Get Financially Healthy Without Giving Up Your Lifestyle With Budget Besties - 240
What if I told you that the same habits holding you back from achieving financial success are also the ones keeping you stuck in your health journey? Today, I’m joined by Shana and Vanessa, the Budget Besties, two incredible women who are changing the way women approach financial health.
We discuss the parallels between managing money and managing health and how mindset, consistency, and discipline play key roles in both. Shana and Vanessa share tips for women looking to take control of their finances and gain confidence, just like you would with your health.
Whether it’s decluttering your finances, paying off debt, or creating a sustainable savings plan, their principles and systems will help you build an effective financial management system and regain your inner peace.
Conclusion:
Building a healthy relationship with money is just as important as building a healthy lifestyle. By unlearning old habits, automating your systems, and staying consistent, you can create lasting change. Start today by taking small steps toward improving your financial and physical health, and watch both improve over time.
In This Episode:
00:00 Meet Budget Besties: Shana and Vanessa
03:30 Connection between stress and financial health
09:30 Practical tips for building a sustainable financial system
15:00 The power of all-inclusive budgeting
20:03 Creating separate checking accounts for different bills & spending
28:13 Starting your savings buckets and managing debt
36:16 Automating your budget
42:08 Living bougie on a budget
44:10 Connect with Budget Besties
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Vanessa: We did a national research study and 55% of people are saying that finances are their number one stress. When you have that stress, what does that cause? It causes you to make. Bad decisions it causes you to make in the moment. Decision
[00:00:12] Carrie Lupoli: confidence does not come because you've now like gotten a million dollars.
[00:00:16] Carrie Lupoli: Confidence does not come because you weigh a certain amount on a scale. Confidence comes when you know what you're doing is right.
[00:00:20] Shana: It's not that we can't afford things necessarily, we just don't know where the money's coming from, and it just continues this cycle of like chaos, whether it's what's on your plate
[00:00:28] Carrie Lupoli: or what's in your wallet, the path to freedom comes down to the same truth when.
[00:00:36] Carrie Lupoli: What if I told you that the same habits keeping you stuck with food are the very ones keeping you stuck with money? We talk all the time about becoming the healthiest version of you. Let's be real. Health isn't just about your body or your nutrition. It's also about your relationships, your mindset, and yes, your bank.
[00:00:54] Carrie Lupoli: So today I am joined by two incredible women who prove that financial health is [00:01:00] just as essential as physical health. Shana and Vanessa, better known as the budget besties, are helping women all over the world take control of their money with the same kind of systems structure and mindset shifts that I use with food.
[00:01:15] Carrie Lupoli: And here's the crazy part, as you're gonna hear in this conversation, the principles are almost identical. Whether it's what's on your plate or what's in your wallet, the path to freedom comes down to the same truth. When you know better and do better with consistency, you change your life. Well, hey there, I am so excited about today's episode because we have, I mean, they're called budget besties, but I actually call them my besties because over the years they have become my true besties when it comes to all think financial health.
[00:01:49] Carrie Lupoli: And they're also just such great people too. So Shana and Vanessa. Shana is the blonde and Vanessa's the brunette because I think sometimes people probably just lump you together. Shana and Vanessa [00:02:00] and Vanessa and I just wonder if sometimes they wonder who's who. It's just one name.
[00:02:03] Shana: Hey, I have, I told you this before.
[00:02:05] Shana: One time I had a client come on and um, I was at the end of our six months together. She's like, oh, you're Shana. I was like, Ooh. Definitely forgot to put that part in the beginning. So now I do it every time. I'm like, I'm Shana, by the way. Yes.
[00:02:18] Carrie Lupoli: Okay, that's super important. But in all reality, YouTube are like just the synergistic budget besties.
[00:02:24] Carrie Lupoli: You are the best friends that all every single woman needs to have. And I love how much you've actually contributed to my own community when it comes to women that are working to become the healthiest version of themselves. And I said to you, wait, you've been in our community for so long. Why haven't you been on my podcast yet?
[00:02:42] Carrie Lupoli: So, uh, like. This has been a long time coming, but we are going to dig into the concept of financial health being just as important as every other aspect of our health. The healthiest version of you. What does it do? What does it say? What does it think? What does it believe? And it can't just be about like [00:03:00] working out in the gym and the food that you eat it, it encompasses so many other aspects of your life.
[00:03:04] Carrie Lupoli: And what we are gonna really dig into today with Shana and Vanessa, the budget besties. What it means to be healthy when it comes to finances. And I think one of the things that's so incredible when I talk to you ladies is that the stuff that I teach aligns so much with the stuff that you guys teach.
[00:03:22] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. No, you're not wrong. You know, we, I usually
[00:03:25] Vanessa: am not wrong. No. So that's that's true. She's like, listen, it is, yeah, it is true. We, um, we, we did a national research study. 55% of people are saying that finances are their number one stress. And when, when you have that stress, what does that cause? It causes you to make bad decisions.
[00:03:43] Vanessa: It causes you to make in the moment decisions, which is usually, uh, especially with me, if I'm working from home, I'm eating bad. Like when I'm stressed out about something, I'm going to get something to eat or I'm digging in the pantry. Um, and I know that it has definitely affected my health when I have been stressed about finances.
[00:03:58] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah, I mean, stress [00:04:00] impacts everything and the stress is not just coming because we weigh a number that we don't like. Like life becomes this stressful thing. And I have seen such a correlation with women who really need to take a hold of their health and women who are struggling financially like that should be another study because there's a, like, while there are, so 85% of women have disordered eating and thinking.
[00:04:24] Carrie Lupoli: The thing that I just find so often when I'm talking to women is that the financial stress is one. Like they almost go hand in hand.
[00:04:31] Shana: Mm-hmm. You know, the, we have, um, done many, many episodes together in different, in different things, Carrie, and, and what you were saying is true. There's so many things that just.
[00:04:40] Shana: Just line up that are, that are the same, um, the same mindset, the same, um, discipline, the same, um, grace, you know, uh, le letting go of shame and stuff that, that line up with what we all talk about. I think with finances, it kind of, I, I, it reminds me of, um, ha I always go back [00:05:00] to like hamburger helper. When, okay, when I was growing, I know.
[00:05:03] Shana: Gimme a minute here. Gimme a minute. All right. I got you. When I growing Trust, when I up like hamburger helper was the thing, I guess my mom started making it and now we know like that is absolutely unhealthy. Please don't feed your, feed your family that, whatever. Right? And now we know, but we didn't know then.
[00:05:16] Shana: I think that a lot of, um. A lot of the problem people have with their eating, like you said, is they don't know what they don't know. They, they're trying to swim in a sea of misinformation and there's so much information and they, they haven't found care yet to kind of distill it and make it simple for them.
[00:05:33] Shana: And it's kind of the same thing with finances and. You know, a couple generations ago we didn't even have credit cards. Okay? Now we have credit cards. Everything is on subscription. You have, you have so many ways to spend your money. You have so many people willing to give you debt that you can just pile that up if you want.
[00:05:48] Shana: And then there's just the everyday, um. Little stuff like, okay, I wanna join Carrie's program. I wanna get serious. I am maybe am gonna spend a little differently with my butt, with my food. How do I afford that? Like, [00:06:00] literally how, not that I can't, but how do I put that into practice? All it's, there's a lot.
[00:06:04] Shana: And you know, what we find is people just would rather avoid it. Rather just stick their heads in the sand and just, just hope for the best. Um, rather than just taking ownership of it, looking at it like you are every time you work it out. We talked about that before. And just owning it and like figuring it out and being confident and letting it, and, and, and making that, you know, making progress, you know.
[00:06:25] Shana: But I think that there's
[00:06:25] Vanessa: so much fog, like in their brain. They're just, they're so fogged by, like Shana said, the misinformation of what should I do? What should I not do? And I'm stressed about my finances, so I don't know if I can afford it so they're not sleeping, which is affecting their health. Like, there's just so many things that wrap around in this, and like you said, and we've seen it.
[00:06:42] Vanessa: It ties so hand in hand your finances and your health and your fitness. Mm-hmm. Um, so just trying to get one thing and we say you can't do it all at once. Like you can't work everything at the same time. So if you can like, dissect it and go, okay, right now I'm gonna focus on this one area so that way I can be mentally ready [00:07:00] to do the next thing.
[00:07:00] Vanessa: But trying to do it all together is, it can be overwhelming.
[00:07:03] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. And, and what, what I'm hearing you guys say, and this is what we know, it's just so incredible because the problem. It's very similar in both of our industries. It is very confusion. There's not a lot of clarity. I kind of wanna ignore it. I don't wanna have to think about it so much.
[00:07:17] Carrie Lupoli: I don't wanna obsess about it. But then we think that the alternative is, I just don't think about it at all and do nothing. Options. Those two are not the O are not the options. Like they're not, neither one of 'em is is gonna work. So the problem and in my industry and your industry are so, so similar, but here's what's crazy is that the solution is also so, so similar When we talk about the fact that like it's bs, the whole credit card industry and the way that they manipulate us.
[00:07:44] Carrie Lupoli: My niece right now, like we had to do a full intervention because she survived on credit cards 30% for almost a year, and she is so upside down at 24 years old. She was never getting out of it unless I actually helped her to see something very [00:08:00] different. And it required discipline, it required consistency, but it also required thinking very differently.
[00:08:06] Carrie Lupoli: I mean, she said she would go through the grocery store and just put stuff in her cart, and now she actually thinks about what she's putting in her cart. But what she said, and what women that I work with say all the time is once I actually learn a solution. That is sustainable. That gives me power and control.
[00:08:21] Carrie Lupoli: I am so much more confident and I always say confidence does not come because you've now like gotten a million dollars. Confidence does not come because you weigh a certain amount on a scale. Confidence comes when you know what you're doing is right. And the problem is so similar in both of our industries, but the solution is also similar.
[00:08:37] Carrie Lupoli: So I'm so excited to dive into how you help women with a solution that is different than I have ever had anybody really teach before. And my husband and I dug in deep. Back in, I wanna say it was, I can remember where we were, we were traveling. It was in May when we fully dove into the [00:09:00] budget bestie system.
[00:09:01] Carrie Lupoli: And it has changed everything. I, I sent you guys a message. I said, you know, we make a good income between us and, and I, I feel, but I always felt like there was nothing left at the end of the month. And it was like two kids in college and just all of the things. We literally now have money at the end of every month.
[00:09:17] Carrie Lupoli: And we aren't giving up any of the things. It's absolutely mind blowing, and all of my clients have been saying the same thing, which in turn helps us to steal and know and be healthier. So let's talk solutions, ladies. Okay.
[00:09:33] Shana: I think that's a great plan. I wanna talk solutions. I also, just real quick, 'cause I'm a cheater, I know you wanna move on, but I wanna say if, if our ladies can just give themself grace, you know, sometimes, um, people will say, well, I wasn't taught how to budget, or I wasn't taught, you know, how to shop at the grocery store.
[00:09:50] Shana: It's not only that friend. Yes. You were not taught and that's not fair. That's, that's a, that's a bummer. But you were also completely like. Ganged up on with [00:10:00] misinformation. I think about the health industry. I think about the food pyramid. I think about whatever's ingredients, just, I don't, we don't need to go there.
[00:10:06] Shana: I'm sure you go there all the time, but that it was an agenda. If I go there, I won't come back out there. It was an agenda against you. And it's the same with your finances. It's maybe not as, uh, as big of a, you know, a, a, a a. Evil plan, but whatever you have been taught, student loans credit mm-hmm. All of that, it was on purpose and it was misinformation and it was not helpful to you.
[00:10:29] Shana: And so please give yourself grace. Yeah. As you do this, give yourself grace to understand that not only were you not taught, but you also taught the wrong thing. So it ta that's why you're where you are. You know, it's not, it's not that you, as we always say, you're not shopping at Gucci and that's why you're where you are.
[00:10:41] Shana: It's because of that. So let's give yourself grace and then you'll just listen to everything that we all three say. And everything will be great. Yeah. The sweet, that's right. Well, you know, I
[00:10:48] Vanessa: have a brand new client and she sent me a message and she said, well, what about the credit card points? And I said, well, you're $20,000 in debt so you, you tell me if those credit card points are working.
[00:10:59] Vanessa: And she was like, [00:11:00] oh. But it's just again, this misinformation of like, this is what you should be doing, this is how you make it work. This is how you get ahead, this is this, this, this. And they, it falls into, now they're. Again, $20,000 in debt. And they don't know how they got there because they were trying to work this system that made them think that they were gonna get ahead and get free things.
[00:11:17] Vanessa: Mm-hmm. Right. And it's not, and that, again, that's just one small example, but it's just something again, that's out there against you that makes you think that it's for you.
[00:11:26] Carrie Lupoli: That's why the belief systems are the first thing, like the mindset piece with what I teach and the mindset things that you guys teach go so hand in hand.
[00:11:34] Carrie Lupoli: We have to be learning. And I teach, I always say, if you watch something different, you gotta do something different. You gotta learn the right approach. The approach that we know is guaranteed to work that both of us, but we also have to do a lot of unlearning. Yeah, and, and I, oh, for sure. I mean, I will say like, I've been following you guys forever and I finally was like, okay, I'm ready to unlearn.
[00:11:55] Carrie Lupoli: And I think that there's like a readiness level. Like I was not re, I was like, I can't be [00:12:00] 50 years old and keep going around this mountain and having the same conversation that I've had with my husband for literally 25 years.
[00:12:06] Vanessa: Well, and we like, you know, we tell people it's never too late. We have some people come to us in their twenties.
[00:12:11] Vanessa: There's others, forties, fifties, sixties, I mean, all age groups. And the thing is that they start, they finally get going and they see a different way because for so long they have. They've, they've thought or they've learned or they didn't learn and they just went. And, um, what they're doing isn't working and they wanna do something different because they wanna get ahead.
[00:12:29] Vanessa: Yeah. And if you can just start a system and understand the why behind, like what you were doing, we always ask two questions like, what were you doing and what you want to be doing? Mm-hmm. And those are two very different things usually. And we just get them on a path to success.
[00:12:43] Shana: Well, we want you, um, the readiness level is important.
[00:12:46] Shana: Yeah. But for us, it, it also starts with. Start to start dreaming again. You know, we just, we just did a, a testimonial with our, with, uh, former clients right before we hopped on with you, and they were. Having their [00:13:00] finances were separate. Similarly, maybe they were having discussions that weren't fun about money.
[00:13:03] Shana: Every time it come up it's like tense, you know? Um, and then they were doing, she was racking up debt, whatever. They came together, they paid off the credit cards. Now they're planning for to retire in Montana with their horse ranch, and they've got money stacking up in that account. That's what we want for you.
[00:13:17] Shana: We want you to, to start with. What is something exciting that you're, that you can start with a goal and a vision for your life and what your money can do, um, mean? You have to be able to define what success is gonna look like. Um, otherwise you're just getting on a budget because you've been a bad girl, and that's, that's not a motivator.
[00:13:35] Vanessa: Yeah. Well, and she even said, she said it's easy to be able to stay within. Like some boundaries with our spending, because we have a goal, we have a vision. We know what our why is, we know what we're trying to achieve with all this. And so it is, you know, they, again, they have all their automation set up, they have everything going, their spending accounts, their savings accounts, um, and, and they don't have to touch it because it, it does it on its own.
[00:13:56] Vanessa: But it's because of their why. It's because they set that vision [00:14:00] together and they're both trying to achieve it together as a team.
[00:14:02] Shana: And so they, they did come together for, you know, our step two. Carrie, you said, well, what do we teach? Well, we want you to build a budget after you figure out why you're doing this.
[00:14:09] Shana: You know, you might be doing it because you've been crying about money, or you can't ever, it feels like you never can afford anything. Or maybe you just wanna get out of debt. There's a lot of different whys there, but then building your budget. And we feel like we have tried to make this as simple as possible.
[00:14:22] Shana: Mm-hmm. Um, which we, which is where we want you to get everything on one page. And by everything we mean your income, your debt, your bills. You're spending and your savings and we are, I think, unique and then that's how we categorize your budget. It's not needs, wants, like just variable nobody and variable expenses.
[00:14:42] Shana: You have bills, you spend money and you wanna save money for fun things, right? Those, that's really what, getting everything on one page because the other thing is you may not. Have had e everybody's income on one page. You may not have had all the subscriptions on one page at one time. So it's really eye-opening, that first step to build [00:15:00] your budget.
[00:15:00] Shana: Well, and Carrie, you can be
[00:15:01] Vanessa: a good testimony to this 'cause you now have your one page budget. So you talk to us about how it has been being able to see everything and together.
[00:15:09] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. You know, it was really crazy when we did that because I would've, we had a budget, we just never followed it, ever, and we didn't write down all the things.
[00:15:19] Carrie Lupoli: Like, for example, we have Chewy, the dog food subscription, like the dog food that comes every month. It just like, we're like, oh, we gotta get more dog food. And it just, and then it's like, where did, where, where is that coming from? Like what? We don't budget for it. When we actually wrote it all down and we realized like we were like.
[00:15:37] Carrie Lupoli: We, we subscribe to every single streaming platform there is. Um, and we're literally like, what's this password? What's this password? And I'm like, and when we put that down on paper, we're like, holy heck, there's a lot here. And it, it was just the very first time also, we'll go to the vet and it'll cost $600.
[00:15:54] Carrie Lupoli: And when we look back on that, I'm like, wait a minute. We didn't have. Stop budgeted, but we [00:16:00] spent it and we've been spending that like every year that we have to go and get vaccinations. And so it was a very eyeopening, uh, procedure for us to be honest with what we were doing. And. Like just to get it all down on paper and like everything that you're saying, it's like exactly the same process with with like getting healthy.
[00:16:19] Carrie Lupoli: Like why do you wanna get healthy? And then let's look, get it all down on paper in terms of what are we doing right now and what are the things that we know are leading us towards our goals and are not. And so we actually took a lot of things off of that list. Yeah, because you realized. Yeah, we
[00:16:34] Vanessa: don't even, we didn't even need it.
[00:16:35] Vanessa: That's, yeah, go ahead. I was gonna say, we want your budget to match your, your goals and your, and your vision, and if it doesn't, then things have to change.
[00:16:42] Carrie Lupoli: Well, we're empty nesters now and we wanna go out to dinner a lot. Yes, girl. I'll say let's go's do it,
[00:16:47] Vanessa: that,
[00:16:47] Carrie Lupoli: that, that restaurant budget. And we have a restaurant I was walking to since and we're like, and so that was like, we don't wanna give that up.
[00:16:53] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. So, but we did kind of, we gave, you know what we gave up. We were door dashing, a lot of stuff. Oh, no ma'am. [00:17:00] Absolutely not. No ma'am. I was like, unacceptable. What? And the other day we went out for breakfast, not realizing how expensive it was. Breakfast is a lot and all you're getting is eggs. So we made the decision the other day, we're like, we're not going off of breakfast anymore.
[00:17:11] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah.
[00:17:12] Shana: Let's, we can do breakfast at home. Uh, okay. We got a, we got a couple things to cover here. First of all, I, I think I, I, we haven't officially decided this, but I think Vanessa and I like budget best's official policy. No, DoorDash either you wanna go out to eat and have that special time and have it be fun, or you're eating at home and you're not paying double.
[00:17:28] Shana: For somebody to bring it to. It's like we're all bougie. We are all bougie. We can get to that later, but that is, that is a bridge too far. Okay. That's a bridge too far. Um, the other thing I wanted to go back to was everything be on one page, Carrie. So your subscriptions. I think it's so funny with the streaming, I'm like, at this point we've all replaced the cable that we pulled the plug so we could save money and now we're just adding these all in and now it still equals what our cable more.
[00:17:50] Shana: And I literally do not know
[00:17:50] Carrie Lupoli: the passwords to anything. And theres that. I Netflix, if it's not on Netflix, like I did a post the other day and I'm like, gimme some shows. But it has to be on Netflix. Yes. And then my husband was like, then why do we have [00:18:00] all these other platforms? Okay. I'm like, that is
[00:18:01] Shana: a great question.
[00:18:02] Shana: It is a great question. So that's what doing this, so a bill is anything with a due date. So you are going back and you're saying, chewy has a due date now. Uh, Hulu has a due date. All of these things, and getting it all in one paper then allows you to make the decision if we wanna change things up. And we have, I have a pro tip here, your posts of what's on Netflix, we have a client, they change it.
[00:18:21] Shana: Every month they get a different subscription or every two months. Like when they've run out of everything to watch on Netflix, then they're like, okay, we're gonna get HBO for a month or whatever, and then we're gonna watch all the stuff and they keep rotating it so they can get new stuff. I'm like, that's really genius.
[00:18:32] Shana: It does require more manual like doing Yeah. But it's, I think it's genius. I was like, that's genius. So, but that is the beauty of getting it all on page. And then you were mentioning all the different things. You want to spend money that's going in your spending, you're, you have groceries and gas when we're talking about spending, um, you have.
[00:18:50] Shana: Your restaurants, which you guys are having. Yeah. And then you also mentioned savings, which we're gonna get to. Yeah. Um, setting aside for these bigger, fun things that we want to do, like, and the not so fun things like taking the dogs to the [00:19:00] vet, like, but that is a savings bucket and we want to have that money set aside so that you actually know where it's coming from.
[00:19:05] Shana: That is usually not the problem. It's not that we can't afford things necessarily, we just don't know where the money's coming from and it just continues this cycle of like chaos. Well, yeah, when I
[00:19:13] Carrie Lupoli: realized what we're spending in our dogs over a year, we just. Well, and I'm sure you'll get to this, but I like literally divided that by 12 and that's how much we put in that little bucket.
[00:19:23] Carrie Lupoli: So when that comes up, it's like, I, I got the money in there.
[00:19:26] Vanessa: Right. Well, and I think that's, you know, yes. We'll get to that in a minute, but people forget that these expenses are coming. They're mm-hmm. They call 'em, well what about all the, the things that pop up in the month? And I'm like, like what? Like your kid's birthday in three weeks.
[00:19:37] Vanessa: Like, you didn't know that was gonna happen. I mean, these things happen Christmas, it's on its way, guys. My n
[00:19:42] Carrie Lupoli: Yes. I literally would be like, I have to get my nails done. Okay. Like. Do I have like, yeah. All right, I'll just get that. I have $3. Okay. Nevermind. I'll just get that. Like I, it was just like, but it was always like, it wasn't really gonna happen.
[00:19:55] Carrie Lupoli: It wasn't planned. I didn't like it was gonna happen and then I put it down and now I have a [00:20:00] beauty. A beauty sh a
[00:20:00] Vanessa: beauty bucket.
[00:20:01] Carrie Lupoli: Yes.
[00:20:02] Vanessa: There you go. Alliteration beauty as well. Love it. Okay, so we talked about building your budget, and then Shana alluded to having. An account that just pays your bills. And again, a bill is anything with a due date.
[00:20:12] Vanessa: And so what we wanna do is have a separate account that just pays your bills. It has nothing else. You are not in there, you're not swiping. There's nothing else happening in there. When you say account, you mean checking account? Checking account bank.
[00:20:22] Shana: Yes, Carrie. Very good. It's
[00:20:25] Carrie Lupoli: huge. Everybody needs to know this.
[00:20:27] Carrie Lupoli: This is a like little known secret that is, it's a checking. Every time that they say account, they mean checking account.
[00:20:35] Vanessa: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Separate. Checking account. A separate
[00:20:37] Carrie Lupoli: account.
[00:20:38] Vanessa: Yeah. And it does nothing but pay your debt payments and all of your bills. And again, that is still a bill. It's a good, a due date.
[00:20:44] Vanessa: Like Shana said, anything with a due date is a bill. That's very, very, have an account. Very important
[00:20:48] Carrie Lupoli: just for things that have a due date.
[00:20:50] Vanessa: Mm-hmm. And, and that are usually
[00:20:51] Carrie Lupoli: reoccurring. And that are reoccurring
[00:20:53] Shana: our paychecks go into that account. Yep. Yes. Yep. Okay. That's step one. The income goes into the Bills account [00:21:00] and your bills are gonna get paid, and then, well, it's not step one, apparently it's step three.
[00:21:04] Shana: We've, we've, we've gone through some steps. Okay. But yeah, the income that is part of it. Putting, making sure your direct deposit, all of your income is going on. Your budget. By the way, we didn't mention that, but just remember your bonuses, your, your. Refunds, taxes, whatever, all of that goes. Commission. Yeah.
[00:21:19] Shana: Um, and so then you have the Bills account. And then, hey, speaking of the little known secret that you can have more than one account, what, um, then we're gonna open some more checking accounts, right? Because we're gonna separate your spending. That really is the magic of what we teach. I think
[00:21:34] Carrie Lupoli: this is the thing
[00:21:34] Shana: that
[00:21:35] Carrie Lupoli: people, I don't know, you guys know this better than I do, but every time I mentioned they're like, what?
[00:21:40] Carrie Lupoli: Why? Like, what more than one. I have, I think,
[00:21:44] Vanessa: five checking
[00:21:45] Carrie Lupoli: accounts now.
[00:21:47] Vanessa: I think it's usually the husbands, honestly, that are like, I, this is too much. I'm, we can't do this, and then they do it, and then they're the, they're the biggest fans afterwards because we say you have to separate to simplify. Mm-hmm.
[00:21:59] Vanessa: In order to [00:22:00] simplify your spending and understand where it's going, you do need to separate into a couple different checking accounts, but literally it's. Just what, like three or four debit cards that you have with you. 'cause you don't, you're not spending outta the Bills account. So that debit card is not with you.
[00:22:12] Vanessa: That one's at home in the safe. So you literally just have what gas and groceries, your restaurant account and maybe your personal fund account. So there's not a lot of debit cards that you're carrying, but they're labeled, they're organized. And you know exactly where your, when you go to spend money Exactly.
[00:22:27] Vanessa: You know what account it's going from. It would've just had
[00:22:29] Carrie Lupoli: three. But then Peter and I each wanted our own fun account. Yes, yes. Correct. That was like important to us. So that's why we have five, but I only have debit cards for a couple of them, and I have, I'm big sharpie marker on the debit card. Gas, groceries, dining out.
[00:22:45] Carrie Lupoli: In fact, our dining out card, we could choose whatever picture we wanted. It's bacon and
[00:22:49] Vanessa: eggs. Oh yes. Oh, I just, girl, I just got onto my bank 'cause they sent me the wrong picture and I was like, listen, you don't understand how important it's to have this specific design on my card. I'm gonna need you to re reorder that.[00:23:00]
[00:23:00] Vanessa: That is
[00:23:00] Carrie Lupoli: so fun. I love that. The secret juice here that matters so much and it's so
[00:23:05] Shana: incredible. Yeah, it is incredible because, uh, so now we've got separate checking accounts for your spending and you know, the pushback we get, like Vanessa said, people are like, that seems complicated. Now, what's complicated is you have one account that everything is trying to come out of.
[00:23:20] Shana: You have no idea really what's going on, how much money you really have right now when you open these separate accounts and your budget's gonna tell you how much you put them, put in them, you. Carrie, you have $300 in your spending account. That's all you need to think about. You don't have to think about, okay, I have $300, but the mortgage did that come out, and what about my gym membership?
[00:23:39] Shana: Like none of that has to come through your brain. You're just like, I have $300. Mm-hmm. How do I wanna spend it? And I mean, maybe you don't have to do it that way. It's up to you how, how you wanna be excited about it. But the thing goes for your groceries and gas. That was always so important to me. Carrie, I feel like when you're talking about how you get to the end of the month and you have no money, I'm like, but people still have to eat.
[00:23:55] Shana: It's kind of annoying, like they still have to eat food and I don't have any money for [00:24:00] said food. What do I do? So having the gas and groceries separate for me is like, was my favorite. And um, knowing that there's money there all throughout the month, even not at the end. We can still eat. We're not fasting for the last week.
[00:24:12] Shana: It's fine.
[00:24:12] Carrie Lupoli: Well, yeah. And let's say you put, lets just for dollar amounts, $400 in for groceries, right? And you do a hundred dollars a month. I don't know who could do that, but let's just say you do a hundred a week. Yep. A hundred dollars a week. I'm sorry. Like you're thoughtful about what you're putting in your cart, as opposed to thinking like, I've just got a grocery shop, I just gotta feed my family.
[00:24:31] Carrie Lupoli: I just gotta like put it all in there. Like I'm actually thoughtful about it and that's why I use Instacart too. Because Instacart to me, gives me all that control of just going back in and what I like my staples and then the extra things in there and I can see the
[00:24:46] Vanessa: dollar amount. Yeah, or, or reduces temptation in the moment too, when you're in the store grocery shopping.
[00:24:51] Vanessa: Yes. Well, and it saves me a lot of time, like hours
[00:24:53] Shana: I wanna. Pinpoint that word, thoughtful that you said. 'cause I think that's really good because when we're talking about health [00:25:00] dieting, people can feel restricted. We're not asking you to be restricted. We want you to set a budget that feels good, that feels comfortable, but you are gonna be thoughtful because you know that sticking to this budget that you've set yourself, nobody's telling you what to do, you set it yourself, is also what's making the trip to Italy happen next summer.
[00:25:16] Shana: Right? Because, because I'm sticking to this. Yay. I get to go do that.
[00:25:21] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah, and I think that the, it's the discipline of declining that I teach women very often. It's like, listen, it's not about restriction. It's actually about freedom. And you would never go to work and just have like no plan. Not think about it, or just go hog wild and not follow any of the policies that are in your job.
[00:25:37] Carrie Lupoli: Like you would be fired in a second. But yet we do these very important things in our life, like. Money, finances, like food and health, and we either are completely obsessive or we're like, I don't wanna think about it anymore. And I just think we have to be intentional and thoughtful, but in a very healthy way.
[00:25:53] Carrie Lupoli: And I think that this is where the unlearning comes in. I don't think a lot of people have had a healthy relationship with money. To even know [00:26:00] what that food should feel like. So the minute we think about discipline, we think negative, but in all reality it gives us so much freedom to be able to do whatever it is.
[00:26:10] Carrie Lupoli: I remember a couple of months ago when we had like a big number in our dining out budget left and Peter called all the kids and their boyfriends or significant others and we're like, we're all going out to dinner. And it was so much fun because we had this like freedom to like just know that we could do that without.
[00:26:28] Carrie Lupoli: Any sort of stress.
[00:26:29] Vanessa: Right. Well, and you know, I, I wanna go back to when Shana said you have one account, two. Uh, that you're trying to make all this, all these transactions happen and, and everything throughout the month versus now you have a couple of accounts.
[00:26:42] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:42] Vanessa: And the amount of money you have in those accounts now become your budget, so you don't have to, there's no math, there's no adding or subtracting.
[00:26:50] Vanessa: There's no in the moment trying to, in the checkout line going, okay, I've got mortgage coming out and I have this coming out, but do I actually have $200 left for groceries? You don't [00:27:00] have any of that. So now you can really see, like you said, you pulled up that account, the dining out account, and saw exactly how much you had left.
[00:27:05] Vanessa: It was able to treat your family. You didn't have to do any math. Yeah. So it's just, it makes it way more simple and way, just less complicated being able, able to see
[00:27:13] Carrie Lupoli: it. But here's the thing though, Vanessa, and this is what people will say if they use credit cards, they don't have to think about that.
[00:27:18] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
[00:27:19] Carrie Lupoli: Right? Mm-hmm. You don't have to worry if you're gonna be able to have enough money at the end of the month for groceries because you can just put it on your credit card. And that's where, that's not true. These short term quote unquote fixes that don't get me started about all of the diet trends and weight loss shots and all the things that we try to get these short, quick fixes, but it's actually more harmful
[00:27:40] Shana: at the
[00:27:40] Carrie Lupoli: end of the day.
[00:27:41] Shana: Right. Well, and when you said. You don't have to worry about it. That's false. That is a lie. You're telling yourself what you're doing is creating a problem for future you to solve, and that's not fair at all to future you. Future you, I, we say it all the time. Future, you might be having an air, air conditioning that she has to fix, or she might have a dental procedure that she needs to do, and now you've created a, a [00:28:00] problem for problem for her to solve.
[00:28:01] Shana: On top of that. Problem that she's gonna have for future use. So that is not correct. You are still gonna have to worry about it. Mm-hmm. You're still gonna have to worry about how much you put on your credit card. You're just delaying. And now what you're doing is you're adding interest to the problem.
[00:28:12] Shana: Right. You're, you're paying interest. So we're gonna talk about debt here in a minute. Let's, let's really quick go to our next step is to start your savings buckets, which we, um. Which we love. Some of them are really fun. Wait, when do you
[00:28:24] Carrie Lupoli: get into the automation piece? 'cause that's my favorite. We're coming part.
[00:28:26] Carrie Lupoli: We gotta, we gotta,
[00:28:27] Shana: we gotta get there. We gotta get there. Wait. Stay
[00:28:28] Carrie Lupoli: tuned because this is my 20-year-old daughter's favorite. Oh, that's true. That is my favorite. You know, I don't even think I've told you how free my 20-year-old is now. This is the coolest thing. She literally said to me, everything about my life is just so much better 'cause I'm in control of my money.
[00:28:46] Carrie Lupoli: Like, I was like, oh my gosh. Anyway, we'll get to that. Uh,
[00:28:50] Shana: please hold. That's coming after Thesal break. Okay. Hold the phone. Um, yeah, this is starting your savings. My button just got unbuttoned, so I'm go and talk. Okay. It's the [00:29:00] cutest little jumper romper, whatever. It's, it's cute. It's cute. So when you built your budget, which we did, uh, way back in step two, it you put in savings buckets.
[00:29:09] Shana: Savings buckets are helping you save. Um, for all the things like Vanessa alluded to earlier, you're planning ahead, um, for non monthly. But 100% expected expenses. As we, as she said, we get, people say, I, it was unexpected that I had to pay for Christmas. It was unexpected that the tuition for this thing was due was unexpected that I was going on vacation or, or the Halloween costumes or whatever.
[00:29:33] Shana: All of it's expected. We just need to take, we just need a minute to plan it, to think it through. Mm-hmm. Put it on paper and then we're gonna set up accounts in which you can start saving for those things so they don't blow your monthly budget.
[00:29:44] Vanessa: It is so nice to be able to, you know, my husband the other day said, Hey, we need to get this.
[00:29:48] Vanessa: And I'm like, well just, we need to pull that outta the home account this month. And so we have our home account, which is all things home from top to bottom, your car maintenance, all things that related to the car. It is so nice to be [00:30:00] able to know that you have the cash. To fund these things when they pop up because they are expected, they're coming and we wanna be able to fund them and not pull mm-hmm.
[00:30:09] Vanessa: From our everyday budget. For instance, I had a client one time, um, she said, well, what am I supposed to do? I have my, my HOA, it's $800 for the boat that's due this January. And I said, well, if you take, we're gonna pay it right now, but then we're gonna divide that number by 12 and you're gonna start in a, a savings account, an annual bill savings account, because hey, that's an annual bill, has a due date.
[00:30:27] Vanessa: It's due every single year. And you're gonna save every month for that. It's a non-negotiable. And she literally said, I have never thought about that, and no one ever told me that. And that just makes, nobody tells us that. Right. It just makes so much sense in, in her brain. It was like a massive light bulb moment.
[00:30:41] Vanessa: Mm-hmm. That we're actually gonna be planning ahead. Because if you take $800 and divide it by 12, that is way more manageable mm-hmm. Than trying to come up with $800 in a month where you also have a birthday, you may also have Christmas, you may also have like Janice at an AC bust. Right. So we're just trying to be more proactive.
[00:30:58] Carrie Lupoli: These are savings [00:31:00] accounts or accounts they could be checking, I guess, too, but they're just accounts. And I, I mean, I will say I, I screwed up this year a little bit because I didn't think about the fact that my kids were gonna college and like they were gonna need stuff for college. And so that didn't like play into our budget, right?
[00:31:14] Carrie Lupoli: And so now we paid for it all and now it's like next year we, we know we gotta add that in to our kind of annual. Annual budget, but it is so incredible when you, this is a 1% concept. This is like the 1% that I teach all the time around showing up for your health. If you take that 800 divided by 12, it doesn't feel like that much.
[00:31:34] Carrie Lupoli: And that's where it's like little bits and pieces over time add up. And I can't wait till we get to automations because you actually don't even have to think about it other than that one time you decide what that 800 divided by 12 is.
[00:31:45] Shana: Yeah. Right, right. Yep. And we're gonna get super quick to that. We are just gonna mention here that if you can, you're gonna want some of these, uh, bigger ones to be in high yield savings accounts, not just regular.
[00:31:55] Shana: Savings accounts because you're gonna be stacking up cash. I, I gave a, my, I have [00:32:00] clients that are graduating and I, they have no homework, right? They don't ever have anything to do 'cause they're so good. And I said, you know what, I'm gonna have you go back to your savings accounts and see how much money you made all year.
[00:32:09] Shana: I want you to go just see every deposit you made from all the interest, and that's gonna be your homework. And they're so excited to do that. So you can do that with your savings buckets because as you alluded to. Carrie, you know, you might have one that's 800 a year, but you might have one that's 5,000 a year and that you might as well be making money on that honey.
[00:32:25] Shana: And that, um, when you talk about 1%, I'm talking about 1% of the population that, that is like really good with money. We're gonna become like that. So, um, okay, so our next step is break up with debt. Let me just say this, it makes
[00:32:34] Carrie Lupoli: me think about my escrow, like my mortgage and my taxes in escrow. Like I'm paying that every month.
[00:32:40] Carrie Lupoli: We're doing that when we have a mortgage and our taxes don't escrow. When you're forced to do it, you're doing it. You're forced to do it. So it's the same exact concept that works for them. It will work for us. Yes. It'll,
[00:32:48] Vanessa: okay. Or really quick. You could not do, you cannot do your homeowner's insurance and your escrow or, or your, um, property taxes in your escrow and do it yourself.
[00:32:57] Vanessa: And you have an annual bill savings bucket [00:33:00] and you have that in a high yield and you are making money. We just started doing that. You are making money on your money all year instead of the bank making money on your us. A calendar year. Okay. I just had to throw that out there. I'm so sorry. Yes. Okay. Yep.
[00:33:10] Carrie Lupoli: We just started doing that. It was perfect. Was like an a another like aha moment. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep,
[00:33:15] Shana: yep, yep. It's, we're all growing up together. I mean, I'm paying it anyway. I might, well pay it to myself. Right? Right. A hundred percent. And the bank doesn't need to be the only one making money off of your money.
[00:33:22] Shana: Okay. So we want you to break up with debt. We don't wanna belabor this point. The, the, our, our basic idea here is that we want to just. Stop using credit cards and start using your own money. Right. That's the idea. We don't, we're, we're not, we're not gonna go all, all, um, gazelle intents or whatever, you know, beans and rice that you have to pay off your debt.
[00:33:41] Shana: The most important thing for us is the habit change of not using debt. You can afford your own life. You should be paying for it in cash. Your credit cards are the points. We don't care about the points, we don't care about any of that. It's the credit score. That's not where, that's not what matters. We want you to become your own bank and pay for your own stuff because you can.
[00:33:57] Vanessa: Yeah. And the biggest thing here is people don't believe that you [00:34:00] can pay off debt and still have a fun lifestyle, like have a restaurant dining out fund and all that. We have seen it for years with our business that you can, you can do both. And so we wanted to show people that you can, we want, just want you to stop relying on debt.
[00:34:13] Vanessa: Mm-hmm. Right. Just stop using it and start using and. You know, paying for things with cash and then, hey, let's look at if paying off debt is your goal. Sometimes with our clients, it's not like sometimes they're like, listen, I just wanna pay the minimums and I wanna do all these other things. That's great.
[00:34:26] Vanessa: If paying off debt is your goal, we wanna show you how you can buy your pumpkin spice latte and you can pay off debt.
[00:34:32] Carrie Lupoli: It's about what's important to you, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right? And that's what I love. You don't just hand them like, like, I just won't hand somebody a meal plan. Yeah. I'm like, listen, I'm gonna help you with the, the, the tenets of mm-hmm.
[00:34:43] Carrie Lupoli: Really sustainable, satisfying, and effective health. And then we're gonna make it work in your life. And that's exactly what you guys do, which is why there's just so many parallels.
[00:34:52] Shana: Now, here's where we cheat though. They, they still have to make their own meals. Well, maybe not. There's some, there's some ways to that.
[00:34:59] Shana: What we, [00:35:00] everything we just talked about, you can make happen automatically. And so we, we did a podcast early in the year, Carrie, um, about ba basically it's like you, if you just get yourself up and go to the gym on January 1st. Then you don't have to get outta bed again. Like that's what we want you to do.
[00:35:15] Shana: We want you to set up the automations, we're about to talk, and then your budget's gonna budget for itself, and you don't actually have to do anything at all. And that's cheating because your, your folks, sorry about that. Like they have to like prep or plan meals. They have to do things like we're all done with that.
[00:35:29] Shana: We're just automatic. We're on automatically. Yeah. We know what I do. We do teach systems.
[00:35:32] Carrie Lupoli: Okay. Yeah. So that you don't have the decision fatigue, right? You just actually use the systems in your life to those, so then you could actually think about the things that you really should be thinking about, and that's what you're doing.
[00:35:42] Carrie Lupoli: You're setting up a system so that you can actually practice the discipline and the freedom of actually living within a budget. But that part, oh. That's huge. Not to have to think about what, what we're about to talk about.
[00:35:55] Vanessa: What we heard with our client earlier is like, she's just, I just go into the budget system to check off the [00:36:00] boxes.
[00:36:00] Vanessa: So what we've created is a system that all you have to do is just check off the boxes and have a good time and look at the pretty budget. Yeah, that's, that's,
[00:36:07] Shana: that's, that's basically what it, like you were talking about, Carrie, where you pop in there when you're working out, it's like, because it's kind of fun to look at and pretty, and I like to check boxes on.
[00:36:14] Shana: Yeah. Okay, so automations. Yeah.
[00:36:15] Vanessa: So if we look at. An on an automatic budget system. This is like the, the whole picture. Your income is coming into your bill system or your Bills account. Your bills account is funding your spending. It's funding your savings. Like imagine being able to set something up, up, set it up one time and not have to do it ever.
[00:36:35] Vanessa: Again, like, not
[00:36:36] Shana: literally have to touch it again. So this is really simple. It, it might sound complicated, but it's not. So you have that one page budget that we had you make, right? You had your bill, your income, your debts, your bills, your spending and your savings. And, and, and our budget system does all the math for you.
[00:36:49] Shana: So as you put all that in there, you, you know how much money you have left to spend based on your income, right? Or you have left to budget. And so let's say, like you alluded to earlier, Carrie, um, well I'm not [00:37:00] gonna do that. Let's say you have a thousand dollars for groceries budget. Right. And you put that in your budget, that's your monthly we're we're planning in terms of the month.
[00:37:08] Shana: Right. But if you're like normal people, if you put a thousand dollars in an account, it's probably gonna be gone in the first week. Yeah, we're not gonna do that. What's gonna happen is you're gonna set up transfers from your Bills account. 'cause remember all the income's going in there, so you're good.
[00:37:20] Shana: We're not looking at the Bills account and I'm worried about it. Right. And so what's gonna happen is $250 from your Bills account will go into your groceries account every week. And that way you just have to like wake up and go to the grocery store or. Instacart, like, hey here for that. Um, but you just have to live in that 250 and, you know, every week I'm getting $250 more.
[00:37:39] Shana: And that actually really helps you because most It's like an allowance, right? It's like an allowance. Well just put some guardrails around it. Well, and also most families have some sort of rhythm, like about how much they spend weekly. 'cause you know, maybe you're planning on the weekend and you go, you grab your pickup or whatever.
[00:37:53] Shana: And so that's what the automatic transfer is. It can be. You can set it up to transfer from bills to your groceries account, $250 [00:38:00] every Friday, whatever day works for you. Mm-hmm. Um, automatically ongoing. And you can do that for every single line item and your spending and your savings. And then when you wake up in the morning, you have money for all the things.
[00:38:10] Shana: It's amazing.
[00:38:11] Vanessa: Yeah. Think about it. Your spend, your personal spending money is funded every week or biweekly, however you wanna do it. Your gas and groceries, your dining ed account, your Christmas account, your annual bills account, like all of these things that are important to you that you wanna make sure happen.
[00:38:24] Vanessa: They're funded because you've set up the automatic transfers to make it happen.
[00:38:28] Carrie Lupoli: This has been game changing for my daughter, for us too, but when my 20-year-old had one account and she would work all summer long and she'd have this chunk of money in there, she had no idea. She was just, I have a bunch of money in my account so she could go out.
[00:38:40] Carrie Lupoli: Good job job though. Like, let's be honest about that. I know thousand dollars this summer. It was great. But she also, we don't give her money while she's in school. She has to have her own spending money. So we started doing the math and realize like how much money we did this, the, that step two, right? Of like, what is it that you're [00:39:00] spending?
[00:39:00] Carrie Lupoli: And when we laid it all out, she realized, oh gosh, this isn't gonna get me through this semester. We did this sort of like halfway through the summer and so we made a di like she, she's the kind of kid that's like, I can't tell her what to do. She has to decide. She really wants to do it. She checks her app on her phone all the time with the bank account.
[00:39:19] Carrie Lupoli: But we had a budget system, like one of those apps that you download for budgets. She was never going in, it never, and she said it scares me too much to go in there. Like it just, I don't wanna do it. So she liked going into her app. Her app, and her bank account 'cause she could just see the dollar amount.
[00:39:36] Carrie Lupoli: It was just $1 amount. So when we made her those different accounts and she just sees it clean on her bank app and it literally, you can change the name of the accounts. And so she knows, this is my spend money for the, for the month, right? This is my gas money. And it automatically goes. So we have all of her big, that big chunk of money in one account and automatically she has these automatic transfers that come [00:40:00] in.
[00:40:00] Carrie Lupoli: And if she said to me, it's like I have an allowance. And she said, I am going into school right now feeling so confident and ready and being able to take a hold of my health. And now she's making, she's trying to find some work to make money for next semester. And she said she knows she's not gonna, it's money she needs right now.
[00:40:18] Carrie Lupoli: I mean, that's like incredible for a 20-year-old to be able to learn. You guys are literally changing family trees because how much more can we get out of life if we start with this process now?
[00:40:31] Vanessa: Yeah, I think that's such a huge point, and thank you for being a testimonial to that. I think that that is huge.
[00:40:37] Vanessa: Um, one of the things that we love and, and what we tell our clients when they come on for coaching is this isn't something that you are just gonna use yourself. Mm-hmm. You're gonna be able to pass this on to your kids and your grandkids. It is a whole generational new way to think about your finances and how to do money.
[00:40:53] Vanessa: Mm-hmm.
[00:40:54] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. And that's what I say about health, right? Like with everything that I teach around blood sugar, belief systems and behavioral science, like when they [00:41:00] can learn it. They can teach to their kids. And so this is just such another parallel around being the healthiest version of ourselves. So are, have we gone through all the steps?
[00:41:09] Shana: Yeah, we, we have. There's, there's one more, but I wanna, I wanna say, first of all, you kept saying automatically, and I wanted to pop this word in that someone told us about automagically and I thought it was really fun because automagically, I wake up and I have money in all my accounts and it's really fun.
[00:41:24] Shana: And so when what you were saying with your daughter is, uh, it's, it mimics the, the envelope system. Like people used to use cash envelopes. And then it would have a name on it and you know exactly how much money you have for that. And it's very clear we're just bringing that into the modern, modern era.
[00:41:38] Shana: Like your daughter's, like, we have people who are like, I'm not willing to touch cash. Gross. You know, so we get it. So you're just bringing those, uh, envelopes and you're putting them your bank account. Each account is an envelope. Right. And like you said, very, very important note. You can rename them, you can re have fun with it.
[00:41:53] Shana: Some banks even let you use emojis. Don't get me started. Okay. Oh, I know that we have emoji. Yes. And [00:42:00] then every. Time you get paid, whatever time transfer cycle you're set up on, you watch your savings buckets grow. To me, that's really, really exciting. And that leads to the last step, which is you can be bougie on a budget as, as we, we just, okay.
[00:42:12] Shana: We just got off the testimony and we were just talking about they have, um, they have horses. They have, their daughters are in travel gymnastics, so I feel like that's like the definition of bougie. Yeah. Yeah. And their kids are in private school. Private school, like, and they're funding all of that, right?
[00:42:25] Shana: And that's what we mean by bougie on a budget. Everybody's different, right? You know, you might like really high quality food and that that is your bougie version, right? Or you might like to travel or like you guys, you're in your empty nest area. We're like, we're eating out and we are not eating out breakfast, but we're eating out and we're gonna enjoy it.
[00:42:40] Shana: Like that is what the point is. Get this all set up. You can see what you can afford and you can be bougie on a budget.
[00:42:45] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah, absolutely. Without a doubt. It really is life changing for, it was like for us, and, and, and, and, and I'll say for the first time, my husband and I were on the same exact page because we were following the same plan, and so I made him listen to you [00:43:00] guys before we even sat down.
[00:43:02] Carrie Lupoli: It was like, it literally took him, I think it was like an hour long video that I had to listen to, and it took him like, I don't know, a whole week to listen to it on his way back to back and forth to work. But after that week, he was like, I get it. I'm all in. So I, I just think that when you can do it together, that's really gonna be huge.
[00:43:21] Carrie Lupoli: Um, and I'll say this, both my daughter's waitress and whenever they get cash, they give, wanna give us the cash so we could sell them the money so that they could put it in their accounts, which I think, oh, it's really important,
[00:43:30] Vanessa: like when you have cash and you're not using a cash system, and it's like, okay, but wait, how do I get this?
[00:43:35] Vanessa: In my account. Mm-hmm. And if you don't have a local bank, sometimes that can be,
[00:43:39] Shana: or your parents are your local Yes. Or your parents. Or your parents say, that's an easy
[00:43:42] Vanessa: fix. No, but I just like, I'll take the cash. I never have cash. I'll do the cap once in a while. But, you know, I, I wanna go back to Shana saying, being BNA budget, it means something different for everyone.
[00:43:51] Vanessa: It's really important for you to know that this system is not cookie cutter. It's, it's a very unique and, um, customizable to what you have going on, what your [00:44:00] lifestyle looks like. And don't worry about what the next person is doing. We're not doing this. 20%, 30%, whatever it is, based on your needs, your wants, your goals, your, your life.
[00:44:10] Carrie Lupoli: I love that. That's because everybody's life is different. And so we, it's not a script and you guys don't provide a script, but you provide these guardrails and these tenets that I just think we've never been taught before. And I feel like that's what I do in my, in my work, and that's what you guys do in yours.
[00:44:24] Carrie Lupoli: So you have changed so many of my clients' lives because you come on as a coach with our clients, which I think is such an amazing perk for working with us because you guys are such an amazing asset to their health. And so. And we've had multiple people that said, like on paper, I felt like I couldn't afford to work with a financial coach, but in all reality, I couldn't afford not to.
[00:44:48] Carrie Lupoli: So help us know how people can connect with you, work with you. I mean, you have like some really amazing initial tools that a lot of my clients will start out with. So where can they get all that?
[00:44:59] Shana: [00:45:00] Okay, well, initial tools, um, if you, if you just wanna dive in a little bit, first of all, we have, um, our own podcast, financial Coaching for Women.
[00:45:08] Shana: Um, and I'm an on it. Yeah. Dip your toe in there. Yeah. We've had really cool guests like Carrie on there and so yeah, so we would, that's a free tool. We love to help you. We have a Facebook group, we have office hours for free, we have all kinds of stuff for free. We have the beginning of our budget, which is, um, just a one page printable, which you can get at budget.
[00:45:25] Shana: Best essays.com/budget template. I think what you've heard from Carrie, what you've heard. If you've been in her community, you probably should just go all in. Yeah. And um, you can go to budget besties.com/carrie, because that's where our budget system lives. It has Carrie's beautiful picture on there.
[00:45:40] Shana: That's important. Mm-hmm. You know she's in pink. Yeah. In pink. And you just go there and you can find out about our budget system that we've just been talking about that's gonna come with the hour long video that she made her husband watch, but also walkthroughs for every like smaller. Bite size walker and the spreadsheet, the pretty pink spreadsheet.
[00:45:55] Shana: Beautiful. It's important. The pretty pink, pink spreadsheet with check boxes. Yeah. Listen, when you check something [00:46:00] off, Carrie, it dims out and you're like, oh, I feel so good about my life. Like you could have done anything else bad that day, but like now everything is. Beautiful and wonderful. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:46:09] Vanessa: And you know, if you need some more testimonials, there are plenty of your clients, Carrie, like you said, in your community group that have used it.
[00:46:15] Vanessa: If you have, if you need some more help, they'll be more than happy to answer your questions and get you connected. Yeah.
[00:46:21] Carrie Lupoli: And I will say too, like if you wanna go all in, it's literally like the cost of you, like for me and my two kids to go out to dinner mm-hmm. Is basically what it, it's like, it's not this whole like huge, big, crazy investment.
[00:46:33] Carrie Lupoli: Like it's amazing. And then I always say like. Having a coach allows you to then be accountable so you could always take it to the next level of actually being coached, which I think is Yes, we do.
[00:46:44] Shana: We do coaching. Yep, for sure. Yeah,
[00:46:46] Carrie Lupoli: which is amazing. And one of my coaches who is a client, is one of your clients, and she texted me and she said, this was the best investment I've ever made.
[00:46:56] Carrie Lupoli: I am going to pay cash for Christmas, which I have never [00:47:00] done. She has kids in her twenties I've never done in my entire life before, and she's excited about it as opposed to dreading the cost and the burden of Christmas. She's like, she can't wait. And so, um, I'm so proud of her for believing in the idea of like, I have to invest in myself in order to actually make the difference I wanna make in my life.
[00:47:23] Vanessa: I'll tell you what, she was very hesitant to sign on just because of the, I get it. Like, I totally get it. She has been one of the best clients I've ever had. She's amazing. I love her. Well, she graduates next month. I cannot wait for her to share. I know she's gonna come on and share her, her story with you.
[00:47:38] Vanessa: And so yeah, that would be a great way to, to listen to.
[00:47:41] Carrie Lupoli: More
[00:47:41] Vanessa: information. It's really,
[00:47:42] Carrie Lupoli: really powerful. So, okay, now you're not just my bestie, but you're everybody that listens to the Diet Disruptors podcast bestie as well. So budget besties.com. You can go see their podcast, go get all their tools. You can go to budget besties.com/care.
[00:47:59] Carrie Lupoli: [00:48:00] To be able to get the kind of special offer that they've put together just for people who are their besties with me. Mm-hmm. Yes. And so super excited Ladies, Shana and Vanessa, you are just amazing. I love the work that you're doing. I love the synergy between what we do and I just can't wait for more good stuff together.
[00:48:17] Shana: Yes. More good stuff. All good things. All good things. We love you too. We're so honored to come and we have so much fun every time we get to talk to you. You it is. It's such a blessing. Love
[00:48:24] Vanessa: you.
[00:48:24] Shana: Thank you so
[00:48:24] Vanessa: much, Carrie, for this opportunity so far.
