Today, we have Marie for another budget strategy session, and I wanna apologize. I'm still having issues with my audio being low. Apparently I messed up some settings, you know, me and technology do not get along. So I apologize for that, but you are going to love this episode. If you are working on paying off debt, you're off track and you need to just get back on track.

Again. This episode is for you, and don't forget, you can sign up for your own budget strategy session by going to budgets made easy.com/strategy. Welcome to the money mindset podcast, where you'll find a judgment free zone to help you free yourself from overthinking and the fear of doing things the wrong way. It's time to shed yourself of the mom, guilt,

procrastination, and perfectionism. So you can start doing the things that you really want to do with your money instead of just working to pay bills. I'm Ashley Patrick ex detective turned debt free CEO of my very own business and stay at home. Mom of three, not too long ago. My dreams of staying at home with my kids seemed impossible. I thought I'd have to stay miserable in a high stress and demanding job just so I could retire someday.

After gaining the confidence of my own ability to manage my family's finances and a simple step by step plan to make it happen. I was able to pay off $45,000 in just 17 months, which then allowed me to finally quit my job. Stay at home with my kids and build a debt free business. Now, my mission is to help moms like you conquer debt and free themselves from the mental load of handling their family's finances.

If you're ready to shed the guilt and shame surrounding your past money, mistakes, and tackle your debt, this is the place for you. Let's get started. Hi Marie. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. So this is another budget strategy session, and we're gonna talk a little bit about what you're struggling with and I wanna just dive in.

Can you let us know a little bit, you know, what, you're comfortable sharing a little bit about you and your situation. Yep. So I am someone who discovered kind of paying off debt, probably I'd say like five years ago started with Dave, Dave Ramsey got the book, you know, loved the concept fast forward. I struggled with feeling like a little bit shameful with his program,

so maybe we relate hopefully, and then I came across you honestly, and on Instagram, I think it was Facebook, one of the two and I just kind of like latched onto the podcast and then, you know, just the different types of things that you did. And so I just kind of just decided this is seemed a little easier to obtain.

So fast forward to I I've, I started with the, the budget binder and doing like a more manual tracking every week. And then once you, once you came with the spreadsheet, I latched onto that and I've just held onto that. So close because that spreadsheet is life right now. For me, it's so easy for me to kind of get together.

So my situation is, is that we did a lot of, we paid down a significant amount of debt. I'd have to look at my numbers, don't have them, but before we sold our home, our first home, and then I kind of took pause, we sold our house, bought this one that we're in now took a minute. I just needed to,

it was a lot, a lot of life happened. So I just wanted to take a minute, which was fine for a while. And then slowly habit started to creep back in mainly just the ease of using credit cards. So fast forward to, you know, we didn't go backwards completely, but we definitely did face the reverse direction for a little bit.

And I was like, Nope, Nope done. And that's kind of where you kind of came in and then at the right time. And then I've just kind of been working towards paying off, you know, debt and being consistent, but it is, it is difficult. You know, I definitely stay focused and having kind of everything laid out and kind of sticking to one plan at a time or one debt at a time has been huge.

Versus in the beginning, I was kind of just trying to do multiple debts at once. That seemed really, it, it seemed like I was making progress, but then when you, at the end of the month, when you looking into, you know, or a couple months, you kinda look at your numbers, you're like, no, I,

I definitely know I did made a good effort, but it doesn't show, you know, on the balances, but I was able to play, pay off my credit card debt. I was using my student loan debt. Yay. Sorry, my student loan debt yet before the announcement, the last couple of days. So that's okay. I paid off my school loans by myself.

So that was nice that I kind of, I started off with a snowball met method and then I kind of said, you know what? I kind of leaned towards the impact method. I'm like, you know what, I want those student loans done. I just I'm done with them. I don't even like you, I don't even do what I went to school for.

So I found a career doing something else. So anyway, so I, so, and now I'm kind of back to, you know, the snowball method cause that's makes most sense to me at the time. Awesome. So, So I'll pause and let you, Oh, I love that you are figuring out what works for you because I feel like so many people get stuck on,

okay. I don't know which way to do it. And so then they just stay stuck where you said the impact method, which is focusing on like the biggest impact emotionally or your budget. So it sounds like, you know, your student loans were just like dragging you down emotionally. And so it was good to just get those done with, and now going back to the snowball method.

So I love that you mentioned that because you don't have to do it one way. Like you can start one way do it another, like it really is personal, like figuring out what works for you. So what do you feel like? So it sounds like you're back on track, you're making great progress. So are you struggling with anything right now that I can maybe kind of help you with?

Yeah. So I would say for me recently, I've gotten back into, you know, I, I have the, you know, I don't, I caution cutting up the credit cards. However, I caught myself, you know, maybe using 'em for, you know, justifying at the time a purchase, not a purchase for like necessarily like, like unneeded things,

I guess, but it was more or less for, you know, I, I, I want, I, you know, I didn't have the cash to do this and I, but you know, I know that my, I loved one of mines having a hard time, so I took them somewhere. Gotcha. But forgetting, you know, not forgetting,

but not paying that off end of the month of course, tax on in, you know, interest and, and it becomes a bigger issue. Right. So, so I think for me, it's just focusing on just one debt at a time, of course, but just kind of stopping using the credit cards. I don't think it's out of control.

I think for me, knowing what I did at one point versus where I'm, now I can have grace and say, I've definitely made an improvement, but it's a scary factor if I don't wanna go backwards. Right. Yes. Yeah. So, you know, so that's where, you know, and I think for me too, is one of the courses that you did,

you had us write a letter to ourselves. And so, and I actually, I actually, I wasn't ready to know my number and how long it was gonna take in the beginning because I wasn't getting a secondary source of income. I am now I give plasma. Now that's what it seems to work for my schedule and where I live. So I give plasma,

which has been huge. My husband now gives plasma. So that's income that we get every week. Oh, awesome. To help us to pay off the debt, but I wasn't ready a while ago to figure out it felt too overwhelming to, to figure out how long that was gonna be. So I waited. So I wrote a letter to myself and I did the numbers.

And, you know, as of, you know, a year from now, I should be almost at free. So for me, it's like, okay, I can see the light and the tunnel. I just gotta get there and don't go backwards. Like that to me is like the biggest fear. Like I'm so close, but yet I'm not there yet.

So that's kind of where I can taste it, but don't mess it up. Yes. You know, that's, that's, That's great that you recognize that though, because now you can stop it and not go backwards. You know what I mean? So it's really great that you're cognizant of that. So let's talk, let's think about some strategies that kind of help you with that because,

you know, I'm assuming you don't wanna close the credit cards maybe for your credit score or, you know, whatever reason, like I'm not against credit cards. You know, I like to keep my options open or I'm not getting rid of any of my options in life. Right. Like I lo I need options. So, you know, no judgment there at all.

So is it that you need to maybe add in, even though you're, you're really focused on paying off debt, do you need to add in a little bit of money in your budget to give you a little bit of leeway when these things come up, so you don't feel guilty or do you need to put the credit cards where you can't use, 'em delete 'em out of,

you know, the saved in the clouds and all the things, you know, or maybe a combination of both. Yeah. I definitely think it's both for me. I definitely think, you know, removing it, like, you know, just not seeing it, you know, putting it somewhere safe, but also removing it, cuz it is so easy when it has,

when it's saved on your phone, I'm Android person. So it's saved on your phone, your Google, Hey. And you're like, Hey, no, I don't need that. So it just, I think it's, it's interesting because you make a couple of what you think a small purchase at the time, and then you realize like where your balance was and then where it is now.

You're like, dang, like Yep. How That's a big jump. Yeah. Like, you know, you honestly, you know, a thousand dollars went like that. Like, and I it's like really. And at the time I remember being able to justify good, bad and different the purchase for what I was doing, but you're like, okay,

we need to take pause. You know? And I think for me, just, just kind of taking a second is also important to you and just being, okay, let's think about this. Can we do something else? Does this have to be a, a monetary thing you're doing? Can this be something else? Just time? That's true. Yeah.

That's a good point. Now, do you have any money in your budget, a line item for fun or miscellaneous or anything like that? Or are you like every pennies going to debt with no flexibility? So I would say the only fun money that we have is date night. So I, instead of doing, I was doing paper cash envelopes, and then I since stopped because of COVID I was like mortified to go into the banks.

Yeah. Even though I worked for a bank, but I was mortified to go into a branch. I, I, I process payroll, but anyway, I was afraid to go into the thing. Not that I worked there, but I, I, I, I did work it short story is I I've done everything in banking and best what I now do.

I do payroll benefits. But anyway, so I was just afraid to go in the banks. We also kind of were discouraged to go into the banks bridges because anyway, so I'd go to the ATM and get, you know, luckily my, the bank I bank with could do twenties, tens and five so I could break it down. Yeah. That's so ING.

I know I Can only get twenties. I know. It's like, So luckily that was good. So that, that was great for a while and I love being able to count it and I'm a banker at heart. So for me, I'm like, yeah, I can keep my registered, blah, blah. But that turned into, I came across jelly,

which is like an online bank and I like it because that's what I use for my virtual cash. So anyway, so that story is, is that I have, the only fine money we really have is, is date. That's just one of the envelope spending. So, so much money a month and break it down, but paycheck, blah, blah,

blah, all that. And that's really it. Everything else is like, okay, I'm like Christmas, like all the necessary, you know, spending that I know I'm gonna need, you know, sinking funds. I'm just trying to look at the word sinking funds. And then everything else is like, Hey girl, you gotta get be under the grocery budget and you need to paying off,

you know, you need to be paying down this debt. So it's kind of, I want to do that because I want to pay it off quicker. But at the end, when you're going through that, it's, it's a little challenging. Right? Exactly. Exactly. So I would encourage you to maybe have a sinking fund for, oh, I'm trying to think of what you could call it.

You could call it giving, you could call it spontaneous spending and it doesn't have to be much, you know what I mean? Like, but if you have even just like 40 bucks in there, and then that way, if somebody, you know, that you know is going through a hard time, you wanna do something special for them. You have that money set aside and you don't have to feel guilty or put it on the credit card.

But I mean, things like that, they don't have to cost much, you know, even if you get 'em a card or some flowers, I mean, you're talking less than 10 bucks, maybe 15. So even if you just have like 40 bucks in there and then you don't have to worry about that. And then I would also, you know,

put the cards where it's not easy to justify and use them. Right. Because it sounds like you're kind of struggling with both, but I've been there. So I know that feeling of, I want every penny to go toward debt. I don't wanna put it on this, but life happens. And especially if you, you know, you have a year now,

if it was like just a couple of months, you know, I know at the last couple of months I was like cutting costs everywhere. I mean, like anything I could cuz you know, you see the light at the end of the tunnel and I don't have any doubt that you'll, you'll get there very quickly. I can just tell from, you know,

hearing you talk and everything and so know that you're still gonna get there. Even if you put a little money aside for those kind of special events that you wanna do something nice for somebody or, you know, you wanna say yes to something that you haven't already planned for. So I would encourage you to do that. How does that feel? No,

definitely. I think that's a really great idea. I think that's, you know, it needs to be a little bit less restrictive just for things like just for some things like this, you know, because you know, it's also, I think for me, I need to go back to, I'm realizing this as you're speaking is I need to go back to like tracking kind like a visual for me.

You know, I know what my, why is like, I know for me, I have a strong enough why to say that, you know, we're gonna remodel our home now and make it bigger. So like that's what I want. So I just need to like get to that point to where we can make those decisions and kind of move forwards towards that big goal.

So I think for me, just like keeping the momentum going and like remembering your wise of course report, but also like seeing like, okay, what debt am I working on? Promise yourself, you're working on one debt at a time. But like, I think for me visually seeing the balance go down visually, not just like on the, you know,

the website, seeing it and how I'm marking down physically, I'm recognizing I've paid this much off debt this much off debt. You know, I think I did that for my student loans. And that was, it felt like they, once they started doing that, it went like that. Why don't do that for a credit card? I have no idea cuz my student loan balances were way more than my credit card balances.

So, you know, That's okay. That, okay, so that could be your one small action for the next 24 hours is to print off a visual. There are some, you know, the different visuals inside the debt payoff made easy course, which I believe you've got and there are, there is one for credit cards if you wanna use that one.

So that could be your one small action print off the tracker and get it put up somewhere on your fridge or you know, on your desk or somewhere. So you've got that visual. And I would personally just because I like to feel like I've accomplished something, start with your starting balance and fill it in. Don't start with your balance today. Cuz then it'll feel like you haven't done anything.

So put a, put your starting balance and fill it in. So you feel like, yes, this is how much I've done already. I know it feels like cheating, but it's not Fair enough. Fair enough. Does that sound good? Is that yes. Does that sound like something you can do in the next 24 hours? Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely. That's awesome. I feel good about that. I'm so freaking excited to see you knock this dead out in the next year. And I hope that by giving yourself a little bit more flexibility in your budget, that you can get rid of that guilt and shame that you're, you know, you might still be dealing with some, it sounds like you've kind of,

you know, moved past a lot of that, but you know, if you take these steps now then you, you know, hopefully won't feel that at all. And you know, if you've got that money left, once you get closer, like a month or two months left, then if you haven't used it, you could go ahead and put it towards your debt.

So it's not even taking away from your debt just by having it there. And if you build some of it up, cuz that's kind of what I did. Like we had money set aside for our HVAC system cuz we knew it was going out and we were gonna have to replace it. And then by the time I think it was like the last month.

Once I had my student loans down to what we had in savings for the HVAC, I went ahead and paid it off. Cuz I knew we would have a couple more months. Like it would still get along. Cause I think we were only having issues with it either in the winter or the summer. I think it was the winter. And so I knew I had a few more months I could save up.

And so I just went ahead and did that. So you could do this, you know, keep that in mind too. If you put some money aside for like, you know, these extra things that pop up and you end up not needing it or you've got some money there, you know, when you get closer to the end, you can kinda make it go a little bit faster that might help help with the mindset a little bit.

No, absolutely. No, absolutely. Do you have any other questions for me before we wrap up? No, I think I, I think that's it. I think just more or less just I needed this to kind of reamp and re excite myself to kind of remotivate myself. So I think I'm good for questions. Awesome. Well thank you so much for being with us today and sharing your story cuz I know it's gonna help inspire other people and we will have you back on to do an update when you are debt free and then we can dive deep into that.

Cause I can't wait to share that like full story. Perfect. I would love that. That'd be awesome. All right. Well thank you so much. Thank you to Marie for sharing her story and her journey with us. I cannot wait to see and talk to her when she is fully paid off her debt. Now don't forget, you can sign up for your own budget strategy session@budgetsmadeeasy.com

slash strategy. And if you love this episode, don't forget to follow along and share it with anyone you think might enjoy it as well. I'll talk to you guys soon.