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Tag: money goals

Career Confessions From a Small Town Girl in the Big City: Part 1

This article was originally published in Tishomingo County News. See link for published article.

Early in 2022, I visited my alma mater, Tishomingo County High School, to speak to the Career and College Readiness classes and to the football team. The football coach during that time had created a wonderful program to bring back alumni of Tishomingo County High School to speak to students, share their career journey, work skills, and life tidbits. It was called Wednesday #ROW Above the Line Character Education and Real Talk. It was an absolute honor to be invited to participate.

I had lots to share being a shy girl that moved to the big city. And let me tell you, I did not have a career trajectory when I moved to the big city. Nope, not at all. I wanted to share my story with students at Tish County. I wanted to share my messy path to the career I have now. If I’d had someone share with me back when I was in high school that life doesn’t always look the way you think it will, that it’s ok to make mistakes, to figure it out one step at a time; then maybe I wouldn’t have been so hard on myself. Spoiler alert, I wouldn’t change anything about my messy path because it got me to where I am now.

In fact, in 2006 I moved to Houston the day after graduating from Mississippi State University with an undergraduate degree in Finance. I was not recruited by a company in Houston and the real reason I moved so suddenly was because I was married to someone that had a job offer in Houston. I followed, obviously, however his success with a career did not measure up to the opportunities I had. Nope, in fact, I STRUGGLED mightily to find my way, or to even find a job. I stopped counting the job applications after I surpassed 100. No calls, no emails…crickets. I knew no one, had no contacts, nothing. I think a lot of people might find themselves in a similar place. You have a college degree or experience and yet no job offer, not real leads, nada.

So what did I do? I started with what I could find…a temp job which was a receptionist in downtown Houston in one of those gigantic skyscrapers. I remember it so vividly and don’t even know how I had the gumption and fortitude to ride a metro bus into downtown, walk to the right building, and then find my way to the appropriate floor. I remember my job was to answer the phone and connect the calls to the right people. The calls that came in were from people that had foreign accents, asking for people that I didn’t know how to pronounce their names. I asked the people on the phone to repeat themselves quite often and prayed as I connected the calls. I began to sweat at the front desk from the pressure of the phone ringing. I survived, though, even if the temp job only lasted a couple of days. If I could go back and tell my younger self anything, it would be, “there’s no pressure with a temp job that’s only 2 days in length. Relax! You are doing great!”

I found another job shortly thereafter, this time working at a staffing agency. I worked closely with a girl named Courtney. We were about the same age, our birthdays were both in April, and she attended Ole Miss for about a year. Small world and I was so glad to find someone with a Mississippi connection. I made it about 2 weeks in that job. I didn’t get fired, I quit. Why would I do such a thing? I struggled so much after I moved. I began having what I now know were anxiety attacks. Not being able to breath, crying uncontrollably, unable to calm myself. It was horrible and I quit my job. I was incredibly embarrassed and my already fragile self esteem took a major hit. The worst of it all was I felt like I let down my new friend, Courtney. I couldn’t find the words to tell her what was going on and I left without an explanation. I still feel terrible about it to this day. I felt like something was wrong with me and like I was a failure which only pushed me further into the anxiety.

Context is everything and so is hindsight. Looking back and reflecting has helped me understand that the only way I was going to get through that horrible time was to walk through it as hard as it was and as much as I felt like I wasn’t going to make it. Putting one foot in front of the other and yes, sometimes taking two or three steps backward. I needed to give myself some time to adjust to the big life change of uprooting myself from everything I’d ever known. And yet I needed to work and make money. Life doesn’t stop and neither do the bills! They weren’t going to pay for themselves. What did I do next? Stay tuned and I’ll unfold the story as this is the first part in a career series from a small town girl in the big city.

Pocket Money: What It Is and Why It Matters

In a recent post, I wrote about using “pocket money” for a special treat during the week. What is pocket money and why is it important? Pocket money is an amount of fun money set aside each month to use for special treats throughout the month. Pocket money can be in the form of cash you literally keep in your pocket or wallet to use for the month. Or it can be a line item in your money plan that you track to insure you spend the appropriate amount.

Do you enjoy a Starbucks coffee treat? Or maybe lunch with a friend? What about that pair of shoes you’ve been eyeing? Maybe there’s a gadget you’ve been thinking about that you’d like to try. Pocket money included in your monthly budget gives you permission to treat yourself to some fun during the month. Why is this important?

Utilizing intentional discipline with a money plan is hard. It’s intentionally flexing money muscles that may not be super strong yet. When you are working hard to save or pay off debt, it’s important to build in rewards along the way. Setting aside pocket money is a great reward system.

My husband and I set aside $100 for each of us every month. We get to spend $100 each on anything we want, no questions asked. Most of the time my $100 usually goes toward a Chick-fil-a run for an unsweetened tea with lemon. The Chick-fil-a run started during the pandemic as a way to intentionally get out of the house and see other humans. And it just kind of stuck. Here’s an example of what our pocket money looks like in our budget. We track ours electronically, however, there was a time where we used cash only for our fun money. The nice thing about cash, once it’s gone, it’s gone. You don’t have to question if you spent too much.

Pocket money has no strings attached with no guilt associated with however you choose to spend it. There are some guidelines to consider when figuring out how much pocket money you can afford.

1.     Do you have a money plan in place for the month? If you do, then you will know how much income you have minus all your expenses, bills, etc. When you know how much you are spending each month, you can determine what you can afford for pocket money.

2.     Pocket money is not a free for all spend category. It’s an intentional amount of fun money set aside determined by your money plan.

3.     Maybe you can only afford $10 of fun money for the month. That’s ok. Get creative with how you will make that money stretch! Be intentional. Hello, thrift store!

If you have money goals to pay off debt or to save; your fun money amount might be small for a time until you pay off that debt or meet your savings goal. The key is to keep going! And rewarding yourself is absolutely necessary to help you continue moving forward. Savor the fun that you can afford for now and keep your dream in mind of what your fun, pocket money will be once you meet your money goals. Be intentional!

How to Protect Your Money

This week, I witnessed an intentional act to save money. On Monday around lunchtime, I was waiting in the Chick-fil-a (CFA) drive thru for an unsweetened iced tea and noticed a CenterPoint Energy truck. Side note: My husband and I set aside pocket money each month. Pocket money is intentional money set aside to spend on whatever we would like. Mine is usually spent on unsweetened tea with lemon from CFA as a treat. I make unsweetened tea at home but sometimes it’s nice to have someone else make it! Back to the story. As I was waiting in line, I noticed a young man get out of the passenger side of the work truck and walk around to the opposite side. These work trucks have so many different compartments that house all kinds of tools. I watched him as he opened one of the compartments, removed a large bag, place it on top of the truck, and then proceed to pull out a microwave! A microwave? Yes, a microwave. This certainly piqued my curiosity! What was he doing with a microwave in a work truck? I watched him as he carried it to the tailgate of the truck and place it there. Next, he brought out a portable power station bank that he used to plug in the microwave.

It’s not everyday you see a plugged-in microwave on the back of a truck. But It wasn’t just the sight of it. It was an intentional act to save money. Did I mention I was in a Chick-fil-a drive thru line? The driver of the CenterPoint Energy truck walked inside the Chick-fil-a to get his lunch while his workmate dragged out a microwave and portable power station to heat up his lunch.

I might also mention that the street the work truck was parked on was positioned by not only the CFA, but also a Burger King, a Chipotle, and a Taco Bell. He could have walked to so many options, but instead he chose to make the extra effort with his microwaved lunch.

These are EXACTLY the actions it takes to win with your money.

1.        Have a strategy, such as your budget or money plan for the month.

2.        Know where your gaps are, such as spending too much on eating out

3.        Enable your defenders, such as bringing your lunch to work.

This young man was intentional with his time, energy, and effort. It will all pay off for the young man, especially if he continues these actions each day.

Eating out can be one of our biggest money gaps. Let’s compare a prepared meal at home to take for lunch versus eating out.

Let’s use an example of a pot of chili made at home. I’ve used this recipe many times and it is so good! It makes 6 servings. Plus, I’m adding in Jiffy Cornbread. Each ingredient I’ve included in my breakdown are all organic. Please note that this meal could be more cost effective if you source non-organic ingredients.

4 strips bacon, sliced ½-inch thick – Aldi – $2.20

1 ½ pounds ground beef – Aldi – grass fed beef – $9.86

1 medium yellow onion, diced – $0.37

1 green bell pepper, diced – $1.81

3 garlic cloves, minced – $0.18

2 tablespoon chili powder – $1.00

1 tablespoon cumin powder – $0.85

2 teaspoon paprika – $0.25

1 teaspoon dried oregano – $0.10

1 teaspoon salt – $0.02

2 tablespoon tomato paste – $0.73

1 (28-ounce can) fire roasted diced tomatoes – $3.10

1 (15-ounce can) black beans – $1.55

1 (15-ounce can) red kidney beans – $1.55

2 cups chicken bone broth – $2.59

1 bay leaf – $0.40

Jiffy Cornbread mix – $0.64

1 Egg – $0.57

½ cup milk – $0.30

Grand total: $28.07

Divided by 6 servings = $28.07/6 =$4.67 per serving of chili and cornbread

Given the quality ingredients used in the above recipe, let’s cost compare to a Chicken Burrito Bowl from Chipotle with a drink. See screenshot order below. $15.20 total for one meal

$15.20 – $4.67 = $10.53 in savings by making your food at home

If you change your behavior to making your lunch at home versus buying, you could save $10.53 per day or more. Weekly, that would be a savings of $52.65. Monthly, that would be a savings of $210.60. Yearly, that’s a savings of $2,527.20.

What would $2,527.20 extra this year do for your household? What would it pay off? What goal would that help you save toward?

How are you being intentional today with your money?

How to Win with Your Money

Do you have a financial or money goal for 2025? Pay off a credit card? Save for a vacation? Save for a car? Save for a medical procedure? Something else? Do you wonder why your money disappears so quickly? Do you have more month than money? It’s disheartening to work so hard for our paychecks and feel like there’s never enough money. Did you know in the 1970’s people were exposed to 500-1,600 marketing ads per day? Today, the average is estimated between 6,000-10,000 marketing ads per day. We see more than 12x more ads each day than we did 50 years ago. 🤯 That’s one indicator of why we can’t keep our money for very long and why we lose track of it. The reality is every ad you see is vying for your hard-earned dollar. Marketers are smart and they want to separate you from your money. They know how to play into your emotions and how to make you think and feel like you can’t live without a product or service. Not to mention all the data our phones collect about what we click on, how many seconds we watch or stop scrolling to see an ad. With this data, marketers can put even more pinpointed products and services in front of you in the form of ads. What do we do about it?

    1. Game Plan and Defensive Strategy

        When you play a game, the goal is to win. Think of this as money goals = winning. Next, to win, you need a solid defense strategy. In its basic meaning, defense means having a defender for every gap. Where are your money gaps? How do you know what they are? Once you know, you can enable your defenders.

        2. Money Plan vs Actual Spending

        The best tool to identify where your money gaps are is going to be…wait for it…a budget. Yes, I know! The horrible “B” word. 😉 If it feels better for you, refer to it as your money plan instead! You’re going to take a little time, set out a money plan for the month and then track what you actually spend. Then compare what your plan was versus your actual spending. This exercise will identify your gaps. Where are you overspending? Do you have enough income to cover your basics expenses?

        3. Mind your Gaps

        Once you know where you are overspending, then you can enable your defenders. Are you shopping too much? Defense: consider deleting your shopping apps or unsubscribing to email lists. Take away the temptation. Are you spending a lot of money on fast food? Defense: consider making sandwiches at home to take for lunch. Are you finding that you aren’t able to cover your basic expenses: housing, food, clothes, transportation? Defense: What are ways you could make more money either by side hustle or finding a job that will pay more?

        It’s great to have money goals. That’s step one, establish your goal because that’s how you’ll know if you are winning. Money goal = winning. How are you going to move forward toward accomplishing your money goal? Define your game plan, identify your gaps and enable your defenders to fill in the gaps. You’ve worked hard for your money and you should keep it or at least tell it where to go instead of wondering where it went.