Keep Hope Alive Podcast
Keep Hope Alive through the power of knowing who you are as a person and expressing self-love. Life is a journey and with the blank pages we create our story. Keep Hope Alive is about the power of knowledge in today's world. ALL topics are welcomed.
Keep Hope Alive Podcast
Money Matters: How to Take Control of Your Finances
Join us for an insightful episode that dives into the world of personal finance and empowerment with Kathy Cuevas, a seasoned financial coach dedicated to helping women take control of their finances. Kathy shares her inspiring journey from financial chaos to achieving financial freedom and stability, equipping listeners with actionable strategies to navigate their own financial paths.
We explore the transformative power of budgeting—referred to as a “spending plan”—and how shifting your mindset around money can lead to growth and peace of mind. Kathy’s unique coaching tactics are designed to help individuals assess their spending habits, develop effective budgets, and ultimately create a savings plan that aligns with their life goals.
Throughout the episode, Kathy shares real stories from clients who have seen dramatic improvements in their financial situations, proving that it's never too late to make positive changes. You’ll learn practical tools and techniques that can be easily integrated into your daily life, as well as the emotional and psychological aspects of financial wellness that are often overlooked.
Whether you’re just starting on your financial journey or need support in navigating your current struggles, this episode provides invaluable insights that can guide you toward a brighter, more secure financial future. Tune in to transform your relationship with money and embrace a proactive approach to financial management.
Ready to start your journey? Reach out to Kathy for coaching support and let’s get you on the path to financial freedom!
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Love & Light - Keep Hope Alive
Hello and welcome to Keep Hope Alive podcast. My name is Nadine. Today we got a special guest. I got Kathy Cuevas. I hope I said it right. Did I say it right?
Speaker 2:It's close, kathy Cuevas. It was slaughtered when I was a teacher, so it's like Miss C Miss.
Speaker 1:C is here in the house with us. She is a financial coach. She empowers women and we're going to dive into what she does and how she helps us and everything. But first, before we get started, I got a quick question for you. Okay, so out of the past year, how many weddings have you been to? Okay, so out of the past year, how many weddings have you been to the past year? None, none, okay, well, let's say, you and I got invited to a friend's wedding and we were walking into the ceremony part and to the right, there is something that we need to sign to let them know we were there. What are we signing the guest book? Them know we were there? What are we signing the guestbook? Yay, okay.
Speaker 1:Well, one of our biggest sponsors is Life on Record and what they do, instead of having a guestbook, they do a vintage rotary phone, which is really cool, so your guests can come up, pick it up, leave a message Congratulations on your big day, or maybe it's a groomsman saying it's about time you put a ring on her finger. Right next to that, they have a QR code that your guests can scan and they can leave a message on their mobile device, either before or after or a week after, it doesn't matter of their congratulations as well. And what they do is they burn all these messages either on a 10-inch vinyl records or you can put a habit on a keepsake speaker. They're personalized and very, very cute. I call it the gift of hearing voices, and it's a great concept. So you get to keep the phone number, you got to return the phone for one year, and their plans start at $99.
Speaker 1:Not only weddings. This can go for family reunions, corporate events, high school graduations, whatever collects that voice and that message. Check them out at wwwlifeonrecordcom. All right, well, kathy C got you down to the C. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm a female who's gone from the bad side of finances to the fantastic side of finances.
Speaker 1:That is amazing. So let's see, take us through that journey. How and when did you know this is something you wanted to do with your life?
Speaker 2:primarily women, but I just kind of just stumbled into my lap.
Speaker 2:And then my last 13 years of teaching happened to be at a high school where they asked me to teach personal finance, and I just got really good at this. And just before that, though, even on my personal education, after my what would you call it, the dark hole, the abyss I was in financially, just struggling to get out, learning things along the way, I now have a sincere passion, especially for women, to help them either avoid what I did by knowing what not to like, the things I didn't do I should have, or how to help them get out of it much quicker than they would going through the whole school of hard knocks like I did, or even, as maybe more advanced topics, teaching them how to pick the better we do you call it like the funds they have a choice of through their employer on the 401k plan or 403B wherever they work at, or SCP plan of their self-employed entrepreneurs, to just anything finances, just helping them lead a better, stronger life and having the financial dream future that everybody deserves. And loves?
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely, because I know I want to make more money and I should learn about my finances and how to do better. I mean, I struggle at times, but I just made a big decision in my life but it had to involve moving and I wanted to get that out of the way, because my goals later are to start saving up for my son's car. My son wants to go to college oh you, he wants to play more football. So I'm trying to create this wonderful life in good old Oklahoma now and start preparing for his future. Maybe it's me taking a step back, but I know I want to travel more, so, but that's good. So you're helping people, I guess, with the lessons. Are you doing them on Zoom? Is that how you're doing them, or?
Speaker 2:Right now I'm focusing on private coaching, one-on-one online, so it's just like you and me and then I'm also going to be having once I get a couple of people in there that are really eager to do it I'll start doing group, like extra time, with whatever coaching plan they choose. But you know, you mentioned something it's not about wanting to make more money. It's really about how much you save and how you spend what you do spend. It's not necessarily having to make more money, because somebody on a low income house can do just as well as somebody with a million dollars. Obviously, they can't invest as much as them, but if they do their finances right, within time they could be like that millionaire, which is exactly what I stumbled into without even trying. It just happened after my struggle. So your circumstances don't define you. You define you.
Speaker 1:Oh that's a good way to put it. Yeah, I never really thought of it like that, so you're teaching me right now.
Speaker 2:Well, we all make mistakes, but your mistake does not describe who you are. Everyone is not perfect, but if you stay on track, then yes, then you, you define who you are. I'm going to be successful, I'm going to lose weight, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. You decide that, but everybody has stumbling blocks in life. That gets thrown your way in the process.
Speaker 1:My goodness. So like I'm already intrigued, like how many lessons or times would I have talk to you like out of this session? Because I was like this is not a one time thing. I would need to talk to you probably 10 times to get on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's different plans I have, and it's definitely every week in a month. So, whether you need a little bit of help just to get in the way, then you do fine. Then you want to come back later on and do the same little help, or maybe do a longer help, or maybe you need you want to take care of everything now. Then I have up to a six month plan. It just depends on your needs and I would say in six months that's a lot of time, but then you definitely tackle more than one thing. You would tackle managing your money better and learning how to save for your son's car or this or that or a house, or you know. You'd learn all that and then you'd have this start to all of it. Then you could do it yourself after that If you continue on the plan.
Speaker 1:That is really cool. That is really really cool. So what has been? I don't, I don't. How do I ask this? What's the main struggle that you see with the clients? That is a repetitive one.
Speaker 2:There's probably two major ones. One you've heard the saying you get to the end of the month and you don't know where your money went. That's typically people that carry a lot of cash on themselves and pay, you know, $5 Starbucks, no-transcript, and really just they don't track us. They don't know where that money went. That's the hugest thing. The second thing is people that they want to have the car. Like you said, you want to save up for a car, you want to save for retirement, but you don't have a set plan. So that's where the budget comes in. And when. When I was teaching at school so cool. You know kids don't like the word budget, but everybody loves the word spending plan. Is that? Do you like to spend? That's better.
Speaker 1:A budget is telling your money where you want to spend it Got you we all love to spend you.
Speaker 2:Just it's the, it's your mindset. You make it positive. But to some people that word budget sounds like negative or my God, it's like a punishment, like a weight loss, like a diet or something. But it's not. You're physically telling your money where to go and once you get that mindset and you see how like if you show your separate savings accounts and I do spreadsheets for everything you can see how compounded can exponentially grow and how quick you can get to where you want to go, especially now that it's tax refund time.
Speaker 1:That's a big jumpstart to where you want to go, especially now that it's tax refund time.
Speaker 2:That's a big jumpstart to where you want to be. You see how quickly they will grow.
Speaker 1:And because I know, like I was, like whenever I get back for a tax refund and I made it a Christmas gift for my son I was like we're going to the beach and now that we moved it's a little bit different story. But like you got me thinking because the way I thought I could save a little bit more would be like, um, at Walmart they have those little box with the you know glass and it says travel adventure fund and so I've thrown my change in there in dollars and you know, until we get it gone up and up and then we use it for the trip. But sometimes I still want to dive in there Like I need help getting gas. So it's not the best way and I know it's a mindset thing and I see your face right now You're like shame on you.
Speaker 2:No, I'm thinking I can help you with that. First of all, you want your money to make money for you. You want it to work for you while you're sleeping, make money. And those little boxes at Walmart I haven't seen but that's a gimmick. How much interest are you making while it's sitting at home in that box? None. How easy is it for you to get into it if you want? Oh, we're going to go out to lunch with the girls or something, or my son needs this for football, right? It's too easy.
Speaker 2:So what I did every month I got as a teacher, I got paid once a month and it had to last for the whole month, and part of my plan was I had different savings categories. It's a spreadsheet I gave to my clients and I explained how to fill that all out and everything. And on the spreadsheet I had X amount going toward, like a percentage going towards my retirement account, a percentage going towards my emergency account, until that was fully funded, which is, I recommend, six to nine months of your living expenses. Because we all know what happened in COVID we were off work more than six months, except for me. But teachers, you know necessities or whatever you want to call them, but I saw the struggle in my students' families.
Speaker 2:So you have your savings, your retirement. You have your savings Beyond that. You have, like, your trip fund. I'm going to go to the beach, so you have a trip fund. So every month you put something. You dictate it because it's your spending plan. Do you want to put $50? And what I did is I had it go up to an online account. I use Ally and every and I had separate suffixes and Ally. So this much money went into my emergency fund. This much went into my car future car fund. Even though I paid off my car, I need another car. So it's just you just delegate. You tell it where to go, where you're going to spend it, and it's there for you and you get paid interest every month while you're doing it.
Speaker 1:I like that. I'm going to have to look at that and it's so funny because my ex works for Ally.
Speaker 2:I've got another trick for you too. Do you have time? Yes, I do, yes, I do. So you know about CDs, right? Yeah, okay, there's banks, and maybe not your own bank, but you can go online and find who's paying the highest, like by bankratecom, look who's paying the highest rates and cds. And once you have in your emergency account, right, or your car fund account, let's say you have two or three thousand dollars in there and you're you got a bigger goal right.
Speaker 2:In january or whatever month, you put a thousand dollars into a cd. February, put a thousand dollars into another one. March, thousand into a CD. February, put $1,000 into another one. March into a different one. So if you do six-month CDs and you get six months out, every six months, you have $1,000 or whatever come due. So if you have an emergency, you can take it out without penalty. In the meantime all the rest of them are making their money. But if you put all let's say, $5,000 or $6,000 into one CD and you need some money, you got to close the whole CD and you lose all the interest. There's a penalty of like a month in the rears. So that's why I say break it up. That way you're stagnant If you don't need it, then let it roll over. I set mine to automatically roll over and they send you notice email like it's maturing in next week. Then you can go back. All I say pay it into my savings account, pay it into this account or let it roll over.
Speaker 1:So that is really good idea. I like that All of them.
Speaker 2:That's what I do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember and I still want to look into this and I can't say the company name, but when I had my daughter they were advertising like this towards your kids college, and I kept doing it. But over time I stopped getting mail and I was like where is that money right now? Like I have no idea. I saw it was collecting, it was in the hundreds, but it's like the whole company disappeared. So I don't know, Does that mean everybody?
Speaker 2:loses their money. If it was a legitimate bank or something, they should have been FDIC insured or credit union CUA insured, which means if they went belly up you get all your money back up to $250,000 per account. So you need to find out the organization. If they were insured by the FDIC Typical banks are FDIC. If it wasn't, then you're in a lot, but typically any. I don't recommend anybody put money anywhere that's not insured any.
Speaker 1:I don't recommend anybody put money anywhere it's not insured. Yeah, definitely, okay. Well, that is another lesson learned and everything. So tell me about a time that you helped a client and they just they took your advice and they are just a positive blow of light. I'm using my hands.
Speaker 2:Well, a recent one, and this just goes to show if you're just shown what to do, you've got the power to do it. I volunteered for actually let me back up a little bit Last October I went on a business conference in Atlanta for financial people this financial people conference and I happened to bump into this woman, really sweet woman, and told me about this thing, about helping people budgeting. I thought I can do that and I think I'll volunteer like once or twice. Right, it was a 10 week commitment and once I said I'm going to do it, I did it and actually I just finished a couple of weeks ago. This is an organization that's called Woman Money Matters and they help people anywhere. We did Zoom calls.
Speaker 2:My girl lived in, I want to say, I think, georgia or someplace actually I don't remember, but she lived back East and I'm in California and she had. She was low income, she had three kids. She wasn't married, the little one, they were like one, three and five all under five years old and she was struggling and she didn't have a car and her first goal was to eventually get a car and a house. So she's on food stamp, she's getting some financial aid, she does have a job. She's trying to pick herself up and get off that and everything else. And I gave her my budget sheet that I mentioned a little earlier, had her fill it out. She was going in the hole every month and I said and I told her be careful. I said, make sure you use accurate what you really spend on these things. And I think she probably intended to do it like she thinks she spends, but she was going in the hole. I said at this rate you're going to be bankrupt within three or four years. I said let's look at each item.
Speaker 2:So we spent our second meeting, or first meeting, second meeting, going item by item and I said do you really spend $25 a month on clothes on your kids? The older one can pass to the next one and so forth. Now I know the baby, they grow up fast and I know myself. I had a lot of hand-me-down clothes from my mom was a housekeeper and she worked for people who had kids around our age. So we got there which were nice clothes but they were like new to us and it's like better we could afford to buy.
Speaker 2:So I told her about her numbers and by the end of the second week or the third week, she was now saving $700 plus a month Just for learning and being told to see where she's putting her money at it's. You just have to see it in front of you and that's probably the biggest. She was like doing the freaking happy dance and I helped her. After that, I told her about doing the online car fund, so the money doesn't disappear into the blanket, and we talked about some people love the. Have you heard about the envelope system or the?
Speaker 1:Oh no, I mean I tried to envelope back in the day, but I don't think it did much for me.
Speaker 2:Well, there's people that love it now and they have my Amazon, they have Montemu no-transcript. To me that's good if you're disciplined and you don't live in a crime rate where someone's going to come in housebreaking and steal your binder with your money, and I believe in banking. But as you get a paycheck, that disciplines you to know I need to put this much and use it for cash. And then we taught her how to build credit. So she now knows when her score gets up to a certain level, then she's going to start applying for real credit cards not the secured ones and start to build a credit. So when she does buy that car. I told her about going to a credit union that if you have a bad score like my daughter did, your rates way up here, after a couple of months of making payments they drop your rate. Couple of months they drop, drop your account. And if you have the payments come out of your account, you're never late, you just make sure the money's there.
Speaker 2:So I taught her a lot of skills she needed for her future. She's off to a fantastic start, so I'm really happy for her.
Speaker 1:That is so good. That is so so good because I've seen the whole thing with the cars with me. I just have bad luck with cars and this is the first year I had to have a co-signer and I'm like this stinks. But I had hail, damage my tires. It was an accident. They were gone, the windshield cracked and it was huge. It wasn't going to pass inspection and I was just like you know, I tried to turn it in and they're like it's undriveable, like this is totaled, and I was like, oh my gosh, my baby, I love my Subaru. I was like I don't want to see this go. But for the first time they were like, well, you're upside down, unfortunately, is what they told me. So that's the first thing I want to do is fix that hole. Now I know I used I had a coworker back in the day say, oh, use Credit Karma, it will kind of give you that push also to kind of look and see what your scores are.
Speaker 1:And I did and it was motivational. I just got to get back to doing it and I was able to raise the score up to get my apartment and everything at the time. So I was proud of myself. It's just kind of getting back on that bandwagon of being in that positive energy and moving forward and really it's a mindset and what I liked about your bio and reading stuff. You call it a pathway and I want to get into that. I'm going to do a quick little commercial. How are we doing? I am like here squinting. I got new glasses. I'm just not used to them, so all right.
Speaker 1:So Snap Vans is one of our sponsors also and Snap Vans look like this right here. I got my Pandora going over and they have mantra words on each of their bands. This one says hope. Imagine that. They come with mantra words like peace, love, fearlessness. They also have faith now and just a hint hint in their little code, if you wanted the word faith, you had to put K-H-A for keep hope alive and they do it all different colors.
Speaker 1:Now the science behind snap bands is they have this elastic right here and when you pull it out and you say one of the mantra words and just, I will tell you what I use it for. But it will help you with the thoughts of anxiety, depression, ptsd. So it sends a signal to your brain to kind of take a deep breath in, take a deep breath out, let it out. This world has changed. A lot of people are going through this, whether we like it or not, but this has helped me. Now I know I have medical PTSD and I would like to thank my doctor for that.
Speaker 1:But I use mine because every time I'm in the hospital they're trying to find a vein and I'm the hardest stick. It could take six times, eight times a big ultrasound machine. So I'm the hardest stick. It could take six times, eight times big ultrasound machine. So I'm constantly praying. I hope I have faith. I'm clicking this. You know that they find it in the first try.
Speaker 1:Now what's great about these? Every bracelet bought they give a portion to different foundations and different groups that help with. You know the behavioral side of it too, so, but I love everything they offer. They're waterproof. I love they. I call it the business line and he doesn't even know I do it. The black, the browns, the whites, the beige. And then they have the fun colors like the blues, the reds, greens, whites, the beige. And then they have the fun colors like the blues, the reds, greens and yellows. So check them out at snapbandscom and that's spelled S-N-A-P-P-B-A-N-D-Z. All right, well, let's get back to what I was asking you this pathway you create, I'm so intrigued with it because it's like a roadmap to me. It's like I want to see it. I'm a visual person and I know you're probably like drawing it out for your clients too. I'm so happy talking to you, yeah.
Speaker 2:Good stock chart always goes up and up and I I'll do a spreadsheet, so I'll do a graph and watch that graph grow up and up of your savings and stuff. But everybody's individual, everybody's path is different. Everybody starts at a different place. There's no one cookie cutter place for everybody, so everybody's got a customized thing for them and their personality type, whether they're a saver or they have to have a little splurge. Everybody's different so we try to make it so that it fits them, so that they don't get depressed, sad, bummed out, fall off the wagon and not want to go back on again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and it's different, like I know. I realized I'm proud of myself. I realized one of the biggest issues I had with spending is I love to go out sing karaoke and you know I have enough money for me. What am I going to get? I'm going to get a grilled cheese and a Coca-Cola. I may have a glass of wine, I may even do one shot or two, but that was my budget for me and sometimes my friends. I don't think I have enough. And then I'm here going, got you, hello. When I'm looking at that bell, how did I get them? This is actually killing me and hurting me. So let's limit time from doing karaoke and going out with big crowds. I mean, maybe that was the thing for me, but as far as taking a look at who I am as a person and what money weighs for my path, that could be hard. Like, do you do counseling?
Speaker 2:It's too hard for me to change.
Speaker 1:I don't know that it's counseling.
Speaker 2:It's too hard for me to change. I don't know that. It's counseling, it's more encouragement. I will text you in between visits to make sure you're on track. So that's the whole thing is having an accountability partner. It's kind of like somebody on AA or something you know. Yeah, Especially if you're new off the wagon. I don't know how many relapses you have. My husband, for example. He's been sober for almost 20 or over 20 years now that he told me like he'll go sober two days, fall off the wagon, one day fall off the wagon. It happens until you get enough, till your desire is strong enough in you that, hey, I'm going to do this because I'm sick and tired of this life, or I'm sick and tired of doing this. It doesn't have to be a rock bottom. When you just get so fed up of something you want something different. That's when your mindset will help you more and the encouragement helps you. If you screw up, hey, you know what. It's okay, Everybody messes up, but let's do this instead this week, you know, or try this this week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and reverse psychology. When I was married, I remember my husband going you spend too much, why'd you do this? And then I was like that's where, why'd you do this? Made me want to spend more because he was mad. And I call it the reverse psychology part, like first psychology part, like I just yeah, I guess I wasn't the one in charge of it and I was so young when I was married, I was like 22. Like I was out free. I'm newly married. You know we had a kiddo together so we had to buy clothes and toys and baby food. You know I wanted to give my daughter the best life, you know, so those things. But then I learned from that and it was a hard lesson after the divorce came. That's how.
Speaker 2:I learned my financials. Her half of it was exact same reason. She spent too much and never saved. He was a saver, she wasn't. He had his own issues. He was like a narcissist. But he had his own issues. He was like a narcissist, but just the guilt.
Speaker 2:I guess in your field I know how the weight of the debt I had on me $7,000 credit card debt was almost half of what I made back when I fell into this hole and that seems you might as well just make it a million dollars. There's no way I'm going to pay off half my salary in any length of time. But it didn't happen. It happened by having to buy my kids clothes, but not in Billy Me.
Speaker 2:I was frugal, I wasn't like a bunch of clothes. I never overdid anything, which I was lucky for. That is just the circumstances in my income I had as a beginning teacher. It was like 13 or $14,000 a year. You can't live on that. It was difficult. I know how to get out of difficult because I've been there, done that to.
Speaker 2:You know, in the end I was saving 50 to 60 percent of my income right before I retired so I could have this vacation when I want that vacation, when I want to spend the globe everywhere every month, go somewhere, type of thing. But you have to work for it and you have to see it in front of you. Look, look how much I have now and right now I save. I don't know if you want to tell me I save a thousand dollars a month towards vacations, so it gives me 12,000 a year. That buys a couple of really nice two or three week guided tours, plus the little ones like I'm in California.
Speaker 2:So the hour drive to Palm Springs and stay in a timeshare that's cheap, you know, and you know it has the kitchen. So we don't buy out every single meal. And trip to San Diego across to Rosarito, mexico, cause it's like a three hour drive, maybe, if that, not even that tacos for a dollar, I mean, it's those. Those are cheap vacations that are fun. They're still getting away. They're just not the two extravagant ones I take a year or the nicer ones I take. We have to go business class because it's such a long flight. My back would die in the coach seat.
Speaker 1:I've never been in the business class side of a plane. I remember taking a plane ride home from California and that ride was so cold and the seats were too squished in and I was so grateful because the person that was sitting next to me was the airline flight attendant. He was just traveling that day and he is like got this blanket from Fiji and I'm going to let you have it. And I was like, not like, keep it, keep it. But he just gave it to me so I could keep warm. But it's those little things cut into corners too. My gosh. I was going to mention I learned my lesson also with food, starbucks. I was just so addicted and it was like working at the mall, I wanted to go and get a coffee, go get a coffee, go get a coffee. And then I said I'm not going to do this for one month and I was like let's see how much money I saved. And I was like, wow, I can go buy a new outfit.
Speaker 2:Exactly Cause when you see it in that little tiny box from Walmart or something, you see, oh my God, I didn't realize it was that much. It's only $5 here or five, but you don't realize how much it is times 20. And I'm going by five weeks and four weeks a month. You know that's a lot of money.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly, and you've got to be cautious. It's so um. So, as far as people coming to um get your services, how would they find you and go about reaching out to you?
Speaker 2:I have a website, I have email, I'm on LinkedIn, I'm doing YouTube shorts, but probably the most direct way would be to probably email me or go to my website, which also has a contact me direct. Emails me directly.
Speaker 1:Good, good, good. That's good to find and I know I'm going to be putting your stuff and information up on, of course, facebook and YouTube. That will be LinkedIn and everything, and it's good that you're doing shorts. I love shorts now making it in YouTube, but like sending it into the world of Facebook, because you do get hit more with the shorts and stuff. So yeah, so I catch myself always watching reels on Facebook. Now it used to be TikTok and I love TikTok, but now it's like nope, facebook. So, but definitely any advice you would give any of the listeners listening today.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know how fast you said I know like tonight or something, I would get copies. But if they're like in the middle of something right now, usually urgency is the best time to reach somebody, because then they put it off and forget it. So if you look right here behind me, right here, this is my business Financial Freedom Pathway, so it's really easy. My email is ffpathway at Gmail, so that's very easy to get hold of me and that's FF Pathway. Gotcha? Yes, financial Freedom, and I will direct. I'll put you on your path to your financial freedom, so that's the best way to contact me right now.
Speaker 1:That is so cool. I love it. And then I know, um you mentioned earlier, you have a QR code too, and I will attach that as well, so people can just scan that QR code as well.
Speaker 2:I don't have one yet. I have to make one. I don't have yet, but I was going to have one with all my patients, so it's it's just, I have them for some things, but not everything. So email us for the website.
Speaker 1:Because the way I work is you can come back and go, Nadine, I got ABCD and I'm going to plug it in there and it's going to go into your portfolio and be accessible for anybody to find you and everything. So I want to say thank you to you. I think we covered everything. Was there anything I was missing?
Speaker 2:Just don't be a procrastinator. I mean if you are waiting to lose weight, well, I'll do it next week or tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes, so don't procrastinate. If you need help, even a little help, I do offer a free 30-minute consultation. If anything, I can help steer you a little bit, but then after that it depends on how much time you think you'll need to be able to go out of my plans and then do the group chats and stuff. So it's, it's just time. Just don't put it. Even going to the dentist. If you and you have a cavity, the longer you wait that's going to be a root canal pretty soon, not just a cavity, so finances anything. The longer you wait, the worse it gets. So just contact me sooner than later.
Speaker 1:Exactly Like I was thinking. You got me thinking about something you said earlier in the show. I'm a bariatric patient, so when I had to go before I got the gastric sleeve. You're on a diet Like you are watching everything you put in your. You're down to water and maybe some premier shakes and a premier granola bar and then broth maybe or jello. But you're saving money there and you trained your stomach to stop spending all this money for fast food and restaurants and stuff. Yes, it's a little pricey to get that stuff and you might get a little bit hungrier because you're eating less, but your body got trained. But if we can put that mindset for doing the diet, we can put that mindset into how to save the money.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the money. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's just financial. Freedom is so relieving to know you can do yourself out of whatever like in today. Truthfully, today I think there's 80 of people that could not replace a water heater without going into credit card debt. We're talking 500. They don't even have 500 to replace a simple water heater and I've had one rupture before and I used it. Was a great teaching lesson in my class.
Speaker 2:I said you know, I was a single female at the time. I said I came home from school one day I saw water coming out of my garage. I couldn't figure there's no hose been there. So what was coming from? And it was my water heater had caused a leak up top. Now to buy a new one. So within three hours back then it was penny saver.
Speaker 2:So I went to the penny saver. I called a bunch of people right now be the internet or local, you know Facebook or Craigslist and I found a local plumber. I called them all and got all their prices and I called the one back that was least expensive and I said I'm ordering a, a water heater, cause I don't have no way to transport it at home Depot. I'm going to put your name there, you pick it up, you bring it here and I pay you for your labor. And that's I did it. Within three hours had a new water heater installed, and that was it. So I said, if you are having a house by yourself and you're a female, you need to know how to do things, cause don't sit there, give me the tissue, it's not going to get anything done.
Speaker 1:No, pity parties. I'm moving and I have a couch that's 400 pounds and I'm like no, no, no, no, no. And my friend who helped me move last time he's like I'm not touching that couch and I was like so I'm trying to get all the prices and who has the best and what makes sense. And as I analyze movers right now, that is something I'm taking in and I'm looking at my expenses and I was thinking about this earlier. I need a checklist of everything I need to do and little by little, like I'm writing on paper, this done and it's so funny because I have a pile over there. Okay, this is for school, this is for healthcare, I need to do ABC, so I'm organized, and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:But movers are governed by. They're regulated by how much they can charge per hour. So what I would recommend if, if you've got insurance on your stuff is higher day labors at the home Depot or lowest parking lot and they will be your cheaper, harder workers to get something heavy into it. And then if you're not moving, you know if you are moving far then at the other end, find them at the other end and have them help you get it off the truck and in the house. That's your cheap.
Speaker 1:That is cheaper. I got quoted a mover $3,000 just to move me and I was like and that wasn't the cost of the truck or the gas, that was just him, four guys. And I was like, nope, I'd rather hurt my back. How far is the move? Three and a half hours, oh that's a little bit.
Speaker 2:I moved across to Florida before and it seems like it was about that, but we're talking 30 years ago. You have to call around are if it's a licensed company like allied or something like that, they're regulated, how much they can charge per hour. But then it's the other little fee, the box fee and the packing fee, and so to pack it yourself first of all, um, quick tips. I used, you know, colored paper, like eight and a half by eleven color paper. I would. I would call it like bedroom, bedroom on multiple in large print bedroom all the way down and then, when I get to my other end, I'd put that color bedroom on a door. So they knew that box goes in that room and it made it much, much faster for them to put things back in the house and the rooms. You need them to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I just I, yeah, I like that. I heard somebody else doing that too and it was very easy and easy to do that move and everything. Because I'm more like analyze this, this, this, do I really need this? What can I sell? Like, for me, it's just like what can I make money from? I'm not using a jogger or baby stroller anymore. I'm going to be selling a vanity. I'm going to be doing this. I'm not using baby props for my photography company. Let's sell it. Maternity dresses, all the baby's clothes and everything.
Speaker 2:So it's just those little things you know that's like a lot of those things you mentioned are all moneymakers. You just can't. You got to set a fair price, but not a bargain. I'm going to take it off your hands for you. Then they're going to turn and resell it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they, they will. I know what I put out for all that stuff and I expect the same because, if not, I'm going to just hold on to it because I know it's value and worth it, because this is good stuff. So I've had stuff I try to sell for like a year before.
Speaker 2:I've done it on Facebook marketplace and on Craigslist those are if you got a really good description of it and really good pictures and multiple views. I've sold a lot of stuff pretty quick on there, like right now I've got a whole client set for sale and it was going to be sold twice but something happened to cancer, this and that, that I still have it sitting outside under a tarp. But I have like a refrigerator, a washer and not a refrigerator a stove, a microwave and a dishwasher and there's still space in my yard but they're going to take up space because I'm not going to give them away and I'm asking $675 for all those appliances and they all work good.
Speaker 1:See that and that's all doable. So yeah, I know how it is and the selling part and it's so funny. I have it all for sale but it's in Texas and I'm not there to sell it, so I'm trying to get my mom to help me, like. But we'll see how that works out. But I want to say really quick thank you so much for coming on to Keep Up Alive and I would love to bring you back within this year and see how everything's going with your company and what your goals have been in 25 going into 26. But thank you, thank you and listeners, wherever you find your podcast you'll be able to find Keep Hope Alive. You can visit us at wwwkeephopelivepodcastcom. We do have a segment on the website. It's leave a message. So you can leave a message for Kathy or myself and I will get that sent to her too and we can come back and do a quick little review on those questions and stuff and like that. But thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Hopefully I gave you some tips that you can start calling off from from now. Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the listeners are going to love this show because you had a lot of great advice and I know I'm going to be straightening myself up and I'm going to be actually contacting you in a little bit, once I get settled here, because I want to go on a pathway journey of doing it right and making it right.
Speaker 2:So I will encourage you along the way and you would really, I think you would go farther, faster if you hired me, because I've got, I have a passion. I'm not doing it for money, because I'm retired, I don't need the money. I'm doing it for my passion to help people, because I know what I went through and it was a struggle and I know what a relief it is to know, hey, I can have my you know safer car, safer my college, safer this, and and be at peace with it. You know it's. It gives you comfort and I just want to comfort people not going through hell. I went through so many times.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I've been going through that hell myself a lot and I need to climb out of it, so but yeah.
Speaker 2:I went through three divorces by the time I was 40.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, 40 by. Yeah, I had three for me too. I you know that's something people like. When I talk about three, they're like but why? I was like? It's nothing that I did, I swear, and it just wasn't right.
Speaker 2:Well, the first one, we were married like 12 years, my first one, so it was, it was a brain tumor with that one. The next one, um, it was well. The next two were on the rebound. You know cause I wanted, I didn't want my girls to not have a father. My mother divorced when I was five and I never had a man in my life since then. So I know as an adult and I know what I missed and there's things that I know now I lean towards and gravitate towards. So I quickly wanted a man in my life so my girls would have a father figure, knowing their father was going to die. He was a ticking time bomb with this brain tumor he had. So that was.
Speaker 2:It was hard and and my, I guess my reasons were right, but the timing I didn't go through. There was a class I went through called divorce care. It was through my church and that was the biggest winner. My first divorce caused the other two because of baggage I had never let go see that, yeah, I love the church I was going through in Texas they had a divorce care group and they had a singles group.
Speaker 1:I was about to join that and everything. And now it's like I'm finding a new church home here in Oklahoma to see where to go and stuff. So that's going to be a fun journey.
Speaker 2:Well, just find one that actually teaches the Bible, doesn't sugarcoat it and doesn't do what everybody else likes to hear. But what's the truth, what you need to hear, and then you'd be fine. I wouldn't recommend the calvary chapel if there's any of those near you. But, um, just ask around, ask people, but it depends on what they want. You know they could be. I'm going to go to church, hear the good news, go back home and go my merry way. Then hearing just the good news is not going to help. It's being made you accountable. Are you accountable? Doing what you know you're supposed to do, or not do, or whatever?
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly. So I know there's one that we're going to because my son loves it, my stepmom goes there and, yeah, I'm going to just try it out, see how I like it, but I know I want to go inquire and he's always in Sunday school, so, but anyways, I want to say thank you so much for coming on, guys. I will see you next time. Love and light, have a great week until next time. Bye-bye, bye-bye, nice meeting you.
