In short
How to avoid feeling “broke” during Christmas by replacing traditional budgeting with a simple, automated “budget system” that organizes money on one page and separates bills, spending, and savings buckets.
Guests
Shanna Star and Vanessa (best friends, business partners, master financial coaches trained by Dave Ramsey; coaching since 2019 for women and families).
Key claims
Overspending is often a disorganization problem, not a lack of income. “Data over drama”: putting numbers on paper reduces anxiety. People spend less when they have a plan and automate transfers into separate accounts. You don’t need another budget—use a budget system that runs automatically.
Notable examples
A client brought wine to first math session; after organizing numbers, she could adjust. A couple listed where money went (private school, tithing, vacations like Portugal) to remove “drama.” Clients discovered $4,000/month eating out and reduced unrealistic grocery targets by budgeting based on “what is” first.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOUnderstanding Your Money Mindset
1:34 to 2:26
Learn about the common misconceptions around budgeting and the importance of organization.
“We recently had this conversation on another podcast, and it was too good not to share here too.”
The Importance of Clarity in Finances
2:26 to 3:22
Discover the significance of having a clear view of your financial situation.
“then I can really truly be in control and start to get excited about what my money's doing.”
Celebrating Financial Achievements
3:22 to 4:24
Understand the importance of recognizing what your money has accomplished throughout the year.
“Like all of these different things that your money did, which you should be really excited and proud of.”
Confronting Financial Fears
4:24 to 5:28
Explore why facing your financial situation can reduce anxiety and improve control.
“So I was like, yep, we have to hit that with the date over drama.”
Creating a Sustainable Budget System
5:28 to 7:30
Learn about the budget system that simplifies financial management for different lifestyles.
“And you know what's funny is I never used to feel that way or I felt that exact same way where it was I didn't want to see it.”
Simplifying the Budgeting Process
7:30 to 8:39
Discover a streamlined approach to budgeting that fits real-life scenarios.
“So what we found when, so quick backstory, we used to teach Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.”
Who Can Benefit from This Budget System?
8:39 to 13:12
Understand the target audience for the budget system and its universal appeal.
“And it's, yes, it's online, but it doesn't require you to check in all the time or track every single expense.”
Identifying and Solving Disorganization Issues
13:12 to 14:01
Learn how disorganization is often mistaken for overspending and how to address it.
“And really quick, I want to backtrack because you asked me who we speak to and I, our podcast, we speak to women, we speak to moms, but our system itself, everyone buys it.”
Understanding Financial Disorganization
14:01 to 21:04
Learn how disorganization, not overspending, affects budgeting.
“What are some things that you can reach out and give them tips or just some advice to as well?”
Importance of Financial Control
21:05 to 24:43
Explore why everyone, especially women, should take control of their finances.
“I know I used to be in that situation as well.”
Show all 18 chapters
Collaboration in Financial Planning
24:43 to 28:03
Learn the importance of teamwork in managing finances within relationships.
“And so being on the same page, like Shannon was saying, together as a team, making decisions together, showing each other the budget, saying, this is what I want, but this is what I want.”
Balancing Business and Family Life
28:03 to 31:53
Learn how to align business goals with family priorities.
“So we decided our word was going to be steady.”
Unexpected Growth in July
31:54 to 32:11
Discover how intentional focus led to unexpected business growth.
“And we made more money in our business than we ever had.”
Balancing Business and Family Life
32:43 to 33:37
Learn how to align business goals with family priorities.
“Are you ready to streamline your business and elevate your client experience?”
Flexibility in Time Management
33:57 to 41:15
Explore the importance of flexibility in managing business tasks and personal life.
“And that's something that most of us start businesses because we want flexibility.”
Learning and Resources for Growth
41:16 to 42:00
Identify resources and mentors that can help in personal and business growth.
“moving with that is, I know you've mentioned a couple of people that you've been following.”
Exploring Podcast Mentorship and Bootcamp Options
42:00 to 43:12
Learn about podcast mentoring and the various bootcamp options available.
“Stephanie, she was talking about our podcast mentor.”
Exploring Podcast Mentorship and Bootcamp Options
43:17 to 47:02
Learn about podcast mentoring and the various bootcamp options available.
“And you can go find out about our budget system.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:01People think they have an overspending problem, but really they have a disorganization problem. Either way, it is worse in your head than if it's on paper. You don't need another budget. You need a budget system. I have a client that came to her first session with a bottle of wine because we have to do math. It's gamified. And what we realize is that people actually spend less money when they have a plan. 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?
0:32Or 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.
1:06In 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.
1:34This is the Financial Coaching for Women podcast. Hey, budget besties. We recently had this conversation on another podcast, and it was too good not to share here too. Yeah, we hope you enjoy it. But how can I set myself up in 2026 to not, what did my client say the other day, not feel poor or broke during Christmas. I was like, girl, don't, we're not there. Okay. We don't want that for you. So what you can do is what we want people to do is get everything on one page and look, don't check out again. It's going to be great. We have a paper that you can do it on. It's pretty. And it's going to do the math for you.
2:07So just stay there, stay with me. But we want you to put all of your numbers on one piece of paper, because that's how you're actually going to know what you started off saying, Shauna, was the knowing where your money is going to go. That's what we want for you is for you to be able to see, here's all the money I make. Here's all of my debts. Here's all of my bills. Here's what I want to spend my money on. And here's what I want to save money for. And then when I have all of that on one piece of paper, then I can really truly be in control and start to get excited about what my money's doing.
2:34I loved what you said already about what did you love that your money did this year. And as somebody who writes down everything in the whole world, in front of my journal, I write down, of course, the goals, money spending, saving, but I also write, what do I want more of? And that's friend time, paddleboard time, whatever. And then I also write, what did I get to do? So that year after year, I can flip back and go, oh, I went there that year. Oh, I spoke at this event this year. And so I love that you can then maybe look back and go, these are the things that I was able to do with my money and what excited me.
3:03And then hopefully what I can set up to do in the future in the coming year. So I already love that. That was fabulous. Yeah. And honestly, it's fun from conversations we have with our husband. Yeah. because they will be like, oh, where did all of our money go? And it's, hello, here's this car that we bought our son. Here's the vacation that we went. Here's the travel sports that we paid off. Like all of these different things that your money did, which you should be really excited and proud of. And because what we all will tend to is be like, I just have nothing. I have no money. That's what I'm looking at.
3:31But no, actually your money did some things that were really important and you need to celebrate that. Yeah. My husband gets a good chunk of his annual salary in the end of the year. And usually when it comes in, we already have a plan and it goes because I know ourselves. And if we leave it there long enough, it'll get blown and spent on stupid things. So we plan it and it goes strategically where we want it to go. And I remember, I think it was last year, the year before, my husband goes, where did all of our money go for the year? And I was like, oh, I should probably list this out so it's not a negative.
4:00So I did, I listed out, our kids went to private school. Like you did that. We were able to give and tithe all of this. We went to these vacations. We went to Portugal. We sent our kids here. And I think putting that data on paper removed all the drama in our heads and it allowed him to be really proud and excited about what we were doing with our money. Yeah. It was so funny you said the date over drama because that was something I wrote down that I heard you speak about on another podcast. So I was like, yep, we have to hit that with the date over drama. Because people have a lot of wrecking balls in their head because it's all up here and I think it's a certain way.
4:35it's just math. Let's just put the math on the paper and stop associating all of these negative emotions and drama and anxiety with, because that's what the wrecking balls are causing is anxiety because you don't really know. And you think that's better. Like, I don't know if you heard us talk about, I have a client that came to her first session with a bottle of wine. She says, I don't want to look at these numbers. I am scared. I don't want to. And so I'll bring wine in and make it better. It was like, well, like, cause we have to do math. I don't know. But either way, it is worse in your head than if it's on paper.
5:02And at that point you can just look at math, look at numbers, and then you just have to tweak the numbers. It's just data. And what you revert to as being this ostrich with your head in the sand, and you don't want to see anything. It's like you're covering your ears, see no evil, hear no evil, like la la la. And what we want you to do is take your head out, be tall, stand confidently. So that way, when you look at your numbers, like Shana said, it's just data, because you've put it on one piece of paper. It's now easy to look at, and you can make a plan, and you're excited about what's coming.
5:31Yeah, absolutely. And you know what's funny is I never used to feel that way or I felt that exact same way where it was I didn't want to see it. And I had the privilege at the time I was previously married and I didn't have to look at it. And so then I came to a place where after divorce, I had to look at it, had to look at those numbers. And now it's almost become fun. And I am one who's going to say, I hate math, but I love money and seeing where it goes and gamifying it. And I know you guys feel the same where it's now it's fun. If I put these into savings, it's, ooh, okay, I put a little into savings.
6:01How much more can I put into savings? I push that envelope too because you see it grow. You see the interest grow. And so I want to encourage them to, it can be fun eventually once you get through that nitty gritty having to open those eyes to it. Yes. And hopefully we'll get into it. But we teach you to put your, whatever you want to save for, have a separate high yield savings account for each different sort of envelope of what you're saving for. And then you, like you said, gamify it. And it does become fun. And I love how you said you don't like math, but you love money. I'm like, yes, you're speaking to our people.
6:31That's exactly what they think too. And so when you can look, you can just pull up your phone and be like, look at all this money. And then it automatically, on my next paycheck or whenever, it grew again. It just keeps growing. And you can set all of that up to do it automatically so that you don't have to rely on your willpower. And then you're winning. You're not having to do math in the moment. And it is fun. It's gamified. And what we've realized is that people actually spend less money when they have a plan and they have it automatically transferred into the different accounts and they're watching their savings grow.
7:00They're watching their spending accounts being funded. They have the freedom to spend over here and their spending accounts knowing that their savings is doing what it needs to over there. And it is one big game as you watch your bank account throughout the month. Yeah. So let's get right into that system because I know you're, we're skipping the B word and going right into the system word. And I'm sure people listen to go, great. Like, it's just another worksheet or do I work with you? Tell us about the system that you guys have built and what that looks like. Listen, you don't need another budget.
7:30We understand that. You don't need another budget. You need a budget system. So what we found when, so quick backstory, we used to teach Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. I don't know if your listeners have heard of that and nobody knew how to budget. So we had to pause the class because it was an expectation that people know how to budget. And we realized nobody knows how to budget. And then once we started teaching people how to budget, we realized people can write numbers and words on paper, but that doesn't, nothing actually happens. You have to know what to do with your hands. So we created our own budget and we turned it into a system.
8:00So it'll do it for you. Yeah. And we actually wanted to partner with somebody who had already made a budget. That wasn't our forte. That wasn't in our vision, our dream. Writing like Excel formulas. We had no idea that, but when we went out looking at all these budgets, we realized it was a lot of tracking, a lot of charts and pretty weird and ugly words and colors. And it makes it, it was really complicated. And again, it was a very time consuming and we did not want that. We did not have time for that as coaches. We didn't want our clients to have time for that because everyone is busy. We have big dreams, big goals, big jobs, or big parents have with kids that are involved.
8:34And so we wanted something different. And so we created our simplified budget system. It's on a template. And it's, yes, it's online, but it doesn't require you to check in all the time or track every single expense. And that's what Shana was saying as far as needed something different. You needed a system because you can write words and numbers on paper, but then what, what do you do with it after you make a budget and you're bringing it to life? So our automations, our system has brought your budget to life. What we saw was the budgets that we were using with our clients until we came up with our own.
9:05It doesn't match what you do with your hands. So that's why we came up with our very simple one-page budget. We feel like if it's on one page, it can't be that scary. It's only one page. You only have to do one page. And it's different. Like Vanessa was saying, there was words like fixed, variable expenses. No, thank you. Here's what you need to know to budget. You need to know how much money you make, your income. You need to know your debt minimums. You need to know your bills. Now, listen, that's going to be a little tricky because you probably have them coming out of every which way and possible thing that you can have and so many subscriptions.
9:34It's fine. But we want to have one list of just your bills. Then what we figured out is really spending is a whole column. It's its own column. People get this confused because maybe it's a need or a want. No, it's just spending. That's gas and groceries and your personal pocket money. And maybe you're going to restaurants. And then the last column is savings. And that's what you want to start saving for when we're talking about those savings buckets. That's it. That's your simple budget. It matches what you do with your hands. It matches how you use your money. And there's no weird words. Like everybody knows what those things mean.
10:01And that's why we created. That is just the budget. And then like Vanessa said, there's all kinds of other fun things that we like to do to make it your budget. When you put that, when we talked about the words number on paper, we want those things to happen automatically. That's what we call it. They can go do it all automatically, magically so that you don't have to. Yes. No, I love that too because I feel like now until you love the budget part or you love that money part, looking at a budget feels just negative because you'll come to it once a week, once a month, whatever that one worksheet normally looks like.
10:31And you're like, okay, all I see is money out. And I'm not sure, like you said, if you're not doing it with your hands, it's just negative. And so I love that you guys have something way beyond that. And they're using words that actually mean something. Like you said, the fixed income, you got to, you can spice it up a little bit, like y 'all said. We have a lot of people that come to us and they say, everything you said just finally clicked. I've tried all these apps. And that's the other thing is there's a lot of apps out there, a lot of online, quote unquote, budgeting things. but they're all tracking and they're yelling at you or beeping at you or notifying you if you go over or you go under or you're doing this or you're doing that.
11:07And that is not what we want for you. We want you to have your money organized and separate. And that is really what's going to bring clarity to your finances. Yeah. And we wanted the budget to match for real life because we know when Vanessa's talking about the words that we say, you don't want to live on beans and rice. You don't want to give up your pumpkin spice latte. That's what we've learned. But yet you feel like you make good money, but you have nothing to show for it. We get it. And so we want your budget to match your real life. And that's why we want to break out the spending and break out the savings because a lot of times people's budgets get derailed because they haven't thought about these unexpected expenses like the fact that their dog's going to need to go to the vet, right?
11:43Every year. So we want to think about those. Some of them are fun. Some of them are not as fun. But we also want to plan for your spending. So many times people try to make a budget that's unrealistic and then they wonder why they fail. It's because you didn't give yourself any fun money. You didn't allow any wiggle room for your fun life that you want to live and to pay your bills. So that's one of the main things that we wanted to make sure is that we're budgeting and we can be pushing on a budget if we want to be. So who is this system for? Who do you guys target and love and work with? And who is it for?
12:12Working moms. Really? I mean, anyone. So let's be, it's funny because we have a guy, he's local. We have a husband who he's like, your budget is so pretty and I love it so much. But, and he's a husband, but really it is for our budget is for anyone. We actually have entrepreneurs that use our budget because it works in so many different ways. Yeah. It's really just for anyone who makes good money, but has feels like they have nothing to show for it. That's where, and really anybody who makes money, because to your point, when you said that when I look at money, when I look at my budget, everything's going away.
12:40We don't want you to feel that way. We want you to be like we were talking about before. I'm looking at my budget. Look at all the things I'm affording. I'm affording to be able to do my hair and nails. I'm affording to save for that vacation. And I'm also paying off my debt. Like, and that's what that one page looks for. And so really it's for anybody who doesn't want to have to do budgeting manually, who doesn't want to have to track. Like Vanessa said, we are not for that. We, our system will allow you to separate things so you don't have to track. It's your bank accounts will do all. You're actually, your bank becomes your personal assistant and you don't have to do any of it.
13:10So that's really who it's for. And really quick, I want to backtrack because you asked me who we speak to and I, our podcast, we speak to women, we speak to moms, but our system itself, everyone buys it. We have people buying it in Australia and we have single moms buy and we have young teens buying it because it works for so many people because it's so simple and it allows you, like Shana said, it allows you to see your money and work with you as you grow. You don't have to be in a certain stage of life to use it. Yeah. And I would love to hit on the point too. I know a lot of people are struggling right now.
13:42They sometimes feel like they can't even catch up with bills at all. They can't get ahead of if they have credit card debt and they can't catch up on that. And I'm sure you've had clients and people come to you and be like, I can't even catch up, let alone maybe start that savings account or start thinking about saving for the future. And how do you like speak to them? What are some things that you can reach out and give them tips or just some advice to as well? I think one of the things that we've learned as we've been doing this is that people think they have an overspending problem, but really they have a disorganization problem.
14:18That's really what it comes down to. And so if you can separate, and when you're looking at one bank account that has a thousand transactions and trying to figure out, I can't, it's not working. I don't have enough money. That's not correct. That's not all the information that you need to be able to feel confident. Yeah. So this organization has been, it's interesting because Shana said they have, usually everyone has one account. We were 18 years old. We went and opened up a bank account, our first job, and that's what we ended up using for the rest of our lives. And what we want to tell you is that things have evolved, right?
14:48We have so many more bills or so many more things happening in our life. Your bank account can look different. So what we've taken is this cash envelope system. Everyone's heard of the cash envelope system where grandma had envelopes. So grandma had envelopes in the underneath the mattress and had one for groceries and one for your utilities and one for this and one for that. We've taken that concept and bring it in, brought it into the modern world and put it digitally in your bank account. And so by you separating your money into separate accounts, that your budget is now into those in the budget line item that you put for those things is now in those bank accounts.
15:23So you have the freedom to spend and you don't actually have to constantly be tracking that one account with all these endless transactions that you get lost in. And putting it all on one paper like we alluded to in the beginning is what's going to help if you're really struggling or if there are some very simple steps that you can do to improve. I remember I have, I had a client and he wasn't working. She was working. And, and anyway, she did what we asked and she said, oh, I realized that we were spending $4 ,000 a month eating out. And she said, I wanted to throw up. And I was like, I also want to throw up.
15:58Let's all throw up together and start up before we'll start fast. Yeah. But anyway, and so not that your listeners are doing that, but really you just want to be able to see. And like we said, data over drama. Oh, okay. So I could just improve if I don't actually, if I have everything on one page, that's when I can see, oh, I have five TV subscriptions and I barely have time to watch one, to be real honest. And just having everything on one paper, then you can actually start to see. A lot of times, honestly, our clients, their kids are the reason that they feel like they have no money and that they feel like they're struggling.
16:25Let's be real honest. So we need to be able to see those things all together so that we can see what we might want to improve on. And the first time you make a budget, you really want to make a budget on what is. What am I doing? What is happening? Because if this is the first time you're doing it, you don't want to make a budget that you don't know how to make because it's all these numbers and realistic unrealistic. Yeah. Yeah. Well, these unrealistic guardrails that you're going to put on your grocery budget or going out to eat budget that you don't even know if you can hit yet because you need to look at what is.
16:50So with that person that was doing$4 ,000, I had a similar story with a client who had six kids. And what we realized was she said, Oh, I think I want to bring that down to a thousand dollars next month. This is month one of coaching. And I said, yeah, I'm not putting that in your budget because there's no way realistically that you're going to do that. And then you're going to say, this fails. This isn't right. Budgets don't work. I can't do this. You're going to shame yourself. So once you make a budget on what is happening, then you need to make, if you don't like it, then you need to make a budget on, okay, what is the realistic budget that I want to make based on what is happening so that way I can be successful?
17:23Otherwise, you're going to set yourself up for failure. Yes. Yeah. There was a couple of things I was writing down is one, I know it's an easy thing to say, like when I didn't have any money and that freshly was divorced at the time, that was something that I cut out was going out to eat. And I know that's not for everybody, but at the time groceries were a little cheaper too. And I could do$50 a week just on food. And that's not for everybody, but that was a huge chunk where I could see that coming in. Then the other thing was, I love the separate accounts, especially like you said, now in the day of subscriptions that are on overload.
17:56And I think there's people walking around on like TikTok to be like, how many subscriptions do you think you have? It's an ad, but they ask and they're like, oh, four, and they'll end up having 29. And of course, somebody who owns a business, like I know how many subscriptions I have, they're written down. I have very few personal subscriptions, but 17 or 18 subscriptions. And it's true. It also helps with those separate accounts to know if there's a fraud going on to see maybe, oh, I don't need both of those subscriptions. So that's also probably a huge point too. It is a lot easier to track if money is going out and it shouldn't be.
18:30And that's why we say you don't have to track. So we want you to have an account for your bills, specifically only your bills. And you'll be able to see, just like you said, if fraud happens, you'll be able to see it. There's only 20, 30 maybe transactions going on for the whole month, right? And then you're going to have your separate account for your spending money for gas and groceries, for example, right? Those are going to be two separate accounts. And I love this for me. You're right that groceries is a lot of times one of the most, one of the budget line items that you can really tweak the most.
18:55But either way, what used to happen is we get to the end of the month and I have no grocery money and people still want to eat every single day. All of my kids, they want to eat. They're hungry. It's just a mystery. Yeah, it's a mystery. But when I have money going into this grocery account every so often, I just have to live there. I'm like, okay, we got$200 for the week or whatever it might be. I can do that. And I don't have to track anything, like you said, because all I have to do is be like, oh, I'm going to the store. I have$200. Done. I've done tracked everything that I need to track. When you were talking about the fraudulent charges, I had a client who did get fraudulent charges on his account, but luckily it was his spending account because we don't use the bills account when we're out and about.
19:33That account only pays bills. You're only using your spending account. So his spending account got fraudulent charges on it, but you know what? It did not affect any of his mortgage payments, his utility payments, his subscriptions, his auto insurance. None of that was affected because it was in a separate account and doing its thing where you're not using that debit card out while you're spending money. So it really has been beneficial to have these accounts separate. And when we're talking about having those guardrails around like groceries, for instance, the other week, my son was like, Mom, I want something.
20:03It was Wednesday night. All of our accounts replenish on Thursdays. And I said, there's 20 bucks in the grocery account. Here's the debit card. Good luck. Have fun. Have a good time. See what you can do. It replenishes in 12 hours. That's great. I love that. All right, budget besties, it's time for some real talk. You 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.
Read the full transcript
20:37Everybody loves that. 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. If 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. Now back to today's show. What if somebody is listening? I know we've talked about, I love this system and I love working with money and gamifying it, but there's a lot of people, and I know it tends to be the women, not always, who take a back burner to money financially, just because for whatever reason, the man tends to be ahead of that.
21:23I know I used to be in that situation as well. So what if somebody is listening and they have a business or not, if they have a business, they need to be taking control anyway, but what is a reason that you tell your clients or people listening, like, even if things seem to be working out, it seems to be okay. You seem to be having enough money. Why a system now and why having a hold of your money is so important? It's a good question. Yeah, I think that I do agree that it's a good question. And we think that one thing that we say is we want you to be your own bank. And so it's in alignment with what you're saying.
21:55You need to know your numbers, whether you're a business or not. we want you to know your numbers and we I don't we're not sure that it's working is the best way to get ahead or to decide to set your goals right and so we want to take the guesswork out of it so even if it's working you still might sometimes be like did the mortgage payment go through or do I have enough money for that trip to Italy we want to take all the guesswork out of that and to the point here if you use this system and set it up it's not like I always say if you're going if you're going to have a goal in the beginning of the year to get fit or whatever you have to go to the gym January 1st, January 2nd, January 3rd, probably January 4th, even.
22:31It's awful. Like you have to keep doing the thing. For our system, what we want you to do is set it up January 1st, and then you can stay in bed January 2nd because it will run automatically. And so your big vision version of yourself needs to set this budget, set the automations, and then your goals are going to automatically happen because they're all going to be happening automatically. And this idea of, oh, I make good money. I don't need a budget or things are working. It's fine. Or my husband takes care of it. I think everything looks good. I think that mentality is, yeah, but what could it be?
23:00We have people that come to us in very different spectrums. We have people that come to us that making$30 ,000 a month. And it's so fun because there's so much money and we can do a lot with it. And then we also have people coming to us. Like I have a sweet couple right now. They have no kids and they know coaching monthly is a sacrifice and it's, they are, they're investing in themselves right now. And they're not paying a lot extra on debt because they're taking the time to get everything set up, get everything organized, get their mindset shifted, get their habits changed. So that way that when they graduate coaching, that they can be on the right trajectory.
23:31So I just think the big question is what could it be if you did have somebody else looking at it? Because that third person coming in, if you're married, that second person coming in, if you're single, that bird's eye view, that different perspective makes a huge difference. And the other thing I want to say about the spouses is we want you guys to dream together. So we do work with a lot of people post-divorce or something like that because they, like, to your point, they hadn't been able to be in on the conversation, so they have to learn. But if you are together, you both should be shouldering the burden.
24:02One of you can be more nerdy than the other and actually doing the math and actually, like, setting things up. That's fine. But you both want to be dreaming together, and one person doesn't need to be, like, deciding everything because that's very heavy. Even if they like it, even if they are a nerd, you need to both be doing it together. And then as the woman, we want you to also know your numbers. Again, just because your husband might be taking the lead role doesn't mean that you don't know it. You guys aren't setting goals. You aren't reaching them. You aren't looking at your bank accounts growing.
24:27You aren't helping decide how much the grocery budget or the spending budget or how much the kids cost or whatever. You want to be in on all of those together because you are a team. Because otherwise what we see is it becomes a parent-child relationship unintentionally, but it does become that. And then friction enters. And so being on the same page, like Shannon was saying, together as a team, making decisions together, showing each other the budget, saying, this is what I want, but this is what I want. Let's compromise. And what does that look like for us? And using all the us, we words, it makes a difference when you're planning your money.
24:58Yeah. I really love what you said too, about just that togetherness and dreaming together, because that's part of the fun in marriage as well as being able to dream together. And even if I'm just using, if the man is the one who's normally in charge of the money, he might not know. Oh, but the kids have X, Y, and Z coming definitely the doctors that cost this much and so it also is working together in a very functional way and i love also to i know you said oh maybe it's working and that's true it might be working but that's also then like you said can i go to italy when can i go to italy and rather dreaming it can be this is when i can because of the systems we set up yeah yeah it's interesting that you i was gonna say it's interesting when we were talking about who's handling the finances because I think it's usually split.
25:47As much as we see the men handling it, we also see the women handling it and not trying to burden the husband while he's being the breadwinner and all that. And it ends up being one of them is racking up all this debt because they don't want to burden the other one with what's really happening. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right about that. And I know with your system, there's so many like facets and fun points. Is there something that you guys love to talk or teach about, or maybe a couple tips, tricks, whatever that looks like that you would love to give advice right now to that we haven't touched on?
26:19I know there's so many things. So that's such a broad question, but yeah. I guess the first thing that comes to my mind is the automate part and how one of the things that we really love to talk about is that we don't want your budget to feel like a rollercoaster. So entrepreneurs are really big on this. I'm an entrepreneur. My budget, my income isn't consistent. How does that work? Can be. You can make that decision and you can make your paycheck consistent. You can make your business budget consistent. You can make your personal budget consistent. So that way, when you're planning for what an actual month looks like, how much you cost, you have the full picture instead of just what's happening right now.
26:55And then I wanted to shift. I know you guys talk about so much, which I, it's my people for sure, is time management and what that looks like in y 'all's business. Because I know you have even these fabulous like theme days that you guys do, which you You guys already have like the CEO Mondays. I know you call it that. I like to call it like bum crumb day where I just am not going to look. Yes. That's why we have them. Yeah. I'm not wearing makeup on Mondays. My hair is up and looks like a hot mess. Like it's pajamas. It's probably not going to match. It's days I've told friends recently, like, I don't even answer the door because I look that not good.
27:31I avoid answering the door. I wouldn't answer the door because I don't want to talk to anybody. Love you. I have noticed, I just, I've noticed that with our business, we talk a lot to our clients, to wonderful, lovely humans like you. And then I have three kids and I'm like, I don't want to talk to anyone else. I'm all done. Done talking. And so, yes. But time management. Okay. Love that. So let's rewind here. One year ago, Shane and Vanessa were like, okay, it's time to set your 2025 goals, girl. Yes, girl. And we're like, hey, noticing our schedules, we have no time to do anything other than barely survive your business.
28:04Okay. Okay. Okay. So we decided our word was going to be steady. We're just going to be steady. What a weird thing to do for business, right? Because you're supposed to grow and set these, what are the BHAG goals and everything? And we're like, okay, if we survive our business, that is winning. But we want it to be realistic. We started, we love, I don't know if you follow them. We follow like Jenna Kutcher and we follow Alex Ramosi. And we know this is the first podcast I listened to. Yes. Yeah. Whole difference. We want to be lifestyle entrepreneurs is what we realized. We didn't know that was a thing.
28:33And so we wanted our business to match or to be able to coexist with our family life, which is very busy right now. Yeah, I think it was, we have this hustle mentality, not like that we mean to, but we're just, we're very hard workers. We'll work all the time. We'll be up at three in the morning on the computer. We're up till midnight just, and just getting small things done because as an entrepreneur, it's never done, right? It never stops. And, but the reality was, is our children's schedules was really running our lives, which was fine, but we had to find a way to make that our business work around that and also make the children understand like you get to do what you do because we do what we do.
29:11Right. And so it was just like this co-exist, being able to coexist in all of it, but being present. We, our kids are, our boys will be seniors next year. And then my daughter is on her way. And then she's got two more after that. And we don't have that much time left. So be able to be present with them and their lives right now, because we're never going to get this back, but also have a business that's able to fund that, but work around it in the time management, like the time that we want, it was really helpful. So some of the decisions we made, remember we were back in, we're back in the future.
29:41I don't know what we're doing. We're backwards, whatever. But we decided we are going to, as you said, we're going to have theme days. We're not going to set new goals. We're going to try to do what we've already done and do it better. So we're not going to recreate any wheels. That's a rule. It has to be a rule. Don't recreate any wheels. And so we do have theme days. So on Monday, we have CEO day. This is when we're able to look at our business bird's eye view and actually work on our business, not in our business. And then we have four days a month that we coach one-on-one only. That's it. Four days that we work directly with clients.
30:11We have four days where we do podcast recording only, podcast recording only, which is internal or external with interviews, whatever it is. That's all we do. So those are the days, like we just mentioned, you have to put makeup on and like probably put on an actual shirt and real clothes. But you can still keep pajama pants on. I just need you to go. Spandex shorts on. And then we have project days where we can batch those work that work too. And so we, and then we decided everything else, everything that we can, we're going to automate. We have Zapier. I don't know if your clients or your people have heard of it.
30:46Everything that can be automated is automated. We don't do, we decided not to do a lot of things and we're focusing only on certain things. So those are some of the things that we did so that we can, we work four days a week from nine to three while the kids are at school. And then today we will leave. Our boys have a basketball game in another state, which is fine. So we will hang up the phone with you and then we'll go to start traveling to that. It's fine. And so we just had to make it work. And, but we did find new or spoiler alert when we did that, when we got super focused, when we were intentional, our business grew.
31:20Yeah. God blessed us. Us being intentional and doing the thing that we said we were going to do, we almost derailed. I'm going to say at the beginning of the year, we almost derailed and decided to write a book. Because when you write down the word study, writing a book is obviously. That's next. And then we realized, not exactly. No, that was really interesting conversation. Yeah. So anyways, we decided to table that. But we have three chapters done. So there's three chapters we don't have to write later. But we did. So our summer, we were able to travel and do things and our business grew. And it was really awesome to see all of our hard work that we put into place to make this year be steady for us, that it was able to grow.
31:57In July, we worked four days total. And we made more money in our business than we ever had. And it was like, what? Wait, in July, which is normally like a slower month. And so we were trying to figure out where, how did this happen? I love that. It's so interesting because one of the, I just spoke at this little network marketing thing. And it was something I brought up too. When I'm intentional about working on myself or my heart or my relationships or just anything inward, that's when I've noticed that the business grows. Of course, the business grows when you're working on the business. I'm not trying to say that otherwise.
32:34But the biggest changes are when I change. And so it sounds like the same for you when you guys can reflect and look back. Are you ready to streamline your business and elevate your client experience? I have been using HoneyBook for over two and a half years and it transforms the way I work. With HoneyBook, you can manage all your projects from start to finish all in one place. In fact, this is how I scheduled these podcasts episode today. Say goodbye to scattered emails and unorganized files. With its user-friendly interface, HoneyBook allows you to create professional proposals, contracts, and invoices that impress clients and make you stand out in your field.
33:15Automate your workflows and spend less time on tasks, freeing up time to focus on what you do best. HoneyBook's client management tools help you keep communication clear and consistent, ensuring that every client feels valued, informed through the entire process. Plus, with the ability to accept online payments, you get paid faster and more securely. Right now you can get 30 % off with my discount code. You simply just go to share.honeybook.com forward slash Shauna star. That's S-H-A-N-N-A-S-T-A-R. It will also be in the notes for you. I love HoneyBook and can't wait for you to use it too. I know that you also have talked about having flexibility within the time management.
34:01And that's something that most of us start businesses because we want flexibility. There was a time when I first started where I didn't allow that flexibility. It was, if I'm waking up, I'm working and I need to work till midnight every single day, because that's how you have to do it in order to work. And yes, guilty. But what I found is like, I started this business so I can enjoy the sunshine. So my lunch breaks when it's warm enough, I'm going to go take an hour in the sunshine or on the beach quick or whatever that looks like. And so it's part of time management. I know y 'all have talked about is flexibility.
34:34I still have to get these tasks done and I write those tasks done. And then there's the extra ones. If I have time. Always extra ones. Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course. They don't ever go away. As long as you get those ones done, your day can be done. If you feel like you have the capacity or a little more time than you expected, then you can do more. So I love that you guys talk about flexibility within like structure because I feel that's me as well. And I love it. Yeah, I think we've just, I'm sorry, I was going to say it really quick. I just think we've learned to roll with it. right? I think we've just, it is okay.
35:07Our OCD8, like type A personalities at the beginning, it was really hard if things didn't go, if they went away, but I think we're good now. And we're encouraging each other. Whereas before it would be like, hey, are you up working at midnight? Yep, I am. Aren't you? Yep, here we go. We're doing all these things that we're like, hey, why are you working at midnight? Go to bed. Or hey, go take the day off with your husband because he happens to be off. Like flexibility is key and it can wait because the main things are the main things we those are going to get done and like you said all of the other big things you know what they can wait this time is precious and so yeah we it's been a journey though let's be real honest we were just like you we did we had 13 business we were doing it all did a lot of things wrong at the beginning yeah and so the more as you said the more we work on ourselves the more we listen the more we do the things that all the smart people say to do, the better our business goes.
35:58Weird. Weird. Very strange. Like they have experience and wisdom in it or something. Yeah. So what is, this one might be a come to a surprise as far as I didn't ask you ahead of time. That might be mean, but what are some things that maybe you guys are working on now or some goals that y 'all have for yourself? And then is there anything that you guys have been like deep diving into another podcast you love or some books you love that might be helpful to listeners as well. Okay. Wait, give me the first question. I started to answer the second one in my head again. Just some goals that y 'all have had that way when people are listening, you're like, oh, these women have these amazing goals and businesses.
36:35What are they looking to next? I would love to hear things that are on your horizon. No? Okay. I was thinking business. We do have something up in the future that we're looking at implementing. And again, it's going to be to simplify. It's going to be to allow our business to scale. And we're really excited about that. But I think for right now, we have a wonderful bootcamp coming up and we'll talk about that. So I think with all the kids and sports and everything going on for me, like, okay, what's the next couple of months going to happen? What do we need to focus on then? So we, again, we were very intentional with our goals.
37:07This is how many clients we want this year, how many budget, because we sell a budget system. We talked about that a little bit, right? How many of those we want. And like all the things that we're doing are leading to that or we're not doing that. And so we have actually hit those goals in large part. And the other part was our time. So we used to coach whenever they wanted. That's what we used to do. Like during dinner time with my family. Now we're just, we're like sitting in like the weirdness of we only coach these days and God brought us all the clients to fill those and then we're done.
37:38And so that was a huge goal for us to stop having this crazy schedule and be able to do that. I would say that's one goal. And then the other goal is we have hired out everything. We have a wonderful graphic designer who's rebuilding our sales page, which we are so excited. We have a person who we hired, and we recommend them. His name is David. Find him for Zapier. He is making all the things that we used to do manually happen automatically for our business, which is amazing. Who else? We hired a social media person to do a couple things for us that we didn't get a chance to like tap into. Yeah.
38:11We also hired. So maybe that's our big goals is like, what can we just delete? What can we hire out? And then what can we systemize so that it's so simple and easy and brain. And so that way we can just show up and do stuff like this and talk to you with your beautiful, like background and you're beautiful. And this is so fun. And there's no nagging things in our mind of what we need to do because it's all kind of systemized. Yeah. That's fantastic to hear too, just because I think so many people, especially when you're first starting small businesses are like nope no one can do it like I can I have to do all the things the tasks belong to me and then as you grow you're like nope I only need to show up where my face and my hands need to and those other things can be automated or like you said out to somebody else I think that's something that we should have learned sooner I will say I've the more I listen to people that are way more successful than us are in the stage of at the stage of their business, they did that quickly at the very beginning.
39:07They hired smarter people to do things that they didn't understand. And I think for us, we just were like, oh yeah, we can do it. We obviously can do that. We know how to do that. And so what we didn't, we did to our ability, like we figured it out and we learned, but if had we just hired a very smart person at the very beginning of our business to do the things, we would have got there faster. But you know what? You live and you learn, and we are here strategically for a reason. And then one little last nugget I want to say, because you asked, who are we learning from? We've consistently learned from the same people over and over in our business.
39:39And what one thing that we're listening to, like I mentioned, we listen to Alex and our personal mentors, like her name is Stephanie Gass and she coaches us. But what we have learned is a lot of different programs want your business to fit their model. And we've learned, no, our business fits us and what we want. And we will gladly take some pieces of what you teach and see if it applies. But if it requires us to change everything about what we're doing or who we are or all of that, it's not for us. And so just having or eventually learning to discern what to listen to and what is just noise and what is something that works for one person.
40:18And I don't have to believe or I don't have to make that make change my business and form it into their mold. That's actually been a big blessing, too. I'll even say too, listening to people based on the stage of life that they're in. So not necessarily how their business is run, but if they're single, if they're married, if they have kids, if you don't have any of those things, if you're completely different, if you look at how they tell you to run a business versus how you want, like Shannon was saying, how we want to do it, maybe start finding other people who you want to mimic their lifestyle because they have their parents and they have kids in the same age and they're going through it with you and see how they, maybe they're eight figure businesses, but they have figured it out already because they've been doing it a little longer.
41:01So I just think we love Alex so much. He's just in a different stage of life than we are, which doesn't make it wrong, but we've learned what to take and what not to take and what to mold and from other people to form it into election and said, what we want to do and what's going to make us successful. Yeah. And so moving with that is, I know you've mentioned a couple of people that you've been following. Are there some books or podcasts that you guys go to again and again that are loving, that you have found helpful to get encouraged with time management and budgets and just business in general?
41:31And you guys, like Vanessa said, I personally go back to Alex. I just love the clarity in what he teaches. That's kind of one. I've actually been liking Dan Martell too. Have you ever listened to him? Yeah. He's really good for time management and hacking your life or whatever. Do you have anybody else? So I do. I like leadership podcasts. So Craig Groeschel, he's one of my favorites as far as leadership. I do. I love Alex. Amy Porterfield is a good one. Stephanie, she was talking about our podcast mentor. She has some good ones as well. And again, not everyone's podcast is going to pertain like their topics are always going to pertain to you.
42:10So it's always good to have those couple of ones that you can dabble into. Yeah, absolutely. I would love to know. You mentioned a little bit earlier about talking about your boot camp. So I would love to know how everyone listening can find you, follow you, work with you, and get this bootcamp that you guys are going to be having. Okay. Let me caveat this. There's, we have two pathways, okay? It's choose your own adventure. So if you're like, look, right now is not the time. Ladies, you're crazy. It's holidays. I don't want to talk about budgeting, whatever. Then the bootcamp is for you. It's for free and it comes after Christmas.
42:42So you should come to that at budgetbesties.com slash bootcamp. That's where you can get that. The second choose your own adventure option. Really quick, I'll say you can sign up now when you know you're going to need it after Christmas and know that you'll get the email and all you have to do is click the button and join us. So that way, like you don't have to remember to do that later. Okay. And then the second change your own adventure is if you're like Vanessa and I, which is I need to do this right now and I'm going to do it this weekend and get it done. Or you're like, I need to take action.
43:10I hear what they're saying. It makes sense. I don't want to wait. Then you need to go to budgetbesties.com forward slash Shana, Shana, sorry. We had this whole discussion about how to say names and I totally messed up. But anyway, it's S-H-A-N-N-A, right? And you can go find out about our budget system. Maybe buy it and go ahead and get started. We are the kind of people that just take the information and run with it. And that's what that offers for you. Or if you're like, I still want to know a little bit more, that's what the boot camp is for. Yeah, the DIY version of you just know you're ready.
43:37You heard it. You're like, yes, that's for me. There's so many resources. It's a walkthrough course. It's awesome. And so, yeah, forward slash Shanna. Shanna. It's okay. Hey, our names are so... It's tricky. It's fine. And for the listeners, in case they don't know, you spell your name one N different than me. I'm Shayna. You're Shawna. It's S-H-A-N-N-A. It's fine. Like, it all makes sense. But there's 100 different ways to say the name. English language is easy. I always say I don't mind being called the wrong name by somebody who does it purposefully. Because to me, I'm like, oh, it's fine. They know me.
44:08Or obviously, you haven't met me enough. There's like a weird thing where if somebody's known me for a few years, and now they're saying it, and you know they don't know it, I'm like, That's weird. That is weird. That is weird. But all of that will be in the show notes with links. So even if they don't know how to pronounce it, they'll know how to click. So that's fine. That's right. Right there. Smart. You guys are like budget besties on – I was looking on all platforms basically if they want to follow you. Is that right? Yes. So they can come over to our podcast and it is on all podcast platforms.
44:38That's financial coaching for women. We're at – are we at my budget besties? My budget besties on social media. Okay. Yes. Perfect. I'll put that in there as well. I know we were going to wrap it up, but I also want to know how long have you guys been besties? Okay. So our boys are 17. Are you going to call us old after this? No. Why I'm wearing a hat covers my gray hair. Our boys are 17. They were four when we first met at the YMCA during a workout class together. Oh, I love that. For a while. Yeah. And they've all been besties forever too, so it was just really fun. I love being able to, as soon as we started speaking, I was like, love your email format.
45:11Then I started stalking you. I'm like, love them. You're so cute. You're so vibrant. and along with all of your systems too. Like I said, I downloaded one earlier because I wanted to check it out and it is super cute and fabulous. I just appreciate you both so much. We had a wonderful time, Shauna. See, we're going to keep doing it because you are amazing. Your energy is also amazing. And so this is a privilege for us to be able to come and talk to you. And we know your audience loves you. So we really honor it. We appreciate that you would share them with us because like you said, you never know.
45:41But we are definitely who we are. And that's our last bit of advice is just be who you are and you're going to have a good time. It's much easier and more fun. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I just, I've enjoyed it so much and y 'all have the best smiles and energy and love how you guys look at each other for your turn. It's adorable. So thanks for letting us talk about the B word. We really did have a good time. Are you a photography business owner looking to elevate your business? I started using PickTime and am absolutely in love. I have been looking for a different solution and this has been it.
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46:56You can try it for free with my code and get also an extra free month when you upgrade to a paid plan. link is going to be in the notes or you can head to davistaphotography.pick-time.com slash referral you can head right to the notes and click on the link so you can start your beautiful galleries today 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.
47:35That's budgetbesties.com forward slash quiz to find out what's really going on with your money.
From the publisher
Curious? Watch Our Money Makeover Bootcamp!
Ready? Buy Our Simplified Budget System Now!
What if budgeting felt less like restriction and more like finally knowing what your money is doing?
In this episode, we’re sharing a conversation that was too good to keep to ourselves. We talk about how putting all your numbers on one page can help you move from money anxiety to clarity, confidence, and a plan that actually fits your real life.
We break down why so many people do not have an overspending problem—they have a disorganization problem. When your income, bills, debt, spending, and savings are all mixed together, it is easy to feel like your money disappears. But once you separate those categories and give every dollar a clear job, the drama starts to quiet down.
We also talk about creating a budget system that works with your hands, your bank accounts, and your everyday life. That means fewer complicated charts, less constant tracking, and more automation. Your bills can live in one account, your spending in another, and your savings can be organized into separate goals so you can see your progress without wondering where everything went.
Budget besties, this episode is also a reminder to celebrate what your money has already done for you. Maybe it paid for private school, sports, travel, generosity, family experiences, or a season when you simply kept everything afloat. That matters. Your money is not only leaving—it is helping you build a life.
We also get into realistic budgeting, why extreme cuts usually backfire, and how to create a plan based on what is actually happening before deciding what needs to change. A sustainable budget should include fun, flexibility, and room for real life.
Plus, we talk about dreaming with your spouse, sharing the mental load of money, using separate accounts as digital envelopes, and building systems that help your goals happen automatically.
Let’s Take Our Relationship To The Next Level:
1️⃣ Facebook Group ➡︎ budgetbesties.com/facebook
2️⃣ Be on the Podcast ➡︎ budgetbesties.com/livecall
3️⃣ Private 1-on-1 Coaching. ➡︎ budgetbesties.com/coaching
Connect with Shanna:
This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not personal financial, legal, or tax advice.
This description may contain affiliate links, meaning we may get a commission at no cost to you if you click & purchase.