Stop Playing Rich: How Budgeting Will Change Your Life

The real reason you’re financially stuck isn’t lack of income, it’s instant gratification.

In this video, we talk about delayed gratification, self-discipline, and why budgeting is the key to unlocking the life you actually want. I share my personal story of buying luxury items in college to “look the part” and how that mindset was keeping me broke.

You’ll learn:
- What delayed gratification really means
- Why budgeting isn’t restrictive, it’s empowering
- How to assign every dollar a job before you spend it
- The 5% Joy Category (so you don’t feel deprived)
- How to use YNAB, Monarch, or even Excel to get started

If you’re tired of playing a financial role you can’t afford, it’s time to build discipline, create a simple budget, and start winning with your money.

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Transcript

The Instant Gratification Trap

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The number one problem that I'm seeing right now is delayed gratification. Well, I should say it's instant gratification, not being able to delay your gratification. It's okay because a lot of people right now suffer from this. I mean, we live in a society where everything is absolutely instant, where I'm talking with a matter of seconds. Even Amazon. Have you noticed Amazon? Their actual deliveries are within a day, sometimes within an hour. That's really, really creepy, y'all. Something that we need to discuss later. But let's get back to delayed gratification. That was an issue that I had. I'll never forget the one time that I actually purchased this shirling. I was literally still in college. I thought I had life figured out. And then I did it again when I bought a luxury bag. I felt like it was like, yeah, I arrived. Little did I know that I was making the stupidest financial decision I ever could make. Why? Because I wanted to feel good. I wanted to look the part that I financially wasn't able to play. And a lot of us are doing that right now. We're playing roles that financially we're not in the position to play. So I want to challenge us to stop, to stop doing that. Stop making decisions that we're going to regret later. Now, when you think of the word delayed gratification, that really all it means is self-discipline. And when I think of self-discipline, our Luxie girls, we are disciplined. We're ambitious. We're go-getters. We know how to get stuff done. Like we really do. But when it comes to our finances, we just have this problem where we just don't want to wait. Wait for what really matters. So I'm challenging us to look at something different. And I want us to consider something. I know, hold on, because I'm about to drop something on you, okay? I had to take 30 seconds to share with you one of our sponsors for this episode, Top Construction. They are a premier construction company located in Central PA. So if you live in Dolphin, Cumberland, Lancaster, and Lebanon counties, you want to check them out. Not only are they reliable, they are reasonable, and they get the job done. Let's start budgeting. Budgeting is going to change everything for us. Why? Because it's going to hold us to a standard that's going to allow us to do the things we want to do. And I know we don't like to be put in a box. No one likes to hear the word budget. Okay, and maybe you are interested and you just don't know how to do it. Well, you're in luck. I'm going to share something with you today. When I used to hear the word budget, and honestly, my husband's probably laughing if he's watching this, because he's like, Erica's teaching people about budgets. You understand how long it took me to get her to understand that this is actually a thing that's going to work for us. Yeah. Joke's on me, right? Well, I hear you. And it took me a long time because I don't like people to tell me what to do. So I'm hoping you all hear me too before it's too late. Because my Luxigirls have a lot of things to do, a lot of impact to make. And budgeting is going to help you set yourself apart from everybody else to be able to fund the life you truly want to live. Okay, budgeting. Sounds scary. Well, you could use two apps, YNAB or Monarch. Or if you can't afford those two apps, just simply use an Excel spreadsheet. And budgeting, all it means is you're going to assign every dollar a job that you get from your paycheck before you even spend it. You heard me. Before you even spend it. So if you get paid on a Friday, I recommend that you have a weekly ritual that the Thursday before your pay hits, you sit down and you budget your money. Because as soon as it's going to hit, that's when you're going to start spending it. By doing this, you're going to get in a discipline of being able to assign your money, be able to save. And then let's talk about well, does that mean I can't spend and have fun? It doesn't mean that. Because you're probably just like me, you need to have some fun. No one likes to be, again, put in a box or felt like they're confined and they can't do nothing. You're just sitting at home and just like just bored out of their mind. No. Let me share with you what I had to do in order to make things easier to uh to really accept the idea of budgeting. Two seconds to thank Allstate Insurance for sponsoring this episode. If you're looking for car, life, or casualty insurance, they're going to be your ultimate insurance company. Thank you, Rob Shaw, with Allstate Insurance. Now, back to the show. I started or created a category that no other budgeting tool probably shares with you, but it's necessary for us ladies or us Luxies, us princesses, to make this make sense. It's the 5% joy category. Spending money on things that you that makes you happy, that fills your cup. That can be buying a cup of coffee. That could be going out for happy hour. That could be buying the latest, I don't know, iPhone, buying a car, whatever it is you want to save up for it. Now, you want to do this, and maybe 5% of what you make is what you want to put away. And if you can't start there because your debt is so insurmountable right now, it's like a pile over here, then you may want to start with a dollar. But you want to be able to put something in that joy category so you feel like you're making progress because everything else is going to everybody else. What about me? I know because I've been there. So let's make that category so life feels a lot easier and you have something to look forward to when you get paid. Sure, give them their money over here. Give them their money over here because you have to get out of debt if you are in debt, right? Or maybe you're just someone that just trying to figure out, okay, I don't have a lot of debt, but I have enough debt where it makes sense, where I need to get my life in order before it becomes a train wreck. If that's you, congratulations. Hopefully, this information you're going to receive today is going to get you on track so that you learn how to delay gratification, delay gratification, self-discipline with your money matters, so that you can win. That's what we're looking for. So I'm curious to know how many of you are going to actually create a budget? I don't care if it's just food, credit cards, utilities, rent, and then joy. Let's just start small and then go from there. Check in with me. I'd love to know how you were doing. Oh, and guess what? I have a journal that's coming out that's going to be able to help you work yourself through this. It's a financial wholeness journal. It's a 52-week guide to becoming financially whole. And there's going to be some great prompts in there, things that's really going to have you thinking. So if you would like that, let me know in the comments or DM me. I would love to share it with you when it drops. And it's going to be have so many free resources in there, your freedom number, uh, 5% joy category, how to create a budget. I mean, there's just so much you're going to just, I think you're really going to find it valuable. So let me know what you think. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to this channel because I got a lot of more things I want to talk to you about. Yes, I love having coffee with you. And I can't wait to see you in the comments.