How To Be Bougie on a Budget — Spend Freely Without Debt, Guilt, or Overspending! | 481

0:00Most people think a budget means cutting back, sacrificing, and saying no to everything fun. But here's the truth. Being bougie on a budget is about saying yes. Yes to dinner out. Yes to vacations. Yes to the things you love. Yeah. The difference is you're paying cash. You're not stressed. And you actually have something to show for your money. So today we are concluding our series of the Budget Besties method with our step eight, be bougie on a budget. We want to teach you that you don't have to give up your life to live on a budget. And we're really excited to dive in. Yeah. Do you make good money but have nothing to show for it?

0:34Are 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. Hey, 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.

1:04We'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. 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.

1:40And 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. So we have some fun bougie stories to share. And I love this because, and we say it all the time, bougie is different for everyone. It means something different to Shana than it does to me, than it does to our clients. And so we just kind of want to share some examples of that. Yeah. And so this first one is really fun. So we actually know this couple in person. Our kids do many sports together, basketball and gymnastics.

2:10And we asked a Facebook question, Vanessa, that says, what's one thing that's expensive but you refuse to get rid of in your budget or take out of your budget? And he answered, my wife and kids. And I said, yeah, and I said, that's very true because their version of bougie is they have two daughters in travel gymnastics which are competitive gymnastics whatever you call it which is not cheap her hobby is horses which she does make money she does do as a business but horses are not cheap as they have said over and over again and he likes to go on these hunting trips where he travels to different places to do hunting with the girls sometimes africa yeah and so it's not like they're that's their bougie but then like they're definitely getting their clothes they're super like uh down to earth yeah super down to earth like they're not there but and that's the point.

2:54Like everybody's bougie is different. And we love that. That's one of the fun parts, like Vanessa said about our, about seeing it on the backend is what everybody's different. Yeah. I have another client who she's got six kids and she's not messing around. She pays for a country club. Like she's very wealthy. Every kid, six of them, they spend like$3 ,000 every on every birthday party. So that's important to them. They really want to make those experiences for them stand out. Yeah. And that's okay. Cause you guess what? They can afford it. Yeah. I had another client that, you know, and this is why it's so cool to see Bougie is different for everybody.

3:25They didn't have, they didn't eat out. Their Christmas budget was like really little. They didn't really do that. But let me tell you, they paid$1 ,200 a month for a golf membership. They had a$7 ,600 savings bucket for health and supplements a year. And so those were the things. And like, when we talk about Bougie, like we say, like one of the reasons we started deviating from Dave, our mentor, and we love him, was we wanted you to be able to pay for healthy food if you wanted. We can't say rice and beans and don't worry about your health while you're getting out of debt. And for them, their version of that is she gets the wheat berries that are not cheap, mills them herself, makes the bread for her family, but those are not cheap.

4:05And so that's their version of bougie, which we just, again, we just love to see everybody's different personalities when it comes to that. Yeah. And I have a new client. They're so sweet. They actually are newly, I don't know if they're newly married, but they don't have any kids yet. And she said, we really want to be, she said, look, we've made some mistakes and we want to get things set up in an order before we have kids. And they did have a lot of debt. And she said that she was sacrificing being able to pay off debt, to be able to afford coaching, to get the information, to get the system set up, to get everything, the habit change, the mindset change, all of that set in place.

4:40So that way, when she left in six months, it was basically done on automatic, like automatically for her. So they have about an$8 ,000 monthly income, but they eat out most nights. She gets her hair done. She gets her nails done. They have two cats that are very bougie. She has her clothes. Like he does his video games after work. That is their version of bougie right now. Yes, that'll change as they continue to get older and make the most money they've ever made at different stages of their life. And as they have kids, but right now, they are so happy and they're paying, like all these people that we're talking about, different income levels.

5:09They're all paying for coaching. They're all understand the accountability, like what's important, but they're all living their own version of bougie. Yeah. And so the lesson here is a budget isn't about saying no. It's about making sure you can say yes to the things you love, to the things you care about, the things that you want in your budget. It's not about saying no, it's about saying yes. And that changes every season. I think that that's important to say. So what you're saying right now is important to you. What you're, what you want to be bougie about now, it may be different in just three months, six months, a year, five years.

5:39And that's also okay. That's why you make a budget 12 times a year and not just one time and then move on. Yeah. And if you ever listened to the intro to our podcast where it's like, you can pay off debt and you don't have to live on these and right. So you can start saving money and you don't have to give up your pumpkin spice lattes. And this is the deal. You don't have to give up your life or what you think is important in order to be on a budget. Yeah. You can save, pay off debt and still live the life that you love. That's what is really important to us for you. Yeah. And the deal is you make good money again in our intro to our podcast.

6:10But here at this point, once you've done all seven steps, right? You've done all seven steps. You should have something to show for it because what's happening is your budget's running automagically. You have money going into your savings buckets. You have money in your spending accounts for the things that you want to spend money on, the fun things, the things that are necessary. And then all you have to do is spend the money. That's what that is. So how many times have I closed a session? Like, don't touch anything. Don't miss. Don't worry about anything. Just all you have to do is go spend money.

6:38Just use your debit card. Yeah. Use that money. Don't do anything else. And then we come back and we'll be good. That's all you have to do. Spend money. Have fun. Enjoy your life because it's already all in the budget. Yeah. And at this point, you're really confident. Like, you know exactly what's happening with your money. There's no question of where, how, when, none of that. You've gone through all eight steps right now. And these aren't steps that I'm going to put a little job here in a little bit. but these aren't steps that are going to take you years. Okay. This is a method that you can put into place and you can actually do it, take it, run with it, and be successful in just a couple of months.

7:10And this is why our coaching program is six months because we have to be able to get in, figure out what's going on, write your numbers, make the tweaks you need, check that out, make sure that's working. And then you can see if there's any other tweaks that you need before you can really feel confident to know that everything is working. So please don't think that this is going to be an overnight success, but this like these this method right here isn't going to take you years it's going to take you a short period of time to complete yeah and so we we just really again if we're wrapping up everything remember the step one was to dream again right and step two was to build your budget step three was to set up that does that set up that bills account and then step four is when we started learning how to separate your spending and then we went to step five which was start your savings buckets.

7:52Step six is break up with debt. Step seven was figure out how to make your budget automatic, whatever. And once you've done all of that, then you just get, all you have to do is be bougie on a budget. Be bougie on a budget with us. We want you to be bougie on a budget with us. So we have a super fun little exercise. If you go to budgetbesties.com forward slash bougie, you can find a little printout and it's what's your bougie? Yeah. What is your vision? What do you want? Now that you have everything done and set up, what is this new life mean for you? How are you going to live your everyday life on your budget?

8:20So we hope you've enjoyed the budget besties method. We've tried to break it down over the last eight or nine Mondays and we hope that you love it. We hope that it makes sense to you. And we, if you, if we have some OG listeners, okay. And you're like, excuse me, you missed something. Please email us at hello at budget besties.com. We would love to hear from you. If you're tired of feeling like your finances are all over the place and you're ready for a simple set it and forget it way to budget. we have something special for you. Watch our automate your budget masterclass at budgetbesties.com forward slash automate.

8:51We'll show you step-by-step how to finally organize your money, how to set up your accounts and put your budget on autopilot. So your bills, saving and spending run like clockwork. Imagine less stress, more savings and the freedom to spend money without having to track every dollar or babysit your bank account. Go to budgetbesties.com forward slash automate to start today.