The Better Budgeting Podcast
The Better Budgeting Podcast is your go-to resource for mastering your finances without the stress. Hosted by Danielle Reese, this podcast breaks down budgeting, saving, and smart spending into simple, actionable steps. Whether you’re tackling debt, building wealth, or just looking to make your money work smarter, we’ve got expert insights, real-life success stories, and practical tips to help you take control of your financial future. Tune in and start making your budget work for you—without sacrificing the things you love!
The Better Budgeting Podcast
Episode 82: Creating Summer Magic Without Breaking the Bank
Do you ever look around at all the summer adventures flooding your social media and feel that crushing weight of parent guilt? That voice whispering, "My kids deserve better, but I just can't afford it"?
You're not alone. In this heartfelt episode, we tackle that summer comparison trap head-on and reveal why the secret to family happiness isn't found in expensive vacations or theme park passes. Financial freedom isn't about having more money—it's about creating margin in your life and budget.
I share my family's recent whirlwind of changes—from homeschooling adjustments to my husband's job switch and our first season of travel baseball—all while growing my coaching business with new program options for every budget. These real-life challenges have reinforced what matters most: presence over purchases.
We dive into practical, nearly-free activities that create lasting memories (spoiler: kids remember connection, not cost), and discuss how small financial changes compound into life-changing margin. That breathing room between income and expenses is what transforms summer from something you survive into something you savor.
Whether you're making six figures but still living paycheck-to-paycheck or working multiple jobs to make ends meet, this episode offers both emotional support and practical steps toward a life where financial stress no longer steals your joy.
Ready to create more margin in your life? Check out our coaching options in the show notes, from DIY courses to one-on-one support. Your journey to financial peace—and stress-free summers—starts here.
Danielle is a money coach helping those who have been trying to figure out their finances FINALLY create a clear plan so they don’t have to worry about waiting to refill their bank account the next payday.
She is the founder of The Financial Freedom Society on Facebook and her signature money coaching program, The Better Budgeting Playbook. You can sign up for her newsletter by clicking here.
Take the first step towards financial freedom and sign up for a complimentary assessment call with me, Danielle Reese.
Grab your copy of "Let's Talk Groceries" Your Guide to Reducing Your Grocery Bill" This is an ebook with over 30 pages of tips, tricks, and guidance to help you save hundreds on your grocery bill!
Sign up for The Better Budgeting Blueprint for $99.
Grab your free copy of The Bank Statement Exercise.
Hello and welcome to the Better Budgeting Podcast. I'm your host, danielle Reese. I'm a money coach and the founder of the Better Budgeting Playbook, and this is my one-on-one coaching program for women and couples who have been trying to figure out their finances, finally create a clear plan so they don't have to worry about waiting on payday anymore. I became a money coach in 2020 after paying off over $60,000 in debt, rekindling my marriage, becoming financially free and wanting others to experience the same. If you'd like to work with me, you can check out the link in the show notes there. Also, we have the Financial Freedom Society on Facebook. It's a free Facebook community focusing on debt payoff, saving strategies, budgeting and money mindset. You can find the link to that community in the show notes as well. Hey friends, welcome back to the Better Budgeting Podcast. It's been a while. I think I haven't even released a new episode since the end of maybe March. I have to tell you, our family has gone through a real whirlwind, and also our business. The business has really bloomed and taken off, which has been great, but we've had a lot going on. We homeschooled our kids this year, but then we switched over to a cyber homeschool kind of situation and we just we needed to figure that out. That was a really rough. And then, you know, we welcomed a lot more new people into the better budgeting playbook, which is my coaching program, and we have new offers now as well. So we have the better budgeting blueprint. This is my DIY course for budgeting and for money mindset. This is kind of like the starter package. We also have my DIY financial suite, which has a plethora of videos and it's kind of just plug and play. Whatever financial situation you're going through, you go ahead and you watch that video, you work through the spending plan. You know it's really a set at your own pace kind of program and that's been doing really well. We now offer strategy sessions, so one time or three time package, whatever works for you. So if you've got a budget and you're just like I have no idea why we can't stick with this or why these numbers aren't working out, or maybe you have like a big financial decision coming up and you just need help kind of making sure it's the right one, I have that now and then we've got, obviously, our one on one coaching coaching and I've even broken that out into different sectors so you can get in front of a computer with me and we go through stuff live or we're just doing chat coaching back and forth. Whatever you need financially, we've now built out this system so that, no matter your budget, you can come along, you can be part of the better budgeting family, because I've got just tons of products available for you wherever you stand in your financial journey. So we've released all of that.
Speaker 1:We did the homeschool thing. My husband switched jobs, which was a huge change for our family. He actually ended up taking a pay cut. However, we increased his hours on how long he gets to be home. So now he gets every weekend off Friday, saturday, sunday. So three day weekends every weekend get paid time off. We get holidays, and before he was working kind of like a swing shift, but always on first shift. So it was 12 hour days, three days a week or four days a week. Though those were nice, we're kind of getting this stage of life where having weekends off is really great, because that leads into the next thing.
Speaker 1:We did our first season of travel baseball and I will tell you guys that is a marathon, okay, from January to we just finished up at the end of June. It was insane. We loved it. We really loved doing travel baseball especially my son he is a baseball fanatic. But man, does that take a lot out of you, just energy wise and planning. And you know, we only did one weekend where it was like significantly away, where we had to stay in a hotel, and even then it was just my husband and my son going to save on some dollars so that we didn't have to feed the family of four.
Speaker 1:But still, like it was such a huge change over the last couple of months and I was like I just need to take a breather here. I need to, you know, take some things off of my plate, really work with my clients, really get this program built out that I was working on for a couple of months and I just need to kind of focus on some other things. And that's why we had this hiatus of the podcast. But I can't guarantee that there's going to be weekly episodes. I'm definitely going to be trying, for sure.
Speaker 1:But it's kind of a creativity thing for me. I feel like I just have to be creative and sometimes I'll knock out three episodes in a day and sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't know what to talk to you all about. So always you can send us a message. In the show notes, the very first line it says send us a message. If you have a topic you want to hear me discuss about or you have questions about your own finance and you want me to discuss it on the podcast, send it on in. I love hearing from you all.
Speaker 1:Also, during that time, we have surpassed 25,000 downloads, which is incredible, amazing. I remember, you know, getting 33 episode downloads the first day and I was like this is insane, right, but 25,000. Holy cow, that's incredible. And I just want to say thank you all so much those who are just finding me, those who have been with me since the beginning, those that just come in and listen to a couple episodes and then, you know, come back a couple months later. I really appreciate it so much and I really love if you would be able to leave a review, leave five stars. It really helps with people finding this podcast and I've had so many different people. I mean, I had a conversation with somebody in South America a couple weeks ago because they found me on the podcast and it's just amazing how far this thing reaches. So thank you all for listening. Please leave a review, leave five stars. It really really does help. So let's get into today's episode.
Speaker 1:I want to directly talk to every mom who's looked around this summer and thought my kids deserve but I cannot afford more. I cannot afford the big stuff, the trips and all of these crazy things that you're seeing on Facebook or Instagram and matching outfits with the family for every holiday. Like I can't afford those things. But my kids kind of deserve those things. They're good kids and I came across this post in a mom's group that I'm in and it said I see so many parents doing fun things with their kids for the summer and I feel awful for my kids, who don't get to do much. Everything is just too expensive. I'm working extra hours to make it by Bills. Never get caught up.
Speaker 1:Like, what is the secret? First of all, if this is you, honey, I see you. You are doing your best and I want you to know you're not alone. Okay, you are not alone and you are not failing as a parent either. You are showing up because I can guarantee if you are questioning and wondering if you're doing enough, you are. It's the parents that don't question.
Speaker 1:Then things get a little rocky, right. Then you wonder like, don't you want better for your kids? So today I want to give you simple ideas for the summer fun that doesn't cost a whole lot. But more than anything, I want to have this heart to heart with you about this deep issue, the freedom we're all craving. That's really what it comes down to right. Not just financial freedom, but like freedom of time, energy freedom, the ability to say yes to our kids, and not just in theory, but like in reality. I want to be able to say yes to my kids on every level. I want to have so much time, I want to have more peace, I want to have more memories. I want to do all of these things with my kids, but my wallet is just not there.
Speaker 1:There's just something about summer that brings out comparison like nothing else, right? Like the pool trips, the beach vacation, the amusement parks, and when you're exhausted, you're working long hours, you're barely keeping up with bills and seeing those moments online, it is so easy to feel like you're falling short, like you're letting your kids down. That's probably what you're feeling, right. But, friend, let me remind you something your presence is more powerful than a pricey experience. Your kids don't need a Disney trip to feel loved. They need laughter, they need time and they need attention. And I know it hurts to feel like you're missing out, but guilt isn't the only option. So we're going to trade that guilt for intention, because that's where the real magic happens.
Speaker 1:So what can we do with this intention? What can we do to plan out this stuff? Well, we've got libraries right. A ton of libraries locally here, but all across the country they have tons of free, just events that happen in the evening, during the day. You know there's so much going on with those.
Speaker 1:You can have a DIY scavenger hunt right Around your neighborhood or even around the house on a rainy day. Grab a $1 packger hunt right Around your neighborhood or even around the house on a rainy day. Grab a $1 pack of balloons right Water balloons and go in the backyard and have a field day about it. You can even have. My kids love these yes days, but we're going to make them free edition. So we have to say yes to anything, but we're going to make it a free edition, okay. So if they're like I want to go out to ice cream, you're like I love that idea. It's not on the free list. What's on the free list? Can we make ice cream Sundays at home? Oh heck, yes, we can, let's do it.
Speaker 1:It's all about creating memories. Okay, that's what's going to have a good summer with our kids. And then also like cooking challenge. My kids love this too. Just have a cooking challenge. Who can make the best pancake? Who could decorate the best pancake? It is all about connection, not the cost. The connection makes the core memories.
Speaker 1:So I want to go back to the question in the post. It was what is the secret? And if you've listened to many of these episodes and you've been around a while, you're going to know. You're going to know what I'm about to say, and it is that the secret isn't having more money, it's having more margin Now, margin is a newer word that I've been using in this instance but it's having more time, more space, more capacity to do the things that really matter to you, because when your budget has breathing room, your life has breathing room, okay, and when that happens, you have time, you have options, and I've worked with a ton of high-income families I'm not going to lie High income. Like you wonder why these people can't make it. They're living paycheck to paycheck on over $100,000 a year salary. But the thing is, everything that they made was already spoken for, and I've worked with families making less who started budgeting intentionally and slowly gained that freedom to say yes to what matters most to them. Most of them, that's because financial freedom is about being able to make decisions from a place of peace and not a place of pressure.
Speaker 1:For example, you don't have an emergency fund. The car, you know, needs a new transmission, it needs new tires, it needs something, and you're frantic, right. Imagine if you had four or $5,000 savings in the bank and you're like oh, a 2,300 car bill, like at the. It's a whole different type of feeling. It builds margin into your life. So how do we start building margin? We're going to start really small, and maybe it's you saying I'm going to be canceling a subscription I don't use or I'm going to make a weekly grocery plan. By the way, $12,. You guys can get my grocery guide how to actually buy groceries, how to plan and buy groceries and stay within a budget. That's in the show notes as well, in my stand store. $12, guys, and I think it's like 36 pages of just tons of tips and just tricks that I've learned over the years because, haha, I used to work in grocery, retail and food distribution, so I know all the tricks about buying groceries, okay, and I went to culinary school, so I know how to use all those groceries as well.
Speaker 1:And then also like how to build more margin is saying not this year to the big vacation and putting that money towards your debt. That is a difficult one. It just it is right, like nobody wants to give up their once a year vacation. It is right, like nobody wants to give up their once a year vacation. But I bet you you would love to have a peace of mind all year long instead, and I see these, you know reels on Instagram and Facebook and it's like you know, time is of essence or you'll make the money later. You know, go go on the vacation.
Speaker 1:I understand that part, okay, but what we're missing is the repercussions of it If you don't plan and prepare for those things. If you are on a whim and you just end up in Paris on a credit card debt, I mean it's not going to be fun coming back home and paying that bill by any means, especially if you didn't have the means to go in the first place, but you know what would be fun Going to Paris, being able to pay for it and plan for it, and coming home and just go on with life. That's a great experience and honestly, I don't know why I picked Paris. But I don't know. I don't even want to go to Paris. Maybe I do. Maybe I want to go and eat, like some beignets oh goodness, I love me some fried beignets. By the way, are beignets even a French thing, or is that like a New Orleans thing? I don't, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Anyway, one thing I just want to share about this as well is like it's not about deprivation, it's about intention. Those are two different things. You deserve to live a life where summer isn't something that you have to survive, to live a life where summer isn't something that you have to survive, it's something that you get to enjoy and that comes with intention. And let me tell you, if you're in this hard season right now, it won't always be this way. It will not. The bills may feel endless, the hours might feel exhausting, but little by little, with plan and support, you can shift your life, you can create space, you can create margin, you can break free from this everyday life that is exhausting and your kids they're going to remember the mom that showed up, the mom that sat on the floor with them and played with the dolls in the cars, the mom that said yes to playing with Play-Doh at 8 30 at night, when she really should be going to bed.
Speaker 1:Plenty of studies have been done about kids and their development in the relationship with their parents and it all comes back to these childhood years of being intentional and spending intentional time with your kids. I bet you remember that one vacation that you all went on as a family. As a kid I certainly do, but I also remember as a kid, my mom we would make these like Christmas crafts, right, and that's what we would send to all of our extended family. One year we made like these paper mache globes and we put like little Christmas villages inside of them. It was so much fun. That is a memory that I have. It probably cost my mom $25 in supplies. One time my dad had a coffee can and we took a nail and a hammer and we nailed holes into a metal coffee can. I don't even know if did they even sell metal coffee cans anymore, but we made like stars on it and then at night we went ahead and we put a candle in it and I was like this is amazing, it's so cool, right, like that costs almost nothing. But they are memories etched in my brain 25 years later, because I get to spend time with my dad, I got to spend time with my mom and as a mom in this season. For you, that is what you want to create, those type of memories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the park passes, the amusement parks and the pool days and the beach trips you know they are all part of the story, right, but they don't have to be the story. Your kids can still have a great life, a great summer, without all of those things. Again, it's about being an intentional and then being able to create margin so later on you can say yes to doing those things. Yeah, we can go get those season passes for that amusement park. Yeah, we can buy a pool. Yeah, we can go to a pool. We can go on vacation every single month in the summer. I can take off the whole summer because I've got so much PTO banked up, or something like. Creating margin is the answer.
Speaker 1:Okay, I hope this episode was uplifting for you. Just know you are not the only one here. Okay, if you want help with saving, paying off debt and learning how to budget, please go to the show notes, sign an appointment with me. We'll talk, we'll chat, we'll see what's a good fit for you and we'll get you started so that, come into the fall, you've got great plans for next summer, right? And also what's coming around the corner christmas oh, my goodness, already christmas in july. All right, I'll talk to you all again soon. Take care bye.