everyone has their own unique views and needs when it comes to financial success if you'd like to leave your financial woes behind and live a life of Financial Freedom you've come to the right place welcome to the saving with Steve show hosted by Steve Sexton the show will help you with the ins and outs of money we talked about financial issues that could be costing you thousands of dollars and keeping you up at night we talked about money tax reduction saving more spending less 401K risk management retirement and everything under the sun that relates to you having a healthier happy relationship with money now here is your host of saving with Steve Steve Sexton to the saving with Steve show where we talked about the ins-and-outs of money pretty much everything you having a happier or healthier relationship with money my name is Steve sex and I want to thank you for joining it in order to make that happen we're thankful for everybody behind the scenes camera does the editing<br> is team helps with a PR we've got Emily who helps with distribution so we're very very thankful we've got a lot of wonderful facilitators or syndicator this is A&M 247 BBS radio UK help radio are shows actually seen worldwide now and over 56 countries we have over 600,000 people who watch your show and listen to our show every single time and we have well over 100,000 listeners over season we're just thankful for all that today I'll be talkin about how to keep your debt and check this is something that you're going to want to know about we have Crystal Lockwood she's a mom of 5 who teaches other mom how to declutter without being a full-blown minimalist she has a Facebook page called motherhood simplify the ultimate guide for mom's life herb website motherhood simplified has chips after chips for moms you can listen to a runner podcast with over 50,000 mom's at 5 she's one heck of a woman<br> do they have her here today now I like to welcome Krista Lockwood she's here in the flashing we want to thank you for being with us and shared all this information so Crystal welcome to the show coming to you before I mean how great you look mama 5 p.m. my mom was I want to 5 so I knew my mom didn't sleep too much when I was younger didn't realize that until I was in high school but I mean thank you that's one of the reasons I teach your mom how to declutter is so that they can do that they can have rest and have you sit and have some plicity because motherhood doesn't have to be more exhausting than it needs to be a mother has ended self is exhausting had totally get that I would just love to understand how you got started and the motherhood simplified movement so to speak what got you going with all that my husband and I were born and raised in Alaska and he's always been an entrepreneur so have I and he does insurance so he's in that type of industry and we were in Alaska is business is doing well<br> we got to a point where he was like I don't think there's really anything else we can do in the last but what if we left and so in 2013 we moved from Alaska to Florida and pursuit of opportunity and we were a broke family we had three kids of The Time band because it was so expensive to ship stuff from Alaska to Florida we just decided to rent a house that was furnished and get rid of everything other than what fit into our suitcases and so I accidentally discovered how powerful it was live in a house that had less stuff in my motherhood because I went from living a pretty normal mom I see what you might remember growing up like how your mom experience where there's just never ending toy messes like laundry dishes always something to do in the house and it's exhausting and it eats up all of your time and all of your energy and so we got the Florida life really easy I thought it was because we moved but I've been able to see in hindsight that the reason I got easier because I got rid of all that excess stuff in my house it was making me slowly go crazy right like I felt like my family<br> help me clean up I felt like I was a glorified roommate just trying to manage pointless Messes in my house and that changed and it wasn't actually until like two thousand Seventeen when I got pregnant with her fourth baby and was a part of a dude a group of other moms do it the same time and they all were talking about how overwhelmed they were with motherhood and their home specifically like the day today messes trying to get organized trying to implement chore charts and systems that they just couldn't stain and I wasn't struggling with that anymore and just watching your conversations and we did this thing called House tours where we would go live and do each other inside of our houses and kind of like what had changed for me and it got rid of that stuff we have more stuff now than just a suitcase but it wasn't as much as I used to. I feel like I know what your problem is that you have too much stuff in your house like nobody could possibly ever manage that or keep up on it or keep it organized or no chore chart that could ever<br> upon that amount of work you want me to show you a better way and they're like in hindsight and Mark how I could help them unless it's not nothing right don't go down I don't recommend that it's just that I happen to do and give them releasing their homes and it's been a really beautiful thing because now they have more time to spend with their families to have more time to do things like actually budget and then it's our money that was a big thing from unit changed with how I spent and related to my money you're supposed to stay on their house and their relationships and slowing down and actually enjoying their life so that's the story I'll just one of the things I did before getting into my business cuz I develop business is overseas and I would go for anywhere from 3 to 8 months into any one country and velvet and all that stuff but I'll live with that bag of golf clubs and two suitcases and every time I got to the hotel it was like okay just goes to the dry cleaners and you know this is my stuff for the week and it was real simple and easy<br> so it doesn't work when you have a wife and I didn't have a wife then I'm thinking that the middle middle side of the things compared to the way I live right now is like Josh that's been so much easier so you can have a statement here and I said you know how clutter and consumerism is a drain on somebody's finances to help us understand that and how we can de-clutter home and all that kind of stuff is very expensive and it's very tricky I just did a real on Instagram about this actually how moms go to Target and there's this mean that falls around that we all joke about that when you go into Target Target tells you what you need and that makes me so like that makes me so sad for families because it's true it's true that people we are we're surrounded by expert marketers especially his mom's we are constantly sold to we are constantly told our kids needs us right to the score for their development for their education for their happiness and you know good parents are quote good<br> give their kids these kinds of things and so there's this pressure on us to get more to buy more and then this worried that if you don't do that our kids are going to be deprived or they're going to be disadvantaged and it's not true and actually a Montessori teacher by trade and so a lot of that foundation in Montessori education is and having a simplified environment so that you can make sound decisions so that you can go deep into your work in your play and you're as adults that looks like building a life building a family raising children but you know it's it's it's expensive because we are buying all these things that we don't need and it's over stimulating and that reduces our ability to make sound decisions a lot of the decision that we make financially are short-term and they feel like the $20 toy here $20 toy there that adds up and we don't realize that we could be saving $20 here they're investing $20 there and having it move us on an upward trajectory<br> instead of either staying flat or even declining with my son who recently finished college and start a new job and moved out and he had a closet full of stuff that he hasn't used my number one in years I never to there was probably 5 or going to say this was probably six or seven things that my wife purchased for him and they still have the tags on it from years ago and I'm like yeah and then there's a bunch of stuff that he purchased himself cuz he thought he used it and electronics or something and they never actually used it so I could see how that is occurring because lot of it has to do with my wife going you know I think he really needs it and by the way it's on discount so I'm going to get it and then next thing you know it just sits there and that's what you're talkin about four families especially with kids no buying things that look like a good deal but if you don't need it right it's not really a good deal when it comes to clutter and<br> an excessive amount of stuff in our homes a lot of times we we buy things because we forget what we have or we lose it or there's some things you know it doesn't get stored adequately until it gets ruined for like kids clothes especially for family is here we buy clothes that are on sale in the next size up for the next season of thinking that it's going to save us money but then we forget that we have it or you don't pull out in time and they've outgrown it before they ever got a chance to wear it and get ultimately not saving us money and it comes down to I think just having too much to manage right we're trying to manage too much and then we're also constantly being sold to write it looks like a good deal but we don't need most of it he can't manage it we can't remember what we have. It's a big drain on our money I remember when we left Alaska I had to get rid of everything that was in our house looking at the piles of stuff that we had and just basically seeing piles of dollar bills I'm like wow like no wonder I haven't paid more off of my student loans because I would<br> go to the pet store and buy my kids some really cute toys that were super cheap never played with or it didn't really make a big difference to us to start at your son moved out here like so wow all this stuff that we bought and that were used and see it differently or you know I got that and I got to dry cleaner washed or whatever so I can wear it but never wore it and I think everybody can do that cuz I can just think what you're saying on yeah you know I could have saved a bunch of money and I think the analogy that you're saying hey I could have paid some bills off pay off my loan pay down my credit cards I think sometimes it depending on the purchase of people just go hater I really really need this or even Wayne today to make that decision and if you go back and you know how I really really need it okay fine but there's a lot of times region a it's out of sight out of mind so I don't really need it and that money could stay in your wallet working pay down that credit card<br> 17 or 18 right now is buying my first cell phone and they were giving me he went with me and they were giving me all kinds of upgrades to get really nice songs and his advice to me was to go home and think about whether I wanted to get all of the accessories of course they are like 17 or 18 making impulsive decisions in her like no I know I want this right and in hindsight I'm like that was a really good skill that he was trying to teach me and now I understand it but it's it's really true in our society because of the way consumers and kind of dominate everything it's normal for us to not take time to think about these decisions and it's normal for us to say well I earned it or or if a Splurge for me or do I worked hard for this and yeah you did it's just and I do think that we know we shouldn't deprive ourselves we should be just a matter of making sure that we're doing it within our actual financial means<br> so let's talk about that in a moment we're going to have to take a quick break so stick with us we're going to vacuum or Crystal Lockwood and some shaving with Steve so I'll be right back stick with it more expert advice for having a happier relationship with money still to come on the saving with Steve show<br> don't let your financial woes keep you up at night and prevent you from living a life of Financial and personal freedom hi I'm Steve Sexton post of the saving with Steve show where did he talk about the in an ounce of money Hills financial issues it could be costing me thousands of dollars causing stress keeping you up at night we're going to talk about money tax reduction saving more spending your investment risk management retirement and everything is so sweet with you having a healthier happy relationship with money soon as you've ever dreamed of living a life of Financial and personal freedom you owe it to yourself and your family to tune in to the saving with Steve show join me Steve section of the saving with Steve show as we talked about everything under the sun when it comes to money to learn more about the show visit saving with Steve. Us that's saving with Steve. Us saving with Steve. Us will see you soon<br> welcome back to the show that is here to help you achieve your financial goals it's the saving with Steve show now here's your host Steve Sexton hey welcome back to the same thing with Steve show where we talked about the ins-and-outs of money pretty much everything in this unreleased you having a happier or healthier day with money and if you would like to go check us out on Facebook and go to saving with Steve's text in behind-the-scenes stuff gas gift the whole shot by the way check out a few of our feelings that you can't help Radio AM FM 247 and DBS Radio they're all here to help you uplift your spirits and live a life of financial personal freedom and again I want a welcome back Crystal walk would you really want to go check out her website at motherhood simplify go to Facebook page that motherhood simplified The Ultimate Guide for mom's life when you go to the website you're going to see tip after tip after tip for moms it's something special cuz I was sharing it with my wife she could use some of that stuff when I was younger<br> what is the I can relate to you is when you start talking about when people go shopping and the lesson that you learned from your dad to think about it one of the big things that people don't realize with marketing has an actual strategy is a sense of urgency they're going to give you a timer till Thursday you look at the travel stuff I got to get it in the reality is all marketing design to get you to move forward with something before you actually want to my son's an engineer and he researches the heck out of everything and you're talking about a cell phone and before he bought the cell phone he figured out the one that would actually work out best for him from a utility stand for it like means when he needs to actually get done and then he looked at this for the way they said it is it hey you know what you can pay so much over this period of time and he figured it would save me $100 if you just paid cash up front for it instead of having a $50 is $30 a month.<br> for two years and pay almost double for the phone and he paid a lot less you know you look into those things sometimes it can be nice isn't the best thing because you're giving up too much money to get you with the urgency to unlock the steel is only good now and if you don't have you know if you're making an impulsive decision you are less likely to make that better decision because it takes time sometimes it takes time to save up the money to afford it in the best way possible and again we also live in a time where that's not really encouraged I've been in the online space for a little bit and sometimes the marketing in the urgency is borderline predatory because they're like well just get PayPal credit right or just use afterpay you know to get these things that you will see what I can afford you likely don't need but they're making it so easy for you to make an impulsive decision that sounds fun think that you know are going to probably end up clutter in your home that is going to continue to overwhelm you continue to diminish your ability to make decisions to be Lincolnshire<br> call Adam not just your finances but you're right the way you spend your time how you spend your days it's in everything all the strategies that marker to use their bill to use a gift voucher or gift card they will use all that instead of giving you a discount reason why you're still getting the same 20% off but now you feel good because you're getting a gift card and you feel like it's worth more because you're getting a gift card and they actually end up charging more to offset for the gift card and then they'll give you bonus gifts and incentives to do this do you buy makeup and you get this other thing in whatever that other thing is it might be have a perceived value but you might or might not ever use it and then they try to do what's called a risk-free you know what that is it for they give you that guarantee and statistically speaking only 2% of people ever return it for the guarantee that means most people they might like it they might not like it they don't like it they don't let go after the guaranteed get their money back<br> don't want to waste the time I've actually heard one of my wife's friend say hey you know what they're going to ship me the the shoes hence the shipping is free that's worth a lot of money in itself so they went and then he heard it's really about making it easy for somebody to get something and you see it now days where they say Hey you can buy this item and Amazon will finance everybody for $4 a month for $30 item or whatever it might be soaked but when you do that you got a member you're paying more and it's a little bit that's eating away eating away so helpless little bit how our listeners can help declutter their lives moms getting their brains back cuz they don't have to work too hard in the house with the kids or other things and basically or finding out by declaring you could save a heck of a lot of money which is a great benefit I recommend starting somewhere smaller simple to just so that you don't get overwhelmed with the decision-making process because ultimately it is you know deciding what to keep and not key but if you can start somewhere small and still impactful like<br> spice cabinet that's a really great place to start because you're in the kitchen everyday spices there's not a lot of sentimentality or emotions attached to that or most people I've come across some people who do<br> or sugar but what you do to or the opportunity when you're doing something simple like that is to see like oh wow I have the resettlement opened not use like you know you can start to feel like that's a lot of stuff that I was buying without remembering that I had it we're buying and thought I needed more because it was very under other stuff and you can start to see where your money is being drained because you got so much stuff you just can't see or remember what you have the spice cabinet is a really easy place to start or you under your sink either kitchen sink or bathroom sink the same kinds of things will happen there where there's not a lot of emotion attached together pretty easy decision but you can also see like wow I purchased seven or eight different kinds of cleaners and I only use two I can stop you know experimenting with cleaners just buy the one I know we use and save some money that way were you know like a laundry room laundry cabinet space also pretty sure they're like there's usually a lot of trash it's easy to clean out and also just a lie simple way to to identify holes in<br> sending right kind of close. Like I don't need to buy any more air fresheners like we've got a lot we never use them and then we are bigger projects but if you can start small it feels less overwhelming to take those on how to reduce your budget in order to pay off debt and things like that and one of the biggest things that I just thinking about the clattering is all the chests different streaming platforms they get cable so they're paying $250 a month for cable and then they got the streaming package from Hulu Netflix all sorts of them and they got another hundred dollars in costs or more on a monthly basis and they don't use all the channels for cable I've actually talked to her or coach a few people where they went from paying 250 down to about $110 just for the internet service and then got like I think it was a TNT live and then to streaming channels and it turns out that's the one they<br> they wash they got kids I got the Disney one but just in class and then they got Netflix and those are the only two they use and they're saving OverWatch over $150 a month made so much easier and the kids don't fight they either go to Disney I was just thinking about that the other day because they also make it with the smart TVs now which I'm not very tech savvy but my kids wanted to watch the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and the only place I can watch it it's on Apple TV I have to sign up for Apple TV like another $5 a month but I just got like the week-long freezing so we can watch it one time and then turn it off but I like that it's so different from how we used to be where you have to you don't have to but it's very easy to pay for all of these different Services just so that you can watch certain things and yeah so great that the great so similar to like what we kind of automatically that we don't really need to make it easy so people can do it mindlessly and they can always throw it on a debit card or credit card and a lot of times people don't realize how much those balances buildup<br> are they never really talked to a few people there like why I always keep make the payment a little bit more but I never seem to be able to pay it off and it's because all those things that are automatically charged you know they got meal delivery services nowadays they got membership one person that had Jazzercise they had Teleton they had like three or four of these things and you know what and they all got them plus when she had them right after the first of the year and use them a couple times and never going again and on top of that she had a fitness membership so it was like oh geez you don't need like all of those like it so easy if the way marketing is or trying to make it work what are the things can people do to help declutter and save some money and make life easier I think it's thing I think would be and actually getting things out of your house because when is Shifting it from place to place their house they shifted into a closet they get organizers they get Ben's actually get it out of your house for good you can do just released the boys just go room by room and go room by<br> by category you can start like at the top of your house and move all the way down spot him or less to write whatever you want to do and get rid of things trash them donate them. Whatever you want to do but then on the other end you got to slow down the incoming flow so that's one of the things I like to talk about a lot is like when you go grocery shopping go with a plan right if you're going to Target to get diapers or wipes don't get sidetracked by the Fall Decor that you don't need right don't get sidetracked by the Toys R Us how to have conversations with your kids because I know my dad I don't know if you had conversations with me about money and decision-making before I went to go get my cell phone but that's the only one I really remember that even my kids were three and five were walking through the store and they're like I want that I want that I'll tell them you know not today we're going to spend money on something else you know we're here to buy food today we're here to buy cat-food you sound like that you know we're here to buy cat food today that's what we're spending our money on today<br> depending on their ages and development you know I'll tell them like if we bought this toy today how long would you actually play with it because I've seen you have these two kinds of toys before and we get them and then they get forgotten that you're excited about cuz you can see it here now or is it a toy that you were really excited about and would love to have down the road cuz if it's something really excited about will put it on the list and think about it for your birthday or Christmas or whatever. Just getting things actually out of your house is step one and then the other the other side of it slowing the incoming flow and learning how to talk to your kids so they can look and touch but not by makes a big difference eight you know what I'd love to know cuz I know you have lessons and courses that moms could take could you tell us how that works Krista are the basic how to create a declutter and plan how to avoid, decluttering mistakes like the Clutter shifting how to work through the mint<br> black a lot of people have I for one if I need it I need it or get rid of it and I don't have it anymore so how to work through that and then I've got another course to help you work through your entire home and like I said just go through your entire home systematically that can feel really overwhelming for people especially moms when they're managing daily messes other humans you know it's big emotions and all that so it's a step-by-step plan and you can actually do to get rid of the stuff and then I have a toy course cuz it's smaller and simpler Moe's more focused and toys are big deal for parents and then a closed course that tends to be the other big overwhelming project for parents are closed so few different options based on your needs and what you want to focus on but they're all sells taste have a community attached to it so that you can get accountability and feedback from me even share your progress you can be like hey I'm stuck here can somebody help me make this decision or can somebody explain to people who are out like shopping or whatever. Can somebody please tell me not to get this I don't need this like I don't get it<br> yesler Community attached to it plus the the simple steps to follow and thank you for joining us today and sharing your knowledge our viewers which are 86% female and I know they're going to sharing it with their friends and their daughters were going through it again I just appreciate you being here today right we're going back from work and saving with Steve I'll be right back stick with us more expert advice for having a happier relationship with money still to come on the saving with Steve show<br> don't let your financial woes keep you up at night and prevent you from living a life of Financial and personal freedom hi I'm Steve Sexton post of the saving with Steve show where did he talk about the ins-and-outs of money those financial issues that could be costing me thousands of dollars causing stress keeping you up at night we're going to talk about money tax reduction saving more spending on your investment risk management retirement and everything is so sweet with you having a healthier happy relationship with money soon as you've ever dreamed of living a life of Financial and personal freedom you owe it to yourself and your family to tune in to the saving with Steve show join me Steve section of the saving with Steve show as we talked about everything under the sun when it comes to money to learn more about the show visit saving with<br> leave. Us that's saving with Steve. Us saving with Steve. Us will see you soon<br> welcome back to the show that is here to help you achieve your financial goals it's the saving with Steve show now here's your host Steve Sexton pay welcome back to this evening with you show tonight you know it has been a few minutes and it's just how to keep your dad check so there's a couple things that we want to do especially now that we've got significant inflation cost to Rob borrowing rates or rabbits always better to earn it in the pan interesting it's really important that you create a list of everybody that you're looking to buy a gift for and then the amount you want to spend and you were going to want to stick to that now a couple things here some people make this big old list and a ficus route the year and they forgot about the less they said I need something for Julie cuz I got something that seems a little bit nicer bigger in the Box for Jimmy know just stick with it just focus on getting what you're getting and stick within your budget secondly if you're seeing some of those items that you're gone all my God they got this big old TV take a day to think about it make sure it's what's in there for you a lot of company<br> you make it easy for you to buy cuz they're going to do it on payments. Remember you're spending more if you doing on payments cuz you're paying interest okay and one of the things that you can do is if you're looking for something you could put it into your birthday items or your shopping list and then go to the website called camelcamelcamel.com was that item and camel camel.com will come back to you and say hey it's on sale so the one day your items was $100 an hour 50 or 60 you just got 40% off and you're able to save some money towards your butt okay so the big thing about the holiday season is don't feel guilty there's nothing wrong with also making some sort of a gift for somebody okay we did this for our family we talked to my mom we got all those recipes that she had a little family history will put it in a nice book the grandkids a my siblings is that was the best gift I ever received and you know what besides the two<br> the toys people don't keep forever but something like that they do because they want to remember Mom and we keep talking about how great that gift was the other thing that's most important is set aside you start set aside money now if you haven't you won't have to put it on a credit card okay so thank you for joining us right here on saving with Steve we're going to look forward to seeing you next week you have a wonderful week stay safe and stay out if I thank you for joining us for the saving with Steve show hosted by Steve Sexton to learn more about the show and how to become a guest or sponsor visit saving with Steve. You that saving with Steve. Us join us again next time as we continue to talk about everything under the sun that relates to you having a healthier happier relationship with money this has been the saving with Steve show hosted by Steve Sexton<br>