More Money Podcast - 173 How to Pay Off Meaningful Debt (and Stay Debt-Free) - Jessi Fearon, Financial Coach

Episode Date: October 24, 2018

Jessi Fearon was able to pay off $55,000 in debt in 2 years! Yes, I know, we've all seen headlines like this before, and usually you find out after reading the full news article that they were able to pay off that debt because they got a windfall, their parents helped them, or they earn over 6 figures at their job. Well, that's no Jessi' story. Her and her husband were able to pay that debt off by making some major sacrifices and hustling to make it happen. Now Jessi is a financial coach on mission to help others conquer their finances too! Long description: For this episode of the Mo’ Money Podcast, I chat with another Jessica who is also a financial coach! I’m talking about Jessi Fearon, who was able to pay off $55,000 in 2 years with her husband, while raising a family of 3 little ones. After being a stay-at-home more for a few years, Jessi now spends her days coaching others how they too can build a solid financial foundation and kick their debt to the curb (for good!) just like her family was able to. What I love about this episode, and Jessi for that matter, is that she is an open book when it comes to her numbers. Most of the time when you see some headline about someone who paid a big amount of debt in a short amount of time, you eventually find out it’s because they got a big windfall, their parents helped them out, or they earn a high salary. That’s not Jessi’ story at all. For her, it came down to making some tough choices, such as taking on some extra jobs like being a server or dog walker to earn some extra money, or having to trade in her dream truck for a more cost-efficient car to put the difference onto her debt. Basically, if you’re dealing with debt and need some motivation, this episode is going to make you want to get to work right away and start living a better life! For full episode show notes, visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/173 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 173 of the Mo Money Podcast. I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Welcome back to the show. I'm excited to be back myself. I've been getting some very lovely comments and emails and tweets lately. I don't know what's going on, but I'm loving it. I'm going to soak it all up. I am having a great time. So thanks so much for everyone who has been doing that to me lately and telling me they love the podcast and all that stuff. It really warms my heart. Doing this is so worth it. And what's crazy is like, guys, I'm on episode 173 and I'm just looking at my little schedule here. And if things go to plan, I'll end, I'll wrap up this season by about mid December. I'll be capping things off at episode 180.

And I was just talking with my husband about how it's crazy to think that three years ago when I was having this idea of starting this show, I wasn't sure if I should start my own podcast because I'm like, oh, there's so many other podcasts out there. No one's going to listen to me. No one knows me. You know, I have a blog. Maybe I should just stick to that. All this self-doubt and all that kind of stuff. And it's really not until you literally just

start something and stick to it for a couple of years and be patient, just be consistent, that you'll be able to look back three years and be like, holy crap, I've been doing this for three years. I have 180 episodes. I'm always listed in the top 100 in the business category on iTunes for podcasts. I know what I'm doing. I'm doing a pretty good job and that's pretty insane. So it's just not this isn't about me tooting my own horn. This is just to give you a little hopefully inspiration, motivation. If you've ever wanted to kind of start a project, start something new, but we're dealing with some self-doubt and just like, oh, there's so many other people doing it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Everyone else that have gotten to that point that you're looking at that are

successful, that are doing something, that have been doing it for years. Well, just look at how many years they've been doing it. And before that, they hadn't done it. For me, it's like lots of people look to me like, wow, you've done your podcast for three years. Like, yeah, but three years ago, I had no podcast. So there you go. There's your little motivation, inspiration. If there's something that you want to tackle and do, just do it. Because in a few years time, you'll be, you know, a veteran, an expert at it. So, so there you go. Anyways, just those are some of my thoughts at the moment. Anyway. So for this episode, I know you're going to love it because number one, my guest is named Jessica, right? Amazing. So obviously we hit it off like a house on fire. But we have a real, and also not only she is Jessica, she's a financial coach. So we talk about so many great things. I absolutely love this episode. She is just the best. She's also a personal finance blogger. Oh, I don't think I

even mentioned her name. Her name is Jessie Fearon. She goes by Jessie, not Jessica. You can find all her stuff at jessiefearon.com. Her company is called The Budget Mama, which I love. As I mentioned, she's a financial coach. And how she kind of got into things was her and her husband were dealing with a ton of debt. And they're trying to figure out how can we stop living this paycheck to paycheck life and just get out of this debt cycle. And so they started educating themselves. And her and her family were able to pay off just over $55,000 of debt in two years, and are now almost 100% debt free. So that includes their mortgage too. So we talk about all that stuff, how they were able to accomplish such

a really tough situation. She also has three kids and just live a normal life and not feel like you're always lacking and living super frugally. So anyways, great conversations to come. You're going to love this episode. But before I get to that interview with Jesse, here's just a few words about this episode's sponsor. This episode of the Mo Money Podcast is supported by FabFitFun. Have you tried out one of FabFitFun subscription boxes? No?

Well, what are you waiting for? In case you don't know, FabFitFun is a subscription box service that provides full-sized beauty, fashion, fitness, and lifestyle goodies for one low price. How low? Combined, all the products in their boxes are valued at $200, but you only pay $49.99. That means you could get a box of 8 to 10 full-size products from brands like The Honest Company, Tarte Cosmetics, Kate Somerville, Free People, Summer and Rose, and more for less than $50. Not only that,

shipping is free for most US locations and just $8 for other locations like Canada. And because FabFitFun is awesome, they are offering $10 off to all Mo Money podcast listeners. Just use the promo code MONEY and get $10 off at checkout. To learn more or to get your first box, visit fabfitfun.com and use promo code MONEY. That's fabfitfun.com and promo code M-O-N-E-Y. Well, thanks, Jessie, for joining me on the Mo Money Podcast. Happy to have you here. I've seen you, I feel like I've seen you around on the interwebs and at FinCon for a number of years.

So it was only a matter of time that I think you got on here. Yes. Well, thank you so much for having me on, Jessica. I really love coming on. Yeah. So you now just go by your name, but you were kind of the budget mama. Is that correct? Yes. Yes. I used to be the budget mama. Yeah. Why did you decide to just kind of go by your name now? Well, you know, more for brand consistency, because I do talk about a lot more than just budgeting. And I talk about it, you know, not just through the concept of like, or through the lens of being a mom, but also as being, you know, a wife and building a family. And, you know, from my own struggles back from when I was a single girl trying to dig my way out of my big hole of mess that I made with the debt and

everything. So, you know, I wanted to just be more consistent and kind of streamline it because once I became a financial coach, I really wanted to help others learn, you know, from my mistakes and learn how to kind of define their own real life on the budget. Yeah. No, that makes sense. Cause again, yeah. I love when people have, you know, specific, like the budget mom. okay, she's a mom and she budgets, great. But at the end of the day, we're all like humans with layers. So it makes sense that you want to explore more of that and share more of who you are. So you kind of mentioned that this is definitely your passion, your financial coach.

And I read your bio and you did an accounting degree, which is so funny. It's like in, and cause you also said, you know, I, it's not something you expected to do, but you, you know, kind of fell in love with it. I feel like the same way. I'm like, I, uh, at the kind of universities that were in my, um, city, I don't think there was actually a specific accounting or finance related degree. There's definitely business related, but I'm like, I feel like if there was, I wonder if I would have changed my path. Cause there, even in high school, there wasn't anything like that. And I'm like, man, I feel like if there's an accounting class, I would have changed my path. Because even in high school, there wasn't anything like that. And I'm like, man, I feel like if there's an accounting class, I would have discovered my love of finance even earlier. So let's kind of talk a little bit about that. How did that kind of

come about? Well, I kind of took the scenic route through college. So I started college like the same time that everybody did you know at 18 fresh out of high school um but i didn't really know what i wanted i changed my major twice like i went from political science to um it was a it was an education degree but like a specialty in history um and then i flunked out of college oh well i flunked out of college. Oh. Well, I flunked out of college because I was living on my own and I was working full time and trying to go to school full time. And I literally overslept from one of the tests that I needed to take. It was my final.

Oh, no. And the thing was, it was one of those finals where I could have totally failed the final and still passed. I just had to take the final. You just had to show up. Yes. So because I overslept and didn't take the final, it pass. I just had to take the final. You just had to show up. Yes. So I didn't take the final. It like, it caused me to fail the class. And because my grades were

already suffering, I ended up getting kicked out for an entire year. Dang. Yes. Yes. It was intense. And I also lost my scholarship. I had, so I lost that. That's a crappy year. Sorry. It really, really was. And so, but then of course I was like, Oh, I don't need college. I don't need college. I'm going to go just work. And so I started working and I got an office job and I totally thought I had made it when I got this office job as an administrative assistant making $18,500 a year. And so I thought I had made it, but really I hadn't. But the only part of the job I really loved is when I had to do the invoicing and I had to kind of figure out the budgets on the projects

and all this. And the more I kept doing that, I was like, I really like doing this. And so I realized I was never going to make the kind of money that I could make because they hired a girl basically in the same position I was in, just in a different department. And they hired her for almost $20,000 more a year than what they were paying me simply because she had a college degree. That was it. That was the only difference. And so I was like, I've got to go back to college. And they were very supportive of letting me go back to college, but I mean, I was still working there. And so that's why I went for accounting. It's because I was like, I really love what I'm doing as far as books go and all of that. And I want to explore this more. And so I went back and just

completely fell in love with accounting. That's such a nice love story of accounting because it's not a common one. It's not. Now I will clarify. I don't like doing taxes. Oh really? I like the bookkeeping part of accounting. I don't like the tax part. I actually love taxes and it's the weirdest thing. Yeah, I don't know why, but it's so exciting to me because for me, it's not this pain because it is all about like prep and being organized, which is like ADD. I'm like super anal with that kind of stuff. So that's fine. And then it's all about just trying to find these kind of, you know, tax deductions and credits to see like, how much can you reduce your tax bill by? And it's like a game to me. I'm like the only person in the world besides like, um, other tax accountants there. I mean, I'm not a tax accountant. I'm just like, I'm a lover of taxes. So that's good. That's good though. That's really, really good. Yeah. Well, I try to make tax season exciting for people. I can't really convince

my husband. He still fricking hates it, but that's his own fault. I try to excite him every year. I try to get him on board with getting a little bit more prepared every single year, but still, even still, he's been a self-employed for 11 years and still he's the shoebox guy with like shoebox full of receipts. Oh my God. My husband was too for a long time. He was until he got, um, he got QuickBooks and he just loves that. He could take a picture of the receipt now and just scan it in. He loves that because he used to literally have piles of receipts that were like so faded that I would sit there going, I don't even know what this was for honey. Is this even from this year? I don't even know. Exactly. Yeah. I've, I've tried, he, he does use some other accounting software. I can't remember,

but he's used, he's just stubborn and that's just like, it is what it is. But yeah, I've tried Kim's. I'm like, there's FreshBooks, there's QuickBooks, there's so many options out there that make it very easy for you. But he's like, yeah, but I've been in, I've had this particular software for so many years. It's just hard to convert over. I'm going to try my best. Tax season's around the corner. So I'm going to just try my best this year, see if I make a dent or whatever. So that's awesome. And that's also a huge achievement. I don't know too many people who've been able to successfully work full time and go to school. That's not easy. That is not easy. I mean, most people in university are like, oh, no, I just want to focus on my, you know, my studies and exams. So I knew so many people that didn't even have a job in university. For me, I couldn't afford that. I needed to make money to, you know, when I went, when I went back to school for my accounting degree. And so that was also too, like a little weird. Cause some of the kids were like really young and I'm like,

oh my gosh. Cause I was having to take some like general ed classes. So I'm in there with like a freshman that are 18. And you know, I was like, and I remember one of them was complaining about a professor and I was like, this is literally the easiest class I've ever taken. Why are you complaining? Like, oh my God. I know. Well, that's, I always kind of wonder what it would be like if I were a bit older. Cause yeah, I feel like looking back, like, oh, it was such as like just entitled little shit really. And I mean, if I'd gone back, cause now like I, now I am, I've gone back to school so many times, not for a degree or anything like that, but just for, you know, other courses or credentials

and stuff. And I freaking love it. I'm actually, I'm like, oh, it's such a privilege to be able to afford to go back to school and educate yourself. And so maybe you had a different perspective because you were older and you realized, no, this is so valuable. This is going to help my life. And you probably did better in school too because you're just a bit older and wiser,

right? I did. I did. I did a whole lot better in school. And I was able to, the job that I was doing, because I got promoted to a project manager role at the office job that I had while I was in school. And they actually allowed me to use it as a co-op. So I was able to graduate within three years versus four years once I started back again because of that co-op opportunity.

So it was really, really awesome being able to do that. And so I was actually a wife and a mom of a four-month-old whenever I graduated. So I literally gave birth to my first son the first week of school. I was actually a wife and a mom of a four-month-old whenever I graduated. Wow. I literally gave birth to my first son the first week of school. Oh, my gosh. I had a professor that didn't believe me. He did not believe me because I had to send them an email. I'm in labor, and I'm typing emails to the professors to say,

hey, I'm not going to be in class tonight. And so the one professor didn't believe me until when I walked in the classroom. Other students had been in classes with me the semester before, and they knew I'd been pregnant. And so they're like, oh my God, you had the baby. Because obviously I'm showing up with no belly anymore. And he was like, oh, you really did have a baby. And I'm like, yeah, dude, I sent you a picture of the baby. Yeah. He's like, I have evidence in the form of a child. I'm like, you want my hospital bill? I'll be happy to give you that. So because you were able to work full time, go to school, were you able to kind of reduce

the amount of like, did you have to take out any student loans or were you able to kind of, I did take out student loans. I was able to avoid one year of student loans only because when I, when I applied that particular year, I wasn't married yet. They went on my taxes from the year before. And because, um, I, like I said, I was a ministry assistant only making 18,500 a year. I qualified for what is called the Pell grant. And so I didn't have to pay for that year of schooling. And I actually hustled so hard and I ended up doing this all through college, but,

um, I took six classes a semester and took, um in the summer so I could stretch out that money because I knew that I wasn't going to qualify for it once they took into account my husband's income. So I did finance two years of my education, which was right at $30,000 when I graduated. Wow. So what was that grant called again? PELL, P-E-L-L grant. Is that something that's available just in your state of Georgia or? Um, you know, that actually is a good question. I'm not entirely sure. Um, I know that it's available also to certain, uh, degree types and certain income levels. So there are some degrees that it's not available for and some that it is. Um, and, um,

in some of the technical schools too, that's, they offer it there too. Oh, awesome. Well, again, it's like just a healthy reminder people that if you are, you know, thinking about going to school or whatever, there's so much free money out there. Like it's not necessarily easy to get, but it is, you know, like, yeah, like you, I was able to get my first year of university paid for free because I got an entrance scholarship to university and that saved my butt because I really didn't have enough money to start university at that point. I mean, I was working a fast food job and just saving every dollar, but I still didn't have enough money. So that's awesome. So you graduated with a little

bit of debt and you obviously have this accounting degree. Did you already have a plan of attack? Were you really good with your own personal finances? What was kind of the situation? Well, the truth is that we didn't really have a plan of attack because I had transitioned into being a stay-at-home mom once we had my son because I wasn't, well, first I wasn't going to be able to afford daycare without working because at that time I was like, well, I can't work and go to school and be a mom too. That's way too much on my plate. And so, you know, I became a stay at home mom, the one we could avoid childcare costs and because I wouldn't be able to do it all. And then I graduated and, you know, I still was staying home and my husband's like, well,

I don't want you really to go back to work at this point because over half of your income is going to go towards childcare. Not to mention the fact that Metro Atlanta traffic is horrendous. It's absolutely awful. And he was like, by the time you get home at night, you're going to be stressed. You know, we're going to be trying to figure out how we're going to cook dinner and eat and get our kids to bed and all that stuff. He's like, that just, it wasn't really the life that either one of us have wanted. So I was like, okay, sure. I'll stay home. But then at this point, my student loans weren't quite due yet. We were in that defer period. And so I'm like, okay, sure. I'll stay home. But then at this point, my student loans weren't quite due yet. We were in that defer period. And so I'm like, okay, it's great. And we had my car loan, his truck was paid for. And then we each had a credit card a piece. So that was really

the only debt that we had beside my student loans. And then my student loans came due at the very end of 2012, which I was pregnant again, the joys of having Irish twins. And so I was pregnant again. And, um, we, I actually missed the first payment of my student loans because I had actually wrote down the wrong first due date. And so when you miss your first payment of student loans, you end up having to make two payments plus the interest, plus these fees that they tap onto there. So, I mean, we paid like, I think it was, gosh, I think it was like $1,197 for my student loans. Yes.

So that one month, and this was right at Christmas. Oh gosh. And I was like, oh my goodness, this is just awful. And so that is what actually prompted me to start really going over our finances to figure out how are we going to afford for when baby number two comes as this baby's coming, you can't stop it. It's happening. Like, how are we going to do this with me still staying home? Because even then, if I did go back to work, once again, so much of my paycheck was going to be eaten up by the daycare costs that it was almost like, is this really

worth doing? But the more I looked at the finances, I was like, we're not going to be able to afford to keep paying on our debt, which at that point was just over $55,000, not including the mortgage. So I was like, there's no way we can do this. And so at that point, we decided we were going to go and join the debt pay journey. We were going to be like, all right, this we decided we were going to go and join the debt pay journey. We were going to be like, all right, we're going to pay it all off. We're going to be done with it. What inspired you? Because did you discover kind of like there's this whole debt repayment community that's

super support? How did you kind of be like, okay, let's do this? Because most people, I think, have no idea this is even an option. They're like, well, I've got debt, but everyone else does. Exactly. Exactly. But what I discovered it from, um, there was this, uh, gosh, I'm trying to remember now. Um, what was her blog? I think it was a

coupon junkie. He had posted this video, um, of this interview and this woman was talking about becoming debt free and paying off all your debt, which I mean, like I had paid off a ton of credit card debt back when my husband and I, right before we were married and right when we were first married, um, of credit card debt. So our credit card debt wasn't really the out of control part, but we had, you know, almost $20,000 on a car loan. And then my $30,000, my student loans. And so it was like, how do we do this? Like to us, the car loan and the student loans was like good debt. Right. So I had to like, so we had to really sit down and break the cycle of

the good debt versus bad debt. And that was the first time I had heard about it was on this interview was to stop thinking about good debt versus bad debt, just see it all as debt. Yeah. I actually totally agree with you because I cannot stand, I feel like people use that good debt versus bad debt as an excuse to continue to tack on debt. They're like, but it's good debt. I'm like, it's still debt. You still owe somebody money.

Exactly. Just, you know, like it doesn't matter just because like you're going to buy a car, like and you're telling yourself it's good debt. So therefore you're justifying going and buying a nicer car than what you can afford. Exactly. Yeah. And so once I heard that it was like that click, you know, I was like, okay, this is it. Like this, this is like, we gotta be done. And

then, so I started, you know, Googling all these things and I discovered, um, you know, Dave Ramsey talking about the debt snowball method and it just totally like, it made my accounting heart just go insane. I was like, yes, this is perfect. I've got this. We can do this. And so I made our little debt snowball. And we were able to right before our second child was born, we had paid off the credit cards. Both credit cards were paid for at that point. And so then we just had my car loan and we had my student loans left to do. And getting rid of my car was the hardest part because the car I had was a fully loaded Mac Daddy Tahoe, which a Tahoe is my dream car. You can tell I am from Georgia.

I just absolutely, I loved my Tahoe. I didn't really want to get rid of it. I kept like trying, you know, like, you know how they always talk about like cooking the books and accounting, right? Yeah. You're like, I'll just try to make it work. Exactly. I was, I kept like, Oh, maybe we can do it this way. Maybe we can do it that way. I mean,

I tried like 40,000 different ways to make this work. And finally my husband was like, you are being a hypocrite. Like what is going on? You're sitting here talking about no good debt, no bad debt. And here it is. You're trying to justify us keeping this car, but we can't do it. We can't pay it off in the time that we need to have it paid off. And so I finally had to realize he was right. And so, which I don't ever like. And so we ended up, um, it ended up being a little bit harder of a process than I thought it was going to be. And it was actually on my birthday in 2014, we spent the whole day with two little kids under two years old driving around everywhere so we could find a dealership that was willing to accept the Tahoe for what we owed on it because

we were upside down. We actually, according to all the calculations, we had equity built into the car. The problem though, and this is something I learned in the process, the problem is that dealerships, when you go to trade in your car, they're not going by like the blue book buyer, what Edmonds or any of that say they're going by the auction price. So then that way, if they can't sell it on their lot, they need to know how much can I get it at the auction for. Right. And so the problem was that in my area, my Tahoe that I had was a hybrid. And here in Georgia, nobody wants to drive a hybrid big vehicle. That's not what they want. You know, they want the womb when they crank it up. That's what they want. They want the gas feast. And my car was not that. So the problem was, is that at auction, they were only going

to sell it for way less than what we owed on it. So that was the struggle you're having. Cause we had a certain amount of cash saved up. We had rented about $8,000 saved up to buy me a car. The problem was though, is that we weren't accounting for the fact that we were going to have to pay this massive difference for the loan. And so we finally found a dealership that was willing to accept our trade dollar for dollar. And we bought my car that I have now, which is a purple Sequoia. I really think they just wanted to get the purple Sequoia off their lives. Probably. They were like, these people are crazy enough that they're going to buy this car.

Sure. We'll take the nicer car. We'll take that one. Here you go. I mean, what was so sad about it is that, you know, my Sequoia, other than having leather interior and a sunroof, there was nothing nice about this car. Nothing. The speakers were blown. It had like this fake wood grain on the inside.

It was so fake. It was like peeling off. It was so terrible. And I'm like crying as we're leaving the dealership because I'm leaving my super nice car for this one. And even my husband, like as we're driving off, he was like, okay, if you're really not going to be okay with this, we'll just turn around and go get the car. Cause I can't deal with you. And it was just so hard, which it seems so silly to talk about because probably most people are going, what? Like that's a car lady get over it. No, some people, no. Like I feel like specifically with cars, people are very, either they're like, whatever, it just gets me to A to B or they're very passionate about their cars. Like it is basically a way to, it's part of their identity,

right? It is. And that's how it was for me. And for me, I was like the American poster child of, you know, you are what you drive. And I, I didn't even realize I believed that to be honest with you. It wasn't like something I was consciously telling myself, but in that moment I was so distraught because I was now in what my own dad and my brother had said is the ugliest car I have ever owned. And I'm like, this is so hard. I'm like, oh my gosh. And I was so upset. But now I absolutely love that Sequoia. I wouldn't trade it for even for that nice car. I just wouldn't do it. I finally learned that, no, my value is not in a car. It's not there. And driving a paid for vehicle is beyond worth it. Absolutely.

100%. I think lots of people still have this idea, and this comes with people that have a nice purse, nice car, nice whatever, look really fashionable. I think people assume, and that's kind of what the whole purpose is of having those nice things. It makes you look like, oh, I have money. I am wealthy. But honestly, most people cannot afford that, especially when you're like, wait, what's your job again? Well, I think your salary is this, so that doesn't make financial sense. Like these people are, yeah, they're, they're making payments, they're in credit card debt, whatever. So, you know, something that I've realized is reading, you know, more books about actual millionaires or people that have reached financial independence at a young age. Those people are driving the cars that you're driving. You know what I mean? Like they're like, I'm not

gonna spend my money here because I want to have like cash and bank or money so I can invest so I can live my best life. And also like a fun, you know, because my, again, my husband has like, you know, a two door Hyundai hatchback. It's great. It's going to last us for a while, but it's not beautiful. It's not super cute, but it was the cheapest new car we could buy six or seven years ago. But it's paid off now and we're happy about it. But I'm like, no one's going to ever steal this car. So that's one bonus. No one's probably going to steal your car in a parking lot. Exactly. Exactly. And everyone's like, okay, no, she has no money. We're just going to walk on. And you're like, suckers. Exactly. Exactly. I know. And we actually just recently, just a couple months ago, paid cash for my husband's new truck. Nice. And the thing is

that it's not the nicest truck ever. It's really not. But at the same time, it is super nice compared to one, what he was driving before. And it was really nice for the price that we got. We paid $5,000 for a truck that actually costs $12,000. Wow. That's awesome. Were you able to get a deal because you paid cash or? Um, one, because we paid cash. Um, we knew the owners, um, it was actually a company, um, a guy that owns a company that was trying to sell it was a fleet vehicle. And the thing is, is that, you know, my husband said, I'll give you cash for it. And let's just say the company was like, Oh, sweet money under the table. Yeah, let's do this. And so like my husband handed him $5,000 cash and my husband drove off in a new to us really nice

truck that can tow pretty much anything that you want it to and we're happy. Yeah. And also just like, yeah, that's another idea to and we're happy yeah and also just like yeah that's another idea too most people just assume you have to go to like a car dealership to buy but i'm like actually buying privately could actually get you a really good deal on a really good car and that's the thing the truck is like well maintained because it was a fleet vehicle so they had to maintain it on a fleet schedule yeah so you know everything was taken care of the engine runs amazingly well like it has a few scratch and dings on it or whatever. But I mean, everything about it is amazing and it runs incredibly, you know?

Wow. So was that, so by you making that choice to kind of trade in your car for, you know, something a little bit more affordable, is that how you were able to kind of achieve that goal that you have, you know, list on your website that you were able to become or pay off your debt, which was $55,000 in only two years? Yes. Yes. I don't believe that there's any other way we could have done that had I not been willing to get rid of that car. Because I mean, that was $18,000 of the $55,000, you know, and I was trying that was like, I was trying so hard to figure out how we could do this, but the reality is that we weren't going to be able to do it. And so that's why I had to

find a decision. Do I get rid of the car and just get a paid for one? Or do I keep trying to make this work knowing it's not going to? Yeah. I'm always just so curious about when people have that kind of, oh, I was able to pay off my debt in such a short amount of time. I'm like, I need to know specifics. Yes. No, absolutely. Absolutely. Because, you know, and that's the thing. And a lot of times, you know, people either think that you make a ton of money in order to do that. And the thing is that we don't make a ton of money. Even now, my husband and I were both self-employed and collectively we don't even make $60,000 a year. And we definitely, even then we made less than that because my business wasn't even, well, it really wasn't even existing.

So, I mean, you know, I wasn't really making any money at all. And, you know, my husband was working for a company making only $42,000 a year. So we didn't make a lot of money and there's no way we really truly could have paid off the debt in that time span on our income without getting rid of the car. But you don't have to make $100,000 a year to become debt-free. And a lot of people believe that. And you just might have to make some really hard choices like getting rid of your really nice car for a purple one. Absolutely. I think, yeah, that's something just for people to think about more. It's uncomfortable. If you really want to make a big change like becoming debt-free or just accelerate the rate that you're paying off your debt, you're going to have to make some really hard choices. But what I always kind of tell people

is most of those choices are temporary and you usually kind of get over it pretty soon. Like it's not as bad as you think, but it is going to be uncomfortable. But what's the alternative really? The alternative is you're going to continue to live in debt and be stressed out and not make any progress in your life. Absolutely. And I mean, yeah, like I said, getting around the time, it was really hard for me. In the first month or so, I was like, I mean, it was still weighing on me. I was like, oh my God. But honestly, then I got over it. You know what I did? I got over it and I was like, I mean, it was still weighing on me. I was like, Oh my God. But honestly, then I got over it. You know what I did? I got over it and I'm like, I have a car to drive. Who cares? Like kid just spit up in it. It doesn't matter what happens. Yeah, exactly.

Am I going to be cleaning spit up off of a really nice car or not so nice car? Who cares? Exactly. Let's get a reality check a little bit. So now you were a stay-at-home mom for a number of years. So when did you decide, I want to start my own at-home business being a financial coach? Well, I started my blog when we just had my oldest child, but I wasn't really making any money from it. And so shortly after my second child was born in 2013, that's when I was like, all right, we've got to figure out a way to start getting some additional income in here. Because at that particular time, we still had the Tahoe, but my student loans, I was like, I've got to get these things paid off. For me, it kind of weighed

on me heavily that we had these student loans because they were mine. And I was the one that had wanted to go and pursue this degree. My husband, of course, supported me in doing that. But here it is that now I'm a stay-at-home mom, not using my degree. You know, granted being a stay-at-home mom, that, that is a job that, you know, I wish we could be paid to do it, right. But we're not, you know, and, but it's still a valuable job. But I was like, I've got to earn some money to make myself feel better about this. You know, even if it is only a hundred dollars a month, I've got to figure out a way to make some money. And so I started, um, really adjusting my perspectives with my blog and started, um, researching and doing everything I could to start monetizing my blog and earning an income from it. And slowly but surely over time, I started earning a consistent income from it. And now I earn a

full-time income from it. And granted, it's not like a, you know, six figures a consistent income from it. And now I earn a full-time income from it. Granted, it's not like a six figures a year income, but it's still a full-time income. And it's been such a blessing to us in order to be able to pay off our debt and to be able to do some of these things that we really want to do. But I had to do other jobs in the process as well. I actually walked dogs. Yes. In all sorts of weather, being pregnant and chasing toddlers, I walked dogs and picked up dog poop for like some side money. And honestly, like that really, really helped us make a humongous dent in paying off our, all of our debt because of those little side gigs that I was doing in the side gigs that my husband would do, you know, and I even would pick up a little odd and in job or odd and ends jobs. Like, you know, we had some neighbors that needed like their house, like looked after and cleaned and other neighbors that

needed their dogs, like let out in the middle of the day. And because I was a stay at home mom, I could walk over there and let their dogs out or, you know, take care of dogs, make sure they had food and water and things like that. And I got paid to do those things. So a little bit and a little bit, just add it up, add it up, add it up. And that's how we were able to really, really make a huge progress in paying off our debts, especially off my student loans. Absolutely. And I think sometimes that's an element that people forget. It's like, yes, it's great to cut back, cut back, cut back. But at a certain point, you need more money. And that's kind of a harsh reality. But I mean, I tell some of my financial counseling clients that too, I'm like, sorry, you need to make more money, um, in order for you to, you know, save some money, pay debt and not

get back into debt. And, uh, but the thing is we're in this great kind of time where there are so many possibilities and it's actually easier than ever to find some kind of side hustle. Just like you said, it's like, it's pretty easy. There's so many, and it's actually easier than ever to find some kind of side hustle. And just like you said, it's like, it's pretty easy. There's so many websites that are like, Oh,

you want to be a dog walker, a dog sitter, sign up and you know, that they kind of take care of all the hard work for you or whatever it is. So I think that's, that's really awesome. And people don't really talk about that. I think as much as maybe they should,

that it's like, no, just, and again, it's like, that's a temporary thing. You don't have to do it forever. You could do it for as long as you want until you reach your goal. And then you're like, all right, I'm done with this. I don't really want to do it anymore. Exactly. And back when I was, um, but like before I was married, um, I had dug myself into a significant amount of credit card debt. And one of the things that,

um, I did is I, uh, went and I got a waitressing side job and I hated being like, hated it to my core of my being absolutely hated it. But I told myself, I said, I told myself that the next little credit card that I had, um, it was like $450, um, that I needed to pay off. And I was like, the moment I paid this off, I'm quitting this waitressing job. Yeah. And I hustled and worked my butt off so I could earn as much in tips as I could. And within a month and a half, I had earned enough. I paid off the credit card and I quit the waitressing job. There you go.

But you know what? Honestly, I would have never been able to convince myself to go to that job had I not given myself this deadline, this goal. Once this happens, I quit this or I don't have deadline, this goal. Like once this happens, I quit this or I don't have to do this anymore. And it was the same with the dog walking gag. Like, I mean, there were times that I absolutely hated. Cause like I said, I did it through, um, two pregnancies, chasing toddlers and the heat of Georgia and the snow of the winter. And you know, I did it all during those times. And there were days where it just really sucked. But I told myself like, this is the goal. As soon as I pay off $10,000 of my student loans, I will stop doing this.

And so once I paid off the $10,000 of the $30,000 of my student loans, I quit doing the dog walking gig. And by that point, I had built my blog up enough where I was actually earning enough consistent side money that we were at that point being able to then pay my student loans from the blog money that I was earning. Amazing. Yeah. It's like temporary. Yeah. I feel like that's almost me with every kind of job that I had before, like while in university or high school, like this is temporary. Just stay here for like two years and then you can find another job, but just stick it out for a little bit. It'll get better. You can grit your teeth and do it for a little while. Exactly. It's not the worst. And then also too, it's like, as you get older, I like look

back like, oh yeah, like I kind of forgot about that. You know what I mean? Like it seems so painful in the moment. So uncomfortable, but then, you know, five, 10 years fly by and you're like, oh yeah, like that wasn't that bad. It's just a drop in the bucket. It's a little blip in your life. You'll forget about it soon. But when you're young, it's hard to really understand that. Yeah. When you're deep in the, in the midst of it, it's really hard sometimes to see outside of it. Yeah, absolutely. Um, I want to talk a little bit about, um, you have so many great freebies on your website. So really always appreciate that. Cause it's, I think, uh, you know, it's great to, you know, have interviews and stuff like that with people and, uh, you know, blog posts, but it's also really great to have, you know, worksheets

and freebies for people to actually take action when they're ready to take action. You have one that I think is really cool called the build a budget that works opt-in. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? Yes. That is actually sort of an interactive printable workbook where I walk you through in tutorial style how to build a budget that works for your life, not one that works for my life, one that works for your life. So you can figure out and account for things like, you know, the adjustments that you'll need to make whenever, you know, your power bill goes up in the summertime and it goes down in the wintertime. And just like your heating costs go up in the wintertime and go down in the summertime, how to account for those things, how to figure out those things, how to figure out your annual

costs. Like, you know, if you pay for life insurance annually or anything like that annually, like how do you account for those things in your budget? How do you make sure that you don't, you know, find yourself come the day or the month that those are due, like steep in the hole in your budget that you don't have any money to pay your other expenses too. Um, so that workbook just walks you through being able to do that and set up a workbook that actually, or set up a budget that actually works for your real life to keep you accountable sort of thing. Yeah, no, I love that. Especially like, I think there's something to be said about, you know, having a budget when you have a variable income or when there are those

expenses that aren't monthly. And I deal with that with clients all the time where it's like, oh, well, you don't pay this monthly or you don't spend money on clothes monthly or your insurance only comes due once a year. So like, how do we structure this? So you're saving for it every paycheck, but it doesn't, you know, it actually makes sense in your brain. Like it's lots of budgets are just so basic. They don't really think about these things, but these are real life things that we all deal with. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, you're, I mean, your Amazon Prime membership comes due every year, right? Yeah, exactly. You got to figure out how to pay for that. Absolutely. That's awesome. So just before I let you go, because you do talk with a lot of clients and help a lot of people. It sounds like your main focus too,

is also like helping them really create that budget, that solid financial foundation, and also helping them with debt. Because you've been able to do it successfully on your own, and you also have an accounting background, so you're a great person to kind of talk to about these things. What are some kind of common, I guess, things that you find in lots of your comms? I find with clients, a lot of them have lots of commonalities. They have kind of the same issues, same kind of money mindsets. What do you find with some of the clients that you work with that maybe some of our listeners are going to relate to? For me, it's sort of a lack of priorities, lack of knowing what they

want their money to do for them. For example, I had a client last year that I had them sit down and do this exercise because they were making great money, both of them. And they came in for this, you know, saying that their budget wasn't working, but I didn't feel like their budget wasn't working. I felt like they just didn't know where to put their money to live out what their goals were. So I said, you know, I want you right now to write down on a piece of paper in front of you. What you'll five years from now, what year is it? How old will you be five years from now? How old is your spouse going to be? How old are your children going to be in five years from now? And then write down what do you want to have accomplished by the time that you're aged?

So for me, in five years, I'll be 37. So at 37 years old, what do I want to have accomplished? And for them, they had realized that their big goal that they had had since before they were married was to pay cash for their children's college education. Well, they realized during this exercise that in five years from now, their oldest child was going to be 17 and they hadn't even started, like started saving for college. And this was a big deal for them because both, like both of them had gone to college for free because their parents had paid for it. And they wanted to give that gift to their children. And they realized, oh my gosh, we're never going to make this happen if we don't start making choices now and making drastic changes. And they completely overhauled everything and are definitely right on track now for being able to meet those goals. But they had to make some crazy sacrifices to do so. never would have done any of that had they not sat down and figured out what is important to me.

What is important? What do we really, really want out of life? Where do we see ourselves? And putting that into plan now and into action now versus just hoping it's going to happen, because it's not going to happen if we don't put action to it. Do you find it's difficult to deal with that? because everyone obviously has goals or they have a hard time prioritizing, but especially with the people that have a ton of debt that they're paying off, and that has to be their main focus. How do you help them? Like, okay, let's focus on the present needs, but also look to the future. Because sometimes I think people dealing with debt are so just present with their current needs. It's like,

I need to pay down debt. I can't even fathom what life will be like in five years when I'm debt-free. For me, what I like to do is tell them, okay, imagine what it will feel like to not have the debt. Imagine what that feels like and write it down. Just put it on a piece of paper, stick it to your laptop, stick it wherever. And when it gets really, really hard while you're paying off the debt or making those really hard sacrifices, look at that and remind yourself that that is where you are headed. You are not headed backwards. You're not looking in that rear view mirror. The rear view mirror is small for a reason. The windshield is huge for a reason. You are looking forward. You're going to head in that direction towards feeling that freedom and that peace of

not feeling that suffocating weight of the debt around you anymore. You are headed in that direction. So give yourself some grace. Keep moving forward. You will get there. You will absolutely and totally get there. Oh, I like that. I like that a lot. Well, thank you so much, Jessie, for joining me. Where can people find more about you if they want to check out your blog, your resources and or contact you? They can find me at my blog at jessiefieren.com and they can check me out at all my social media handles are the same at jessiefieren.com. And if they want to get the Build a Budget That Works workbook for free, it's completely free. Just head to jessiefieren.com slash MoMoney and you'll be able to opt in there

and grab it. Fabulous. Well, thanks again for joining me. It was a pleasure chatting with you. And that was episode 173 of the MoMoney podcast. Make sure to check out the show notes at jessicamoorehouse.com slash 173. And also make sure to download her free workbook called Build a Budget That Works. You can find it and download it at jessicamorehouse.com slash homemakingfoundations. But of course, I'm going to include a link in the show notes, jessicamorehouse.com slash 173. We've got some important things to share with you. So do not go away. Here's just a few words about this episode's sponsor. This episode of the Mo Money Podcast is supported by FabFitFun. If there's one thing I love, it's saving money. I honestly can't remember the last

time I bought something that wasn't on sale or had a promo code that made the price go down. And that's exactly why FabFitFun is right up my alley. Not only do you get eight to 10 full-size products for beauty, fashion, fitness, and lifestyle, but you only pay a fraction of the price it would cost you to buy them individually yourself. I'm talking about getting $200 worth of goodies for only $49.99.

And right now, FabFitFun is giving all Mo Money podcast listeners a special $10 off promo code to try it out. All you have to do is go to FabFitFun.com and use promo code money to claim the discount. Once again, go to FabFitFun.com and use promo code M-O-N-E-Y and get $10 off your purchase. So I made mention on a couple of previous episodes that I'm going to be heading to Ottawa mid-November. And I've gotten some great responses from people because we're going to do a little meetup. If you want to join us, please let me know. Email me directly at jessica at jessicamorris.com.

It's going to be an informal meetup, nothing like my big meetups or anything like that. Just something, you know, go into a pub, have a few drinks, hang out, chat, talk money, some fun stuff. But now I can reveal why I'm actually heading to Ottawa. So I'm actually doing a speaking gig. I will be speaking at Carleton University. I have a presentation I'm going to be doing called Postgrad Game Plan, How to Manage Your Money Like a Rockstar. It's all going down on November 12th at 5.30 p.m. And I'm super stoked. So it's for Carleton University students. So if you go to the school

or if you know of somebody who does, make sure to get them to register. I'll include a link in the show notes, jessicamorehouse.com slash 173. Or there's, I don't know, this link is actually pretty easy to remember, carleton.ca slash awards slash cu-events slash jess slash Jessica Morehouse. Or just check

my Twitter. I definitely mentioned it in my Twitter. But anyways, register. It's going to be a ton of fun. I'm basically going to share all the nuggets that I learned about setting up a financial foundation or just understanding what to do with money and life once you finish your university. Because I feel like I've written some very old blog posts back in the day about when I first graduated university, I had no idea what I was doing. How do I do life? I spent four or five years studying film. I had no idea what a checking account was. So I am hopefully going to answer a ton of questions and help empower a bunch of Carleton University students about, hey, the real world, it is not

scary. I can help you make a game plan and you're going to love it. Being an adult, a true adult outside of university is the best. So anyways, so I hope some of you, maybe if you're listening, you go to the school, you can join me or you can tell a friend, family member. I think it'll be super fun. Also, so recently I did a webinar called How to Become a Side Hustler. And if you missed it, that's okay. I've turned it into an online workshop. So basically, instead of just putting up the webinar replay where there's a lot of start and stop because I'm answering questions, I have just recorded it as an online training. So if you want to learn how to go from no idea what a side hustle means to actually having an action plan and knowing what steps to take so you can start your own, you're going to want to check out my online training just go to jessicamorehouse.com slash side hustle training and it'll take you right there and you can watch the whole training for free and learn something and get excited about making some extra money on the side and to

leave things off so first off if you're new to the show welcome thanks so much for joining me really appreciate it if you want to take a few seconds out of your day and give me an iTunes review, I'd love you forever. And I'd also give you an iTunes review like I'm going to do right now for Ellie Dawn from Canada. She says, real information for real people. Jessica does a great job of covering difficult and complex financial topics in a manner that real people can understand. A great variety of information is provided and there is something for everyone. Well, thank you, Ellie. And yeah, that is like 100% what I'm trying to do. This is why I got into this game to get rid of the jargon to get rid of this ridiculous notion that finance is complicated. And it's only to be understood by an elite group of people. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. We all make money. We all save money. We all earn money. So yeah, we should understand how to manage money and invest money in taxes and insurance and all

that great stuff. Great, exciting stuff. So thank you so much. So if you want to get a shout out on a future episode, all you got to do is take two seconds out of your lovely day and share uh you know a few words thoughts about the show and episode you've listened to and i'll give you a shout out on a future episode so anyways thank you so much for listening i'm going to be back here next wednesday with a fresh new episode of the momenty podcast so make sure to subscribe and I'll see you back here next week. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.