More Money Podcast - 291 Why Budgeting Is a Form of Self-Care with Allison Baggerly, Founder of Inspired Budget

Episode Date: July 8, 2021

Today is the penultimate episode of season 12 of the More Money Podcast, can you believe it? In today’s episode, I’m joined by Allison Baggerly from Inspired Budget to discuss all things budgeting. Allison is a blogger, influencer, podcast host, and the founder of Inspired Budget blog and now podcast! Allison started Inspired Budget in 2017 when she was still an elementary school teacher with 10 years of experience. In 2019 she was able to go full-time with her business and share her combined passion for teaching and finances to help others learn how to start budgeting. She has built a community of over 119,000 Instagram followers that turn to her for budgeting advice and inspiration to take control of their finances. In this episode, we discuss Allison’s money journey, which started when she decided to explore budgets in preparation for the arrival of her firstborn son. We also discuss the importance of mental health in regards to money management and how budgeting is not one-size-fits-all, and how her business accommodates that. Since this episode was recorded Alison has launched her new podcast, Inspired Budget (check it out!). For full episode show notes visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/291 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the More Money Podcast. This is episode 291, and I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse. Welcome back to the show and also the second to the last episode of season 12 of the More Money Podcast. Yeah, yeah. How did we get here? How did we get to this point? Well, we're going to end this season with a bang with one amazing guest. And then I've got a solo episode for you tomorrow. But for today, I am interviewing Allison Bakerley from Inspired Budget. You can find her at inspiredbudget.com or how I think I first found out about her was her Instagram. I love her Instagram. So Allison is a blogger, influencer and founder of Inspired Budget. She also now has a podcast, which I feel like she did not have when I made this recording, though she

actually does have a podcast before she launched her own podcast called Inspired Budget. You can find her on This is Awkward. It is a show that she does with Chris Browning, who I'm going to have on next season of the show. Very exciting. So she started Inspired Budget back in 2017. And Allison has been able to retire as a teacher and take her desire to help others full time. And now she's helping women all over the world get started with budgeting when they feel lost and overwhelmed. And she's built a community of over 119,000 people on her Instagram, which is crazy, that turned to her for budgeting advice and inspiration to save more than they ever imagined. And so as you can guess from this episode, we're going to talk about budgeting and just what are the different methods,

how to stay inspired with your budget and not get, you know, tired and, you know, you know, drop off and then a budget doesn't work if you're not going to use it. So we're going to talk about all things budgeting in this episode. And for this podcast episode, the sponsor is me, because we only have a few episodes left. And so I want to let you know in case you did not know, I have a course, it is called Wealth Building Blueprint for Canadians. It is the course that you've been looking for if you want to learn the fundamentals of investing, but then also how to actually take action and start building your wealth through passive investing, which is what I talk about on the show all the time. How can we ditch our kind of active

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mean, pretty special. And, you know, you can find more information at jessicamorehouse.com slash WBB, including a bunch of testimonials from current students. But there's so much in this course, like I don't even have enough time to share with you, but there's like over 15 different worksheets and spreadsheets. There's mini lessons and video tutorials to show you how to actually do this stuff. I have an exclusive expert interview video series with some top investment professionals from Tangerine, Wealthsymbol, JustWealth, Questrade, BMO, ETFs, and more. And we talk specific about platforms and products. You also get access to future updates and new lessons. And I'm always

kind of making updates or putting brand new lessons in the course to make it the best course that exists. And also the best part, you get lifetime access and I will be raising the price on this. So this is the time to really take advantage. And also, what else are you going to be doing this summer? Why not take a course to, you know, get your stuff together and start investing. So again, you can find it at jessicamorehouse.com slash WBB, but you can also find a link to it in the show notes for this episode, jessicamorehouse.com slash 291. Okay, so let's get to that interview with Allison about budgeting. Welcome to the More Money Podcast, Allison. I'm so excited to have you on the show.

Oh, Jessica, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. You're so welcome. So you have the huge kind of platform-inspired budget with a huge Instagram followership, which is so exciting. Huge community, I'd rather say, because I feel like that's really what it is. And that's kind of interesting. I feel like Instagram has evolved in terms of like the personal finance space which I think is really cool that you know there's some pages where it's just um you know they got stuff going on and maybe they have you know followers and whatnot but then there's some people who I love to follow and they've got like communities and you could tell

because it's like the same people coming back and uh you know commenting and they show the same hashtags and it just feels like it's a safe space for people to actually just like go on their app and feel like they're part of something um to help them on their like either debt repayment journey or you know starting to budget which is great because i feel like back in the day when i first started blogging there really wasn't a space you know like that i guess just of Facebook I guess um Twitter it's not the same so Instagram I feel like is where those a lot of those kind of online communities for people that need that kind of daily dose of motivation so and you clearly you're saying some you know things

are really hitting people because you have over a hundred thousand people on in your Instagram so you're saying something that people are really connecting to. So I'm so excited to have you on the show. Before we kind of dive deep into some topics I really want to discuss, you have such an interesting story that kind of boggles my mind. So you personally started budgeting nine plus years ago in 2011, and you had $111,000 in debt. Can you explain what was the debt? Was that part mortgage or was that just consumer debt? Oh, I wish I could say it was part mortgage. It was student loans and car loans. So we were looking at consumer debt, and that was with my husband combined. So I had a car loan. He actually, we paid off his car note. I think he had like $4,000 left back in 2010.

Just happened to do it before we realized, oh my gosh, everything is crazy. But we, you know, that we're overwhelmed. But we did that and it was mostly student loans. You know, just paying for college can get really expensive. And we were two teachers. So, you know, we're not making a ton of money. I think whenever we were first married jointly, like I think we were making $85,000, which is,

you know, not bad. But whenever you have your car payments, you have these student loan payments, our minimum debt payments, not including our mortgage was over $1,400 a month. And on two teacher salaries, that's hard. That is really hard to do. And then we got pregnant on our honeymoon. So... Oh, get out. That never happens. I know. So we got... Basically, we got married, we got pregnant on our honeymoon, and we had just bought on our honeymoon as well, part of a timeshare. And I remember thinking, this is stupid. Why are we doing this? Something's off. And I think that was like, you know, I was pregnant and didn't know it yet.

You know, I'm like, oh my gosh. And so we ended up coming back from our honeymoon, finding out I was pregnant, freaking out thinking, how much is daycare? We cannot afford to make daycare payments with all of our bills, with the way we were living. So we basically had this goal. We were like, okay, we have nine months to free up $800 a month cash flow in our budget every month. We have to do this. There was no way I could afford to no longer work. And so that's when our budgeting journey came. And when we were looking at how do we free this up, it came down to, okay, well, let's get rid of one of my smaller student loans that payment is you know 130 a month and let's start getting rid of some of these loans to free up cash flow so that way we could have a place for our baby to go while we were working all the time so that sounds simple enough but how did you do that you

already said it was like you know you had so many financial obligations on, you know, some tight salaries. How were you able to kind of pivot and focus like, okay, we're going to pay off this so we can free up that cash flow. Was there new income coming in? Did you cut back, you know, in other places? Right. No, we had no new income coming in. It was just two teacher salaries. We did like little side jobs along the way, but that was actually after my first son was born that we took on, you know, little side hustles here and there. Like my husband's a band director. And so he had to go on these trips with the band. So he drove the bus and he would get $50 every time he drove the bus. So he would sometimes go two times in a weekend. Um, and that's a hundred dollars, really, for us, it looked like taking back ownership and control

of our money. We were spending... I love to spend money. I'm a spender at heart. Who doesn't? And I still do. Yes, I've come to learn how to save more and enjoy the saving process as well. But I had to take ownership of my habits and look at how my habits were hurting us, not helping us. And so when I was able to look at my habits and my spending patterns, I was able to create these boundaries in place so that I could still spend some, but not everything like I was before. And we just came up with plans. We knew that food was one of our biggest expenses. So we cut back on food, cut back on eating out.

You know, spending was one of our biggest expenses. We became very creative when it came to buying baby supplies at very inexpensive rates because, you know, we knew that we needed to free up this money. And then looking at our debts, how can we pay off debt quickly in that eight months while saving money? Because we also needed to save money to be able to pay off those hospital bills. How can we pay off? I know. So it was very much a

balance. I didn't even think about the hospital bills because in Canada, we have a different system. So you also have to like, not only is it the daycare situation, you have to pay to have the baby. Yes, absolutely. So we knew, okay, we're going to need these hospital bills. So we wanted to have money and savings. So I think the first thing we did was we prioritized saving like $5,000 to cover the costs of the baby is what we anticipated the costs.

Then once we had that saved, set aside, you know, I had a disability, so I knew I would get paid for part of my time or a percentage of my time while I was out. And then it was just, okay, well, how can we pay off these smaller debts so we can free up cash flow every single month? That way, when the baby comes, that what we were sending to debt, what we were spending on unnecessary things, goes to daycare. So it was a very strategic way. We weren't looking at the interest rates. We needed cash flow every single month. I think that's so important because I think a lot of people, it's kind of the most common way to pay off debt or figure out which one should I prioritize is looking at the interest rate, which, yeah, fair enough.

You know, when you calculate it, you can save more money that way. But I think what's even more important is figuring out what are our particular needs. And for yours, it's like, we don't really care if we're going to pay a little bit more paying maybe lower interest debt. Our needs is the cash flow. That's what our goal is. And I think that's so key. You know, Going back to personal

finance is personal. Yeah. It's like there's a lot of advice out there, but at the end of the day, you need to take a look at, but what do we need? Exactly. I am a full believer that every person's situation is unique. Sometimes we just have to do what works for us and that's not going to work for everyone. What we did won't work for everyone, but we knew the situation we were in and we were able to take what we had learned and fully apply it to our situation. So that way we could be comfortable and live a life that, you know, included some balance. And it took us a long time. I mean, it took us four and a half years to pay off all of the debt because once you have a baby, you have the daycare payment. So that's less you can send the debt. And then we got pregnant again. There's more money going to

daycare. So it was this, I think so often it's easy to get sucked into these people that do it really fast. And oh my gosh, how did they do that? And we just, we took our time with it. But still, you know, when you think about four and a half years of our life, it's a small blip of my life where for four and a half years, we focused on this and maybe we sacrificed some in what we were doing. You know, we didn't take these incredible vacations. We just put our head down and did the work. And now we can live the rest of our life in abundance. I'm curious because I see those headlines all the time or there's all those splashy stories of people paying off debt and ridiculous amounts

of time. And I get it because it can seem like, oh, wow, it's possible. But for me, I know I'm talking to a lot of people. It can also feel demotivating because you're like, there's no way on earth I can achieve that. So I can never try. I'm not even going to bother. I'm not even going to try. I'm going to keep my head in the sand. So I think that's really important that you said it's like we did the timeline again, that made sense for us.

And I think it's, I've been telling people so much, especially during the pandemic where we're all online all the time. It's like, you really need to just have like eyes on your own paper, focus on you and not and stop focusing so much on other people's journeys because we don't really know all the information and it's probably not helping you. It's hindering you. Yes. And you know, when we were going through this, this was 2011 through, you know, 2016. So Instagram was around. I remember Instagram was around and, but there weren't all of these like debt payoff, Instagram people that weren't, I wasn't following any of these finance people. I think that it's definitely grown over time and there wasn't a lot for me to

look at. Like in terms of motivation, there were times I was, I was really unmotivated. I couldn't care less about paying off debt. And so I had to seek out creative ways, listen to podcasts, read books, try to find forums online of people doing this. And it was hard to find motivation. However, I also wasn't seeing everyone else doing it and maybe feeling like I'm not keeping up and feeling like, you know, I didn't see that. Where I can see people might struggle with that now, I didn't have that battle to face. But I also had trouble finding ways to stay motivated because people just weren't talking about it back then. Yeah. I know that's the other thing, I guess.

There's kind of two sides of it. You can feel demotivated because you see people spending money and you're like, Oh gosh, I wish I could do that. And then you might feel demotivated when you see people, you know, just like running towards their goals and achieving things so much quicker than you get. It's like, there's always going to be something. So it's so important to, to find what works for you in terms of motivation. And you've given some great advice. So as part of, um, I guess it says you became debt free and you started your some great advice. So as part of, I guess, so you became debt-free and you started your blog, The Inspired Budget in 2017. What was kind of the goal with that, that you wanted to kind of maybe be that source of motivation for others where maybe they couldn't

find it otherwise? Yeah. I was an elementary teacher for 10 years. I was teaching third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade. I was very good at my job. I was a very good teacher. I had this skill set, this talent. And during our debt payoff process, during when we first started budgeting and really just taking back that control, I never thought I would enjoy it. I always thought I'm going to budget for this time. And once we're debt free, I'm never budgeting again. Budgets can like, like, I'm not going to do it. This is not for me. I just need to do it for this time. Right. It was like, it was like, I was ready to give it up before I'd even started. But it's so funny how when you're doing something for so long, it becomes part of you. Right. It's

like, it became my identity to have control over my money. That became part of my identity. And I didn't expect for me to become very passionate about it. And as a teacher, I always knew there's something else I need to be doing. I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it. And I remember I would spend, I would stay up until like three o'clock in the morning searching online for jobs. Like, what is it that I need to be doing? I don't necessarily want to go back to school, but I know I need to be doing something different. I can't figure out what it is. And it wasn't until we became debt free and I continued to talk about budgeting. I continued to share that passion with others that my cousin-in-law was like,

Allison, we're done hearing about it. We don't want to hear about you coming every holiday to grandma's house talking about this. And I'm like, what? What do you mean you don't want to hear about it? And she said, you need to take this to a different audience because we're done hearing about budgeting and saving money and building wealth. We're done hearing about what you are, like about budgeting and saving money and building wealth. Like we're done hearing you talk about that, but other people need to hear it. And so she encouraged me to start an online business.

And yeah, so it was really born out of like this passion for personal finances, this skillset for teaching. And I needed someone else to be like, hey, this could be a thing. This could be a thing you do. And at the time, I didn't know that other people did this. I had no idea that this was being done. And it wasn't until she said this, that I started searching online and finding other people, you know, who were running their own business, helping others. And I thought, okay, let me get

started with this. And it started with, you know, a website that I would stay up in the summer times until like three o'clock in the morning working on and an Etsy shop. That's what it started with. And an Instagram. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you clearly figured out the formula because you haven't, you know, 2017 doesn't seem too, too long ago. And you have such a broad reach now. So clearly, and I mean, I think what you do have that a lot of other kind of personal finest influencers don't have is like you have that teaching background. So it's, you know, educating others is so natural to you. Whereas I think a lot of us started in a place

where we were just talking at, like we just started a blog to kind of track our own journeys or talk about ourselves and our experiences. So to have that skillset where you can talk to your audience directly and know how to educate them in different ways, I think is so special. Yeah. And that's definitely like every time I get to do like a live training or, you know, teaching my membership, like it, you're

right. It is just something I do naturally and it's fun to me. It is fun to me. Whereas writing articles for my website, not as fun to me. So I want to live in that area of where, you know, what I'm good at and what I enjoy is really my ultimate goal. And like getting on Instagram and talking in my Instagram stories or creating educational content is fun to me. I enjoy it. And I feel like I'm good at it. So when I started the journey, when I started Inspire Budget, I said, okay, I'm giving myself five years. Five years to get this off the ground and leave teaching. Because it really took a toll on me.

It took a toll on my marriage. It took a toll on my family. It was a lot of work. I was going to work every morning from 6.45 to 4.30 at school. And then I'd come home and make dinner and then work from 7 to 11. And it was a lot. And so it got to a point where I was like, okay, I can't do both anymore. And Inspire Budget had really started to replace my teaching income. And I was like, okay, I'm going to finish out. It was two years later. I said, I'm going to finish out this year of

teaching and I'm done. And so, yeah, that was back in 2019 that I was able to do that. That's so exciting. So tell me, because I know, you know, I read your, your website, and you talk a lot about who you want to help. And you talk a lot about fear, how people have this fear of budgeting or fear of looking at their, their spending and their income or just getting started. So that must be a common theme you see with people that you work with. Let's talk about that a little bit. Why? Like, why do you feel like that comes about? You've kind of probably talked to so many people about their kind of feelings and emotions about money. Why do you think fear is so prevalent? I think fear is prevalent because people don't feel like they have a sense of control. And when you don't have control over your money, you feel like something

else, some of this outside thing is controlling it. And you get scared because no one wants someone else to control you and your money. And I also think that money seeps into so much of our lives every single day. For the rest of our life, we're going to have to deal with money. And if you don't have control over that, if you don't have a handle of it, you're passing it off to someone else or something else. And I also think so often we have our own personal money stories from our past. And if we don't identify those and then realize that, you know,

we hold the pin to our life. And just because maybe we grew up in a family where your parents argued about money or you didn't ever have enough money or, you know, your family looked down on anyone who did have money and you fear that if you have money, they're going to talk bad about you, right? You have to identify your money story, let it go, and then realize that you can rewrite your money future. You can rewrite that story. I think, you know, it also comes down to feeling a lot of shame about your past money choices. And I

don't even want to call them mistakes. I used to say like, forgive yourself for your money mistakes. And I, I don't even use the word forgive anymore. And I don't even use the word mistakes anymore. I say, accept your past money choices because when you accept them, you can let go of the guilt and the shame because maybe you didn't know better, right? Maybe, you know, I use student loans to fund a 25 day trip to Europe, like not smart. But if I continue to harp on that, and go back to that, that choice, then it's not I'm not going to be able to move forward. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's so smart. Yeah. I really like that. And I totally agree because I think a lot of people look back at their past money choices and yeah, they think

they're mistakes. Oh, I wish I didn't do that. I'm like, yeah, but most likely, some of them were just like, okay, you knew you shouldn't have done it and you didn't anyway. But I think most of the time is that you just didn't, you didn't actually know better. You didn't have the financial literacy. You didn't have the tools in your toolbox to make a different choice. So for, you know, for instance, I did some, you know, my training to become a financial counselor. And one of the things in their teachings was that when you're working with a client, the first thing you need to remember is they're actually doing the best they can with the tools and information they have, but they can do better if they have more tools and more information. And I think that's so important. It's like to give yourself some, some, some grace

and just like, you know, it's okay. Like you really probably were doing the best you can. You just didn't know. Cause there is so much to know when it comes to money. And none of us were taught this at, you know, I mean, some of us maybe, but most of us were not taught this at a young age or in school. And so we become adults and we're dealing with money in so many different capacities. But we don't really have this guidebook on like, wait, what do we do? Unless now we now seek it out, we have to seek it out and actively find it. So I feel like, yeah, like you said, it's you got to forgive yourself because if you just harp on it, you're never going to move forward. Exactly. And I think also just letting go of the fact that your past choices make you who you are. So I hear from a lot of women,

I did this like series on Instagram that was just about debt and women and their identity. And I received hundreds of messages, Jessica, from women who said, I feel like I'm unlovable because I have so much debt. Like a single woman that said, I'm afraid I won't be able to ever find a partner because of my debt. Women writing in saying, I feel like I'm a bad mom because of my past money choices. I feel like I'm a bad wife. I feel like if my parents knew they'd be upset with me, it makes me a bad daughter. It makes me an irresponsible person. And so much of our money, money is emotional and it taps into our emotions.

And we have these thoughts. And just because you have a thought doesn't mean it's true. And so these thoughts enter our minds about what our money situation means about us, right? What it is saying about us. And so often we believe it. We believe that because the thought entered our mind that it must be true. Oh, I have debt. I'm bad with money.

I will never, you know, be able to build wealth. But no, that's just a thought. Oh, I have debt. I'm bad with money. I will never be able to build wealth. But no, that's just a thought. That's not truth. You have control over your thoughts. And so what I teach the people I work with is I teach them when that thought enters your mind to say, this is just a thought. It does not serve me. It does not belong here. So anytime you have a thought that says, I screwed up my budget. I'm never going to. So anytime you have a thought that says, I screwed up my budget. I'm never going to get back on track. No, that's just a thought. It does not serve me. It is not welcome here. And you continue to repeat that phrase whenever they come because so often the way we feel about money isn't because of necessarily our past money interactions. It's because of the way we talk to ourselves

about money. Right. Yes. I mean, I feel like especially during the pandemic, I mean, mental health has been obviously a huge topic and negative self-talk. It's definitely been something that people are talking a little bit more about that. I mean, we all do it and we do not even know about it. It is so subconscious. It's kind of scary. And yeah, it's like for, you know, I've been working with the therapist this year because I'm like, this has been a rough year. And he's like, yeah, you need to be kinder to yourself and even put a post-it on your like computer screen because you're at your desk all day being like, be nice to yourself.

Right. And it's like, we need to remember to do that. Like those little, I know it sounds silly, but it's like, we really do need to be kinder to ourselves and realize you wouldn't ever say that to a friend. So why are you telling that to yourself and then believing it? But I love that mantra that you have. I think that is so helpful. So, so helpful. I have a post-it note. Actually, I'm looking at it right now. I wrote it down last week because we all struggle with something, right? Whether it's struggling with issues with money, struggling with comparison. And I think comparison has such a big play in it. And so I have a note that says, compare yourself

to, and I don't know who actually don't know who said this. So I'm not taking credit for this. This was not me, but it says, compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who other people are today. Ooh, I like that one. Right? Like it's just, and you can apply that with so many areas of your life. But if you're working on changing the way you're talking to yourself about money, you're working on your debt, you're working on investing, you're working on whatever with Instagram, with social media, it's so easy to feel behind because you are comparing yourself to who other people are today instead of who you were yesterday.

So I even have to remind myself that as a business owner, that I'm not competing. I'm not, I don't need to be comparing myself to another business owner because I don't know what they've been through. I don't know how long they've been working, but as long as I'm doing better than I was yesterday or last week or last month or last year, as long as I'm learning and I'm growing, I'm moving in the right direction. Exactly. Exactly. So we've talked a little bit about budgeting. I was on your website and you have a shop page with the envelopes. Do you have a specific strategy or are there a couple of different ways that you teach other people to budget? Because I know when you really dive deep into the world of budgeting, it seems like

everyone has a slightly different process. So what kind of works for you or what do you kind of share with people to get them on track? So I actually have a success path that people follow where we start with, you know, to get us from, my goal is to take specifically women from feeling confused, stressed, overwhelmed with their money, feeling like they have no control. Basically how I felt in 2011, you know, this is like what I wish I had in 2011. Taking you from feeling that way to feeling confident and successful with your money and feeling like you have complete control and you have, which leads to peace, right? Which leads to like feeling like no matter what happens,

you know the steps you need to take to move forward. So we start with looking at our goals, identifying our dreams, dreaming big unapologetically, and knowing that those dreams are possible for us. And then taking you through the path of how to budget. We talked about how every person's paying off debt journey is unique, how you need to make it work for you. We talk about how finding a budgeting method that works for you, because what I do might not work for someone else who is paid differently or has different income level or is paid on different pay dates. So I walk through exactly how to budget for, find a way that will work for you. And I show like, I have like 12 videos on different people's pay dates, different times,

you know, different situations where I walk through exactly starting from just like, okay, here's a calendar and here's your list of expenses. Let's figure out. And I talk through all of my thoughts on how to make that work. So that way you can go and search for a budget that looks like yours, something similar, and you can see exactly how it's done. I think people are so visual. So we do that. Then we create a debt payoff plan, a savings plan. And then we really start tackling the money mindset, the impulse spending, how to get

back on track when you've fallen off track because no one is perfect and everyone's going to fall off track. Oh, yeah. How to pick yourself back up and motivate yourself to keep going. So that way, this isn't something you only do January and February for a new year's resolution. And then next January comes around and you're like, gosh, I need to try this again. I'm not happy with the way my money is.

What's happening? And it's like doing things differently and finding what works, not just for two months, but for the long term. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's all about setting this up. So it's just part of your lifestyle and you can continue it onwards because yeah like yourself I mean I've I've always budgeted but I really feel like I didn't kind of figure out the right kind of method for me until maybe four or five years ago and then I've been continuing it you know for all these years and it really I'm like wow once you kind of find the right path or the right method for you it really is a game changer you're like how on earth especially like tracking your net worth you're like how on earth did it go from there to here like that

doesn't even make sense in my mind but somehow it happened and I know it's because you need to like you said you know have to have specific goals have to have the right mindset and have that strategy that works for you and just keep at it basically Basically, it's not, you know, it's like, you know, living a healthy lifestyle. Diets don't work. It's about having that healthy lifestyle, you know, eating well, working out consistently and doing that forever. Exactly. And being able to know what to do when you fall off track. Because I think that so often, you often, we fall off track with a goal

and we just assume it's no longer going to work for us. When in all actuality, it's normal to fall off track. It's normal to get distracted. It's normal to need a reset and to reset your focus and reset your mind. And so that's exactly like basically what I teach. It's literally what I needed when I think about where I was 10 years ago and what I teach. It's literally, you know, what I needed when I think

about where I was 10 years ago and what I didn't have or what maybe was out there that wasn't working for me because it was just like these white men talking about it. I'm like, okay, but I'm different. Like it's literally like a step-by-step path because I think so often if you, when you jump into Google, everything's so overwhelming and you're like, nope, not going to do it. This is a lot like this is way too much. And you're given, being given information that you don't necessarily need at that moment. So instead, when you have literally like, okay, step one, do this. Don't worry about anything else.

Let's do this first. Okay. Step two. Now let's do this. And when it's done in a path that makes sense, you don't have the overwhelm. You don't have the stress. You know, you're working towards something that's going to work. It's just literally following a step-by-step plan. It's like, I was going to say it's like Ikea instructions, but it's nothing like Ikea instructions. They have no words and they're

very confusing. It's like instructions on assembling something, you know, when you have all the parts and can be really, really confusing. But when you have this step-by-step set of instructions, it just makes sense. Exactly. Or like baking. It seems like how on earth

am I going to bake like, you know, the perfect cake? Well, there's a recipe and it literally gives you step-by-step. And even though, you know, baking is a science, if you do follow those steps, it should work. And you should have a cake. Talking about baking and like cooking. So one thing you might not know about me is I hate

cooking. Like I do not like it. It does not bring me joy, which is crazy because my mom is an incredible cook. She's written a cookbook like that was published and in stores and many years ago in the 90s. And like, it's just not something that brings me joy. So I remember going and looking on Pinterest for like super easy recipes. And if it had more than five ingredients, my mind was shut down and I would be like, no, I can't do this. It has too much. And it was overwhelming. It was overwhelming, but I had to learn that, yes, I can. I can actually cook recipes that have more than five ingredients because as long as it's done in these easy step-by-step things, it's not overwhelming. So sometimes I would look at the ingredient list and I would immediately close out of the tab and be like, nope, not for me. And I had to learn that that's just information, but what I needed was a process. So I feel like when we go on Google and you have someone that's brand new, you have someone who's not sure what they're doing and they go on Google, it's just all the information and they can shut down. But when you

have a process, it takes that information and separates it up and it's just, it just makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. When you look at kind of like the thing at the, you know, the whole thing, it's too much, but that's why it's so important to, yeah, break it down to little chunks. And I think, yeah, that's kind of like for life learning about anything, you know, that's new, it will seem scary and overwhelming and impossible. Like, no, there's no way I can do that. Of course you can. I mean, you know, maybe there's some things that are impossible, but you know, in general, we can learn pretty much anything. But it is about having that process. And yeah, bite size pieces, because, yeah, we can't eat the whole pie at once, we need to have little slices. And eventually, we can eat the whole

pie or whatever. Now I'm just thinking of baking and pies. I think I'm hungry. I thought of that, like, when people say, how did you pay off all of this debt? Like, I remember sitting there pregnant, crying, thinking, first off, I was like, why did I marry a teacher? Why didn't I go for the lawyer, the engineer? Like what is happening? Right. But that was, that was a limiting belief that teachers can't make this work. So if you're a teacher and you're listening to this, yes, you can do it on two teacher salaries. But, you know, and so then it was, okay, I was looking at this debt and I thought, it is so much like this is more, way more than we even make combined. And I remember thinking, it's impossible. How is this even going to happen? And that right there can be enough for some people

to give up. Right. And that right there would have been enough for me to give up. But I had this baby and I was like, I can't like, I can't like, I physically can't do this or else we will not be able to even afford for him to be watched. Like I can't do this. And so it was breaking up that big goal into these bite-sized chunks, right? Okay, if we want to pay off this $100,000 in, you know, four years, that's $25,000 a year. How much does that come out to per month? Okay, can we commit to doing that? So that was the way we were able to get through it was looking at it in these bite-sized chunks.

And then what I would do is I would try to beat myself the next month. So if I put $1,500 to debt, I would say, I'm going to do 1,600. I'm going to beat October and November. And I would find ways to stay motivated and break it down into these bite-sized chunks. That way, looking at the entire picture was not paralyzing. And I guess too, because you kind of mentioned it, figuring out your really kind of deep-seated why. So for you, it was your family. I think that's also, you need to have that like, why am I doing it? So you don't lose focus. So it could be your family, your spouse, future you, whatever it is, having that really core why. So you can always go back to

because like you said, it's easy to kind of get derailed. But we need to have that. What's that thing that can always bring us back to it to be like, I can't give up because of this. Exactly. Because I mean, you're right. It is easy. It is easy to be derailed. Because that is what you know, anyone who is marketing you to buy something that is their job is to derail you from what you're where you're currently spending your money to go to them. And so you have all of these things pulling at your attention. All of these desires, social media, everything is pulling at your attention. And so finding a way to stay on track something that's strong enough and like, I don't like to say if I could go back in time, cause I don't want to live in that like life, but part of me wishes and what

I hope for others, maybe I shouldn't say part of me wishes. What I hope for others is that you are enough because for me, I wasn't enough in that moment to take back control of my money, I wasn't enough. And I wish that had been a little bit different because Evan, my son, he was enough, but I wasn't enough. Like, how does that even make sense? And I see it now. But what I want for anyone hearing is for them to know that just you alone, you are enough to be worthy of taking back that control and building yourself up for wealth. And I think so often we don't see ourselves as enough, but we see other people as enough to do it. But you are enough alone. You alone are enough. Yeah. I like got chills. I'm like, yeah, we need to. Yeah. And I've been telling people for like the past while, it's like we need to

think of, you know, taking care of our finances as a form of self-care and self-care isn't going to the spa or whatever i mean that's nice i mean i can't wait to do that again i can't wait to do that yeah right but it's it's like we really do need to take care of ourselves but like you said because we are enough and we deserve it and that that's not selfish. That is just taking care of ourselves as we should. So wow, I feel like I could talk to you for so long. I really appreciate like so many, so many good nuggets that you shared. So many good things that I could write on post it to put on my computer. So you're gonna help me throughout the week. And I'm sure so many people are going to get so much out of you. I know you have a few like free trainings and some so many people are going to get so much out of you. I know you have a few free trainings and

so many great resources on your website. Is there anything you'd like to share so people can kind of take a deep dive on your website and then know what to check out? Absolutely. So I do have a free training all about how to pay off debt even if you don't make a fortune. So how to actually stick to it, stay motivated. And I share, I think it's three, three simple steps, like three shifts you can make. And so you can get into that free training and watch it. If you go to inspirebudget.com slash free class, all one word, free class. And then follow on Instagram where I try to come on every single day and either inspire or just relate. And, you

know, I think that it's so important that we fill our social media with, with people and content that is going to lift us up and not bring us down. I myself have been going through my social media and either muting or unfollowing anything that makes me feel less than because I already have so many things in my life trying to already pull myself down. There are so many things that can pull you down and make you feel less than. I don't need social media to be another one. And I have full control over that. So if you are looking to inspire your social media, you can follow me on Inspired Budget on Instagram and Facebook. That's where the name follow me on Inspired Budget on Instagram and Facebook.

That's where the name comes from, Inspired Budget. I love it. Well, thank you so much, Allison, for taking the time to be on the show. It was such a pleasure having you on and I look forward to continuing to follow you on Instagram. I get a lot of inspiration from you as well. So thanks again for being on the show. Thanks so much for having me, Jessica. And that was episode 291 with Allison Bakerley from Inspired Budget. Make sure to check out her website, inspiredbudget.com. You can follow her on Twitter at inspired underscore budget. And on Instagram, where again, I'm a big fan of her Instagram at inspired budget. I will, of course, link to all of her different social media handles in the show notes for this episode, JessicaMorehouse.com slash 291. And also she has some great resources on her website, including a free training on how to pay off debt when you don't make a fortune. So definitely check

that out. Okay, so what else do we got? Oh, yeah. Also, don't forget, she has a couple podcasts. So she co-hosts the This is Awkward podcast with Chris Browning, which I love that podcast. But also she has a podcast called Inspired Budget. So if you liked this episode, make sure to subscribe and check out her podcast. Okay, so since this is like the second to last episode, oh my gosh, I can't believe I can't believe that. I guess I've got a few important things to share. Of course, I'm going to be back here tomorrow with my solo episode. But still, let's let's get to the nitty gritty because I am going to be taking the summer off and I'll

be back in September, probably about mid September. I don't have a set date yet. But yeah, so that's what's going to happen. Number one to keep in touch with me, make sure to follow me on Instagram at Jessica I Morehouse. You can also follow the podcast specifically at More Money Podcast. I'm also on Twitter. And I feel like the more I talk to younger people, Twitter is not a thing, but I'm an old millennial. So I'm on Twitter. You can find me at J-E-S-S-I underscore Morehouse. Or you can find out the podcast is also on Twitter. It is at More Money pod. A few things I want to share that you may not be aware of. So I have a website Jessica morehouse.com. There's a

shop page, it has a bunch of, you know, amazing budget spreadsheets. There's a link to my course on there. Oh, yes, I should mention my course wealth building blueprint for Canadians, make sure to check it out. If you want to learn investing and be part of an active community of people that are taking control of their, you know, well, retirement savings and their other investment goals and actually taking action, ditching their high fee mutual funds for a portfolio of low cost index ETFs like I talk about all the time on the show. You're going to want to check this course out so you can find more information about it on my shop page, jessicamorehouse.com slash shop or check out the show notes for this episode jessicamorehouse.com slash 291 um but besides that I also launched

some merch uh just for fun basically me and my sister thought it would be really cool to launch um some you know hats and some you know shirts and stuff like that because honestly we just wanted that stuff I feel like I'm always on these, you know, websites that are like shops and stuff and all of the shirts or merch or whatever. They just do not speak to me. I want something that's empowering. That's, you know, about like positivity and also motivation and, you know, with a little personal finance twist to it. So you can find all that at JessicaMurhouse.com slash shop. And now, like I mentioned, I'm going to be on hiatus throughout the summer. So the best way to get in touch with me is, you know, obviously social media, but also to get on my email list, jessicamoorehouse.com slash subscribe.

Oh, I also forgot to mention, I am giving away a ton of books and this is kind of the last week I'm going to, you know, I'm probably going to wrap it up sometime next week. So take advantage, enter to win j to win Jessica Morehouse.com slash contest also linked to it in the show notes for this episode. But I'm giving away 13 different books. So get on it. Get on it. You have a good chance of winning because there's so many. There's so many books I'm giving away. And also, I don't think you really you may not know this, but I personally mail you the book and I put a little, you know, fancy personalized note in there for me. So, you know, check it out. Enter to win one of the books. What else do we have here? I feel like

I'm just like spewing everything. You know, I'm like telling you everything because I'm going to go, you know, I'm going to go soon and I won't be able to speak with you for so long. But I feel like those are kind of the key things for the moment. But I'm going to be back here tomorrow. Okay. I'm going to be back here tomorrow. You're not going to want to miss that episode. You're not going to want to listen to that episode. You're not going to want to miss that episode, because it is just me talking with you one on one. And I love a good solo episode. And I haven't done one for like over a year. And you know what a lot has happened. We need a good catch up, don't we? We really do. So as

always, big thank you and shout out to my podcast editor, Matt Rideout. And to you, my wonderful podcast listener, thank you so much for supporting the show in all 291 episodes. I can't believe it. And yeah, so I'll be back here tomorrow with a final episode for season 12 of the show. And I can't wait to see you then. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.