable. If you hear us long enough, you'll hear us say that we're not employable.

14:16So yeah, Vanessa said, if you can continue to grow and do things on your own terms, and you've proven that you can live on this budget. Now you do want to get maybe some more food budget in there eventually. Maybe, maybe, we'll see maybe just go you just you're on a strict fast most of the time i don't know what's happening right now but yeah your spending will want to go up once once you're able to just because it should but yeah you'll find like that comfortable budget we're like okay yeah now that we have a little bit more income or we have less medical whatever that looks like this is comfortable for us even if i made more i don't need it right now you know that this is bare minimum and that you do need a little bit extra in some categories but you'll find that budget that make that is that you're comfortable with.

14:55And then from that point on is you start building your savings buckets. Okay. I know we're almost out of time. I just want to ask a quick question about Costco. And so I anticipate there's some things that I need to get from Costco, but I don't need them every month. Right. And so how do you handle items or like maybe dog food or I don't know, whatever my son needs, like juice boxes or whatever. No, we don't use all of them in one month. So how do you handle a budget like that, where you don't have to go to Costco every month or every week? I don't. but only when things run out. We have a whole episode on Costco, but you do you boo.

15:31It's the same concept as anything else. What do I spend at Costco in a year? Because yes, you're correct. You don't, it fluctuates. What do I spend in a year? We have people who have specific Costco or Amazon or Sam's club accounts, and they just put, they take that amount divided by 12. And that's what goes into that account. So whenever they do go, they have enough money to get all of those bulky things and spend that much money. Then other people will just put it in their monthly grocery budget and they'll try to ration it on a purpose. So I'm going to spend$200 only at Costco every time. So this month I get toilet paper and coffee.

16:01The next month I get juice boxes and soap laundry. And I specifically make it a set amount. So it's really whichever way you want to do it. Our take specifically personally is we just don't go to Costco. Vanessa, her mom buys her some stuff from Sam's if she's feeling a certain kind of way. But other than that, we're abstained from that. But yeah. But so the concept is if you spend$200 every other month at Costco, then you're, but you're still budgeting a hundred dollars a month for it because you want, your goal is to make your budget as consistent as possible. But is that like a sinking, sinking fund or like in a savings bucket or is it, I'm just putting it in.

16:39I mean, either way. Shayna said, we have some people that make checking accounts and they name it Costco and they know that this is what's going to go in there. And I only spend out of Costco from here. We have some people that want to make it a savings bucket. It's really just depends on what your preference is. Okay. Yeah. It can be because you don't necessarily always want to have a bazillion checking accounts or debit cards. So really, so if you're not going there all the time, you can make it a savings bucket and then you would just transfer it to your groceries when you go to check out. Or again, if you want to be consistent and that's where, that's why I don't go to Costco myself is because I got a similar thing going on, but I realized I, I have to be able to buy this monthly.

17:15So I have to like on purpose buy one shampoo, even if I don't feel like I need it, I have to buy one toothpaste, one, whatever every month, because that's how my brain works. Right. But now everybody's brain works different, but either way you can use this separate checking or savings. It really like Vanessa will always say, it's just, as long as you do the same thing, like it works in your brain, it makes sense to your brain and you consistently do that. Okay, so my son has, again, there's like funding arranged for my son's special needs that comes from the government. And if we don't get it back until 45 days after we submit our receipts, I don't really know how to budget for his stuff.

17:51So all of his activities, his heat, case of violin, his piano, whatever he does, really, there's money set aside for that. But first, I have to spend it. So what I did before I met you guys was I created a separate fund. It's kind of like a rolling fund and it has a certain amount of money. And then I would just buy what he needs or pay the fees. But then I have to wait like 45 days to get it back. Is that okay or should I be putting his needs into my budget as well? It's one of those situations where you need to fund it first, like that account that you have. If you can, okay, about every 45 days, I spend$1 ,000.

18:26I'm just throwing a number out there. Then you need to fund it with at least$1 ,000 to know that that money is being spent and in 45 days, that money is being returned. And then that's rolling, right? So money's always coming in and money's always going out of that. But it's like a reimbursement for when you have, but for work, right? It's like you have to have the money to spend it first. And then at the end of it, you get paid back from it. Yeah. We'll have people set up work expense accounts and because they do that and they want to keep it separate. They want to, when they spend the money, they want it to come out of that account when they get finally get the reimbursed.

18:55So it's the same thing there, which is a little, it's no small feat to free fund it with a thousand bucks, but just to get you started. And then that, that can all just live over there. It does not have to go into your budget. You can have a separate budget for it if you really wanted, but you don't really need to as long, if you're getting reimbursed for the, and you're only buying the things that get are reimbursable, then you're good. Okay. That's what I did. It was set up before you guys. And I think that works. I was just worried that I should be putting it into my budget just so I could see it.

19:22It's not income. So it's not excess or overage. It's just tip for tie. So when you're making your budget, remember this income with this income in that column, I'm doing this with it. So if you're not getting income, does that make sense? You don't want to mix it. As I had a lady the other day, I'm making a budget and she had something in there twice, but because she was paying from her savings account. I'm like, yeah, but you have to document the income if you're going to do that into the income section that it's coming from savings. Otherwise you're messing everything up. So just remember that.

19:49And like Shanna said, you can make your own budget for that specific fund if you want to track it. Just like, so that you know what all is happening, but also you don't have to. Yeah. Also. No, because I still have to track it by doing the invoices for it. Yeah. You're already doing that. I don't like work. Nope. Nope. Got enough. We already have enough work on our own. Thank you very much. We don't need to create more. I'm pretty good. But I think those are my questions. So really grateful for you guys. I, for so many things, but you guys have answered my questions at four o 'clock in the morning because that's when I actually, you don't wake up before, but that's when I write my questions.

20:24And I'm just grateful that you guys can just respond and really just grateful for all of your help. It's been phenomenal. The first Christmas I've ever had where I did not have to touch. I didn't go over budget. Woo-hoo! It's so awesome. We're all golf clapping. Such a big feat. But not because we're not excited, but so it doesn't ruin the microphone. But that is huge. Yeah, Vanessa said. Yeah, yeah. And I want to just continue down with that. In Canada, we don't have like your, whatever cards you guys use and you can have 12 ,000 of them. We don't have that here. So that's been a challenge, but I have - Oh, cards.

20:57I thought you said cards. I was like, what? Well, not cards. No, cards, like your bank cards. We don't have, we can have that here, but I have been able to get just, I just have five different banks I work with. That would challenge. Just watch me. I will work around this. I'm going to do this, girl. Yeah, let's go. You're a figure-outer. Yes. Love it. Yeah, this worked. All right, girl. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for sharing your budget. Thank you for sharing your story. We really appreciate it. And we hope we're glad that this information has helped. And yeah, so come back in in six months, a year check in.

21:26And obviously let us know if you have any more questions in the Facebook group. We'd love to continue to help out. Yeah. Great. Thank you so much, ladies. You have a wonderful day. You too. Thank you. if you make good money but have nothing to show for it this quiz will help you figure out what's really going on with your money and what your next step should be you'll get a personalized result and a simple action step to help you feel more organized and less stressed go to budgetbesties.com forward slash quiz and take the free quiz today that's budgetbesties.com forward slash quiz to find out what's really going on with your money