Welcome to the Money Mindset Podcast. I am Ashley, the founder and creator of Budgets Made Easy in the Money Mindset Podcast. And here we love to share realistic tips and stories and you know, strategies to manage your finances and pay off debt without being extreme and running yourself into the grounds. I am excited to share Christine's story with you today. Now I'm really curious.

Let me know, send me a message on Instagram. Could you live without a car for a couple months during the wintertime? Well, that is exactly what Christine and her husband are doing. They're being extremely intentional with what they are doing and why they are doing it. And you know, they have a unique situation where they are able to at least get by for now while they work on paying off debt and make a plan and save money for when they can afford another car.

Now, I know this would be difficult for most of us to do, but it is important to kind of think outside the box. Sometimes when you are struggling, you get behind and you really need to get caught up drastic times call for drastic measures, right? So I am so thankful to Christine for reaching out and wanting to share her journey with you.

Like she contacted me, wanted to share with you to help inspire you and show you that you can pay off debt and you can get cut up on your bills. And so, and she's, you know, she knows she's doing something, you know, that most people wouldn't do. But what I want you to take away from this episode is her mindset cuz you know,

this is the Money Mindset podcast, right? And that is really what is important. And I think that you can take away from this episode, even if you're like, no Ashley, there's no way I could ever live without a car. I don't blame you. I couldn't either. Like, I don't even live close enough to the store to walk like I live out in the middle of woods.

So there's, and I have little kids, you know, her situation is different. But what I really want you to focus on is not necessarily that she's living without a car, but her mindset around it. So let me know what you think, tag me on Instagram and of course if you'd like to come join me on the Money Mindset podcast, share your journey or just get some helpful advice with something that you're struggling with,

go to budgets made easy.com/strategy and sign up for a time to come and join me. Now keep in mind if you sign up, you really need to show up, okay? So sign up and show up and we will share your journey and help inspire others. All right, here we go. Hi Christine, thank you so much, much for being on the Money Mindset podcast with us today.

Hi, thank you for having me. Absolutely. And you are here because you wanna share your journey because you know, I love to share debt payoff stories because you know, there's little bits and pieces of everybody's journey that somebody else may be able to relate to and get inspiration and motivation from. So I love that you reached out and wanted to share your story.

I'm like so excited to hear it. I haven't even heard it. So this will be the first time I hear it too. We're, I'm excited to kinda, you know, see kinda what you're doing and what, what we can do to kinda have people relate to your journey as well. And of course if there's anything that you wanna talk about that you're struggling with or would like some feedback on,

we can cover that as as well. But, so let us know a little bit about yourself, your background and kinda what you've been doing with your finances. Okay, well I am married for 25 years. My husband, he works as a material handler in a distribution center. And I work from home. I work for a company called Densely. I take phone calls for dental products for customer service.

So we've been working home from home since 2020, since Covid. So, and we had two vehicles that we actually got at the same time back in 2015. Our both of our vehicles kind of went on the, that side and we had to get two vehicles, well the one we had too, the other one we didn't really have to, but we decided that it was,

we wanted to, so we were struggling with that cuz I have fibromyalgia so I had a lot of sickness over the years and everything. I lost a lot of work and whatever else and we just decided that we were going to actually sell my husband's truck. He had a Toyota Tundra and then I had a Dodge journey and with me working from home and with the price of gas and everything,

we decided in February that we were gonna sell his truck because it just set us on anyway. It wasn't, we weren't using it, I mean with the price of gas, he was using my car anyway and it just didn't, we were just like, we're just gonna get rid of one of our vehicles. So we sold it to a dealership and everything and we actually got more than what we owed on it and we put some,

yeah, we already put some cash towards some things and pay off a couple of things and then we were doing okay. And then a couple of months ago, something kind of our, both our kids, well our daughter is 24, she's married now and she's expecting in April actually. And then our son, he moved out with his girlfriend in like August,

September timeframe. So we don't have any kids in the house anymore. But back in July there was kinda like a life changing thing that happened. I'm not gonna go into detail or anything but kind what happened and kind of, we went back in debt a little bit cause I was, had to lose work and my husband lost work and we got behind on the car and different things that we got behind on and we just were doing the best that we could do and everything while in like the beginning of October we had our car repossessed.

So right now we don't have any vehicle at all. We've been having a lot of help from church. Our family doesn't really understand. They really don't. I mean they're learning but they don't understand. But our church family has been like amazing and they've been helping us with to get here and there with, with taking my husband to work. My husband's name is Mike for taking him to work and bringing him home and he's been able to work some overtime and we've been doing that.

And as far as the grocery store, sometimes we walk, sometimes we actually walk to the store and we've done that a couple of times. We do have sometimes family that will take us. The other day we were gonna go up to this one, we were gonna go to BJ's and I had my, my backpack and my husband had his backpack and we're just like,

okay, we're just gonna get what we want. We're just gonna get do this. You know, we just dress warm and stuff. And we walked up the street and our neighbors were outside and we're talking to them and here they ended up taking us and picking us up, taking, bringing us back home. So That was nice. Yeah, they offered.

So yeah, it's been, we just decided that right now. So we've been without our cars since the beginning of October and we're not gonna get another car until February or March timeframe Through the winter. All right. Yeah, we just, I mean live in Pennsylvania right now, the weather's kind of warm so it's not too bad. But, so we just have goals to meet and we're getting things paid off and everything.

December we just decided that we're not gonna do it in Christmas. My sister just actually talked to me and we're just like, you know, she wanted know about Christmas Eve and she said, are we doing, I'm like, no, cuz I asked our son and he said No, just save your money. Just don't even bother. So I mean they're older,

they're in their twenties so they don't really, they're older anyway, yeah. So we just decided that we're not doing any gifts this year and that we're just gonna, so we're, my husband works a lot of overtime. He actually has another part-time job as well, which he's not working that right now because it's seasonal and there's not really that many events going on.

But once he does that and then we figure in February, March timeframe we'll get another car. But then we have friends of ours that actually they've been like amazing therefore our church and they've been amazing. Like they, they come to pick us up for church and we only live like two minutes away from our church anyway. But they come to pick us up and they'll take us to like small groups because the small group actually is at their house.

So they come and pick us up and they take us places and the one guy that my husband works with that takes them to work and everything and back, he wasn't working cuz my husband has a friend holidays where he can work and he gets like triple time Nice. So he doesn't wanna holidays. So friends of ours actually the one guy that takes him,

he wasn't working on that Friday after Thanksgiving. So friends of ours picked him up and took him to work and brought him back home. Well anyway, the same friends of ours right now they're on vacation and they called us like a week ago and said We're gonna lend you one of our cars for two weeks. Nice. So Have a car that we're using right now and it's a Nissan which is just like a little car car.

But we love it. Like we're like we, well my husband wanted to get a Toyota Tacoma but we know that isn't in our budget right now and even when we do get one in February of March, that's not gonna be in our budget cause we don't wanna have a high car payment. We know we're gonna have to have a car payment, but we don't wanna have any.

And the main thing is that we don't wanna have any bills except for our normal bills that we have to have like our rent in our utilities. We don't wanna have any other bills. So we're paying all them off except for one that we may still have, but that's gonna be ongoing for a couple years. But we're just trying to get everything paid off now and,

but this is a Nissan Juke and we wanted to get like a Honda Accord. We don't want the Honda anymore. We want a Nissan. Well that's nice. So tell us a little bit more about why you're waiting until February or March because I mean you live in Pennsylvania, the, the winters get cold, you get snow. So tell me, tell us a little bit about your mindset and why.

Because you know your family's probably like why are you walking and doing all this stuff, right? But you are staying focused on your goals. So tell us more about your goals between now and then. Well right now we just have like, we got behind on rent because of some life happening and like we're getting caught up next week, be entirely caught up with rent.

Awesome. We're getting utilities called up and we're getting like we had to buy a washer and dryer all one time. We had to buy that back in October or September. Actually it was right around September. Both our washer dryer dryer went out. Wow. And so we have that to pay off and it's only like, it's not very much but we wanna get that paid off and we just wanna have a car payment right now we just wanna have our normal bills and then once we have things paid and just our rent and our utilities,

then we're gonna get a car and we're hoping to have a couple thousand dollars down too. Nice. So that it reduce amount of our car payment. We want like to do it cash but that's not gonna be possible. I mean not February, March. Yeah like our grand April. So we wanted to be sure that we have a car you know,

before that. So we figured February, March timeframe is when we wanna get a car but so Great. So tell me about before you had this life event that got you behind financially, what were you working on then? Were you still paying off debt or did like kind of what was your focus and mindset then? No, not really. We weren't paying off debt,

we were just kinda spending, weren't really, you know, but you know, bucking our belt or anything, we were just kind of just doing, you know, we were just kind of paying what we had to and like we were going out to eat and stuff and not really thinking about what we're spending or anything. Sorry, I was chopping up thought I had on my glasses.

We were just not really watching our spending. And now we're like, we know that this is, and couple couple and I mean I, I hope I can say this, which I, I'm gonna say we're very spiritual so we rely on God for everything and back in like 2020 we would've, we actually had the money that we, that we could have paid everything off.

We could have paid everything off, we could have been debt free but we decided to have a huge Christmas and to spend money and not even think about it but we're like, okay, well if we would've paid off things at that time we would've learned our lesson like we do now. Like this has been a real hard, hard life lesson but we're coming out of it.

So like today is one of my best days that I've had. I'm actually like happy today. I've been having to push myself recently and just struggling and, but today is like a really good day And so, but we're, we're getting there so I'm glad to hear that. Like I'm glad that you today was a good day cuz you know there's gonna be highs and lows and you know,

that's just the way life is. Right? So did you have a like aha moment? Of course you don't have to talk about the details around the life event but, but was it that event or was it something else that you're like, we've gotta make a change and you've just like had that moment like okay this is what we're gonna do. Yeah,

well we struggled for a lot of years with the car. Like we knew that we were upside down in it for a very, very long time and we were kind of like, oh we try to trade it in. I don't, so many times we try to trade it in and we kept getting, no, no, no, no, no.

And we're like, okay well I guess we're supposed to keep it then we'll just keep it. And you know, I mean we should have had it paid off like a couple years ago. But because of me being sick and everything and having extensions, it extended that in. No, we had like a lot of money that we still had to pay on it and stuff.

And so when it got ticket away that was our aha moment. We're like okay. Basically God said okay, you're not gonna listen so I'm gonna do this. And now we're like, okay, so now we're being obedient. So do you have a, because you're gonna get another, you know, loan for the, the new to you car next year cuz you're gonna need a car.

And so what is your longer term debt payoff goal? Like do you have, are you going keep staying focused and get the car paid off as soon as you can or are you gonna save or like kind of, cuz once you reach a goal it's really important to have another goal to focus on cuz otherwise you kinda get distracted. We don't want this ever to happen again.

And we're hoping that we can teach others as well. Cause like we've always been, we wanna deal be like financial counselors, like Christian counselors and so this is kind of like okay, you know people tell us, you know, oh you're gonna have like a great testimony and everything and so we're just kind of just plugging along and it's, it's really helped having this car that that our friend us use,

we're like, you know, we feel like it's ours. Maybe they'll sell it to you That kinda people that they would but I don't, we don't wanna be getting assumptions or anything. Yeah. But like my husband's like it like it's our car. Like this is nice. But yeah it's kind like, you know we kind wanted a Honda and we're like no we like this.

Well that's awesome and I love that you have such a positive attitude about something that would be, I mean I know it's hard but it would be hard mentally as well as physically for a lot of people listening. And so just your mindset around it and your attitude around it I think is going to help kind of of push other people as well. And like you said,

it's gonna be a great testimony for at some point whenever you wanna start helping others with their finances and you're already helping people here listening so I appreciate you sharing your story. Now I do usually ask people, and I didn't warn you this, but I feel like you probably have a good answer. I like to ask people what their favorite book is and it doesn't have to be finance related.

So I'm really curious if you have a book that you really love that's like self-development or just you know, kind of improving your life or your finances that you'd recommend for other people to read. Well right now we're reading God, where are you? Cuz we know that we're in the wilderness season and that's what that book is about. It's really, really good.

Like our pastor, like we were, we bought, we bought the book from our church like a couple years ago, but we only bought one copy and then we were taking a course and we were talking to our pastor and he was like, you know, talking to him about the situation and everything, he's like, well I need to give you,

I wanna give you another copy and I want you to read it and again and really dig into and it's like until you get to like four chapter four or five, it kind of gets into like, you know, the nitty, the deep stuff and it's kind like, oh okay, this is where we're at and stuff. So that would probably be the book that we really,

really like. That's a great recommendation. Now one more thing that I just thought of. Has anyone, you know, because when you're doing something that's unusual outside of the norm, you of course get the comments about, you know, that people make you think you're crazy for doing this. So I'm sure you've had some of those comments, but have you had anybody tell you anything or have any things that you've read or you know that just really struck a chord with you to help you stay going and motivated?

Like has anybody been like really supportive and like said something to you that was like, oh that's what I needed to hear right now? Yeah, well I don't know about, I mean, yeah, you know, there's different people from our church that they've been really, really supportive and like I, like I said the, the couple that led us,

their car and stuff and yeah, they, and actually there's two different people that actually they've had stories that they're like, you know, you'll get through this and you'll have a great testimony and everything. So yeah, yeah, family doesn't really understand. I mean they're getting there. Like I was just talking to our daughter the other day and I was telling her that we planned to get a car in February or March and before she wasn't real receptive about it and she was like,

it's okay, take your time. She said, you know, cars will be there, you know, just take care of what you need to do first. And so yeah, things are changing so it's good. It's good. So, Well thank you for sharing and you know, like being open to sharing your journey. Is there anything that you want somebody listening to take away from your journey and your story?

Like something that they can remember from this episode Does that you can do what you need to get done in order to reach your goals? Because you know, like, like you said, a lot of people, they wouldn't walk, they wouldn't walk to the store, they wouldn't, you know, they wouldn't do that kind of stuff. But we know we have to because we on paper,

we can't really afford to have a car right now. We're gonna be back in the same place we were before and we don't want that, we want, you know, to have room that we're able to, okay, we can definitely afford this. We have money left over after all our bills and that'll be in February or March. So just, you know,

it's hard. It's, it's, it's, it's not easy. It's hard. It is really, really hard. Like we, my husband and I were saying, you know, that even probably some pastors wouldn't even do what we did because you know, our, I mean and yeah we don't like it, you know, but we have to do it.

I mean, you know, if we don't, we're gonna be in the same place and we don't wanna do that. So we have to just push through this time and just know that, you know, it's December so we have what, two or three months yet and I work from home so that's the plus. Yeah. You know, if from home then it would be a little bit different.

But I work from home so, and you know, like I said, the guy that takes my husband to to and from work, he works the same hours and you know, he works the overtime too so it's not really a big a deal and we're trying to stock pile up on groceries so that we have things and just the two of us. So it's like we have any kids need to provide for we,

you know, sell, but we're just doing what we had to do and we know that it'll be better in the end. Well thank you for sharing. I appreciate you the, you taking the time to share your journey with us today and I can't wait to have you back once you kinda get through this season so that you can share more of your journey once you I'll get there.

Sorry about that. My husband tried to call me and I was like, ah, That's okay. I was like, well what happened? But thank you for sharing and keep us updated. Like I wanna know how things go and kinda where you guys are at especially you know, next year whenever you get a new car and kind of start working on paying that off too.

Yep, yep, definitely. I'll let you know, I cannot wait to hear the rest of her journey so I'm so thankful that she came on to share her testimony as she called it and her journey with her finances because I know it's gonna help, you know, really inspire and you know, motivate a lot of you to, you know, think outside the box like maybe you can't live without a car but what can you do that you're like,

people are gonna think I'm crazy. Like I would never have thought to even do that to help pay off debt. But I bet you there's some things that you can do to help pay off debt that you know might be a little extreme to other people but maybe not as extreme to you. So let me know if you love this episode, please leave us a five star review,

leave me some kind of words on there as well. So I know you left a review and I appreciate you guys. I hope you have a great rest of your week and I will talk to you soon.