Are you struggling to stay on budget,
get out of debt, or even find new ways to save money?
Well if that's you, keep watching.
This is The Rachel Cruze Show.
(bright music)
Well hey you guys.
Welcome to The Rachel Cruze Show.
I am so excited about this.
Can you see like the new set?
It's so beautiful and everything.
I walked in this morning, and I saw it for the first time,
and I thought: Oh my gosh.
This is so fun! Because last time you saw me here,
I was about to go out on maternity leave
with Caroline, my little girl, and so I'm really pumped
that we are continuing on with The Rachel Cruze Show.
So this episode specifically, I want to talk to you
about a couple that I met named Ryan and Nanette,
who are like so many couples out there.
They felt like they were just stuck in their finances.
You know, she was trying to do one thing,
he was trying to do another, and it just wasn't working.
I'm gonna show you how to save money on groceries,
because listen, we all need help with that, right?
But first I'm gonna give you 15 ways
that you can start making progress and saving money quickly.
You ready?
Number 1.
Look into an exercise pass program
through your health insurance provider
rather than just paying for the gym.
Winston and I did this and it saved us so much money.
Number 2.
Or forgo the gym altogether and go to YouTube.
We love YouTube.
For workout ideas.
So instead of going to like a hot yoga class here
or spin class there, those $20 fees can add up.
So just YouTube it.
Number 3.
Buy generic vitamins and over-the-counter medicine.
Number 4.
Switch to CFLs or LED lights.
Winston did this at our house,
so like all of our lightbulbs are gonna last
for like 5,000 years or something crazy.
I'm like Jesus is gonna return,
but our lightbulbs will still be working.
That's what's important.
Number 5.
On weekends, host your friends over for a game night.
This is such a great way to have fun with your friends,
stay in, not spend money, and even everyone can bring a dish,
so you can have food as well.
Number 6.
Stay out of the grocery store.
Use online ordering like Kroger's ClickList.
This will save you money 'cause you know exactly
how much money you're gonna spend before you go pick it up.
Number 7.
Buy kids' toys at Big Lots.
Shout out to cheap toys.
This is the best thing ever.
We did this with Amelia, and it was great.
It like lasted us a whole summer.
We got all this stuff.
It was fantastic.
Number 8.
Download apps for savings, like Cartwheel for Target,
Ebates, Ibotta, and Coupon Sherpa.
My Facebook group, you guys have given us
some good info there, so thanks you guys.
Number 9.
For a high-priced item that you're buying online,
wait overnight. Because when you wait overnight,
the impulse lowers and you figure out,
okay do I really wanna buy it.
Number 10.
Buy discounted gift cards.
Yeah, it's a real thing.
Number 11.
Change your office hours.
Traffic jams can cost you up to $1,200 a year on fuel,
and that's a lot of wasted time.
Number 12.
Have a "clean out the pantry" week.
Use what you have in your pantry
instead of going grocery shopping.
Number 13.
Buy open-box items.
Number 14.
Buy workout clothes at T.J. Maxx or Marshalls.
I did this, and it's like the best decision you'll ever make.
Number 15.
Get reflexology instead of a spa day.
Spa days can cost you like $200 easily,
but reflexology you can get
the most amazing foot rub for $30.
If you're thinking, what is reflexology?
Just know I changed your life.
Google it.
It's fantastic.
So those are some quick and easy ways for you to save money,
but listen I know life happens, right?
It's kind of crazy.
It's like you get up.
You're trying to like get kids out the door.
You're trying to get to work, or you're just trying
to get kids where they're supposed to be,
and get home, cook dinner, all of it.
Like it's just nuts, and so I feel like the thing
that takes the hit the most is the grocery budget.
The grocery ClickList thing, for real, do it
because it's gonna help you. Because when you don't do it,
you're gonna be like me two months ago at Costco.
(soft music)
That's right.
I went in to buy water.
They have like water that's like 80,000 bottles
but it's like $2 or something crazy,
so we always stack up on Costco water.
So we ran out of bottles of water,
so I was like: Oh, I'll run into Costco.
Yeah, you can't just like run into Costco
because then you end up like buying all this stuff,
and that's what I did, especially the first part
with all the things right when you walk in.
I was like yeah, I need a huge beanbag.
Yes, I do, right?
I'm like oh my gosh, it's all these things
I just feel like I need to buy,
and I walked out and I spent $142.
I was supposed to buy water, but I bought
a Charcuterie plate or Charcuterie.
If you don't know what that is
it's basically a bunch of meat,
and I don't even really like meat,
but I bought this huge thing of meat
that could feed like a small country,
and it has so much preservatives.
Like it didn't expire 'til like 2021,
and I had to like jam it in my fridge when I got home.
I mean, it was just really bad you guys.
Like, it was so bad, but I bought dog food,
so my dog's alive because of that trip.
That's what I told Winston.
I was like, don't worry.
Nala has food.
That's why I went.
So it's just really bad when you walk in,
especially to places like Costco, so you have to . . .
I feel like I'm bashing Costco.
Love you Costco.
Love ya.
Just make sure you make a list when you walk in. For real.
It's so easy to overspend, and that moment just reminded me,
gosh we think that we need things in the moment.
I was like, I need all this meat—but I don't.
So the 14-pack of Sonicare toothbrush heads,
or the year's worth of ramen noodles.
I know it sounds like a great idea,
but if it's not on the list, don't buy it.
But I know I'm not the only one,
'cause I hear from you guys all the time
that you overspend on food, too.
So, one of the habits that I've gotten into
that saves me money is meal planning.
So, let's head over to my kitchen,
and I'm going to show you exactly what I do.
(bright music)
Welcome to my kitchen.
Yes, I brought you guys here because I figured out
that there is a way that you can actually save money on food
and that way is meal planning.
Being intentional with not only
what you're going to buy at the grocery store
but what you're going to make every week,
and listen being intentional about
any area of your life is so, so important.
That's where you're going to see progress.
The more intentional you are with something,
the better off you're going to be,
and that includes, yes, your money,
and, yes, your food part of the budget.
So this is what Winston and I do.
Every Sunday afternoon we sit down
and we look at our calendar for the week,
so we go through every single night.
We say: Okay, what do we have?
Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night,
Thursday night, Friday night, and then from there
we say okay we're having friends over on Thursday night,
or we're going to go out to eat on Tuesday night,
and this is great because you're actually communicating
with your spouse, if you're married,
about what's going on for the week.
So, we figure out what nights
we're actually gonna cook at home.
So then we say: Okay, we have these nights available.
What do we wanna make?
And then we write down our meals
for each night that we're home.
Then we go check the pantry, and we say: Okay,
we're gonna make chicken Alfredo on Tuesday night.
Do we have the noodles?
Do we have the chicken?
Like, what do we need to buy at the grocery store
that we don't already have?
And then from there we write down our grocery list
of everything that we wanna buy
at the grocery store that week
for what we need to fix those meals,
and also of course you're gonna include things
like breakfast and lunch, you know,
your go-to's, that kind of thing.
But what it does is it just simplifies it all.
You know exactly what you're going to make,
'cause if you're like me you get home from work
and you're like, I'm exhausted.
The end of the world is coming,
and I have to like be a mom and a parent,
and make dinner, and it's like this whole thing of like ugh.
Well, that way you don't come home and you're like,
what are we gonna have for dinner?
It's already there for you, which is the best part
of all of this, I think. And you're able to save money.
You can take that money that you're saving
and you can get out of debt.
You can save it up for something you want,
like an emergency fund, that kind of thing.
So being intentional with that money that's saved is key.
Now, one thing that you have to do
is give yourself grace in this process
because it's not gonna be perfect the first time,
so just take a deep breath and say,
it's not gonna be perfect.
But some great, quick easy meals
I always get from tiphero.com.
It's a great website.
You can check it out, or I always have six ingredients
in the kitchen because sometimes life doesn't always
turn out the way you think it's gonna turn out that week,
and you end up being home when you think you're gonna be out
and you're like oh what are we gonna make?
So my six ingredients always are taco shells,
shredded cheese, ground beef, noodles,
pizza dough, and tomato sauce,
because all of those things whipped together,
I can definitely make an awesome beef quesadilla,
some delicious spaghetti and of course pizza, my love,
which well I've already meal-prepped for the week.
Don't forget that.
(bright music)
I mean, you guys, you knew there wasn't
gonna be an episode without pizza.
Of course I had to involve that.
No but really, all kidding aside,
remember the four things that I want you
to do when you're meal planning.
Number 1.
Look at your calendar and know
which days you're going to cook.
Write down the meals that you wanna make.
Number 3.
Check the pantry or the refrigerator
for the ingredients that you may already have.
And number 4.
Make your grocery list and stick to it.
So now you're gonna hear from a young couple
who went from being stuck in their finances
to being on the same page with their money
and working to get out of debt.
And so they signed up for Financial Peace University.
They got on the same page, and they are killing it, you guys.
It was so fun.
It was so fun not just to hear the progress
that they've already made, but watching them together,
'cause they talked about how
their marriage is even strengthened
and she's pregnant with baby number three,
and you know we love babies around here.
So take a look at their story.
(bright music)
So your money journey, you guys, would you say
like right now in the present,
you guys are in a pretty good spot?
Would you agree with that?
- Yes.
Has it always been like this?
- No. - No.
(laughing)
Like what was it that you're like, we have to stop this?
Was there like this huge fight, this meltdown?
Were you like going bankrupt?
- Well, you know, when we first got married,
living in L.A. and it was paycheck to paycheck.
There was not much left over at the end of the month,
and we didn't really have any sort of budgeting going on.
We kinda just went with whatever we thought.
We weren't really talking about anything.
- Really your debt starts to add up
without you really realizing how much.
I think it just got to a point where we're expecting a third
and we're thinking about the future more,
and wanting to set ourselves up for success.
So how long ago was all of that for you guys?
- That was, well that was probably a year and a half
when we got into the house, and I think at that point,
I kinda got to the place where I was just done
with not knowing anything about our money.
'Cause you guys weren't budgeting or anything at this point?
- We weren't budgeting.
We weren't really talking about it.
I mean, and that's the thing is we never
fought about money 'cause we never talked about money.
So as a woman, would you say that
that made you like fearful or insecure
that you had no idea what was going on?
Like what caused you to press into that?
- Never fearful but avoiding the subject a little bit.
You know I would go out and just get things
that I believed I needed and that I probably knew
he wouldn't think I needed (laughs).
Okay, did you ever hide a purchase from him?
- Yeah, I mean, there's been things like that.
I knew that we needed to get somewhere
where we were on the same page.
At that point is when I started to try
to budget for the first time,
and I was on EveryDollar for a little bit.
When I had all of this stuff in this budgeting tool,
all of our, you know, separate credit cards,
and all the extra stuff, I realized
how big our debt really was.
I think that was the point where we had been hearing
about Financial Peace at the church,
and I said to Ryan, we need to do this as soon as possible.
So when she brings that up, what do you think?
- I was on board.
I mean, you know, it was the kind of thing going back
that I was handling a lot of the larger bills and things,
and so she wasn't really in the know of that,
but I wasn't really in the know
of what she was purchasing. - Like the little things.
- And that sort of stuff.
- And the everyday needs.
You know the like everyday school supplies
or things like that.
- Yeah, I mean, it just sets a time aside every week
that we just go and we learn and start learning
how to use the tools and how to communicate better,
and I just knew as soon as we took that step,
we were gonna benefit from it.
Okay, so I'm gonna quiz you,
because I have an answer in my head.
I wanna see if we're on the same page.
There's one category in the budget
that almost everyone, including the Cruzes,
if we bust any category, it's this category.
So if you had one budget category
that you were to bust, what would it be?
- Groceries.
- Yeah, groceries.
Groceries, yes, okay.
I'm so glad, okay.
So do you feel like you got like progress
on that part of the budget?
- Yeah, we have actually started
for the first time doing the envelope system
for groceries, and knowing beforehand
we are able to plan a little bit better
and like Dave always says, you're feeling, you know, the purchase.
Yes, yes.
- Just last month I think we spent probably over $100 less
than what we did the month before.
- It's all those little trips to the store
that you don't think are adding up
that end up just adding up.
So $40 here, $60 there.
And oh I need to go get this one thing
for this one meal that we weren't planning on.
Just making it so.
- I would call Ryan.
Can you stop at the store real quick
for this or this or this?
But being able to plan ahead of time.
So you guys now you would say that, you know,
because you are working on the same page,
and you're communicating about money,
do you find that your marriage is even better today?
- Absolutely.
- 100%, yeah. - Yeah, absolutely.
- I mean communication is key.
So it's definitely helped us communicate better,
not just, you know, budgeting and that sort of thing,
but in other areas of our marriage as well so.
- [Nanette] We're talking about all those things now,
and that has changed just the trust between us,
and you know all of that kinda thing
has made a huge difference in our marriage for sure.
So your two boys, they're younger.
Have they noticed any shift, or have you guys
like worked with them at all?
Like what's their take been on all this?
- Absolutely.
Elliot, our 7-year-old.
- It's been sweet.
- He's definitely caught on.
He's got the itch now.
(laughing)
He's definitely overheard us and asking questions
and that sort of thing, which is great.
We've also got the chart.
- [Rachel] Oh from Junior? Financial Peace Junior?
Yes.
- And so I love that idea, too,
where it's not really a chore.
It's a commission.
- Yeah.
Not allowance, commission.
- Yeah, not allowance, commission so I love that.
If you don't do the work, you don't get paid.
- I've had a lot more help in this house since.
(laughing)
He's saving up for his own little thing.
Whatever it is at the time that he's saving up for.
I believe at this point it's gumballs
for his gumball machine.
Oh sweet.
- So, yeah.
He'll be like what's a budget?
And I'm like well, buddy, let me tell you (laughs).
Here's EveryDollar.
- Yeah exactly.
Well you guys are like absolutely killing it.
I mean, you're doing it so fantastic.
Seriously, I'm like you could've lived
in that monotonous state that you guys were
at a year and a half ago and done that for decades, right,
and that's what a lot of people do,
but like sitting here and saying, you know what,
we're gonna be intentional.
It's gonna be hard.
It's not gonna be fun.
As you look at all the debt and like it almost feels
like this mountain but as you're chipping it away,
I can see it in your faces,
and like, you're seeing the hope and the excitement
of what that's gonna be like and for those boys
being able to have that legacy of being debt-free,
and not only just that but having parents
that actually talk about money and communicate,
and are on the same page.
I mean, that's such a huge gift.
So you guys are awesome.
Well congratulations, you guys.
Thanks again for sharing your story.
It's so great.
- Thank you.
So you guys.
I love that you heard it firsthand.
This stuff works.
(bright music)
Okay you guys.
Weren't they fantastic?
I loved meeting them and sitting down with them, seriously.
I hope their story inspired you, and they're just really fun.
I left, I was like, hey can we be friends?
I actually found out that we're zoned
for the same school for our kids.
I was like hey Nanette, see you in carpool line
in about three years! But really, they are awesome.
So, remember if you want to make the progress
that Nanette and Ryan are making,
make sure you sign up for Financial Peace University.
At the end of this show, go to rachelcruze.com,
but if you've already signed up,
and you've already even taken it,
comment below on how much debt you've paid off
'cause you guys going through Financial Peace University,
I know you've paid off a lot of debt,
and we wanna hear about it.
Okay, now is my favorite part of the show.
Okay, it's a new thing we're doing.
So, what I want you guys to do, pay attention,
'cause it's gonna involve you.
I started this in my Facebook group,
and so I wanna hear from you guys.
I want you to use the hashtag: #sheworkshardsavingmoney
If you're working and saving toward something,
or if you already have saved up for something
and bought it or experienced it, whatever it is,
we want this to be a place that you celebrate with us.
So, make sure to post on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.
I don't care.
A picture, a video, a tweet,
and use the hashtag: #sheworkshardsavingmoney
'cause we wanna celebrate you guys.
So here's the very first rendition, moment,
of #sheworkshardsavingmoney
Kate says, a week at Disney World.
It was so awesome, and we paid cash.
Ugh, I'm kinda jealous of you, Kate.
I love my life, not yours.
Kelly, we saved for an entire year to have our deck built,
and it took out an entire window from our kitchen,
and we had to replace it with French doors.
Very nice.
That took up an entire wall.
It was very expensive, but we paid cash for it.
Sarah says my husband and I worked so hard
to pay cash for Christmas this past year.
It was the first time we've ever done it not on credit.
It was so incredible!
Shanda says, for the past four and a half years,
my husband and I have been saving up
to pay cash for our first home.
We've gotten a lot of laughter and naysayers,
but the hope is to buy a house this spring.
It will be so worth the temporary
sacrifice and tight budget.
So make sure you post because next time
we're going to pick out the best ones,
show them all to you here on the show,
and we're going to give away some gifts.
So, get creative.
Well you guys, this has been such a great show.
We've showed you a couple who started taking
Financial Peace University, who are on the same page
and making incredible progress.
I loved showing you 15 super easy ways
that you can start saving money quickly,
and we have a plan for the grocery store,
and how to take stress out of meal planning.
So for more information on all
we've talked about in this show,
make sure to click the link in the description,
and make sure you tune in, in two weeks,
because it is a new episode of The Rachel Cruze Show,
and we may or may not be celebrating my big 3-0.
My birthday.
So excited.
So, thanks you guys again for watching,
and always remember to take control of your money,
and create a life you love.
(bright music)