The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Actually Enjoy Your Life (Even on a Budget)

Starting point is 00:00:05 Contrary to popular belief, a budget doesn't have to take the fun out of your spending or your life. So today, we're going to talk all about that. So before we get started, make sure to like, subscribe, and share this episode with a friend. All right, first, here's why the word budget can feel like an instant buzzkill. Because when people hear the word budget, they automatically think of, oh, I have to say no to something because I'm on a budget. Or I have to be cheap and I can't get something I really want because I'm like doing it budget friendly. like all of these terms makes it sound like it's a negative thing. When in reality actually seeing it as, no, a budget doesn't have to mean that.

Starting point is 00:00:42 You can still buy great things and still spend money, but you're just doing it with more control and more purpose. And that allows your money to go further. So about a decade and a half of doing this budgeting. And in some seasons, the money was really tight and some seasons not so tight. I can tell you that budgeting is actually a huge reason why I enjoy. my life. So here are some things that Winston, my husband and I do to make sure that we are using our money wisely and using it for things that we really want. So first off, we use the every dollar

Starting point is 00:01:16 app. This is a budgeting app that is quick. It is convenient. And it's kind of our roadmap through the month on like, hey, how much do we have left in going out to eat or, hey, we need to plan a birthday party next month for our daughter. So like put a line item in there. And this, I mean, like, it's just how we run our life is literally through this app. It is so helpful. actions come in, I drag and drop them into the categories. So we just can keep on top of making sure that we are living below our means, saving the amount of money we want to save, giving the amount of money we want to give, and spending where we want to spend. Number two, we adjust our fun categories periodically. Let's be honest, inflation is real. Okay. So for our four walls, food, shelter,

Starting point is 00:01:56 utilities, transportation, I would say most of those have stayed pretty similar, like, for a long time. Like I look back and we haven't really changed our light bill much. Like it's kind of been pretty consistent. Same with gas in our cars, all of that. Like some of those things have been pretty, I don't know, consistent through most of our lives. But the thing that keeps changing, though, is the lifestyle part of our budget. So that's travel. That's even to a level food and like going out to eat more.

Starting point is 00:02:24 And that is like the more miscellaneous stuff that comes up that we're able to say yes to more these days than we were able to a decade ago. But those are probably the categories that I think fluctuate the most for us. But you can even look per season. And there may be times that you're like, oh, yeah, we are like we're going and traveling and going on three road trips. So gas is going to be more, right? So month to month you fluctuate, but I look over the course of doing this for like 10 years and realizing, okay, there are some categories that we've upped small percentages

Starting point is 00:02:54 throughout our life as our income's gone up. But then there's some that are still pretty consistent, which is great. So that's the thing is I'm like, you want to be able to be able to be a lot. to enjoy your money that's part of having a budget but i also want to make sure that we're not just spending just to spend like there's something that needs purpose and reason and that's one reason i do love the budget is because you can plan that out and know ahead of time what your motivations are number three we have categories for the kids so we're not blindsided every month so yes each kid has their own budget category and i put things in this like if there's like sports camps if there's

Starting point is 00:03:28 activities kids birthdays they're going to a birthday we're buying a gift like all of that gets put into their categories. Now, if we get to the end of the month, this happened like two months ago. And Caroline needs more money in her account for buying lunch at school. She was, I already spent her category on other things. Like, I'm still going to like put money in her account for school lunch, right? Like there are things that we will still do. But as much as we can allot per kid of what's going on, it helps us just stay organized. So I love the idea of every kid having their own line item. That's not them saying, oh, I get to go spend this amount. No, it's the stuff that's coming in for them that we have to pay for goes in their line item. Now a potential dangerous way to lose your money and your ownership

Starting point is 00:04:06 of your personal info is by not protecting your data from online scammers, which is why I love and use delete me. If you don't remove your personal data from the internet, it's basically like a billboard with your name and your address, your email, even your kids' names are out there on sketchy data broker websites. These websites and these data brokers collect your data and then sell it and they put you at risk for scams and fraud. But here's the good news. Delete Me goes in and removes your data to help protect you from fishing, harassment, and other online threats. Winston and I, we use Delete Me and it saves us so much time and worry.

Starting point is 00:04:42 So you guys, your family safety and financial security are way too important to leave exposed. So sign up for Delete Me and take control. Go to join DeleteMe.com slash Rachel for 20% off, bringing your monthly cost to under $9. So click the link down in the description. Right, number four, every year we increase our lifestyle category by a certain percentage. So this is kind of what I was saying. And we'll do this maybe like, I don't know, every year or two where we kind of reexamine and just say, okay, where are we at with our savings goals, retirement, kids college?

Starting point is 00:05:16 You kind of look at all of it. And there is this point, and I'm a natural spender, so I'm probably more in this camp than Winston. But I'm like, you know, we're doing the responsible things that we need to do, which is great. Like when you get to those baby steps of, yes, we are funding retirement, making sure kids are good with college, we are giving, like we're doing the things we need to be doing. And then if there is extra, then yes, you could go and keep saving, right? Which we do that sometimes.

Starting point is 00:05:41 But also, I'm like, okay, where can we take a percentage of that and use it in our lives? Where could this help it? Where could this benefit our lives? That's part of working hard is to enjoy some of the money you work for. So for me, I would say in recent years, it has been more convenience spending, meaning if I can get something convenient where I get to save more time, I will take that. So whether it's getting yard work done, whether it's having someone in clean, deep cleaning the home, you know, babysitters so that once I can go out, like whatever it is that gives a level of convenience to our life,

Starting point is 00:06:15 that is where I want to put my money. So I do enjoy buying stuff. You'll know that about me. Like I love clothes and all the things. But to a point, like, it is. It's just stuff. And I think I would rather increase my ability. to have more time, like that's become more of a priority to me in the past couple of years.

Starting point is 00:06:31 So that's where we've kind of taken any extra percentage we've upped, has been really going to those things. Now, number five is budgeting for your money goals. That means that you're always heading towards more margin because when you are budgeting and knowing exactly what financial goals are in front of you, the budget's there to help you do it. So whether maybe you are paying off debt or you're trying to get your emergency fund, like all of that is so great.

Starting point is 00:06:53 And your budget's going to help show and expose where you can take some money to throw at those steps. But if you're past that and you're starting to build wealth, you still are going to have money goals out there. And so again, your budget is there to say, yes, we are checking the boxes and doing what we need to do versus just kind of living month to month and not knowing where your money's going. So that is one thing that makes me feel very safe when we do that and knowing that we are staying the course. So listen, it's easy to identify big obvious financial mistakes, but it's the really sneaky small daily expenses that can really add up to a huge financial loss. So make sure to check out my episode on eight mistakes you're making with everyday expenses.

Starting point is 00:07:32 And if you're listening on podcast, I'll leave a link below. All right, you guys, remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.

The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Actually Enjoy Your Life (Even on a Budget)

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