How to Pay Off $65,000 in Debt in Less Than a Year (Client Wins with Coach Michelle) | 482

0:00Michelle, we're so excited to have you back on the podcast. We are going through your office hours and just talking about wins that our clients are getting when they're coming on a call with you.

0:09Michelle:Some thank you. Yeah, it's fun to be back. Yes. All right. So Michelle, you do office hours typically every Wednesday. And people bring their budgets and their budget questions and they talk to you and ask you for help. and it's really a wonderful resource, probably the best resource in the whole wide world that people have to get their questions answered for free. So we wanted to talk a little bit about what you've been encountering with the people that come to Office Hours and some of the stories that you've been listening to and lessons that we can all learn from them. Do you make good money but have nothing to show for it?

0:46Are 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.

1:16We'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.

1:52And 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.

2:02Michelle:So I have a gal that's been coming for months and months. She bought the system last Christmas for herself as a gift to herself, which I think a few people have talked about that, that they They get the system specifically for themselves and save up for that. And she started on the system, has been consistently coming to office hours, sharing her questions and her struggles and encouraging others. And she's just a real rock star. And she came this week and I just blew me out of the water because she had paid off$65 ,000 between January and now. And, you know, I said, you still have two months left in the year.

2:42Michelle:And what a rock star. And not just because of that, but because of all of the other things that she has done and put in place and the encouragement that she brings to office hours. I just love having the other gals that come and encourage everybody else. Because it's not just me. It's not just you guys on the podcast. It's the community. And I love it. So good. Yeah. Is this the people that have the tree business and they live in two places and they live in Florida or somewhere else? so yeah she had a lot to sort out when she when she came when she came and she's been I think you know probably your best attendant like would win the attendance award right for office hours and so they had a lot between their business and between two homes and I think I remember her just wanting to get some of that like straight you know and she just emailed us actually and she said hey we're ready to move forward and getting the our business on the simplified budget system and she was just asking she had a couple questions about the accounts and everything and so I emailed her back last week.

3:42So I'm so excited. So she has paid off$65 ,000 in less than a year. That is phenomenal. And then it looked like she has like a Home Depot card that only has, what had$7 ,000 and only has 890 left.

3:57Michelle:Yes. She's almost done. She's going to be done by the time we talk again next. He is so, so close. It's just amazing. And she's done all sorts of things. And with the business, she, her, her bookkeeper that they've used for years and years and years is retiring. And so they, it is a great time for them to, to move over to setting up their business budget. And so that's what she's doing. And so I'm so glad she reached out to you because she, she wants to set it up right the first time. Right. And she wants to just tackle it and have it be smooth and easy, just like the personal budget is turning out for her.

4:31Yeah. That's so good. And I remember they were waiting, they didn't want to, they didn't want to have to get this like bookkeeper accustomed to something new because you know, they were about to retire. So that was sweet of them. And now they'll be able to feel the same sort of organization and success in their business finances as they do the personal. But what did she say? Like, what were some of the reasons that they've been able, she's paid off$65 ,000 in a year? Like, what did, what did they do to make that possible?

4:56Michelle:Well, the biggest thing was getting the system and getting things organized. It was all about the organization and then about, you know, getting that awareness and eyes on things and then having the plan. It's having a plan. It's very strategic. Her husband has been phenomenal. He has been on board for since day one. And, you know, she tells him we need to cut back on this. He's like, no problem. And so she's got the support at home and she's comes to office hours and ask questions when she needs to, right. And she encourages others. So it's very top of mind, everything that they're working on.

5:33Michelle:And so I think it's the intentionality that was brought by utilizing the system and utilizing it in the way that you guys set it up. And it was intended to be. That's so good. You know, when she was asking her question last week, it was all about, I think she was still in that tracking mindset as far as, you know, you had to get in the nitty gritty of everything. And then when I responded to her, she was like, you can tell when she responded back, she was like, oh, okay. it was like that weight lifted off her shoulders. And she was like, Oh, it's not going to be that complicated because I think when people assume that you're moving from personal to business, it's going to get that much more complicated when you're tracking or, you know, when you're budgeting and they think that you have to track.

6:14And then when I emailed her back and I was like, no, you don't have to do that. This is how we do it. And she was like, Oh my gosh, basically, thank you so much. Cause I did not want to do all that. And she's like, I think I needed like over 80 lines in my income to be able to track all this. And I'm like, no, no, no. And so anyways, I think it's just understanding that it's easier and more simple than you think it is. Cause a lot of people will try to start a budget and they think that it's entails X, Y, and Z, and it doesn't, you don't need to do any of that. And then they realize, Hey, it's just a couple of things throughout the month that you have to look at.

6:45And you know, you're really just checking off your bills that come through and the rest is easy. And I think that that's really freeing for them.

6:52Michelle:Yeah, exactly. And it's, you know, it's a mindset shift for so many people and she's been running her business a certain way for 30 years. Right. And, and personal for, for so many years. And so it's, you have to have to use a different system and use it for a time period before your mindset's going to shift because you keep falling back on what you used to do. So I think I love that she's got that validation, right? Or it's like trusting that it's going to work. I think it's like, they have to see that it's going to work before they like, okay, I'm really all in this time. Right. Right. Yeah.

7:26Michelle:I also, she's great. I said, she's great. And I just love that she encourages other people above all else. She's making huge progress with her family and with her, you know, what she's trying to do with her business, but above all else, she's really helping other people work through stuff too. Yeah. And I love how you said that they are, you know, basically working together on this. And I I think I've, you know, I always say to me, one of the best benefits of this whole thing is the team building you do in a marriage. When you both focus on it, when you both are in on it, it's not one person to the other.

8:01And it's not, you know, it's we, and, and then it's connected to their goals. So they have a dream sheet, which right now is to pay off debt, you know, that's their goals, but obviously they'll get, they'll have more fun goals later. Right. But even that, like what you're saying is they're in it, they're staying focused on it. They're not, you know, just kind of glazing over doing it. They're very intentional about it. But then looking at all of those goals, keeping them front and center together, and then being able to cross them off. I mean, if they paid off$65 ,000, how many debts have they paid off, right?

8:28And then it sounds like they just have these two left. Like doing that, accomplishing that together, I think is just such a marriage builder.

8:36Michelle:Absolutely. And, you know, that's I think one of the most common questions we get on office hours is how do I get my spouse on board? And I know you guys get a question as well. and I think we have all sorts of different ways to approach that right and her husband was fully on board from day one but not everybody is not everybody knows that this huge shift that you're doing that is going to work right so some people are skeptical but I love that that idea of just taking that one page and printing it off and show it to them and letting just letting them sit on it and I know that you guys have both talked about that and we I take those ideas to office hours as well and say, you know, just try it.

9:16Michelle:And we even talked about that this week with a gal that just really wanted her husband on board because they're, they're having a, I don't want to say an argument, but they just really couldn't come to terms on her gym membership. She really wanted it and she used it. And that was the, that was the expense that they kept coming back to that, that was the one to be cut. And she, you know, you could tell she didn't want to, because it was her, her thing and she used it. It was meaningful to her, but it was expensive. And so I think they, they had some disagreements over it. But so our suggestion was to print off that page that one month and show it to him and see if there's a different solution other than cutting that gym membership to, to meet their goals.

10:03Michelle:And so she was really excited that that was something that a tangible she could do to, to encourage better communication. I think that's so good. And that's really important because we have a lot of people that come to us, even when they want to sign up for coaching and they're like, listen, my spouse isn't on board. But I think the first question is, well, how often and how have you guys approached the conversation? And I think that that matters and printing out that one page budget template and showing them, Hey, this is, these are our numbers. What do you think? And just stop talking, right?

10:35Just having, having the conversation of bringing it up and then just letting them speak, letting them have their ideas, their opinions. You may have been sitting with it for years or whatever, and you didn't want to burden the quote unquote burden them with it, but they have not seen it. So they have not had a chance to absorb and understand and figure out what's going on, but being able to just show them the data, it removes all the drama from it. And you're the wrecking balls in your brain that you think that how they're going to act versus what, what is, We've seen it really work over and over again and just showing them and then just being silent and letting them talk about what they think about the budget.

11:12Great. I love that. I love it. Yeah, that's what I was going to say too, because Vanessa always gently reminds people that you've been processing this for a while and then the other person, the other spouse probably has not had a chance to, so they might need a minute. But I think it's still the idea is for most people, this is the first time any of them have seen everything on one piece of paper. Right. So even if you've been trying to manage the finances, it's we all know they have fun, interesting ways that they have a budget. Right. But when they when they use our budget and they see it all at once and we're getting stuff that's on this subscription and that thing over here and over here.

11:52And we finally really look at it. That's the first time most people have done it at all, let alone, you know, your spouse. And I think it's just very clarifying. And hopefully, you know, hopefully they have a great conversation about the gym membership, because I think that that is tricky, you know, depending on where you are on the budget, you know, and but having the conversation and having the math right there, that's the way to do it, right? There's, like Vanessa said, no drama, it's math. And we can just do some math problems, do some solving for X if we need to find that money in the budget, you know?

12:24Michelle:Yep. It's just numbers, right? Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people will ask us, you know, what's the first thing we should cut? I'm like, we don't, that's not what we do. What are you using? What's meaningful? What's part of your goals? What's, what are you excited about? There's a lot of questions to ask yourself before you decide to start just cutting everything out of your budget. And you know, the gym membership idea, if she's using it and it means a lot to her, like Shana said, there's, let's try to keep that. But what else, like what else, maybe you have five different streaming subscriptions and you only use one there.

12:52That's probably 50 bucks right there that you could save on. 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. So you're never stuck wondering what to do next.

13:27Together, 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. Yeah. And so this, this family, this couple with the gym membership is kind of new to using the system. She's a new budget bestie and she just started, I think, right in maybe late August and early September, Michelle.

14:03Yeah. Yeah. She's just been with us for a little bit. Yeah. And so it sounds like it's not, maybe he wasn't as quick on board as, you know, the other person's husband, And like you were saying, he was really quick to be on board, but she wasn't.

14:18Michelle:Right. Well, I think it's because she just, just dove right in and was setting up accounts and doing everything and getting it all set up. And you know, when, when your spouse doesn't know that you're making this big shift, right. And this big thing, you got to, sometimes you have to slow down just a little bit. And I know that a lot of folks will come and just want to get the system set up and just be done and let it roll. but sometimes it takes a little bit and it also takes a little bit of talking with your spouse about okay so we're gonna do some new things and this is why and here's the budget and this is how it's gonna work and you know you might they might end up using a new card for different things right and and and walking through that and giving them some grace to to learn that that you're you're setting up a new system and I think that that I think this gal was it came in and she really wanted wanted to tackle it really quickly.

15:13Michelle:Right. And I don't blame her because you just don't have enough time of the day when you've got kids and you've got work and you've got all this stuff going on. You just want to get it done. And she just needed to step back a minute and let her, her spouse catch up. And, and, and then, you know, and, and then I think they'll, they'll get there. They'll be on the same page and it won't be. I think that that's important. That's a good point. It's like letting your spouse get on the same page, like giving them a minute because we get it. If you're like us, you listen to our podcast, you're like, okay, I'm going to do all this tomorrow.

15:45Like I want to set everything up. I want to go, go, go. But you know, the reality is that it's not the way that our system is designed. It's not necessarily you can do it in 24 hours because it can't, there's, there's things that you have to put into place, see if it's working, tweak along the way. And then eventually you're going to have everything set up, especially the people that come to us and say, Hey, I want to do all the savings buckets. Like, it's great. You can't right now because you're paying off, you know, all this debt. So it takes a moment, but I think allowing, you know, bringing them in on the conversation and just allowing them to see like, Hey, this is the, these are the first couple of things that I've done, because if we try to change everything all at once and they've been doing something for so long, and then maybe you haven't explained like, Hey, this is what I want to do, or this is what I think we should do.

16:26Or this is what I, the new thing that I learned on this podcast, what do you think? And you just do it. I can understand where there's like, maybe like a little bit of a wall where they're like, hold on.

16:34Michelle:Yeah. And what are you doing today? Cause I'm not sure why I got to catch up. So, right. Yeah. And I've heard Dave like refer to him, him be his name being a bad word in a house because like, and this is an important point, you know, we're, it is a teamwork and you don't, you're not making all the decisions. So you have to, they, you both have to be in on it before you just start doing it. Right. It has to be a mutual decision to do it. So I think that's important. But what, what struck me is that we've had people say when they hear how we do it, it just clicks, right? Oh, obviously. And so that, I think that's what the rush to get it set up.

17:13It's like, finally, this makes sense. And I'm, and I'm going to end the pain of the disorganization and the, I don't know what to do. And I don't know if I have enough money and being paycheck to paycheck. Like I want to end that as soon as possible. So, you know, we get the jumping into it and it is a little, maybe complicated to explain. Like once you've listened to, you know, most people are binging us. So they've listened to a couple hours, maybe of content and like they've had time to marinate it and think it through. Their husband has not probably done that. And so it's just that it would be, it's like a whole different situation.

17:44So we just want to be careful because we do want to do it and we do want them to be on board.

17:48Michelle:We don't want to push them away, you know? Right. Right. And then, you know, a lot of times they don't realize all the things that are going on because you were doing that divide and conquer and, and, you know, maybe, maybe that's all the things that we're, we're doing. We're just not sharing all of the complications in keeping track of stuff. And so I hear a lot of folks talk about wanting to, to tame the chaos. And that's really what it is, is to, to calm it down. And when you, like you said, when you, when you hear about the system and it makes sense, and you try to implement it and you try to do it as fast as you can because you just know.

18:24Michelle:Yeah. No, it's going to be helpful. Be helpful. Yeah. And so it's sometimes you just have to take a minute and get everybody caught up. Yes. Especially the guys. Like we just, they are just as important. They're just as a huge, like they're a huge factor in all this. And it's like the wives that come, I'm like, hey, my husband needs more spending money. Like in order for me to do all this and in order for him to love it, he needs more spending. and we're like, girl, give him all this money, money he wants. Like it's, it's going to work out in the end. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. So let's talk about some of the things that people were doing to, to be, you know, that were wins, you know, or that we're making this easier to implement and to be successful.

19:05Michelle:Well, you know, separating the accounts is always a big thing. And that's what a lot of folks realize that it's, that's a kind of a game changer once they do it, Right. And separating the accounts, because it's even though it feels a little bit counterintuitive because it is to what we've always done with the, you know, one checking, one savings and setting up multiple accounts, it gives more awareness and then be able to be more intentional, especially with savings buckets. right and that's that's a category of questions that we get all the time is about savings because because everybody wants to be able to set money aside for the big things and set whether it's annual bills or it's vacation or pet funds I hear that one a lot pets are just expensive they're just like having having kids right and they're expensive and so you just need to be able to set money aside to take care of the bigger bills that come.

20:00Michelle:And so I think that the wins come after the accounts are separated and they're starting to see, they're more aware of what they have and where it's going and what they want, where they want it to go. And then, then, you know, when you get to the point where you can start doing savings buckets, It's because you can't do them at first. Some folks can't do them right away, right? But when you get to the point where you can, that makes a huge difference. And that's where I see a lot of people talking about their wins is they have the money set aside for the big annual bill coming up, or they have it set aside for the vacation before it happens sort of thing.

20:43I think that was, no, no, I love that because I've had some people who've come on like a free call or some of the people on the live call like, well, I've done your system. But then they still, they have everything coming out of one account. And we're like, well, we're almost there because you're missing one major part. Because we just believe that by separating everything, it simplifies it. And I know that it seems counterintuitive in your brain maybe. However, over and over again, we get so much validation on being able to see your money in the separate accounts and what it has been doing for them.