The Rachel Cruze Show - 7 Purchases That Significantly Improved My Life

Starting point is 00:00:01 Well, hey, you guys, so I spend a lot of time talking about not buying things you don't need. Instagram loves to make us feel like we're just one purchase away of just being complete forever, right? And it's this like comparison culture of like what I don't have and what I'm missing out on, all the things. And I will also admit that there are some purchases, though, that I have made in life that are very much worth it. So today, I want to share the seven purchases that have significantly improved. my life. And spoiler alert, number seven was 10 years in the making, so you know I'm not playing around. It's so good. And be sure to stick around and let me know in the comments, two different things. Number one, what's one purchase that you think is worth it? And number two, if you like

Starting point is 00:00:51 this subject, should I do another episode of just this kind of thing? All right, first off, let's kick things off with a little warm weather staple in our house. And I know this sounds really random and simple. But if you're needing a cheap way to get your kids outside and just keep them occupied, I am telling you, a pack of wiffle balls does the trick. So my kids, I don't know about yours, but it's like things get lost all the time. And so buying anything expensive for outside just stresses me out. But when I go to like big lots or the dollar tree or even just some cheap Amazon stuff, they play with it. And it may only last a season, but it keeps them occupied. And I'm telling you, give my kids a stick and a ball or a bat and a ball, like whatever it is,

Starting point is 00:01:35 they will play outside forever, like forever. And I have learned if I can just invest in a big thing of wiffle balls, they're good to go. Like, it really is amazing. So all day, every day, I'm doing it this summer, I'll do it next summer. It's great. All right. Next is a book purchase that changed my life. So I love to read. And I'll read three or four books a month. Usually I will read fiction that has to do with like murder and kidnapping or something really dark and crazy, but they're always thrillers and crazy and great. But every now and again, I will read a nonfiction and try to grow as a person, which I think is very important. But one of my favorite books of all time, one that I've read probably three different times over the course of a decade, is The Voice of the Heart by Chip Dodd. Okay, if you've not read this book, it is kind of like your first step into therapy.

Starting point is 00:02:25 If you've never really dug into that space of life, it is so good. He just talks about the basic emotions and how there's like a healthy side of every emotion. Yeah, a healthy side of even like an anger, like all of this. Like it's so interesting or the unhealthy side, the low points of it. And so he just talks through each of those. And it is incredible. It's so great to pinpoint because kind of like, I feel like Therapy 101 is like your emotions or your dashboard, right?

Starting point is 00:02:51 They're just indicating things going on underneath the hood. And this is the first step into that language. And it's just, again, very helpful, very self-aware to understand these things. And it sounds really simple, but it's really good. So Voice of the Heart, Chip Dot. I actually had him on the show a few years ago. It was a great interview. All right.

Starting point is 00:03:07 Speaking of self-help and self-care, the third purchase that dramatically improved my life is therapy. Good old therapy session. Now, listen, there are seasons of my life that I will go every week for like a year. Like some things just come up and I'm like, wow, we will work on this for a while. and then sometimes I won't go for like six months. So for me, it is, it is very seasonal on what's going on in my life. But can I tell you, I always walk away from a session, just being like, okay, that was so good to know. Again, the self-awareness, the mirroring back, and understanding who we are as people. I am no Dr. John Deloney here. But it is amazing, the layers that you have

Starting point is 00:03:45 in yourself and in your story all the way back to childhood, all the way about how you are today. and when you can understand, oh my gosh, I go outside ways when this happens or that or why am I doing this? It just helps you overall become aware. And I think you just become, I was going to say, a better human. But seriously, I think you become a better friend, a better sister, a better daughter, a better wife or mom. Or if you're the dude version, you know, all the other dude versions of that. Like, you just overall become a healthier person. And I think that is so worth the investment.

Starting point is 00:04:18 All right, the fourth purchase that has significantly improved my life, and I would say millions of other people, is FPU. Financial Peace University. Yep, I had to take this as a wee little girl, as you can imagine. So FPU is a nine lesson personal finance course that goes over all the basics with money that you need to know. Again, some really simple ideas, but things that are hard to do, like budgeting or getting out of debt, to even more complex topics like insurance and investing, all of that, you will. learn and it's the stuff about money that everyone wishes they knew in high school, starting at an 18 years old. So if you have not taken FPU, make sure to check it out. I will leave a link in the description again. It is worth the money. All right, the fifth purchase that has significantly

Starting point is 00:05:03 improved my life is a kitchen gadget that I swear by. This is like one thing I use, I would say at least probably three to four times a week, and it's the pampered chef veggie chopper. And I'm sure there's a lot of these. But it's just, I mean, it's incredible. Like, It comes with two different sizes of what's chopped, and you need something chopped. Just throw it in and, I mean, it's from onions to peppers. I mean, anything that needs to be chopped, that dang chopper will do it. It saves your time. It saves you money because all the pre-chop stuff, you guys, the grocery store is more expensive.

Starting point is 00:05:33 So don't buy that. It's just buy it in a whole. Get a great chopper that you can use over and over again. But it's a kitchen tool that, again, I love so much, so in the dishwasher, it's clean, it's wonderful. You need it. All right, the sixth purchase that I swear by, that I really strongly believe everyone needs is term life insurance. Now, a lot of people mistakenly choose whole life insurance because they think,

Starting point is 00:05:55 I don't know, sometimes there's an investment involved and they sell you on that plan or you think, okay, maybe, you know, I need it for my whole life or maybe you think I don't even need insurance at all. Here's the deal. If someone is dependent upon your income, you need life insurance and specifically term life. Term life is what I recommend. It is way less expensive than whole life. It doesn't have an investment involved or a savings portion of it. This is strictly just insurance. That's all you need. Don't ever combine insurances and investments together. It's always going to be a bad deal. So make sure those are separate. You're investing separately and you have term life insurance. So you need about 10 to 12 times your annual income. And if you're a stay-at-home parent, I would say

Starting point is 00:06:42 anywhere from half a million to even $600,000. So if someone is dependent upon you, the work that you do or your income that you're bringing in, you need term life. Zander Insurance is who I recommend you check out because they actually go and shop a ton of different insurance companies and get you the best rate. It's what Winston and I use. And it's fantastic. So making sure term life insurance is part of one of the purchases you make in life,

Starting point is 00:07:05 it is worth it. All right, the seventh purchase that has significantly improved mine at life. It is the most bougie, but it's one that, I mean, it's just been great. And that is a big designer tote. So listen, my never full tote by Louis Vuitton has gone strong for 10 years, you guys. I mean, everywhere, work, airplanes, anniversary dinners, kids sports practices. I mean, you name it. This was the purse that I just went to all the time.

Starting point is 00:07:33 And I have found I don't switch purses a lot. Like, I just have too much crap, too much going on to take all these little things. Every now and then I'll do a smaller purse, but for the most part, I just have one big tote that I take with me everywhere. And if you get a nice one, this is what I've learned, because Target and all of that, they have, you know, some great purses. But sometimes they do break over like five or six years. But again, your designer ones, that is real leather, again, they're going to cost you. But they're actually really great quality. They will hold up.

Starting point is 00:08:02 Like, I just can't believe my number full, I mean, it's been 10 years. And my last birthday, I changed purses. I changed totes. Louie is still there. She's still around. But I've moved on to another toots because I was like, it's been a decade. I'm going to do one more for the next decade of my life. But it is worth it.

Starting point is 00:08:18 It is worth it for me. I love it. Again, it's bougie. And we love Old Navy. We love Target. Like, we love Amazon, all of that. But having one nice totes that will last forever and ever. Amen.

Starting point is 00:08:29 It's worth it for me. All right, you guys, it's time to hear from you all. So again, drop a comment because I want to know a purchase that has improved your life. Because I love hearing what you guys are buying because usually it ends up being something that I love too. So let's help each other. out. And I want to give you a heads up also on things that I have regretted buying on my episode Popular Products That Are a Waste of Money, and that's coming up next. All right, you guys, remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.

The Rachel Cruze Show - 7 Purchases That Significantly Improved My Life

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.