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 under the sun are you having a happier or healthier relationship with money my name is Steve sex and I want to thank you for joining us you know what we're up to 100 and 1 episode that's a big deal when it comes to podcast cuz most of them<br> usually over by did that happen we're thankful for everybody behind the scenes camera adjust to everything we've got Jessica's team helps with the pr we've got Emily who helps with distribution so we're very very thankful we got a lot of wonderful facilitators or cindicator is Jose and fm247 BBs radio and you can't help radio are shows actually seen worldwide now and it works 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 overseas and we're just thankful for all that today you know I just want to talk about or less last episode we had hope and Larry where are the Google living experts walking you know they just walked us through 7 cheat tips that you keep in mind when it comes to Holiday savings you know when you're dealing with all this inflation and increased costs and everything is good to know how did have a great time and expensively<br> you know what hope and Larry we're just did just that so if you want to go take a look at the episode you can go to saving with Steve. USS dating with Steve. Us and look for episode 130 sensors over 100 episodes you're going to see how how you can travel before the world for ten cents on the dollar the whole shot today I'll be talking about how to keep your debt in check during the holiday season this is something that you're going to want to know about we have today what special we have Crystal Lockwood she's a mom of 5 who teaches other moms 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 and motherhood simplified has chips after tips for moms you can listen to Runner podcast with over 50,000 mom's at 5 she's one heck of a woman were lucky to have her here today so you<br> 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 cuz my mom was at 5 so I knew my mom didn't sleep too much when I was younger I didn't realize that until I was in high school but I mean and I'm just saying you look great you look rested the whole shot this wonderful thank you have resting how do you thicken have Simplicity of his mother who doesn't have to be more exhausting than it needs to be loved to understand how you got started in the you-know-what the motherhood simplified movement so to speak you know what got you going with all that<br> an entrepreneur so have I and he does insurance so he's in that type of industry and we were in Alaska his business is doing well and we got to a point where he was like I don't think there's anything else we can do and what if we left and so in 2013 we moved from Alaska to Florida and pursuit of opportunity and we were broke family we had three kids at the time Dad and 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 to live in a house that had less stuff and my mother had because I went from living a pretty normal Mom ICE 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 to Florida life really easy I thought it was because we moved but I've been able to see in hindsight<br> 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 never helped 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 today today messes trying to get organized trying to implement chore charts and systems that they contain 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 house is so I was able to also watch that kind of piece together like what had changed for me and it was when we got rid of that stuff yes we have more stuff now than just a suitcase full of things but it wasn't as much as I used to have until I just asked them you know I feel like I know you<br> 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 there's no chore chart that could ever keep up on that amount of work you want me to show you a better way and they're like yes please basically I have less stuff's not nothing right don't go down to a suitcase of stuff I don't recommend that just happened to do and give them our homes and it's been a really beautiful thing because now they have more time to spend with their families have more time to do things like actually budget and then it's our money that was a big thing for me that changed was how I spent and related to my money on their house and their relationships and slowing down and actually enjoying their life so that's that's the story I'll just say this one of the things I did before getting into my business as I develop business is overseas and I would<br> go for anywhere from 3 to 8 months into any one country and velvet and all that stuff but I lived with a bag of golf club and two suitcases and every time I got to the hotel it was like okay this goes to the dry cleaners and you know this is my stuff for the week that it was real simple and easy although it doesn't work when you have a wife and I didn't have a wife then but I mean 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 this is the website it says you know how clutter and consumerism is a drain on somebody's finances and it's so so help us understand that and and how we can de-clutter home and all that kind of stuff it's very expensive and it's very tricky I just I just did a real on Instagram about this actually how moms go to Target and there's<br> Nemo floats around that we all joke about that when you go into Target Target tells you what you mean and that makes me so like it makes me so sad for families because it's true it's true that people call we are we're surrounded by expert marketers especially as moms we are constantly sold two are constantly told our kids need this right for their development for their education for their happiness and you know good parents are quote good parents 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 place and you're as adults that looks like building a life building a family raising children<br> 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 by the decision that we make financially are short-term and they feel her one because it's like a $20 toy there that 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 instead of either staying flat or even declining he actually moved out and he had a closet full of stuff that he hasn't used one number one in years I never too there was probably five or going to say this is probably six or seven things that my wife purchased for him and they still have the tags on it from years ago<br> yeah and then there's a bunch of stuff that he purchased himself cuz he got to use it and electronics or something and they never actually used it so I could see how that is occurring because a 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 I know what you're talkin about four families especially with kids no buying things that look like a good deal but if we don't need it right it's not really a good deal and when it comes to clutter and 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 families near 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 it out in time and they've outgrown it<br> 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 told 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 and it's a it's a big drain on our money I remember when we left Alaska so I had to get rid of everything that was in her house looking at the piles of stuff that we had and just basically saying piles of dollar bills of like wow like no wonder I haven't paid more off of my student loans because I would go to the first store by my kids some really cute toys that were super cheap they ultimately never played with or it didn't really make a big difference to us all the stuff that we bought and never used and you see it differently or you know I got that and I got to dry cleaner<br> last year 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 how that could have saved me but your money and I think the analogy that you're saying hey I could have paid some bills paid off my loan pay down my credit cards you know what 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 in your hair 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 work and pay down that credit card I was like 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 be more like Seventeen or eighteen making impulsive decisions in her like no I know I want this right and in hindsight I'm like that was a really good<br> that you was trying to teach me and now I understand it but it's it's really true in our society because of the way consumerism 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 we should celebrate a matter of making sure that we're doing it within our actual financial means to 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 locked Lockwood and some saving with Steve so 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 prevents 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 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 that 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 Lockwood are you really want to go check out her website at motherhood simplify go to Facebook page that motherhood simplify the ultimate guide for for mom's life when you go to the website you're going to see tip after tip after tip for moms and it's something special to ask you is when you sure<br> talking about when people go shopping and one of the big things that people don't realize with marketing cuz an actual strategy is a sense of urgency put a timer up so they're going to send it's only good till Thursday you look at the travel stuff is it all four people are looking to buy new the sheet right now you're like oh my God I got to get it in the reality it's all marketing design to get you to move forward with something before you actually want it and you know you look into those things sometimes that can Venus isn't the best thing because you're giving up too much money now and if you don't have enough 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 we ride 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<br> they're like well just get PayPal credit right or just use afterpay you know to get these things that you'll see when I can afford you likely don't need but they're making it so easy for you to make an impulsive decision that sounds kinda moment I'm on 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 feel in control of our finances but your life in general right the way you spend your time how you spend your days so yeah I got a lot of opinions about that everything all the strategies that marker to use 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 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 and whatever that other thing is it might be have a perceived value but you might or might not ever use it<br> and then they try to do with toddler is free you know what that is that's where they give you that guarantee statistically speaking only 2% of people ever return it for the guarantee you know they might like it they might not like it 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 on the house with the kids basically are finding out by declaring you can save a heck of a lot of money which is a great benefit process because ultimately it is you know deciding what to keep and not kill you but if you can start somewhere small and still impactful like a 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 emotions attached to that or most people I've come across some people who do<br> salt or sugar but what what you do to or the opportunity when you're doing something simple like that is to see like oh wow I have the recent immense 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 buried under under under other stuff and you can kind of 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 or 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've I've purchased you know seven or eight different kinds of painters 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 or 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 two<br> identify holes in her spending right kind of close up like I don't need to buy any more air fresheners like we've got a lot we never use them areas of your house like your dishes your Tupperware your clothes but generally are bigger projects but if you can start small it feels less overwhelming to take those on local news here in San Diego a whole bunch of times about 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 that just different streaming platforms they get cable so they're paying $250 a month for cable I've actually talked to her or coach a few people where I was so funny because they went from paying 250 down to about $110 just for the internet service and then got like I think it was 18 T lie and then to streaming channels and then it turns out that's the one they they wash they got kids to look at the Disney one and then they got Netflix and those are the only two they use and they're saving over Blackie over $150 a month made so much easier and they kiss<br> don't fight either go to Disney or 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 want to watch the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and the only place I can watch it on Apple TV I have to sign up for Apple TV like another $5 a month I just got like the week-long freezing so we can watch it one time and then turn it off but I'm like that it's so different from how TV used to be where you have to know 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 that's a great that's a great so similar to like what we were doing our house is all the things that we by just kind of automatically that we don't really need me to make it easy on a debit card or credit card and a lot of times people don't realize how much those balances were billed at 4 they never really you know I'm not 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<br> so it was like oh geez you don't need like all of those like it so easy again it's the way marketing is or trying to make it work what other things can people do to help declutter and save some money and make life easier the biggest thing I think would be an addition to actually getting things out of your house because one thing that people fall into accidentally doing is Shifting it from place to place their house they shift it into a closet organizers they get been actually get it out of your house for good you can do just a release the boys just go room by room and go room by room by category you can start like at the top of your house and move all the way down spot Amor less you write whatever you want to do something about it we go through it and get rid of things trash them donate them saw them whatever you want to do but then on the other end you've got to slow down the incoming slow so that's one of the things that I think about a lot it's 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<br> right don't get sidetracked by the toys and 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 one that's the only one I really remember when my kids were three and five you know we're walking through the store and I like I want that I want that I'll tell them you know not today we're going to spend our 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 and I'll tell him like if we bought this way today you know 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 so it's the toy 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<br> step 12 penalties Lee and then slowing the incoming slow as the other side of it up slowing the incoming flow makes a big difference they know you have lessons and courses that Mom could take could you tell us how that works Krista are the basics of how to create a plan how to avoid, declaring mistakes like the Clutter system how to work through the mental block that a lot of people have like well what 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, 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 lot a little strategy in there that you can actually do to get rid of the stuff and then I have a toy horse cuz it's smaller and simpler most more focused and toys are big deal for parents and then a closed course and that tends to be the other day<br> 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 still space to have a community attached to it so that you can get accountability and feedback from me even share your progress you can be like how 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 do get it to follow our viewers which are 86% female what is just you know women will love this and I know they're going to be sharing it with their friends and their their daughters who are going through it and again I just appreciate you being here today look you stay stay stay healthy and you know what maybe we'll have you back again<br> 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 we're going to be talking about the in an ounce of money does 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 Sexton on a 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 play welcome back to this evening with you show tonight you know I just want to spend a few minutes cuz we're walking into the holiday season here and it's just how to keep your dad check for the holidays so there's a couple things that we want to do expecially now that we've got significant inflation cost of borrowing rates or rabbits always better to earn interest in paying interest when we get to the holiday season it's really important that you create a list of everybody that you're looking to buy a gift for and 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 going all my God you know<br> what does big old TV take a day to think about it make sure it's what's in there for you a lot of companies going to 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 in 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 listed items and camel camel.com will come back to you and say hey it's on sale so the one day your items that we either was $100 Now 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 poke 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 nice book<br> the grandkids My Siblings Day start with the best gift I ever received and you know what everybody loved it and you know what besides the toys you know the toys people don't keep forever but something like that they do because they want to remember Mom and you know what we keep talking about how great that gift was so the other thing that's most important is set aside you know what we're not cry pure Christmas crunch but if you start set aside money now if you have it you won't have to put it on a credit card okay so thank you for joining us you know what right here on saving look forward to seeing you next week you have a wonderful week stay safe and stay out if I buy 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. Us 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<br> a relationship with money this has been the saving with Steve show hosted by Steve Sexton<br>