How to Take Control of Your Finances in One Weekend

foreigner Hey guys, welcome to this episode of the Rachel Cruz show, so I know it's really easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed about money, especially these days. I mean, there's a lot going on right now, whether it's high gas prices, seeing the stock market doing well. lowering high grocery prices, housing prices, it just feels like a lot and if you're already on a really tight budget and you feel like, "Oh my gosh, we're going to make it month by month," this has just put a lot more on you. stress and so on. When people think, "Hey, I want to start new habits." I want to try to figure out this money thing.

There can still be a lot of shame and caution, and oh, it's like you don't know where to start and feel like you should be. better than this or I should know more than this, all of that, so I want you to

take

all of that off

your

plates and say to

your

self, I've done what you think is best up to this point, but if you don't like where currently you're on your money, so you have to change some things, right? And that's not bad, that's not a shameful thing, it's actually a really cool thing when you learn and become something new, a new part of your life and start these new habits, man.

It can help you a lot, so I want to give you some tips that I think would significantly reduce your financial stress and some of these you can do on the

weekend

s. That's right, just a few of these things and you have to do them all. that will be listed, but pick maybe two or three and what ends up happening is you say, okay, I'm doing these new things with my money, two, three, four things she mentions and you might see some traction, you might get some wins and then it might really encourage you to say, "Hey, I can really do this" and again, I feel like I know more and I can do more when it comes to my money, because guess what you can, like that Let's list a couple of things that I think would be really good things for you to think about and possibly do on the

weekend

s, so one of them is to look at your debt.

Yes, to have the great achievement of paying off all your debts, you must know where you are starting. and a lot of people want to avoid this or they feel stressed when they see a bill or they don't want to search online or log into their account and they just feel overwhelmed, so it will feel overwhelming, especially if you don't. You know what's going on and the idea in your head is probably more magnified than reality, just the question mark of not knowing sends you to a whole new stress point than actually knowing and bringing logic and facts to the situation, so I want you to list all your debts, all credit card bills, all car loans, all student loans, all personal loans, if you have medical debt, anything you have when it comes to owing someone money , even a loan from your mother that you had three years ago, that is.

It's still lurking in your head like it's anything and everything listed, write it down on paper and then do second grade math if you love the smallest number to the largest number and just do that and watch and observe and even doing that. I know it sounds scary, but it will really give you peace when you have logic. My friend Dr. John Valeney says that facts are your friends when you can have them in front of you, it actually helps you calm down. Another thing you can do is make a budget and I would say do this before you even make your weekend plans for the next weekend, okay make a budget where your income minus your expenses equals zero and what's included in your expenses I also count donations and savings so make a budget that you go back to your your your checking account the last three months uh or if you use credit cards cut them off look at your credit card statements and add up hey how much am I spending on food how much am I spending on gas how much am I spending on shopping how much am I spending on all these different categories?

To get an idea, but then the goal is that your income minus all of those categories should be equal to zero, so every dollar that comes in is allocated, but the numbers that you pull on average over the last three months will probably be much more big because you didn't live on a budget so even you can probably reduce it because the more intentional you are, the more likely you are to save and when it comes to your budget, one of my favorite apps is worth every dollar. Winston. I use it and it's so easy, it connects to your bank.

You can drag and drop your transactions and it keeps you on track, so I really recommend it, but if you love paper or Excel, you can do that too. Again, the math part is easy, but getting the information

take

s a lot of work, and actually sticking to it will create some new habits, but it's worth it. Then save 50 like right now if I don't have a savings account you open one and just hit 50 that's it. Oh, it will feel good. I have a savings account in there with fifty dollars of money in it, but there's money in there over and over again.

It's a quick win just so you can practice. Doing something like this and even opening a new account can seem intimidating and scary. You can do this online or in online banking, go to your local bank or credit union, but this is great for creating a savings account. 50 bucks right now also cancels a subscription, yeah I don't care if it's Disney Plus, Hulu, Amazon Music, Amazon Prime, Apple Music, Apple Plus, I mean there are so many subscriptions out there and if you don't have cable you probably have show time on HBO all the things, just cancel a listen if you're dying a month later, you need a bag, you can go back and subscribe if you want, that's fine, but chances are you'll cancel the subscription you don't use. very often you will realize very quickly oh, I didn't really need it in the first place, but it's a good feeling, it's part of cutting costs, so cancel a subscription this weekend, next use my method two, three, five , so go manage your house. this could be maybe on your nightstand even in your closets your bathroom throw away two things sell three things and give away five things do it because when you start doing it you'll feel like oh I'm going to do more I'm going to do more it's addictive I'm telling you , taking out trash from your house feels so good, that minimalist life feels so good, oh, it gives you peace of mind, so this 235 method helps you get there next, find a way to be generous, okay? it could be with your time I would say this could be even with your words this could be with your money I don't care but I find a way to give it to someone and again I could buy them something, maybe a cup of coffee, this could be saying a word, a kind word about something you've been thinking about and you just haven't sent that text, send it or if there's a place to serve and it's your time and you say, hey, I'm just going to spend a few hours here, find a way to be generous because I always tell people to give a little until you can give a lot, but start from somewhere now.

I want to tell you about one of our sponsors, great deals when it comes to saving money. you have to shop smart and clever deals, it makes it really easy, it's a collaborative shopping platform that helps you save, you can find verified coupon codes and amazing prices and everything you need at slickdeals.net. Rachel, okay, one more thing to do this with. Over the weekend I listened to an episode of a financial podcast. I mean, I would recommend the Ramsey Network because I believe in what we teach, but it could be a smart money happy hour, it could be the Ramsay show.

I don't care what it is, but listen. a financial podcast because part of winning with money is learning, it's a small part, it's about 20, understanding your knowledge, 80 is behavior, so a big part, which is most of these tips, is changing your behavior and do something different, but really understand how money works. Importantly, the good thing is that they are going to learn that it is not rocket science, it is not necessary to have an MBA to earn with money, a lot, a lot, it is a lot of common sense, a lot of common sense, so again, put it right. things in your brain and learning are really important, also plan a get together with friends or family that doesn't cost money, so whether it's game night or everyone coming over and bringing dinner, maybe you'll get some pizza dough and everyone bring toppings. a movie night, do something that doesn't cost money.

I feel like, especially on the weekends, there's this pressure to go out to eat or do something fun because it's the weekend and you want to celebrate those things can cost you a lot, so again those things. They're not bad, but practicing new money habits, which is our goal this weekend, doing something different and doing something for free and then when you go to sleep on Saturday night, you can say, "Hey, that was really cool." fun and it didn't cost me anything. okay, okay, okay, then unsubscribe from at least five five marketing email newsletters. Yes, every time you buy something, type in your email address and guess what you'll receive.

All of these emails are like 20 off, buy one get one free. you checked out the sweaters that are on sale, it's like marketing for you and if you're like me, you tap the mail icon on your phone, you go into your email and you're like, oh my gosh, and I sit there and delete half of them , so I need to review them and unsubscribe too because these newsletters guys can tempt you to buy things, it's like an offer you never knew existed until it hits your inbox, so by unsubscribing, it will be less for you. If you're tempted to buy things then run your Amazon order history report from last year.

This is like a therapeutic moment. It's going to be really hard to see because we buy everything on Amazon and we're like, "Oh my gosh, but it's so important to take note of all the patterns." What you see is spending too much, we're looking to say, okay, what am I overspending on? What do I tend to buy? That's either too much or not enough and you can really see your spending habits, so get that historical report and watch it below, challenge yourself. To see if you can spend fifty dollars less on groceries than you normally would, you could use my meal planner and grocery savings guide to help you do this.

I'll put a link in the description, but again, if this is just to be aware of how I feel. Sometimes with shopping too I can get into this like, oh my gosh, inflation is killing me. I put more Oreos in my bag and just blame inflation on the high cost of food, which plays a big role. Don't get me wrong, but also. I think I don't want that to be excused, sometimes I'm going to have to make decisions or look at prices more carefully and again make decisions through my purchases, so do it and just play the game, just play the game.

Saying hello, I want to spend thirty dollars or fifty dollars less on my purchases and it's fascinating what ends up happening because I think you can do it. I think you can do it well. Be sure to share this video with a willing friend. to join you in getting rid of financial stress this weekend and yes guys simple tips some of them harder to do than others but take three of these and try it this weekend and start gaining ground when it comes to take

control

of your money because remember that's what taking

control

of your money and creating a life you love is what it's all about.