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A debt rebel. 
So when we were drowning in 

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debt, I made so many mistakes. 
And if I could hop in a time 

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machine and go back, there are 
three things that I would change

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immediately. 
Things that would have saved us 

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a ton of stress, time, and 
definitely some money. 

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So if you're on your own debt 
free journey, these lessons will

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help you avoid the mistakes that
I made and speed up the process 

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for you. 
Welcome to the Debt Rebel 

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Podcast where we discuss the 
insurance and outs of personal 

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finance for families so you can 
eliminate the burden of debt, 

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create financial margins, and 
learn a new way to interact with

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your money. 
I'm your host, Jules the Budget 

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Nerd, and I have been in your 
shoes. 

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My husband and I have paid off 
over $107,000 in consumer debt 

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until we finally threw in the 
towel and decided it wasn't for 

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us. 
Throughout our journey, we 

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learned another way to do life 
without debt, and that's my hope

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for you. 
You can learn more about our 

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story and see full shown what's 
on my website, 

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julesthebudgetnerd.com. 
That's JEWLZ, the budget 

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nerd.com. 
Now let's dive into today's 

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episode. 
All right, so if you are newer 

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to the show and haven't heard my
story, you can listen to episode

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#1 it is our our story of our, 
our debt elimination journey. 

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But I have a degree in 
economics. 

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My husband and I got into over 
$107,000 in consumer debt. 

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So I know a lot about this 
process and this journey. 

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It is not just about had 
knowledge. 

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And so it took us six years to 
get out of that, that debt load.

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And so I know that if we had not
gone through some of these 

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things, it would have it would 
have speed up our process. 

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And so that's what I want to 
share with you today is I don't 

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want you to make these same 
missteps that we did. 

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And I want you to know that you 
don't need a perfect plan. 

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You just need the right focus at
the right time. 

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And so for US, one of the things
that was super, super important 

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is making sure that you build 
that emergency fund first, so 

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not jumping straight into the 
debt payoff without having a 

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buffer. 
And so for us, part of our story

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is we bought a house and 
couldn't make the first mortgage

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payment. 
And so we had no savings set 

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aside to help us with that. 
And if you set yourself up in 

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that way, every little thing, 
every little car repair, every 

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little medical bill, maybe it's 
a house, you know, a house 

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repair, every little thing 
starts to just snowball in the 

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wrong direction. 
And so for us, it was just, 

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we're constantly putting stuff 
on credit cards. 

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And I remember putting the power
bill on a credit card because we

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didn't have that little bit of 
surplus so that we could focus 

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on our debt repayment. 
But we could take care of the 

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little things as they came. 
Even if they like to teach the 

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alliance members is $1000 is a 
great place to start with your 

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emergency fund. 
So it's going to buy you a 

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little bit of breathing room. 
So hear me say, do not skip this

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step. 
It can feel like you're like, 

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let's just get into it. 
Let's just get into eliminating 

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that debt. 
But when you have that $1000 

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buffer, it's going to help you 
feel a little bit more in 

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control and at peace with the 
journey that you're on. 

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So do not skip this step. 
Rebel. 

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All right. 
And the next one is budgeting 

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every dollar and including fun 
money in it. 

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So I like to consider myself 
kind of an extremist, but not 

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like an extremist in like I'm 
going to go bungee jumping and 

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but like in a like, OK, I'm 
going to be, I'm an all or 

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nothing kind of person. 
So trying to get out of debt, 

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I'm like, we're going all in. 
And so we created a budget that 

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wasn't super realistic for us 
because we weren't going to do 

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all of these things that brought
us joy. 

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And that's why I teach the 
budgeting a little bit 

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differently than I did it 
because of this, this principle 

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right here when we are setting 
ourselves up for burnout and not

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allowing any kind of fun or joy 
in our life, even though we're 

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kind of going through a hard 
season when it comes to our 

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money, it's really important to 
find the joy and find the fun in

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the process because we will burn
ourselves out. 

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We're going to rebel against our
own rules and say, I'm not doing

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this. 
So to be successful, you want to

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have a plan for your money. 
So that's budgeting every dollar

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that comes into your household, 
but making sure you're including

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some fun money. 
Now it doesn't have to be like 

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thousands of dollars, but give 
yourself a little bit of money 

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so that you can spend without 
guilt, but being consistent with

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your overall spending so that 
you can eliminate your debt 

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faster and get to that that day.
That is such a joyful day when 

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you can say, I don't owe anybody
anything. 

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So making sure that you include 
some fun money in your budget 

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and call it whatever you want. 
I have clients that call it all 

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kinds of things. 
So if you have a have a fun 

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special name for it, it's the 
money that no one can tell you 

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like judge you for it or so like
for my husband and I, we each 

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have our own. 
So he has his, I cannot tell him

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what to do with it and he can't 
tell me what to do with mine or 

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judge me for my choices. 
And then the rest of our money, 

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we budget that together and we 
say, hey, this is where we're 

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going. 
But that fun money is whatever 

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brings us fun, joy, whatever. 
And then the last one is getting

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support and accountability. 
So I didn't even know when we 

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were going through this process 
that financial coaches existed. 

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Little did I know that this is 
where I would be and this is 

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what I would be doing and I 
absolutely love it. 

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But The thing is, we were, my 
husband and I, we were doing our

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debt elimination journey alone. 
So yes, we had each other, but 

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we both brought some stuff to 
the table that was at one point,

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We were not on the same page. 
And so it took a lot of patience

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for us to both get to that spot.
But I know if we had some 

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outside accountability and some 
outside help in that process and

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support that we would have got 
to our debt free date faster. 

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And so one big mistake is just 
doing it alone and not having a 

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community, someone a cheer you 
on because the world's going to 

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say you're crazy for trying to 
pay off all of your debt. 

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But also it's not it's not an 
easy process. 

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It is absolutely worthwhile, but
that sometimes we can get into 

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those shame spirals where we 
were like, you know what, we got

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off track. 
And so when you have that 

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support, you can have someone 
remind you to say, hey, you know

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what? 
It's about progress, not 

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perfection. 
So let's, you know, pick 

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yourself up and let's go for it 
and let's keep moving forward 

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because we can't change the 
past. 

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All we can do is change today 
and our future based on how we 

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spend our money. 
That's why I've created the 

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Alliance coaching program. 
It's community coaching where we

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get together a few times a month
to plan out our spending. 

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We do some training and then you
have access to an online portal 

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that has on demand trainings, 
has a message board. 

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So when stuff comes up and 
you're like, I don't know what 

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to do with this, we have weekly 
challenges in there. 

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It's so that you can work on 
your finances in 15 minute 

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increments. 
And I'm not talking about 1515 

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minute increments like all day 
long. 

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I'm saying like, let's do like, 
you know, couple times, couple 

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times a week maybe. 
And then we've got some longer 

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sessions where I have office 
hours and you can join us and 

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get your questions answered. 
So that's where that 

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accountability and support comes
in. 

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I want to encourage you that if 
this is where you are in your 

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debt elimination journey, 
remember these things are my 

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mistakes that I'm sharing with 
you and maybe you have made them

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and you know what? 
It's OK, Obviously I made them 

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and I still got to that debt 
free that that debt free, that 

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debt free status. 
So just to recap, you want to 

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start with that buffer. 
Do not skip that. 

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Give yourself a budget that 
you'll actually follow. 

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So making sure you budget in 
that fund money and then don't 

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do it alone. 
So these 3 shifts are going to 

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change your debt elimination 
journey. 

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And also it's just going to 
enrich this whole process for 

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you so that you don't have to do
things the hard way. 

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You can do things the smart way,
the wise way, and you can do it 

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with a community of other moms 
that are like going through the 

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same thing that you're going 
through. 

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If you're nodding your head 
right now, but you still feel 

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overwhelmed about where to 
start, I want to invite you to a

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free workshop that I have 
recently launched called 15 

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Minutes to Money Clarity. 
So in about half an hour, you're

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going to get a simple action 
plan to finally feel organized 

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with your budget. 
So you can jump on online at 

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Jewels the Budget 
nerd.com/clarity and get 

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registered. 
That's a totally free on demand 

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workshop that you can take LZ 
the budget nerd.com/clarity 

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CLARITY. 
So I hope that this episode was 

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helpful for you today and know 
that the things that I regret 

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about my journey, I am sharing 
those with you today so that you

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don't have to add those to your 
list of regrets. 

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So have an amazing day and thank
you so much for listening. 

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Thank you for listening to the 
Debt Rebel podcast. 

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Now, if you want to take your 
next step, check out my website,

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jewelsthebudgetnerd.com. 
That's JEWLZ, the budget 

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nerd.com. 
I've created a bunch of 

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resources just for you. 
So hop on over, check it out and

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we can connect more there. 
If you love today's episode, I 

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would be honored if you would 
hit that subscribe button and 

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leave me a review. 
And remember, every step towards

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financial independence is a 
rebellion against debt. 

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So stay strong, keep pushing 
forward, and fight the good 

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fight until next time. 
Debt rebels stay resilient.