I also want to say is a lot of times people put a lot of pressure on the, okay, I remember, this is really a very silly thing to think, but I remember in Texas, now I'm from Texas, so this is a little different. You can get a pound of beef for 96 cents or something. I was. When I was- When I hid. Yes, when I first started grocery budgeting, these days, I don't know how much it is, $6 a pound. And so the point I want to make is if you have a mindset of my grocery budget, what it was before, and if you need anything like what it is now, then you're going to put a lot of pressure and you're not the only one. A lot of people do this. You put a lot of pressure on your grocery budget. And I am here to tell you, it just costs way more now. It's not you and you're just buying chocolate chip cookies, which we know you're specifically not, but it's not you. It's the fact that the prices are higher and that budget needs to be a lot bigger and that's some shock value for those of us who have been trying to do this for a while, like you're trying to do better, but yet somehow it feels like the budget keeps going up. That's not on you. It's just reality. Do you make good money but have nothing to show for it? Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Do you have big dreams for your financial future? Do you want to get debt free, but you don't want to live on beans and rice? When you don't want to give up this pumpkin spice latte? Hey, it's okay if you don't already know how to budget or if you're using credit cards to get through the month. Hey, it's okay if you want to seem like you have your finances all together or you're not on the same page with your spouse when it comes to finances. We know what you're doing probably isn't working. But guess what? You're in for bright places. We're Shayna and Vanessa. We're best friends, business partners and master financial coaches trained by Dave Francie. We've been in business since 2019 helping hundreds of amazing people like you create budgets, get out of debt, stop living paycheck to paycheck and know exactly what to do with their money. In this podcast, we'll share with you everything we know plus everything we're working on with our clients so that you have the best chance at reaching your financial goals. We want to help you take the guesswork out of your budget. Improve your marriages and even bring your kids in on the conversation. We can help you no matter where you're at whether you're the single mom who's never had $500 in their savings account or the millionaire who's paid off four real estate loans. And we're not going to shy away from the tough love. We'll tell you what you need to hear and encourage you at the same time. This is the Financial Coaching for Women podcast. Alana, welcome to Financial Coaching for Women. We're so excited to talk to you today. How are you? That's a funny question because I actually just got back from the hospital. I was there twice in two weeks for two heart attacks. Oh my God. Yeah. So they told me this to do some light walks. I'm doing my light walk to get my circulation going and I can't lift anything over 10 pounds and yeah, that's what I'm doing. I have 36 and I have two heart attacks. But here I am. I didn't even process. I know. That was such a loaded question. That was a lot going on. Wow. We are smiling and you're walking. You are. Well, that's so. And it was just with a little dance. Yeah, a little. That's in our similar length. Wow, I guess that is some goodness gracious. Yeah. So tell us about your financial situation so we can help. So that is not an area of stress for you. Yes. Now I'm like, oh boy, I can't wait to see my ambulance bill. But I've been really disenjoying your podcast and it like the way that you guys address finances and I was telling my husband because there was another financial podcast. I was just saying to about budgeting and stuff. And I just seemed like I just could not get it. Like I couldn't get into a good rhythm and a good budget. And I was like, John, the way that they do it with like having different accounts for different bills makes so much for a sense to me. So I did that. And because we have a $2,000 insurance bill that comes up twice a year for our car. And then we have this random like trash sewer bill that comes quarterly. But it seemed like every time the big bills came because they weren't a monthly bill, we're like, Oh crap, are we going to have the $2,000 for that bill? And now I've created like my own accounts for those bills and each paycheck goes into a little bit of that money goes into that account for those big bills. And I feel so relieved. I'm like, okay, then that big bill times I'm not going to be like, ah, we don't have the $2,000. Yeah, I have it. Each month I'm like, this takes so much more sense to me to have different accounts that are different bills and a card to pay for that bill. So that's been helpful. And then we had created like a little like CD and emergency fund. So maybe that will help with my upcoming doctor bill, but I also just found out I got a letter in the mail yesterday that I qualified for disability. It that actually happened. I applied for that prior to my heart attack that happened in June when I stopped working and got on medical leave. And then this came up and now I found out that I will be getting a $1,500 each month for medical leave. And we thought, okay, we're going to be okay. Maybe that bill will come in. Yeah. And maybe that paycheck will come in the same time my ambulance bill comes in. But I'm like, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good. This will allow some relief. Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. Wow. You have the most sweet, joyful, optimistic heart. So we just want to support you and all of that. And some of that does come from like you just said, like actually putting on paper, having a plan, instead of it being like a question mark or something that you know is going to stress you out, you know exactly what's going to happen now. It's good. So you have that disability check hopefully coming and depending on how long that lasts or whatever, then that's more numbers you can put on paper and just do math problems. That should be for the next two years. Okay. It's going to come in the next two years. And then you just reapply for it. You can still have your disability. I'm like, now I have scabs, which is like secondary cardiac artery, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever the doctor told me that I can put on. A lot of work. Yeah. So it's such a big deal. And then also it's scabs. What? They told me that it 90% of time it happens in women in their forties with low body weight, low estrogen, Hashimoto's. I bet I met all the criteria except I was like a little bit younger than typical. But they're like, Oh, you've met the, you know, it pegged you completely. And so I'm like, Oh boy. So now I'm having. Yeah. That's not the demographic you think of, right? Having heart attacks. But okay. So you've gotten a good start. You're so sweet about our podcast. And what did you say? He was his name, Jeff. My person, John, John, you were telling John about the podcast and everything. So where do you have any questions or do you have anything that's tripping you up that you wanted us to help with? Yeah. We have a landline. We got it for my children in case that he needed to call 911 for mommy's health, which we ended up having to call 911 twice. Gosh. Good thing we did that. Yeah. So I still struggle with, so I have a really restricted diet. My son has really restricted diet and my daughter has like a weird diet, but not as restricted. So we have a very, in general, like, I still like, I spend a lot of money on groceries for all of our different dietary needs. And that's where I trip up. Like I feel like I don't really have the budget for groceries. I tend to buy things when it's on sale or as needed. And I'm going to the grocery store multiple times a week or having an intercard. That's the now of being in the hospital and being home recovering. I used to discard a lot, but I just don't know how to like dial in a food budget. Yeah. Have you looked at like true numbers, not what you want to spend, but actually what you've been spending in a month on groceries? No. Yeah. We know. So listen, you're not alone. I just actually had a free call with the lady yesterday and she said the same thing. They were struggling with their grocery budget. They have a lot of dietary restrictions as well. And I said, you're just not allowing your, you're not doing yourself any favors. You're putting an arbitrary number in the budget as to what you want to spend on groceries, but you're not able to stay within that, which is fine. It's not bad. Like you're not out there buying Kit Kat bars and whatever. You're just trying to buy regular everyday food for your family to stay healthy. So I would say let's, and we're not about tracking, but this goes into like the 90 day review situation where you really need to see and allow yourself to grace to know how much you're spending on groceries really in a month. So that way you can plan for that upcoming, in the upcoming months. And then you're going to hit that number, right? You're going to stay within it and you're going to feel good instead of putting a smaller number and feeling like your failure that the budget thing isn't working because you can't stay within that amount. Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing I would say is I don't have dietary restrictions, but I do try to think about like what the, the caught like the repeatable things that I have to buy for groceries. And so with Vanessa's advice, you're going to go through and see what I did spend. So you might do three months and it might be 2000, 3000, 2500 or whatever. And you settle like probably on a $2,500 number and just say, maybe we can stick to that. But then I would say groceries is predictable. What's not predictable is why the prices keep going up and up. It feels like, but for our kids, Vanessa has two athletes and she buys very specific things every month that are probably heavier for the budget or every week. Like they're right. They're always eating. And so you might be able to look at that for these, for you as, and your son, you said right that you both have. Yeah. What do we need? What do I have to buy because this is really all we can eat or this is what we like to eat over and over. And it can start to help you frame a, a rhythm grocery budget. Maybe if you're doing or in grocery shopping, like weekly, what can I just stock the fridge with? We always eat this. We know it's, we can and we won't get sick or anything. And then the same for daughter and just have some, make it a plan instead of a surprise every week or every month, because that's also stressful to you. Like to try to have to figure these things out. And I think we don't have to eat like this huge variety of things that we like, it can be like, if I can just stock the fridge, stock the pantry with the stuff that we know we eat. And then on the weekly basis, if I need to pick up something a little spicy or a little special, I can do that. But then I know that there's always food. There's always stuff in there that everybody can eat. Yeah. One thing I'll add to that too. I love a good deal. Okay. Yeah. And so my husband works at a grocery store that does buy one, get one free deals and not just on junk food, like actual really good nitrate, nitrate free, like organic products. And so I've actually started a savings bucket for my book of a deal. I'm so annoyed and I know that's true. I know it's true because like before school starts, they have really good back to school deals. Okay. I'm just going to use this as an example. I probably spent probably over $500 on just Bogo deals when all of that came into play for back to school. And then my kids weren't allowed to touch it until school started because they would eat, they would go through it in a day. But it was one of those situations where we stockpiled, we bought all the good stuff, all the organic stuff. We shoved it in all the fridges and freezers and cabinets. Yeah, we could. I still have some on top of my fridge. Don't worry. But it was the freedom to spend because I already was saving for it in a savings bucket. So just like you've been doing your annual bills and different things for that kind of stuff, maybe if you start setting aside some money, because you said you like to shop all the sales. So yeah. So you can feel good when they have a sale and they'll help you stay within budget and then you're saving for to be able to spend on those deals. Yeah. It's time to enter your coaching era because making good money should feel like making good money. Yeah. Imagine six months of private coaching where we'll tell you exactly what to do. No guesswork, no confusion, and absolutely no judgment. It's a done for you system that actually works. You don't know what you don't know and that's not your fault. And that's why we're here. Financial coaching with us looks like two coaching sessions a month, personalized recaps, and after hour support, you can text an email. So you're never stuck wondering what to do next. Together, we're going to build your budget, set up your system, and tackle any challenges that come up along the way, which by the way, they always do. If what you're doing isn't working and you're tired of trying to figure it out on your own, sign up for financial coaching at budgetbesties.com forward slash coaching before all of our spots fill up and we will help you go further faster. Six months from now, you'll wish you started today. Yeah. And then the other thing is you want, I didn't hear you say, do you have a separate account for groceries already spending account? No, it still just comes out of our checking. I'm still tweaking our, I actually right before my heart attacks got the account set up for our big, because we had just paid the big 2000 let's do in October. So I just paid that. And then right afterwards, I was like, I had listened to one of your podcasts about the Stephen Buckeits. I said, oh, John, I'm going to set this up. So then next time, six months from now in the spring, when it comes up, we're not going to be like, again, because this time we were a little like, but we had it. We did it. I was actually, he had just gotten his paycheck. And I was like, OK, we have the money in the account. I'm paying it now. But the next time I don't want to do that, where I was just wipe out your whole paycheck just to pay this big insurance bill. So now that you're on track for that and that's going to feel good. And the next time that bill comes due, you want to set at least one extra spending account. We can start there. We don't have to get like crazies to begin with. But you want to put money in there. How often does he get paid? He gets paid weekly. OK. So we're, you know, what I would say is we're going to put a certain amount of his paycheck in the groceries account every week. And you can start to play with that. Because, yeah, what Vanessa said, you want to go back and look and see where you were. But then you also just have to be realistic about where you are and where you want to be. So if I can start to put a certain amount of pay, like if I however much I think I spend a week in the grocery account each week and then I just have to stick to that budget. And I know that all my bills are in this billed account and it's not messing with that. And I can just, I can start to get better at meal planning or grocery shopping or sales shopping or whatever, because I have this budget over here and I just have to stick to that. And then I don't have to think about the other decisions, the other problems that are in these other accounts, because those are separate. And this is all I have to solve is this groceries right here in this account. I think once you move everything in its separate account, it's really going to be a game changer. People try to do our system and half it just because they haven't had a chance to set it up fully yet. And it's that setting it up all the way that makes a huge difference. So I would say, yes, move that money over. And then that way you, it's like its own little, I don't know, it's just, it does something when you're spending money to know that this is what I have and it's not mixed in with everything else. It really is like a huge mindset shift. If you, once you can do that and move that gas and groceries or just groceries or however you want to do it, money in its own account, it's going to give you the freedom to know that it's not messing with anything else. And this is all you have. I don't say that like negatively, but this is what you have for food. Yeah. My husband, he's a truck driver, so he's gone like Monday for Friday. So I'm pretty much like single mom Monday for Friday. When we first got married, I, I was like, oh my gosh, we're spending so much money on food because I was navigating like my meals, your meals. And then he says to me to just, okay, I'll just eat how you eat. I don't need to eat wheat and dairy on this. We'll just eat the same stuff. And so that was easy. And he was so impressed that I cut our grocery bill in half. I was so proud of myself. I just, I made a goal and I cut our grocery bill in half. And now we've adopted three kids. Now we're a family of five. And it's, oh, and they have dietary restrictions too. And he, like I said, he's gone with time. So I'm the one doing that finances. I pay the bills, I do the budget. And I feel like I've been such an expensive wife partly just because of medical bills. Oh my God, I'm sorry. Here's how I felt. Life. Oh no, I'm going to, I'm going to pause you there. It's his privilege to be able to make all these things happen for you and the kids. Like I, I believe that, especially after hearing what he did with the food, like that's his privilege and a little bit of his burden, but it's honor to do it. So don't do that. You're being a good steward. You're doing the best you can. And I think that, and you're taking that on so that he doesn't have to worry about it, which I think is wonderful. And hey, he's way more healthy probably because he's eating it. Nobody needs to eat gluten and all that stuff. And he makes it like y'all are like way ahead of the kids here. I'm saving his life. Oh, he said before he married me, he only pooped once a week and now that he's married me every day. Oh my God. You have helped me. That's life gold, baby. So proud of you. But he's been so supportive of, you know, me. I'm like, I really want to get a handle of our finances. I really want to budget well and just being with, partnering with you guys. He's like completely supportive of me doing that. As you know, I'm the one doing the budget. I'm the one buying all the groceries. I'm the, you know, I'm the financial manager of our house. So I want to be able to do it well and I need you guys to help me do it. Yeah. No, we're not like you have a good team. Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing I also want to say is a lot of times people put a lot of pressure on the, okay, I remember, this is really a very silly thing to think, but I remember in Texas, now I'm from Texas, so this is a little different. You can get a pound of beef or 96 cents or something. When I'm in. Yes. When I first started, when I first started grocery budgeting these days, I don't know how much it is, six dollars a pound. And so the point I want to make is if you have a mindset of my grocery budget, what it was before, anything like what it is now, then you're going to put a lot of pressure and you're not the only one. A lot of people do this. You put a lot of pressure on your grocery budget and I am here to tell you, it just costs way more now. It's not you and like you're just buying chocolate chip cookies, which we know you're specifically not, but it's not you. It's the fact that the prices are higher and that budget needs to be a lot bigger. And that's, that's some shock value for those of us who have been trying to do this for a while, like you're trying to do better, but yet somehow it feels like the budget keeps going up. That's not on you. It's just reality. You know, we also, we fostered to adopt. So I have three adoptive kids, but we didn't get them as babies. I got one. I run a road. One of my youngest, who did my three year old, he can eat like a crazy and I remember his first week there, it was Wednesday and I'm like, whoa, weird. I couldn't go. I'm like, it's not my shopping day, but I guess I need to go shopping. Like doesn't get better. That would be really hard because with a baby, you like, you're, they're appetite slowly grows and you can adjust slowly, but that would be definitely very shocking. I got like full on tea. Yeah. I'm ready. I'm hungry. What we got? What we got? Oh, you, you eat a lot. Okay. So those tips, hopefully for the grocery budget, hopefully that will help you. Definitely separate the account. And then that's the next step because you're taking like each little step at a time, each little bit that you do is going to make it feel better, be more organized, more simple. So keep that up and then try to do the things that we said and hopefully that will help. Okay. Feel free to check in our Facebook group or you schedule another call in six months. So we want to hear how it's going. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And, and good luck with the scabs. What am I even saying? My gosh. I'm sorry. Just do all the things to doctor. You're already doing all the healthy food stuff. So do all the other things and just keep on just on your walking path. Yeah. Tomorrow. Yes. Absolutely. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Thank you for coming on the show. We, it was a pleasure and a privilege and we'll hopefully talk to you again soon. Yes. I've been looking forward to it. If you're tired of feeling like your finances are all over the place and you're ready for a simple, set it and forget it, way to budget. We have something special for you. Watch our automate your budget masterclass at budgetbestos.com forward slash automate. We'll show you step by step how to finally organize your money, how to set up your accounts and put your budget on autopilot. So your bills, saving and spending run my clockwork. Imagine less stress, more savings and the freedom to spend money without having to track every dollar or babysit your bank account. Go to budgetbestos.com forward slash automate to start today.
