The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Stay on Track Financially and Spiritually with Christine Caine

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

Have you ever wondered, How did I get here? You’re not alone—life has made us question a lot since 2020. That’s why I’m so excited for you to hear this episode. I’ll help you take control of your money, and my friend Christine Caine will help you get your faith back on track. Tune in to find out: Is your budget ready for Christmas? What to do when you doubt God with Christine Caine How to save money on gifts (for every occasion!) RC Wallet: bit.ly/3iLIy1k Ramsey+ bit.ly/3EoHI3V Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to one study, if you bought a gift for every party in one year, you'd spend nearly $700. So the question is, are you spending too much? Hey, everyone, welcome to another episode of the Rachel Crewe Show podcast. I'm so glad that you're here. Well, in this episode, we're going to talk about how to stay on track both financially and spiritually. So you're going to hear a conversation I had with author and speaker and all around amazing human being. Christine Kane. Oh, it's such a good conversation, you guys. I mean, there's so much going on in our world. And we kind of break it down and talk about what you do when you feel like you are drifting from your life and from God and from the things that you want out of life.

Then you're going to hear some ways to save money on gifts for every occasion. There are so many parties that are going on. I mean, everything from housewarming, bridal showers, baby showers, retirement parties, graduation parties. I mean, the list goes, on and buying gifts for all of these parties can add up very fast. But first, let's talk about Christmas. Yeah, you may be thinking Christmas, Rachel, I know it's two months away, but this is the time we need to start budgeting for the holiday season. So let's break down how in just a second. Take a listen. All right, everyone, get excited because it's time to talk about Christmas budgets. That's right. I said the word Christmas. It is time, everyone. We're going to do it here on today's episode at the Rachel Cruz show. Okay, I know it may seem kind of early. I said Christmas, and you're thinking, what? But listen, you have to plan ahead. And I want you to enjoy Christmas

debt-free. So when you're thinking about Christmas, I want you to think in two different areas, okay? Number one, your Christmas mindsets and number two, your Christmas budgets, which reminds me, very excited about this. You guys have heard of the Rachel Cruz wallets. I have a very fun announcement a little bit later to tell you about, which I'm so excited about. But first, let's talk about your Christmas mindset. Okay. One of the main problems I feel like we have is that we feel the pressure to create and provide the best Christmas ever. Regardless of costs, regardless of stress. It's like this expectation we have of doing everything for everyone, the very best, all the way around.

And it's like you just go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And the stress of the holidays, it overtakes people. It overtakes people. And you end up stressing yourself out and honestly stressing everyone else around you out. And that's not what Christmas is for, right? Obviously, there are reasons for Christmas that everyone celebrates. Jesus is born, number one, number two, yes, it's a generous holiday.

You want to be with family, you want to be with friends. all of it, right? The Christmas season is a beautiful thing. But this mindset has exhausted us that we just feel like we have to do the absolute very best. So I want you to take all those expectations, throw them out the window, and think through what can I do more on a minimalist scale for this holiday season? Because the more you say no and the less expectations you have on yourself and pressure you put on yourself, the more enjoyable it's going to be. It is so, so good. key because what happens is the stress of our mindset ends up affecting our budget. So the more calm you are, the more stress-free you are, the more clear-minded you are for your Christmas budget. So we have to

think about this element as well when it comes to Christmas, not just our mindset, but our budget. And we have to do a Christmas budget. When there's not a budget, the spending goes, goes off the rails and a lot of people go into a lot of debt. And in the moment, yeah, it feels good because you're like, oh, I'm buying all this fun stuff. So-and-so is going to love this. I can't wait to make them so happy. My kids are going to be so excited. This dress I'm buying for this party are these four dresses. I just love. They're so cute. It's all going to be so great. It feels so great in the moment. But it's pretty fleeting because by January 14th, no one remembers what dress you wore, nope, and your kids' toys, half of them were probably broken, stuffed away in some

closet that they're not going to play with again, right? So you really, really want to take the emotion out of it and look logically at your numbers because that is going to give you peace of mind, not just during the Christmas season, but again, the January U and the February U is going to love the December you. Last year, Americans spent, are you ready for this? 730 billion. on Christmas. But again, you can enjoy Christmas without spending a ton. You just want to stick to your budget. And it's really, really simple. It's hard for people to do, but it is very, very simple. So let's just make it easy. First, I want you to be confident that what you are budgeting for is correct and how you're budgeting. So a zero-based budget is true on your monthly expenses, and it's also true around Christmas.

So I want you to think through, okay, how much do I want to spend on Christmas? You have this total, and then I want you to list out everything and everyone you're going to spend money on during the Christmas season, and then the goal is that amount you want to spend minus it already planned out in the categories equals zero. So every dollar in your Christmas budget is assigned to a category. You're going to make this list, make the list of everything you're going to spend money on, and think through all your Christmas gifts. So it's not just for your kids and family. Things come up. So these things we're going to list out. You don't have to spend money on these categories, but I want you to be thinking through everything. So think about

teachers' gifts. Think about it. Is there parties you're going to go to and you're going to give hostess gifts? Are there secret Santa parties you're going to go to? Are there work Christmas parties you're going to go to? You have to bring gifts. Think about your holiday decorations, lights, home decor, party decor, party decor. Again, party costumes. If you're going to be getting, you know, an ugly Christmas sweater, or maybe you're going to go into a nice party, you're going to want to buy a new dress. Think through that. Think through the food. Are you making good? Are you making dinner for people. Are you having parties? Are you going to be making candy? I mean, whatever you're making, think about the food. Think about all your photography and mailings. This can get expensive.

So your Santa pictures. Santa's everywhere. Santa's at the neighborhood. Santa's at the mall. Santa's at work. Santa's everywhere. I feel like we have so many pictures of Santa. So just things are all the times. You're going to buy packages with kids and Santa because it adds up. Christmas cards. Christmas cards. Yes, this is a tradition. If you love this tradition, not going to break this tradition. I don't want you to break it, but I want you to think through how can I do this more inexpensively, right? Like, are there places? Because there are online, Costco, that you do not have to break the bank on Christmas cards, okay? I make cards every year, and I literally find the cheapest one, because, let's be honest, it's going to end up in a pile of a bunch of Christmas

cards. They're going to look at it. Oh, it's so pretty. That's the exact picture I saw on Instagram two days ago, but I just spent $120 for everyone seeing myself on this card. I can't It's the 80s kid in me. I'm always going to do a Christmas card, but I can do it so inexpensively. But if you put the dang gold foil on, it costs like an extra 75 cents a card. And I'm like, this is insane. Insane. So go cheap, you guys, just go cheap. Family photos. We always take family photos for the Christmas card. It costs money too. So find an inexpensive way to do that. Generosity, budget this in. Okay, I talk about being a spontaneous giver and a planned giver. When things come up, you're going to see amazing things going on, and you're probably going to want to give to it.

So plan, plan for the idea that you're going to be giving money away. But also plan that you can give other things away, like your time. You can go and serve places. There's so many opportunities in this time of year to do that kind of thing. So don't feel like it always has to just be money. Think outside the box. If you're going to be traveling, think about that. Are you driving gas money?

Are you flying? You got to buy plane tickets. You've got to get a rental car. Think through all of that. Okay. So this is your Christmas budget. I know it's a lot. But think through everything. It's not just gifts. It's everything around Christmas and have that dollar amount. And then you're going to be able to work a Christmas budget way more realistically. And I want you to really think, okay, if I have to cut areas,

that's going to be okay. Let's go back to what we talked about earlier, our mindset. The expectation lower them. It's fine. Every kid doesn't need a new iPad, right? They're going to be okay. So it's amazing that we just put this pressure on ourselves. So I just want to relieve that for you. I want to relieve that for you. And I want you to spend cash, have this budget, don't go into debt, all of it for your Christmas budget. So how do you set up your Christmas budgets? Well, you can do this many ways. You can do this online. You can use every dollar our budgeting app with that. You can use an Excel sheet. But again, you're going to list out people. You're going to list out categories of what you're spending on. Put dollar amounts and make sure it equals zero. Now, one way you can say,

for Christmas is a sinking fund. So you're seeing this a few months before Christmas. So maybe you put a little money away this month, a little money away next month and the next. So when it comes to be buying gifts, you have some money saved. So it makes it easier. And once you have your money saved up, again, use cash. If you're going to go online shopping, that's great. But if you're going into a store, bring cash with you because you actually end up spending less, statistically speaking, you spend with cash versus a card. So I hope this helps you because again, the budget's going to help you stay in control and when you're spending with cash, that helps you stay in control because it's just being accountable to exactly what categories you have. And that's one reason. One big

reason I created the Rachel Cruz wallet. Yes, you've heard we talk about it, but this is one of my favorite things because they're beautiful. And I partnered with Joyne. They're out of India, and they are incredible. They make incredible stuff. It's handmade, real leather. It's beautiful. And the great thing is it's going to help you with obviously your budgets month after month, but also your Christmas budgets. And the exciting announcement is there's a new color out. Yes. It's beautiful.

I'm so excited about it because it's so classic. It's so timeless. Just the classic brown color. It's one of my favorites. I mean, we've had other colors. We have other colors. But this one I'm so, so excited about it. And again, you open it up.

And it's got all, it's got your envelopes, all right in there. Great areas for your cards, your card slots. And I love this too. Every wallet has a card of the person who made it. So it's in there too. So it's so exciting, so beautiful. It smells amazing. Always excited about a new color.

Always excited to partner join. But again, this is something that is so easy to use. You are in control. You know exactly your categories. and maybe you've never experienced the Rachel Cruz wallet. You could even do it and use the categories in here for your Christmas budget. Maybe you use it like that. I don't know, but I want this to be something that helps you get in control of your money.

That's the reason I created it. It's the reason I want you to use it. And maybe it's a great Christmas gift for someone that you love. If there's someone that you're like, hey, I really want them to get on this plan because this helped me. Maybe you can start off. Dunk them in the water. But if you want to check this out, you can get yours today. just text R.C. Brown, all one word, to 33789, or click the link below. But again, something here to help you

take control of your money. So you guys, I hope this video has helped you because the Christmas mindset, the Christmas budget, there's so much that goes in to this topic of life, a lot of pressure, a lot of expectation, but I want you to do what is best for you and your family this Christmas season. So the last 18 months, I feel like, has been a pivotal part of everyone's story of understanding kind of where they're at, the quote-unquote new normal, all of this. And some people have really drifted and drifted, whether it's away from careers, maybe away from their faith, what they knew and now fears taken over. I mean, all these things are occurring. And so I wanted to bring on one of the dear people in my life that I'm so

thankful I get to call her friend because she wrote a book kind of talking about all of this and the idea of drifting because that was a very normal thing that people experienced, especially in the last 18 months, and let alone obviously decades before as well. So Chris Kane, Christine Kane, is here. Chris, thanks for being on. Hey, Rachel. I am pumped to be here with you. You were always one of those people in my life that I would just like see from a distance.

I mean, this was probably five years ago and I was like, I love her. I want to meet her one day. And you came to our office to do a devotion. really cornered you because I was like, I just want to be your friend. I just want to know you. And since then, thankfully, you have accepted the invitation for me to be your friend. And we've gotten to hang out a few times. And I just appreciate you so much. I love it. And I actually need for your texts because I know when there's something going on in the world, I'm going to get a Rachel text. I will be like, Chris, I'm seeing this. What's really going on?

Yeah, literally. I know. I know. Oh, so great. Okay. But your new book, I am just so excited about it. I mean, give me, first of all, why did you write it? When did you decide? How did 2020 play a part if it did into this message? Yeah, no, I think I went through some stuff in 2016, 2017, that led to me writing the book 2018, 2019. So by the time 2020 came, it was like, okay, everyone, I went there and here is the key for you all. And so a lot of people said to me, well, you seem to navigate 2020, 2021. really well. I went, yes, because I had my crisis in 2016-17-17 to prepare me for that. Now, there was a lot of stuff. And Rachel, I'll tie it in and I hope we land background at the end of this time together to show the importance of everything you're teaching in your life because anybody can drift. All you have to do to drift literally in life is nothing. My dad used to take us swimming at the beach. There was this particular beach in Australia that had

a huge undertow, this major current. And he would put up a big beach umbrella on one side and the beach towels on the other side. And he would say to us, kids, when you go out, you're going to have a whole lot of fun swimming. But I need you to look up and check the markers. Check this umbrella. Check the towels.

Because whether you realize it or not, there's a huge undertow. And those currents are going to take you out to see. You don't have to intentionally think I'm going to go and drift out. You're just going to drift because of the undertow. So check the markets regularly. And my dad used to always say, so kids, all you have to do to drift is nothing. That's all you have to do to drift. And so a lot of us, we think, you know, let's just say our marriages, our relationships,

I have to go do something really bad. No, just don't pay attention to your marriage. It'll drift, you know, an area that you help people in life so much as finances, have zero intentionality for your money and your spending patterns are going to drift. You don't even have to think I'm going to go and spend really erratically. just do nothing, intentional with your finances, and you're going to drift off any target. And it goes our health, our fitness. Well, I think what happened to me kind of towards a tail end of 2016, early 2017,

it was kind of the perfect storm. All of us had these things in life. I celebrated my 50th birthday back then. We're interviewing, we're doing this interview just on my 55th. So that's like five years ago. It seems like a lifetime ago. I celebrated 50, had 150 friends over. we were having a great party, lots of Greek tansing.

And then I came home that night, and I had 26 miss phone calls from my brother in Australia to say that that same night my mum had died. And so here I was, you know, like life, best of times, worst of times, all at the same time kind of thing. And I think with my background, Rachel, you know, I was adopted at birth, didn't find that out until later in life, there was abuse in my past. I think it triggered some of that kind of, the mother wounding, just some of the things, you know, losing my adopted mom,

not knowing who my biological mom was, I think some of that on the inside started to really unsettle me at the same time. About a couple of months later, my sister-in-law, my age, my brother's sister in Australia, my brother's wife, I'm sorry, in Australia, she passed away. One of Nick's sisters passed away. One of Nick's brother-in-law's passed away. There was this back-to-back and back-and-forth, L.A. to Australia, funerals, all the things that, you know, there's a lot of loss, a lot of grief happening.

And then I experienced a betrayal from a really dear friend. All again, all this is like in a six-month, you know, period. You know, David wrote in the Psalms, it would have been easy if my enemy came against me. I could have handled that. But when it was my friend that I used to go to the House of God with, it just like, you know, it really ripped me apart. And I think also during just such a...

a season in my life of so much loss and grief. And I came home one day. And Nick was watching this Netflix series on the Navy Seals. And it was Hell Week. I didn't know there was such a thing called Hell Week in the Navy Seals, but then I found out all about this. This is like a whole week where the elite, elite people that are in the military, they come in. You have to be the best of the best to even get into Hell Week. And then the whole purpose of Hell Week is to break you down mentally, physically. I mean, people don't, they don't sleep. They have to do all these assignments, you know, 24 hours a day. They're carrying things. They're doing everything. And this guy is yelling at you the whole time to break you down. And the whole goal was that you would

go to the middle of the quadracle. You'd ring the bell, tap out, say, I'm done. And basically what they want you to do is if they can break you there. It's preferable to you breaking when you have to do it out on the field. So there's this one scene. They're dropping these guys out of the helicopter into the Pacific Ocean. They haven't slept all week. They've got to swim five miles to shore. Then, you know, they've got to do this whole exercise. And as they're dropping them out of the helicopter into the Pacific Ocean, I start crying. And my husband, who's like been married to me for 25 is like looking at me. I've never cried when men have been dropped out of a helicopter into the Pacific Ocean. He's like, and I've said,

I think this is a picture of how I feel. And it's like I got dropped out of the helicopter and I'm like, I know I could do this. I know that I've got the muscle memory, I've got the capacity, I've got the strength. And I was crying as I'm saying to Nick. I said, I know I can. But for the first time in 35 years of doing this, I don't know if I want to. And I have never said those words. I've always been, I've often said, I don't know if I can do this.

Like this is like, but I've never said, I know what this is going to cost. And I think I might prefer to tap out and keep going. And it was never like I'm going to go do something bad. No, it's just like, you're exhausted. It was just like, you know, I'm just going to take my foot off the gas. And this is what I said to my go, I'm going to take my foot off the gas. And no one's going to know if I don't do anything really stupid. And, you know, back then, I'm 50 years old, I could ride the way to this thing for the next 10 years.

as long as I don't do anything stupid and just, you know. And I could pretty much metaphorically tap out, go by a tavernor in Santorini in the Greek islands, and run everything remotely from my computer as I watched the sunset, and nobody would even know. And then as I'm crying, Rachel, I said, but God would know. Jesus would know that I took my foot off the gas, and that matters to me.

It really matters to me that I would have got to the end, and thought, I left some stuff out on the table. I didn't run my race. I didn't finish my course. It doesn't matter how many accolades I get from people or the applause and people go, you know, God and I would know that I took my foot off the gas. And I turned around, that's really where the book title was wrong.

I looked in bed, I turned around to Nick and I went, how did I get here? It was just like, how did I get to a place where I had, in my mind, drifted enough to think, you know what, it could be preferable to take my foot off the gas. at the same time, very publicly all around, you know, different aspects of social media, you would see Christian people that had been in places of influence that were walking away from their faith and very publicly posting.

You know, I'm leaving my faith and people drifting out of their marriages and leaving marriages, people, you know, sort of leaving their responsibility to their children or to their households. And I was just watching this simultaneous drift. Now, although mine didn't look like that, I think we can all, if we're not checking our markers regularly, you can drift in your heart and you can drift in your body. There are many, you know, we see lots of public drifting. And by the time we see it, like, man, they've walked out on their marriage or they've walked out of their faith, or they have just, you know, whatever, gambled away the whole, the children's inheritance,

whatever it might be, by the time you've gotten to that level of drifting, you've already drifted. You forgot to check your markers a long time before that. And so that really caused some self-reflection on the inside of me going, okay, what is some realignment I need to do internally to be able to go, I can put my foot on the gas and keep going to run my race, which is different to someone else's race. But how do I stop my own half in my 50s and in the second half of my life? How do I make sure I don't drift?

How do I make sure I cross that finish line? So there is a lengthy story about the story behind the story. I love, oh, I'm so glad you went into all of that because, number one, I feel like it all makes sense. And number two, it's so relatable, even though people are not in your exact life, right, the element of the exhaustion, the caution you're taking because of other people. I mean, all of it. I mean, all, I think everyone has experienced that in their life. And the idea that that is what could just kind of fan out that flight. And like you said, it's not like it has to be this big.

blow up, but it's almost that slow thing that I think that, I think the enemy takes a hold up and slowly just starts it going down, like, oh, it's okay, your marriage isn't that big of a deal. Raising your kids isn't, you know, it's just money. Who really cares? Oh, this is your job. It's just a job. Right. I mean, any of those messages can seep in and take heart. So, so someone that is, that's listening and watching, what would you say? What are some like signposts that they're thinking, okay, I feel like I might be drifting, but I don't know. What are a couple of things that you would say, yes, here are some signs just to be aware of. Yeah, and I think, you know, I mean, there could be a hundred.

In the book, I go through nine of the big ones, and I think certainly from a faith perspective, you know, what might be some signs. And, you know, I wrote in one of them, it's when you start controlling and you stop trusting. And I think that's a sign. And especially right now, you know, is there still, we're at varying degrees in this global pandemic. I mean, my own nation, Australia, there are places that are still top.

totally locked out with curfews. You know, everyone's in a different place in this right now. And when you get into this place, when you go, my gosh, everything is out of control, you start then thinking, I am going to start to try to control this. And you stop trusting God. You stop trusting the goodness of God. You stop trusting the faithfulness of God. Faith is predicated on trust, not understanding.

So if the enemy can make us not trust God, and I think a lot of people are going through this right now, it's like because their life has unraveled and there is so much fear in the air, we start trying to jump in and control and understand rather than step back and go, God, I'm going to trust you, I'm going to trust that you are good, I'm going to trust that you do good, I'm going to trust that you work all things together for good. I think another sign that maybe you've drifted is when you stop wanting to pursue healing and you just start seeping out of your woundedness.

And I think we see a lot of this on social media, Rachel. You know, it's like healing is a private thing that we do with God. I come from the background of extreme brokenness and trauma. And my deepest healing has come, of course, getting everything that I need physically, medical doctors, psychological help. All of those things are so important. But from a spiritual perspective, there's a lot of work that Jesus and I have done in my prayer closet and allowing the Holy Spirit to do a deep work in me.

and I find that when you prefer to go and post your woundedness all over social media, rather than go into a prayer closet and have Jesus begin to do a healing work on the inside of you, it just might be a sign that you're drifting away from the healer and you're looking to get something from people that you can only get from God. At the end of the day, you know, both of us have got a lot of followers, and both of us have got, you know, we've got a public platform, but my value, my significance, my security, my healing does not come from there. It comes from the Lord.

And I think some of what we see out there is just like people venting. And when you're venting rather than praying, I think that's a sign of drifting. You know, it's just like small things. When you stop gathering with a community of believers and you just start isolating yourself and coming out of this pandemic season, I think we're starting to see, you know, some people are like, well, you know, I just kind of like me and Jesus at home. I'll log on when I'm on the treadmill and I'll watch church. And I'm like, if you have a chance together at this point, 18 months later and we're still not,

start asking yourself, am I drifting? Like, is there, am I coming up with excuse me? I mean, there was the right reason, especially at the start. We're all being cautious. But why am I isolating myself? Why am I not pulling back? You know, maybe am I drifting? You know, when you stop pressing, it's when you stop really caring about more than yourself.

Like when you just go, okay, well, I've got enough just to me, and I'm really happy, and, you know, I like my church life, and I like my God life, and I'm happy, I'm earning enough, and everything's just enough for me. Then you've lost sight of the bigger reason we're on the earth, which is actually, for a reason, bigger than us. So I keep pressing in, it's not just so I can become better or so more people know me, but it's so that I can help more people, because the greater resources that I have, the greater capacity I have to do more to help the world.

It's so good, Chris, because I think about it, I'm like, you know, from the money perspective, I money can just, it can be a coping mechanism. People can use it, right, to feel good. And so what I love that you're doing and in this book and in these signposts of drifting, I'm like, you are calling out people, whether it's the healing aspect that I love, right? Instead of just looking for that affirmation and your desire is being met from others, that you actually are working on yourself and your story, because we all have brokenness in our life.

We've all had things said to us or experiences that have shaped who we are today. And some of those things to go back and revisit, which is so scary. But I'm telling you, when you start to enter into those, as Christy and my church said on Sunday, when you start to enter those dark caves of your life, that is the treasure that God has, right? And doing that work through him heals a part of you that where money could be a coping mechanism that you're using, there's a healing there. You're like, yeah, it comes out in all different ways in our lives, including our money. But that, I think the isolation piece is spot on, spot on.

Because I think that fear and control, when we live in that, it just drives us to pride. It drives us to isolation, all of these things that we can just do on our own. And it's like, there's a level of humility to have to say, right? Like, I'm going to lay this down. I'm going to allow other people in my life and into those dark parts of my story too, right? I mean, it's all of it. There's a community aspect that is so important, I think, for us. And again, we talk about that when you're on the process of getting out of debt.

You're doing that, like, finding people that can cheer you on in life, whatever it is. Money or not, I mean, that is so key. So I love all of this, Chris, because it's so, it is so spot on and it's so good, even though walking out that for people can be, it can be hard. It's not an easy thing. No. But when you start to actually, when the drifting becomes normal and you have to say, okay, I have to, now I got to correct.

I got to go back to a healthier place, right? in my life and not be drifting. That change is going to feel a little bit uncomfortable and scary, but pushing into that so that you're not drifting is, it is so key. And it's ultimately what you're anchored to is what determines whether you drift or not. And so, you know, we love boating. And so I remember one day early on in our boating life, Nick was like, I love to sit on a boat just to some make.

I think that's what the purpose of a boat is. And so I'm sub-making. Nick's like, Chris, you know, can you throw out the anchor? So I kind of throw out the anchor, I'll go back to sun baking, and about 30 minutes later, you know, we bump into another boat in the anchorage. And Nick's like, Chris, what are you? I told you to throw out the anchor. I said, I did.

He said, well, did you check that we were anchored? Like, did the anchor actually connect to the seabed? And I went, oh, you forgot to tell me that detail. I just threw it over. And, yeah, it was like awesome. But the thing is that the Bible says that Jesus is this hope we have as an anchor for our soul, both firm and secure. And I think what we're seeing in our world today, everything is being shaken.

And the Bible says only those things that can be shaken will be shaken so that those things that cannot be shaken will remain. So the one good thing that's happened down in these last 18 months is that we're going, what really matters in life? And where have I drifted from the things that have really mattered in my life? Maybe I need to get reconnected to my anchor that is going to hold me stable. Because I think what we've seen is a lot of instability. you know, depending on who's reading what on social media or in the news, man.

We're just like, whew, it's just so volatile. And so you go, hang on, I need to be deeply anchored in Christ, rooted in the word, rooted in community. And then from that place, when everything else is shaking my life, I'm not going to drift off course because although there's winds, we are never going to get away from the storms, the winds, the waves of life. They're there for all of us. But if we're anchored, then we're not going to drift off course.

We're going to stay on course. I love it. It is so powerful. These are things that you can do to plug in that are going to sustain you. Totally. Through times of instability. So, oh, Chris, so good. I really appreciate you.

And your new book, I'm so excited. How did I get here? It is phenomenal. So everyone out there, they can find it anywhere books are sold, correct? Anywhere, yeah. That's everywhere. So great. And where can everyone find you?

Christinecaine.com on all the things. So, you know, it won't be hard to find me. I love it. Rachel, I've loved being on this with you. Thank you so much. No, thanks for coming on. You always just give such, there's an energy that you bring to all of this that is such a gift. And I just, I appreciate that. And I appreciate all the work that you do all over the world.

And thank you for coming on here just for a few minutes and kind of sharing your heart and everything. So thanks, Chris. Thank you so much. So there's a lot of special occasions that we celebrate. Birthdays, graduation parties, engagement parties. housewarming parties, bridal showers, bachelor's parties, weddings, baby showers, anniversaries, retirement parties.

I mean, the list goes on and on and on and on. And according to one study, if you bought a gift for every party in one year, you'd spend nearly $700. So the question is, are you spending too much? Well, there's not really a right or wrong answer here. It really depends on your budgets and your family values, what's going on with you financially, all of that.

And the important part of that is that you're focused on you, right? Your budget, your values, your timeline, not what everyone else is doing. It can be so easy to compare. You know, if you call off, you're like, oh, what are you getting, you know, for this shower or what wedding gift did you buy? And you're like, oh, is mine enough? Is mine okay? You know, it's not the comparison game, right?

Put those blinders on and focus on what's best for you and your family. And then another question you need to ask when it comes to buying gifts is, am I going into debt for it? If you're going into debt for it, I would say no, no, no, no, no. It is not worth the burden of debt to go in for a gift. Okay? I'm all about giving. I'm all about gifts.

I love it all. But let's be smart about it. So if you're on baby steps one or two, really you can pause buying like really big gifts. There's a lot of free things you can do, a lot of inexpensive things you can do. Even if you're on baby steps three, four, five, six, seven, you know, depending on what's going on, you may say, hey, in this situation, I'm going to buy more of an inexpensive gift here or there. So I want to give you all the ideas possible because what's important is that you know what money you have for every gift and every party. So your budget is one thing that is really going to help with

this to know, okay, what is coming up so that I can put line items in my budget and I can maybe even start saving if I need to for specific things. So some people even save for gifts in a separate account all year long. Some people, again, they put it in their budget month to month. I like doing it month to month in your budget. And again, your budget is your income for the month minus all of your expenses, including giving and saving. It's going to equal zero. So every dollar coming in is assigned to a category. So you know coming up next month, here are all the things that we have, and we can kind of budget out and figure out what money do we have to spend if we're going to certain parties and we have to buy gifts. So again, there are free things you can do. So we're going to talk about

that and there's also some just inexpensive gift ideas so let's break it down you're ready let's start with engagement gift ideas so some free ideas is offer to pick up catering for a party or cook something for the party you can also offer to help with some DIY planning so if the bride is planning something for her wedding and you think you can kind of help chime in there yeah insert yourself and just ask you really could be a huge help now some inexpensive ideas uh I love this. Just buy some bridal magazines, you know. They start around $5 because, let's be honest. I don't care what year it is. I don't care how much we use our phones and we're online. A good bridal magazine flipping through. There's just something that does the hard good, you know.

So buy a stack of those. You can even get flowers and some flowers that are at, you know, a cheap grocery store. Like a Trader Joe's always sells really beautiful flowers or even the dollar store. So you can go in and get a bouquet of flowers. You can even go and get some craft paper roll from the dollar store and like wrap it around. the flowers with a cute gift tag. You can do a lot of good stuff, a lot of things that are inexpensive. You can buy a bottle of champagne, you can go on the more inexpensive affordable route,

like $10 a bottle. Okay, but you can celebrate that engagement with some great gift ideas. Now, some baby shower gift ideas. Some free ideas is to offer to babysit once the baby comes. Every new mom, especially with the first, they're like, yeah,

you're going to want to take a shower, you're going to want to take a little break, you're going to want to take a nap, and you can come over and offer your services to hold that sweet little baby. That's very nice. That would be a great gift. Maybe you can offer to create a meal train for when the baby arrives and bring a meal. That's also a huge gift. Oh, whoever sets up mail trains, God bless you, because you are the best, really. So offer that. It's free. Now, some inexpensive ideas. You can buy a baby book for them. I love this. I love baby books. It's funny because their first one. like every little memory.

The second one, it's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The third, having you written in it. Sorry, Charles. Yep, nothing in there. But it's a great gift to have on hand, and this can be anywhere from $5 to $20. You can buy a baby blanket and get it monogrammed. This could be around $18 or some really great personalized baby stuff on things like Etsy, again, as low as $18. So one of my favorite gifts that was given to me for Baby Shara had for Charles was the Love Every box.

So it's a subscription. So you get four boxes. the year, but it's these cute toys, like sensory stuff. It was adorable, absolutely adorable, and it's a little bit more expensive. So even if you want to go in with friends or family and get that subscription for the mother to be, I love it because it's kind of the gift that keeps on giving. All right, for graduation, party gift ideas. So you can go free, things like pick up the catering for the party to help them out. You can even make a dish for the party. You can even just write a thoughtful letter of what you think about them, all your people.

prayers and dreams, everything that you want for their future, write it down, encourage them. I even heard of a really fun idea called open-win letters. So you write a letter for different experiences that they're going to have that first year of college. So things like open when you feel lonely or homesick. Open after your first date. Open when you need encouragement. You know, you kind of get the idea. Super cute. All right, some inexpensive gift ideas. Any amount of cash. Any amount of cash. It depends on your budget. But you can display it in really fun ways. So you can make like a wreath with dollar bills. You can stuff like a nice water bottle with just cash. I mean, there's endless ideas on Pinterest. But again, they always, they always love cash, those grads

out there. You can even buy a laundry basket and just fill it with necessities like laundry detergent, change for the washing machines, towels, like a shower caddy. I mean, anything out there. And you just fill it up with college essentials. Also, gift cards to restaurants in that college area. So, again, anywhere they can eat, even local grocery stores. You can do gas gift cards. Gift cards are great. So whatever your budget allows, that'll be a great gift.

All right, bridal shower gift ideas. So some free things, again, you can offer whatever talent you have for the wedding and help with anything. Just say, hey, I'm here to help you plan. Let me just be at service and extra hands for you. on that beautiful, wonderful day. Maybe you can even give a gift of all your family's favorite recipes. It's awesome. Now, some inexpensive gift ideas.

You can customize a stamp with their last name and their new address. It's like $12 to $20, you guys. We got this for ours. And I used every Christmas car. I had those Christmas cards, you know. You have like so many of them. And I did the return with that little stamp and it feels so good. It's the best.

It's the best. but that's a great gift. A bottle of wine, and you could do something fun, like, hey, open this on your first anniversary, and you can have, like, a card that they open on their one-year anniversary. Pretty fun. It's like $10 to $30. You can even get a gift card to a photo printing company like Shutterfly or Mixbook, and your friend's family member can make an album of the occasion.

And it's so fun. It's like $16 or less, so that's a great gift. All right, hostess gifts or housewarming gift, I do. So some free things is you can ask them if you can help prep for the party. So if you need to bring something, you know, maybe pick up ice on the way in, anything just to help them out with that party. You can even send a card in the mail with a special congratulations on their new home. Now, some inexpensive ideas are things like a candle. It's like eight bucks, fresh flowers, five dollars, bottle of wine. You can go as inexpensive as seven bucks. I mean, you can find some really great wines

within your budget. Trust me. One of my favorites is a soap and lotion duo, like for the guest bathroom or even for their room. And you can find these at like T.J. Max Marshall's Home Goods, and they're like $10 or less. But that's a great, great housewarming gift idea. All right. Last but not least, retirement party gift ideas.

So some free things you can do. You can just write a heartfelt letter of the impact that this person has had on you over the years. And if you had time, you could even collect letters from other people. Such a nice gift. You can even give the gift of time. You can. I mean, if they're going into retirement, maybe they just have more time on their hands.

And you can be like, hey, let's do a consistent lunch every month or dinner or something, because they probably want to see you more and more. Okay, some inexpensive gift ideas. You can frame a photo of the person during their work years. It's like $10. You can get a gift card to their favorite coffee shopper restaurant for $10. You can buy a travel journal. I love this idea.

So if they're all traveling around, they get to write all their little memories and remember it. So fun. And you can even have a gift card to a new experience for them to try. So whether it's a new restaurant or something fun going on your city,

buy a gift card and say, hey, here's some things you can do. So fun. But remember, if you are receiving a gift, so we're going to flip the table, okay? You receive the gift a really inexpensive thing you can do that is just etiquette is send a thank you notes expressing your gratitude, send a thank you notes. And it is amazing how far thank you notes go these days.

It really is. And then a fun way you can send a thank you note is there's an app called ink, I-N-K, and they do really fun templates that you can choose from where you can add a photo from the party you were at with a quick note or just something, yeah, something great. It's like $2 or $3, but it gives a little, that gives that thank you note, just a little twist, a little fun. And so remember, again, your gift giving needs to be in line with your values, your goals, your budget, all of it. And if you're not using every dollar, make sure to use every dollar. You can text Rachel Plus to 33789. And in your budget, just put in party and then the dollar amount.

Just budget for what is going on. And if you are in babysaps one or two and your budget, $4,000, $3.3.4. really tight, then hey, do some free stuff. It's okay. People aren't freaked out by that. But creating that budget and sticking to it, you guys, so, so key. Now, I would love to hear your inexpensive gift ideas. So comment on Instagram or Facebook. I love hearing from you and getting more tips from you guys. Again, so many parties, so many gifts, but hopefully those ideas of everything from free to inexpensive is going to help you in your budgets. I want to thank Christine Kane for being a guest on this episode.

She's amazing, so, so great. And if you have not hit the subscribe button, make sure to do that to this podcast. And if the spirit leads, you can leave a review. And as always, make sure to take control of your money and create a life you love.