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6 Tips to Help You Save a Ton of Money

Last updated on: Published by: Recognizing Potential Coaching 0

Last week I talked to you about how 8 years ago, I had zero savings, was constantly overdrawn in my account and didn’t have enough money to pay bills. Here’s how I created a savings, increased my credit 300 points and got my financial life together. 

People say things like “there will always be debt”, “money doesn’t grow on trees”, or “there’s never enough money.” Bull. These beliefs makeup your money mindset. When your money mindset is trash, so is your bank account. It’s hard to hear but it’s the truth and the sooner you accept it and change your mindset, the sooner you can start building real wealth. What you focus on grows. 

1. Start budgeting. 
Bleck. I know. The thought of it makes people want to throw up. But I’m here to tell you, though it’s the hardest to start, it’s also the most crucial. We started with pencil and paper but it wasn’t as easy as digital and things kept getting left off. Now, my husband and I have a google excel sheet that we share so it’s on our phones, laptops, etc. Always at our fingertips. Easy access sets you up for success. We have 4 sections. The first section is monthly bills (mortgage/rent, electricity, groceries, etc). Things like groceries and gas get a number at the beginning of the month. So let’s say $150 for gas. There are simple formulas you can input to subtract 150- (total of each fill up) so you always know what you have left to get you through the rest of the month.The second section is all debt (credit cards, medical bills, etc). In each section make sure you the name of the bill, the amount due, the date due, and whether it comes out automatically or if you have to pay it. We also include login info as well (again for easy access). The third section is for extras (eating out, amazon orders, random things like car maintenance or oil changes). The fourth section is GOALS. All of our debt is listed in this section from highest interest rate to lowest. We’ve calculated what we can pay off every 90 days and that’s what we focus on. Again, what you focus on grows so when you’re laser focused on paying 3 to 4 things off every 90 days, you get through that list speedy quick. What you were paying on those 3-4 now goes to the next 3-4 you’re focused on. A debt avalanche. Everything is color coded. Pink items get paid at the beginning of the month, blue items get paid with the mid month checks. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. 

2. Pay yourself first. 
Every wealthy person in history will tell you to always pay yourself first. This was tough when we started and another thing that was hard and made us want to puke. But this is what started our savings. 10% of every single check or cash payment coming in goes straight to your savings account. You live on what’s left over. Not enough? Start cutting. I promise, you can do hard things! Trust me on this. 

3. Record it. 
On that spreadsheet, we record every single penny that’s spent (including cash) every month. Every cent is accounted for. At the end of each week, we look at it and discuss what we need to reign in and what’s coming up. The first time we had $800 leftover at the end of the month, my husband and I got into a huge argument that “something didn’t get paid! There’s no way this is right!” It was. It just hadn’t ever happened to us before. So whatever is left goes to debt. Pay all of that off as fast as possible. This increases your credit significantly and helps you meet your goals faster. A few months we halved what was left over and put part in savings and part toward debt. Either way works as long as you get an emergency fund set up and debt paid off. Your definition of “emergency” changes when you have a fund for it. 

4. Unpopular Opinion
Interest will kick you in the teeth every single month. This is a super unpopular opinion but has saved us a TON over the last year. Open a 0 interest credit card that will let you transfer balances. We did this with our largest credit card that was charging us almost $100 a month in interest. That move right there saved us over a grand last year alone and increased my credit score by almost 50 points!

5. Start reading and Stop Listening
Pay attention to what you’re listening to and looking at. If you’re listening to people that are always broke, you’re probably going to be as well. Surround yourself with people who push you up, teach you things and help you become better. I believe with all my heart and soul that you become like the top 5 people you hang around with most. Read books like Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eckert, anything by David Bach, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki, Tony Robbins has some good ones. Here’s why I’m not a huge Dave Ramsey fan. He says things like – if you owe any debt, you should not be eating out. No. Sometimes you need to enjoy a family dinner out to celebrate or save your ever loving sanity! Family morale means a lot! Does it dent your budget a little more than eating at home, yes. But the fear inducing mindset that statements like that promote are far more damaging than 1-2 meals out a month. 

6. Same ole, same ole
Cut what you can. We haven’t had cable in probably 10 years. How many channels do you really watch on your TV? Can you get those same channels with a Roku or an Amazon Firestick, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime? 

Shop at places like Aldi. I kid you not, their produce is WAY more fresh than places like Walmart and they have more organic options too. 

Do what you have to do for a short amount of time- teach English to Chinese kids online, sell essential oils, sell signs or paintings or clothes, substitute teach, all things I did for a couple years just to have extra funds to help get us ahead. My husband stayed in airport lounges instead of hotels and flew pipeline 5-6 days a week just to save. It wasn’t fun or pretty and our marriage struggled on the daily with all the stress but the payoff was incredible. 

These are all the things that you already know. I wanted to help you with things that you may not know or may not do. Everyone hears how they need to budget and many will ignore that advice but that was one of the best things we did for ourselves. 

I hope this helped and wish you the best of luck! When your financial life is in order, everything else feels so much better! Nobody will ever have their entire life completely together. That doesn’t exist. But having your finances in order sure does make a huge difference and significantly boosts your confidence! 

XOXO, 

Kameran

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How I Changed My Life…

Last updated on: Published by: Recognizing Potential Coaching 0

Some of you know my story. Some of you don’t but 8 years ago this week my life looked drastically different than it does now.

My best friend had just passed away unexpectedly at 8 months pregnant. 
My husband and I were having the same exact argument every 90 days with no change. We were beyond broke. Like so broke I couldn’t afford gas to drive the 4 hour trip to go home for the weekend, couldn’t buy new clothes, credit cards were all maxed out and I came home to no electricity more than a couple times. I filed for divorce, moved out on my own for the first time and had developed the belief that living by myself with a 2 year old was not safe. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t but not because of people, because it was so janky the floor may have fallen through at any moment and I’m pretty sure there was tetanus in every inch of the staircase outside that lead to the only laundry unit. I was a full-time college student, trying to get another degree because I couldn’t be a single mom on a teacher’s salary. (another limiting belief) I was working 3 part time jobs to make ends meet and vividly remember opening the door to the refrigerator one night only to discover a small jar of pickles and one slice of cheese. We had put everything in my name and when I got divorced, my ex-husband decided he didn’t need to help pay child support, or his half of the $40,000 in debt we’d accumulated over the 5 years we were married. I weighed 260 lbs and ate all my feelings. All. The. Feelings. The picture above is a before (top) and after (bottom). I’m about 90% sure that’s the only picture from around that time because of the pure embarrassment I had with looking at myself in the mirror. 

You can imagine at this point I was pretty low. Depressed and had debilitating anxiety. I watched reruns of One Tree Hill night after night because the anxiety was too bad to sleep. Hot Mess Express doesn’t even begin to cover it. 

I had to get it together, for myself and for my son. I started with what I knew. I knew my basic needs had to be met which meant food and sleep. I swallowed my pride and the limiting beliefs that I was a piece of crap if I got on food stamps. That’s what it’s there for. People who need temporary help, that was me. I had my cousin send me a bottle of lavender essential oil and a blend she made up for anxiety. I used these religiously and my anxiety got a little better, enough to at least sleep through the night. I finished school and with bribing Mason at 2 and a half to be SUPER quiet for 15 minutes while we sat in a Walgreen’s parking lot, I interviewed for a job in Dallas and got it. We moved 6 days later with a lot of help! I knew one person but I also knew deep down this job would propel me forward. It did. It helped me get back on my feet and introduced me to some of the greatest friends and mentors I still have today. 

I got off food stamps when I moved and I called a lady I knew from when I was married that’s a financial planner. She did my financial needs analysis for free, as she does all families and I followed it to the letter. I never had extra money to do a lot of trips or anything more than hitting the zoo once every few months but I paid that $40,000 debt off in 4 years. I still got no help with child support so I did that all on my own too. I didn’t have cable or anything that wasn’t necessary. I got real good at finding free entertainment for Mason and I to enjoy and still use that little trick to this day! 

Time management, grit, determination and a lot of swallowing my pride and asking for help made a huge difference in my success. I made a plan and I stuck to it. When I felt like I had kind of gotten a hold of my life, I borrowed the P90X program from a friend and I lost 30 lbs. with it. Shortly after, I met Moe which is a whole different story for another day.

But if I could give you any advice at all, I’d say- Have Persistence. Was it all easy? No. It was hard as hell! But I believed in myself and I believed that the steps I was taking, no matter how small, were still steps forward and would eventually pay off. 

8 years later, I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’ll be completely debt free except for my student loans by 2021. I’m having another baby (something I never thought would be in my cards again), happily married and truly thriving. A lot of that growth came from taking a hard look in the mirror, getting rid of the limiting beliefs and reading…so much reading. I read on everything I needed help with, success stories I could learn from, parenting hacks, anything that could possibly get me where I wanted to go. It took working hard and smart. It took doing what wasn’t always popular and not always what I wanted but what I needed. Lastly, it took having a circle of people I wanted to be like, people who were smarter than me, more financially independent than me, people I could learn from to help me grow instead of people who only held me back. 

If you or someone you know is in this same situation, just know that like those food stamps, it’s temporary if you want it to be. It’s 100% possible to claw your way out of any hole you’re in. Just keep moving in the right direction. 

XOXO, 

Kameran