On today’s episode of the Money Made Easy Podcast we have Elizabeth of @elizabethsaves on Instagram to talk about how to pay down debt. Her and her husband paid off $227,000 in a couple of years.
After buying a house, things started to spiral for them pretty quickly, Elizabeth explains. Little purchases here and there, started adding up.
When Elizabeth went to make a final payment for their honeymoon, she wasn’t sure if she would have enough credit to pay off the thousand dollars still owed. This was the first wake up call.
Shortly after they were married, Elizabeth’s father died unexpectedly. He had been a big money role model for her and his death motivated her to live a life that reflected their values.
All of these moments, led to the realization that they weren’t living in a way that reflected the people they wanted to be. This led to them taking control of what they wanted their future to look like.
Elizabeth’s husband came home and mentioned that he had heard about a debt snowball payoff method and that led her to start learning more. She quickly went deep in researching all about money and became motivated to pay down debt.
Elizabeth loves a plan. If she can write it down then she is good about putting her head down and accomplishing it.
When Elizabeth and her husband sold their house they made $30,000 in the 3 years they had owned it. This helped them finish paying off his student loan debts.
Then with Elizabeth’s new job in New York City, they live without rent or utility expenses so that is what has definitely helped them pay off the rest of their debt.
Elizabeth became very frugal and shares some of the extreme ways she saved money. She had a big friend group that socialized a lot and not wanting to miss out on this, she would eat before going or even pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cheese stick and eat in the car and then just order a beverage at dinner.
Elizabeth says, “I’m a big believer that your budget should let you say yes, more than it makes you have to say no.” A lot of the time people don’t start budgeting because they think it’s going to be restrictive and change the way they live their life.
You have to negotiate what’s important to you. Elizabeth would take the money that she would have spent and pay it towards a debt.
One of the things they tried early on was gazelle intent. You cut all expenses you deem unnecessary. They decided that intensity just wasn’t for them. They wanted to not just pay down debt, they wanted to establish long term financial habits.
If marketing does it’s job, we want all the things. I’ll start this when I have that is a way to postpone trying things or spending on things. It’s important to find a way to just start.
For someone in debt, Elizabeth recommends just starting. You don’t have to have all the information before starting. Whether you do the debt snowball or debt avalanche doesn’t matter.
Elizabeth thinks it’s important to know your why. Their why was they wanted to live in alignment with their values. You might need to start with what are your values.
She also added that it’s important to not be afraid to fail. If you’re afraid to fail you never start. You’re going to fail with money and it’s okay. It’s just a moment, not the story.
The three words she thinks of when she thinks about money are alignment, sustainable, and transparency. If you listened to this whole episode with Elizabeth, you know she lives these words.
For the full blog post on this episode and all other episodes, go to
Find her on Instagram at -
www.instagram.com/elizabethsaves
And her website is -
We’re welcoming back to the show today one of our favorites - Kate who is @thatdebtfreelife on instagram to talk all about becoming debt free and what’s next.
Of course, we wanted to hear about how if felt to be free of debt. Kate shared that it felt free and made her feel invincible.
First, Kate and her family went on a dream trip to New York at Christmastime. After their trip they then got back into their financial goals pretty quickly.
Saving up a bigger emergency fund was their biggest goal. Kate really hasn’t changed much in the way she manages her finances.
She still creates a zero based budget for every paycheck and she budgets it down to the penny. Kate can’t live without it because she knows exactly where her money is going when she has it done.
Kate is still working overtime to reach her financial goals. Catching up on retirement contributions and funding the 529 for her son are both important and they also made a 6 year plan to pay off the mortgage.
Kate feels the most important things that helped her payoff her debt were the zero based budget and 15 no spend days every month. With 15 no spend days per month that translates into 6 months of not spending but in bite sized chunks. She uses the HabitShare app.
This year, they were able to pay cash for their fence. Kate also opened a Roth IRA for the first time in her life and funded that. They also purchased kitchen appliances and redid their laundry room. Kate also paid cash for Invisalign.
Spending more time at home becomes more enjoyable. Angelica share how another one of our former guests, Lupe Prado, talks about tolerations. Little things that crowd our mind and how getting those small things taken care of make our life more enjoyable.
When first starting to pay off her debt, Kate realized if she spent her money with intention and allocated it properly she would be able to do it. She could meet all the goals she thought were out of reach before.
Starting @thatdebtfreelife on Instagram and making the promise to herself to post something once daily about something finance related made her think about it and focus on it. The accountability of that also helped keep her on track.
Even just checking your bank balance every day can make you more aware and intentional. Starting with the small things and giving yourself grace can really help you not get overwhelmed and make forward progress.
Let yourself be a beginner, resist those impulse purchases, make mistakes and give yourself some grace - you’re not going to be perfect ever. Kate has never written a perfect budget.
To budget on an irregular income, list your expenses from most important to least important and then as your money comes in you pay your bills in that order. Then after paying the things you have to take care of you can make your debt payments and other things.
If you have irregular income, Kate also recommends creating a buffer or a cushion fund. in addition to your emergency fund, set aside some money so if things fall short or you’re hit with an unexpected expense, you have a bit of a buffer or cushion to carry you through.
If you have trouble with impulse shopping, then going through your house and looking for things to sell can help you buy more intentionally. One of Kate’s favorite quotes is, “Look around you, all of that stuff used to be money.”
Kate thinks if you have money, you need a budget. You need to know what can you do with your money. Where some people might feel living with a budget is stressful, she feels it’s freeing and so much less stress.
You can find Kate on Instagram at @thatdebtfreelife -
www.instagram.com/thatdebtfreelife
Kate’s blog -
www.livingthatdebtfreelife.com
Hello friends and welcome to episode 35 of the podcast! We are very excited to announce…(drum roll please…)… our QUARTERLY BOOK CLUB!
Why you may ask? As you know, our sole purpose of this podcast is about educating ourselves and building a community of individuals who feel comfortable with talking about money. What better way to further our education with a book club that keeps us accountable and helps foster these conversations!!
We are excited to announce our very first book, The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness by Bari Tessler. Bari Tessler does an incredible job of diving deep into our money traumas and finding the root cause of our money struggles. This inner work will then push our motivation and knowledge to make better money decisions. Bari Tessler is a financial therapist, which is so inspiring and something I think we all need in our lives. This book is filled with important questions that will get us to reflect on our money habits and the relationship we have with money.
So follow along and be a part of this community with us! Your knowledge and expertise is valuable and we want to hear from you!
Join our facebook group here:
Today we dive deep into examining our money blocks with Katy Chen Mazzara. She is a certified financial coach who helps creative types make more money, pay off debt, and achieve financial freedom.
Katy started off as a journalist then became a television producer for 15 years, working on shows like The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Real Housewives, Love and Hip Hop. Then she became certified as a financial coach, a life coach and she is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Program in Personal Financial Planning.
Growing up with parents who were at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to money gave Katy an interesting view. Her father did not want to spend money and her mother spent it freely.
For a while, Katy had a few issues of her own with money, spending it on cabs when she should've been walking or taking the subway. Then she became passionate about learning more though, reading books, even stock prospectuses.
After three of her family members felt like they had to stay in abusive relationships for money, one of Katy's missions became to empower people to make decisions in spite of money, not based on money. And this is whether it's staying in a bad relationship or in a job you don't enjoy.
In this episode, Angelica volunteers to be the example for examining our money blocks. Katy asks Angelica about her background with money and they dive deep into childhood experiences with money.
Katy shares how a simple moment isn't wrong or right but it does teach us and it's important to observe that. Does it create abundance or scarcity? It's important to ask yourself - where do these beliefs come from?
Clarity is very important around money. Be clear about what is coming in and out. Our minds like clarity. The more unknown, the more you'll worry.
Work on what you truly want to achieve. Where do you want to go? What does money look like for you in terms of your core values?
Katy suggests tracking down your emotions around your spending like a food diary. How did you feel -before, during and after your purchase?
Every time you get abundance, make a note of it. Either write it down or put it in the notes section on your phone. Some examples Katy gives are time on the parking meter, a friend buys you a cup of coffee or for waiting so long, we're giving you a free muffin. Abundance and gratitude are a powerful duo.
Katy feels it's important to have balance between the spiritual and the earthly, more practical. It's still important to do the work - having savings and paying off your debt. After paying off your debt, it's important to pay attention to where the debt came from.
She explains the snowball effect and why it can be such a powerful way to pay off debts. Katy shares how paying on time is so important for your credit score.
As always, we asked Katy to share her definition of success. She feels success is an inside job and it's so important to do the inner work so we can create outward changes. The more you have self worth, the more you can be successful in the outside world.
And when asked about the 3 words that come to mind when you think about money, she first said, "Freedom, freedom, freedom." Then she went on to add - freedom, energy and values.
But wait...there's more for our listeners...Katy Chen Mazzara has launched her membership course - Financial Freedom for Creatives Club. This is a year long program that will help you build HABITS you need to create the results you want with your money. If our listeners sign up, you will receive some pretty rad bonuses: 1. You will get access into the money block group coaching program on 1/2 2. Access to You Can Negotiate Anything Mini Courses 3. 1 day Retreat on 1/31
If you sign up, let them know you're a MME listener!
http://katychenmazzara.com
https://www.financialfreedomforcreatives.com/virtual-retreat
Wow friends! We had so much time to reflect back on this season and are extremely thankful to our guests for their time and wisdom. We couldn't have produced all of this amazing content without their expertise. And to our listeners, WE LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you so much for sharing our podcast amongst your loved ones and allowing Season 1 to be a huge success. We truly do this to help everyone navigate through money and life decisions. We hope you enjoy this episode as we recap the final episodes! We are gearing up for SEASON 2 and are so excited to see you all there!
In today's episode, we chat with the inspiring Tanya Van Court - Founder and CEO of Goalsetter. A revolutionary app devoted to helping kids and families save, learn and grow their money. This mission was inspired by her mother, an elementary school teacher who perfected the skill of bridging gaps for kids and knew the importance of giving all kids the same opportunities and education. Throughout Tanya’s professional and personal life, she created a passion for creating resources and educational tools for children. These experiences included leading digital products at Nickelodeon, serving as Senior Vice President of Partner Marketing at Discovery Education, where she launched digital textbooks to schools across the country, and leading new media products for ESPN, where she led the launch of online streaming service, ESPN3. Each of these unique experiences have been the building blocks to prepare her for building a platform that educates and motivates children to learn the important of financial literacy.
https://www.instagram.com/goalsetterco/
You can download the app in the App Store and Google Play Store!
Brianna Firestone is the founder of The School of Betty, a platform that empowers women to create better relationships with their money, time, and energy so they can build financial freedom and lessen stress.
At the age of 23, Brianna found herself living in New York City with $30k in credit card debt, $20k in student loans, and barely making $30k a year. She then became more courageous than her financial situation, gave herself a pep-talk, and set out on a journey to stop drinking fancy coffee, become debt free, and educate herself around her money and spending behaviors.
As a Certified Life Coach and Financial Education Instructor, Brianna is an expert in teaching personal finance that is fun, approachable, and easy to implement. Her Fierce Finances 8 week program is a successful group coaching course that helps women change their money mindset, pay off debt, and create incredible, positive new habits around their finances.
Brianna is a financial contributor for MindBodyGreen and her expert advice has been featured in Real Simple,The Financial Diet, Money.com, Reader’s Digest, Business Insider, Reign, 5280 and on the popular lifestyle blog and podcast, PaleOMG & PaleOMG Uncensored. Brianna believes everyone is one good habit away from living a badass life. When she isn’t coaching students, she can be found at the gym, drinking coffee, or at the theatre. Brianna lives in Denver, CO with her husband and her 9 year old rescue dog, Pink Lady.
Links
In this episode, we hear all about the different directions and industries that have been a part of Nicole’s business life. She came from an entrepreneurial family and started as a 15 year old. She sold her first business at 18 and the adventure just kept going! Listen in to hear all the twists and turns!!
