The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Actually Be Successful With Your Money with Mallory Ervin

Episode Date: March 7, 2022

My friend Mallory Ervin joins me in this episode for a great conversation about contentment, money and the true definition of success (yeah, it got deep). I’ll also answer some of your biggest money questions and show you how to save a ton of cash in just 14 days! In this episode: Top 7 Money Questions Answered The Lies You Believe About Success and Money Get $2,000 Back in Your Budget in 2 Weeks!   Helpful Resources: EveryDollar Zander Insurance Christian Healthcare Ministries   Sponsors pay the producer of this show, The Lampo Group, LLC, advertising fees for mentioning their services or products during programming. Advertising fees are not based upon or otherwise tied to any product sale or business transacted between any consumer or sponsor. The following sponsors have paid for the programming you are viewing: Zander Insurance and Christian Healthcare Ministries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So the stuff that you used to do, whether it was, you always went on a certain vacation, you're going to post it for everyone to see. Part of that's your identity. And when you say no to that, you're stripping that away, right? Absolutely. All of this. And so there's kind of, there's a healthy level, I think, for everyone, no matter where you are in life, to say, what am I attached to?

What is this unhealthy thing that I'm grabbing onto that I actually need to release and let go? And that not that thing is bad, but what am I doing to hold on to that? Hey, guys, welcome to this episode of the Rachel Cruise Show podcast. I'm so glad that you're here. year. In this episode, we're going to talk about how to actually be successful with your money. I'm going to go over how you can get $2,000 back in your budget in just two weeks. Then you're going to hear a conversation I had with my friend and author, Mallory Irvin. She's amazing,

and I cannot wait for you to hear this conversation. We talk about success, money, and how to create a life you really want. But first, let's talk about the top questions asked on Google involving money, and I'm going to answer them. So take a listen. So we did some research to see, okay, what are people asking about money out there, out there in the world? So let's just dive right in. The first one, we're not going to be shocked by, is should I invest in cryptocurrency? Hmm. Listen, the cryptocurrency whole idea, will it be around forever? Maybe we don't know. But here's the deal. It is still very volatile as we speak. So when it comes to, your retirement and investing long term, I would still recommend your 401k, your Roth IRA, a good

gross stock mutual fund, those things. Make sure that all of that is covered, that you're maxing out retirement, all of that. Okay, let's be responsible in that area because that has a long track record of working. Now, if you're past that, if you don't have any debt and you have an emergency fund and you're investing in retirement and doing everything, and you have some money on the side that you're like, you know what, I kind of just want to, you know, yeah, I'll buy and get some cryptocurrency, why not? And if it all crashes and it goes down and that money leaves, it's not going to affect your net worth. You're going to be okay. If you're in that position and you want to go and invest in some of it, that's fine. But again, I want you out of debt with a fully funded

emergency fund and investing in retirement, first and foremost. The next question is, well, what is Bitcoin? Well, Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency. So cryptocurrency is basically digital currency. So think about a dollar bill or a euro, cryptocurrency is just the digital form of that. So it's a code, a specific, unique line of code that is assigned to you, and that is your digital currency. So there are people all day, every day mining for more of this code, for more cryptocurrency. And the great thing that I kind of like about it, if there is something I love about cryptocurrency, is that it's not owned by a bank. It really is kind of this own thing. It came out of a reaction from the whole Bail Wall Street out in 2008, during that.

time. So the idea of it, I'm like, that's kind of cool, but that's basically what it is, digital currency to make a fast explanation. Next question is, where do I find a realtor? People are moving everywhere, aren't they? Yes, here in Nashville, I feel like everyone from California and Chicago are coming to Nashville right now. So I would ask around first and foremost and not go with someone that's like your best friends, aunts, cousins, decorator turned realtor who's been on the job for like two months. Okay? If you're really going to use somebody, find somebody that has a long track record.

And you can usually find someone in the market that maybe you see their signs up or you go to a brokerage that you see, you know, the same sign in all these different houses that are up for sale. And you go to that brokerage and you ask for a top realtor there. or really what I suggest is checking out our endorsed local providers. These are pros that are Ramsey trusted, and you can find them on Ramsey Solutions.com. The next question is,

how much house can I afford? Well, you always want your house to be a blessing, not a curse. So a lot of people go into the housing market and they figure out how much they can take out and the bank gives them this number, and they max it out and say, that's the number. And they don't run their own number. numbers to figure out, okay, what is best for our situation? So here's the formula I always use when it

comes to buying a home. I want you to be able to put at least 10 to 20% down on your home. I want your payment to be no more than 25% of your take-home pay on a 15-year fixed rate. So if that's in the formula, that is how much house you can afford. Next is what is life insurance and how do I buy it? Well, life insurance is something that really everyone needs specifically if there is someone dependent upon your income or what you do. So say it how moms, for instance, you're not bringing in an income per se, but you have to be replaced. The things that you do if something happens to you need to be fulfilled, right, those duties. If you are working outside the home and you bring home a salary and people are dependent upon you,

whether that's your family or someone else, then you need life insurance. and there's really two types of life insurance. There's whole life insurance that is over the course of your whole life. It's more expensive and there's a really bad investment deal in it. They put your money in investment with a really low return. It's pretty crappy. Or there's term life that you can do, you know, for 10, 20, 30 years, a term of your life. And it's more inexpensive.

So I always use Zander Insurance. This is the best company because they shop all different types of insurance companies to find you the best rate possible. So make sure to check out Zander Insurance. How much car can I afford to finance? Well, since I am answering this question on the Rachel Cruz show, and here we don't believe in financing cars, the answer would be, how much car can you pay for with cash?

Mm-hmm, that's right. Is it $1,000? Okay, you get a $1,000 car with $2,000, $3,000. You want to spend cash for your cars. The car payment is the one type of debt that's like, oh, it kind of kills me because you're borrowing money and paying interest on something that traditionally just goes down and value. And so being able to save up and pay for your cars, and cars have become this ridiculous thing in our world. I'm not mad at nice cars. I think they're great when you can pay

cash for them. But your car is to take you to point A to point B, right? It's a very, like, tactical thing. It's here to here and here. And we've made it this big deal and you have to have all this fancy stuff and it's so great and has to look a certain way or be this brand. Listen, your car is your car, don't let it steal from you. The average car payment now on a new car is close to $600, you guys. $600. What if you had invested that $600 every month from age 18 to age 65, you would have millions of dollars, okay? So the car payment is wasting your money. I'm telling you, don't take out a car loan. Pay cash for your cars. The next question is, what is debt consolidation and should I do it? So what debt consolidation does is you usually pay a company

to go in and say, okay, I'm going to take all of your debt. So your four credit cards here, two car loans, a personal loan, you know, all the stuff, and I'm going to consolidate it into one debt with a locked-in interest rate, usually. And that's what you're going to do. And so a lot of people think, well, if I can get a lower interest rate than maybe when I'm paying on my debt, this is a good deal. But listen, it ends up not being a good deal because in order to get out of debt, it is your behavior that has to change, not the math.

It's not a math problem we're dealing with with debt. It is your behavior. And so what you really want to focus on is say, okay, I can do this. I don't need to pay a company to try to help me get out of debt. No, you can do it. Now, the one type of debt consolidation I would consider is student loans. So if you have multiple student loans, you can consolidate that to a lower interest rate because student loan debt is the one type of debt you usually won't go back into.

Again, the idea of debt consolidation, you feel better in some way when it's all consolidated, but it doesn't change your behavior in your heart towards debt. And that's what I want you to change. and in the process of paying off your debt smallest to largest, like we teach, it gives you this idea of behavior change. It's giving you this hope that not only you can do it, but that it's not a math problem. It's a you problem, right?

Our personal finance, it's us that is making it, not the math. So there's something powerful when you do it versus consolidating all of your debt. Now, one thing Google won't tell us is how you get financial peace. And true financial peace is about freedom, where you live like no one else, so later you can live and give, like no one else. I'm so excited because in this episode,

I have my friend Mallory Irvin here. Girl, thanks for being here. Okay, so my thing, when I have people on the show and I'm like, my friend is here because there's a lot of people that are wonderful, but I've just met and I never like to just throw out the word friends. So I always say they are my friends only if I have their cell phone number.

So we're friends. Yeah, we're friends. I just texted you. I know, I know. I'm so glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. Yes, yes. I know.

I'm so glad. invited me to your new house. You did invite me out one night. You had a baby. Well, when you got a hundred kids between the two of you, it's really hard to. It's true. And there was one night, Winston and I were without kids. Our plans fell through. We were having dinner and we were like, we just need to go hang out with people. Text them. And I was like, I'm going to text, Mallory. I'm going to all time. I know. And I really wish it would have. I was like, I hope she asks me again. Oh, it'll happen. You never got a babysitter again. It'll happen. And it'll happen, though, because, I mean, it's going to be a little while because you got a lot going on. You got baby number three.

you got another little baby right here. Oh, man. That one was hard to birth. That was harder to birth than the two C-sections had prior to this one, I feel like, yeah. There's so much. I can't wait to dive into your life, though, because Mallory is obviously an author.

Her new book, Living Fully, is out, and it's, oh, I can't wait. But you also were Miss Kentucky. You were three seasons on the amazing race, all of it, and you have an amazing podcast, Living Fully. Yes, but you were on. All of this stuff, which is so fun. So just kind of talk me through this theme for you of living fully, obviously, is near and dear

to your heart, not just podcast, the book and everything. So what does that mean? Like when someone, when you say this, what does that living fully? What does that mean to you? Yeah, it means different things to me at different points in my life, but it's always just living a bigger life. It's not accepting easy and comfortable as the way that your life is going to be. It's about choosing something bigger for yourself, you know? I think so many times we fall into what's easy and what's comfortable. And we don't open door number two because door number one is familiar. And it's like opening door number two. It's just a, it's a whole different way to live. And, you know, my story's kind of funny because you don't usually go from pageants to reality shows to, you know,

blog or author. It's a, it's kind of a funny path, but it all informed what's in this book. So it's the catalyst to what I feel living fully is because I had this life that was amazing that a lot of people do where nothing's bad going on, so everything's good, you know? Everybody thinks, the absence of bad is a qualifier for good in your life. And I don't think that that is. I live that way for a long time. And so over the last like eight years or something, I'm living a normal life, you know, business owner and mom of two, almost three. And just now though living fully to me is something different. It's just choosing to live a different way. It's choosing to not accept cruise control and the comfortable and the familiar to not let fear, like drive all my decisions,

to take chances and to face adversity and to, you know, all these things that sound common in the self-help space, but I promise you have had a different journey to these things. And I tell all these stories in living fully, but it's just a bigger life. It's just a fuller, more grounded, more rich way to live. And for you, because you're saying, yeah, you don't want to just be on cruise control. So how do you balance this idea of, like, I do want to achieve and I do want to do great things, but it not be unhealthy? Is it because you're achieving in different ways now

where you're not just on cruise control? Well, that, and I went to treatment for six months. They really got the shovel and really dug it all up for me. The two biggest things that came out of this, like, whole treatment stint for me, it wasn't even sobriety. Like, I really think that it's always the underlying stuff, you know? And one of those things was, I opened this whole book with this story about how I had long blonde hair extensions

for 10 years, never had gone a day without them. And, like, two months into treatment, like they know what they're doing there with you. Like, they know this is what this girl needs to work on, you know. And I was a special case for them because, you know, here I was. I was like, I'd become the shining star of the treatment facility. I was happy things were gone great. I was like, I'm going to take care of this problem and I'm going to write a book and

everything is going to be fantastic. This is just going to make my street credit even better. Like, it's just, you know, I just really didn't get that they were really going for me. They had my chair turned around because they knew, like, the treatment people, like, you know, I couldn't watch, you know. They turned my chair around and I looked in the mirror at myself with this like two-inch long fried off hair for the first time. And that was the biggest breakdown that I had in that whole thing.

Like my attachment to remaining this person, this person that I was and this person that in a way almost killed me, I was so attached and I wanted to be that person. And when they stripped that away from me with that last hair extension, it was a weird thing. Who would think you'd have an out of body on the floor? like experience, but that was a big breakthrough for me. And I did a lot of work around that. So the only way that I think I'm able to, because I'm still in a public place now,

but it's a very healthy place. Sure. It's a totally different experience for me, but it's because I did a lot of work around it. And I know the tools, and I know my triggers to when I'm getting attached to something because I get attached to things, good and bad all the time.

And I'm now able to spot those things in. Yeah. and get out of that, you know, before it gets too bad. Well, it's interesting. I feel like we're even in a culture, we're attaching to these things and something that seems so simplistic, like your blonde hair extensions, right?

Whatever it is, these things become part of our identity. And once you start stripping that away, you start to realize, gosh, has my joy, my identity, have been placed in just this stuff? How much have I put in this? Whether it's accolades or hair extensions, you know, whatever that may be.

You know, when I talk to people on their money journey, like there's a level of sacrifice for some people to say, hey, to get yourself above water financially, stop doing stuff. So the stuff that you used to do, whether it was, you always went on a certain vacation, you're going to post it for everyone to see. Part of that's your identity. And when you say no to that, you're stripping that away, right? Absolutely. All of this. And so there's kind of, there's a healthy level, I think, for everyone, no matter where you are in life, to say, when am I attached to? What is this unhealthy thing that I'm grabbing onto that I actually need to release and let go? And that, not that thing is bad, but what am I doing to hold on to that?

And so it is. It's such a fascinating conversation, and I think it's this whole, like, 360 healthy perspective to have on your life. And it's choosing. So, like, if you're in your courses and you're looking at those things, who would think of vacation's a bad thing with your family?

You know, who would think that, you know, the fruits of your labor are driving a nice car or whatever. Right, right. But you have to choose, they want to choose to be financially stable and feel good. Like, that feels so much better on the other side, and you know that. So it's like,

You know, me and treatment, they're like, we've got, so we've got to get past this for you to get on the other side of this. It's like just choosing, I want to live fully, I want to live a bigger life more than I want to be attached to these things that make me feel good right now. So all we're talking about, though, is there's a level of this, you guys, that is hard. And so talk me through, working and pushing through hard, uncomfortable things is worth it. Because I talk about that a lot, that change. Oh, yeah. Like you said earlier, when you're familiar with something, it's comfortable. Naturally, that's a human aspect, right?

Yes. But we stay in things that are comfortable, even if they're wrong, right? Even if they're damaging us. We still stay because we know it's still predictable. So when you're changing something, whether it's something emotionally in your life, financially, whatever it may look like, that change is going to be hard. You're going to feel that friction. So talk me through and kind of encourage everyone listening to this,

that even though it's hard, it's worth it to keep pushing through that. Well, I know in my own life, being on the other side of things that happened in my life, I know every single time I walk through something that I was afraid to walk through or I face any kind of adversity. I know it from experience that it's always better on the other side. We can hear 100,000 times when you walk through the fire, you're stronger, you know?

But until you experience it yourself, you just can't seem to believe it. So I always tell people, if you have any experience like that, if you can pull from that experience, Everybody has something like that that I feel like they've been through before. They've made it through it. But anytime you're standing at a crossroad, nobody's going to say, you know what? I'm going to go the adversity road.

It's not easy. It's always, especially nowadays, I feel like in our generation, you know, you and I are the same age, people just value that easy and comfortable. I do think that social media is part of that because you only see the easy. You only see easy life. No one shows the hard stuff on social media and we look at it so much. But I wrote a whole chapter to, I know that you love your family and like the, you know, you have these family roots too.

And I wrote this chapter. It's called Endangered Species and it's about the generation of like our grandparents. And they experienced adversity and change and all of these things that I feel like would just stop us dead in our tracks today. And it was just their life. They didn't flinch at these things. My grandpa had this like amazingly hard, traumatic first like, 13 years of his life.

Like his mom was 13 when she had him. She was married, but in Kentucky, it was just different. So he's a 13-pound baby born to like a 13- or 14-year-old girl. He watched his dad die in a house fire, like right in front of his side. All of these, watched his sister pass away, like all these hard things. And I was writing this chapter and I said, what? How did you make it through that? How did you make it, like, how do you make it through hard things?

And he said, we never had any hard things happen. Like, it was just like. They just didn't see it as that. It's like life was just life. It was the way they experienced it as it came along. And I always think to myself, if we could just experience adversity like it's part of life and it's just instead of avoiding it all the time,

they didn't avoid it. I feel like we could be so much better off. And change, you know, of course we have to change. You can't just stay still and the world's just moving around you. Right, right, right. Change is a wonderful thing, but changes also. It's gross. It's uncomfortable. Lord, I know about growth right now.

It's uncomfortable, but it's growing something good. So it's just, I would say, as a person having been on the other side of it, and a person that used to live at the surface level where everything was good, this way of life is just so much more. Vibranence only, I picked Vibrant, like in my subtitle. Vibrant is the only way that I can describe it. The joys are so much more joyful and, like, higher. And yes, there are lows and adversity and stuff.

but when you face those, it's just a different, it's a different thing on the other side. Yes. Well, and I think when you're choosing to live a life that you're like, okay, I'm going to just dig into the hard, not for the heck of it, but to grow and to heal from things, right? So whether there's counseling and therapy, all, anything, using these tools to help you understand.

And I think you're exactly right, because I know for even in my story, I'm like, you know, when I started to choose that path, probably about eight years ago to really start digging in, I'm like, man, there's a level of intimacy in life and in your marriage and in your friendships and in your family and relationships that when you can dig into all that.

Yes. And like you're saying, the lows are low because you're actually engaging the lows, which is not always fun. But it brings this level of depth to your life that you're like, I never knew I could love like that. Yes. I never knew that pain could be this painful,

but I'm choosing to engage it and all of it, right? So there's a level of that that thing is so beautiful. Now you mentioned Instagram and social media and all of that, and that's one of your big platforms that, you know, that you use and I think it's great. And yeah, social media, It's a love-hate thing, I know. It is.

So how do you not compare your life to everyone else? Because comparison, it is so tough today. And I think from the outside looking in, and you do a great job, I think, of showing everyone the whole life, the good and the bad, all of it, which is great. But people could still look and be like, no, she's perfect. It's so great. And they can compare themselves to you or whatever.

So how do you fight that comparison about it? How I fight it in general is, like, I knew I had to include this part of the story in my book. I went eight years without sharing it, though. Even my mom's side of the family didn't know. I mean, a lot of people didn't know. There's HIPAA laws, you know. They can't tell that I went to this treatment facility. Sure.

No one knew. People knew I didn't drink, but, like, also I didn't drink halfway through college. It was just, like, somebody that I was. Yeah. And as my influence grew, and as people loved, like, shopping the sales I was talking about and cooking the recipes and doing weight watches and all these things, and all these things I bought for my kids, I kept getting these direct messages from people saying things like,

I wish I, it seems like you wake up and you just, are so happy or I love your relationship with your husband or they kept saying things that made me feel like they felt the life that I was living was unattainable. So I'd always message back and say, oh, I actually went through this big thing that nobody really knows about and I chose the way that I lived today. It was really hard. I almost lost my life to like this time of my life. And they would be like, what? You know? And so for five years, people would send me that message. And I would say if I'm going to be any sort of, if we want to call it an influencer, if I'm holding this part of my story behind the curtain.

I'm doing a, you know, a disservice to every single one of them, however many millions of people across all the platforms. I'm doing them a disservice because who knows how many people watching have, maybe it's a red flag like I had in the beginning of the book, or maybe it's just, they just feel fine with their life and they just feel like complacent in it, and this is all there is. And I know another way to live because I went through this knock-down, drag-out fight for my life. So I was like, I have to share this story.

I did not have to write a book. I got 900 arms at my business like you guys have going on here. I was like, I have to write a book. Yes. I have to do it. So that's how I help with this world of comparison. I never want anyone to see me like that. Now, me personally, I've never really been much of a comparer.

I've always been, when I went into pageants and when I did Amazing Great, I was always very different. And I was definitely never in the box. So I have never been one to conform. I've never had that issue. so much, but you do, like, you look at other people's life and you say, oh. Yeah, yeah. It seems like it's easy. You know, it seems. And so that's where I feel like comparison can get to when you look at your own life and you make your blessings become burdens, you know, because you're looking at

somebody else's and you think there's this little shinier. And so that's the way that I combat comparison, because I do not want to be a person that people are falsely comparing their life to. She never went through anything hard. Yeah, yeah. It's my fault. I wouldn't tell them the hard story. Not to say, everybody's going to share their hard story. I think you have to be ready to tell it. I'm ready to tell it, but I'm still a little nervous. Yeah. But then I think you, you know, you check in with yourself constantly

and making sure that you're not personally comparing yourself. Yes. Yep. I love it. So good, Mallory. Both ways. I'm so excited. So excited for you.

I'm so excited for this book. But one thing I always ask my guests before they leave is what is one thing that you're doing right now with money that you're enjoying. Oh, my gosh. It's making a life that you love. And it could be anything. It could be a fun purchase you made. It can be whatever.

Okay. So we've talked all about in the other podcast that we did on my show. Yes. I've had this very rich journey with money and that my family, from a very young age, they taught us about money management about how the choices you make with your money can change the world. You know, my family, like your family,

thinks that if you can get control of your money, whether you're the wealthiest person in the world or whether you are barely making it buy, like you can really change your life with a way that you spend your money, share your money, save your money. So I've always been very intentional with my money. Now, I also like to my, I do like things. Hey, we like stuff around here too.

I know you do. I like that about you, Rachel. You can have a little hybrid between, you know, you're a good mix of your dad and me. Well, we are, it's in the budget. It's always in the budget. Yes, it is. That's what it is. Sometimes mine is not.

But, you know, that's where it's, this is another spectrum than Rachel. then Dave. So on this end of the spectrum, we are, so I in this space of my life, getting ready to have another baby, we've been really like, I've got to have more space. Yes. My boys, I have a two and three-year-old little boy, and they are so totally insane and wild. And my house all of a sudden became like 100 square feet, like three weeks ago. So we've been looking for houses. And if you would have told me four years ago that I could be even looking, approved for, to be able to comfortably buy a house in the price range that I'm looking, I would have been like, what am I doing?

Like something sketchy? How, you know, that is not possible, you know? I just, you never think that about yourself. So I am very, that is something that's fun right now as we're looking for and like closing in on buying a home. It is fun to see like the fruits of your hard earned in the trenches, you know, type and blog post and filming YouTube videos with my sequin backdrop from Joanne's Fabric, how that is evolved into a business that can support my family in this way. It's a different level that I didn't think that I would ever achieve with the online internet thing, you know? It's amazing. Well, I'm so excited for you. I celebrate with you. We always celebrate the wins and all of it. I

love that. Oh my gosh, love that. Well, congratulations on not just that, Mallory, but I think choosing to do the hard stuff to walk and to share your story, a level of vulnerability, a something that I think we're just missing in today's world. And when you can be honest and vulnerable with the not-so-good stuff, I think that people love you that much more. I really do. So I just pray such success over this book. So you guys make sure to check out the whole stories in here,

all the details of everything that we've been talking about in this interview. So Living Fully, and they can buy it everywhere. Wherever books are. Everywhere. And make sure to check out Mallory. She's YouTube, Instagram, all of that, and her podcast, Living Fully. So thanks, thanks, Mallory.

Thanks for being here. So one of the things that I always encourage people to do, whether they're starting out on this money journey or even if they're on baby step seven, is that you still have to be intentional with where your money's going. And there's certain parts of our money that I feel like we can kind of get lazy on at times. And it's like, oh, I'll finagle this category here and change this so we can do what we want. And then sometimes money is leaving your account and you don't even realize it. So whether it's subscriptions that you're not using or other things. So a few months ago, Winston and I were re-looking at all of our life insurance policies. And we're like, okay, we need a up, probably some of it here and back down this thin.

Like, kind of we were reorganizing. And Winston was like, let me just go and re-look at all of our insurances. Like, let me go back and get quotes again, double-check everything. Anyways, when we did that, you guys, it came back that we were overpaying on certain things here and there and different stuff. And it was like this whole new thing of, like, we don't have to pay as much that we thought we were. so much money came back into our budget. Now, that happened because of different life things going on, but also because we took the time to figure out, okay, where is our money going? And I just find for so many people, again, we were even guilty of it too, that things just, you just pay throughout the

month and you go and you don't really look at every single line item. And there is something powerful when you look at every single line item. So for those of you that have never budgeted before, or you're thinking, oh, is it worth it? Is it worth it? I am telling you it is. Not just the control that you're going to get over your money, the sense of permission to spend, but you're going to actually find money. Now, if you've never done this before, I want you to go back and look at the last three months in your bank account. So you can go online to your bank, or if you have bank statements that were mailed to you, whatever. But go back and look and just add up, okay, on average, every month, here's what we spend at the grocery store.

Here's what we spend going out to eat. Here's what we spend on gas. Here's what we're spending on clothes. Here's what we're spending on insurance. Here's what we're spending on mortgage or our rent. Like go and look to see, okay, on average, here's everything we're spending. And then the categories that you can take control over. Now rents, mortgage, some things are just locked in.

But categories like clothing or food, those kind of things are categories that you can adjust. even things like insurance like I was talking about. So look at the things and say, okay, if we actually buckled down and actually said, okay, what if we did not spend as much every month and we lowered that dollar amount, how much money could we save? And here's the crazy thing. If you go through all the big categories in your budget or in your life and think through, okay, here's what we spent when we were not living on purpose,

but if we actually were intentional and lived on purpose, here's really what we could spend a lot less. and then figure out the savings between those numbers, add them up, and I guarantee you it's going to blow your minds. On average, I'm finding that people are finding $2,000 in two weeks by just doing this. Now, that all may have seemed very overwhelming, but that's why I have my 14-day money finder. So this is something you sign up for, and every single day, for 14 days, you're going to get an email with a video of me explaining how to do a small task. Okay, so some these tasks can be really small and they can feel insignificant. Others are going to feel a little bit

bigger. But all of this is to walk you through a plan to actually help you find money. Like, I cannot stress it enough how often it is that people just don't budget and they just are not intentional with their money and how much money is leaving your checking account because you don't have a plan. So this 14-day money finder is going to help you. I'll leave a link in the show notes for you to check it out. But I am so big on this because when you're starting, to say, okay, I want to actually gain control of my money. I actually do want to get out of debt. I actually want an emergency fund. I actually want to start doing these steps and taking control of my money. It's things like this that give you a springboard to actually say, okay, no, I can do this.

Like, you actually can find money right now. It's an amazing thing. One of my friends said to me one time a few months ago, she was like, I don't know, I just don't want to budget. I feel like I work too hard to just pinch every single dollar and know exactly where every single dollar is going. I just work too hard for that. I just want the freedom. And I was like, that is so funny. And in my head, I was like, because I think the complete opposite. I'm like, I feel like I work too hard to not know where every single dollar is going. Like, if I'm going to be leaving my kids and coming to work, paying for child care,

sitting in traffic, driving on the interstate, like doing all the stuff that I got to get to to work, like, I want this to be worth it. Like, when I get paid, I'm like, no, I want this to go as far as possible. And a budget does that. It does that. So again, if you are overwhelmed by the idea, or you just, want to find $2,000 in two weeks, make sure to check out my money finder. Well, I want to thank Mallory for being on today's episode. I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation. And if you

have not subscribed to this podcast, make sure to hit that follow button. And if the spirit leads, you can leave a review. As always, remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.