How This Family Is Navigating the Government Shutdown Without Panic: Budget Tips You Can Use Now | 480

0:00Every week essentially is when we've been making transfers. It's okay, what bills are due this week? Because you never know when the lights in the government are going to get turned back on and that paycheck is going to start flowing again. So it's been kind of a weekly check-in. Okay, this is how much we need to transfer that week. I like nice round numbers, so it's usually about$500. Yeah. Yeah, I like that. But it's all based on how much we owe still. Like, so we've looked at, okay, what's going to draft this week? What's going to draft in the next couple of days? And how much money do we have in our account that all this stuff automatically comes out of?

0:37So we can go, okay, we need to make sure that we still have this exact amount of money for this week's stuff, because maybe we won't get paid this week. So we will, but thus far it hasn't happened. And we've also gone through and like, I've paused any kind of subscription service that isn't essential. 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? Or 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.

1:13Hey, 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.

1:49We 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. This is the Financial Coaching for Women podcast. We are so excited to have Erin and Sarah back on the show to talk about really relevant stuff that's going on in our economy right now and how using our simplified budget system has helped them to kind of prepare for what's going on.

2:27Yeah. And we also kind of cut them off. They have such a wonderful story and they're wonderful, wonderful humans. So we're going to bring them back to kind of finish it all up. But like Vanessa said, we have some current updates that are relevant too. So Erin, Sarah, welcome back to financial coaching for women and awesome cool guys like you too. We talk about you all the time, Erin, on the show. thank you okay glad to be back okay good good so here's the deal here's something interesting that we were talking about you know we were at gymnastics together recently you guys are being affected by the government shutdown and we have a lot of friends you know we're actually in a very heavy government town over here so a lot of friends are are being affected so tell us how it's affected you guys and what's going on you know how you're feeling about it yeah so you know I work for Homeland Security.

3:16I do digital forensics. So I'm one of the lucky career fields, I guess, that essential enough to work during this shutdown, but not essential enough to actually get paid for it. It's an interesting side of the house for sure. We are in a pretty good financial situation. I know there's a lot of guys, a lot of coworkers that are being affected more financially than than we are at this point. I will say, though, that so this is about 50 percent of our income every month that's not coming in. And so that that's kind of like it's it's terrifying. And even just last year, we would not have been as OK as we are this year because we can look at everything and go, all right, we're going to take money out of that emergency fund that we have for stuff like this to happen and not really panic because we know hopefully we hope I guess we should say that we're going to get paid someday so we can rebuild that that emergency fund but we can transfer things over and stop savings account things going out right now just because it doesn't make sense to put it in the savings account just to turn around and pull it out.

4:33So we are not comfortable, but we're more comfortable than we would have been. You know, it's uncomfortable to not get paid. It's 50 % of our income and we still have a hundred percent of our bills going out. So that's funny how that works during shutdown. Mortgages don't shut down. No, I think that's a really good point. Cause before, you know, when you first started, you said we are in a better situation now than we would have been a year ago. So can you talk about what you did in the span of this past year to just kind of, and not that you did anything to prepare for this exact moment, but you did stuff in your financial money management, you know, what is that word?

5:12I'm trying to think of. That's a good word, whatever. Not life, that is awful. Anyway, sorry about that. Like your situation, your financial situation, you did stuff to be able to just get yourself in a better position. So what did you do up until now that kind of helped? Well, we put our money income together. We put our budgets together. So Erin and I are on the exact same page. Literally, we're on a fancy single page spreadsheet created by Budget Besties for everything, all of our money and everything that goes out. So every cent that I make in my horse business is recorded in there. Every bit of income that we make from our jobs, from the VA, from like I'm back in school this term.

5:56So that my GI bill, all of that is coming into our spreadsheet. And so and all of our bills, even stuff like, well, like this month I had to pay for a prescription. So that is on our budget now. It's an extra expense in our bills this month. So it's all there and it's all in one space. So there's no guesswork involved in figuring out where we are going to get the money from. And so it's not like before it was kind of like, oh, my gosh, where's this money going to come from? It's all right there. We pull up our bank account. We pull up our spreadsheet and we can say, OK, money comes from here and goes to here and everything is good.

6:35Yeah. Well, and it's not comfortable, but it's good. It's worked. So I have a fun story too, right? Story time with Aaron. Those are the best. Sirius' father comes down to visit twice a year or so. And, you know, he's, he's been bringing cash down for the girls and that's been going in a sock drawer. So, you know, about a month ago, I guess, like before the shutdown occurred, I was like, Hey, we should probably, you know, get that into a savings account so we can start earning interest on it, you know, throw it into the, you know, one of the high yield interest savings accounts and whatnot. So, you know, we jumped through those hoops to get it going and you know so we we had an extra fourteen thousand dollars in a sock drawer that was yeah that was a good yeah it's not like i'm changed god bless god bless yeah so that that really helped you know bolster our emergency fund you know we we talked about hey where should it go you know we could throw it directly into the you know the montana move account that we talked about last time and you know i you know we we agreed i don't i don't remember you know the extent of our discussion but i was like hey let's just throw it in the emergency fund and sure enough the emergency arose down happened yeah yeah and so the emergency fund and then also you've been you've been saving money for i i mean so listen we're all in we're we're in a lot of things together guys we are very mixed up but currently we are starting our gymnastics travel season together.

8:02Yeah, we are. Oh, yeah, baby. And I just think about if right now you hadn't been saving right on purpose the little bit to get ahead here, like, what sort of panic might be happening, Sarah? Oh, absolutely. It's happening for me. Okay. Aaron's like, I'm still panicked. That's that ship is not internal. Yes. Yeah. So tell us a little about that. Yeah. So I have, I have pretty high anxiety, I guess, when it comes to finances anyway, that's why I was arguing for putting that extra money into the emergency fund, you know, save it for a rainy day, you know, but, you know, two girls in gymnastics right now is costing us over$900, you know, so, you know, I, you know, we haven't had the discussion on, Hey, should we cancel gymnastics during the shutdown or should we let the girls keep having fund and you know i don't think we need to at this point you know if it if it starts dragging on to where you know our emergency fund really starts getting depleted then you know it's something that's going to be on the table i think her maybe on the chopping block is a better better term yeah i was like yeah she's like less than yeah well for two reasons because one sorry we're committed i mean like we can't just decide not to pay it anymore because we're committed until May.

9:21So bummer, dude, but it's a bill now. Yeah, it's not just extra. Yeah. Well, I like what you were going to say, Sarah, was you would have been using credit cards. That's where I was trying to. Yeah, absolutely. I would have been in a panic and just going, well, we don't have any money, so I'm going to put it on this credit card and deal with it later. And that's what I've always done every year until this year. This is the first shutdown that we've been through that has been not terrifying. Okay. It's, oh my gosh, I just came to terms with this is like a consistent thing. Oh yeah. This happens.

10:00Yeah, this happens a lot. This is the first, this is the longest. It's going to be the longest one ever. I think we're like a few days away from the longest one in history now. But this happens, this has been going on. We've been living on continuing resolutions for decades and this shutdown thing is like for real so when we did put that money in the emergency fund in the back of my head because that was in September I want to say you know fiscal year was coming to an end and we knew we've been through this government nonsense before and it was not looking I mean the government's been kind of questionable lately so you could anticipate a shutdown coming yeah and so it was kind of like well well, isn't it nice that we've got$14 ,000 in my sock drawer that I've been not sure what to do with for all this time.

10:49And we can have it in our emergency fund that has been building, but we used a good portion of that to put a down payment on a truck. And we were like, well, we'll build it up. Well, and then wait a minute, will we actually, as the government shutdown happened. So we put all that money aside and now it's not, it's not an infinite amount of money. So, I mean, it'll run out eventually, but we don't have to panic. I don't have to panic and go into like survival mode, I guess, where I'm like, I'm just going to put it on a credit card and deal with it later. I'm just going to put it on the credit card.

11:25So like, so we've taken some time and cut down how much money we're spending on the grocery card. You know, how much money we're spending on extra stuff. I make my coffee at home instead of going to the gas station for, you know, what? it's still kind of expensive but still you guys are in store mode right so we've we've this term can be used in a number of situations whether it's you're having a baby you're moving government shutdowns like all this and then you know things change so you guys are taking what's happening with you know to you guys right now and deciding what is the most important what do we have to change to make this work but you know what because we've been diligent this past year we're still able to fund everything in cash because we're you know and we're not in freak out mode exactly and that is so much better for like the anxiety level for me but i don't feel like i have to hide anything from him either like he knows that we're gonna have five meets that are coming up and if we're still hopefully not in shutdown by then we have to pay for them like we have to travel we have to go because i already paid for him yeah we'll just all be sleeping in the car together no i'm just kidding i'm just kidding yeah i think we almost we've got we've got money in our you know our gymnastics right for that yeah yeah that's what i was trying to get to so yes you have the bill of the monthly gymnastics but and this is for anybody listening with travel sports which we all love that we get to pay for it's super fun it is fun but also the paying for it is not as much fun it's fine anyway we just talked about that recently in some random episode that it's not like the monthly bill it's one thing but then we've got to save for the other expenses that are going to come with it, which include traveling.

13:08And give or take, depending on the meets, right? It can be like a thousand dollars a meet or a thousand dollars a tournament, depending on what's going on. So you just have to get a good idea of that and then start setting that aside too, along with your fun monthly bill that you get to pay. Because, you know, unlike travel, volleyball, gymnastics is all year round. Well, and it's not a matter of like, oh, well, we may need this money. No, you're absolutely going to need it. Like you signed up for the need. You're going to the thing. How are you going to stay at the thing? Oh, we need a hotel.

13:36How are you going to eat while you're there? Oh, we need food. So it's just, it becomes this whole, this whole situation where it's not just the fees for the leotards or the monthly costs. It is travel, gas, food, parking fee. I mean, it's everything. And so you just really have to take into account that all that matters. It's just as important as the monthly fee. And so, you know, in the past, we've done things where we like the girls and I go and it's kind of a tradition to stop somewhere along the way and have, you know, a mommy and daughter date, you know, but the budget spreadsheet makes it easier for us to get them involved because they're at the age where they can understand now and I can say, hey, look, this is what we have.

14:19And we're running out of money for this. So if we want to do this, I can't take you out for a mommy daughter date every meet that we go to this year. We aren't going to stay extra days to do the extra fun things. We're going to just be there for the meet. And they understand it better when they can see it because they're older now, you know, and they can look at and understand, but it also gives them a single place to look at it rather than having to just kind of understand what mommy's talking about with her bank account. Well, it sets expectations, like very clear expectations. So everyone knows what's going on.

14:50There's no surprises. Yeah. And And I love that because, you know, no offense to any of us, but we say we don't want to create another you. So bringing the kids in on the conversation early and teaching them and they're there. And, you know, especially because this is the thing that they love to do. So it's really good for them to know. Like we talk about her oldest, you know, Chase has expensive taste. So Vanessa, tell him you better get a job that will allow you to keep the lifestyle to which you are accustomed. Right. And so it's like with these girls, like just this is the thing that you like to do.

15:19This is what it costs. And like having the whole conversation is really good. because it's not a no and it's not a you can't do this. It's a this is what we can do. And, you know, for them in the future, it will be like what I can afford, what I put my money and my effort and my energy into. This is what I because I want to. And they actually see it and they're not using credit cards, which brings me to my other point, which I think you guys are such a good example of this, is that you guys are being your own bank right now. So I have seen all kinds of loans. I've seen which is really helpful, I'm sure, for a lot of people that there's different companies like USA, for example, that are giving loans out to people that aren't getting paid.

15:55And I don't know how they're doing that. I mean, we're, we're old, we're in the older group, right? Where we have different income streams. But if you're younger, I don't know what I would have done. But, but you guys don't have to do that. At least not yet. Hopefully never. Right. Because you have, you have money in savings. You've been setting aside. You had money, way too much money in the stock store. I love that it's not there anymore. And you are your own bank. So you're able to borrow from yourself, which I think is a really good feeling. Definitely. Definitely a good feeling. Yeah. Because that is exactly that, like that captures exactly what we've been doing is we're borrowing from our own emergency fund.

16:30I'm not borrowing from discover or whatever mastercard, you know, it's, it's coming out of our own money that we put aside for things that happen like this, you know, like it's, that's an emergency fund. Well, and it's still a huge win. So a lot of people, if they have the wrong mindset, they're like, oh my gosh, this is such a huge burden because I set all this money aside to do X, Y, and Z, and now I can't use it for that. I have to use it for this situation. But I'm like, no, but that's great. You have the cash. You don't have to go in debt. So it is a big win, and you guys know that. You've realized that.

17:06You've really set yourself up for success, and you had no idea that this situation was going to happen. I'm sure in your mind because you've been through a government shutdown before, you knew that it was going to happen. in some way, shape, or form, but we had no idea it was going to last this long. Right, exactly. Yeah. So what, okay, so you kind of alluded to maybe that there are some changes that you've done for budgeting now. So let's talk about that for anybody going through this. What are, obviously, Aaron's ready to strike out gymnastics. Sarah said, no, it's fine. We'll have a conversation about that later.

17:33But what are some other things like in your budget, maybe in your savings, different things that you're doing? Because as you said, 50 % of your income has been paused, which is not great. So what have you done differently as far as budgeting for November coming up or for October to kind of account for that income loss? One of the big things I guess we did was to kill all the automatic transfers. In the last episode, Sarah mentioned that we pay ourselves first when we get our paychecks. So we turned that off because we know we've got the money. you know the money that we do have coming in is going to be allocated towards bills and and everything like that we're going to be funding our gas and groceries and all of those out of our emergency fund essentially okay so did you update the budget oh go ahead we did yeah so we we did update the budget so for october like the the paycheck cycle just happened to fall on like the last weekend, I think of September, which was already going towards October.

18:40So everything, everything after October 1st, you know, we deleted out of the, out of the budget system. And, you know, I started working on November cause it's that time of month already. So, you know, again, you know, delete every income from, from me coming out of the, you know, deleted that off the budget system. So then, you know, you get a good sense of the numbers. Okay. You know, so, you know, half of our income essentially is gone, but ultimately it's only so so for October, you know, we only transferred over about twenty two hundred dollars from the emergency fund. So we broke even. Yeah.

19:17Yeah. And, you know, so if if that holds true, then, you know, so for November, we're going to have to transfer another four thousand dollars over. Well, I like how you explain that because it's not that you transferred what your paycheck would have been from the emergency fund. You found out what you needed and what you only needed to survive or more than survive. But just what you had to – the amount of money you needed to get through the month and that's what you transferred over. Well, and the difference now – or the difference is what people do is they just transfer, quote, unquote, as they need it.

19:50And that is this random not good system to do. to do. So you did what you did, what I heard is you have your regular budget, we deleted the stuff that are is quote unquote optional, because we are in store mode. And then we see how much if we take out Aaron's paychecks, how much we need to fund to keep the you know, keep the lights on it. Right. And so and then that's exactly the amount that we transferred. And then everything else actually can still run automatically, for the most part, you know, the bills are going to get paid and everything. And then you guys are just hopefully are you playing like, so that's how you did this month and then theoretically you're planning maybe to pay everything back once you get this back payment hopefully yes absolutely yes we keep track of yeah since everything's coming out of the emergency fund we know where to look and you know where our back pay i guess needs to go into you know so every every week essentially is when we've been making transfers you know it's okay what what bills are due this week you know because you never know when the when the lights in the government are going to get turned back on and that paycheck is going to start flowing again.

20:51So it's been kind of a weekly check-in. Okay. This is, this is how much we need to transfer that week. You know, I like nice round numbers. So it's usually about$500. Yeah. Yeah. I like, but it's all based on how much we owe still like, so we've looked at, okay, what's going to draft this week? What's going to draft in the next couple of days? And how much money do we have in our account that all this stuff automatically comes out of? so we can go, okay, we need to make sure that we still have this exact amount of money for this week's stuff, because maybe we won't get paid this week. So we will, but thus far, it hasn't happened.

21:28And we've also gone through and like, I've paused any kind of subscription service that isn't essential. Um, any kind of like, like I can live without my vitamins for a month, you know, so that's, that's off the hook. You know, we, anything that is extra has been put on pause just because if it's extra that we, I mean, I guess not everything, everything, because I mean, like if it's, we still have to, Christmas is coming, you know, like, yeah, it's not really optional. Right. I mean, it could, it's not really, you know, and so, so that, that's still going to happen. And I, you know, like I still used, you know, I spent some money on some Christmas gifts because prime day was great, you know, but I spent cash on Christmas gifts.

22:13I didn't spend credit card money on Christmas gifts. No, I think that's really important. It's time to enter your coaching era because making good money should feel like making good money. Yeah. 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.

22:48So 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. If 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 so when you are going through your budget gymnastics is off the table on this but when you're going through your budget like we're ganging up on you yeah it's fine but how did you decide when you were looking at your subscriptions and different things like how did you make the decision as to what stayed versus what needed to wait until after the shutdown to our shutdown is over to come back well so i didn't i didn't know she was cutting subscriptions aren't you so proud of her look at her right i am i'm i'm very happy to hear that you're awesome babe yeah so i looked at like what i did the literally like what is okay what what is stuff that we can live without and still like because i i can cook more we don't have to go out for dinner on sunday we don't have to have that extra budget space for meals out because we could have an effective meal in and eat together as a family and still have that us time.

24:12So I looked at it that way. Like, what do we have to have? And if it was something that we really didn't have to have, I'm inclined to go after my stuff first and say, okay, well, if I don't need this, I'm going to take it right out. And it's okay with me because it, and it helps me realize how much stuff I think I need and then go, but do I really like, do I have to budget that so that's kind of what I did I just went through and looked at what we absolutely didn't have to have and I just took it out and it's not hurting to not have it so far and it's helping so well and then what was non-negotiable that stayed even though this is all happening like obviously the gymnastics but and gymnastics they're the same I have to feed I have to pay the lady that boards my horses I have to pay her as even though that's the sort of extraneous expense.

25:02It's not really, it's a, it's a bill. So I have to pay her and I have to pay the lady that buys the hay because you have to keep the horses that you're boarding. We have to eat. Right. They have to eat. I do have to pay for that stuff. We have to pay our electric bill. We have to pay our mortgage. You know, those are not optional. And, you know, I'm sure there's programs out there where you could put stuff on hold for a little while, but if we can avoid doing that. If we can use our own selves to pay for all that stuff, I would much rather stay on top of our bills and keep everything flowing out normally.

25:37So it really comes down to what is going to impact our future spending or our future goals less. And those things that we need to keep doing, like paying our mortgage and having everything, all the credit stuff, like that affects our ability to spend our purchasing power for our goals down the road. And that's still a thing. Like we still have that Montana goal. And if we kill our credit by putting everything on hold for some reason, then we don't have that ability to have that Montana goal. It'll get delayed. But it stinks and we won't be able to get a mortgage, you know? Yeah. Don't want that.

26:17Erin, do you have, would you, would you have something to add? We don't want to talk over you. sorry no i i don't think i do on that topic yeah okay good then i'll talk doing a good job yeah go for it she's being very thorough because what i wanted to mention i i think that we can if if i look if i re-listen to this i can go through like a really good checklist of a lot of things that you guys have done that you know we could call it like how to survive a government shutdown maybe but um the other thing i want to point out and we're going to talk about this sarah a little bit more maybe saturday when i see you but that you are putting all of your possible income into the budget.

26:52I think that that is a really key point and whether, you know, because you do horse lessons and maybe you can, during this time, you can try to like up that income a little bit or whatever. And that gives you a little edge. And so people might want to hear that. Like, what can we do? We were just talking to somebody about it. Like, what can we do? This is a temporary time. What can we do to increase our income temporarily until the government gets its act together? And you guys are doing a great job of that. So I just wanted to point that out. Yeah. And you know, I, no, no, go ahead. It helps.

27:21Yeah. Sorry. No, I think being an entrepreneur gives you options, right? So you are, you have a business and you're like, okay, how can I leverage this business to be able to make a little bit more income for my family in such a time as this? Absolutely. And so whenever I get a client, if there's space, even in sometimes if there's not, I'm going to make space. So it's, it's my lesson schedule is hopping. Yeah. Let's out businesses cranking out because hey i'll take it yeah so how many how many extra lessons have you had this month i have had i had more lessons in the first half of this month than i normally have in a whole wow that's awesome because i'm not saying no to anyone well yeah praise god for that and also for your ability to work like that that that you know there's both sides or your willingness.

28:11And other people's desire and ability to continue having horseback riding lessons. That's for me, that's a hobby for a lot of people. And like so far, knock on wood, it's still happening. Yeah. I love that. And also maybe gun purchases are on hold. That's the only other thing that I heard the other day, Erin, possibly, maybe, maybe not. I don't know. Season definitely starts in November. Yeah. I don't know if that's like something that you pause during storm mode or do you just keep buying guns? I don't know, Aaron, tell me. Right? No. So I had the opportunity to buy a gun that was kind of near and dear to my heart, you know, it was like the first rifle I learned to shoot on, you know, but it wasn't the exact rifle.

28:56My dad gave that to my little brother and we're not on speaking terms right now. I was going to say, and it's bad to you. I'm totally joking. Those are fighting words. But I had the opportunity to buy the same, you know, make a model of that rifle and you know it i i let it go you know and you know we've got to be frugal you know the price was right on it you know it wasn't it wasn't an exorbitant amount you know it was like 400 bucks but in in the grand scheme of things you know hey that's you know that's that's potentially you know extra an extra week or two of surviving the shutdown so that's awesome yeah you can just come and use all of chase's guns hey i like that you remember you can go hunting with him it'll be fine he already has my dad oh gosh it's you know you know hunters that's fine but i think that that is and here's the other thing is that opportunity will come again yeah right oh right the opportunity for you to buy that when you're not missing half your income exactly well and it's gonna feel so much better than than what it did feel now yeah Yeah.

29:58Okay. So I'm going to make like a little checklist, I think, of all the things that we, you guys just talked about that you are doing to hopefully survive. Well, you will definitely survive this, this shutdown. And I think that it's, it's all, and you know, and I know a lot of it was set up because you guys have already done a lot of work for a year, a year. You've been, you know, basically really into this ever since that first retirement meeting when, when the financial anxiety sort of started. And so, yeah. Yeah. And I believe it keeps getting better. I wish that you didn't have this emergency going on right now so that you could just continue to see the fruit of your hard work, but we know you're going to see it through and we're really grateful for you coming in and pouring into our audience.