Money Mom Podcast
Welcome to The Money Mom Podcast—the ultimate guide for moms who want to take control of their finances, crush debt, and create a life of financial freedom and abundance. Hosted by Rachel Coons, a budgeting expert and mom of three, this podcast is your go-to resource for practical tips, mindset shifts, and empowering strategies to help you manage your money with confidence.
Whether you’re navigating grocery budgets, tackling debt, or dreaming of building wealth for your family, each episode offers bite-sized, actionable advice to make money management simple, stress-free, and even enjoyable. With relatable stories, expert insights, and a dose of mom-to-mom encouragement, you'll learn how to transform your finances—one small step at a time.
Tune in every week to discover how to save more, spend smarter, and feel empowered to create the financial life you deserve. Because when moms thrive financially, families flourish.
Money Mom Podcast
63: The Real Reason You’re Still in Debt—And Don’t Even Know It. How Moms Self-Sabotage With Money
Feeling stuck in debt—like no matter what you do, you just can’t get ahead?
In today’s episode of the Money Mom Podcast, we’re pulling back the curtain on the real reason you're still in debt (and it’s probably not what you think). This isn’t just about credit cards or car payments—it’s about emotional spending, inherited money beliefs, and those deep-rooted habits that quietly keep you stuck.
I’ll walk you through:
- The emotional triggers that drive overspending (hello, stress shopping 👋)
- Why “I’m just not good with money” is a belief that’s keeping you broke
- The types of debt that are silently draining your future
- How to shift your money mindset and actually start getting unstuck
If you're feeling overwhelmed by your finances, this episode is here to remind you: it’s not too late to change. You can break the cycle, ditch the shame, and take back control of your money—for good.
👇 Ready to go deeper? Join us inside Money Mom Club for the step-by-step support to finally make the progress you’ve been craving.
xoxo,
Rachel
Where to find me:
Instagram: @heyrachelcoons
TikTok: @heyrachelcoons
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Welcome to the Money Mom podcast, the show where we empower moms to take control of their finances, break free from money stress and build a life of freedom, confidence and abundance for their families. I'm your host, rachel Koons, mom money mentor and your personal cheerleader on this journey. Whether you're here to save money, pay off debt or dream bigger for your family's future to save money, pay off debt or dream bigger for your family's future, you're in the right place here. We believe that being a mom is already a full-time job, but your role in shaping your family's financial success is just as important. And the best part, you don't need to sacrifice everything to start winning with money let's get started. This is the Money Mom Podcast. Money let's get started. This is the Money Mom Podcast. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Money Mom Podcast. I am super excited to be coming in today. It's the middle of summer. We are rocking and rolling with having the kids out of school. We actually go back to school at the beginning of August, so I actually feel like, oh my gosh, this summer is going to fly by in the blink of an eye, but I am loving having my kids home for the first time. I will say I'm going to be open and honest about this.
Speaker 1:I really struggled with summers in the past, with having my kids home all day and feeling like I'm on all the time, and when they go back to school I'm always like whew, like we did it, we got through it. And for the first time I think it's probably because my kids are a little bit older this summer and they're more self-sufficient, like I don't have to do everything for them. I'm not, you know, changing diapers, we're not doing nap times. My youngest is four and a half, he's almost five, and so I just feel like I probably have a little bit more freedom. I can like run to the grocery store without packing up all four kids for the first time ever, because my oldest is old enough to babysit now, and it's been so much more enjoyable. And I think I changed as a mom, like I enjoy it maybe a little bit more than I used to. But to the mom who's listening right now, who's in the throes of it, like, and you are feeling overwhelmed with summer, I 100% get it because I have been there. But just know there is a summer where you can like really have fun and we can go on trips and we go to the lake and we go camping and it's not just kids, kids, kids all the time. There is a beauty in that season as well, but I'm really really enjoying this new change in our seasons.
Speaker 1:I gave an episode two weeks ago about grocery budgeting and how to spend your summer without spending thousands of dollars on groceries, and so if you haven't listened to that, I highly recommend go listen to that episode. If you're in the throes of it right now and you feel like your kids are eating you out of house and home and you are so sick of what you're spending on groceries, that's a wonderful resource. You can go listen to that episode. I think it's like 15 minutes long and obviously we have a ton of resources in the Money Mom Club if you ever want to join us in there.
Speaker 1:But today I want to talk a little bit about debt and to the family specifically who is in debt and feeling stuck and not sure how they can get out of it. Like the math isn't mathing, there's not enough money at the end of the month, there's not enough money coming in, and there's like the interest rates are way too high, and so if you are feeling in a debt trap. You're feeling stuck in debt. This episode is for you and the truth is there is a lot of different types of debt. Right, we could talk about credit card debt. We could talk about student loan debt. Technically, like, if you own a house and you pay a mortgage, you are in debt to your house. There's a lot of different types of debt and I am not here to say, like, what's good debt and what's bad debt. I think you have to kind of decide what kind of debt you are comfortable being in. But for the most part, I would say most people are in debt of some kind.
Speaker 1:But the debt I want to talk about today isn't the type of debt where it's a normal debt and I even say that with hesitancy, like it's not normal but a debt that is maybe to be expected. As an adult, right, we have to go into debt to buy a house in most cases, so that type of debt is just to be expected. Even car payments nowadays, like cars are so expensive, it's kind of more expected to be in a car payment if you have to purchase a new car within the past couple years. Student loans are the same thing. Education is so expensive so you may be in student loan debt, now all of those debts. Obviously, if we can get out of debt 100%, you're rocking and rolling. That would be so amazing, but most of the time they don't carry a huge interest rate.
Speaker 1:So the debt that I'm talking about today is the debt with high interest rates and we can look at how well investments do and the inflation amount of money and we can kind of decide OK, this is the type of debt that you can carry and it's very healthy to carry a certain amount of debt and this is the type of debt. If you are in this type of debt, you need to get out ASAP. You need to focus on that type of debt and I would say anything above like a 7% interest rate is debt that you should try to get out of as soon as possible so that you can have that extra cash flow to then invest in your future and make money with it. And really, like when we're talking about high interest debt, you could have a terrible interest rate on your car payment and you should be paying that off ASAP.
Speaker 1:But credit card debt tends to be the type of debt that leaves people feeling stuck, because if you're not paying off your credit card debt. You are getting more and more and more and it's like you're digging a hole deeper and deeper every single month, that you don't pay off that debt because the interest rates are so high and we're talking like 20, 25% interest rate. Yeah, you're going to start feeling really stuck pretty fast. But also, on the flip side of that, I want to acknowledge that debt is highly emotional, as is money, and debt creates a lot of shame and judgment, and one of the things that I'm really passionate about here at the Money Mom podcast is to take away that shame and that judgment that you feel.
Speaker 1:If you are in credit card debt and you're someone feeling stuck in your financial situation, acknowledge it, don't avoid it, because that's going to make the problem worse and find a place that you feel like you can tackle this issue without shame and debt. You don't need to feel bad about your past mistakes or your past experiences with money. There's deeper things going on than just overspending and spending more money than you have. There's a lot of deeper issues that we can really try to tackle and help to fix the debt that we're in, and we're going to talk about some of those ways today, but I want you to know if you are in debt, you're not alone at all.
Speaker 1:In fact, the majority of people in America are in some type of credit card debt. In fact, in 2024, us consumers owed over $17 trillion of debt. I don't really think you can fathom how much money is. Even $1 trillion, let alone $17 trillion that is so much money, in fact, that is so much money, and that number continues to increase 2% to 3% every single year. So, as consumers, we and I say we because I'm an American we're just getting in more and more debt. So, hello, hi, my name's Rachel and that's what I'm here to do is to help people get out of this problem, because we need this now more than ever. More than ever.
Speaker 1:Approximately 49% of Americans are in some type of credit card debt Just credit card debt alone. This is the debt that has high interest rates. Over 85% of US households carry some form of debt. So when I'm talking about debt, I'm talking to most people. When we focus on getting to the root cause of why you're in debt in the first place, we can kind of stop the train that's already moving, because most often I see a cyclical pattern of people who are in some type of consumer debt, they start to feel bad, they feel stuck, and so it's kind of like throwing the baby out with the bathwater and they're like, well, I'm already in debt, what else can I do about it? And so they either don't focus on it or they just continue to wrap themselves up in more debt. And one of the reasons this happens in the first place is because of the emotions around spending.
Speaker 1:And what kind of emotions are driving your spending habits? About 50% of Americans say that emotions in some time or another have caused them to spend more than they can reasonably afford. You know what you can afford and what you can't afford if you are looking at your numbers. And how often are we letting emotions dictate when we buy something? How do we feel after we purchase something? The dopamine hit, the excitement that's happened when we purchase. And on the flip side of that, how many times have you let negative emotions dictate your spending, like if you're bored or if you're stressed or if you're feeling sad about something and you're going to go treat yourself with spending? We have to acknowledge what those emotions are, because chances are you are blanketing your spending habits with a deeper emotion that you're not willing to acknowledge or bring up to the surface, and so if you are someone who emotionally spends, you have to find out that for yourself and you have to allow yourself to feel whatever emotion that is, whether that's good or bad. When we ignore and we avoid emotions, the bank account, we avoid our emotions it's going to lead to more and more stress.
Speaker 1:Another thing I see a lot when it comes to someone who is struggling with debt is their inherited spending habits money scripts, money beliefs. What subconscious beliefs do you have around money that were formed before you were even cognitive, that they were forming? What did your parents say about money? How did your parents experience money? Were your parents people that lived paycheck to paycheck, or were they someone who was really in control of their spending and was diligent about not overspending and not getting in credit card debt? So much of how we create our world is based off of how our parents created their world, and so you have to acknowledge am I in this cycle of what my parents did and now I'm doing it too, or is there something bigger for me? Is there more for me to do with my money, and can I change the narrative. Can I break that cycle?
Speaker 1:You don't need to stay stuck in this belief that you have to stay stuck in debt, that there's no way out. There are ways to get out. You just have to be willing to acknowledge them and be willing to change some things. Right. Nothing's going to change if nothing changes. And if you're doing the same things over and over again with your money and your spending habits and how you look at money and how you view budgeting and how you run the household, nothing's going to change. If you don't change that, if you don't change your system, if you don't change how you experience money, you're going to stay stuck. And that's like insanity, right? We know insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results and not getting different results.
Speaker 1:So sometimes all it takes is a slight shift in your mindset, a slight shift in how you view yourself and how you view money and how you look at the future and the possibilities and the opportunities that are out there. Because they are out there? Because if they weren't, other people wouldn't be getting out of debt 100%, other people wouldn't be able to get unstuck when they felt stuck, and we've seen so many stories of success where people are able to get out of that stuck feeling. They are able to get out of that paycheck to paycheck living. What are they doing? How are they changing their life living? What are they doing? How are they changing their life? What actions are they taking? What habits are they changing in order to get to the goal that they're trying to achieve? And a lot of times it's not a massive change. It's not like never buying things that they want. It's looking at money differently, addressing the emotional turmoil that they may be in or the emotional baggage that they're carrying, letting that go and really looking at money as a tool and knowing that they can be good stewards over their money. That's one of the main things that I see when I'm working with women in the Money Mom Club.
Speaker 1:So many people have this belief that I am. If you hold on to that idea, if you keep believing that you are not good with money, guess what's going to happen. You are not going to be good with money. But if we can change that belief to, I'm learning how to be good with money, or I want to be good with money. Just that slight shift in a belief opens up possibility Instead of thinking I'm bad with money, we are closing down an opportunity for change. But changing that narrative and saying there's more for me out here, I am able to do this, empowering yourself to believe that it can happen, that's super powerful.
Speaker 1:And if you are one of those people that is stuck in that feeling, I'm going to challenge you to rewrite that belief. Change how you're feeling, change what you think, and everything can change with that. So I'm going to encourage you if you're stuck in debt, if you are feeling like you emotionally spend, if you are feeling helpless and like there's no way to get out, sit down and reflect on your money beliefs, reflect on the behaviors and the habits that got you to this point. What got you here won't get you where you want to go. So we have to change something. But we have to first acknowledge what behaviors are driving the problem in the first place, so that way we can change it. We can change habits, we can change something, but we have to first acknowledge what behaviors are driving the problem in the first place, so that way we can change it. We can change habits, we can change beliefs, we can change behaviors, but we can't do that unless we acknowledge those behaviors in the first place. So the first step is understanding, understanding your emotional roots, understanding your financial habits, because that is the first step to lasting change.
Speaker 1:If you need more help with this or you want to talk a little bit more about this, I would love to chat with you in my DMs and really work through what is holding you back. Why can't you get out of debt? What can we do to help you? That's what I'm here for, and I truly, truly believe that when a woman steps into her power and says I am going to make a change, I'm going to change the life of my children. I'm not going to let my children live in the same stuckness that I lived in growing up. I'm going to change the financial trajectory for our family. So I hope this episode was helpful to you to give you more of that push to change something and to do something differently, and I will see you in the next episode.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Money Mom podcast. I hope you're walking away feeling inspired, empowered and ready to take the next step toward financial confidence and freedom for your family. If you've loved today's episode, it would mean so much to me if you'd subscribe, leave a review and share this podcast with another mom who could use a little extra encouragement on her money journey. And don't forget to connect with me on Instagram at HeyRachelCoons, or you can join our thriving money mom club for even more tips, support and resources to help you save, spend and build wealth intentionally. You've got this, mama, and I'm here to cheer you on every step of the way. Until next time, remember, every dollar you manage with purpose is another step toward the life you've been dreaming of. I'll see you back here soon on our next episode.
