The Rachel Cruze Show - My Personal Budget Plus How to Avoid a Holiday Spending Disaster

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

In this episode, we’re talking about all things spending (and how you can avoid overspending this season). I’ll let you guys in on what I spend in a week, plus we’ll go over some tips that will help you steer clear of a holiday spending disaster. And to wrap it all up, I’ll share some affordable last-minute gifts!   Here’s what’s coming up: ·      What I Spend in a Week ·      5 Tips to Avoid a Holiday Spending Disaster ·      Last-Minute Christmas Gift Ideas Under $40   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

The other way, we just charge everything, follows you month after month after month. And then come April, you're like, yeah, I probably shouldn't have bought that nice gift. More regret happens because your impulse buying and you don't always think about it, especially when you don't spend with cash. Hey guys, welcome to this episode of the Rachel Cruise Show podcast. I'm so glad that you're here. So in this episode, we're going to talk about how to save your money and avoid a holiday spending disaster. Then I'll go over last-minute Christmas gifts that won't break the bank.

Hence, they're all under $40. Then I'm going to go over five tips to avoid going into debt this holiday season. But first, let's chat about weekly expenses. Yes, I'm actually going to share my weekly expenses and talk about how to avoid going over budget weekly. Take a listen. So I sat down and looked at some random week. I think I picked a random week in like September. So here, pick this week.

And let's go through and see how much I spend in. a week. And again, every week looks different. Every week has different needs, has different things going on, obviously. But the goal here is to say, okay, am I sticking to my budget and am I managing my spending? Because this is big when it comes to spending, even just in real life stuff, right? This is real life situations. And you want to make sure that even though life is happening, are you doing everything on purpose? You have categories in your budget to actually spend the money. And are you staying on track. Now, in this example, I did include monthly expenses like insurance or giving and that kind of thing, but we're going to talk about kind of that day-to-day expenses that just pop up randomly

in the cruise household. So here we go. I'm going to get the big one out of the way. You can yell at me, you can judge me, and I don't care, but I do spend $200 a week on a cleaning service. Yep, they come in. We were doing every other week for a while, and then after three kids, and, you know, work, school, all the things. I was like, you know what, if I can up it, I want to. This was a want. And it's worth it for us. Now, if you're, you know, on baby steps one through three

and you're working the plan, you're starting out, then this kind of stuff, I understand, is a luxury for sure. But we're on baby step seven. And so we have kind of that flexibility now because we've been doing this for 12 years, 12 years, okay? So it doesn't happen overnight. We were not able to do this early on in life. But we've worked our way up.

There's all my justification Why I have a clean service once a week. There it is. All right, next up, this specific week, I had $85 for a plumber that came out. And I remember our disposal would not work and our water took forever to drain out the kitchen sink. And the night before, it just stopped draining completely.

Nasty water in the sink. Couldn't figure it out. So we got a plumber in there. And who knew that noodles? Here's a little fun fact for you. noodles is one of the worst things to put down your disposal in your sink because they expand the more water that they have over time. And we love Italian in our house. I mean, I literally make an alfredo or spaghetti or something at least once a week. So I was like, yeah, it was probably

a lot of noodles. And then I always thought that dropping a lemon peel down your disposal and taking all the lemon goodness was okay. And then it wasn't bad. No, no, no, no. He shamed me too. he was like going through everything. I was like, I'm sorry. Yes, I'm sorry. I do that. I do that. I do that. So anyways, $85. Learned my lesson. Good to go. All right. On food, I went back and saw on Amazon that I bought Cavender seasoning. If you've not done this, it's like a Greek seasoning. So good. We use it during our Greek nights when I make Greek. It's delicious. We were running out. So I Amazoned it apparently for $10. We spent around $120 on groceries and $10.5 at

Costco that week. Then eating out, we did Uber Eats one night for $47.85. This week, we never go here. So it's just funny that it landed here at McDonald's. We don't go to McDonald's as a family, like maybe once every five years, but we did, and it landed this week. So it was $25.53. And Jets pizza, which there's always going to be a pizza thing probably once a week in our budget, for $43.50. So that week we spent $351.88 on eating out in groceries. Doesn't feel great. Doesn't feel great, but that's the truth.

Okay. I have like a clothing, makeup, personal care line item. And that week I spent $27 and I bought Smashbox makeup primer. It's wonderful if you don't have it. It's great. Great to put on before your makeup. So next we have different categories for all of us in the family. so I have a category.

Winston has a category. The three kids have their own categories and our dog even has a category. Just to say, okay, if we spend money on the kids, it goes into their category. So that specific week, we spent, I think it was $10 on Amazon for a four pack of wiffle balls.

So I put that in Charles' line item. Amelia, we spent $6.99 on Amazon for a bike bell. She won one of those like, $7. For June, our dog, we spent $29,000. $1.99 on a dog fingernail clipper thing. I don't even know if it worked, but we spent it.

And then I spent in my category $60 after tip for a manicure. And then I spent $10.70 on Kristen Hannah's book, Firefly Lane. And then our last category for the week was household expenses. So we have one called just home. And I just put all random stuff that we buy for the house in that category. So that specific week, we bought $28.29 for a 12-pack. of G2 gel roller pins. When I opened my junk drawer, I'm like, I just need pens in there.

And I don't know if it's my kids that steal them. I don't know what happens. They're gone always. So I do remember that week being like, we need more pens. So I Amazon that, and then I got a 20 pack of hangars for my kids and their clothes because I ran out of hangers and needed more hangars. All right. So the grand total from that Sunday to Sunday of that week was close to $750.

that week. So again, I mean, I feel like that was a pretty normal week for us. You know, I think some weeks are way less expensive than others. Depends on what's going on, what I end up buying. I think everything on that list, I ended up buying. But again, the important thing that you really, really want to focus on is to make sure to know everyone's budget's going to look different. So don't compare your budget to mine. And you want to know what are our money goals. That's what makes life unique is to say, okay, here's our income, here's our expenses, here's our goals, here's what we're shooting for, and it's all about you. Okay, so it's not about everyone else. It's not comparing your life to everyone else.

It is what is going on for you. And having a budget, you guys, helps so much. Like, that kind of stuff that I spent the money on, I can tell you I did it with such freedom because I knew we had the money. Like, I went on the every dollar app and I looked to see, okay, how much do I have left in my category here? You know, can I, is it wasteful to buy wiffle balls for Charles? Because He's like, freaking loves it, and we've lost three of them. We only have one left. I'm like, no, we have the freedom to do that because I know where our money's going. So the budget gives you such power.

Now, if you've been trying to budget and it's not working out, do not give up. Okay, I promise that you can do this. Winston and I've been doing this for over 12 years, almost 13 years, and it takes a little bit to kind of get in that rhythm. And then once you have that rhythm, you know what's going on. And you almost cannot imagine living life without a budget. after you have it as a habit in your life, it is so, so helpful. And also, though, give yourself grace because you're not going to get it right every time. And there's some months

we look up and we're like, how much an out to eat? Oh, God. You do it and you're like, man, or how much groceries that week were so expensive. So we're going to change different categories. Like, things are going to be happening. Mistakes are going to be made, but give yourself some grace. Now, there are certain bunch of categories that you really want to keep consistent. And then there's those that you look at, you say, wow, we consistently struggle with. So when the ones that are moving a lot, so this could be, you know, close, this could be food, try to see, okay, how can we save some money and actually cut back in those areas? So here are some examples for this. You can try the no spend challenge. And if you don't know what that is,

make sure to check out my show notes to see how to do it. And it's actually a very helpful exercise. also wait a day or more before making a purchase. So you actually know, do I really need this? And then the categories that you tend to overspend on, I would recommend cashing out the exact amount of cash that you need for that category. So when you go and spend money, you know, here's the amount of money I have and this is all I have. I have to stay within this. Now, those of you that are new to budgeting, just a couple of things, remember, it's going to take about three months to get your budget right. Okay, three months. So give yourself grace. Also, you want to do a zero-based budget. So this is your income minus all of your expenses, including giving and saving, should be listed out, and your income minus that should equal zero.

So every dollar coming in is assigned to a category. And if you need help every dollar, the budgeting app I mentioned earlier, it is so, so great. It helps you understand budgeting. It walks you through a budget. I mean, it makes it so, so simple. So again, budgeting, it's a great thing. It gives you permission to spend. It is a a freeing idea that you have control of your money, and your money doesn't control you. It's almost December, and the Christmas season is in full swing. So today, I want to talk about my five tips

of how to avoid a holiday spending disaster because the struggle is real, you guys, it is. So whether you've knocked out all of your gifts already and your buying is over, or maybe it's the last-minute party outfits that you have to have or a secret Santa party pops up, or you have relatives that you forgot to buy for. All these little things can bust your budgets.

But they don't have to. So listen closely because, again, this is a time of year that people can overspend because they're in the festive spirit and they're not staying organized. So tip number one, refuse to go into debt for Christmas. Yep, that's it.

Black and white. Just, no, I am not going into it. debt for Christmas. According to a recent survey, 36% of consumers went into debt last Christmas, owing on average $1,249, according to a survey by lending tree. And so also, what's added to that is interest, hundreds of dollars maybe over a long period of time if you just pay the minimum payments. And man, it's so hard because debt makes it so easy. Right? In the moment, I think I really want that nice gift. I want to buy all. these gifts, I want to buy all these outfits, I want to do all these things. Let's just

charge it and not worry about it until later. Like, that's the easy path, right? The hard path is to say we're actually going to spend within our means and our budget, and we're going to say no. Like, that is hard, but that way of living, when the holiday season's over, you're done. The other way, we just charge everything follows you month after month after month. And then come April, you're like, yeah, I probably shouldn't have bought that nice guy. gift. I really wish I hadn't. More regret happens because you're impulse buying and you don't always think about it, especially when you don't spend with cash. So you guys know how I feel about credit cards. Sadly, credit cards are not the only place that people are going into debt. Buy now, pay later.

Financing is everywhere. And it's created to make you spend more money. So when you see like four easy payments of this, you're like, oh, 15 bucks? Well, I can buy some more and just bump that payment each month up to 40. I could do that and you end up spending so much money. So don't fall for it. And remember, anytime you owe money to anyone for any reason, that is debt. And it's going to weigh you down. When you owe money to someone, as Dr. John Zolone says, your body and your brain, know that you are not safe. Because someone else has control over your money. And it's not all yours. When you owe someone something. So the freedom of not owing anyone anything, it's worth it. So make a holiday. budget and stick to it. Tip number two, limit yourself by only using cash. Yes. So this is a little bit

different. I know because it's so easy to buy online. But studies always show that when you use a payment, specifically a credit card or even Apple Pay, you're going to end up spending a little bit more than you would with cash. So find the categories that you say, okay, I'm going to spend cash with this category, and I'm not budging. So this could be food, this could be groceries. Maybe it's you buying all of the things you're going to wrap your gifts with, and you say, here's how much we're going to spend on gift wrapping. I'm going to go to the store and just buy this amount of money. Because what's great is that you commit to only spending that amount of cash. That's it. You're not tempted to throw in, you know, extra food. It's like, oh, let's get some more eggnog here, here, here, here,

and bust the food budget or going to the wrapping supplies again and buying the most expensive bow. No, it really gives you power when you use cash. So I would recommend doing that. Tip number three, try new things to save on gifts. So gifts are wonderful. They are fun. They are part of the Christmas season, but they can be very expensive and very stressful. So maybe you try a different tradition. Don't be afraid of that. I think it's great. So instead of buying gifts for everyone, maybe you guys draw names this year, or you do a group experience together. So, when in doubt, rely on the four gift rule. Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read, especially when it comes to your kids. Tip number four, find the best prices

using sites like slick deals. So I know it's already a crazy season and you don't have extra time to like search for every single thing and see if there's, you know, better prices out there. but honestly, it's not that hard. You may think it's going to take forever, but it doesn't have to. So take Slick Deals, for example, to make sure that I'm getting the best price for something that I'm planning on buying. All I have to do is go to slickdeals.net, type in what I'm shopping for or where, and then all of the relevant coupons that are out there just magically pop up.

And you can even see the rating of the coupon and when it was last used to know if it's still valid. So it is so easy. Tip number five. shop with a list. Making a list and checking it twice. All St. Nicholas, he's right because a list, honestly, you guys, is so helpful. And it helps you stay accountable to your budget. It avoids getting distracted and impulse buying and all of this. And it saves you time because you are organized. So this is what I do. I have a Christmas notes page on the app on my phone, the notes app on my phone. And I have a list of everyone that we're going to buy gifts for,

from teachers to family members, to friends, whatever the thing is. And it's like, here's all of it. And I try to remember, like, hostess gifts, you know, anyone that we're going to buy a gift for, I list it out. And then I put dollar amounts next to it. And I'm like, here's how much we're going to spend on each person because of what we already decided we're going to spend. And I keep that there.

And for me, I'm like, okay, I see that amount. And I have freedom within that amount of money to go and spend on that gift. And it's great. And then when it's done, I put the little check emoji next to the names. and I just feel so efficient. I'm like, yes, I'm getting knocked out. I get things going. I mean, honestly, it makes things so efficient

when you see something visual. So have a list, have the money listed out, even next to their names, which that's going to help you as well. And stay focused. Do not get distracted. All right, again,

it is so easy to really get through with the holidays and get into January, and you think, we spent so much money. How did we do that? So don't let that be you. year, okay? Go in with a game plan, knowing how to save money, and stick to it. And creating a

budget is wonderful. This is the best tool to help you. I love every dollar because you can drag and drop your transactions when it connects to your bank. It makes it so easy, so so easy. So you guys stay on track, okay? Have fun this holiday season. But again, I want the January you to love the December. So today we're going to talk about last minute Christmas gifts that will not break the bank. Now, I know you might be already finishing up all of your gift shopping and you're ready to enjoy the holiday season. But listen, sometimes there's those last minute gifts that you're like, oh, I forgot to get that and that and that and that. So my encouragement to you would be, do not go for the most expensive, easy to grab, convenient items that are out of

your budget. There are a lot of affordable gifts out there for everyone on your list. So here are some ideas to get your wheels turning. We're going to start with the last minute gifts for men, all the men in your life. So this could be your husband, your dad, your brother, grandfather, friend. Because usually, yeah, they're the hardest to shop for. Let's be honest. Dudes are just hard. You're like, I don't know.

There's just lots of hobbies that they could have. And you're like, I don't really know what to get you. So I can tell you that I just found out about these. And I think they're amazing. but portable fire pits that you can get around for $20 at citybomfires.com. So for the men in your life that like to hang out, make a fire, you can do this fire pit and you can get three to five hours of burn time. Amazing.

Here's another great option is the ARIA Premium Ceramic Air Friar on Amazon for $40. And it can reach 400 degrees in seconds using the most powerful air frying technology that is out there. Incredible. And if you have a dude that loves to cook, this is a great option. All right, for all the ladies out there, I love this idea, but a blank cookbook and recipe journal. You get this on Amazon for like $34. And I love it because you can document all the recipes that you love from all your cookbooks and Pinterest and Instagram and even family recipes that you want to hold on to. And what's great is you can even use this as an heirloom one day that you can pass down, and all of your recipes are there. Now, also, if there's a girl in your life that

loves Starbucks, you can grab the classic coffee syrup trio pack, also on Amazon for just $14. That way, she can enjoy her mochas or her vanilla lattes at home. Now, if you have little kids, here is a great idea, is the Dino Egg Bathbom set for $18. So it comes with nine different scented bath bombs. And after they fizzle, there's a small. There's a surprise dinosaur inside. My kids have one of these, but they get like this little thing, and it's like a little charm, and it's of like a unicorn or a bunny or something, and they love it. And my kids now love to take baths because they're like, can we do bath time? Can we do a bath time? Because of this dang bath bomb, but that's a gift to us parents as well.

Now, if you have tweens and teens, and they are all about the smartphone, then you can get them on Amazon a smartphone lens kit for $25. So it comes with 10 different lenses that attach to their smartphone so they can take all different kinds of pictures that are like cool and creative. And it's pretty awesome. Lastly, if you have neighbors, teachers, host gifts, all the other people that you just want to share the love to, I want to challenge you to get creative because that list can get very, very long.

So you can go low cost or even DIY with things like, you know, buying. a bottle wine from Costco or a book that they might really enjoy. You can make homemade baked goods. People always love that. Some like peppermint chocolate spark stuff. I got that one here. It's just delicious. You can even offer just a pet sit when they go out of town. That's a huge gift as well. And also don't underestimate just the power of a note with these gifts to just say, like, we are so thankful for you. As our family, we are thankful for the gift that you are to us. and just words of encouragement. I think especially for teachers,

I'm like, man, they deserve a lot, including our words and telling them how thankful, thankful we are. So I know that things come up last minute. I mean, that's what Christmas is. You can do as much planning as possible and you probably get like 99% of it, but there's always that like little off chance

that you think, oh, shoot, forgot that person or that person. So don't let it just bust your budget, be thoughtful about it, but be smart. Again, the more convenient something is, sometimes the more expensive it is. So make sure to look at shipping, look at all the costs around the gift before you buy it. Or again, like I would suggest, just do the low cost or even DIY stuff. While gift giving is part of the holiday season, and it's a blessing to someone, obviously, we love to do it.

It's so fun. But remember, your worth and your value to someone is so much more than the gift that you give. and I hope you have people in your life that know that. And can have grace with you, grace with other people. Because again, with where we are in life right now, with inflation, you know, jobs might be changing. I mean, it's just a different Christmas. Every year is a little different. Brings our own set of challenges.

But give yourself some grace. And remember just to do what's best for you and your family and don't feel the pressure to keep up with everyone, what everyone else is doing. Hopefully those last-minute Christmas gifts were helpful, you guys. oh, I know sometimes I'm just last minute scrambling, so hopefully that gives you some peace. And again, that they're not going to break the bank. Well, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode.

If you haven't subscribed yet, make sure to hit that 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 and life.