Episode 191 - Why People Don't Save For Emergencies & How to Start
Welcome to episode #191 of the Debt Free Dad Podcast. A recent survey conducted by SecureSave from August of 2023 shows that 63% of workers are unable to pay a $500 emergency expense with cash. The people surveyed said they would turn to friends, family, credit cards or their employer for help. Even 64% of those making $100,000 indicate they are dealing with financial stress. An article from CNBC that featured this survey, indicates that inflation and the fact that covid money is running out may be to blame for these numbers, but is that really the problem? We are going to get into all of this on today's show.
What You'll Learn
- Many people don't save for emergencies because they fail to create a financial plan that includes an emergency fund. Without a clear plan, it's easy to overlook the importance of saving for unexpected expenses.
- Many prioritize short-term spending and immediate gratification over long-term financial security. Discover some strategies to prevent this to start building your ER fund!
- For some, income, inflation, and debt levels could be to blame. Listen to get motivated to tackle your debt and financial stress once and for all.
Resources Mentioned
- Brad's Totally Awesome Debt Freedom Planner
- For more help, and a step-by-step process to get started, enroll in Brad's FREE online course, LIFE WITHOUT PAYMENTS.
Free Tools and Downloads at www.therealdebtfreedad.com
Connect With Brad
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- YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtbAadBrWLL81CZbA6sI5pg
Thanks For Listening
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Episode Transcript:
Brad:
Hey everybody, welcome to episode # 191 of the Debt Free Dad podcast. So a recent survey conducted by Secure Save from August of 2023 shows that 63% of workers are unable to pay a $500 emergency expense with cash. Now, the People's Survey had said that they would turn to friends, family, credit cards or even their employer for help, and even 64% of those making $100,000 indicate that they are also dealing with financial stress, and an article from CNBC that featured this survey indicates that inflation and the fact that COVID money is running out may be to blame for these numbers. But is that really the problem? We are going to be getting into all of this on today's show. Stay tuned.
:
You're listening to the podcast with Brad Nelson. Brad and his co-hosts experienced the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck before learning the fundamentals of financial security. They are now on a mission to empower regular people to pay off their debt for good and enjoy happier, less stressful lives. Keep listening for inspirational interviews, tips, tricks and practical advice to gain financial freedom.
Brad:
Hey, hey, hey, how's everyone doing today? You can find us on Facebook, tiktok, YouTube and Instagram. Just search Brad Nelson and, as always, welcome to today's show. By the way, I should clarify that you may not be able to find us on Instagram right now. You got to love social media, so Facebook, for some reason, decided to take down our page out of nowhere, with no explanation, no warning. We've had that page for I don't know nearly eight years now, I think, and have never had any issues. All of a sudden, just out of the blue, they took our page down, along with our Instagram account, so we started a new one out there. So it's the . If you want to find us on Facebook and refollow our page. Instagram is going to follow behind here shortly, but we apologize for that. We're not sure why Facebook did it. They didn't give us any explanation, didn't even give us any like nothing. They're just like sorry. So we basically started a new page. That was a lot of fun over these last few weeks, yeah, so a little irritating, but anyways, if you're following us on Facebook, just make sure you've refollow us at the and we will get an Instagram account up here shortly as well. So, guys, I want to get into this article before we get into the conversation today, and this article was written on CNBC. com. It was written by Lori Kanish and it was titled 63% of workers unable to pay a $500 emergency expense Survey finds how employers may help change that. So this article dives in a little bit into maybe some resources that could be some potential for some of these individuals. But let's read through this article and then I want to kind of have a reaction from you guys and we'll have some discussions around this. I think today's conversation is going to be pretty good because, man, some of the excuses that are going around out there right now because of where people are with their finances, I think it's a little ridiculous for some because we've got some good stuff here today. So, as high inflation persists, many workers may be struggling to come up with a cash to cover an unexpected emergency expense. To that point, 63% of employees are unable to cover a $500 emergency expense, according to a new survey from Secure Save, a provider of financial technology platform to help employers provide emergency saving benefits. And another sign of trouble hardship withdrawals whereby emergency money is taken from a retirement account are on the rise, according to recent reports, all people are looking for in life is to be secured, to not have to worry about if something goes wrong. What are they going to do, said personal finance expert Suzy Orman, which I love Suzy Not a big fan, but I'm glad they got a quote from her. That's awesome. A co-founder, oh wow. Imagine that. A co-founder of Secure Save, imagine that the only way you could ever be secure is when you have savings, orman, said. Respondents told Secure Save they would either turn into or turn to a friend or family member for money with 90%, or cover the expense with a credit card with 18%. Just 4% would ask their employer for help, according to the survey of 1600 adults taken between June and July of 2023. Even with high earners are struggling, with 64% of employees who are earning more than $100,000 indicating that financial stress has affected their productivity at work. Meanwhile, 35% said that they are living paycheck to paycheck and 64% said that their financial stress has affected their work productivity. People are out of pandemic money and have racked up credit card balances and are still paying higher prices due to inflation, said Devin Miller, co-founder and CEO of Secure Save. They're scratching and clawing to find money they can find, or money they can from anywhere. Miller said so that's the article. So I guess my question to you guys and I'll get your feedback on it, by the way, I want to clarify with Susie Orman Very, I think just the other just the Dave Ramsey, just I think they're both the same. They just yell at a lot of people. I'm just not a big fan of either one of them If you ever listen to their shows now. I used to like Dave a while back ago, but they're. They just seem very cranky now that they're older and not a huge fan. So that's where I was coming from with Susie Orman. Just a personal thing of mine, so anyways. So inflation and COVID money has this been the cause of some of this financial stress that we're dealing with? What are your guys' thoughts on some of this stuff?
Kati:
No, I mean inflation a little bit, but COVID money. Everybody couldn't cover a $500 emergency before COVID, so that's not an excuse. It's like what did you do with that COVID money? Did you buy a big screen TV? Then that's on you not paying off your debt or whatever.
Chris:
Well, here's my concern. First of all, let's talk about Suzy Orman. Yeah, all right. Okay, at least with Dave Ramsey he's been consistent with his message and it's a very unpopular message with a lot of folks, but he's stay consistent with it. Yeah, he's cranky and he's got more cranky as he got older. But Suzy Orman, she changes what she says in her message so she can stay popular.
Kati:
Right.
Chris:
That's what I find a lot of. Find it difficult to embrace that.
Brad:
Or to sell things.
Chris:
Yeah, have a message, stick with it and even if it's not popular, at least you can claim it as your own. Now, where's this COVID money y'all keep talking about? Yeah, we needed to do an episode of how do you go back and get your COVID money that you didn't get, because I wasn't aware there was any COVID money to be gotten.
Ryan:
I got a little. I mean we got some checks during that time, sure, okay. And so, like you know, if you, especially if you had kids I mean we had kids and you know we got some decent amount of money. You know. So, during during that time, you know, and we did get a, we did get a couple, at least in the United States, we did get a couple a couple of times where we got helped out.
Chris:
But wasn't that like two, almost three, three years ago, right, yes, so I mean, has it continued since then? I just didn't get my check. Or I mean now, granted, I didn't get as much money as some folks because my kids were grown. So shame is shame on me for having grown kids and not getting as much money, but that seemed to me right now three years ago. That's the only thing I'm trying to figure out that's.
Brad:
That's where I get confused about the COVID money thing too, cause like that was so long ago, I mean I just In Canada.
Amber:
now they're just asking for it all back. People took it that weren't supposed to take it. They gave it to them and now they just want their money back.
Kati:
It's yeah, do they think that happening here? Do they think that $1400 check was supposed to last for three years, right?
Brad:
That's. That's what I don't understand about them using that as an excuse in this article. The other thing is is I mean, I get inflation, I can, I can respect inflation, but I can't I can't say that that's the only reason why people are struggling. In fact, we have an article here written from CBS news back in 2017, and that survey showed this is 2017. So it's two. That's six years ago. That survey showed that 57% of people didn't have enough money to cover a $500 emergency.
Chris:
Yeah, it's not new, it's not new. I taught this since 2008 and back in 2008, when I started teaching it, it was the same statistics. So here we are, 15 years later, and inflation, yeah, it's gotten much higher, but it wasn't the cause. Covid wasn't the cause. The drying up of COVID money wasn't the cause. So what is the cause?
Brad:
Right, Well, that well, we all know what it does. I mean it all comes down to personal choices and mismanagement of our money.
Amber:
Well, I will say, though, if I was in the same spot I was in before, inflation would hit me really hard, oh for sure. But now I'm just. I just have a little less money to play with. Right, like I don't have as much fun money, let's say Right, but I don't have any debt, so that.
Brad:
But seeing how people would say Amber, amber, you're out of touch. You're out of touch with reality.
:
Yeah, you're out of touch, amber.
Brad:
Well, no, Amber just took a freaking responsibility and she got herself out of debt and now inflation isn't as bad. But people would call you mainstream media or people who want to follow this. I guess this, you know this lie, that it's the inflation is the problem with everybody's finances. They would say you're completely out of touch with normal people now, Amber.
Amber:
But yeah, you're a normal person. I'm normal, but I'm not doing normal things.
Brad:
Oh, that's a good one.
Chris:
She's one of those rich, greedy, evil people, because if you're not a broke, average American, middle, middle class person or, I guess, canadian, you must be a greedy, rich, greedy person. I think what you said, though, amber, is the idea is that it didn't cause none of this has caused people to not have a money for emergencies. Okay, you just made a decision to do something different, and now it doesn't impact you as much, but for those who were still in our shoes there were, you were, you know, five, 10, 15 years ago. I get it. I get it that it's sorry, it's hard for you, and the solution is no different today than it was for any of us when we started this journey.
Brad:
Right. Well, that's why I say, when I go back to saying I respect, I respect what inflation is doing to some of those people who were already financially stressed out going into this, you know it's only tightening the grip that much more. But the reality is, as we can see just from this survey 57% 2017, 63% in 2023, the numbers haven't changed that much. So when we I see articles like this, I just I shake my head, and the way that these articles spin is that it gets people to believe that well it's, it's because of inflation or it's because of COVID is the reason our finances are in a bad place. And the reality is is for a lot of people and again, not everybody, but for a lot of people that that's really not the case. It really kind of comes down to more of your mismanagement of your money over the years than it does for these outside circumstances. I think.
Chris:
So the name of this podcast is why don't we save for emergencies? Is that correct? Yeah, yes, I understand the name of this podcast. Well, we can debate, and I'm sure we'll get into why we don't. But while we're on this topic, things like inflation, all right, things like COVID when it came up, those are reasons why you should have an emergency fund. And so let that be the beginning of the lesson. Why don't we say for emergencies? How do we start? Well, just remember, right now, if you're suffering and you're having a difficult time with inflation, this is the very reason why you need to have an emergency fund.
Ryan:
Because it well, and I think the reality, and I think over, and if you look at the history, especially in the United States, inflation is going to happen. It is not something that is just like never have to worry about it. It's only happened, you know, once in my lifetime. I mean. It's it ebbs and flows, we have it, it goes down, it goes back up, it goes down, and I think you have, and I agree, chris, I think you have to be prepared and I think that's for me, I mean, one of the reasons I think people don't save, especially when times are good and this was 100% me, I mean when times are good and it's good, right? I remember, before the housing crash, we bought a house, we were borrowing money. I remember I did our basement and I called to borrow money and they were like fill this out, what's your name and address? Here's 70 grand. No questions asked. It was this is awesome, we must be doing amazing, you know. And then the car, then housing crash happened and things got tough and then, all of a sudden, at that time, it was the same as what everybody's doing right now with inflation. It's like, oh crap, what are we going to do? Right, because I didn't care. I wasn't saving and preparing for my future and having an emergency fund. I was just living this high life of like everything's great, everything's perfect, nothing's ever going to fail, nothing's ever going to go bad, everything's going to be fine. And then, the second, there's a crunch. It's like the sky is falling and it's not my fault, it's the housing market. Those bankers are the people who did this, right, you know? But it's like I kind of did it to myself by. I mean, I had no business borrowing 70 grand, and the fact that they gave it to me just justified, like, well, they must think I can pay it back. And then just gave it to me, right, but they were giving everybody money at that time.
Brad:
Right, that's what is like, surprising, like, with a lot of these articles and even like these, like the tiktoks we've talked about it, you know where people are just complaining about this issue when is the personal accountability? Like it's? There's none. There's none in these articles at all, ever. It's always something else's fault, the reason why we're struggling with our finances. And when you watch these tiktoks, these people get on there and again, I'm not saying that they're not having a hard time or they're not going through hard times or things aren't. I'm sure that they are, but nowhere in those are they like holy crap, I've, I've spent this. I mean, you can't tell me that all those people making those tiktoks they're complaining about their finances are, are, are scraping every penny in there to have a tight budget and they're doing everything. Give me a break. Right, there's some people on there that are just complaining that they can't keep up with their current lifestyle because they're so broke. Right, that's why you're complaining. And that's where I want to know is, in these articles and in some of these things, where's the personal accountability? Because that that's where your finances really change and I think, Ryan, you mentioned that when you started to look at yourself and take responsibility for it. You know, that's when. That's when real change can start to happen. I think yeah.
Ryan:
The crunch you're feeling right now is from potentially years of things that you've done wrong with your money, and so when something bad happens, now you're feeling it and rather than look yourself in the mirror and say I'm the problem, it feels so much better, especially when there's TikTok and all these other avenues, when everyone else jumps on the blame game, to like not have to deal with yourself because I can just push responsibility onto everyone else, and that you know. Feel good in this company of people who are all saying it's someone else's fault, right.
Chris:
There's always going to be somebody to blame in the future. That's the thing to keep in mind. If it's the banker's fault this time, or it's COVID's fault this time, or it's the government for not handing out COVID money, or if it's the government for not forgiving my student loan, or if it's the housing market collapse, or if it's the dot com bubble burst, there's always going to be something. So you can't you're going to stay in the same position, continue to make the same excuses and blame other people until you realize that I need to take charge of it. I need to do something different so that the next time, whatever fill in the blank falls and happens, I'm ready for it, because emergencies and that's the term here emergencies they don't announce themselves. They don't tell you hey, next week you're going to have an emergency, you know. Or three months from now, go ahead and start saving up, because you're going to step off the curb and break your ankle not be able to work, you know. They don't say hey, next year prices are going to go up quite rapidly, so go ahead and get ready now. No, you have to expect them to happen in the future and you've got a plan for it. Change your behaviors, and I know that's tough and I know it's easy for us to sit here and act like we're all mighty and we know it all, and I certainly hope that doesn't come across that way to the audience. But the truth is you can change if you're willing to. You put the time and effort into it and the time being important because it doesn't happen overnight you can fix all this. So when the next fill in the blank happens, you're not hurt as much by it or hurt at all by it.
Brad:
Right. Well, and I don't want, in a way, I don't want to apologize to the audience because we used to be the audience. We all five of us used to be the audience. You know we did. And if you're brand new to this show, yeah, this may come off and rub you the wrong way, and I hope it does, because the reality is is we need all five of us on this show needed a wake up call to and it was because of our own doing is why we were in our situations. It wasn't, it wasn't anybody else's fault, although we played the victim, just like everybody else is today. And I think that's why, when I look at these articles and I see these TikToks and I see the social media posts about how broke everybody is, it's like I shake my head about it, because there's no personal accountability. And once I finally took some accountability for my own financial life and the mistakes that I was making, that's when the things started to change. And we see this when, with the people that we help here, the people that go through this podcast, listen to it and start actually doing some of the stuff, they come back and they're like holy crap, like this stuff really works. Yeah, it really does. And when you're willing to look at your financial life and say I'm the problem and I need to ignore all the stuff I have no control over and just focus on me, amazing things can happen. But I'm just not seeing that with today's message. And we talked about this bias before on this podcast not too many episodes ago. But, ryan, I know you bring it up. It's like if you have this mindset of if it's everybody else's fault, you're only going to focus on the content that agrees with that and you're not going to focus on things that are going to go against that, which is what you really need to be doing, because that's where change happens. It's not going to change by you're not going to change. Your finances aren't going to improve by listening to the same redundant crap out there. That's basically brainwashing you into the reasons why you think you're broke. The reality is, is you, you know, and if, if you can take control over what you can take control over, you know you can you'll make better, make better progress. So again, chris, I'm not going to apologize because I don't think that does anybody good here.
Chris:
Listen to this show. You know, okay, we're walking the fine line here.
Brad:
I'm just trying to help you, not become the cranky Dave Ramsey, or the cranky Susie Orman. Right, I'm not cranky at all, I'm not cranky.
Ryan:
I just. I think we can all speak from the like you said, brad. I think that perspective we've all been in your shoes, like if you're listening to this and you think that at all, or you're you're having a feeling of like we don't know what we're talking about. We were there. I mean, I paid off my debt. What has been three years now I think just a little, just about three years ago is when I finally became debt free. Prior to that, and like before I really started working on it 100%, it was always everyone else's fault, like there was never anything. I mean, deep down inside I knew it was my fault, but it was so much easier to not take any responsibility and to just throw up my hands and say there's nothing I can do about it. I'll always have a credit card, I'll always have a car payment and have 70 to 80% of the people out there agree with me, even though they're all wrong.
Amber:
It's so easy to get sucked into the social media reels and TikTok or whatever. I was getting sucked in you guys, I'm not going to lie when I was seeing all these people crying and and complaining and this world is really rough, and I was getting sucked in and I was like, oh my God, I feel so bad. And then you got to go back and remember. But when you get stuck in those you know, constant down negative crap, it's hard to get yourself out of it.
Kati:
Right but.
Brad:
I think that's the thing we're recognizing that it is bad. I'm not saying that it is good. It's bad for a lot of people. But we also see people either start listening to this podcast and do stuff. We see people join Roots and start doing stuff. We've had, in fact, a lot over the last couple of episodes. We've had people that have just started in the last 90 days, two months, and they're making amazing progress, and these are people who were stressed beyond belief, like I. Just you know. The reality is is that you can make much better progress and you can do better, even when inflation is the way it is, even when, say, slow wage growth is the way that is Like there are still things that you can do. The reality is a lot of people just don't wanna do those things and put in the work and the sacrifices in order to do it. But the opportunity is there, you just gotta take it.
Kati:
Yeah, cause nobody is taking your hand and swiping that credit card when you're at target, like you are the one that's making that decision. Like yesterday, I went grocery shopping and I looked at this box of crackers that I buy all the time and normally it's $2. So now all of a sudden it's $3.29. And I'm like, screw that, I'm not eating these crackers, like I'll live without the crackers. But then today, on my way home from doing a bunch of errands, I'm like I should go grab something to eat, and then I'm like I just spent $40 on groceries that are in my fridge at home. I really just need to eat the food that's at my house.
Brad:
So, like it's your choice to do these things, and, mind you, you might say and think about what Katie just said $1. 29 Kati you're talking about , that's not that big of a deal. Okay, you've been doing this a little over five years. How much debt have you paid off?
Kati:
127 plus thousand and I still have 26,000 ish to go. 26,000 ish to go, but I'm counting those dollars.
Brad:
That Right, and that's how you get there, though, and you're not going to have to do that forever, although your mindset probably has changed quite a bit, but you won't have to do that forever. But see, that's the reality of what people need to understand is that those little choices make a big difference over time, and Katie's journey is proof of that. So, guys, real quick, because I want to give some ideas too, like, if you're out there and you want to start saving some money, so, guys, what have you guys done to be able to save the money that you guys been able to save, especially when you first got started? What do you feel? Just so people are out there, like not getting cranky when they leave, but we're actually going to give them some usable tips, like what things helped you the most when you first got started, and maybe building your first emergency fund, or be able to start saving more consistently.
Amber:
We really checked our eating out Like that was our biggest thing. We had to stop eating out so much and just plan our meals and our food costs went down so much. It was almost like we gave ourselves a raise when we were able to save our thousand bucks really quick.
Brad:
Yeah, double check that for sure. Eating out is the biggest one.
Chris:
I would say start with a plan. The plan may turn out to be awful, but at least it's a plan. Get a yellow or white ruled notepad out and a pencil something old fashioned. Sit down and jot down ways to come up with money, ways to save money. When I say save money, not spend as much money when my money is coming in, so budgeting that kind of thing, it's all part of the plan For us. We talk about why a lot, brad right, or why Well. Initially for me, my why was much different than my why now, and it transformed over time. My initial why was well, I've got to pay off $19,000 and I got to come up with it the next six months. It had to be done. It was a loan for a business another story for a different day and so I sat down and, okay, where can I come up with money? So really wasn't about emergency fund for me to begin with. It was about how to come up with $19,000 to pay an individual off. So not that they were threatening to sue me, but that never came to that and I just finally drew a line in the sand saying I'm not gonna borrow money. So I guess it must have come up with $19,000. And it was things like well, I'll sell my extra pickup truck, I'll do this, I'll do that. That was part of the plan to begin with, because when you've got a plan, you've got something that you can make an actionable step towards. And so if your goal is a $1,000 emergency fund, come up with a plan. What are some ways I can come up with? $10, 50 bucks, 100 bucks some people, that's easier than others and then execute the plan. You'd be surprised how quickly it can happen.
Kati:
Yeah, when I started I had just bought a car or Financed a car. I didn't buy it because the bank still owns most of it, but I couldn't afford the payment at all. I had no idea. Seven banks turned me down for financing because the dealership finally had to Change my income on the application until someone would Give me the money to get a car that I had to have because the other one that I had needed way too much maintenance to be Worth it. And now I had a car payment after Many years without it that I couldn't afford. So I literally joined Roots. The next week I put it on a credit card and I haven't looked back, thankfully. I've fallen off the wagon plenty of times. I've rebuilt my emergency fund, so so, so many times. But it really is. You have to do it. Once you get that first kick in the gut from your Debt when you write it down, it's a really scary number and I was just like I can't do this anymore. That was like the straw that broke the Camel's back.
Ryan:
Yeah, for us it was selling stuff. We used eBay. At the time Facebook marketplace really wasn't as big of a thing as it is now. But you know we've done episodes on how much stuff the American households have. So you know, especially if you are not great with money, you probably have a lot of stuff laying around. I mean that's just in, that's easy. I shouldn't say easy, but it is. It's just easier money to just go ahead and maybe purge some of that stuff. You'd be amazed at how much you could potentially, how quickly you could build an emergency fund just by selling and the other big thing. For us and I've done this, I've been doing this for a while it was just like gig work. You know whether that's delivering food. I know people you know do like driving people places. I Mean, if you have the capability to do that, picking up extra side work. I mean doing some of that you can build an emergency fund in some cases within a month, depending on how Hard you go at it. I mean you can make pretty good money doing that stuff. You know, if you, if your goal is to just get a thousand dollar emergency fund started, yeah, amber, you're doing the dog sitting, so aren't you pet sitting?
Amber:
We still. Yeah, we have two dogs at the house right now.
Brad:
It pays a decent amount of money, man right, yeah, so I think there's a lot of ways of doing it and I think, chris, I would kind of piggyback on what you said is in your plan is, when you do write down your plan of ideas, start saving money is one of the best things is just to look at where the heck has your money been going. You know, and for a lot of people who are living paycheck to paycheck, they have no clue. In fact, we've had another article that we featured on this podcast I Think it was this year, I think pretty sure was early in the spring. I want to say where it was like what? Nearly 50% of millennials had no idea what was in their bank account. You know it's like. So I mean, when you start seeing numbers like that and then you know 63% of us can't cover a $500. Well, it's again. Most of people could if they were just managing their finances a little bit better, you know. So go back, look at the last three to six months and if you're an overachiever, go back and look at. Let the last 12 months like where have you been spending your money? And don't forget about Venmo and PayPal and cash app and Apple pay and all these other ways that that you've been spending money to and just look at it, look at where the money is going, and for a lot of us, like Ryan said, with selling stuff I mean the money's there. It's just a matter of making some different decisions with it. So the T otally Awesome Debt Freedom Planner is helping so many people make consistent progress with their finances, whether that be building emergency funds, paying down bills, budgeting, tracking paydays, saving up for larger purchases, goal planning and Planning for those irregular yearly expenses that always seem to catch you by surprise. Now the debt freedom planner will help you take the stress out of managing your money. And if the thought is running through your mind, hey, I just need to have a simple tool to get my finances together. This planner is perfect for you. Head over to the real debt free dad. com. Click on the Debt Freedom Planner in the menu at the top of the page and order your Debt Freedom Planner today.
Amber:
And that sound means it's time for the celebrations of the show. First, we have a Heather Blankenship. Paid $700 on debt immediately when paying hit Friday I started an envelope for admission. Food for kids, sports cash flowing, feeding 12 high schoolers for JV this week and so far under budget on groceries. Last pay check was rough and off budget. Determined to do better this round.
Brad:
12 high schoolers. Wow, that's a lot of kids, a lot of hungry kids. Wow, good for you. Gina Christie made close to $100 at our community sale the other weekend. The last week I paid that on my credit card or credit, next on my debt. Wait, sorry, let me start that over. Gina Christie Made close to $100 at our community sale of the other weekend. This last week I paid that on my credit card, next on my debt snowball list. Awesome, gina, congratulations.
Chris:
And Sonia Schultz-Kuhns, I think I've heard her name before and even says here she's a top contributor. Her son's car broke down and she needed a new starter. So she called around before having it towed and she found a shop at a reasonable price and, drum roll, paid cash for the repairs.
Brad:
Yeah, that's awesome way to go, so congratulations and Renee Abing.
Kati:
I went through my statements, found money started sinking funds, created her first crappy budget. She is on a roll. See, the first one is always crappy. The first couple are always crappy.
Brad:
Yeah, I love that way too, renee, because again, going through statements, found money. See you guys, it's there. Go look, you will find quite a bit of it, I guarantee it. So great job.
Ryan:
In Judy Riley celebration post. After 10 years I just made my last installment payment to the IRS. I can now take that $320 a month and accelerate my snowball. The feeling is so liberating. Happy Friday is what she says. Yeah. I just want to say on all these celebrations just because what we talked about today, this is all happening During high inflation, during post COVID money, and all these people are making progress and doing these things. Yep, which means you can too.
Brad:
You know regular people.
Kati:
These are all regular people regular people, yep.
Brad:
So awesome job guys. Congratulations to you guys. And if you're just getting started with our podcast or maybe you've been listening for some time and you're interested in how you can get started on the road to financial freedom, go visit our website at debt free dad. com and sign up for our free a life without payments workshop, or I'm going to show you the first steps that have helped tens of thousands of people just like you and I kick financial stress. Don't worry for good, we'll see you guys next week.
:
Thanks for listening to the Debt Free Dad Podcast. Connect with us on Facebook, tiktok, youtube and Instagram at Brad Nelson Debt Free Dad. If you found value in today's episode, please leave a rating and review. We so appreciate it for resources, show notes and links mentioned in today's show. Visit balancedcents.com. That's balancedcents.com. Catch you next week.
