Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #509 Talking Budgets With Victoria Devine

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#509 Talking Budgets With Victoria Devine · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Now, we have in our heads that a budget is
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: about restriction, and it's actually about the opposite. It's about
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: allocating money in line with the things that we value.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And if you've got your head in the sand about
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: money and budgeting like we can't ever be on top
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  Speaker 2: of it.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: And now here's the stars of our show, my mum
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and dad.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Hello, this is doctor Justin Coulson.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: Cost of living is getting out of control, frustrating when
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: you almost cry every time you have to fill up
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: the car put petrol in there.
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  Speaker 3: It's just awful and it.
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  Speaker 4: Doesn't look like it's going to get any better as
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: we move closer and closer to political elections and all
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: the political stuff around finance. This is not a conversation
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: about politics though today it's a conversation about getting our
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: money sorted when times are tough. And my guest for
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: today's podcast is Victoria Devine from She's on the Money.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: It's a podcast that I reckon you should follow for
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: free on whatever podcast app you're listening on. All about budgeting,
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: all about getting stuff right. Also, the author of the
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: book She's on the Money. Hey, Victoria, great to have
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: you on the Happy Family Podcast.
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: Hello, thank you so much for having me.
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  Speaker 4: I want to ask you a really big question to
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: start with. We're going to get to the budgetary stuff later,
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: but what does it cost to raise a child? I mean,
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  Speaker 4: I've read all these articles all over the place about
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: it's a million bucks, and it's eight hundred grand, and
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  Speaker 4: it's two million. People just say that having children is expensive.
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  Speaker 4: How much does it cost?
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  Speaker 3: You've written about this in your book, She's on the Man.
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  Speaker 1: I have.
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  Speaker 2: I did a whole chapter on how to budget for
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  Speaker 2: a baby and how much a cost to raise a child,
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  Speaker 2: and my research doesn't tell me a million dollars, although
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: sometimes I feel like it can probably feel like a
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: million dollars, and with you having six kids probably going.
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  Speaker 5: To cost that, I do apologize.
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  Speaker 3: It feels like I'm killing you out.
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  Speaker 2: But there was a research study done in twenty eighteen
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  Speaker 2: by the Australian Institute of Family Studies and that showed
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  Speaker 2: that it's about eight eight hundred and four forty dollars
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  Speaker 2: per child per couple to raise a child here in Australia,
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  Speaker 2: which equates to about one hundred and fifty nine thousand,
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty dollars per eighteen years.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 4: So if I multiply that out by six, and I'm
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  Speaker 4: not very good at maths, but let's say it's approximately
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  Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty, I'm up for nine hundred grand.
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah. So, as I said, you're up for the million,
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  Speaker 5: my friends, But what.
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  Speaker 3: Does it not include?
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  Speaker 4: Because families are paying I know some people are going
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: to say eight thousand dollars, but what about my even
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  Speaker 4: my low fee private sych like a Catholic school maybe
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  Speaker 4: six grand a year, maybe up to ten or fifteen
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  Speaker 4: depending on the school. Those fancy hoity toity schools, we're
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: talking thirty grand a year.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there's a little bit of research. Yeah, absolutely, there's
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: a little bit of research around it that was actually
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: done in twenty sixteen by the government and they did
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  Speaker 2: some budgeting and some guidelines for lower income families to
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  Speaker 2: give them an idea of how much it would cost
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  Speaker 2: to have different items budgeted into each week's budget. So
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: they said, for a couple with one child, food for
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: their budget should be about one hundred and fifty six dollars.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: You should be budgeting about twenty four dollars for clothing
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: and footwear, about one hundred and thirteen for household goods
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: and services, and then education they said budget about twenty
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: seven dollars per child. So I think that's an interesting
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  Speaker 2: one because obviously that's going definitely off the public system,
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  Speaker 2: not the private system.
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  Speaker 5: But I don't know if.
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  Speaker 2: That includes things like school camps and all of the
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: extracurricular activities that a lot of kids get up.
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  Speaker 5: To these days.
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  Speaker 3: And that's what I was thinking, where you're going through that.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: I was like, and when are you going to say
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: piano lessons or or netball exactly? It just keeps ongoing.
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  Speaker 3: But that's really fascinating.
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  Speaker 4: What that tells me is that the choices that we
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: make over and above the basics are where the real
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  Speaker 4: costs are. If it's only about eight thousand dollars per child,
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  Speaker 4: per couple per year, most of us can probably figure
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: out a way to navigate that unless things are getting
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: really really tight, maybe unemployment, or if we're.
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  Speaker 3: Doing it on our own.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, my hat just goes off again and again.
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  Speaker 4: To single parents, it must be so so tight.
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  Speaker 3: So tough.
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  Speaker 4: So let's let's dive into this a little bit petrol prices,
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  Speaker 4: even though there's been this nice reduction in fuel excise
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: in the budget.
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  Speaker 5: We love that. We love that.
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  Speaker 2: Recently we saw the budget give us a fuel excise,
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  Speaker 2: which if you missed it because you're a busy parent,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not surprised. But the government turned around and said,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: you know what, as of midnight on the night that
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: the budget came out, we're going to have the tax
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  Speaker 2: on fuel, So we're going to go from forty four
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: point two cents per liter down to twenty two point one,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: which the idea of that is to be completely passed
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  Speaker 2: on to us. So if recently you've been seeing a
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: little bit of a price drop at the bowser, that
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  Speaker 2: is the reason I.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: Wonder if our roads are going to deteriorate. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: they reckon that that excise fixes all of our anyway,
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  Speaker 4: Let's not go down. I'm not going to have a
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  Speaker 4: slippery slope it is. So that's only going last for
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: six months as well, So obviously.
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  Speaker 2: Apparently they didn't give us any indication of why only
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: six months, because obviously there's a lot of uncertainty in
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: their marketplace at the moment, so maybe it'll be extended.
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  Speaker 2: But do you know what, I'm just grateful for it
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  Speaker 2: right here and right now, because I got very sick
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: of paying more than two dollars a lead.
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  Speaker 4: Oh man, I know, like I literally, I know I
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: said it in the intro, but I nearly cried when
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: I had to pay for fuel a couple of weeks,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: so I was like, how can they charge us this?
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  Speaker 4: It's never been there. We struggle though, when it comes
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: to budgeting. Before we talk about some specific tips for budgeting,
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  Speaker 4: can you just tell me a bit about why we
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  Speaker 4: don't budget well. Why people roll their eyes as if
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  Speaker 4: it's a dirty word, Why people get so frustrated about budgets,
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  Speaker 4: why they so hard to stick to.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, there's so many reasons, but the top two for
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  Speaker 2: me is number one.
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  Speaker 5: Judgment.
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  Speaker 2: You feel like you're judging yourself. You don't feel like
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  Speaker 2: you want to look at it because you're like, oh
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  Speaker 2: my god, I'm going to feel so awful about the
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  Speaker 2: decisions I've made. I don't need to feel awful today, No,
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  Speaker 2: thank you. And the second point there is actually we
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: have in our heads that a budget is about restriction,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: and it's actually about the opposite. It's about allocating money
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: in line with the things that we value. And if
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: you've got your head in the sand about money and budgeting,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: like we can't ever be on top of it. And
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: from my perspective as a financial advisor, budgeting is actually
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: about really understanding every dollar that comes in and knowing
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: what that looks like, but then also understanding every dollar
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: that goes out, regardless of where it is going, just
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: so that you're on top of it.
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  Speaker 4: Victoria, we need to take a quick break, but before
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  Speaker 4: we do, I just want to go a little deeper
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  Speaker 4: on that concept, because that's precisely how I see budgeting.
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  Speaker 4: It's like, oh, I've got to spend this much on that,
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  Speaker 4: and this much on I've got my rates, I've got
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: my mortgage, I've got my car repayments, I've got my
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: credit card, my blah blah blahlah blah blah blah, got
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: a budget for kids in school. And I do I
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  Speaker 4: feel like as the money comes in, I'm putting it
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  Speaker 4: into all of these I mean I used to when
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: we had cash all the time. I used to literally
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: put the money into envelopes. With my wife Kylie, we
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: say down, we'd pull the money out of the bank,
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: we'd put it into the envelopes and we'd be like, Wow,
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  Speaker 4: we've got seventy six cents left that we can spend
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  Speaker 4: and have fun with this week.
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  Speaker 3: And it felt like it was restrictive.
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  Speaker 4: Can you just talk a bit more about that for
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  Speaker 4: just a minute or so, about why it's not necessarily
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  Speaker 4: about restricting our funds.
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  Speaker 2: I think too many times we look at it and
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  Speaker 2: we're shocked about the numbers that we see. You might
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  Speaker 2: think in your head, oh my gosh, all right, I've
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  Speaker 2: got a couple of kids. My grocery budget is sitting
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  Speaker 2: just under two hundred dollars, Like can you feel really
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  Speaker 2: okay with that? But when you start to look into it,
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  Speaker 2: you go, all right, well, I'm spending that two hundred dollars,
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  Speaker 2: but then I'm doing three or four trips to the
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: supermarket in between. I'm now spending four hundred dollars. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't realize. I feel very guilty about my spending, and
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: you don't really want to get on top of it.
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  Speaker 2: But it's actually more about creating a budget and setting
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  Speaker 2: an amount that is allocated to that that is in
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: line with your lifestyle. If you pop out to the
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  Speaker 2: shops a lot, that's totally okay. Let's just make sure
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  Speaker 2: that there's a wiggle room in the budget so that
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: that doesn't eat into your future holidays or into the
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: ballet lessons, or into something else that you know you
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: want your money to be working on.
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  Speaker 5: So it's more.
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  Speaker 2: About going, all right, well, what type of person and
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: am I how are we budgeting as a family? Is
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  Speaker 2: convenience something that we are really happy to pay for?
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  Speaker 2: And if it is, that's totally fine. It doesn't matter
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: that Susie down the road has managed to mail prep
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  Speaker 2: everything and she does two hundred bucks a month, like,
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  Speaker 2: that's not you, that's not your comparison to draw. We
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: need to really just focus on ourselves. So I think
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: by budgeting, it's not about setting a limit. It's actually
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: about going how much my spending and if you're not
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: comfortable with it, finding a way to change that amount
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: that actually makes sense for your personal situation. Because there
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: are some things that you'll just say, oh, I know
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: I spend more on groceries, but I'd much prefer to
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: buy the pre cut carrots than I would to have
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: to do.
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  Speaker 5: All the prep myself.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that is very fair and very reasonable
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: to make that decision as long as it's a decision,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: not just an incidental that's eating into your budget.
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: I think this is why so many people like your podcast.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: You're reassuring and you've just got such great answers. I'm
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: speaking with Victoria Divine from that she's On the Money
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: podcast and the author of the book She's On the Money.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: You can check out her podcast whatever app you listen
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: to podcasts on. After the break, we're gonna have a
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: conversation about getting our budget right and how we can
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: make the tough decisions when there just doesn't seem to
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: be enough money left at the end of the week.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: Your daughter just walked by, eyes glued to her phone,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: expression unreadable.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: You ask her to put it down, but she balks.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: You know it's not good for her, but you're not
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: sure why or how to support better choices. In the webinar,
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: pixel perfect I joined with psychologists and Team tech expert
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: Jocelyn Brewer to discuss how to set screen boundaries that
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: work for you and your daughter. Check out pixel perfect
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: now on the Happy Families webshop. It's the Happy Families podcast,
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: the podcast for the time poor parent who just wants
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: answers Now. Victoria Divine from the She's on the Money
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: podcast is with me right now, and we're talking about
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: how to get through these tough times as everything goes up,
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: like bananas and tomatoes and cucumbers and broccoli and fuel
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: and bread and milk, I mean just.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Every truly everything. Yep. Houses. Can we talk about houses
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: for a seconds now?
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: I think we'll end up crying.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: So as life gets more and more expensive, Victoria and
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: families are saying, I get what you're saying about budgeting,
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: and I'm even on board with budgeting, and I get
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: that it's not necessarily a restrictive thing. It's supposed to
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: free me up. But I just don't have enough money.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: I don't know how I'm supposed to do this. I'm
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: tightening my belt as much as I can. We've canceled
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: the kids extra curricular activities, and we we're crying into
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: our pillows every night because it's so hard right now?
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: How do you help parents like that? As a financial advisor?
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: I feel like so many parents put so much pressure
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: on themselves to adhere to what they think they should
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: be doing, rather than what they should be doing for
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: their own situation. And my friend, you probably know of
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: another very famous ex financial advice I didn't wear any
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: shoes that he had a very structured outline of what
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: he thought you guys should be doing, and he'd say
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: things like, all right, twenty percent into that, thirty percent
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: into that. And I just think that that's such a
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: redundant system, because if you're a single mum of two
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: kids and you're only forty five grand a year, that
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: is ridiculous to think that you are going to have
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: savings left over at the end of the month. And
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: I want you to know that that's okay that you
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: don't because you're in that period of your life where
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: do you know what that's not the priority. Putting food
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: on the table and giving your kids good experiences seems
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: to be your priority, and that's okay. But on the
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: flip side of that, maybe the more unrelatable side is
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: if we then applied that same structure to a family
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: that had an income of four hundred thousand dollars, I'd
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: expect them to save way more than ten percent. I'd
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: expect them to be doing backflips in comparison. So I
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: think these percentage based systems put a lot of pressure
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: on us to go, oh my gosh, like, I'm spending
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: so much more than that on housing. A lot of
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: single parents will report that they're definitely spending more than
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: thirty percent of their income or rent or on a mortgage.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: A lot of them will say, like, at the end
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: of the day, Victoria, I don't have a lot left
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: to save or invest, and I just feel like there's
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: so much pressure in twenty twenty two to be an investor.
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  Speaker 5: That's not the point.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: It's important to be educated, but it's also important to
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: give yourself the grace and the space to thrive.
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: In the moment.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: So if you're not putting a heap aside, that is
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: totally okay. My number one priority for you would be
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: making sure that you have an emergency fund to the side,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: maybe five hundred bucks, just so that you feel a
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: little bit more comfortable. But having that structured budget in place,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: just so you know where every dollar is going, you
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: know what it's being spent on, and you know what
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: your values are. Because I promise once you put that
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: in place, you're going to feel so much more empowered
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: and once you let go of the idea that you
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: need to be saving and you need to be investing.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: If you're a mum, and you're a single mum at
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: that or a single parent in general. That's a whole
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: heap of pressure. You don't need to be putting on yourself.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and we do that so much as parents. Already.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: A couple of thoughts have popped in my mind as
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: I'm listening to you walk through this conversation. The first
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: is just there's a period of life, and you've highlighted
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: this so succinctly, so nicely, where life just gets really expensive.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Kylie and I are in that period right now.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: We've got all of our kids between the age of
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: seven and nineteen, except for eldest who's moved out and married.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: And this is we've already kind of nodded our heads
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: at each other and gone, this is going to be
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: the most expensive decade of.
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: Our lives, because absolutely it is.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: Five kids going through their adolescence and between and teen years.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: That's costly. And once you recognize that that is it's
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: going to be an expensive decade, but it will pass.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: That just made us feel better.
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: We're like, Okay, so we are probably going to be
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: a little bit less investment. Yeah, that's right, exactly going
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: to go away. We're just going to get through and
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: the other thing that we did. I mentioned this in
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: the first part of our conversation, but I'd love for
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: you to unpack how we can do this because we
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: don't do this anymore in our family because we don't
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: use cash anymore. Everything we don't mean tap but that
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: envelope system, right, So as a family, every couple of months,
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: we'll go through the credit card statement, well, the debit
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: card I should say. We pay for everything on our
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: Visa master card whatever it is where we tap and go.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: It's a debit card because we're not into credit cards
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: at all. But we go through that statement and we
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: literally itemize everything that we're spending with the kids so
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: that they can see, Oh, I love that. This is
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: how much we spent on groceries last month. This is
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: how much we spent the month before, and we actually
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: step them through, dollar by dollar everywhere that our money
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: is going. And then we have a conversation with them,
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: is this working, Should we be changing anything? What are
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: your thoughts on how much we spend on fuel and
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: travel and car costs and food. And we have these
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: really great conversations, but we don't know what to do
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: with the money because we're just tapping, and it's much
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: harder to monitor it because we don't have the envelopes
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: where we take the cash out and then the envelope's empty.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: I guess we can't have that treat today.
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah. No, So I love that you're doing that with
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: your kids.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: Have you actually heard of how some people put their
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: kids in control of the grocery budget for a week,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: so they say, you make the decisions. We've got a
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: budget for breakfast, lunches, dinner, snacks, school lunches, everything, and
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: then they make the decisions. It's actually incredibly funny the
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: way that their thought processes work, especially the difference between
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: a seventeen year old and a twelve.
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: Year old making those decisions.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: But back to cash envelope systems, obviously that's not as
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: feasible nowadays. So what you're going to do is do
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: that with your banking system. I have a strategy and
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: I recommend to this in my book, I recommend it
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: in my podcast and in my Facebook group. I am
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: obsessed with this strategy, and it's the strategy of having
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: six different bank accounts. So the first one is your
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: cash hub, and that's where all your money goes into
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: that kind of as like the bucket that makes sure
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: that everything is captured, and then we have a number
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: of different accounts off the side of that to make
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: sure that we have our savings goals. Maybe we've got
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: an account off the side for our investments. If we've
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: got it, we've got to wreck debits coming out of
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: that main cash hub. But then we have a debit
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: card attached to another account where we weekly transfer the
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: amount of money that we spend on our food, our fuel,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: and our fun. So that could be different for a
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: husband and wife or couples who have different spending habits.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you're of you're in the situation where only
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: one parent takes the kids to ballet lessons, so they're
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: going to need that money on their card to tap.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: But that's where your grocery money goes every week, your
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: fuel money, which is probably a little bit more now
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: than it used to be, and your fun money. So
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: anything to do with the kids, anything that you're doing.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Maybe mum gets her hair done every six or eight weeks,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: that goes on that card as well, and that becomes
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: your micro budget. So instead of always having to go,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: oh my gosh, is there enough money left in the
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: cash hub to make sure that we're making regro or insurances.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: That's all been thought about and that's being captured in
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: your cash hub and sitting there ready to use. But
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: we only draw out on a weekly basis, regardless of
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: how often you get paid. We draw out that amount
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: of money into our food, fuel and fun account and
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: that's what we tap. And so if we distill it
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: back down and go, okay, well we're only using this amount,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: in the back of your head, you're like, all right, well,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: I know there's four hundred bucks on that card this week.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Oh I went over on groceries. Maybe I won't pick
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: up that extra coffee. Oh I know that the kids
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: have ballet, and there's something additional to spend this week.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to be a little bit more conscious
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: with the grocery budget. So instead of having to overall
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: think about your money as this big, holistic picture, which
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: can be incredibly overwhelming, we're breaking it down. We're making
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: it small and it's just week to week. If you
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: have a bad week, that's totally okay. Next week is coming, Victoria.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: This is great.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: It's kind of like just setting up make accounts like
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: you would set up. It's precisely the same thing with exactly.
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: When you feel just so much more in control hundred percent.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: I love it. I love it.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: To wrap this up, time has gotten away and our
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: time poor parents are going hang on my car ride
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: to and from school is over. Last piece of advice,
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: last tip for parents who are just saying, but gee.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: It's so hard. I'm really struggling right now. Cost of
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: living is just horrible.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: It's astronomical.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: I think my one piece of advice would be give
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: yourself a bit of grace.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: You're doing well.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: You clearly care about your family, you are listening to
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: this podcast to begin with, and obviously you're trying to
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: make sustainable changes. But this period of time, it's expensive,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: but it's beautiful. So I think if you're in a
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: situation where you're incredibly stressed and you're like, oh my god,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: I'm never going to be able to say, well, get ahead.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: That's just right now, my friend, and there is always
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: tomorrow and we can work on it.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Then.
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: Victoria Devine from the She's on the Money podcast. You
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: can follow the show for free on whatever podcast app
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: you're listening on, and also the author of She's on
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: the money.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: What a delight to talk to you.
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much for breathing a little bit of
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: hope into the lives of so many of us who
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: are going It costs too much.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Everything costs too much, honest. But what you can't get
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: back is time, my friend.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yes, it doesn't cost money to take the
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: kids to the park.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: But I'll tell you what.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: Just recently, I took my kids out for a daddy
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: daughter date and I bought them a ham, cheese and
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: tomato croissant that costs twelve bucks and a milkshake that
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: cost eight and I just thought, what has happened to
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: the world. I'm going to the supermarket. From now on,
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: We're going to have a date at home. I'm going
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: to cook and make the stuff myself.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: You can take the staff in a picnic basket to
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: the park.
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: How good's that?
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: Winning? See, this is why we have these conversations.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Victoria Devine from the She's on the Money podcast, what
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: a great chat. The Happy Family's podcast, as always, is
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: produced by Justin Ruland from Bridge Media, and Craig Bruce
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: is our executive producer. If you want more info about
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: making your family more budget conscious, check out cheese on
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: the money, or to make your family happier, visit happy
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: families dot com, dot a u