Amanda Barroso
Appearances
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
Absolutely. And, you know, Kim mentioned this. Unlike other kinds of spending where we can cut back altogether, food is just not one of those things. But we can work on spending our money more wisely at the grocery store. So I know some folks have started using grocery pickup or drive up services to try to cut back on impulse purchases in the store. And I think that's a really smart idea.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
Meal planning and list making are two ways that NerdWallet recommends saving money at the grocery store. But if you're anything like me, you write the list down and you forget to bring it to the store or your partner stops at the store and doesn't have the list. And there's an easy solution for this and it's a grocery list app.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
So for a recent story, I actually looked at some popular grocery list apps for Apple and Android users and found some pretty great options. Just as a baseline, these list apps sync in real time. You can make multiple lists. If you're like me, maybe you shop at Aldi and Costco, you can make multiple lists there. You can share with members of your household so multiple people can access
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
add to the list which is a really nice feature so like the mental load isn't always just on the person who downloaded the app the items on the list are also like grouped into categories that are really smart and kind of make shopping and the store more efficient so like items are grouped so you know you can kind of pick up things all together as you're meandering through the aisles so you mentioned some apps that could make it a little easier to navigate price increases
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
I think there are some apps that are really ripe for this moment in time. For example, Bring with an exclamation point lets you save store cards so you can take advantage of sales and don't have to dig them out of your wallet. You can also get coupons and rewards from those stores right there. There's another app called Out of Milk that displays a running total as you shop.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
So like you don't have that sticker shock when you get to the register. Other apps, Any List and Our Groceries give you the option to take a photo of the product you want to add to your list so you can make sure you or whoever's hitting the store is getting the right thing. That could be important too if you're wanting to make the switch to store brands to try to save money.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
Like, hey, you know, for my husband, like, please don't just get any chicken stock, right? Let's try to save and get the one that I've taken the picture of here. I think the good news is that all of these apps are free or have a free version.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
And while some do offer premium features that are pretty cool, like you could import recipes from your favorite blog and easily add the ingredients to your list, you can get a lot of functionality, pretty much everything you need from the free versions. There's another feature that I think is pretty cool. It's from the Out of Milk app.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
So it allows you to scan the barcodes of items in your pantry so you can track what you have. And I don't know if you guys are like me, but I get to the store and I'm like, do I have chicken stock? I don't know. I'll just buy another one. Do I have diced tomatoes? What's another can or two going to hurt? That's me spending money that I didn't have to spend.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
What to do When Groceries Cost More and Retirement Feels Out of Reach
So this app is pretty cool because you can literally see what's in your pantry when you're at the store and really keep from spending money on duplicates that you don't want.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
You're right. This is such an interesting question. And kind of like you, Elizabeth, my financial profile looked nothing like Chris's when I was their age. I think I'd start with thinking about how their budget might shift if they decide to move out. NerdWallet recommends everyone have a budget. The 50-30-20 is sort of an ideal.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
With this framework, 50% of your take-home pay goes toward needs like rent, groceries, transportation, utilities. 30% goes toward wants, travel, eating out, shopping, streaming memberships, gym memberships, that kind of thing. And 20% goes toward savings and additional debt repayments.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
So if I were Chris, I'd start by researching fixed costs, things that you know are going to be stable month to month, like rent, utilities, and kind of plugging them into this budgeting framework. They can play around with the categories a little bit.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
If they're in a high cost of living area, maybe 60% of their take-home pay needs to go toward necessities, leaving 20% for wants and 20% for savings and debt repayment. So there's some flexibility there, but the point is to start crafting a budget that they can stick to.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
I think that's exactly what a budget is for. Like intentionality is a great word. In an uncertain economy, it can be really scary to spend money because it feels like you're eroding some of that safety net that you've worked really hard to build.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
But if you've made a budget and you've built up an emergency fund with, let's say, roughly six months of living expenses, you're saving for retirement, for example, taking advantage of an employer 401k match or something like that. and you're paying down your debts, or in Chris's case, you have zero debts, then you could also give yourself permission to spend on things that fill your cup.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
It might also be important for Chris to set a threshold. So, you know, how much money could they save that would make them feel safe to move out? Does the limit even exist, right? Like, that might be an important question to ask.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
I know it feels like we have to be sitting on fat stacks of cash to simply exist these days, but there are some real benefits to moving out, even if it does cost, let's say, $2,000 a month in rent, like they suggest. Privacy and dependence and simply being accountable to only yourself can be an important part of adulthood for some people.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
And maybe it's as simple as Chris asking their parents, hey, if this doesn't feel right, if it doesn't work out, can I come back? Having that safety net could make this feel less like a financial risk and more like a step toward building the life they want.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
As the credit scoring writer and residents here at NerdWallet, I would be remiss if I didn't come on here and say, hey, Chris, what's your credit score? That's one thing that wasn't mentioned as part of this larger financial portfolio.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
And so if they have no rent or mortgage payment, they have no utility bills in their name, no debt, like a car or a student loan, then I'm wondering what their credit file looks like. It might be what's called a thin credit file or a credit report with fewer than five accounts.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
So basically what this means is that there might not be enough information in their credit reports to generate a credit score. And this could really be a problem when they go to rent an apartment down the line, for example. So if Chris has a thin file or if their score is lower than they like, it's a good idea to spend some time building it.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
There are some simple things that they can do, like they can become an authorized user on their parents' credit cards, assuming that they're making regular on-time payments and that they have a healthy and trusting relationship with their parents. Maybe even putting a utility bill or two in their name and making sure that they're paying those on time can sort of help in the short term.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
If Chris decides to move out, they can get credit for on-time rental payments through a rent reporting service, which will help continue to build up their credit file. So either way, a strong credit score is a gateway to tons of financial products and services. Many people aim for a perfect credit score, which is 850 on a scale of 300 to 850. But scores fluctuate all the time, almost constantly.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
And so it's kind of like trying to hit a moving target. Instead, I would suggest that Chris focus on the reliable habits that are proven to build a strong score. So making on-time payments, using 30% or less of their available credit, having a mix of credit accounts. and keeping older accounts open to establish that lengthy credit history.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
I'm a planner by nature, and something that I like to do is to get out a planner or calendar and think about what the next year of my life looks like. You could even do it by quarters if a year feels too overwhelming. Look out at the expanse of time. Have you made time for things that you love doing? For me, I ask myself, am I traveling? Am I going to concerts or soccer games?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
Am I building in time for friends and hobbies? And what will all this cost me? So if I can get a sense of those things early on, then I can start saving. I personally use Ally for my high-yield savings account, and I've created different savings buckets for some of those wants, like travel and home improvement projects.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
So this way, I've kind of already given myself the permission to spend on the things that I want.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
You just want to air our dirty laundry, Sean. I get it.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
So I've made a lot of mistakes, but I'm thinking about a period in my life when I got my first real job out of graduate school and I moved to a brand new state. I had like a big girl salary for the first time in my life. It basically like tripled my grad school stipend. If you're a grad student, you know, it's like pennies on the dollar. Right. So needless to say, I bawled at the mall.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
I felt rich. I was rolling in it. But I got into debt quickly and suddenly I felt underwater again. Like it didn't even matter that my salary had tripled. Right. I was like, why do I feel poor? And looking back, there are so many other things I could have done with that money. including, I don't know, having a budget. I would just sort of pay my bills and then what was left was what was left.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
And I used that to shop. So I should have been saving for international travel before kids and starting an investing account. I have regrets about that time period, but... I learned a lot. And look at me now. I have a travel sinking fund. I have a retirement account. And I even own a home. Things work themselves out. But it was a learning period for sure.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
And if I could go back, I would have sat down with my former self and said, girl, you need a budget.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
I literally negotiated for my first salary like five years ago. I understand. I think that's common with women too. It's like, we're sort of taught to just be grateful to get what we can get. Right. A lot of the discourse around that has shifted, but like, yes, girl, you are worth the money. Yes. Pay me. I'm kidding.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
Okay, so Sean, I want to get your thoughts on part of Chris's question about knowing when you have enough saved and invested and can maybe pump the brakes on those two things. Since you're Mr. CFP, what do you think about this? Are there any benchmarks that Chris should consider? Any thresholds? What do we need to know?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
I imagine it has a feather. It's very fancy.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
But I think Chris's story points to that when it comes to money, you can be doing everything technically right, but still not feel fulfilled. And that part is up to you. And money is the tool to help you live the life you want. This is what Sean's been telling us over and over, right? So sure, there's risk involved.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
But I think in Chris's case, the risk seems less about financial inability or instability and more about stepping outside their comfort zone and into a potentially unknown but quite beautiful life.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Car Prices, Tariffs, and Trade-Offs: What to Know Before You Buy or Move Out
Thanks for having me, guys.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
That way you have evidence that someone has signed for the package. In general, when you're filing a credit dispute, you can do it online or over the phone. Now, the credit bureaus have 30 days by law to investigate and respond to your claims. So start your watch.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
In terms of building your credit back up, make sure you're making payments on time for all your bills and keep your credit utilization under 30% or lower if you can, ideally 10% or less. Credit utilization sounds like a fancy term, but what it really is is referring to how much of your credit limit you have in use at a given time.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
So for example, if your credit limit on a credit card is $1,000, spend no more than $300 to keep that utilization at 30% or below. These are the two biggest credit scoring factors, the payment history and credit utilization. So keeping some consistency in these areas should really help.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
There are definitely some free or low cost reporting services out there that our listener can look into. For example, Self is a free option and it reports to all three credit bureaus. Another option is Pinata. It's not free, but it's fairly low cost. It's about five dollars a month or sixty dollars a year. It also reports to all three bureaus.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
The perk of these is that you can utilize them no matter where you live. There are other services that require landlord participation and are free to renters, but that of course means your landlord needs to be on board, so there's some limitations there. We have an article that breaks down the kinds of rent reporting services that are available to folks, so it's worth checking out.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
Experian Boost is another free service that gives people credit for making on-time rent payments, as well as other things like your streaming service payments, utility payments, insurance payments. Once you connect your bank or credit card, your positive payments are recorded and then added to your Experian credit report.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
It should be noted that it's only going to be added to Experian if you use that service, whereas some of the others are added to all three credit reports.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
A credit freeze is a free and quick way to protect your credit from fraudulent activity, like someone using your personal information to open accounts in your name. When your credit is frozen, no one can open a new account in your name because when a potential lender goes to check your credit, they can't access the information they need to approve or deny the request.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
It's a great way to give yourself peace of mind, especially when data breaches leak our personal information and make us vulnerable to fraud. So to be totally secure, you have to freeze your credit with each major bureau. Again, those are Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. Once you create an online account, however, it's a straightforward process that should only take a few minutes.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
If you're planning on making a big purchase, like a new car, you can temporarily thaw your credit for a specified timeframe, after which the freeze will automatically begin again.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
So parents and guardians can freeze the credit of a child under the age of 16. Once you request a credit freeze, the credit bureau will create a file for that child and then freeze it. Scammers could use the children's social security numbers to open up a fraudulent account, and this isn't discovered until your kid applies for college or tries to open up their first credit card.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
To freeze your child's credit, you'll have to provide a lot of documentation, everything from copies of birth certificates and social security cards to a utility bill or bank statement with your identifying information on it. All of this to prove that you actually have the authority to do this, which is obviously meant to protect kids from identity theft.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
Equifax and Experian have child freeze request forms, which you should download, complete, and send in with all that required documentation using certified mail. TransUnion doesn't have a form, but we've made life easy for you. We've created a downloadable letter that you can print and complete.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
You're right, Sean. So let's break this down a little bit. The listener seems concerned that paying off the balance in full erases a person's record of ever having used the credit in the first place. They even mention a more vigilant group of people who use their credit card to make a purchase and then immediately pay it off to avoid debt. So here's the thing.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
Your credit card issuer definitely has a list of the transactions you have made alongside your payment history. That credit has been used and paid back and they know it, right? However, what lenders are reporting to the credit bureaus every month is if you've paid on time and your balances or how much of your limits that you're using at that particular time.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
There's two groups to think about in this case. There's the credit bureaus, which create your credit reports each month. And then there's the credit scoring companies like FICO and VantageScore, which take that report data and calculate your scores using their proprietary formulas.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
FICO and VantageScore are weighing your payment history and your credit utilization, along with a few other things like your credit age and credit mix, to calculate your scores. So there's two things sort of happening here. The credit bureaus are recording your history with credit. Did you pay on time, right?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
While the scoring companies like FICO and VantageScore are looking at your payment history and utilization and calculating a score for you.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
It essentially means that having a balance on your credit card, whether it's accumulated spending from that month or a balance you don't pay in full that carries over to the next month, does not help your credit score. Both the credit bureaus and lenders want to see that you're paying back the money you borrowed on time and consistently over time.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
That's why payment history is such a big piece of credit score calculations. Also, carrying a balance, even a small one, can hurt your credit score by increasing your credit utilization. If you're carrying a balance that pushes you over that recommended 30% threshold, it can really count against you.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
Just to echo you, Sean, this sounds like a really frustrating problem, especially since you, Abigail, automated your monthly mortgage payments to avoid this kind of situation happening in the first place. Here's the thing. A series of missed payments not only harms your score, but also stays on your credit reports for up to seven years. Abigail's also up against a few other challenges here.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
Missing several payments in a row damages your score more than just missing a single payment. And missed payments hurt people with good or excellent scores more. So in other words, the higher your score, the further you have to fall.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
First, I would definitely call your mortgage company and speak with someone about how your address got changed. That's strange to me, and I'd want to make sure that nothing like that happened again. This mistake sounds like it could have been made by the lender, and your credit score shouldn't have to suffer.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
There are two steps our listener can take. My first suggestion would be to write a goodwill letter asking the mortgage company to stop reporting the late payment. NerdWallet has a template that you can use that will help you. But essentially, you're simply asking the mortgage company to remove the missed payments since they weren't your fault. I know you might be really angry. I know I would.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
But don't let it reflect in your writing. Your goodwill letter should be polite and as detailed as possible because you really want to get the sympathy of your lender. Second, get a letter in writing from your mortgage lender stating exactly what went wrong and documenting how you've made up the missed payments. From there, get a copy of your credit reports using annualcreditreport.com.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
Those are free, by the way. There should be three reports, so one from each of the three major credit bureaus, which are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You're going to want to look and see how these missing payments were recorded on your credit reports. And from there, you're going to want to dispute the reported late payments with each of the bureaus.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays
Now, this is where that letter from your mortgage lender will come in handy. Make a copy of it and pair it with the dispute form from each of the credit bureaus. They each have their unique process for filing a dispute. So you want to check out our website at nerdwallet.com. Make sure you have all the documentation you need. I recommend sending the packets by certified mail.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
So the gist of a low buy or no buy is to create, you know, one or more spending goals for yourself and to stick to those goals for a certain period of time. So it could be a year like what I'm trying to do here, but it could also be shorter like a month. If you're anything.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
like me, your social media feeds were full of people doing low buy or no buy challenges in December, at least sort of setting up their challenges for the new year. As I was scrolling through those videos, it really got me thinking about my own spending habits and what goals I wanted to set for myself in the new year.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
Cutting back on areas of overspending and encouraging more mindful consumption are my two main goals, but there are others that you could pick too, like reducing clutter or making more ethical consumption choices.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
That sounds right. Yeah.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
This is a tough question. This is like something I really sat and was trying to be really conscientious about. I think if I had to sum up my big goal for this year, it would be this. Like, this is sort of like my mission statement. I want to have less financial stress, a more thoughtfully curated life, and the freedom to plan new experiences without guilt. So that's my little mission statement.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
One of my biggest goals for the year is not buying any new clothes. I'm allowing myself to thrift clothes or to buy secondhand, but the items that I purchase, this is the rub, the items that I purchase have to be made of better quality than what I currently have. So we're talking 100% cotton, we're talking wool, we're talking cashmere, silk, denim, no more plastic clothes.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
I really want to build a closet that I love and that also reflects my personal style. And, you know, it's changed a lot. I have two kids. I just turned 40 last year. And so I've just sort of decided I'm not going to be spending any money on plastic clothes anymore. The other thing is non-essential items. So makeup, perfume, like unless I need to replace something, I'm not buying it this year.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
I'm also putting a moratorium on household decor. And listen, HomeGoods used to love to see me coming. We have everything we need in this house to make it cozy, to make it comfortable. I can still take advantage of thrift stores to purchase items, but I'm looking to be more intentional and less susceptible to trends. And maybe you can feel me on that one.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
The same goes for new books. I love to read and I would say it's one of my biggest hobbies. And really, I want to have like a robust home library that reflects a wide range of genres and topics. But books are free at the library. Did you guys know this?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
Listen, don't attack me, Sean, about my TBR. I hear you. I hear you.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
You know, I have. And in fact, it's downloaded onto my phone. Thank you, ma'am.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
I have heard Libby is great. And it is true that there are used bookstores in town that I could take advantage of. And you mentioned thrift books. I love online discount booksellers, especially for kids' seasonal books. Like you can catch me at night scrolling and just seeing what I can pick up there. So those are all super great tips.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
And speaking of buying things for my kids, the next rule is going to be hard for me. And maybe other parents can relate. Here's the rule. No new kids' toys unless it's like a birthday or a holiday. Elizabeth. Now, listen, I tend to splurge on my kids and I don't know how you feel about your son, but like I buy them this toy. We're out. You know, can I mommy, can I have this?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
And they end up playing with the new toy for approximately six hours and then ditching it. And the kids have more than enough. And I think what I've decided is that I'm going to focus on toy rotation. So putting some toys away in the closet and every few weeks freshening them up, putting some things away, bringing some new things out.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
So listen, as far as they're concerned, they're going to feel like they're getting new toys all the time anyway. It's just stuff they already have that's been in the closet.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
These are hard lessons to learn.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
Absolutely not.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
That's a devastating lesson to learn as a parent. I have my similar ones to learn about the thing that they begged for now simply collecting dust in the corner. It's tough.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
Okay, so the last thing that I want to do is set myself up to fail, right? Life is hard enough. So I've carved out like pre-planned days or events where I'm giving myself permission to spend. For example, my husband and I have already booked this trip to go to the mountains for my birthday in October.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
And the town that we're staying at is like this little mountain town known for cute antique shops and boutiques. So I've already told myself, yes, it's January, but like Amanda, you can shop while you're there. For some reason, mentally, that feels nice, knowing that I have that permission.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
We're also going to go to the Masters Golf Tournament in April, and I'm definitely going to get some little swag, some goodies from the gift shop. Thinking about dining out or taking out, for some people, this is like really high on their list of rules. But as parents of small children, my husband and I don't eat out much or we don't do that much takeout.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
We're already kind of frugal when it comes to our grocery budget and things like that. So it's already kind of a treat, but I'm not going to be depriving myself of that unless it starts to feel like a financial problem. Then I'll reassess. And I think that that's the key is that You have to think about it as sort of like a living contract with yourself.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
So if other financial problem pain points appear, then you can change the rules on yourself. Right. And so that's where I stand on takeout and dining out. But for some people, that might be top of the list.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
I chose a year because I really, really wanted to fundamentally change my relationship with spending, with scrolling online, with being influenced. And I just felt like a month might not actually break through what is going on in my brain. And the year gives me a chance to make a big financial impact. When I say it in my mission statement, like I want to have planned experiences without guilt.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
I want a year's worth of savings on stuff that, you know, like plastic sweaters that I might have bought or whatever. to go toward meaningful experiences, travel, taking my kids places, going to concerts, things that are going to be lasting memories. So that's why I chose a year. In terms of tracking my progress, I am maybe still one of the few weirdos out there who has a paper planner.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
On the month days, every day that I succeed, that I keep my rules intact, I cross through in green. And if there's a day where I slip up, I'm going to highlight it and put the amount of money that I spent. I will report. I logged into my banking app this weekend to pay a bill. And when I went to my credit card, you know, usually it lists your transaction history. Y'all, there was nothing there.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
for the first time.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
Let me tell you, I really felt so proud of myself. Obviously, another piece of accountability is just checking in. I don't know if you've ever felt nervous to log into your bank account. This is sort of shifting that, like I almost feel proud to log in. So I've also started a note in my phone called what I wanted to buy but didn't. And it's sort of hilarious.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
And it is a wild ride through Amanda's emotional journey of trying not to be influenced by people on the Internet. So I've been jotting down the things that I wanted to buy and how much they cost. And so maybe monthly, I don't know, I'll total up the money and just see, like, what did I save by not impulsively buying those things? And then I thought to myself, you know what?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
As birthday come up, as Christmas comes up, and people ask me, well, what do you want for Christmas? What do you want for your birthday? I'm going to have a list already ready to go. The other piece of the list is I kind of just want to remind myself that it's okay to get comfortable with the idea of wanting something, but not immediately buying it for myself.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
I feel like as adults with jobs, if there's something that we want, we tend to buy it for ourselves. But maybe I just need to sit in that discomfort of saying like, I want that, but I'm not going to have it right now.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
Listen, if I can hire a house cleaner, I say this jokingly, but I really want to feel more in control of what comes into my home. And I want to use the money that I would have spent on just like stuff to help solve this other pain point in my life, which is cleaning my house. That would free up time, energy, anger, all of these things that every time I have to scrub my shower, I cycle through.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
But, you know, I'm also hoping to use the time I spent online shopping to reinvest into building a community and hobbies. Shopping is not a hobby, even though I think I might have described it that way. Like, Amanda, what are your hobbies? Oh, I like to shop. It's not a hobby. I want to put my energy into relationships and doing things that I love, not making returns to Old Navy.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
And I'm not here to slander Old Navy. But when the woman at the cash register begins to recognize you... which is something that happened to me. Like, I knew something had to change. And then becoming uneasily influenced, I think, is going to be another huge marker of my success. Like, why am I letting strangers on the internet tell me what I need?
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
I want to give them less power and space in my brain without giving up the internet altogether. Like, I've got to figure out how to strike that balance, you know? There's a lot of community to be had online. But being online doesn't mean that I need to be spending money.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
I love that. I need to join that. Me too.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
Paying attention to what you have too much of might be a good indication of where you're overspending. So do you have a shelf full of unburned candles or like a cabinet full of unopened lotion bottles? Do you have clothes in your closet that still have tags on them? I took out a sweater the other day that had a tag from like two years ago. So, you know, no judgment.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
When it comes to setting your rules, I found it really, really helpful to see what others on social media were doing. Just searching for low buy or no buy in the search bar turns up tons of users who are participating in the same kinds of challenges. You could watch their videos, see what rules resonate with you.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
It's also nice to plug into these spaces so you can feel a sense of solidarity and accountability.
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
The Price Isn’t Right: How to Stop Overspending and Stay Debt-Free
Thanks for having me, y'all.