- Are you looking for six easy ways
to improve your finances?
We have exactly that in today's video.
(rhythmic music)
Hi, I'm Joseph.
- And I'm Tasha with One Big Happy Life.
And we help you find balance, build wealth,
and live happy, everything that you need
to create the life that you want.
- So today, we have six easy ways
for you to improve your finances right now.
But I've also got some exciting news.
Today is our very first Money Masterclass
on the four essential keys to creating
your financial dream life.
Now while today's class is all booked up
because thousands of you have registered,
there are a few other classes later this week
for you to sign up for.
- Yeah, and during these live money classes,
we are gonna be sharing tips and strategies
to help you build wealth
while also enjoying your life.
So everything that we stand for here
at One Big Happy Life.
So you're definitely gonna wanna sign up
because we're only gonna be doing a few more this year,
and then they are gone forever, right?
So just over the next few days.
So head on over to onebighappylife.com/masterclass
and grab your seat and we'll see you there live.
- Okay, now for the first quick win
to improve your finances today
is to forgive yourself
for whatever happened in your previous financial life.
There's a point in time, right now,
and you wanna do better going forward, awesome.
You have to be able to forgive whatever happened,
whatever you were going through,
whatever decisions you were making.
Because let's just face it, like none of us are perfect
with our finances, none of us are perfect with anything.
We all have decisions that we would've done differently
or better, and you know, you have to just take
where you are and go from there.
And the first step of that is to just really truly
forgive yourself and say, you know, "I'm gonna do better."
- Yeah, one of the ways, first of all,
there is absolutely no reason to feel any kind of shame
about the financial decisions that you've made in the past.
Like one of my favorite sayings, it goes something like,
it all happened the exact way
that it was supposed to happen.
Because we all end up feeling this regret
because it's like,
"Oh, well, what if I had done it this way,"
or, "I wish I had done it this way."
You could not have done it any other way
because if you could have, you would have.
It's by making those mistakes and becoming the person
that you are today,
what we see now in hindsight as mistakes,
that is what is put you in this position
where you are now able to make different decisions.
So just release, be at peace with it,
and forgive yourself.
'Cause like Joseph said, we've all been there and it's okay.
No matter where you are right now,
you can always pivot and start heading
in the direction that you really want to head in.
- Number two, if you wanna improve your finances quickly,
go ahead and start keeping a spending diary.
So for I don't know at least a week, a month,
go ahead and start writing down everything
that you spend money on.
Now the key here is it's gotta be everything
to get the most benefit.
And then, take some time and review it.
Because that's gonna give you a lot of insight,
not just into well, where your money's going,
but how you spend.
Because, you know, are you spending things
in small amounts?
Are you walking by something and then like,
"Oh yeah, I just definitely need that," impulse purchases?
You can tell that from the spending diary.
With like, I mean it seems like you wouldn't get
that much information by just marking down
what you're spending, where you're spending it,
but it's really insightful.
- So and the other great thing about the spending diary,
in addition to knowing once and for all
exactly where your money is going,
is that you can then evaluate it to see
if that's where you want your money to go.
So if you saw that you spent 60 bucks on Starbucks
this month or this week and you're like,
"Well, that's too much.
"I didn't really get $60 worth of enjoyment
"from all of those trips to Starbucks.
"Like maybe I would've been okay with just two
"of those trips.
"And so how can I plan next week so that I'm not
"making those impromptu trips?"
And so you can say, "Well, I'll just do two trips
"to Starbucks next week and then then I'll go ahead
"and make my coffee at home the other two."
Or you might say, "You know what,
"pumpkin spice latte seasons's over,
"so I'm done with Starbucks, I'm good."
- (laughing) Pumpkin spice lattes, they get me.
- Well, so, - I love it.
- I'm a chestnut praline latte kinda girl,
not a pumpkin spice latte,
so I am just waiting.
It's like mid November chestnut praline comes out, mmm.
- Number three, automate your savings.
And really, I don't wanna cut it off at just savings.
I would say automate anything,
even if it's paying one bill
or doing some savings.
Because both things are really, really beneficial.
The key here is just setting up your finances
to do a little bit of autopilot
so you don't suffer from as much decision fatigue,
and you're not constantly having to go through
and make those choices and do the transfers.
It's taking time and it's taking energy,
and so if you're automating some savings,
well, maybe you're building up an emergency fund.
Maybe you're gonna put a little bit of money
into some investing.
Both of those are great things to really improve
your finances over time,
and also your mental health because you're not having
to think about it.
And then the same can be said for automating
some kind of bill.
You make sure that you're never paying it late
because it's automated,
and you just check in every once in awhile,
make sure that nothing's changed, the bill isn't
what you weren't expecting.
And then still, that's saving you time, mental health.
- Number four, do a no-spend week.
Now we are all about spending with your priorities,
and we're not particularly uber frugal.
But having said that, we also recognize
that you can easily spend,
you can get into a spending slippery slope.
Like there's habit slippage all over the place
if you're not being conscious about your spending.
So doing a no-spend week is like doing a fast,
like a green smoothie cleanse,
where you're giving your spending habits time
to reset back to its natural set point
because you've kind of started to slip
and started to indulge in too many sweets.
It's kinda like that.
- Yeah, I mean, I really relate to this.
So whenever I get into a new hobby
or not even a hobby, but just, if I get into any one thing,
I'll start like really thinking about getting
all these different things,
what I need to be the best at whatever it is.
So recently, getting back into triathlons,
I started looking at oh well I need this thing for my bike,
I need this tool because it ultimately will save money.
Well then pretty soon, you know,
I have a whole bunch of things waiting to be bought.
So it's a perfect time for a no-spend week
to kinda reset and say,
"Well, I don't really need to have brake cables spare
"because I can get them in two days from Amazon.
"I don't need the storage space of spare parts, so."
- Tip number five, get some new insurance quotes.
Check out some other companies.
There are lots of resources out there
where you can get multiple insurance quotes,
depending on what type of insurance it is.
So Joseph and I were actually just having
this conversation because I quit my job
I guess a month ago, a little over a month ago,
and so the kids lost insurance
because I was insuring them.
So Reeves went on Joseph's insurance,
and then I added Alexis to my private insurance plan
that I got on the Health Insurance Marketplace.
And so our insurance went up to $736,
which is a business expense.
It's not coming out of our personal expense
like our personal budget.
But still, we've gotta look at our business budget
just like we look at our personal budget
to make sure that we're not just like hemorrhaging money
from the business.
And so we were talking about this insurance
and why it's so expensive,
and the reason is, I basically have a Cadillac plan
because we knew that we were doing IVF this year.
Well, we've already decided we're not going to do IVF again
next year, so in December,
I already know that when open season comes around,
I'm going to reduce our insurance premiums
by switching to some type of insurance
that has some kind of high deductible plan
that doesn't cover all these like super awesome things
like IVF because we just don't need that.
So double check your insurance.
Make sure that you're still getting the best prices, right?
Because sometimes those insurance companies,
they get a little, you know, uppity,
where they wanna just up your insurance
just because they're like,
"Oh, well she's not going anywhere."
Well, you show them.
- Yeah, and it can be shocking exactly how much
they can go up from year to year.
And it can be out of nowhere.
'Cause a lotta times, like she had the same insurance
for a couple years and nothing happened.
But then this last year, her insurance at work
was gonna be a huge increase. - Yep.
- And so like we're kind of happy that that one's gone.
But ultimately one day, we'll have one nice little
family plan and that will be it.
- Tip number six, revisit your spending plan.
Now we say this all the time.
What worked for you at one point when you first created
your one-year spending plan may no longer be
what's working for you right now.
So it's worth taking a look at your expenses
to see if they're still consistent with your goals
and your vision for your life.
- Yeah, definitely take a look
at the low-hanging fruit first.
So that's your biggest expenses
that you can make a huge change.
So, you know, do you really like that apartment
that you're living in?
Do you really like the house?
Those kinds of things can be gigantic wins
right off the bat 'cause they're huge numbers.
And then look to the smaller stuff after that.
- Yeah, like is your clothing budget still
where it needs to be?
So for us, we have our biggest clothing expenditures
twice a year when Reeves gets new clothing.
So he gets new clothing in the fall/winter,
and then he gets new clothing again in the spring/summer.
And whenever he gets new clothing,
it's an entirely new wardrobe because he's a growing kid.
- It's crazy pants. - So it ends up being
around 300 to maybe 350 or 400 in the winter
where he's getting snow boots and a snow jacket
and all of that.
And so whenever that happens,
especially as he's growing now and everything
is getting more and more expensive, I'm like,
"Well, is the $1,200 that we set for our family
"clothing budget, which doesn't include Alexis
"'cause she pays for her own clothing,
"is that gonna be enough?"
And right now the answer's yes 'cause Joseph doesn't buy
much in the way of clothing.
I don't think you, when's the last time you got a new
- Oh my gosh. - Anything?
- I hardly ever buy myself clothing.
- Yeah, I don't know that he ever has
- Well, okay. - Since we've been together.
Except for that time when you did Trunk Club.
- Yeah, oh gosh, that was years ago.
Yeah, and I tried Trunk Club,
but it was too expensive for me.
- Yeah. - But then,
what was so awesome, Alexis and Tasha went out,
and then they made me my own trunk.
So they went shopping and then just brought me
a whole bunch of clothes.
It was awesome.
And way cheaper than the actual Trunk Club was.
- Yeah, so that's basically what happens
whenever Joseph needs clothing.
It's typically because we're going on a trip or something
and we realize that all of his clothing has holes.
So then Alexis and I will go shopping for him.
But we, Joseph and I, don't buy that much in clothing.
So Reeves ends up taking up like half
of the clothing budget.
So $600 for him for the year
and then another 600 for us.
And honestly, that's working out pretty good.
But I still keep an eye on it to say,
"Well, do I need to bump this up?
"Is this still accurate for how our family spends?"
- Yeah.
Okay, so take these six wins
and improve your finances just like that.
- All right, and don't forget to head on over
to onebighappylife.com/masterclass
to sign up for the free live money class
before it's too late.
Because next week, it's gonna be gone,
and I don't want you to be sad.
We wanna see you there live.
All right, bye.
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