How should believers view money?
And the money that we have,
like just a mindset shift of,
doesn't necessarily matter if you have a lot or not,
it'd be like, how do we view it?
And I think the answer to that question
is you view it as the Lord's.
♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, yeah ♪
Welcome back to the Outnumbered Podcast
with Joey and Allie, where we talk about our life,
our life with kids, our careers,
what it's like to be outnumbered by our children,
going from high school sweethearts to where we are now.
So that's what this podcast is all about.
But today we're talking about.
Money.
Yes, more specifically like how to live more frugally
as things get more expensive.
Yeah, how do you cut back?
How do you take care of the resources that you have
and steward things well?
And a lot more.
So we have five points that we'll go through today,
but first disclaimer, we are not financial experts
or formally trained.
That is true.
Yeah, we're just gonna talk about the things we've learned
in eight years of marriage and adding kids.
So adding mouths to feed and what we've had to do
to make sure that we're stewarding our money well.
And so we'll just talk about what works for us
and things that we've learned from the Lord recently
about our money and mindset and all of that.
So let's get into it.
What's number one?
Number one is it matters where you shop.
I think like right now, especially like something
that like our generation has to deal with
that like wasn't really a problem
or it wasn't really a factor in previous generations
is that we're constantly like seeing what people purchase
and being influenced or trying to be influenced
as to like, you know, to make you purchase it as well.
Pressure to buy certain things.
And I think like that plays in.
Like a certain type of water bottle?
Yeah, it's like if you don't buy that water bottle,
you're not cool or whatever.
So I think like that's a different,
just like a different aspect of like our lives currently
that wasn't, didn't come into play like even 15 years ago.
So I think like so often it's like pressure
to like buy like name brands.
I think there's always been pressure to have name brands.
I think, yeah, I think so.
But I think it's more in your face now than ever.
I think just name brands,
it's such of a pressured thing
to like buy certain name brands.
Sometimes I think that is the better choice
in that if it's something you need to like last a while
or you need something to be quality,
it makes more sense to like buy the real thing
versus buying five of the fake thing
that then equals the same amount.
Sometimes the fake thing is just as good as the name brand.
Sometimes it is.
And so I think like that's where like
you just have to use discernment.
But I think like just buying the name brand
just because it's popular isn't gonna get you very far.
Yeah, release yourself from the pressure of needing
to buy whatever else is buying.
I think too on top of that is like there's such a stigma.
I feel like it's going away,
but like I remember growing up
like buying things from the thrift store was like.
Well, so talk about that.
So speaking of name brands,
like I was with the thrift store thing,
I was gonna say,
I think you buy like all of our kids clothes
at thrift stores.
I do.
And you find a lot of name brands.
Sure, I do.
Yeah, but I think.
They're way cheap.
Yes, that is true.
Yeah, just shopping around
and like buying things from Walmart
versus like Target or Whole Foods,
like just buying things.
Like you can still find quality stuff,
but like buying things from Walmart,
maybe it saves you like a dollar per item or 50 cents,
but like it really does add up.
And I feel like a lot of,
actually a lot of the Walmart stuff these days is better,
I think than Target,
just like way cuter.
You might have to like release yourself from the,
well, I'm not shopping there.
Yeah, like the expectations of,
like you can still buy nice things that function well.
But I think also like currently with Amazon specifically,
I feel like it's expected
that you just like buy new everything.
Like, oh, I need this thing to solve this problem.
I'm just gonna go buy it on Amazon real fast.
But like you think back to like the way
like our grandparents were,
like they would think,
they would look around and think,
okay, what do I have that I could use
in some creative way to fill that purpose?
So rather than just like impulse buying it brand new
because you can,
like how do you,
how could you maybe skip buying that item
by utilizing something you already have
or shifting, you know,
creating something from something you already have,
kind of getting more creative.
Resourceful.
Yeah.
So I think also we kind of touched on this,
but like just knowing that like your identity
doesn't lie in like what you buy or what you wear,
like wearing Lululemon, for example,
doesn't make you a better person, you know,
or like make you cooler.
Yeah.
I think like impulse buying though,
I read something the other day that said,
if you want to buy something,
wait like 24, 45 minutes.
48 hours before you do it.
But also, I saw something else that was really smart,
because I kind of got into this habit,
I think especially leading up to a trip.
I'd be like, oh, we need this.
Just go order it on Amazon.
And then a couple hours later, next day, whatever,
like, oh, we need this.
You just order it on Amazon.
And they were like, set a day for Amazon.
Like, Saturdays, you'll place your Amazon order
so that it's never impulse.
It's like, put it in your cart maybe, but think about it.
And then don't purchase anything till Saturday.
So you can kind of think through it or whatever day.
But think through it.
And it's not so much like an emotional, real quick decision.
It's like, let's think about it.
And then by the time that day comes, most likely,
you're going to be like, oh, I actually
don't really need that anymore.
Or I don't really want that anymore,
because it's been a few days.
Yeah.
And on the resourcefulness thing,
I like that one a lot too, because you just think,
oh, we need that, need to replace it, need to replace it.
But talk about what you've been doing with Ezra's pajamas.
Oh.
Because he's a third kid, so he has a lot of hand-me-downs.
OK, so his pajamas all had holes in the toes.
His big toe kept poking through his footie pajamas.
Yeah, and I was like, oh, he needs new pajamas.
And then I was like, you know what?
No, he doesn't.
Who cares?
I just cut all the feet off of the jammies.
The jammies.
Yes, not, yes, the jammies.
And now I think he actually likes them better,
because he has more room to move,
and they breathe better, because his feet don't get hot.
And they're pajamas.
No one sees them in pajamas.
Yeah, no one sees, well, that's not true.
We do sometimes.
If we change him before we leave the house,
then no one sees them.
Yeah, yeah.
So anyway, it was something I was probably
going to spend $30, $40 bucks on.
And then I was like, well, we'll just wait.
And it's fine.
You did the same thing with Miles' pants.
You turned them into shorts.
Yes, every summer, they all have holes in the knees.
And we just chop them off.
And they're cute, I think.
So you have a bunch of new shorts, because it's pants.
Every summer.
Adler will never have pants that he grows into, but we can redo.
So here's some tips for hand-me-downs
with your kid's clothes.
Yeah, I think just the last thing on that
is fix things you can fix.
I think we're so quick to throw away,
like, oh, this has a hole in it, or the button fell off,
or whatever.
Just get rid of it when, OK, how hard is it really
to fix a button?
It's one thing if you just don't like the item,
like you don't want it.
But if you liked it, and you wore it,
and it would be useful, just fixing things,
rather than just so easily tossing them.
OK, number two?
Oh, now we get to talk about food.
Groceries.
And the great Costco debate.
Yes, we always go back and forth with Costco,
because yes, you get a better deal.
Yes, you get more food.
But my theory is that if we did not go to Costco,
we would spend significantly less money on groceries.
We would also live a more sad life.
Yeah, you just like it for the activity.
It's an experience.
We go with the kids, and on a Saturday, when it's crowded
and there's lots of samples, and we hit every single sample.
And the kids love it, and I love it, and it's an experience.
I know, but the samples are free, so really, you can just
I think we've gotten a lot smarter with how we shop there.
Yeah.
And I think that's the key with that place,
because you put like four things in your cart, and they're $20 each.
And yeah, but like the produce is a great deal.
The fruit, our kids eat so much fruit.
Well, some of the produce.
I feel like you don't need to spend $15 on grapes.
You spend like two bucks for like eight bananas.
Yeah, no, the bananas are dirt cheap.
I feel like our staples are bananas, apples.
We like their butter.
But just realizing you don't have to get everything there.
And I think with our kids as they eat more, like they eat a lot of fruit.
And so fruit's a good deal there.
So I think it's worth it to go for those things.
And yeah, I think it's those little things, though, like that,
like maple syrup, butter, like things that are like cheaper,
but like last a little longer.
I feel like when we buy certain things there, yes, you get more of it.
So maybe it's still a good deal.
But then you have more.
And so then you're like, oh, we have plenty of it.
We'll just eat more of it.
And then I don't feel like it really lasts.
You just need to like hide half the box.
But then we're hungry.
Ration it out.
But with food, I say for us when it comes to groceries
and that's the hot topic currently because like people have seen
grocery prices going up in the last couple of years as inflation goes up.
And so that's something that people talk about a lot is how expensive groceries are.
I think for us, for me, there's this kind of difficult pull between like
like wanting to eat healthy in a certain way with standards and food
and where it comes from, but then also like not spending a ton of money.
So talk about that a little bit, because like I think we that's something
that we kind of struggle, not struggle with.
But think about a lot is we want to eat a certain way.
We also have to stick to a budget when it comes to groceries.
So, yeah, well, I think like typically like fresh foods
like produce and real dried pasta, like that kind of stuff
is typically the cheaper stuff.
So if you kind of I think right now it's really like
I heard it was like trending on TikTok, but like ingredient household,
like people that are talking about how as kids they had no snack.
Axe in their house, which this was, I feel like this was my house,
but now it's our house. But like, you didn't have snacks growing up.
It was like, if you wanted something, you had to make it,
like you have the ingredients, but you have to make it.
You can't just like pull it out of the bag.
And I feel like that honestly is such a cheaper way to live though,
because snacks add up so fast.
Like pre-packaged processed stuff.
Yeah. But like, yeah. Buying like, I don't know.
I don't know that I would go this far just cause I feel like a bag of popcorn,
like is not that expensive,
but like buying the kernels to like pop it yourself to have a snack.
Or like a jar of applesauce versus pouches of applesauce.
Yeah, for sure. But they're way easier.
They're easy for on the go.
I think there's a line of like convenience versus like there are certain times
you splurge on convenience, but I think our whole life shouldn't be,
like our whole food life shouldn't be convenient because that's not going to
be doable.
Just grab an apple, give them half an apple instead of an applesauce packet,
pouch. And they like that too.
They also prefer to eat half the apple and then drop it on the floor and then
throw it away and get another one.
Okay. But anyway,
I think like focusing on ingredients and not like pre-made stuff, you know,
like a bag of like oats is not very expensive,
but honestly goes a really long way. Really long way. And it's really filling.
Oatmeal packages that you can buy. Yeah, much cheaper. Yeah. Um,
but I think also like, um,
there's this one Instagram account that I follow that talks about just eating
real food and it's like, they don't do complex recipes.
Like you don't need 30 ingredients for a recipe. It's literally like,
just eat food, like make a protein, make a carb, just eat food.
Like it doesn't have to be like a, a technical meal with a fancy name. Yeah.
It doesn't have to have a name. Like it can just be food,
which I thought was just so eyeopening and makes it so much easier. It's like,
okay, we have chicken, we have potatoes and we have broccoli, like perfect.
You know, it doesn't have to be fancy. Um,
I feel like one trick that we have been doing recently is when we go out to eat,
I feel like it's 50, 60 bucks, like for all of us, at least.
If the kids each get something. Yeah. Yeah.
And one thing we've been doing is Kevin's from Costco.
Kevin's is the best. Okay.
We buy the Kevin's things cause they're like 13 to $15 depends on if it's like
chicken or steak or whatever, but they're like super clean.
They're pretty clean and like super yummy and they take three minutes to put
together. One trick is we add rice. We add rice,
like the pre-made rice. It's usually a meat in a sauce. Yeah.
So we'll add rice and it goes way further. Yeah.
But it like keeps us from going out to eat and spending like way too much.
Yeah. Those days where it's like, Oh, it's five o'clock.
We've been running around all day. We need to eat.
And so a lot of times we just go get something. Yeah. Like, Oh no,
we have Kevin's at home. We can just do that. Yeah.
So we've been like building that in almost to like remove our like eating out
or we add it to our eating out category. So it's not from our grocery expenses.
It's like eating out technically,
but it's not and honestly more enjoyable than trying to eat out with all our
kids. I feel like that saves us a lot of money and it's yummy. You're not like,
and that's Costco. So that is Costco. No, I'm not saying Costco is bad.
I'm just saying,
I think we go to Costco and we like have like this many things and it's like,
Oh, $120. Yeah. You have to be so,
I feel like particular about what you get and try to aim for things that are like
under $10 versus like 15 to 20.
But then I feel like Trader Joe's is the best in terms of,
I feel like that's probably controversial.
That's completely different because you're getting such a smaller quantity.
You are, but I'm just saying, I feel like we still have plenty of food. Yeah.
And it's a much cheaper price point. So yes, you're not getting bulk,
but I don't feel like the bulk really serves us that well anyway. Sometimes.
Yeah. And sometimes the bulk, like you get,
we still get in half it ends up being moldy because you didn't go through it
fast enough. And right. Like there are certain things like, yes, the zucchini,
the huge bag of zucchini is $5 but moldy or those carrots.
They started sprouting. Yeah. Well,
we accidentally bought like three of them over time.
Not knowing we still had like two in the fridge.
Miles was like holding a carrot and he's like,
can I eat this and it had like roots sprouting out of it and it was slimy.
I don't know what that means, but probably not go plant it in the ground.
See what happens. Yeah. So that's good. Anything else on that?
Groceries and food and I think just like having a list before you go and just
not maybe being willing to go to different places. And yeah,
but I think also like going too many places,
I don't know that that really saves. I think sometimes we think like, Oh,
well we like to get this thing from here and this thing from here.
But I think sometimes like simpler the better,
but having a list going in and like not like maybe you pick one extra thing,
but don't like pick an extra thing. Every aisle, you know,
that's going to really add up. So yeah, I don't know.
I don't know that there's like one method necessarily,
but those are things that I feel like have worked for us. Yeah. Cool.
Number three budget. You gotta have a budget.
I probably should have been the first. Yeah,
but they weren't necessarily in priority or I would say our last one's the most.
important. But other than that, take them. No, no, no. Number five is the most
important. Oh yes, you're right. I thought you meant the second one. But the first four are in no particular order.
But budgeting is important. We've talked a little bit. I used to run the budget. You're way better at it. You do it now.
Well, just, yeah, I think like there's that's that stigma of like the men do the budgeting and the women have to call to ask
permission to spend money. I don't know if everyone feels that way. We felt that way. Um, but yeah, now it's the other way
around. And it's worked way better for us. Well, yeah, just in that, like one, I just don't think like, I really enjoy like, the
process of like allotting money to certain things. I did not. You didn't really enjoy it. But I also like can get really like
obsessive about like, where's that going? You know, and so I don't know. It's just like a big game for me. It's fun.
It's been probably a year now of you doing it. And I think it's been a lot better for us financially and probably better for
marriage. Maybe we've had less tension or disagreements about money since you've taken it over.
Well, also, I'm the one that like spends all the money and that like, I'm buying diapers. I'm buying groceries. I'm buying so like
before I had no idea what was even going on. Yeah, that's true. Because you were managing it, but I was the one spending it. So we
didn't have like a lot of communication on that. And I think it makes more sense for us that it's me because I'm the one dealing with it
But yeah, I think like tracking your money is important. I feel like we looked back on things like, Oh, remember when we got that chunk
of money or whatever? And we're like, I don't know, like, what did we do with it? I don't know. And maybe we did something
important. And we just can't remember. But I think now you're thinking for a long time. Yeah, for a long time, we just kind of
didn't we were just kind of passive with our money. I don't think that's a really good way to be. But I think also like it's
something you have to learn you have to like come to and figure out and I think just in the last year and a half, like I feel
like we've really started to like learn kind of how to handle money and like what it should look like and what our posture
should be and how to be frugal. Yeah, I don't know. So just talk briefly, because we have talked about before, but just yeah, what
you do budget wise.
Yeah, so we've been using the every dollar app, which is the Dave Ramsey thing, but it's, it's free. You don't need the premium
version, every dollar needs to be assigned to a category. So there's nothing it's not like, Oh, we have 400 leftover. It's like, no,
but where's it going? You know, like, is it going in savings? Are you putting it towards something? Or, you know, what is the
purpose of it? It can't just like be extra. Yeah, because that's not beneficial. And then you just spend it most likely. So I
think that's been really helpful for us. Because it also tells us like, okay, where do we have gaps? Or where do we have
excess or, you know, whatever, and you can adjust it as you go through the month, maybe you had extra, or you allotted a
certain amount, and you didn't spend that. So you kind of redo it each month, I redo it like throughout the month, because
like, maybe we planned on I don't know $100 for diapers, and then we only spent 90 or whatever. So then you can take that 10 and
put it elsewhere. And it seems I feel like you think I go 10 bucks, that's nothing. But if you do it 10 times, it's 100. I feel
like that's something I've been having to learn is sometimes I feel like it's only beneficial if I'm putting like 200 or 300 or 400
into savings or but like the little numbers do count and they add up.
Yeah. So if you do have like 10 extra dollars a month, you like put it in savings?
Yeah, I mean, if that's how it works out, but I think that's just kind of always adjusting. But I think it's also something you
have to be like paying attention to throughout the month.
So you just say it's important for people to spend some time tracking their money and knowing where it's going. And that's being a
good steward of what you have.
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think like, checking in on on it like once a week, even like just to see like, where are we at?
So for you, now that you've done it, would you say is there a line where you feel like, oh, I'm obsessing over this? Or I have a good
amount of awareness? Like, is there a balance between I need to be aware, but I don't want to be thinking about it all the time?
Yeah, healthy either.
Well, I think like, for me, a lot of times I am thinking about it, because I don't want to, like, I need to know how much is left
so I can stay in the budget. But I think like, automating things like, like savings to just like automate savings, if it's going to be the
same every month, then you're not thinking about it. It's just happening and benefiting you. But you're not like having to spend time
thinking about it. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know where the line would be for that.
It's not something you do every day.
No, not every day. Maybe once a week. That's good. Maybe a little more often than that.
I would say at least once a week.
It doesn't need to be a full time job.
I'd say that's a good I'd say at least once a week, if you're looking at your budget aware of where things are going that month.
And especially like before you buy groceries again for the month, like knowing how much you have. So it's not just like gone by week
two, because that's a bummer.
So we recommend rice for the rest of the month, rice, the huge 30 pound bag you bought from Costco.
Number four, find ways to bring in extra money.
Side hustle. I think.
Yeah, I think personally, I always think like, how can I bring in extra money without like actually going out and applying for like a real job?
Like, how could you get creative like with your own talents and abilities?
It's kind of on the side, like in your own time versus like actually adding to your calendar
or your schedule.
And I'm just thinking off the top of my head, we've both done a lot of side hustles throughout
the years.
Yeah, and I think more at different times than others, like if we're saving for something
specific or.
Yeah, and it's a balance of trade because like some of them take time away from family
and so like I think we kind of trade off with how we do it too.
That's something for us I think that's like really, I feel like time for us is like really
important where we're not willing to give up time for a lot of things.
Yeah, I mean, we could both be working an insane amount of hours a week and make a lot
of extra money.
But what's the trade off is that we're not spending time with our family.
Yeah, then you don't see your kids or they're with babysitters or yeah.
So I think that's.
But talk about some of the, I mean, as long as I've known you, you've been doing creative
things to make money.
I like making money.
Even, and some of them you still do.
Like one thing that you do now that you did back when we first started dating was flip
furniture.
You'll find a thrift store or on marketplace or on someone's curb.
I can't even how many times that you will just be driving around and you'll come home
with a piece of furniture that you found on the side of a curb that someone was throwing
away.
You pulled a mirror out of our neighbor's trash can the other day.
No, it was an old window.
It was like a really old window and they just had it in the trash.
It was like in like the glass was not broken.
Like you can just throw that away.
So many times you just come home with something in your car that you found.
But what's really cool about that is you like see the potential and stuff and you can flip
it for money and you'll paint it, sand it, whatever you do.
But you've been doing that literally as long as I've known you and you still do it.
Yeah, I took a couple years off I feel like.
There's like three things in our garage right now that you're working on that you're going
to sell.
But it's cool because it is something you enjoy, right?
Well, yeah, it's something that really, if you learn how to do it right, it doesn't take
all that much time, but I feel like the return is really good.
So talk about that because I think part of this is like if you're going to spend extra
time outside of your normal job and routine to make money, you should try to do something
that aligns with your gifts and talents and what you're passionate about.
Yeah, sure.
For me, that's something that like obviously I enjoy.
It's kind of hereditary.
I feel like.
It's your parents.
Do similar things.
We're a long line of trash stealers.
Yeah.
Well, I think it's cool because like you, I don't have that eye where like you can see
the beauty in a piece of trash.
I mean, how many times, not all pieces of trash, how many times have we been driving
around and you'll see a house and you and you will say something like, oh, that house
is so cute.
And I look at it, I'm like, it looks like I could push it and it would fall over.
But like someone needs to burn it to the ground.
Like it could be.
Yeah.
But you, but you can see past that and the potential and you do the same thing with a
piece of furniture.
Yeah.
Um, and so I think that's something that you're naturally good at and passionate about and
you found a way to make some extra money doing it.
Yeah.
And like for me, I've, some of those who like coaching is something that I do as a side
hustle outside of my normal job.
Yeah.
Like teaching, coaching.
I feel like there's both things that you.
Yeah.
But I love sports and I love kids and I love to coach.
And so I've found a way to make it work with my normal schedule and it's a good extra money
for us, but it's also a great outlet for me and something I enjoy and um, something that
like the kids kind of will come watch and they enjoy it and, um, and it's part time,
it's seasonal, you know, so it's not someone doing every day and it's literally in the
afternoons, which that's something like anybody could do really in that if there's a sport
that they're knowledgeable about in some regard, like, yeah, look at, start in middle school,
public schools, public school, middle school sports, wherever you live, there are a lot
of schools are always looking for coaches.
Yeah.
They're short seasons.
They pay well and they do all sports good.
I've done all sorts.
I've done door dash quite a bit to make extra money on and off when like last year, last
summer was it?
Our fridge went out randomly.
Yep.
Just all the food had to throw it all away.
So I door dashed for like a week to make extra money to help buy a new fridge.
And so I stopped.
And so it's not like I'm doing it all the time or obsessed with it.
But you got it started.
And so now anytime you can just jump back in, even though you literally set it up like
five years ago.
Yeah.
You could literally just jump back in at any point, which is nice.
Yeah.
I would like get the kids to sleep and then go do an hour.
Yeah.
Or during nap time or whatever.
So there's things.
I don't know.
You had a list of them.
What are some other ideas?
Yeah.
I guess like just some questions you could ask yourself is like, what are your gifts
and talents?
Like what kind of things are you good at that maybe most people aren't?
But how could you fill a need that others might have with that gift or talent?
So a list we kind of came up with and it could be a starting point.
It could be, you know, it could turn into something big.
But even like lawn mowing, like you could eventually even turn it into a like full-blown
landscaping business, like handyman services, DoorDash, Uber, flipping furniture or like
things like items like technology or, you know, like, I don't know, whatever.
thing and improve it. Yeah. Or like, or even just finding like,
think about what people live, leave on curbs. Like, yeah. And
if like people, I see bikes all the time, maybe you could fix up
a bike and flip it. Like, yeah, there's a guy in our
neighborhood that has like 50 bikes hanging in his garage.
Have you seen him? They're like lined up like this. He must like
fix them or something or hoard them. He maybe does. I can't
imagine he rides them all. But there's people that literally
make full time livings, like looking at the thrift store,
finding things that are worth more than what they're selling
it for. And then literally just throw it on eBay or yard sales.
People do that. Yeah. They literally make full time money
doing that. Um, something that takes a little bit more time,
but is can be really profitable is like starting a blog or even
a YouTube channel. Um, you could offer cleaning services, car
detailing, organization services. The other thing we
didn't talk about this ahead of time, but, um, the other thing
we've been doing a little bit recently is like investing. And
so I think that's all in this too, is like, if you do happen
to get some extra money or, um, like, what can you do with that?
That would profit a good return. And there's all sorts of
different investments in like some that give you money in 50
years. And some of them that give you money now. Um, if you
like to bake, you could do like a cottage food license, get like
the certification and like make sourdough or baked goods. Yeah.
What's that process like? I don't know, but you have to look
into it. I don't know if they want to like come look at your
kitchen or what makes you clean. I don't know. I'm not sure, but
I feel like that's something you could totally do from home. If
like you're good at making bread or good at baking or anything
like that. Um, even like tutoring or like virtual assistant type
stuff, like just assisting people that have big, larger
businesses. Yeah. Um, teaching like piano or guitar. I don't
know. Um, even like life coaching, I actually think
that's something you would be good at is like just taking on a
few like clients throughout your week where it's like, you're
helping them work through big things.
Is that a certification you can get? Life coaching?
Yeah. I'm pretty sure.
Yeah. Things that are flexible that, um, you can work into your
normal schedule that bring in extra money that, and again,
that align with what you're already good at.
Yeah. Or like things you enjoy. So it doesn't feel like a big
thing. And if you have kids like thinking through like, how could
I do something that the kids can be around while I'm doing it?
It doesn't have to be like, okay, kids, I have to leave.
Yeah. Cause you'll be in the garage, um, painting furniture
and they're riding their scooters in the driveway or
whatever.
It's a little bit of a struggle, but we're trying. We're doing,
we're trying our best. Yeah. Um, one thing that we meant, we
forgot to mention earlier that we wanted to touch on was just
kind of in our process of like working through how to handle
our money. Just feeling like we've always been like, okay, we
need to make more money, but also like, why would God bless
us with more income when we can't even handle what he's
given us? Yeah. I think that's kind of been a realization and
not to say he wouldn't bless us with more, but just like, how
do we really handle well what he's given us so that we could
handle more.
Yeah. That's a good transition. So let's talk to number five,
cause I think this is the most important one and hopefully
people are still watching at this point. Um, but yeah, I
think just how, and this is something that you read a book
on recently, and you can talk about that, but just how should
believers view money and the money that we have, like just a
mindset shift of doesn't necessarily matter if you have a
lot or not. It'd be like, how do we view it? And I think the
answer to that question is you view it as the Lord's and it's,
it's not our money. It's what he's, it's his, it's what he's
given to us and entrusted us with. And when you view it that
way, I think in a lot of ways it takes pressure off, but it's
also just like a good realization to have. And so I
love what you said of like gratitude, like having, even
when you feel like you don't have enough, you wish you had
more, more flexibility, more room, but like, like I do have
enough and like being grateful for that. And, um, I've heard a
pastor of church said that before. I was like, if you're
not grateful for what basically you said, if you're not grateful
for what you have, why would you be blessed with, with more? And
so that's not why you should ultimately be grateful, but just
having that idea. So just changing that mindset of, um,
this is the Lord's money. And, and then I would say the last
thing is like, so the whole topic of this was like, how do
we survive? How do we be more frugal? How do we, and this is
going to sound so counter intuitive, but like give
generously, even when you don't think you can. And that sounds
so backwards. And for me, it took me so long to, to get over
that. But like we, for the longest time, we didn't really
early on in our marriage.
Well, we just thought like, Oh, we don't have enough to give,
but yet we probably bought other things that we shouldn't have
done. We shouldn't have bought. And we could have used that
money to give. But I think like, yeah, I think so often it's
like, Oh, we don't have the money to give. But I think the
Bible talks about giving so often.
And like generously giving yeah
Generously giving and I think if we even if we don't have enough
But say we want to give like 200 bucks a month
Like maybe we need to find a side hustle to make $200 a month to cover that, you know
Like if it's that important like you feel like yeah
I mean if the Bible talks about giving being so important
Then like why should be putting in the work to make it happen
And I think we view it you were talking about like passive use that word earlier. I just came in
A lot of times we feel like tithing or giving is this passive thing where you set it up and you forget about it
You're like, well, I'm doing my 10% I'm good and that's great like 100% do that
give 10% but then when needs come up and you hear about a friend or
if the Lord tugs on your heart and you feel like I
We should give to that at least a little bit or whatever like do it like act on that like and I think that's something
We've been trying to grow and it's funny cuz you read this book like a month ago
and then we were we had a long conversation about giving and
Something that you really like to do and are good at it is like meals for people. I try it's feel like it's a whole thing
It's right. Yeah, but like and then we were like, well, man, whenever a need comes up and we can make somebody meal
Let's just do it. And then this past month, I think it was like we made more meals for people so many meals
Ever before so I was like the Lord was kind of like, all right do it
We had so many opportunities and what I love about you though is like you have this big heart where it's like like serve serve
serve and like here's a need let's do it and
I think the Lord sees that and and I don't know that again not financial experts
But like if you feel led by the Lord to give and you do it like you're not gonna run out of money, right?
No, I had someone say one time like you'll never be poor
Because you gave and again and like sure I can't guarantee that but I think it's just the premise of like you're yeah
If you're partnering with the Holy Spirit with finances and the Lord's leading you to give like yeah, and you're not gonna yeah
You'll have you're never gonna be harmed from giving I guess is what there's and there's so much like blessing that comes with that
And it's just it's great. It's a fun thing to do like being able to bless people is awesome
Well in this book that I read recently, it's called simple money rich life, and it's yeah talk about easy read
I mean, they also have a podcast. I read it in like two days because I thought it was so interesting
And you're not like a big reader, but you did I've been working on that
I've got like four books this year, which that is huge except I was feeling like oh, it's still the beginning of the year
It's not but four books is a record for me
So we it's cuz we bought book lights we did cuz our light is always off because there's a baby in our room
So we're like trying to keep him asleep. So
Made us good readers. It's like five bucks on Amazon. Yeah, it's very much worth it. It's good
It's the only reason I've read but you're the one yeah, they just talk about
um
Like having a seed fund they call it and basically like you're allotting like in your budget like in your categories
There's seed fund and it you know, you could put in five dollars a month ten dollars a month
I don't know whatever you want and
Then every time a need comes up
So you need to take someone a meal or like even they were even counting like a birthday party or I don't know
What else like just someone who needs money or some meal?
Or I don't know maybe their kid needs clothes
I don't know any sort of need that you could ever want to fill you just take it from that fund
So it's like sitting there waiting almost. Yeah for you work that in your budget, right?
So it's like in your budget to add to it every month, but then it's just like a savings
Account so then you can kind of just like freely give from that. Yeah, knowing that's exactly what it's such a good idea
Because I think before it was like, okay. Yes, we would love to do that
But it's gonna come out of our grocery amount that is for us or it's gonna come out of our miscellaneous
You know, and that is and it's all the same pot of money, right?
But it just it helps with that mindset shift. Oh, I'm money is for I'm not gonna touch this
this is for giving and then when you it's and then it's almost like you hear something come up like pool I got money for
that and
Yeah, it helps with that. Yeah giving mindset. I love that again
Yeah, like you could literally even just give someone cash, you know
Like you could build it up or you could deplete it every month whatever but and pray about it
It's like Lord. I have this money who needs it this month
Like I want to give like and then see who the Lord highlights and maybe it's not even a need that was voiced
And that's really cool, too
God told me to give you this money and they're like, oh my gosh, you know, like I've heard so many stories
I feel like like people that are like I needed five hundred and ten dollars and sounds like here's five on I don't know if
You need this but here's not only happens because people have the mindset of this is the Lord's money
Yeah, what should I do with it? And when people are partnering with the Holy Spirit with their finances, there's such cool things that happen
Yeah, no that that book. I would definitely recommend reading it or listening to their podcast if you're not a reader
I guess but even if money interests you at all, I feel like it's an easy read
Yeah, but it's not so much like about like the numbers of money. It's more so just like our posture
I feel like and just how do you
And their whole premise is like make more. What is it make more?
or save more, give more, yeah.
So their goal is to make as much as they possibly can,
but simply so they can give more and more away.
I think they give 41% of their income away right now
or something, and not in a way to brag, but.
They're giving percentage every year.
Yeah, I think they give their age,
is what they felt called to do.
But they're giving so much of their income away,
but not from a bragging standpoint,
but of like, look what God could do.
We can give away that much, and he still provides for us.
Ultimately, like what we were talking about before,
it's like we're just like managers of all this stuff.
It's not really ours.
And I think that comes into play
in both the positive and the negative
of like how disrespectful to be like, this isn't enough.
Like I don't have enough, when it's not even ours.
Like we're just managing it for someone else.
Yeah, exactly.
But then also from the positive standpoint
of like being grateful for like,
wow, you've given us so much.
I think that book talks about like,
I thought it was like if you make 50,000 or more
or something, you're in the top like 4% of the world.
Or if you're in a climate controlled room,
like you're so blessed compared to the rest of the world.
I think that was just such good perspective too,
of like, we might feel like,
oh, I really wanna buy that thing, but I just can't.
And it's like, but look at what you already have.
Like your laundry's piling up.
Yeah, you have so many clothes.
Like your dishes are dirty.
Yeah, you have people and you have food to eat.
And I think like that's such a good adjustment.
Yeah.
I thought it was really helpful for us.
Attitude, heart, posture of gratitude
and empathy and perspective.
All that's really important.
That's good.
Deuteronomy 15, 10 says,
"'Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart.
"'Then because of this, the Lord your God will bless you
"'in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.'"
So I love that too.
It's like, why are we giving?
We're not giving so that we'll be blessed
or giving because we have to.
It's like giving because the Lord told you to
and you want to help somebody else out.
And I love the word generously.
Even when you feel like you can't or you shouldn't
or you don't know, but you feel led to, just do it.
Yeah.
And I think there's been a few times
where someone has given like to us
in a way that is like overly generous.
Like where it just feels like,
oh my gosh, I don't even know how to like thank you.
Like that's a huge gift.
And I think like that goes a really long way.
And it's so fun to be able to do that for other people.
Yeah.
It really is fun.
Just like write them a check for whatever.
Yeah.
We've been able to do that a few times
kind of in like a tithing way.
And it's just.
People have done it to us.
Yeah.
It's just, yeah, it's really cool.
Very rewarding.
So yeah, good.
Anything else?
If you got nothing else from this,
the last point was good.
Yeah.
More than, more important than our Costco debate.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, awesome.
Well, thank you for watching the Outnumbered Podcast
with Joey and Allie.
We'll be back.
See you next time.
Yeah.