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Episode 187 - How I Saved and Paid Off Over $5,600 in 42 Days!

Welcome to episode #187 of the Debt Free Dad Podcast. Today I am excited to welcome Kim Schmidt to the podcast. Kim invested in our Debt Freedom Planner and soon after joined us in Roots. In just 42 days, she has saved and paid off over $5,600. Today Kim is joining me to share her journey so far, and what changes she has made to get these results, and to hopefully encourage and motivate you so that you can make some great progress in a short period of time. 

What You'll Learn

  • Discover what made the biggest difference to help her save and pay off over $5,600 in just 42 days.
  • Hear how she went from stressed, to feeling very hopeful and confident in her finances.
  • Listen as Kim shares her biggest takeaways, and what advice she would give to anyone who felt like her before she started.

Resources Mentioned

Free Tools and Downloads at www.therealdebtfreedad.com

Connect With Brad

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Episode Transcript: 

Brad:  

Hey everybody, welcome to episode #187 of the Debt Free Dad Podcast. Today I am so excited to welcome Kim Schmidt to the podcast Now. Kim invested in our Debt Freedom planner and soon after joined us in Roots of Personal Finance. And check this out, guys in just 42 days from that initial purchase of that planner she has already saved and paid off over $5,600 in total and she is taking some massive action the last five to six weeks and today is joining, or she is joining me to share her journey so far and what changes she's been able to make to get these results and really to hopefully encourage and motivate all of you and to show you that you can really make some great progress in a short period of time when you have the right tools, the right support and the right accountability. Stay tuned, guys.

Announcement:  

You're listening to the podcast with Brad Nelson. Brad and his co-hosts experienced the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck before learning the fundamentals of financial security. They are now on a mission to empower regular people to pay off their debt for good and enjoy happier, less stressful lives. Keep listening for inspirational interviews, tips, tricks and practical advice to gain financial freedom. Hey, hey, hey. How's everyone doing?

Brad:  

today. You can find us on Facebook, tiktok, youtube and Instagram. Just search Brad Nelson . And, as always, welcome to today's show. Remember to get all the resources, show notes and links for today's show. You can head over to thedebtfreedadpodcast. com click on episode 187. Again, that's episode 187. Along with that you'll find all of the other episodes that we have here at the Debt Free Dad podcast, so please go out and take a look at those. We are covering so many great topics, especially for those people who are living paycheck to paycheck, want to end financial stress, want to save more money, want to get out of debt and again, guys, we are just normal people helping out and other normal people and how to handle this money stuff differently. And one of those people here today is Kim Schmidt, and I'd love to welcome her again to the podcast. Now. Kim is 57 years old and she was an ER nurse for 36 years. In this past year she had some major health problems that affected her mobility and she is now on disability. She has two grown children Her son lives just a few blocks from her and her daughter resides in South Carolina and she says I help take care of my grandchildren, who are my joys, which is really, really cool and, like many, though, Kim was doing OK until she went on disability and wasn't able to work and maintain her income, and once that happened, she says the stress started piling on. Kim, like I said, found our debt freedom planner and eventually joined us in Roots and again, guys, just in a short period of time and why we wanted to bring her on. We've gotten some great feedback from you guys and trying to get new members that are just getting started to kind of share what things that you guys can do to get started, and Kim is a great example of that. So, Kim, welcome to the show. We're so excited that you're here. Hi, how is it going? It's going really well. Thank you, good, good. So you now, when you sent over your bio, I know you mentioned in there and I didn't include it because I wanted you to share a little bit of your story, because I believe in your bio you had said that you know you as you were growing up, your parents kind of taught you about money, or they handled money pretty well, and it sounded like you were handling money pretty well. So can you kind of give us a little bit of history up until, like you know, six weeks ago you found our planner and landed yourself in Roots, and now you're you're just you're kicking butt here. But take us back before all that happened and kind of give us a little bit of a background as to kind of what brought you to where you are today.

Kim:  

Well, my parents are were a great example. They still are. They are great with their money. And for a while I was. And then I started nursing, and you can make good money in nursing, and I was. And then I thought well, you know, I'm making such good money, I can buy a whole bunch of stuff. And I didn't budget as well. And when I was married, my husband at the time did not budget well at all and we just kind of fell into oh, credit cards will pay him off, will pay him off. And then once I was on my own, I was making good money as a nurse. I thought I'll buy all this stuff it looks really cute or this might be cool to have in my house and I would put most of my paycheck towards my credit card. But it would never pay it off. I had very minimal savings because I had a retirement plan. I didn't need any more savings. And then in November I had problems walking and I eventually got diagnosed with diabetic amylochathy. It's a very rare diabetic condition where I have trouble walking and I can't keep my balance and have trouble with my legs. So I had to go on disability and that just stressed me out because I'm like I have all this credit card debt Plus. I don't know what my income is going to be. I need to budget, and it was. It was just like I need to budget, I need to do something. And I was on Facebook and I saw this and I thought you know what? This looks pretty cool, I can do this. And I got this home and started doing it and it changed my world. Yeah. Just totally changed my world. It's like, okay, all right, I'm at that point, knew how much I was going to get that. Well, okay, knock out this debt, because I only get so much. And, like you have said in all the things that I've watched you, once the money's gone, it's gone. My credit cards that I I had used up and my little emergency fund that I had until I got started getting paid was gone. So the first two checks I got went to build up my emergency fund, and then I had one last check that I got from work for the disability at work and I wiped out all but one credit card. And now my budget. I'm peaceful, I'm happy. I have a plan. I know where all my money is going. I have put notes everywhere. Stop shopping on Amazon so much. Stop doing yeah right, don't shop when you're bored. I went on Facebook and sold almost $200 worth of stuff to declutter stuff that was just laying around that I never even used and it kind of makes me feel ill now. Stuff that I charged I have decluttered.

Announcement:  

Yeah.

Kim:  

I've never given away but the encouragement from the Roots community, knowing that everybody out there is going through the same thing. Every time I thought, oh, I can do this a little bit. I'd go on there and they'd be like, no, no, no, keep going, you're doing great. So I think it's very important to and keep encouraging everybody else, because I couldn't do it without that too and, like I said, this planner and this way of budgeting just changed everything for me. Yeah.

Brad:  

Talk a little bit about the mindset thing, because you had mentioned you were making a great income, and I think this is something a lot of us fall into and I did too is like we tell ourselves that one day, when I make more money, then I will take control of my finances and I'll have more money to save, more money to pay down debt. But the reality is, is most people, it doesn't happen like that, because we have lifestyle creep right when what happens is you make more money and you just spend more money, right, absolutely. And we work with high income earners, and that's why I find it always interesting people who are making not terrible money but they say I would like to make more money, or you need to make more money to be successful, and it's like well, but if you can't learn to manage the current money that you're making, what makes you think that you're gonna be able to manage more? Right? So I love that you kind of brought that up, that you felt like you were making enough money you could buy all these things. So was it just the disability portion, was it the health, the medical things that really kind of caused that mindset shift for you, or were you feeling that way already, like man, I'm just not really making much progress here. I am making a lot of money. Even before maybe all this, you know, the diagnosis happened, were you already kind of feeling some of that Like you needed to make some changes? Or was it truly that diagnosis and the fact that you had to go on disability that really pushed you that way? You think?

Kim:  

I was starting to notice, you know I had opened a couple more credit cards and I can't even tell you why I did. And it's like you know what I spend all my money. I would work extra days to put more money on my credit cards to get them down. It's like I am wasting $1,500 a month just to put some money on these credit cards and they're not paid off. And then I would do the same thing. I'm like you know something is gonna change and then you know total life shift, like okay, you got to change. You don't have a choice, you have to change. And once I did, I feel better and I know that this is the right mindset and it's just a piece about it.

Brad:  

Now I don't worry about my money anymore, right, which is a huge payoff in and of itself. It is, it is, it's an amazing place to be and think about. I mean, would you ever imagine I mean just five, six weeks ago, that you would have been able to change that feeling that quickly? Number one and number two I mean saving and paying off $5,600 bucks in five to six weeks is a I mean that's a huge swing, yeah.

Kim:  

I went around my house and I got rid of everything and I decluttered and I sold and I thought I didn't go out window shopping and I stayed home and I read a lot. So thank God for the library, my Kindle and how I passed my time and I worked on my book. My book looks like a textbook with everything I have written down. I mean, every dime I put towards that and that was my goal is to get this financial freedom, because you never know what's gonna happen. So I need to have stuff ready and I can have that quick mindset because as an ER nurse, you do everything quickly, you make quick decisions and you stick by them and you know what's good and this is good. This is just a good thing and I want everybody to know and to be part of it.

Brad:  

Ye ah, I love that. I love that Now you're only in. I mean you just. I think I just saw actually notification. I need to send you a video because, congratulations, you completed module number six right, and actually I think I saw you post on Facebook that you did in our group. So you're not even you're three quarters of the way through. So share. I watched them all yeah, the same time, which is awesome. But share like what, what has been? Some aha moments or maybe just some like the light bulb kind of went off, like this makes total sense. So you've gone through these first six modules or so, like share with people like what, what? I guess what's different now compared to what it was before?

Kim:  

you think Well, I didn't write anything down as my bills came in. I mean, my bills always got paid, I was never behind on anything. But now I know when they're coming, I know how much to budget, I know what's coming in and when. I know how much per week it's written out. I mean I use this calendar in the planner to write when stuff is due, when I pay it, how much I can spend that week. It's a discipline that I follow. And following the first two modules and learning how to use the planner like, oh okay, I can see I'm very visual, I can't do this stuff on like my phone. I like to have the planner, so I have everything written out, when it gets paid, how much it's gonna be, and you know what this bill is. Do I need to make more money the next month or put more towards it, Like the electric bill? Like you never know how much that's gonna be. But just sitting down I'm every day I look at this and every day I do it and every day I match it up with my account to see what's going on. And it's a discipline for me now and I know what's going on. And the using cash, the cash envelopes has been a game changer, Game changer.

Brad:  

So I want you to talk about that. When you say I use cash my envelopes, so you tell me how. Now we teach this in Roots, so share with the audience like what are you doing, what categories are you using cash for and why has that been such a game changer for you? I think.

Kim:  

Groceries and my personal. And it is true, you think more about spending cash than getting out that debit card and on top of my debit card I have my little white card before I spend it. But I think twice now I'm like, oh okay, well, let's look at the groceries here. Hmm, let's try and find a coupon or let's. But it's a total new mind frame keeping cash instead of, instead of using the card and having to put it in the budget. It's like this is all I get when it's gone. Too bad, so sad, but I love the envelopes.

Brad:  

Love, love, love. Now, were you using cash prior to this, or were you kind of relying more on your debit card?

Kim:  

Debit card for everything.

Brad:  

Everything, See, and that's what I love about what you've done and a lot of people, and this is what I want really. I think the big takeaway for our audience in your story, Kim, is just that you're willing to do things and try things different, and I think that's where so many of us get stuck is like we just get stuck in this rut, and it's just hard to break free from that. And I think you have been posting, you have been taking action, you have been trying new things. I mean you're using this planner. I mean you're really getting outside your comfort zone and here you are with all these great results and there's really no secret to it. It's just that the stuff works and you've just been willing to try it.

Kim:  

You know, and what I was doing was obviously not what needed to be done, and when I look back on it, I wasted so much money and I try not to look back on that because I can't change that, but I can change this and this is working so well.

Brad:  

Yeah, I love that, I'm so excited. Yeah, so excited, I love that. So I mean talking about your results. Would you have imagined that you'd make that kind of progress in just five to six weeks?

Kim:  

No, no, I would have thought, oh okay, oh look, this is cute on Amazon, I could use a couple more books. And now it's like I it's 24 hours. I wait 24 hours if I meant to have it, if I still want it then, and you know, 99% of the time I don't. And you know I'm not perfect at this. Yes, I have spent some money that wasn't budgeted, but I move stuff around. You know it's a work in progress and I'm not perfect. And you know I'm getting better. Yeah, but uh.

Brad:  

Yeah, Five, I mean five to six weeks. Yeah, you're, you're, I mean. I would still say, though you've made a huge difference in in dent and where you were just from starting.

Kim:  

You know it's huge. Yes, my goal was to have my ER fund and to get these debts paid off. I have one credit card left and I know I'll have it paid off by Christmas.

Announcement:  

So good that's awesome.

Brad:  

So talk a little bit. You mentioned your emergency fund. What is that? When you talk about you feel better, less stressed, like, how does that emergency fund play into this? I mean, what do you feel now that you have that built and that's behind you now?

Kim:  

Well, right after I became disabled I hate saying that Anyway, I was in a car accident and someone totaled my car. Oh, my goodness I know, oh yikes, oh no, am I gonna deal Because I'm not working? Talk about when it rains at pours man. Luckily, my father was selling his car and I got his car with what they gave me for my car. But I had to transfer the title and that's expensive. So I had money to do that. I didn't have to dip into my, I didn't have to go into the car. It was a budget. That fund covered me having a vehicle and I was able to rebuild that back up. So, knowing that life will throw things at you and life will throw things at you whether you're ready or not, I feel better, knowing that I have a cushion there if something else gets thrown at me.

Brad:  

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a fun, yeah it is. It is such a game changer for so many you mentioned the Roots community and it's pretty. I mean, it's I obviously me talking about it because we created it. But there's so many people just like you who say that they're just. That community has made such a difference. So can you dig a little bit deeper on that? Like, what does that mean to you? Everybody comments.

Kim:  

I'll put something up and I'll go. You go, girl, or that's wonderful and likes, and it's like, wow, they understand they're going through it, they get it. So I always want to make sure I give a. You know you go, and that's awesome to you, because I know what it feels like for me when someone does that. I want to make sure to help somebody else in case they're having a rough day. I can't do this. You go. Yes, you can Come on, you can do it. You can do it, yeah, because you can. They're hard days but you can do it.

Brad:  

Right, yeah, absolutely. I think you know, when you're working on something like finances, which is typically for most people very kind of shameful or embarrassing type topic, it's somewhat taboo for a lot of people you know, and to be able to have some people in your corner just to be able to cheer you on and encourage you. I think it just makes such a huge difference and we see that all the time here and you know, obviously you've been very active in the group. But, yeah, for support and accountability, I mean, it's just there's nothing that really kind of replaces that. No, it does. It makes just such a huge difference. So can you talk a little bit just from people who are out there? You know, obviously you know inflation's, you know hurting a lot of people who are living paycheck right now. You had mentioned like you went around your house, you decluttered, you sold some things. Like when you started doing your budget, as we kind of taught inside roots, what kinds of things and sacrifices or things did you cut out? Was there anything specifically that you found that you were drastically overspending on, or just some major changes that saved you some money?

Kim:  

Clothing. I did have to get some because of my health issues. I had to get some new clothes because I've lost a lot of weight, so I had to get that. But I cut it down. I really looked at how much groceries I need. I was able to cut that down. I don't eat out a lot. I don't just go out and go shopping. Most of the stuff was mostly stuff that I was spending, that I didn't need.

Brad:  

Right.

Kim:  

Most of the stuff I have budgeted is things that I'll need in my life, like my car up keep, that kind of stuff. But I live by myself. I don't need a whole lot. My children live on their own because they're older. So, yeah, decluttering stuff was just stuff that I didn't even realize I still had to get rid of. It felt good to let somebody else I mean, I've gone to Goodwill like eight times already besides what I'm sold on Facebook but yeah, feel lighter, yeah it is amazing.

Brad:  

We just did a whole episode on that, episode 184. We just got done. Actually, when you joined Roots, we did a whole decluttering challenge in the month of July and, yeah, it was so successful, so many people. But you're so right, you tend to forget how much stuff you actually have sitting around your house. It almost becomes like you just don't see it anymore until you make yourself more aware of how much stuff you have. Yeah, but great ways to save some money and stuff. Now you mentioned, let's talk a little bit about some upcoming goals. Like you said, your last credit card is hopefully going to be paid off by Christmas. What's kind of your ultimate goal here when it comes to your finances and what you're going to work on over here this next year?

Kim:  

I want to really build up my ER fund and just get that to a point where it can also start being into the retirement part. I'm not that close, but no spring chicken anymore either. So that's what I want to build up. I want to put most of my money into the savings. I want to never use debt again. I want to pay cash for everything. The other thing I did have a question of now that I've closed these credit cards, do I close the accounts? Do I leave them open? I've read so many different things. I don't want that to be in my mind saying, oh, you have this credit card here and you could use this.

Brad:  

Yeah, and see, that's the hard part. This is a great question. We'll address it right now. So I think it is an individual choice based on the person's like you were kind of hinting at. How much of a distraction and temptation is that open?

Kim:  

Exactly!

Brad:  

And for me I'll use myself as an example. I don't have a personal credit card in my life anymore because I was very similar to you, where I would pay it off or get very close to paying it off, but then all of a sudden something would pop up and I'd be like, oh, swipe in and again, and I just couldn't break that habit. So for me, I had to cut out credit cards altogether. Now and again you hear so much information out there articles, you should keep your credit cards open for your credit score, and all that, but what they don't address is the fact that, well, some people just aren't very good at behaving with them, and I, you know, and that's for me. So for me, I canceled them, got rid of them, I don't have a credit card, and people will, you know, balk at that and say, well, you know, from a security standpoint, you know, I want to have a credit card for booking travel, and you know, I mean I understand the arguments out there about credit cards, but I think you can do it with a debit card? Yes, you can. You can do a lot of stuff with a debit card and I've done all sorts of different things with a debit card, even a business debit card traveled to 20 cities, traveled internationally with a debit card, booked hotels, rental cars. I mean I've done everything with debit cards that they supposedly say is much harder. It's really not. It's not really all that hard or much. It's not really. It's about the same. Actually, I don't really see much of a difference. But so I mean you're going to want to base it on your own individual behaviors, your distractions, your temptation level. The one thing I will say and this is the downside to canceling the credit cards is you will take a hit on your credit score. So this is where you know. If you're out there and you're sitting here, well, I kind of feel like Tim, I kind of feel like Brad, like I can't behave well with these, but at the same time, let's say, you're trying to get approved for a mortgage here in the next six to 12 months, or maybe the next couple of years, I would say don't cancel them and just do your best to like, like freeze your cards in a bucket of water or put them in a safe or you know, do something with them, right, and then you're off of your devices where you're not seeing them. Like do your best to try to get those distractions.

Kim:  

I did, I took them all off. Yeah, I took them all off. The only thing I pay with is my debit card. Right?

Brad:  

And there's people who can. I mean there's people who can correct their behaviors and use a credit card and pay it off every month, which I don't have any issue with. Like, if that's the way you want to manage your money, you're using a credit card, you're paying it off every month and you're good at that. Like, you keep doing that, you do you right, but me, like I just I could never do that. So to give that advice generally to everybody, it just doesn't work for everybody. So I think I think you just need to base that decision based on what you feel is going to be best in your financial interests and just understand that with that comes consequences of maybe getting some dings on your credit score, that that will.

Kim:  

And we just did that module about credit score and how it really isn't that big a huge deal. Where I'm at right now.

Brad:  

I'm not intending on doing any big purchases in the next five to 10 years, so yeah, yeah, the good news is you know you can take time to decide and I think you know you're in such a I mean just in five to six weeks. You're in such a different mindset, such a different place, I mean you know and great. You may find that over time, you know you can hold onto them and not be tempted by using them. You know it just kind of depends on where you're at. But yeah, I mean, as far as credit scores in general yeah, I hear it to every dad I mean, can they play a role in your financial life as it comes to, you know, getting approved for mortgages and things like that? Yes, absolutely, and they can have some importance based on your financial goals. But are they the most important thing in your financial life? Like people treat them to be? Absolutely not Like. There are so many other things that we need to prioritize over that and so many people would have less financial stress if they did that. And we cover that all on this podcast. So if you're interested in more, just keep listening to our episodes. I've been listening yes, we do talk a lot about that. But, kim, my last question for you today if you could share. Like you know, you've now gone. You've bought our planner. You faced maybe being a little skeptical, maybe you know, is Roots gonna be right for me? Is this what I really need? Is this gonna make a difference? And you joined and now you're here taking action. You're making tremendous progress. Like what would you say to someone who's on the fence and maybe not just about Roots, but just really just getting started? Now that you've done this now for the last month and a half and I still I mean $5,600 saved and paid off in that time period and just your mindset changed, I mean this is huge. Like, what would you say to someone who hasn't gone through the steps that you have in these last month and a half? Like, what advice would you give them?

Kim:  

Jump off the fence. What is it gonna cost you if you do it for a month? And you see? I think, once you see what you can do and what it's going to do and how you can pay things off and how you can have peace of mind about money, which is the biggest worry ever to decrease your anxiety, it's like you've tried. Most people have tried many other things that failed. This one doesn't. This one has support. This one's easy, this one's life changing. Jump, just jump. You will not regret it. I promise you, yeah, will not.

Brad:  

Yeah, that's awesome, kim. Well, I just wanna say again, number one huge thank you for coming on, spending some time with us and sharing. Like I said, like me. You know it's been great. You know I think money is just an embarrassing topic for a lot of people. They're not willing to talk about it. So for you to have the courage come on here and share you said this is your first podcast episode. I'd say you did a pretty fantastic job. I will say Thanks.

Announcement:  

Very nervous.

Brad:  

You did awesome. It was awesome. But I also wanna just say huge congratulations to you. It's awesome that you're taking action. It's exciting for me and I've been doing this for years but to see people like you come in and really just take advantage of everything we're doing here and it's only benefiting you, and it's so awesome to see how much has just changed and made an impact on you. It's why we do what we do, so it's just it makes our job so much fun to see people like you being able to change their finances like you are, and that's just so cool.

Kim:  

This has changed my life and I don't know how to thank you enough for the support and for doing this. It's just amazing.

Brad:  

And thank you. I appreciate that, kim. Thank you for coming on. I appreciate you, thank you. So the totally awesome Debt Freedom Planner is helping so many people make consistent progress with their finances, whether that be building emergency funds, paying down bills, budgeting, tracking paydays, saving up for larger purchases, goal planning and planning for those irregular yearly expenses that always seem to catch you by surprise. Now the Debt Freedom Planner will help you take the stress out of managing your money. And if the thought is running through your mind, hey, I just need to have a simple tool to get my finances together. This planner is perfect for you. Head over to therealdebtfreedad. com, click on the Debt Freedom Planner in the menu at the top of the page and order your Debt Freedom Planner today.

Kim:  

Let's talk about debt, baby. Let's talk about your money. Let's talk about all the good things, all the bad things, that baby, let's talk about debt. Let's talk about.

Brad:  

All right, as you guys know, that's how it means. It's time for the celebrations of the show and, as I said, I would like to just thank Kim for joining us again. Another just positive story and more proof again to all of us, to all of our listeners out there, that you can make some fantastic progress and obviously consistency and discipline are key, but just in a matter of a little over 40 days, what Kim's been able to achieve, it's pretty remarkable. So, Kim, congratulations to you. Keep up the great work. We're kicking it off here with Beth Castle. Beth totally stuck to the budget this past week and saved $300 in her emergency fund. Beth, congratulations to you. That is incredible Terramine. I paid off my daughter's braces one month early, which is a fantastic feeling, Terra. Congratulations, Sarah Ann. I budget per paycheck bi-weekly, which is, by the way, one of the harder ways to budget is bi-weekly paychecks getting paid every other week, and she says I got this week's done early and already mostly done with the next budget as well. Sarah Ann, congratulations to you on just getting started with those budgets, continuing to do them. Especially with those bi-weekly paychecks they can be a little bit more challenging. So great job, Sarah. Lindsay Witt replenished my emergency fund to $1,000 and I paid off my smallest debt using the debt snowball. Lindsay, congratulations to you. Way to get started, way to get that emergency fund built, and I'm sure that those wins feel fantastic. So congratulations to all you guys out there who are working your way out of debt. And if you're just getting started with our podcast, or maybe you've been listening for some time and you're interested in how you can get started on the road to financial freedom, go to our website at balancedcents. com or debtfreedad. com and sign up for my free life without payments workshop, where I'm gonna show you the first steps that have helped tens of thousands of people just like you and I kick financial stress and worry for good. We'll see you guys next week.

Announcement:  

Thanks for listening to the Debt Free Dad podcast. We so appreciate it For resources, show notes and links mentioned in today's show. Visit balancedcents. com. That's balancedcents. com. Catch you next week.