How Angie Paid Off $72,000 in Debt Without Cutting the Fun | Budgeting Tips for Busy Couples | 536

0:00That was the default when we were growing up. I don't know when it changed. We're going to go to your house, have dinner, or I'm going to - We're going to hang out. We're spending money. Yeah. But now the default is we're going to out to eat or we're going to the bar. We're not going to - Whenever they have that happy hour you're talking about, that's where. And that's the default these days. But no, it's not better. You're not having better conversations. You're not having more fun. You're not having better quality time with your friends or your family than if you were just going home. So look, what I'm hearing and what the listeners need to know, you want to go to Bali, then And have your friends over for game night.

0:31Like how? Like you just said, win-win.

0:33Angie:Yes. Just have them come over. And everybody loves it too because they get to come over and hang out. And we'll provide the food that we've gone grocery shopping for. That's their favorite. All the favoritest things. All the favorites. So yeah, it's just so much better. 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? when you don't want to give up those pumpkin spice lattes? Hey, it's okay if you don't already know how to budget or if you're using credit cards to get through the month.

1:05Hey, it's okay 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. In 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.

1:41We 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 workers. 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. This is the Financial Coaching for Women podcast. Hey, Angie, we're so excited to have you on. It's been a long time coming, girl. It has. Yes. So welcome officially to the Financial Coaching for Women podcast.

2:15We've been friends for a long time. So why don't you start by telling us a little bit about yourself just to get us going.

2:21Angie:My name is Angie and I live part-time in Minnesota and part-time in Florida with my husband. And I came to you guys because I was looking for ways to sharpen my financial skills. And I started looking at podcasts and then I came across to you and I basically devoured you. I listened to every single podcast. Every time I was doing anything other than working, I was listening. and I just loved the practical, what do I do with my hands? What's next? I feel like you're walking me through step-by-step of what we needed to do. Yeah, especially for you, because you have a lot. The reason that you are looking for help is you've got a lot going on.

3:01Not only do you live two places, but you have a business and your personal finances and that's a lot. Yes, you had a lot going on. So I think when you just have personal finances, it's enough, right? And then you also have a business trying to get that organized and making it profitable and making sure that it flows into your personal finances properly. And I think that's a missed opportunity. I think a lot of people forget how important it is to have your business finances organized and set up correctly. So that way you can feel prepared on the personal side.

3:28Angie:Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you. And I think our business part was a mess. We had a bookkeeper who was older and doing things in a very old school way. So it was messing up our personal finances. So now we're working on the business side as well. Yeah. Yeah. So you, like you said, you were super sweet. I remember the first time we chatted and I was like, let's get a new bookkeeper. And you're like, no, we can't do that. And so she, I guess, retired. But in the meantime, while you were waiting for that gracious exit, you were working on your personal stuff. So what did you start working on? What started working and clicking right off the bat?

4:05Angie:I started separating everything and that made so much sense to me. I hate looking at so many things. And once I simplified it and separated our bills account from our personal spending, it made so much sense. And we were able to track it a lot better and understand, oh, this is what we have to spend. Not all this other great money on this other side. Those are for bills. And it made it easy for my husband to understand too. Oh, I love that. Okay. So my, my question was going to be what doubts or concerns did you have about separating it? Because we do hear some, a little bit of pushback at the beginning when people don't really understand how it's going to benefit them.

4:40So can you talk to us through like you processing all that with your husband when you, when y 'all made the decision to separate, separate, excuse me, separate your finances. Yes. We're still together.

4:51Angie:So I first started it like doing it myself to make sure that I understood it and had a better grasp for it. And then when I was only seeing like maybe 15 transactions, just in that one account, I was like, Oh, not 50. It made so much sense. So for him, I handle all of our finances. He just has his spending account. And then when he wants to know what's going on, I just bring up my one page sheet and I say, here's what's going on. Here's what we cost for the month. And then he's, oh, okay. And then he's good. So his job has just been to stick with the spending limit. You probably had to change the card he was using, but that was about it then.

5:29I did. Yeah, I did.

5:31Angie:And that was it. I was like, oh, don't use this anymore. Here's your... We're just going to swap those out. Hold on. Let's say it again for the repeated... Ladies in the back. ...or whatever, because that was probably painless for you, but for our clients sometimes, Angie, it's a little bit... No, really, you have to take it out of the wallet. Do it as sweetly and graciously as you can, but nobody can have the bills card in their wallet. It's really important. Yeah. And the other thing that I wanted to double down on what you said is 15 transactions. Knowing that you're logging in your bills, I can see everything that I was supposed to pay got paid and I'm done.

6:04I'm in and out in a second because there's only 15, not a hundred transactions. And yeah. So tell us a little bit more about that. How that, like how that simplification, like you said, made you feel.

6:14Angie:Oh, here's the thing within the system. I love looking at our, everything that we owe. I actually pay bills. Like the bills get paid a little bit early because I know that everything's there. So it's automatically funding itself through and does its thing. So I just know I have to just take a glance, make sure everything's good. And as they're paying themselves, I check them off and then it's done. So 15 items. I am super busy between the business and we have four kids and everything else. So it just takes me literally like five minutes just to glance and make sure everything's good. Tell us how this compares to what was happening before you bought our system.

6:53Angie:Such a mess. So many things going through the system, going through like our account that I just couldn't keep up with. And then my husband would be like, oh yeah, I bought this. Oh yeah. Oh, how'd you buy that? Yeah, tell me more. Oh yeah, I just charged it. I'm like, oh, wait, we're not charging. And another thing, we don't use any credit cards anymore. I'm so happy. No credit cards. Christmas, no credit cards. So amazing. except for the two that were like paying off the interest. Like from the moment last year, when I started talking and understanding the system, I was like, that's it. No more cards.

7:31Oh, that's so good. That's so good. So you're, you fall into the category of people that were making too much money to rely on credit cards, but it was just like unorganized. So you didn't like your husband's I'm getting this. I don't know what, where I'm getting it, but I'll swipe it and she'll figure it out later. And so now you're pre-deciding all of that, which makes it so much less stressful. I have categories for all of this. I know we can afford it and I don't have to rely on debt.

7:54Angie:A hundred percent. Yeah, that's so good. What do you think your biggest breakthrough was when you transitioned to having and using our budget system compared to what you were doing before? I would probably say we have paid off, as of today, we've paid off$72 ,000. That's amazing. Which is, that's crazy, right? And I think before, I think that would have just gone away. I think just slowly it would have leaked out somewhere else. But because it's just so intentional what we're doing with our money, I know that's what we want to do. And it just becomes the habit, the habit of what you're doing. So do you think you're having to live on that scorched earth mentality while going through this?

8:41Or do you truly believe in and are living our bougie on a budget concept while doing all this?

8:48Angie:We're definitely able to do the things that we want to do. We bought a new car this year for cash, which was amazing. So we've been able to do the things that it helps us prioritize what's important to us. And then the things that aren't very important, we'll cut. But everything else that we need to do that we really want to do, we do. Yeah. Yeah. And I want to, again, double down on that because you told us that what you've realized is it's not really about how much money you make because you were making good money. You still are making good money. Like that has not really changed and maybe it fluctuates some ways.

9:21It's about the habits. And for you, like you, it's not that you weren't involved. You were looking at the bank account. Like, how did you buy that husband of mine? You were involved, but you just didn't have an organization system to make it make sense, to make it all like work, even though you were looking at it and trying to make sense of it. And so I think that's where we're saying, like, we are, we're trying to solve that problem. It feels like everybody has this expectation that you should be doing good with money. You should be organized. You should know how to budget and it should be obvious, but it's not.

9:49And I think that's maybe the solution that we gave you, it sounds.

9:52Angie:Yeah, I think you helped me get really organized and realize that when I'm intentional with it, and you're right, it doesn't matter how much money because I've made a ton of money. It doesn't matter how much money you're making. It's really the habit. So once you have a system and a habit, you can make a little bit of money and still be able to make this work or make a lot of money and still be able to make it work. or opposite, either one of those and nothing works because you're not being intentional. I also think you can be like almost obsessive compulsive about your numbers and money and not realizing that you're spending all this time looking at numbers in a way that that doesn't help you.

10:30So like we have a lot of people that I remember I had a client who said, my husband literally stares at the budget. This is before she had our system looks at our numbers like for three hours a night. And he was so obsessed and frustrated with how to figure out how everything works because he couldn't see it all on one page. And so once we came out, we showed him our budget system, being able to go in, like you said, for five minutes because it's organized, that is the game changer. And it just removes that amount of stress that maybe you were like, okay, you were looking at numbers before, but what were you looking at?

11:01Did you know how to analyze what you were looking at? Did you know how to organize what you were looking at before? whereas now everything is in its own account. You have your system, you have your checkboxes, and you're in there, like you said, for five minutes. You're intentional.

11:15Angie:Yeah. And I love going in there. So I'm the nerd, obviously. It's just so pretty. And then I can get through and it helps me just see what we've done and where we want to go. So then my husband's, what are we doing? Here's this. I'm like, oh, look, we paid down$72 ,000 in almost a year. And he's like, we did. And even last night, he just said, where's our money going? I was like, let me show you. I have my beautiful budget system. Yeah. It's funny that you said that you're the nerd because Dave Ramsey says that you either have a nerd or a free spirit, which is fine. I think some people have a lot of nerds and some people have two free spirits and it's really a hard, it's hard for their life.

11:53But what I found and what's funny about what you said is we have people that you're either that I'll let the automation do its thing or I'm going to go in and pay all the bills right away. Right away, because it feels really good. I know the money's there. I'm going to check all these boxes. Done. So it sounds like there's two camps and you're that one. That's you. Yes. Yeah, she just wants to get them done and over with. And we have a lot of clients. We have it. It's there. We have a lot of clients like that. We have it. Yes, it's great. All right, budget besties. It's time for some real talk.

12:21You don't need another budget. You need a budget system. Our simplified budget system is what you've been looking for. It's going to allow you to be bougie on a budget. You'll be able to easily set up a system that runs automatically and shows you exactly where your money is going. And it's going to give you permission to spend. Everybody loves that. Yeah. It's straightforward, pretty, and packed with walkthrough videos that break down the exact methods we use with our clients to get out of debt, set up a bills account, separate spending, build savings buckets, and end the paycheck-to-paycheck feel.

12:54If you're new to budgeting, this is the perfect way to jump in. And if you're already a budget nerd like us, you're about to meet your new obsession. This is the upgrade to your finances that you need right now. Yeah. So head on over to budgetbesties.com forward slash budget and grab yours. Now back to today's show. Talk about being a month ahead. Tell us a little bit about that. It feels so good. I'm so happy. I'm so happy. Are you a month ahead in personal or business?

13:22Angie:In personal. We're still working. So our bookkeeper is going to leave at the end of this month. So I'm, I just opened them new accounts and we're, I'm in a holding pattern until she actually leaves, but I'm ready. Yeah. Yeah. But in your personal finances, tell us when you realized that you could get them up ahead with that, me, what that meant, how you did it and then how it's feeling now. Yeah. So he had an extra paycheck and we use that and we used to tax refund and just put it all in there. And that way we always know we have our money. Cause I liked first I was like, I'll have a buffer, but then it was, then I said, oh, we should be a full month.

13:58Angie:And we ended up doing it that way, which helps a lot. Yeah. Zero stress. Like peace of mind, right? Zero. You cannot be stressed if that's happening for you. I think that's very smart. We have a lot of people that have their tax returns coming in or even bonuses, commissions. And their first thought, they go back to their previous selves. What did I used to do with this money? What can I do with this money? What are the things that I can buy with this money? And I think that the most grownup thing you can do is take it and make yourself a paycheck ahead or a month ahead, depending on how much it is, and set the stage now for how – think of what that's going to do for your finances to know that at the beginning of the month, you are completely set for the whole month.

14:37You don't need another dime to be able to fund you for the rest of this month. And I think it's hard sometimes to get to that place mentally, but when you can get there and you're ready to make that step, you will never want to go back. You will never want to go back to being in the moment, needing the money. And that's why, like, obviously we try to get you a paycheck ahead because that's that one step down, but you're just on superhero mode on a month ahead. I love it. Yeah. That's what we tell our clients when we're doing the same thing. It's everything's already good. All you're doing is refunding it with these paychecks.

15:08Everything's paid, but you're refunding it. And again, like you said, no stress at all. I have more money in there than I need and I'm good. Everything is just refunding and refilling. And I think that the peace of mind with that is really great. The other thing I wanted to talk about is you separating the accounts because you said that was really the sort of something that made it more simple. So which accounts did you open? Do you find that having those accounts like separated? What we do differently is we have spending categories, which you obviously know, but I'm saying that for our listeners, like we have spending categories, gas and groceries, your spending, his spending, maybe kids, whatever, restaurants.

15:41And that is totally different than any other budget that we've ever seen. We've never seen that the way that we want it to be categorize instead of spending money total. And then you get dinged as you get it down or whatever. We don't, I don't even know what other people do, but so tell us how that's working. Obviously for your husband, it's helping because now he knows how much he has to spend, but yeah. Yeah.

16:02Angie:So we have our bills account. We have a, we, I pay groceries and cash, but then that way I know exactly to the penny what we have. And then we have a gas account and then two spending accounts. And that works perfectly. It works perfectly for us. So it gives us both the flexibility, but also being that full month ahead in that bills account is a game changer for us. Oh, sure. Yeah. You say you have kids. We have four adult children. Adult kids. Okay. So do you have like a mom want to splurge on the adult kids fund? That comes out of spending. Oh, okay. If we want to do something, like we have a family fun.

16:46Angie:So that would either be family fun or personal. But we have stuff that's set up with them that we already do. And I have a savings bucket for that too. As you should. As you should. There's four of them. Yeah, there's four of them. One of them is always going to be something's happening. I love that you mentioned the grossness in cash. So we went away from cash envelopes because people asked for it. People don't want to use cash anymore, but it never fails. Cash never fails to make you spend less and it holds you accountable. It's a built-in accountability partner. We just had somebody either Facebook or message us saying they were using cash and they didn't want to spend it.

17:26I was like, yeah, that's the point. It's amazing that way.

17:30Angie:Oh, yeah. That's us 100%. I have to spend like more. I'm like at the grocery store. Okay, we have$100 that we're going to spend this week. This is what we're going to do. We're going to gamify it. Yeah. And I think it's not necessarily about being restrictive in that moment. It's about holding yourself accountable to reaching your goals. So I think people can take that in two different ways. They're like, if I want to spend more, then I'm going to spend more. Sure. But what are you accomplishing the goals that you set out to achieve? And I think bringing that$100 in cash to the store, it's crystal clear you ain't spending$101, right?

18:06you're spending a hundred because you know what you have in store for your, you and your family in the future. And you want to make sure that you can accomplish those. So by staying to these standards that you put in place in your budget, it allows you to do that. I remember my husband, I think it was like last week, my son, he's mom, we need a couple of things for the money rolled over. And I said, you got 40 bucks in the grocery account. Here's my card. Have a blast. Cause it was replenishing the next day, but it was like seven o 'clock at night and him and his sister wanted a couple of things, but I'm like, that's all you get.