WHEW!  Today we're gonna talk about how I
say $50,000 in a year. Hi friends Welcome
to Freedom In A Budget I'm Kelly
and my channel is all about living life
well on a budget and a budget of the
constricting what you're not doing thing
no it gives you freedom and we are going
to get very personal and talk about how
I saved fifty thousand dollars in a year
which is crazy and honestly when I was
running the numbers and realized how
much we had saved I started crying and
not like just misty I crying I mean like
crying because if you guys don't know
too much about my story not too long ago
I was living paycheck to paycheck I was
behind in my bills I had my power turned
off multiple times I did not know how to
manage money and I just was really
really in a dark place financially and
it was bad and it was scary and I was
afraid to have a knock on the door which
would have been a delivery man but I
thought they were gonna come and take
all of my stuff because I was so behind
on bills and I know that's not how it
works but when you're that deep in debt
and that just deep in financial struggle
that's the fear that you live with and
it was a scary scary place and just a
couple years ago I you know decided that
enough was enough and I had to turn my
life around and I have some videos
coming out in the next couple weeks
where I'm gonna go step by step on how I
turn my life I was able to go from
living paycheck to paycheck and fear
absolutely fear to now winning with
money and contrary to popular belief it
wasn't just getting married and adding
on a salary these changes happen far
before Jayme and I got married and we
didn't combine our finances until we got
married and I honestly believe that we
were winning with money I was winning
with money far before I got married so
no it wasn't just that we combine
incomes there were some really really
drastic changes that happened so if you
want to hear about those stories stay
tuned I would love for you to subscribe
to my channel there's gonna be some
really really fun great deep content
coming and I'm going to be getting a lot
more raw on this channel I'm gonna be
start sharing some of those those harder
stories that I you know a lot of times I
just want to give the facts for you guys
and talk about you know different ways
that you can win what's money
different ways that you can get ahead
but I don't always talk about the hard
times and the things that I've been
through and so I want to kind of share a
little bit more about myself in that way
and be a little bit more vulnerable with
you guys so stay tuned for that also
make sure you stay to the end of the
video I have a giveaway coming up so I
want to share all that with you so I'm
going to give you all the details at the
end so hi now to the feature content of
how we were able to save fifty thousand
dollars in a year first thing we did is
cut back majorly on toiletries now I'm
not saying that we went without washing
her face or hands and dish soap and
stuff like that no I'm not saying that
but I personally was so guilty of just
buying toiletries especially shampoo and
face wash
anytime it was on sale I don't know why
but it was a hoarding problem and I have
a whole linen closet full of shampoo and
it was embarrassing when I moved up how
much shampoo conditioner or face wash
and stuff we have so I vowed to not buy
anymore until those are gone even though
it may be shampoo that I don't really
want to use anymore or there's a really
great new smelling one there different
one that I want to try nope not gonna do
it so this year we really really cut
back on just those items that we already
have some of in the house you know are
there already items that we can use that
we don't have to you know use disposable
or using cloth napkins versus disposable
napkins or paper towels we have had one
roll of paper towels for over eight
months now it is that same roll we just
barely use paper towels and you know the
only time we really ever use paper
towels is cleaning up things like grease
or different things like that and the
payment kind of like soaking that up but
other than that we use cloth and we just
have dish towels and we just throw them
in the laundry like normal and just use
them that way
next thing we did to save fifty thousand
dollars this year was grower income and
again no not by combining finances or
anything like that but we hustled that I
was out there with mystery shopping I
was meal prepping for my co-workers I
was a growing my youtube channel and
blog and putting out these videos and
guys there's so many times where I don't
want to film right before now I didn't
want to film and I sat around for an
hour procrastinating not filming but
you know at the end of the day I gotta
get hustling and you know I do make a
decent income from these videos and my
blog posts and all of that so just
getting out there ant hustling over time
I asked for overtime and I actually got
pulled into a meeting saying I had too
much overtime and it was devastating and
all I could think about was whole crap
what about our financial goals what are
we gonna do we've hit some like we have
these stretch goals that we really want
to hit this year and how am I gonna do
it now with my or time is tough so you
know what I got creative I pulled my
bosses aside and I said okay
I understand that my particular job
right now we can't justify the overtime
but are there other departments that I
can help and we brainstorm didn't really
like you know what this department could
use some help they can use some overtime
they have some stuff that you can do now
it wasn't stuff that I wanted to do it
wasn't stuff that it was stuff that I
had to do some training on it was stuff
that outside of my scope and outside of
what I felt comfortable with and
honestly some of the stuff sucked and I
didn't want to do it but it was worth
the overtime guys you have to get out of
your comfort zone sometimes you have to
put yourself in the line to make some
extra money
now nothing illegal stuff but guys
sometimes you have to get out of your
comfort zone and you have to do things
that you just don't want to I'll be
honest with you it sucks sometimes but
you got to do it next thing we did is
ate the same meals multiple multiple
multiple times pretty much every single
day five days a week for lunches and it
sucked and I hated it but you know at
the end of the day saving money is more
important to me than eating the same
meal or burn times and a lot of times
I'll think about it you know all my
co-workers and I water my coworkers go
out to lunch every single day or get
delivery food or we have a cafe
downstairs and they'll get that food and
Here I am eating my lunch same food and
by Friday it doesn't taste as good as it
did on Monday I'll be honest but you
know what it's 15 minutes of my day and
yeah sometimes it's not very exciting
not very fun but it save so much money
by bringing my own food every single day
in fact
one day last week I was celebrating
because I was actually on CBS News and
so they came out and it just aired I
think it's airing tonight maybe tonight
but CBS news so I was excited I was you
know mine was my first TV appearance and
so cool and so I wanted to celebrate and
so you know what I've celebrated I got
some lunch that was to go and nothing
was like it $25 with like delivery and
transaction fee and all that separately
online which was ridiculously expensive
it was like a whole week's worth of
lunches in one meal but my co-workers
were so shocked they were like Kelly
what is wrong with you who is this
person I don't even know who you are
anymore
and that just shows how I truly do bring
my lunch at every single day I think you
could count the amount of times that I
brought that I've eaten out at work on
one hand over the years years and you
know what does it save so much money and
it is really a big game-changer in just
hitting those goals next thing that we
did is set weekly savings goals so we
sat down with our budget and said okay
in order to hit this $50,000 what do we
have to be saving every single week what
do we have to transfer into our savings
account every single week we bought a
house this year that was a huge huge
goal up that we really really wanted to
do we had mold in our old apartment and
a lot of issues with that and so we were
motivated we wanted out of that
apartment we wanted out of there quickly
and we wanted to buy that house and you
know what we were actually able to do it
sooner than expected which was really
cool so we had weekly savings goals that
we had to hit and one of the ways that
we were able to do that is staying out
of the store so that was a really really
big one of just not going into you know
targeted or Marshalls Marshalls a big
one for me just to kill time you know a
lot of times before I would be running
early for an appointment or different
things like that like Oh targets next
door I'll just stop in no I'm not gonna
do that I would rather say my car reply
to YouTube comments something like that
then go and kill time because you know
when you're killing time your end up
buying a couple things let's be honest
at least I do and then when you see that
savings grow and you see that you're
making progress and you see your savings
account grow and grow and grow it is mo
innovating guys it is exhilarating when
you're seeing that grow and grow and
grow and that makes me want to cut back
even more so that I can see it grow next
thing we did is maybe a little bit weird
is I made sure that I followed up on any
refunds that we are expecting or any
rebates or anything like that there were
a couple times throughout the year that
we were supposed to receive a refund and
we never did one example is Jayme's
dentist and Jayme had switch over a new
insurance plan and his dentist had to
bill him the full amount so we paid in
full and then they were going to send
off to insurance and then get a check
refunded so we did all that then they
said okay you're gonna be getting three
hundred dollars two hundred ninety-eight
dollars back in a check we're like
awesome this is great
okay so then a couple months went by and I was
like "wait a second I don't think we ever
got that check back" and so I had to call
up the the dentist knew like yeah we
sent that to you and I was like can you
confirm the address that you send it to
and it turns out they sent it to our
apartment I said can you please look
into that because I don't have it
refunded cash in my my budget and
they're like oh maybe your husband asked
no no no trust me we track every single
penny I don't have it cashed in our
budget so can you go and make sure that
the check didn't clear and so they go
okay so they said they'll call me back
week goes by no callback I'm calling
back so I called back and they're like
oh yeah you were right we were supposed
to call you and we'll have them reissue
another check and two and I said okay
can you check the address and all of
that so guys if we didn't follow up
twice on that that's $300 that we would
have missed out on so make sure that
you're following up on rebates so many
stores will have these rebates
especially Black Friday deals or those
big length appliances different things
like that they're banking on you not
sending in the rebate you know you're
saying oh and you purchased that's great
we'll get a couple hundred dollars back
rebate all this stuff and then you
forget and you're like oh oh well that's
a couple hundred bucks whatever no guys
make sure that you're following up with
that stuff make sure that if you are
expecting a refund make sure that you're
putting it in your calendar your phone
count or whatever it is to follow up
with them to make sure they get that
rebate or that cash back or
that refund check make sure it's
important next is finalizing a budget
every single month you guys know that I
am a huge huge huge person on a
zero-based budget you guys know I love
my budget report cards in I still budget
every single month and one of the
reasons that we were able to hit our
goal so fast is that we finalize the
budget so at the end of the month if we
had $200 left over we are putting that
$200 towards our savings if we had X
amount of money that was going towards
our savings that wasn't just like going
into a dark hole of our checking account
and it just a it's a buffer it's a
buffer it's it's fine no that needs to
be transferred to your savings account
to your debt whatever your goal is you
need to make that transfer and you need
to make that deposit you need to make
that payment so that you are hitting
your goals if you just let it go into
the black dark hole it's gonna get lost
trust me it will next is specific
spending freezes so a lot of times
people and I've done this in the past
and I did a couple years ago I don't do
them anymore but I would do monthly
spending freezes and you don't spend any
money outside of your bills your four
walls those are great but honestly now
what we do is specific freezes so no
eating out no extra entertainment no X
whatever it is and just have those
specific categories and you can still
spend in other places but having those
categories freeze they really help you
just to hone in on your goal and so they
make it more doable and so they're not
getting burnt out and different things
like pantry challenges we saved so much
money
pantry challenges oh my gosh there are
so many meals that you guys can make
guys from what you have in your freezer
your pantry different places like that
so many meals and say you had $20 left
for the month you guys can make a
stretch you guys can do it
both maybe now if you have five kids but
for a couple like Jayme and I we could
make $20 stretch for a week and because
we could probably go and eat three weeks
out of our fridge freezer and pantry if
if it really came down to it now it all
depends on how serious you are about
your goals you know how dedicated do you
want to get and a lot of times you
no you just have these stretch goals and
you just have just just this time that
you need to be gazelle intense and
hardcore and then afterwards you can
breathe a little bit and then afterwards
you can you know kind of go more to
those fuller meals but sometimes guys
it's not gonna hurt you to you know II
out of the pantry eat some you know
chicken that's been in your freezer for
a couple months it's it's gonna be fun
so I hope that helps I don't know this
just kind of got a little intense but
guys say to you fifty thousand dollars
in a year was intense it was a lot but
it was so rewarding when we were able to
buy this house because of it
so now on to the giveaway I have fired
up so Jamie and I like I said we have
been so blessed this year and we are
just so thankful for you guys and we
want to give back to you so what we're
doing is a Christmas a blessing and
giveaway and we want you guys to be able
to nominate people in your life that are
going through some struggles and growing
through some stuff and I have a form on
my blog that you guys can fill out a
nominative family nominate someone that
is going through some stuff though and
do some struggles I've already gotten
some entries in and whole the tiers have
been flowing and it doesn't have to be
you know a super super snap story it
could just be you know someone is going
through you know a job loss or they just
lost a family member or you know they
have a disease that they were just
diagnosed with or whatever it may be or
maybe they're fostering some some
shelter know whatever it could be if you
be a waitress that you don't know too
well but we are going to be picking one
of those family and then bang them
Christmas gifts and blessing them with
gifts and their children and I know that
Christmas is just such a fun and
exceeding time and a lot of people they
want to be able to give especially for
their kids but they can't so we're gonna
buy them gifts so Jamie and I are so
excited we have a forum on our blog that
you can go and nominate that family and
surprise them so we are going to be
drawing those names on December 10th and
then after we draw the name we'll reach
out to you if you if we pick your entry
and then we can go and get all the
details and the information so super
excited I'm so I'm just so thrilled for
this and it is such a blessing for G
and I to do and we can't wait to get
back to you guys so super fun and
exciting there's a little random acts of
kindness that we are doing so so pumped
so I'll have it the blog post down below
in the description box but it's freedom
and a budget come slash Christmas
giveaway so I hope that you will
nominate a family that is a need share
this get the word out we want this to be
big we want to be able to bless a family
so we are so excited and I think I've
said that like 10 times that I am I'm so
excited you guys all right guys next up
is how I went from living paycheck to
paycheck having a car repossessed making
six figures here I'll see you in that
video
