00:00:00	In today's budget strategy session. We are talking with Cindy who has worked with me for the past couple of years, and we really talk about the importance of not quitting quitting, so not giving up and to keep going. And we talk about, you know, getting organized time-blocking those types of things to try and get on track. And I will apologize for the audio a little bit.
00:00:27	There's some breaking up. And I think that I did not have the correct microphone on it cause I am a quieter than she is, but it was such a good interview. I still wanted to share with you because I know that you can relate to Cindy's journey. So just wanted to apologize for that real quick. Also, if you want to sign up for your own budget strategy session,
00:00:52	go to budgets, made easy.com/strategy. Welcome to the money mindset podcast. We'll 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.
00:01:21	I'm Ashley, Patrick X detective turned debt-free CEO of my fairy owned business and stay at home mom of three, not too long ago. My dreams of staying at home with my kids seem to possible. I thought I'd have to stay miserable in a high stress in demanding job, just so I could retire someday. After gaining the confidence in my own ability to manage my family's finances and a simple step-by-step plan to make it happen.
00:01:46	I was able to pay off $45,000 in just 17 months, which then allowed me to finally quit my jobs, 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,
00:02:07	mistakes, and tackle your debt, this is the place for you. Let's get started. Now, you and I have talked a lot over the past two years, so why, but, and I know a lot about your situation, but the listeners may not. So can you just give us a quick overview about yourself and maybe what you're struggling with with your finances?
00:02:29	And we can kind of try and narrow it down to one thing, because I know that we've talked about many different things over the years. So this let us know a little bit about yourself. Okay. I'm married. I have two kids, 24 year old social worker and a 23 year old son with autism who keeps me happy. I'm Dennis stay at home mom,
00:02:55	mom now for about 11 years. And so I could be home for John when he needed me, but I do have a side hustle of selling Sensi. And I'm in the progress. I was just explaining to you before we started that for the last seven years. Really it's been more of a hobby I've I haven't taken it as seriously as I should have for business.
00:03:18	And so I've decided that I need to make that transition from hobby consultant to business consultant, and I'm doing some trainings for that. And, and things like that. I started out, I don't remember my exact numbers. I had signed up with you like two and a half years ago and just kind of muddled through. And I I'd sit in on some of the trainings and that I wouldn't finish that training.
00:03:48	So the next time it was offered, I'd sit in on that training. And it wasn't for about a year, the following year in January, everyone's new year's resolutions. I said, okay, I've got to do this. I have to get a budget because my son had gone to college. I have parent plus loans. I need to figure out how I'm going to pay when they come due.
00:04:10	They had been stalled during COVID. So I really needed to get serious about getting rid of debt. And so I was more diligent with coming to zoom sessions and things. I did get rid of a good chunk of it this spring. It had to get inched up again. My mother-in-law was in the hospital and different things we had to pay for. So I back to being higher than what I want to my debt ratio thing,
00:04:42	I think is like 60 instead of 30. So I need to get that, but brought back down, my taxes will be filed on Sunday. The last four or five years it's been, I've had the extension and it goes until October 15th, that I'm right at that October 15th. And I swore it was not going to happen again. So I meeting with our tax guy Sunday.
00:05:10	I am proud of you. So that's one struggle. Yes, it was October 15th and Devin, August this time I have a few things I just need to clear up. I'm going to do after we were done here, few extra figures I have to pull for them. But other than that, I think I'm set. So then I can pay off some of the debt.
00:05:35	Yay. And get kind of back on, on your routine. So touch on something, because I know a lot of people can relate that, you know, you were with me for like a year and kinda, you know, in and out. And then, then you started doing things and you made a lot of progress and that's really, really,
00:05:57	and so I just want to commend you for keep showing up for continuing to show up. And really, since that year in January, when you really recommitted, like you are showing up to like all my zoom calls and all my trainings And even repeating the training Is good. Cause you know the terms, I say different things, But that, it just kind of keeps me on task and accountable.
00:06:25	Yes. You know what I'm able to just hop on, you know, you know, especially if dance, my husband's at work, you know, as long as John is quiet, I can mute myself and at least I can listen, you know? Exactly. But I've really, you don't have a lot of people do that with me. They'll like,
00:06:46	cause you really have to be mentally ready to handle your finances. And a lot of people, you know, they know they should. And so they kind of tip their toe in the water, you know, dip their toe in the water a little bit and kind of buy, you know, a spreadsheet or planner and they just kind of checking it out and it does take time sometimes.
00:07:07	So give yourself that grace and give yourself that time to really get there. And because this Mentally, When you're starting out, it's hard for me, it was hard for me to kind of see the whole picture when I was getting things like in chunks and like, okay, so where's this leading. So that's part of how some of it I needed to do repeated time so I could see,
00:07:33	okay, so I got through this and oh, now this is how this fits together. And this is how this fits together. You know, I still do my pretty much pen and paper. I don't use the spreadsheet, but I have my Quicken that categorizes everything in OCD. Yeah. And that's great. You know, it's really about figuring out what works for you.
00:07:58	So what would you tell somebody that is in your situation like they're listening, they're kind of taking it in, but they haven't really started yet. You know? And we're in that situation, just like your, I guess it would be, well, the, the old saying when back in, I don't know, seventies, eighties when the big thing was to quit smoking and they always said,
00:08:26	don't quit quitting if you quit and then you start back. Okay, fine. You started back, but get back to quitting again. So this is kind of the opposite, you know, had, like you said, dip your toe in, start getting familiar with the lingo, whatever. And then for me, I work better in larger chunks of time.
00:08:51	If I only have an hour to do something and it's a big project, I don't even want to start it. You know? So it took me having recommitted, you know, that January, because last January I swore I wasn't going to have taxes in October, but we both know I did, but that was my goal was to get organized with my finances and get stuff paid off and get my taxes done earlier.
00:09:22	You know? So it took me all of last year really to get myself organized enough, you know, and by, I think it was by August last year I had a good chunk of my larger bills, pretty much paid off. And so the bills that I had were 0% interest on my care account or 0% on something else or my very low key lock loan,
00:09:48	you know? So they were all lower interest now with what I had to do this spring, I was using regular credit cards. So those interest rates are higher. So those, that's what I want to get knocked out. And it's not a whole lot. It's like two, I think, two or 3000 on one card and a couple on another.
00:10:08	So it's not horrible, but I also need to be in a position that I guess we'll see today, starting in January or February having to pay back the student loans for my son's college. So I have to be in a position, be in a position for three, $400 a month on that, which I'm not in that position right now. So,
00:10:35	But you're making a lot of progress. And even with what happened in the spring and kind of getting off track, you've got a plan. You didn't quit. You had a plan you're still going and you're going to get your tax refund earlier this year than you did last year, which is awesome. So that'll help you kind of get back on track as well and know like you have the knowledge,
00:10:58	you know, what you need to do is just a matter of, you know, getting all the pieces together so that you can get it. Yeah. And something that helped me like the spring when we were dealing with stuff with my mother-in-law was to have had all of my bills on an auto-pay, whether I had it set up to where my bank paid it to the company or the company pulled it from my account.
00:11:25	Cause I have them set up both ways depending on what they are and, and whatnot. So where I was like once a month, once every two months at the latest I would go through and verify if the S the payments being made was the right amount. Can I lower it with making an extra payment on it? Could I lower it a little bit?
00:11:48	So I had extra cash and I would do things like that or to apply it somewhere else. And I was doing that all of last year, but then in January, what, I just didn't have time or mind space to do that. At least I knew my bills were being paid. So I didn't have to worry about that part. It was just the leftover quote,
00:12:14	unquote cash in my account for living on for two weeks. And that's where I was falling short and would have to use the credit cards, or we had to pay for something for mom. And I used my credit card, you know, a thousand dollars for moving her to, and from independent living, it had to be done and she didn't want to be there.
00:12:38	So I couldn't really say mom fork over a thousand dollars. So we paid it and absorbed it. So that's part of taking care of her, And you've got a plan to, you know, get caught back up on that. And so, you know, those, that's one of the things that you can't really play in for you didn't expect that.
00:13:00	And so, you know, you're getting caught back up and you've got your T you know, you gotta focus on the wins, even though you had it set back in the spring. So what do you feel like is your kind of like your biggest struggle right now? I know we talk a lot and I do know that you're a lot like me,
00:13:23	you know, we procrastinate and overthink things and want to do everything like the right way, you know? And I'm constantly telling myself as well as you know, that there is no right way, you know, figuring out what works for you. So what do you feel like is kind of like your biggest struggle that is keeping you, you know, stuck or behind?
00:13:45	I mean, you've made a ton of progress, so I don't want to like negate any of the progress you've made because you've made a lot. But what do you feel like that we could maybe talk about and create some action steps today that your struggling with, You know, everyone will tell me I'm an organized person. That's only on the outside and when I'm with other people.
00:14:07	Okay. And I have awesome ideas, but I suck at implementation. Okay. And that is across the board. And that's why my struggle with Sensi as a hobby, moving it to the business side, because I'm not, I'm not a routine person, I'm not a consistent person. And that's just, it's kind of one of my goals to get more so like that.
00:14:36	And so like just scheduling time and then sticking to it, you know? And I can never remember what the, the system is that you talk about, where you set the clock for a half hour and you work for a half hour, and then you take a break and then, you know what I'm talking about?<inaudible> session, That's it? I can never remember that word,
00:15:01	but I was actually, I actually was doing that before I started working with you. I don't know where I just, I never heard the name. I just would cut it down into, oh, I know what it was. It was from fly lady years ago when I used to follow fly lady. And she'd say, you can do anything for 15 minutes,
00:15:25	you know, for cleaning and stuff. So I just kind of, I usually do it to a half hour because like I said, I can't, if I only have 15 minutes or a half hour to do something, I'm not going to start it. Right. Unless I have it planned that way, you know? So I'm listening to like, yeah,
00:15:47	It's like, oh, I just, I don't have enough time to do that. But what I have found that helps me and you will, you're probably doing some of this, if not all of it, but I have gotten better with this, with my planner and making sure I have these little daily sheets, and this is a weekly sheet, but you know,
00:16:07	my top, oh, you can't even see it. There we go. So there's like the top three for the day. So it's broken down for must do, should do, would like to do so. That has helped me a lot in that. Okay. If I have 15 minutes, what on my lists, can I actually get done in 15?
00:16:23	Cause if I don't have it kind of broken up that way, I am like so scattered. And I'm like, okay, well now what do I need to do? Like, what can I get done in 15 minutes? Oh, I can't do that. You know what I mean? And so when I have like a specific list of things and usually there's way more on my list than I can get done,
00:16:43	just in case I have little pockets of time that like, oh, I could get that done real quick. Yeah. I have a similar one, very similar that I use. I don't know if I can do this with the blurriness there. So it's half the date. And then here is time, time slots. Okay. So like eight in the morning,
00:17:09	till eight at night or something like that. And then over here is my to-do lists. So things that I want to try to accomplish, I can write here. There's a place for top three priorities, Even a place for meals. Okay. For the day, a place to track the water intake and then just notes. So especially like last year I used this a lot and it was able to,
00:17:40	I could plug in the dates or the times rather than I had an appointment or had to pick John up or whatever it was. And then I had my list of things that I needed to get done, no place in order for Sensi, you know, write a letter to this one, whatever. And then I would go back. And especially when he's at school,
00:18:04	I have free time from like seven 30 in the morning until three 30 in the afternoon, unless I have errands to do. And I try to do errands all on one day, if I can get away with it. Yeah. So that from there, I would go through and say, okay, so shower, breakfast, whatever, start the day at nine o'clock or eight 30 or whatever,
00:18:30	and then block off an hour and decide I'm going to do since he here. And I'm going to do finance here or whatever. And that's, I guess that's where I really need to start refocusing. And, but in addition to that, I feel like I probably need to actually set dates days of the week for certain things. I was just gonna mention that because that has helped me a lot too.
00:19:02	I think I heard it originally from Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. I don't know if you're familiar with her, but yeah, because it's hard for your brain to switch tasks that aren't like related. So like Monday is kind of my admin day. I reply to emails and like catch up on Facebook messages and comments and all those types of things.
00:19:23	And so like, if you can set a day where it's like, okay, this day, I'm only doing Sensi this day, I'm only doing finance. And I think that if you break it down a little more, I know we've talked about this too. Like smaller action steps, because if I have on my list, oh, I need to deal with finance today.
00:19:41	Then I have to think about, okay, well, what does that mean? Like, what do I actually need to do? Or Sensi, okay, well, you need to work on Cincy, but what exactly do you need to do? Like what? And break it down into like smaller action steps. So one, you get the win. I love,
00:19:57	I'm sure you probably do too. I just love crossing things off my list. And so the smaller things you put on there, the more you get across off, and the more you feel like you actually got something done. Right. But if you have like a big project on there and then it's like, well, you didn't get it done. And so you don't feel like you got anything accomplished,
00:20:15	but you really did get, you know, several of the things done under that big project. So I think maybe breaking things down even smaller will help you along with like a day, like, okay, this like Friday, I like to run errands. Well, used to be Friday, I guess it's kind of Thursday. Now my, my schedule get changed.
00:20:35	So like, you know, one day for errands, one day for Cincy, one day for finance, you know, and you know, I, I'm not very good at like blocking my time. Like this hour, I'm going to do this specific thing, but like, I'll do a block of like, okay, I'm working. And then like,
00:20:52	I have my list of things to like do that day, but not specifically, unless I have appointments, you know what I mean? So other than that, so that might be helpful for you. So you're not having to like, okay, this hour I'm doing Scentsy, but then the next hour I'm doing finance cause in your brain has to like switch the way.
00:21:09	Right? Yeah. And that's the one thing with the Sensi. What I, in order to make my business a business now I kind of need to do at least some stuff every day with Sensi. But as I'm learning these new programs, these two new apps I was telling you about one is for posting things to my VIP page. As I get that automated,
00:21:32	I can spend Saturday or Sunday or whatever day I just designate to set those up for the week. Exactly. And then they're going to automatically post. So I need to just do any follow ups. If I have orders, I need to enter someone I need to contact to see if they're still thinking about ordering or whatever, little or things every day,
00:22:00	you know, if an order comes in is delivered, then I need to take that day or the next day to unpack it, package things off. So those dates will fluctuate. And you could do, sorry. It just popped in my mind. So those like little things that you have to do, you could, you could time block that. So like,
00:22:21	okay. At nine o'clock, I'm going to check if I have any orders, 10 o'clock, I'm going to respond to comments. You know, that type of stuff. Since that'll be a little bit quicker and you can check that off real quick. Yeah. Send out, thank you notes, you know, all that kind of stuff. So this I've been thinking about it and still maybe an eight 30 to 10 30 type,
00:22:38	like a two block two hour block. And if I don't need it all, I move on to the next thing, you know, but now since I have my taxes done and I have my bank statements all caught up to July 31st of this year. So I don't have to do January through July next year. I've I'm caught up. So now my goal is to,
00:23:05	I have to look at the calendar, but I'm thinking maybe the first Friday of the month spending the two or three hours or however long, it's gonna take me to do the statement for the month before, because I should have the bank statements by the first Friday, if not that I'm moving to the second Friday or whenever I can do it so I can keep caught up because that's always my biggest downfall because it's so tedious.
00:23:37	But if I do it every month, like you're supposed to balance a checkbook. Like I learned in my olden days from my mom though, teller bank teller, it would be so bad And It take it Every month. You would need two hours. Yeah. I still need to go back and do some re categorizing on my main account, but my business account and my bill account are up to date with that.
00:24:05	So, and that's really all I needed right now for taxes. So I, I did a little bit of a down and dirty cheat thing there, but they're all balanced. So I know how much it's supposed to be in my account. But so that's one of my goals. And one of my, I guess, actions is to set up that date.
00:24:27	And then when the bank statements come take care of it now September, the first Friday is a second. So it's going to have to be the second one because I won't have my bank statements. Yeah, sure. So, Okay. So I was just going to ask you what your one small action that you can do in the next 24 hours is so do you want to go ahead and put like an appointment in your calendar for that second Friday in September to remind you to do that?
00:24:58	That's something you can do in the next 24 hours. Yes. I can do that. What's your reminder in there, or block off the time already, because you already know you can't do it the first Friday. Really? The second Friday would probably be a good one to just routinely do, because you know that every second Friday you'll have it. So you don't have the bank statements instead of trying to do the first and then that way you don't feel like,
00:25:24	oh, well I can't do it this week. Cause I don't have it yet. Just said, just go ahead and put it in your mind that you're going to do it the second. All right. So that's your one small action is put it on the calendar to do it. And you know what? Next year we're going to throw a party because you are going to get your taxes done before April 15th,
00:25:44	you are going to get it, You know, with, if I can stay on top of my statements for the next was August, September, October, November, five months. If I can get, if I can say on top of those, the next five months I can do April 15th, Can you can, you're going to do it this year.
00:26:02	You're getting better and better. And that's what people really need to hear is you don't have to be perfect. You're not going to wake up tomorrow, a completely different person. You know what I mean? But you are making progress last year was October. This year is August. So next year is going to be, you know, maybe may, maybe we should shoot for may,
00:26:22	but I have faith for April, but you know, But you know, and, and I guess that would be one takeaway. I would tell people is no one, like you said, no, one's perfect. No system is perfect. And you've got to give yourself that grace to not be perfect too. Like I said, that first year I'd make a little bit of progress and I'd kind of learn a little bit and then I wouldn't do anything.
00:26:51	And then I'd hop on another one of your training things and okay, I can do this. And then I fall off the wagon again, you know, but it took me that whole year. I know someone commented on one of our, our sessions here in the last couple of weeks that they had signed up and had been signed up for, I think a year and hadn't done anything.
00:27:09	And I'm like me, that's me Time actually. Yeah. So I'm like, it's, it's common. It's very common. Yeah. Yeah. So, but I have a second action I'm going to do today or tomorrow. I need to get back to evaluating my bills to make sure what the amounts are and get that there. The dates are all right.
00:27:39	I just need to see where if I have extra money or where I need to save money and take down to the minimum payment. So the extra event pain or whatever, until I kind of get things straightened around again. And I, cause I haven't been doing that and I've just kind of left it. And so I need to get the, the calculator debt calculator out and plug everything in.
00:28:07	And I don't go by avalanche. I don't go by snowball. I do a combination. Yeah. I usually will knock out if I have one that's only a couple hundred dollars, I'll knock it out. And then I look at the larger ones and if there are zero interests, like a couple of minor, they'd go down to bottom because as long as I make my minimum on those,
00:28:27	I'm good. And then the other ones, I try to start making extra payments, extra amounts. So the other thing let's, let's break it down. So it's a little bit more clear for your to-do lists and your action steps. Are you talking about your debt or all your bills? I usually cause I haven't done it in a while. I'll probably do all of them.
00:28:54	Cause what I'll do is block off like a good portion of the day. Okay. So I can concentrate on that one thing and get up. Cause I haven't been marking them on my calendar here the last couple of months. And just to make sure I'm still on track with the dates and our paychecks, you know, and the amount that I'm paying are at least the minimum and then see where I can pay more if I can pay more.
00:29:21	And that kind of thing. What if we say, okay, so in the next 48 hours, cause you said day or two, so I'll give you eight hours. Let's make a list of all your bills with the due date, with the minimum payment and just start there Just, And I think that'll be a lot more manageable instead of, you know,
00:29:45	the other, the other payments and all that stuff, but at least get it written down so you can just visually see it all on one sheet. What your bill is, the due date in the minimum payment. I think that'll help relieve some of that. You're Just trying to think of too many things And I usually will break it down so that the utilities are on one sheet.
00:30:08	My streaming is on another sheet. Oh, that's right. You do. And then Yeah, I forgot. I forgot you do that. I don't know if you know the credit card type bills and loans on another sheet and what their interest rates are. Yes. So that I can see what the minimum is and how much I still owe on it.
00:30:30	So I do, I go that extra step. So I have the minimum payment, but I also see how much is left on it and then the interest rate. So that helps me to rank. Yes. But that feels like a lot for you to do in the next 24, 48 hours. And if you don't do it, I feel like you're gonna be upset with yourself.
00:30:47	So what if we say at a minimum, you're going to write the credit cards Or the deck, One of the, you know, instead of like everything, since you're doing multiple sheets, maybe just pick one, one of the sheets and write it out. Yeah. Cause I want you to have that win. I want you to have that small little win.
00:31:06	Cause you can do it. You can do one of them. Right. But if we say all of them and be like, well, I didn't do that again this week. Like so just like, Yeah, because I look at it as I look at it as one Project project, but we got to break it down more because projects, you know,
00:31:24	there's less steps to 'em. So you know something, right. I have at least a half dozen projects that are unfinished, you know, cleaning the house, throwing stuff out, purging. Exactly. Exactly. We feel overwhelmed because we feel like we have all this stuff to do. But if you break it down into smaller steps, you feel like you're actually getting something done.
00:31:47	Yeah. Because I've wanted to do some of that, but I wouldn't let myself, because I had to finish up the tech stuff, you know? And I'm like, Nope, you gotta stay on this. I gotta stay on this. My, you know, I got nothing because of my brain the same way. But sometimes I will, when I'm really feeling pulled to like,<inaudible> because I have a hard time focusing,
00:32:11	if there's too much stuff around me, I'll just set a timer, you know, like you said, 15 minutes, 20 minutes and I'll just do what I can and then I feel better. And then I can focus on my budget or whatever, you know, work. So sometimes it's okay to let yourself take a break and just set a timer and clean,
00:32:30	whatever it is that you wanted to do real quick, as long as you don't take like everything out of your closet at once. And then you're stuck with a pile of, because you know that, that won't take 15 minutes to do something, but you can get. Yeah. And I did that the other day. Yeah. They had it cleaned out room in the living family room where I'm working.
00:32:54	And I said, okay, I got to get rid of some of this stuff. And I was looking for something that I could find. And I said, okay, I'm going to just do a little bit of cleaning and organizing and put this word and he belongs or put this in this pile, start making some piles to deal with later. That kind of thing.
00:33:10	You know, still haven't found my password book. You'll find it like the last place you look, I'm sure it's at the bottom of a pile. It Probably is. Well, I know we could talk all day. So we do get to wrap up here and you've got your small action steps. So one sheet, so one category on your budget to list out to make sure you've got the payments and you're going to set a calendar reminder or event for your second Friday to do August for your transaction.
00:33:43	So I'm going to follow up with you and make sure that you did it Okay. 24 hours. So you've got your, you really have two items, but you can do it. You'll be all right. Yeah. Sorry. My cat is biting my toes. Well, I appreciate you taking the time and sharing your Story Because I know it's going to help inspire other people because what you're struggling with and what you've gone through and you know what you've done,
00:34:11	the other people are doing the same thing. So it's always good to hear that you're not alone. So I really appreciate that. Oh, no problem, Ashley. Thank you. Thanks for all your help. Over the last two years, especially the last year and a half. I always, I'm always here for you. All right. Bye-bye What's it.
00:34:31	Her story is so relatable. Now don't forget that you can sign up for your own budget strategy session by going to budgets made easy.com/strategy. And I will talk to you in the next episode.