The Rachel Cruze Show - Life-Changing Money Habits You Can Implement This Week

Episode Date: October 31, 2022

Let’s talk about some good (and not-so-good) money habits, plus some practices and mindsets to have when it comes to your finances. We’ll also take a look at how a high-earning CEO spends her income, the mental patterns that might be holding you back from building wealth, and what can you do in just one weekend to help you feel more confident with money! In this episode: ·      The Worst Money Mindsets That Keep You Broke ·      How a New York CEO Spends Her $180K Income ·      How to Take Control of Your Finances in One Weekend   Helpful Resources: Christian Healthcare Ministries Financial Peace University EveryDollar                                                 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: Christian Healthcare Ministries.   Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What you believe can easily manifest in what happens to your life. Your mind is powerful, you guys. What you think often comes out into your actions. Hey guys, welcome to this episode of the Rachel Cruceau podcast. I'm so glad that you're here. So in this episode, we're going to talk about some life-changing money habits that you can start implementing. First, I'm going to go over how you can have some simple money habits that you can try

out this weekends. They're very small, but I promise as you do them, you're going to feel very, very encouraged. Then I listen to how a CEO in New York City spends her $180,000 income and what good and bad habits we can learn from her spending. But first, let's go over some of the worst mindsets that you can have around money. Take a listen. So a huge part of being successful, including being successful with money, is all about your mindset. What you believe can easily manifest in what happens to your life.

Your mind is powerful, you guys. What you think often comes out into your actions. And I think Henry Ford said it. If you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. Again, your mindset is so powerful. Now, it isn't everything, right? I mean, when it comes to building wealth and winning with money, obviously, there's some concrete skills and habits that go along with it, you know, your debt level will determine how fast you get out of debt, your income plays into it, right? So there's definitely all these factors, but your belief system, what we would say around Ramsey, having hope that you can do it actually get you so much further than you actually would ever imagine. And so you have to have this belief that you can do this, that you can win with

money, even when things feel hopeless and you feel like there's just no way. If you just tell yourself, it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen. Over and over and over, that's the outcome. That's going to happen. Versus saying, okay, I believe I can. It's going to be hard, but I really think I can keep going. I can keep doing this. And that will continue to push you forward. So today, I want to talk about the worst mindsets when it comes to money, some fears that I've heard people say, lies I've heard people say out loud when it comes to money, because these can be these mental blockers that will keep you broke, will keep you scared, will keep you in debt and will keep you not to move and to change to a better outcome. So if any of these

sound familiar to you, I'm going to challenge you to be aware of that and to say, okay, what do I need to do to change my mindset? And maybe that means, again, tactically going in and changing things with your money to help that. But also, it's just the belief that I can do something different. So one of the first mindsets that I hear that is terrible when it comes to money is if something bad happens, I won't survive financially. And that's a scary place to be because here's the truth. That could be true. It could be, right?

If you're living paycheck to paycheck, if you don't have money in the bank, if something happens, you lose a job, a medical crisis comes up, you have to replace something in your car. When things like that happen, then yeah, that means, oh my gosh, I'm going to have to go into debt maybe for it. Right, it ends up being this crisis. So if this is you and you have this mindset that if something bad, happens, I'm not going to survive. You have to change what you've been doing with money.

Okay, not surviving. That's not going to be an option. Take that off the table and say, what do I need to have in place to survive? Maybe that's an emergency fund. Money actually saved in the bank that's over here that you don't touch. Maybe that's working your way out of debt. Maybe that's having a budget. Like, what are things to put into place so that fear and that mindset doesn't take over? Another phrase I hear a lot is that time is running out and there's no way I can do what I've always wanted to do. And here's the truth to that, too, that maybe that is true.

Let's just say, you are 99 years old and you have lived a good life and you're like, I've always wanted to travel the world 80 times around for something, right? Probably is running out. Like, that may not happen for you. I don't know.

So there's a reality to this, okay? Because of your age and all of that, whatever it may be. But also, figure out what's underneath that. what's the thing you've always wanted to do? And maybe it doesn't look like exactly the picture you have in your mind. But what's that thing underneath it that's causing? What's that motivation causing you to do that dream?

And maybe there's something there that you can plug into. And so when you have this mindset that, gosh, I have more time and the time I have left, I want to maximize and I want to enjoy my life. Figure out that way versus the opposite. Another mindset people have is I can't win with money because I'm not smart enough. Well, that's a pretty hard phrase to say to yourself that you're not smart enough because here's the truth. With money, personal finance, it's like pretty basic math. You don't have to have a finance degree to win with money. You don't have to have a PhD or master's degree

or go to some fancy school. Big part of winning with money is your behavior. It's what you actually do with your money. So you could have all the intelligence in the world to know what to do. But if you don't actually do it, it doesn't help you. So you are smart enough. You are capable because you guys, personal finance, it is so much more about behavior than it is about math and intellect. It really is. The basics will get you really far. Live on less than you make.

If you don't have the money, don't buy it. Be generous. Be kind. Save up for stuff. I mean, all these things, it's common sense. But it really, really works day in and day out. Another mindset is that I can't succeed because of how the world works. So this is where you kind of take locus of control, that phrase,

where other people have control over my life, and I can't do anything about it. So I'm going to sit here because of a certain president or the Senate is made up of a certain party or the Congress or whatever's going on, D.C. or corporate America or whatever it is, whatever thing is out there of how the world operates, I can't win because of that. And if that's your mindset, then you're probably not going to win. So you really have to focus on, okay, what are the things that I can control?

because there's a lot in this world that we can't control. We can't. Things are going to go on, inflation, whatever, fill in the blank that we cannot control. But there are a lot of things that we can. So when your money hits your bank account, what are you going to do with it? That will determine if you succeed or if you fail. Another mindset is I'll never be able to get ahead because of the really bad money mistakes I've made. Now, unlike a lot of things in life, money has a number to it.

It does. Like it or not, you're not. see a number. And that number can follow you and it can be in your mind and you could have regret, you could have shame and guilt over that number and you're thinking, oh, that number could be different if I didn't do X, Y, and Z. And again, the hard truth is, yeah, maybe that's true. Maybe that is true, right? If you don't have to pay back $120,000 in student loans because you went to a certain college, if you went to a different college and paid less for school and cash flowed, yeah, you wouldn't have that. That is true. But just because you made mistakes in the

the past doesn't mean that has to dictate your future. You can actually say, no, I want my future to be different versus making the same mistakes over and over again. So don't let your money mistakes define who you are or what your future is going to be. Another mindset is, I'm scared I'll end up just like my parents. And a lot of people see how their parents' financial life has played out and they think, I don't want to do that. I don't want that. And here's the deal. You don't have to. We said it earlier, but control what you can control. And if you are in a bad mindset, maybe because of the home you grew up in or the way that you were taught about money and you have to break some of that

and break some of those habits, then do it. And here's the great thing now. If you're over 18, you're an adult. You get to make decisions with your life, which is so terrifying, but also so empowering that you have a say over your life. Another mindset is that I'm not strong enough to say no to impulse purchases. Listen, that's strength over time. It's going to be a muscle that is built.

And so I don't know if that means that you need to take a certain app off your phone or not follow someone on social media. Whatever the thing is to avoid those impulse purchases, put those things in the place. Put those boundaries in place to help you on a tactical sense. Another mindset is that I can't be generous right now because I don't have enough. And this is a mindset I hear people say, if I just made more money, I could be more generous. But here's the deal. Generosity, it's not a math problem. It's a heart problem.

So I'd ask you, you know, is your cable bill getting paid and you're not giving? Is Hulu getting their subscription every month and you're not giving? And that's not to condemn or to shame you, but it's to challenge you to say, hey, we all have decisions in our life. And if I could prompt you on one thing, it is to be generous. Because the lie, if I just had more than I would be able to give. But the truth is, the more you have, the harder it can be to give if you're not building that muscle early on. And so I always tell people, give a little until you can give a lot.

Give something. Because money magnifies who you are. It magnifies the habits in your life. And if you start being generous, even with a little bit, but you start being generous, as you get more wealth and you start winning with money over time and that pile becomes bigger and bigger, then that's what's going to be magnified or these habits early on. And it is so key, you guys, giving and generosity is an important part of your money situation. All right, last mindset is that everybody else is doing better with money than me.

What we see on social media or even what our friends can present or our family can present, it can look like they're doing a whole lot better than there actually are. Because the truth is, that's what debt does. Debt makes people look like they are doing a lot better than what's actually going on in their bank account. So don't let appearance fool you. Now, if someone has something nice, that doesn't mean they want to be. to debt for it, right? They could have saved up and paid for it. For sure, they could have a great income and they paid for it. Absolutely. But statistically speaking, 78% of Americans live

paycheck to paycheck, which means eight out of ten families spend basically everything that they make every single month, which means there's no margin. So it may look great, but the truth is, there's probably a lot of stress behind that facade. Okay, so that's some of the money mindsets that can hold us back, right? The worst that we hear. So how do you change it? How do you change your mindset? Well, I'd say a couple of things. I'd say, get around people that actually have a great money mindset. Have people that encourage you that speak life into you instead of put you down and take those

things away. Read, open your mind to say, okay, you know, where are places that I can learn about money? Books are a powerful thing. If there's a course like Financial Peace University, plug into that, start to learn. Also, understand where your beliefs are coming from. Like, what did you hear growing up about money? What did you see? What did that one person say that one time?

What did that college professor speak into you that you just started to believe? Like know where these beliefs are coming from so you can get to the root system to dig them out. Also, I would say give away some money. Yeah. Do it. Open your hands. Even if it's paying for someone's coffee, you hear of something that you love and you just, you know, maybe give even 20 bucks to it. Like you can start small, start small.

But as you start to give away, it's amazing. the power when you release money and it doesn't have such a grip over your life. Also, dream about the future. Look out and say, okay, what do I want, Rachel, five years from now to look like have, what do I want the bank account to look like? What do I want to be helping, like, five years from now,

what does that look like? 10 years, 20 years. Like, start dreaming about the future and have fun with it. That's a fun part of money to say, okay, where do I want to do? What are my goals? And I also believe that success is possible for you. because it is, you guys, doing my line of work,

I see people day in and day out who are choosing to win. And every background, every income level, every debt level, every part of the country and the world, like regardless of that, they all have one thing in common. They believe that it is possible. So there are some positive money mindsets that you can kind of start practicing now. You can say like, hey, I have a budget,

so I have freedom to spend, but also I can tell myself, know if I need to. That's a very healthy way of looking at a budget. You can say, I enjoy helping others. So I want to do that and I want to find someone that's struggling or find something that I want to plug into and give to them. Tell yourself, you know, I don't want to compare myself to others. Put the blinders on and focus on you and your family. And also say to yourself that it is possible to achieve my financial goals. They may have different timeframes, depending on your situation, but things are possible in this world, you guys. If you

you put your heart and your mind and your energy towards something, it is amazing what you can achieve. Now, if you want to learn more about some of these money fears and money tendencies, I unpack all of this in my book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money. You can also find out your own personal money tendencies and why you handle money the way you do by taking my know-yourself, know-your-money assessment online. Thanks, you guys. And I honestly am so encouraged, again, by the stories that I hear so often of people that do it because your mindset is so powerful. So I always find it fascinating when you hear how much someone makes versus how much money they spend. There was a few accounts even on Instagram that people will send in their budgets

and how much they make and someone will kind of dissect them and I just think it's fascinating. So my team saw this video and they wanted to play it for me and I was like, okay, I don't want to see it yet. Let's save it for an episode on the Rachel Cruise show. so I can, like, give you my thoughts as I'm listening to someone that I don't know who this person is, but I think their money situation is very interesting. So this person is living in New York City. They are a CEO of a company, and they make about $180,000 a year. So we're going to look at, again, her income, her budget, how much she spends.

And then we're going to break down what is right, what could she be doing better, what would you take away, what are good things that are coming from her money, habits, maybe some not some good things. So I can't wait to see this video and walk through it with you guys. So we'll play it now. I'm 31 years old. I am a CEO and founder of an influencer agency and I also own multiple e-commerce businesses. Annually, I make anywhere between $150,000 and $180,000 a year. It's a good income. My apartment's about 1,500 square feet. It's a two-bedroom, two-bath located in the financial district in Manhattan. It's a beautiful apartment. My rent is $9,000 per month, and the utilities are about $400 a month.

So my monthly payment is $4,400 per month. My fiancé pays the other half. Oh, wow. Okay, pause. So she's splitting the rent, but still, if my math's correct, I think that it's still a little bit over that 25%, which is probably going to be a factor sometimes in the most expensive places, like California or New York or Florida,

but still getting your rent. your mortgage in that 25-ish percent tile of your monthly take-home pay is really important that it's not like a ton of it because you still want margin to save or pay off debt or invest, actually use your money for other things than just your living. But it's fascinating. Okay, keep going. My fiancé is very successful. One of the main ways we've been able to make our relationship work throughout the years

is by remaining very financially independent from each other. We own completely separate businesses in different industries. We have separate checking accounts, even though I do really depend on him financially to be able to live in such a nice apartment in New York. I've always considered my living space. Okay, so pause. So I'm curious for her,

because I do agree with keeping everything separate while you're engaged and not to combine finances until you're married. But there's a little bit of me that thing, so I don't want to project on her that she probably will not combine once they get married. She was like one way that our relationship works is we've stayed financially independent.

which again, while you're dating or engaged, I would agree with. But hopefully, once they get married, they combine finances. This is something we talk about on the show a lot. That is not the norm. And I feel like one thing that we like go against the culture with, but there's a piece of advice, but it's so important because when you are married, you are one in every aspect of your life.

And when you still kind of run on these independent tracks, even with money, it starts to create these habits and this mindset that you still are, this independent. Now, when you get married, of course, you don't lose your individual self, but still there's this merging of life that happens. And when you do that, there's just a level of trust and intimacy that is formed, even something as vulnerable as money. So I don't want to say that they won't combine after they get married because she didn't

say that. But from the way she phrased, it makes me think that they won't. So I would definitely still combine finances after you get married. My house to me is very personal because I spend a lot of time here. I work here. I sleep here. I work long hours. so I very rarely leave.

So it's really important for me to feel at home all the time. And part of that is really making this a very creative space for me. I spend a lot of time and money, decorating, and making it really feel like my space. Okay, pause. So our homes, like she hit on, is so true. Like, they are such an important part of our lives. And we want to feel good when we walk into our homes, that it feels like us, and it feels warm and inviting and comfortable.

But I think we can take that. and go really far off with it to the point that, like, we go deep into debt to do that. We spend money we don't have. And sometimes our motivation is less about us and more about, okay, what are other people going to think when they see it? That can be a motivation that's unhealthy. So I agree with her that, yes, you want your space to feel creative if you're a creative, right?

You want to feel these certain things and emotions, and our homes can do that for us, but we just don't want to go crazy in order to do that. But so far, some of these prices, yeah, they don't look. crazy, so she's doing good. I typically wake up around 10. That sounds nice. I don't sit an alarm for myself. I try to get eight hours of sleep in.

When I wake up in the morning, I check my phone right away. It's a habit that I'm trying to break, but I look at the sales that came in from the night before, and I just scan through my emails to see if there's anything urgent that needs attention. From there, I go to the kitchen, and I have my vanilla cold brew with oat milk. Every single morning, I look forward to it every day. George Camel would be so happy right now. I have a dog, her name is Penny.

She's a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier. She's five years old. I adopted her when I was living in San Diego, and she travels all over the world with me. She's really my best friend. I work from home, so my typical day after I have my coffee, I get on my computer, and I stay there for about 10 hours. My blog provides lifestyle content,

and viewers can purchase products that I recommend, but they can also purchase the products that I've also designed myself. I have a small team that I have to pay each month, which contributes to a large portion of my business expenditures. I currently pay for three websites. The hosting is $45 per website per month. I use various analytic programs to manage the campaigns

that I'm working on for myself as well as other influencers, which can cost anywhere between $50,000, $250 to $250 per month. The CRM system that I use costs $79 per month. My inventory of product and services cost about $6,000 per month. Most of the time when I leave the apartment, it's for a meeting, in which case I'm dressed up. So I often take a car, very rarely take the train,

which ends up running me about $400 per month. I don't have a savings account. I don't save money traditionally, I would say. I actually reinvest most of my income back into my business, Okay, so that's interesting. She has no savings. She just uses her money to go back and reinvest into her business, which I can appreciate. I think reinvestment is a big part of growing your business, but no savings. I'm like, oh, and living in a really high-priced area like New York City.

I'm like, oh, man, wish she'd have some savings just to have as a pad for any day funds. But, okay. Photography is extremely important to my business. Everybody's online and when they see your photos, it's a first impression. I spend about $900 per month on photography. I can save money by taking photos in my apartment by myself with a tripod.

So I can probably save about $500 a month on extra hours that I don't need to pay a photographer for. I also save money on photography by editing my own photos. I spend about five hours a week retouching photos. When I was living by Coastally, I was able to rent my apartment in San Diego and all of a sudden the building changed policies and I was no longer able to do that. And it caused a really big financial burden for me. And also starting another business within six months, I accumulated a large amount of debt. I have $30,000 in debt. I pay about $500 a month

to pay down my debt. I don't have credit cards because I've been very irresponsible financially in the past with credit cards. Okay, so her debt is just $30,000 and she's paying $500, that's month towards it. And so that rate, she's still going to have that debt for a long time. So if I were her, man, I would get rid of some stuff if you can, put some money, redo the budget just for a short period of time and get that paid off because she makes a great income. So really it wouldn't take that long to become, yeah, completely debt-free. So it's interesting, her debt amount and having no savings. So fascinating. Last year, we collectively paid $1,400 per month. My monthly subscriptions are Hulu, Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Amazon Music, Amazon Prime, iTunes Music. I have a subscription to

keep candles where I get a candle each month. I spend about $300 per week on groceries, and that's because I buy for both my fiancé and I. Between takeout and going out to dinner, I personally spend about $300 to $400 to $400 per week. My biggest financial weakness is shoes. I spend anywhere from $500 to $900 to $900 on shoes. I really try to keep you. keep it under a thousand. Oh, wow. So under $1,000, yeah, you can buy some blue batons. Yeah, she can buy some nice shoes that I love it. She was like, I won't spend more than a thousand. That's a lot. That's a lot of money per month. If you think about it, throwing those extra thousands towards her debt, she can pay off so much faster. And I get that it's her weakness.

I appreciate that, but, oh, man, it's a lot of money. Okay. My biggest cost for Penny is travel. When we travel, we have to go to the vet, which is $120 to see her doctor, and get a wellness check. Then we have to get an approval by the USDA, which is $140. I travel a lot, but it's never consistent. There are times of year where I don't even get on a plane for three or four months, and then there's a period of three months where I'm basically gone the entire time. So the amount that I spend per month is very different, but per trip, I can,

can spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 on a trip. Over the past year, I've been to six countries, and I've probably traveled about 15 times. From struggling in my 20s financially to overspending in my 30s, I've always had an issue with cash flow. It's been a very feast or famine type of style of spending. And that also is because my businesses fluctuate,

and of course my paycheck is never regular. I think it's really important that women pursue their dreams and create lives and businesses that they're proud of. I don't want someone to look at me and wonder how does she do it because it's crazy and sometimes I don't even know if I can do it and sometimes I want to quit. But as long as I keep working and I focus on my goals and keep moving forward,

I know that I can continue with my success. Okay, so what's so interesting, Now that I know all the information of her numbers, here's one thing I like about her. She's appreciating her success. Like, she's worked really hard. She does great. She makes $1.80 a year, which is awesome.

And I feel like she enjoys it, right? So, like, that's a good part. Okay. What I would do different is I would encourage her to have some savings. So, again, you never know what's going to happen in life. You never know. And what if something happens, right? What if another pandemic hits New York and her business just like go tanks

or whatever the thing is? and you need some backup, you need that safety net between you and life, just in case, it's like insurance, just in case something happens. So I would definitely encourage her to have some savings, start off with $1,000, like we talk about, maybe step one. And then if I were her, I mean, if she makes $180,000 and she's $30,000 in debt, if she just lived, like, she made $150, like, for just one year, one year. She probably wouldn't have to cut her lifestyle even that much.

But, man, just shrinking that down, like not buying shoes for a few months, It's like things like that that she really could do and throw some cash at that debt and have no debt, which for her is a big, risky part of her financial picture right now. With no savings and debt, she's having to make these payments

and when you don't have income coming in, if that ever happened, it's like, oh man, like how do you pay all these bills? So I would definitely recommend doing that if I were her. So getting a savings account, having savings in the bank, paying off that debt, and then even bumping up that savings

to three to six months of expenses after her debt's paid. So if I were her, that's what I would say. And then I would tell her, I'd really encourage her to budget and to say, hey, put dollar amounts next to each of these categories that you spend money on. Because I think, again, there's just some, like, fat that could be trimmed off, if you will. Like, you could look at the budget and be like,

oh, you could lower that and that and do this and get some extra margin to either save or pay off debt. So I want to know, what do you think? Is there anything that she did that you disagree with? with anything in there that you think is great and you want to practice in your own life. I love how much she travels. I'm like, if she has the money for it,

I think it's an amazing experience and I love a good experience. I love that. So I know it is so easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed out about money, especially these days. I mean, there is so much right now, whether it's high gas prices,

seeing the stock market, going down, high grocery prices, housing prices. It just, it feels like a lot. And if you are already on a really tight budget and feeling like, oh, my gosh, are we going to make it month to month? This has only put that much more stress on you. And so when people think about, hey, I want to start new habits, I want to actually try to figure out this money thing. There still can be a lot of shame and caution.

And it's like you don't know where to start and feeling like I should be better off than this or I should know more than this, all of that. So I want you to just take all of that off your plates and tell yourself, hey, you've done what you think is best up in this point, but if you don't like where you are currently with your money, then you've got to change some stuff, right? And that's not bad. That's not a shameful thing. That's actually a really great thing. When you learn and grow into something new, a new part of your life and start these new habits, man, it can help you so much. So I want to give you a few tips that I think would significantly reduce your financial stress. And some of these you can just do over the weekends. That's right. Just a few of these things.

and you have to do all of them that I list out, but choose maybe two or three. And what ends up happening is you say, okay, I'm doing this new stuff with my money, two, three, four things that she mentions. And you might see some traction, you might get some wins. And then it might really encourage you that, hey, I can actually do this. And then again, it goes into feeling like, I know more and can do more when it comes to my money. Because guess what? You can. You can.

So let's list out a couple of things that I think would be a really good thing. for you to think about and possibly do over the weekends. So one of them is look at your debt. Yeah. In order to have the big accomplishment of paying off all of your debt, you have to know where you're starting. And so many people want to avoid this or they feel stressed out when they see a bill come in or they don't want to look online or log into their account and they just feel overwhelmed. So it will feel overwhelming, especially if you don't know what's going on. And the idea in your head is probably more magnified than the reality, right? Just the question mark of not knowing, sends you into a whole new stress point than actually knowing and bring logic and facts to the

situation. So I want you to list out all of your debt. Every credit card bill you have, every car loan, every student loan, every personal loan, if you have medical debt, anything that you have when it comes to owing someone money, even a loan from your mom that you had three years ago that is still looming in your head. write anything and everything, list it out. Put it down on paper. And then do the second grade math, if you will, do the smallest number to the largest number. And just do that and look and see. And even doing that, I know sounds scary, but it really will give you peace when you have logic. My friend, Dr. John Flon, he says, facts are your friend. When you can have facts in front of you,

it actually helps calm you down. Another thing that you can do is make a budget. And I would say do this before you even make your weekend plans for this coming weekend, okay? Make a budget. That's your income minus your expenses equals zero. And what's included in your expenses, I count, giving and saving as well. So make a budget. Go back to your checking account the past three months.

Or if you use credit cards, cut them up. Look at your credit card statements and add up, hey, how much do you? I spend on food? How much am I spending on gas? How much am I spending on shopping? How much am I spending all these different categories? Get an idea. But then the goal is your income minus all those categories should equal zero. So every dollar coming in is assigned. But the numbers that you pull from on average the last three months, they're going to probably be a lot larger because you weren't living on a budget. So even you probably are going to be able to shrink that down because the more intentional you are, the more likely you are to save. And when it comes to your budget, one of my favorite apps is

every dollar. Winston and I use it, and it's so easy. It connects to your bank. You can drag and drop your transactions, and it keeps you on track. So I really recommend that. But if you just love paper or love Excel, you can do that too. So again, the math part of it is easy, but getting the information, it's a lot of work. And actually sticking to it is going to create some new habits, but it is so worth it. All right. Next, put $50 way in savings. Like right now, right now. If you don't have a savings account, open one and just put $50 away. That's it. It's going to feel like, wow, I have a savings account over there with money. $50, but there's money there. And again, it's a quick win just to get you in the practice of doing something like this. And even opening up

a new account can feel like, ugh, kind of scary intimidating. You can do it online or an online bank. You can go down to your local bank or credit union. But this is great to, yes, create a savings account and put 50 bucks in right now. Also, cancel a subscription. Yep, I don't care if it's Disney Plus. Hulu, Amazon Music, Amazon Prime, Apple Music, Apple Plus. I mean, there's so many subscriptions out there. And if you don't have cable, then you probably have Showtime and HBO.

All this stuff. Just cancel one. Listen, if you're dying a month later that you need a bag, you can go back and subscribe if you want, okay? But more than likely, you're going to cancel. cancel the subscription that you don't use very often. You're going to realize really quickly, oh, I really didn't need it in the first place.

But it's a good feeling. It's part of cutting expenses. So cancel one subscription this weekend. Next, to use my two, three, five method. So go around your house. This could be maybe in your nightstand even, in your closets, or bathroom. Throw two things away,

sell three things, and give five things away. Mm-hmm. Do it. Because when you start to do it, you're going to feel like, oh, I'm going to do more. I'm going to do more. It's addicting, I'm telling you. Getting crap out of your house feels so good.

Feels so good. That minimalist living, oh, it gives you peace of mind. So this two, three, five method helps you get there. Next, find one way to be generous. Okay, this can be with your time. I would say this could even be with your words. This could be with your money. I don't care.

But find one way to give to someone. And again, I could be buying them something, maybe a cup of coffee. This could be saying a word, a kind word of something that you've been thinking about and you just haven't sent that text, send it. Or if there's a place to serve and it's your time and you're like, hey, I'm going to just spend a few hours here. Do it. Find a way to be generous because I always tell people give a little until you can give a lot.

But start from somewhere. Okay, something else to do this weekend. Listen to one episode of a financial podcast. I mean, I would recommend the Bramsey Network because I believe in what we teach. but it could be a smart money happy hour. It could be the Ramsey show. I don't care what it is, but listen to a financial podcast

because part of winning with money is learning. It's a small part. It's about 20% understanding its knowledge. 80% is behavior. So a big part, which is most of these tips, is changing your behavior and doing something different, but actually understanding how money works

is really important. What's great, you guys, is you're going to learn. It's not rocket science. You don't have to have an MBA to win with money. A lot of it, so much of it, is pretty much common sense. So again, putting good things in your brain and learning is really important. Also, plan and get together with friends or family that doesn't cost money. So whether this is a game night or you have everyone come and bring

dinner, maybe you get some pizza dough and everyone brings toppings, have a movie night, do something that does not cost money. I feel like, especially on the weekends, there's this pressure to like, go out to eat or go do something fun because it's the weekend and you want to celebrate, that stuff can cost you tremendously. So again, those things aren't bad, but to practice new money habits, which is our goal this weekend, do something different and do something free. And then when you go to sleep on Saturday night, you can be like, oh, that was so fun. And it didn't cost me anything.

It's good. It's good. All right. Next, unsubscribe from at least five, five marketing email newsletters. Yep. Whenever you buy something, type in your email address, and guess what? You get all of these emails, and they're like 20% off, buy one, get one free. Have you checked out the sweaters that are on sale?

It is like marketing right to you. And if you're like me, tap that mail icon on your phone, and you go into your email, and you're like, oh, my gosh, and I sit there and delete half of them, so I need to go through and just unsubscribe as well. Because these newsletters, you guys, man, they can tempt you to buy things. It's like a sale you'd never knew existed until it hits your inbox. So by unsubscribing, you're going to be less tempted to buy things. Next, run your Amazon Order History Report from last year.

This is like a therapeutic time. It's going to be really hard to see because we buy everything on Amazon. I'm like, oh, my gosh. But it's really important to take note of all the patterns that you see are overspending. You look to see, okay, what am I overspending on? what do I tend to buy that's too much or not enough, and you just can really see your spending habits so much. So get that history report and look at it.

Next, challenge yourself to see if you can spend $50 less on groceries than you normally would. You can actually use my meal planner and grocery savings guide to help you do this. I'll put a link in the description. But again, this is just being aware of it. I feel like sometimes too with grocery shopping, I can get in this like, oh my gosh, inflation's killing me. Throw in more Oreos.

I was like, put this in my bag, da-da-da. And I just blame the high cost of groceries on inflation, which plays a big part. Don't get me wrong. But also, I'm like, I don't want that to be excused. Sometimes I am going to have to make decisions or actually look at prices more carefully and, again, make choices through my grocery shopping.

So do that and just play the game. Just play the game. Just say, hey, I want to go $30 or $50 less on my groceries. And it's fascinating when it ends up happening because I think you can do it. I think you can do it. And yeah, you guys, Simple tips, some of them harder to do than others, but take, take three of these and just try it

this weekend and start to get traction when it comes to taking control of your money. Because remember, that's what this is all about. Taking control of your money and creating a life you love. All right, you guys, so some simple money habits. Yes, and again, try them out this weekend, just a few. I just want you to know that you can start winning with money. So thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. And if you have not subscribed to this podcast, make sure to hit the follow button. 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.