January 5, 2025 • 33 mins
What happens when a simple money-saving idea transforms into a thriving online platform? Meet Crystal, the Money Saving Mom, who joins us to share her incredible journey from a tiny basement apartment to launching a successful financial career. Crystal's story is not just about financial triumphs but about embracing failures and staying true to one's unique calling. Through her experiences, she inspires listeners to pursue their passions and engage in conversations that matter.
Balancing work, family, and relationships can be a daunting task, especially with six children, including an adopted son with disabilities. In a heartfelt segment, we confront the emotional subject of friendship breakups, sharing personal stories that highlight the healing power of vulnerability and personal growth.
The episode also takes a deeper look at budgeting, moving beyond traditional safe topics to a broader approach to financial stewardship. Listeners are encouraged to overcome money fears and misconceptions, discovering budgeting as an empowering tool for all income levels. Join us for a celebration of ordinary people achieving extraordinary things, and stay tuned for more inspiring guests.
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Connect with Crystal👇
instagram.com/themoneysavingmom (personal account)
Facebook.com/moneysavingmom (best deals every day)
instagram.com/msmdeals (deals every day)
MoneySavingMom.com
Podcast: The Crystal Paine Show (CrystalPaine.com)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Ordinary People Extraordinary Things.
I'm so glad that you're here.
Welcome to 2025 and Season 7.
Let's get started with one ofour wonderful guests.
Welcome to Ordinary PeopleExtraordinary Things.
I'm so honored to be here withCrystal Crystal.
Thanks for being on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's such an honor to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
If people don't know who you are.
You are the money-saving mom,but you are so much more I know
as well.
Could you give three words orphrases that describe you?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You asked me this and this is such a good question.
I was going to ask my husbandbecause I was really curious if
our words would line up.
I came up with passionate,driven and deep.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And what do you mean by deep?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So I'm the kind of person that I do not like to
have surfacy conversations, likeif I am talking with you, I
don't want to talk about theweather.
I want to talk about, like,how's your heart and what's God
doing in your life and how can Ibe praying for you, and that
sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Oh, I like that.
I like that a lot.
How did money saving mom getstarted?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So my husband and I decided, like we just really
felt like we wanted to stay outof debt and so when we got
married we've been married foralmost 22 years he was going to
go to law school and we set thisaudacious goal that we were
going to do it debt-free.
And we are both blessed to comefrom families where our parents
modeled really wise financialstewardship for us and taught us
(01:36):
a lot of things.
So we went into marriage withthat.
We went into marriage withoutany debt and with money and
savings, and so we set in onthis journey to stay out of debt
, go through law school.
And that was kind of when thiswhole idea of sharing about
saving money started, because wewere living in this little
(01:57):
basement apartment and we wereon this beans and rice budget.
We had one car, my husband wasat law school and his job most
of the day.
So I'm at home in this littlebasement apartment in this town
that I don't know hardly anyonewith a little baby and just was
trying to figure out ways that Icould earn money from home and
fell into blogging from that.
(02:18):
It was a brand new phenomenon.
This was 2004, 2005.
People really didn't even knowwhat a blog was, so you'd have
to explain what a blog wasbefore you told them what you
blogged about.
And I started just bloggingabout a lot of different things,
kind of a mommy blog.
That was a Christian mommy blogand then, from there, really
discovered that people were veryfascinated with things about
(02:38):
saving money and about how wewere eating on so little, how I
was using coupons, how I wasplaying the drugstore game, and
so, after blogging about that onthat blog for about two years,
really felt like I wanted to doa spinoff blog that was
specifically about saving money.
So 2007 started money savingmomcom, not knowing that the
(03:00):
economy was going to tank andthat, like coupons were going to
become the thing, because mediawould be talking about you
should use coupons at thegrocery store and people would
go and they would Google how touse coupons at the grocery store
.
I was one of the few sites wasteaching people how to do that,
and so my site would pop up.
So within a year it just grewand grew and then we were making
a full-time income off of itand I never saw that the side
(03:22):
little thing that I thought Iwas gonna do was gonna turn into
our family's full-time thing.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Wow, that is so crazy .
What would you say to someonewho's listening and has a dream
or has something that they feellike God has put on their heart?
How would you encourage them?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I think the biggest thing that I learned is that
failure can actually be a reallygood thing.
So I started Money Saving Momin 2007,.
But what I didn't talk about isthe multiple things that I
tried before then that didn'twork and I had multiple failed
businesses and just really eachtime would say, okay, why didn't
that work?
What can I learn from it?
(03:59):
What did work that I can takeand pull from?
And I actually had this ideaabout a year before I started
MoneySavingMomcom that I cantake and pull from.
And I actually had this ideaabout a year before I started
money saving momcom that I wouldstart this site that was going
to be about saving money.
I saw some friends that theywere doing this and they had
Google ads on their sidebar andthey were making a thousand
dollars a month some months offof just their ads on their
(04:20):
sidebar, and I was like I coulddo that.
So I worked really hard, set upthe site.
It was crickets, like it didnot, did not go anywhere, and I
realized, because I was tryingto do their vision Like this was
a thing that they you know Godhad called them to and I was
just trying to copy it, and so Ithink the biggest thing that I
would encourage you is make surethat you are uniquely stepping
(04:42):
into what God is calling you tonot doing something just because
it looks like a great idea thatsomeone else is doing.
That's the thing that I've hadto learn the hard way, and then
also to really think outside thebox and to not see that if
something doesn't work well,that just means that you know
I'm never going to be able tohave an online business.
(05:02):
That just means that you needto go back to the drawing board
and learn some new things andpivot and try again.
One of the things that I didcommit to we invested $2,000 of
our own money in the verybeginning and then never
invested another penny of ourown money.
We didn't have extra money toinvest, and so I had to get
(05:23):
really creative with that littlebit of money to figure out ways
to make money and make thatgrow that then I could invest
when I started something new.
And there are just so manydifferent opportunities online.
But I would say it's easy toget focused.
It's easy to lose focus becausethere's shiny thing, shiny
thing, shiny thing, all theseexperts telling you you should
(05:45):
be doing all these differentthings and I found, do one thing
at a time, like with my site.
It's like start the site, thenstart an email newsletter, then
add one social media.
Get learn that really well,then you could add another
social media platform.
Like you don't have to do allthe things at once.
Grow slowly and and don't getdiscouraged if something doesn't
(06:07):
work.
Use that as an opportunity tolearn and pivot.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
That's good.
I can see why you said driven.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I don't take no for an answer easily.
So you know, and it's a greatthing, because with an internet
business nowadays, like you haveto constantly be learning and
changing and being forwardthinking because it is a
constantly changing market.
I mean, when I started, therewas no social media.
We had blogs and we hadcomments and we had email, and
to think of where it is now likewe could have never envisioned
(06:41):
what it is like now and so youhave to be changing and learning
and growing and pivoting andtrying new things and
experimenting and failing,because that's how your business
is going to continue to stayafloat.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, oh, that's good , and you have kids.
So how can you tell, first ofall, how many kids you have, and
then how do you balance yourwork in your family life?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yes, we have six kids .
They're 19, down to two, 19, 17, 15.
Then we had 10 years ofsecondary infertility and then
we have four year old four yearold and a two year old.
Our second four year old wasadopted from foster care.
He has some very significantdisabilities and will need
lifelong caregiving and he hasjust turned our world upside
down in the most wonderful ofways.
(07:25):
But balancing a lot of childrenand a lot wide age range and
working full-time because I amour family's full-time
breadwinner it's just constantlyan exercise in trusting the
Lord, resting in Him, learningto not micromanage and control
my life.
I think the biggest thing forme is I have to let go of this
(07:48):
vision of what I think it shouldlook like and really embrace
right where I am today.
I mean, for instance, just itwas probably 35 minutes ago my
four-year-old came to me.
She's like mom, would you readto me?
And there were a lot of thingsthat needed to get done and some
time sensitive things.
And to just stop and be like,absolutely, I can go upstairs
(08:11):
and we can sit in our, in yourlittle tent in the playroom and
we can read for five minutes andthen mommy's going to need to.
You know, do some other things,because mommy has some stuff
going on today and so beingwilling to stop and do that,
that filled up her love tank andso just getting creative and
looking for opportunities toreally have those one-on-one
(08:31):
times, but to know that evenjust a few minutes here or there
of really being fully presentcan make such a difference.
The other thing that we havejust switched to recently is
really compartmentalizing, andso for me, I work from eight to
two and then I'm home and reallyfocused on home from two to
eight, and having thosecompartmentalized times has been
(08:54):
very, very helpful for me and Ifeel like I'm so much more
present in my job and so muchmore present in my home by
compartmentalizing.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
That's really good.
That's really good.
Well, this is a whole differentswitch.
I don't know how to nicelyswitch it to something else.
One you have some really greatblogs.
I'm going to, for sure, ifpeople don't have you on social
media, tag that in, because Ithink they'll be really filled
up by all of your things.
You have budget things, butthen you also have just a lot of
(09:24):
soul things I feel like, orspiritual things, things that
are going on in your life thatyou really share with people and
are really vulnerable, thatmake people feel like, oh my
gosh, I really know her, Ireally can identify with that,
make people feel like, oh mygosh, I really know her, I
really can identify with that.
And one of them that reallyspoke to me was the sadness of
(09:45):
losing friends.
I don't know if you rememberthat one.
Probably right, that one justreally hit home with me.
I think we can all all identifywith that at some time in our
life.
Would you be able to explain alittle bit about that If people
are like thanks, Nancy, I haveno idea what you're speaking
about.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, well, I just I think that friendship breakups
are something that it's a veryreal reality and it's also
something that we don't talkabout very often.
I mean, it's a difficultsubject to talk about,
especially publicly.
I wrote this Instagram postthat I actually had been.
I started writing a year beforeand didn't never know if it was
something I was going to besharing publicly because I
(10:23):
thought it was just for me.
I was writing to process afriendship break that was really
really painful, that hadhappened four years before,
really out of the blue, but justwriting this of how God used
that for so much good in my lifeand how he is really caused
that to help me to.
(10:45):
It's easy to, when somethinglike that happens, to want to
almost blame the other personwas like their, their fault or
what they did or whatever, butinstead to say, okay, what can I
learn from this?
You know, how can I grow fromthis?
I think that that's what we'retalking about when it comes to
business failure and things likethat, but also other failures
in your life or other just hardthings in your life.
How can I grow from this?
(11:06):
What can I learn from this, sothat next time I'm a healthier
person and I think for me itreally caused me to step back
and spend a lot of time seekingthe Lord and learning to find my
joy, my hope, my fulfillment inhim.
I think friendship and communityis so important.
But if we are trying to findfrom someone else what only God
(11:30):
can give, we're always going tobe in dysfunctional
relationships because peoplearen't God and they are going to
fail us and they are going todisappoint us and we're going to
fail them and we're going todisappoint them.
And so, having that mindset ofI'm so filled up and content in
Jesus that I don't needsomething from someone else that
(11:53):
is a dysfunctional need, butinstead I can walk into this
space, I can walk into this room, I can walk into this
relationship from that place ofknowing how much I'm loved by
God and then I can just loveothers wholeheartedly.
And for me, that's just givenme so much freedom in
relationships and it's reallyhelped me to have so much
(12:15):
healthier relationships, becauseI feel like when I'm healthier
as a person, I'm going toattract healthier people and
we're going to have healthierrelationships.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
How do you not get jaded or maybe not even go into
a relationship?
Or, like you said, for me Icould go into relationships but
I couldn't go deep then.
Or that would be my kind of goto right as far as protecting
myself is yeah, I'll be, youknow, make another friend, but
(12:45):
not really go deep to protectmyself.
What would you say to that?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I think it's hard, like once you've been really
deeply hurt, it's hard to bewilling to trust again, because
trust is vulnerable.
Like it is vulnerable, it'sit's, you know, taking the armor
off and letting people in.
And if you've done that andthen it feels like you've gotten
stabbed in the back, you'relike I'm just not going to do
(13:13):
that again, I'm just going tokeep my armor on, I'm going to
keep everybody at arm's lengthand then I'm safe.
But the thing is you're alsoreally lonely, and so I think to
recognize like trust is goingto require you to put yourself
out there.
One thing that I've learned fromthis is I've been a lot more
cautious in relationships, butthat doesn't mean that I'm not
(13:37):
willing to trust again.
I'm just I've been a lot morecareful, so I'm not.
I told you know that I'm apassionate person and I'm driven
, and so I can be the kind ofperson where I can find someone.
I'm like this is my person andI just want to jump all in.
You know, 150 miles an hour.
And I've been a lot morecautious and, you know, just
(13:59):
carefully, kind of let therelationship slowly develop and
that's been really healthy forme and it's also helped me
because I think it's caused meto be more careful in you know
just how I am opening up,because I think in the past it
was almost this dysfunctionalthing for me, like I wanted this
(14:19):
person to know everything aboutme right away.
And it's been a really goodthing for me to be more slow
about opening up.
And it's Not that I'm nottrusting a person.
It's kind of like that trustbut verify.
And one of the other thingsthat I realized is I was often
(14:40):
attracted to people who had noone else Like.
So it was almost like I wastheir one and only, and I've
really learned that that isusually the mark of an unhealthy
person, like if they don't havecommunity around them, if they
don't have other good friends,that's a bit of a red flag.
And so to want to be goodfriends with people who also
(15:03):
have other good friends andother longtime friends, that's a
thing that's been reallyhelpful for me and to recognize
like that's the mark of someonewho is likely in a healthier
position.
And so looking for that andcelebrating that for them, like
celebrating their other friends,celebrating their other
friendships, instead of kind oflike me wanting to be jealous of
(15:27):
that, like it was a verydysfunctional thing for me.
And so I'm working through thatand, I think, taking it slowly.
And then also for me it is, youknow, not everything.
Every time I put myself outthere is it going to turn into a
great relationship.
In fact, the majority of thetime I put myself out there,
it's not going to turn into agreat relationship.
And so giving myself permissionto be like you know what, it's
(15:48):
probably going to take 10 to 20no's for there to be a yes.
And you know, again, that'sprobably a good thing that I'm
driven because you have to bewilling to put yourself out
there but do it in a way that issort of safe, in a sense Like
um.
So for me it'll oftentimes I'llbe like hey, um, I'd love to get
(16:09):
together and have coffee, youknow?
Or do you want to meet up atthe park and have a play date,
do something where it's like youstart started out in a very
sort of safe environment for you, especially if your heart's
been really hurt and broken?
So it's like if you meetsomeone for coffee, you could
meet, you could even plan it.
You could be like I have toleave at.
You know, we're meeting at 12.
I have to leave at one, justgiving yourself that kind of
(16:37):
that.
You have that safety net ofknowing I'm only going to be
here for an hour.
So if this turns out reallypoorly, it's only an hour and um
, and I think for me that washelpful to just kind of start
with these strong boundaries inplace so that I wasn't just like
come over for dinner and let'syou know, I mean, I just feel
like starting small and you know, maybe it's that you're meeting
them somewhere else instead ofinviting them into your home at
first.
(16:57):
You know, whatever you need todo for your heart and not and
not starting a long-term sort ofthing just try and coffee, and
if that doesn't work, it doesn'twork.
You know, if you, you, you meetthem and you're like I just
don't feel like this is going tobe a good fit, that's okay, um,
but to continue to invite, tocontinue to reach out, don't
(17:17):
wait for other people to be thefriend that you wish that you
had.
You reach out and you go, bethat friend, but don't expect
and be hurt if they don'treciprocate in the way that you
would love them to reciprocate.
The other thing for me that'sbeen really helpful is, once I
get to the place of you knowwe've we've met a few times and
we're starting to like I reallyfeel like there's something
there to just be super honest of.
(17:38):
Like this is what I'm lookingfor in relationship, and I'm
just going to put it out there.
And I totally understand if youare not in the place to feel
like this is, you know, the typeof relationship that you have
space for 100%, that is okay, Iget it.
But I just want you to knowlike this is where I'm at and
that's been really helpful to me, because then it's not like
(17:59):
I've made up in my head, likethis is how it's going to go or
this is how it's going to be,but it's like I am just putting
it out there and then sometimesthey'll be like I'm not,
couldn't be what you had hopedit would be.
So those are just some thingsthat have been really helpful
(18:20):
for me, and God has just broughtsome really beautifully sweet,
deep relationships andfriendships into my life as a
result of that, and so I dothink you can rebuild that trust
, but I think it's okay to letyour heart grieve and then set
up some good boundaries andapproach it in a way that is
(18:41):
going to be a lot healthier foryou in the long run.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
You're right.
I feel like once we get oldermaybe even college and past we
don't talk about it, but it'ssomething that we talk about all
the time with our kids, like,yes, the other day I was on a
one-on-one date with my son andthat's what he talked about most
of the time was his friends andyou know some of his good
friends now and some friendsthat you know moved or some
(19:06):
friends that aren't friendsanymore.
You know, and all this, and wetalked about it and and you know
, I gave a little bit of advicemaybe, or thoughts or or yeah,
I've been there, I feel you, youknow that sort of thing.
But then all of a sudden, wekind of how this is a new thing
for you.
Could you talk about why you'restarting it and why you haven't
(19:26):
done it before and what wemight expect seeing from you in
(19:51):
January and 2025?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, so I mean, I've been blogging on money saving
momcom since 2007,.
Talking about finances since2005 ish on the internet.
So this will be like my 20thyear of talking about saving
money.
And um, for years I just talkedabout saving money on groceries
.
I talked about your grocerybudget, I talked about having
cash envelopes for yourgroceries, like everything was
(20:14):
the sort of what I would callsafe money topics.
Because for me, I really feltlike I can talk about this.
I have a lot of experience andit's something that I know
really well.
It's something that I've taughta lot of people and I feel very
confident in this.
But if people were to ask mehow to set up a budget or how to
get out of debt or other typesof things investing retirement
(20:35):
insurance, all of that I waslike no, I'm not your person,
because I really felt like thatI didn't have the knowledge, I
didn't have the experience to beable to talk about anything.
But really, you know homeeconomics, if we're going to
call it that and um.
But I just have felt likethere's such a need for
(20:56):
budgeting, but from a standpointof just really practical,
simple, like teaching budgetingfrom someone who doesn't like
spreadsheets, someone who isn'tgood at math, someone who
doesn't have letters after theirname, doesn't have this
financial certification, someonewho's just an everyday mom,
(21:16):
who's lived on a budget for 22years, and to just share how it
has impacted our life and so,actually, my.
I started just feeling thislike nudge from the Lord to be
talking more about money in verypractical terms At the
beginning of this year year andkind of started moving towards
(21:37):
what would that look like?
And then my publisher came backto me.
I had a three book contract andI knew that the third book was
going to be coming up.
And they came back to me andsaid are you ready to write your
next book?
We'd really love for you towrite a money book.
And my very first book that Iwrote years ago was a money book
, but I didn't have an agent,didn't have a proposal, didn't
(21:58):
have a clue, and it's a terriblebook and I've always been super
embarrassed by it.
No, I mean I'm being honest.
You can go read the Amazonreviews and I didn't know what I
was doing and it's literallylike this compilation of blog
posts that was not edited wellat all and I've always been very
embarrassed of that book.
But I learned a lot from it.
(22:19):
That was something that I wouldconsider to be a failure that I
learned from, and so for futurebooks, I had a completely
different approach, but theywere, like you know, kind of
this is your opportunity thatyou could do a do over it's with
a different publisher, and itwould be a very different sort
of book, but still on the topicof money, and I felt like when
they said that there was justthat confirmation of the Lord,
(22:39):
because I'd really been prayingabout okay, what does this look
like?
What are you calling me to?
And so I spent a few monthsreally wrestling with the
insecurity that I felt overtalking about budgeting and
specifics of money managementand financial stewardship and
then just really allowing myselfto recognize that you know I've
(23:01):
let these negative beliefsreally stifle me from stepping
into something that God iscalling me to do, and I think I
was so afraid of maybe some ofthe backlash that I got when
that first book came out andthen also just knowing that
you're not going to pleaseeverybody and you know some
(23:22):
people are going to say that'sreal dumb and that won't work,
and that's okay I'm still goingto put myself out there for the
people that you know need tohear this.
And it's been so cool becauseover the last few months, then,
I've kind of been putting somethings out there, asking some
questions online and justrecognizing that there are so
(23:44):
many people who actually reallywant to have a budget.
They just don't know how to getstarted or they also just
believe they can't because theydon't have a set income.
You know well, we always livedon income that varies, and we
also budgeted when the moneydidn't even make sense on paper,
(24:05):
Like there wasn't enough comingin, but we still had a budget
and a budget was so helpful,even when we were barely making
ends meet.
And we've also budgeted whenthere was a lot of extra and so
kind of having that experienceand seeing how much it has
impacted a life, I'm just reallyexcited to get to show people
that a budget is not somethingthat's really stifling and a
(24:28):
negative thing, but it'ssomething that's really
empowering and something that isa positive thing and something
that can allow you to be able tohave money to spend on making
memories with your family andspend on fun things and spend on
giving, but also, at the sametime, to be able to prioritize
your financial future and whatdoes that look like?
(24:51):
And so I'm really excited aboutit, really excited about the
book It'll be coming out in 2026.
So this next year we're justgoing to be doing a lot with a
lot of different resources andprintables and videos and some
products and things, to justreally give people very
practical tools to step by stepby step.
Here I'm going to hold yourhand and walk you through
(25:12):
exactly here's how to set up abudget, here's why, here's the
benefit that it's going to be inyour life and here's how it's
going to give you freedom.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I think that'll be great.
So we'll have people.
If they are interested, thenthey can just follow you, get on
your email list and they'llstart to get some of that.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yes, yes, well, we should be launching early
January.
We've got.
We're going to be doing a lotwith kind of helping people who
want to set up a budget for thenew year.
We're going to be doing a lotwith that.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
So oh, I love it Well , and I should have this number.
But finances is one of thethings that tears marriages
apart, that you know.
It just wreaks havoc on ourlife, and I don't know the
percentages, but it's terriblyhigh, and so I think that's so
great, because when you're notin debt and you don't have this
(26:08):
weight on you, then it justmakes life just a little bit
easier, right?
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I think there's so much tension and so much stress
that is in people's lives as aresult of money struggles.
And what was so interesting?
Just I think it was last week.
I asked on Instagram for peopleto answer the question people
who want to have a budget butdon't have a budget.
Why don't you have a budget?
And I said all your answers aregoing to be anonymous.
(26:36):
I'm not sharing this, but I justam very curious and, by and
large, one of the number onethings that was said people said
they don't have a budgetbecause they're too scared to
look at the numbers.
A budget because they're tooscared to look at the numbers,
and to me that was just I mean,that's kind of shocking, because
(26:57):
that says that they don't evenhave a clue.
Like they don't have a clue whattheir numbers are.
So no wonder you have constantstress because you have no idea
if you have enough coming in,you have no idea where it's
going, like you aren't evenwilling to actually look at the
numbers because it scares you somuch.
And so I think to give peoplethis understanding that actually
(27:18):
looking at the numbers is goingto take away so much fear
because once you start doing it,it's going to be hard at first,
but once you start doing it andyou keep doing it for a little
while, you're going to not haveto worry.
You know, when I pay this bill,when I swipe this card, when I
buy this thing, am I going tohave enough to be able to keep
the lights on in my house andput food in my fridge?
(27:39):
You know.
But if you don't even knowwhat's going on, of course
you're going to just be livingin constant kind of that nagging
, gnawing sense that you knowthings aren't good.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, yeah, oh, that's really interesting.
That's really interesting.
Well, I have loved our timetogether and I am going to, like
I said, put your social mediathings out there and have people
get in touch with you via youremail list and anything like
that, to kind of learn moreabout you and what you're, what
(28:11):
you're sharing and aboutbudgeting.
And as we end our podcast, Ialways love to end with these
questions what is your favoriteBible verse or story?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So my favorite Bible story that has been for years
and years and years is the storyof Joseph.
And I love the story because itis such a story of redemption
and it is such a reminder thatGod uses really hard things for
good.
And you know, we get to see theend of his story.
But he didn't know the end of astory when his brothers were
(28:43):
mocking him.
When he's in that pit, left allalone, put there by his brothers
, when he's sold into slavery,when he's dealing with
Potiphar's wife, when he's inprison, when you know he thinks
he's going to maybe get out ofprison because he, you know,
interprets this dream, and thenthe guy forgets about it.
You know, just, thing afterthing after thing after thing
where he chose to trust in theLord and to give his best, you
(29:08):
know we see him continuallyrising to the top.
And that's because he was a manof character and, I really
think, a man of faith, and so Ijust love his story.
When you're going through hardtimes, when it feels like, you
know, the punches just keepcoming to remember that God is
the one that's writing the endof the story.
And had he not been in that pitand been in that prison, he
(29:30):
would have never then been inthe position that he was later
on, like God was preparing himin the pit and in the prison.
And so just to remind her thatin those hard things in life,
god, you never know what God'spreparing you for.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Yeah, and I think it was about 30 years or so and we
can easily say that because weknow how the story ends.
But I don't like to wait foryou know, I feel like I'm in
this time of waiting, I don'treally know what I'm waiting for
.
I just feel like God is sayingthere's something coming,
there's something different,there's something.
And it's so hard and you knowit's only been about a year or
(30:07):
so of this kind of waiting and30 years, and then not to get
discouraged and not to like.
He still had a soft heart,obviously for his, for his
brothers, when they came and sawhim.
So that's pretty amazing.
What are you grateful for?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So much, I think, for me just this year.
God has taught me so much abouthis faithfulness and there's
been a lot of stretching thingsthis year and he's just
continued to show hisfaithfulness to me in little
ways.
Like just recently I waspraying for God to bring another
mom who had a child withdisabilities that could just
(30:49):
really kind of understand theroad that I'm walking.
And would you believe it I meanonly God like that day this
woman who I had met monthsbefore, had not had any contact
with in the last few months,texted me and she invited me to
this retreat with other moms whohave children with disabilities
.
That was absolutely free to goto that.
(31:11):
Then I got accepted into andshe said, hey, like I'd love to
start getting together regularly.
And she has a son who is aboutsix years older than David.
And it was just like God sayingI see you, like I see you, I
have not forgotten you.
And and he's just beenanswering some very specific
(31:32):
prayers in such specific waysthat it just makes you feel so
loved and so seen and so valued.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
That's amazing.
What kindness have you receivedor what kindness have you shown
in the last week?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
You know, I saw this question and I thought it was
such a great question.
I think we don't stop and thinkabout kindness often enough.
But just last night, mydaughter it had been a long day
and I'd been gone most of theday and so my almost 20 year old
who's home from college rightnow for Christmas break she I
(32:08):
had gotten all the kids home.
My husband he coaches baseball,so who's a baseball coaching?
We'd been at my son'sbasketball games.
I get all the kids home andthere were some attitudes and
people who were really needy andeverything and and I was taking
care of all of the kids, thelittle kids, and she just went
out and she cleaned up the wholekitchen and she took care of
all these things Like I didn'teven ask her.
(32:29):
And I was like honey, you don'tneed to do that.
And I come out and the kitchenwas all cleaned up, Everything
was put away and it was just.
You know it might seem likesuch a simple thing, but it was
like again God saying to me likeI see you, I'm taking care of
you and you don't, you're notalone.
And it was just.
It was such a kind thing and itblessed me.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Oh, I love it.
I love being able to bereminded of some of these small
things.
So thank you for sharing andthank you for being on.
I really appreciate your time,I appreciate your story, I
appreciate you taking the timeto talk with our guests and just
can't wait to see what God doeswith your budgeting endeavor in
(33:10):
2025.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having meon, thanks for being excited
for how God's leading and I'mjust, I'm grateful for you and
the work that you're doing here.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Thank you Well at Ordinary People, extraordinary
Things.
Your story is his glory.
Thank you for listening toOrdinary People, extraordinary
Things.
My prayer is this podcast hasreally impacted you and leaves
you changed.
We will be back in two weekswith a brand new guest.
You will not want to miss it.
Welcome to Ordinary People Extraordinary Things.
I'm so glad that you're here.
Welcome to 2025 and Season 7.
Let's get started with one ofour wonderful guests.
Welcome to Ordinary PeopleExtraordinary Things.
I'm so honored to be here withCrystal Crystal.
Thanks for being on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's such an honor to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
If people don't know who you are.
You are the money-saving mom,but you are so much more I know
as well.
Could you give three words orphrases that describe you?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You asked me this and this is such a good question.
I was going to ask my husbandbecause I was really curious if
our words would line up.
I came up with passionate,driven and deep.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And what do you mean by deep?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So I'm the kind of person that I do not like to
have surfacy conversations, likeif I am talking with you, I
don't want to talk about theweather.
I want to talk about, like,how's your heart and what's God
doing in your life and how can Ibe praying for you, and that
sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Oh, I like that.
I like that a lot.
How did money saving mom getstarted?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So my husband and I decided, like we just really
felt like we wanted to stay outof debt and so when we got
married we've been married foralmost 22 years he was going to
go to law school and we set thisaudacious goal that we were
going to do it debt-free.
And we are both blessed to comefrom families where our parents
modeled really wise financialstewardship for us and taught us
(01:36):
a lot of things.
So we went into marriage withthat.
We went into marriage withoutany debt and with money and
savings, and so we set in onthis journey to stay out of debt
, go through law school.
And that was kind of when thiswhole idea of sharing about
saving money started, because wewere living in this little
(01:57):
basement apartment and we wereon this beans and rice budget.
We had one car, my husband wasat law school and his job most
of the day.
So I'm at home in this littlebasement apartment in this town
that I don't know hardly anyonewith a little baby and just was
trying to figure out ways that Icould earn money from home and
fell into blogging from that.
(02:18):
It was a brand new phenomenon.
This was 2004, 2005.
People really didn't even knowwhat a blog was, so you'd have
to explain what a blog wasbefore you told them what you
blogged about.
And I started just bloggingabout a lot of different things,
kind of a mommy blog.
That was a Christian mommy blogand then, from there, really
discovered that people were veryfascinated with things about
(02:38):
saving money and about how wewere eating on so little, how I
was using coupons, how I wasplaying the drugstore game, and
so, after blogging about that onthat blog for about two years,
really felt like I wanted to doa spinoff blog that was
specifically about saving money.
So 2007 started money savingmomcom, not knowing that the
(03:00):
economy was going to tank andthat, like coupons were going to
become the thing, because mediawould be talking about you
should use coupons at thegrocery store and people would
go and they would Google how touse coupons at the grocery store
.
I was one of the few sites wasteaching people how to do that,
and so my site would pop up.
So within a year it just grewand grew and then we were making
a full-time income off of itand I never saw that the side
(03:22):
little thing that I thought Iwas gonna do was gonna turn into
our family's full-time thing.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Wow, that is so crazy .
What would you say to someonewho's listening and has a dream
or has something that they feellike God has put on their heart?
How would you encourage them?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I think the biggest thing that I learned is that
failure can actually be a reallygood thing.
So I started Money Saving Momin 2007,.
But what I didn't talk about isthe multiple things that I
tried before then that didn'twork and I had multiple failed
businesses and just really eachtime would say, okay, why didn't
that work?
What can I learn from it?
(03:59):
What did work that I can takeand pull from?
And I actually had this ideaabout a year before I started
MoneySavingMomcom that I cantake and pull from.
And I actually had this ideaabout a year before I started
money saving momcom that I wouldstart this site that was going
to be about saving money.
I saw some friends that theywere doing this and they had
Google ads on their sidebar andthey were making a thousand
dollars a month some months offof just their ads on their
(04:20):
sidebar, and I was like I coulddo that.
So I worked really hard, set upthe site.
It was crickets, like it didnot, did not go anywhere, and I
realized, because I was tryingto do their vision Like this was
a thing that they you know Godhad called them to and I was
just trying to copy it, and so Ithink the biggest thing that I
would encourage you is make surethat you are uniquely stepping
(04:42):
into what God is calling you tonot doing something just because
it looks like a great idea thatsomeone else is doing.
That's the thing that I've hadto learn the hard way, and then
also to really think outside thebox and to not see that if
something doesn't work well,that just means that you know
I'm never going to be able tohave an online business.
(05:02):
That just means that you needto go back to the drawing board
and learn some new things andpivot and try again.
One of the things that I didcommit to we invested $2,000 of
our own money in the verybeginning and then never
invested another penny of ourown money.
We didn't have extra money toinvest, and so I had to get
(05:23):
really creative with that littlebit of money to figure out ways
to make money and make thatgrow that then I could invest
when I started something new.
And there are just so manydifferent opportunities online.
But I would say it's easy toget focused.
It's easy to lose focus becausethere's shiny thing, shiny
thing, shiny thing, all theseexperts telling you you should
(05:45):
be doing all these differentthings and I found, do one thing
at a time, like with my site.
It's like start the site, thenstart an email newsletter, then
add one social media.
Get learn that really well,then you could add another
social media platform.
Like you don't have to do allthe things at once.
Grow slowly and and don't getdiscouraged if something doesn't
(06:07):
work.
Use that as an opportunity tolearn and pivot.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
That's good.
I can see why you said driven.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I don't take no for an answer easily.
So you know, and it's a greatthing, because with an internet
business nowadays, like you haveto constantly be learning and
changing and being forwardthinking because it is a
constantly changing market.
I mean, when I started, therewas no social media.
We had blogs and we hadcomments and we had email, and
to think of where it is now likewe could have never envisioned
(06:41):
what it is like now and so youhave to be changing and learning
and growing and pivoting andtrying new things and
experimenting and failing,because that's how your business
is going to continue to stayafloat.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, oh, that's good , and you have kids.
So how can you tell, first ofall, how many kids you have, and
then how do you balance yourwork in your family life?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yes, we have six kids .
They're 19, down to two, 19, 17, 15.
Then we had 10 years ofsecondary infertility and then
we have four year old four yearold and a two year old.
Our second four year old wasadopted from foster care.
He has some very significantdisabilities and will need
lifelong caregiving and he hasjust turned our world upside
down in the most wonderful ofways.
(07:25):
But balancing a lot of childrenand a lot wide age range and
working full-time because I amour family's full-time
breadwinner it's just constantlyan exercise in trusting the
Lord, resting in Him, learningto not micromanage and control
my life.
I think the biggest thing forme is I have to let go of this
(07:48):
vision of what I think it shouldlook like and really embrace
right where I am today.
I mean, for instance, just itwas probably 35 minutes ago my
four-year-old came to me.
She's like mom, would you readto me?
And there were a lot of thingsthat needed to get done and some
time sensitive things.
And to just stop and be like,absolutely, I can go upstairs
(08:11):
and we can sit in our, in yourlittle tent in the playroom and
we can read for five minutes andthen mommy's going to need to.
You know, do some other things,because mommy has some stuff
going on today and so beingwilling to stop and do that,
that filled up her love tank andso just getting creative and
looking for opportunities toreally have those one-on-one
(08:31):
times, but to know that evenjust a few minutes here or there
of really being fully presentcan make such a difference.
The other thing that we havejust switched to recently is
really compartmentalizing, andso for me, I work from eight to
two and then I'm home and reallyfocused on home from two to
eight, and having thosecompartmentalized times has been
(08:54):
very, very helpful for me and Ifeel like I'm so much more
present in my job and so muchmore present in my home by
compartmentalizing.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
That's really good.
That's really good.
Well, this is a whole differentswitch.
I don't know how to nicelyswitch it to something else.
One you have some really greatblogs.
I'm going to, for sure, ifpeople don't have you on social
media, tag that in, because Ithink they'll be really filled
up by all of your things.
You have budget things, butthen you also have just a lot of
(09:24):
soul things I feel like, orspiritual things, things that
are going on in your life thatyou really share with people and
are really vulnerable, thatmake people feel like, oh my
gosh, I really know her, Ireally can identify with that,
make people feel like, oh mygosh, I really know her, I
really can identify with that.
And one of them that reallyspoke to me was the sadness of
(09:45):
losing friends.
I don't know if you rememberthat one.
Probably right, that one justreally hit home with me.
I think we can all all identifywith that at some time in our
life.
Would you be able to explain alittle bit about that If people
are like thanks, Nancy, I haveno idea what you're speaking
about.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, well, I just I think that friendship breakups
are something that it's a veryreal reality and it's also
something that we don't talkabout very often.
I mean, it's a difficultsubject to talk about,
especially publicly.
I wrote this Instagram postthat I actually had been.
I started writing a year beforeand didn't never know if it was
something I was going to besharing publicly because I
(10:23):
thought it was just for me.
I was writing to process afriendship break that was really
really painful, that hadhappened four years before,
really out of the blue, but justwriting this of how God used
that for so much good in my lifeand how he is really caused
that to help me to.
(10:45):
It's easy to, when somethinglike that happens, to want to
almost blame the other personwas like their, their fault or
what they did or whatever, butinstead to say, okay, what can I
learn from this?
You know, how can I grow fromthis?
I think that that's what we'retalking about when it comes to
business failure and things likethat, but also other failures
in your life or other just hardthings in your life.
How can I grow from this?
(11:06):
What can I learn from this, sothat next time I'm a healthier
person and I think for me itreally caused me to step back
and spend a lot of time seekingthe Lord and learning to find my
joy, my hope, my fulfillment inhim.
I think friendship and communityis so important.
But if we are trying to findfrom someone else what only God
(11:30):
can give, we're always going tobe in dysfunctional
relationships because peoplearen't God and they are going to
fail us and they are going todisappoint us and we're going to
fail them and we're going todisappoint them.
And so, having that mindset ofI'm so filled up and content in
Jesus that I don't needsomething from someone else that
(11:53):
is a dysfunctional need, butinstead I can walk into this
space, I can walk into this room, I can walk into this
relationship from that place ofknowing how much I'm loved by
God and then I can just loveothers wholeheartedly.
And for me, that's just givenme so much freedom in
relationships and it's reallyhelped me to have so much
(12:15):
healthier relationships, becauseI feel like when I'm healthier
as a person, I'm going toattract healthier people and
we're going to have healthierrelationships.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
How do you not get jaded or maybe not even go into
a relationship?
Or, like you said, for me Icould go into relationships but
I couldn't go deep then.
Or that would be my kind of goto right as far as protecting
myself is yeah, I'll be, youknow, make another friend, but
(12:45):
not really go deep to protectmyself.
What would you say to that?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I think it's hard, like once you've been really
deeply hurt, it's hard to bewilling to trust again, because
trust is vulnerable.
Like it is vulnerable, it'sit's, you know, taking the armor
off and letting people in.
And if you've done that andthen it feels like you've gotten
stabbed in the back, you'relike I'm just not going to do
(13:13):
that again, I'm just going tokeep my armor on, I'm going to
keep everybody at arm's lengthand then I'm safe.
But the thing is you're alsoreally lonely, and so I think to
recognize like trust is goingto require you to put yourself
out there.
One thing that I've learned fromthis is I've been a lot more
cautious in relationships, butthat doesn't mean that I'm not
(13:37):
willing to trust again.
I'm just I've been a lot morecareful, so I'm not.
I told you know that I'm apassionate person and I'm driven
, and so I can be the kind ofperson where I can find someone.
I'm like this is my person andI just want to jump all in.
You know, 150 miles an hour.
And I've been a lot morecautious and, you know, just
(13:59):
carefully, kind of let therelationship slowly develop and
that's been really healthy forme and it's also helped me
because I think it's caused meto be more careful in you know
just how I am opening up,because I think in the past it
was almost this dysfunctionalthing for me, like I wanted this
(14:19):
person to know everything aboutme right away.
And it's been a really goodthing for me to be more slow
about opening up.
And it's Not that I'm nottrusting a person.
It's kind of like that trustbut verify.
And one of the other thingsthat I realized is I was often
(14:40):
attracted to people who had noone else Like.
So it was almost like I wastheir one and only, and I've
really learned that that isusually the mark of an unhealthy
person, like if they don't havecommunity around them, if they
don't have other good friends,that's a bit of a red flag.
And so to want to be goodfriends with people who also
(15:03):
have other good friends andother longtime friends, that's a
thing that's been reallyhelpful for me and to recognize
like that's the mark of someonewho is likely in a healthier
position.
And so looking for that andcelebrating that for them, like
celebrating their other friends,celebrating their other
friendships, instead of kind oflike me wanting to be jealous of
(15:27):
that, like it was a verydysfunctional thing for me.
And so I'm working through thatand, I think, taking it slowly.
And then also for me it is, youknow, not everything.
Every time I put myself outthere is it going to turn into a
great relationship.
In fact, the majority of thetime I put myself out there,
it's not going to turn into agreat relationship.
And so giving myself permissionto be like you know what, it's
(15:48):
probably going to take 10 to 20no's for there to be a yes.
And you know, again, that'sprobably a good thing that I'm
driven because you have to bewilling to put yourself out
there but do it in a way that issort of safe, in a sense Like
um.
So for me it'll oftentimes I'llbe like hey, um, I'd love to get
(16:09):
together and have coffee, youknow?
Or do you want to meet up atthe park and have a play date,
do something where it's like youstart started out in a very
sort of safe environment for you, especially if your heart's
been really hurt and broken?
So it's like if you meetsomeone for coffee, you could
meet, you could even plan it.
You could be like I have toleave at.
You know, we're meeting at 12.
I have to leave at one, justgiving yourself that kind of
(16:37):
that.
You have that safety net ofknowing I'm only going to be
here for an hour.
So if this turns out reallypoorly, it's only an hour and um
, and I think for me that washelpful to just kind of start
with these strong boundaries inplace so that I wasn't just like
come over for dinner and let'syou know, I mean, I just feel
like starting small and you know, maybe it's that you're meeting
them somewhere else instead ofinviting them into your home at
first.
(16:57):
You know, whatever you need todo for your heart and not and
not starting a long-term sort ofthing just try and coffee, and
if that doesn't work, it doesn'twork.
You know, if you, you, you meetthem and you're like I just
don't feel like this is going tobe a good fit, that's okay, um,
but to continue to invite, tocontinue to reach out, don't
(17:17):
wait for other people to be thefriend that you wish that you
had.
You reach out and you go, bethat friend, but don't expect
and be hurt if they don'treciprocate in the way that you
would love them to reciprocate.
The other thing for me that'sbeen really helpful is, once I
get to the place of you knowwe've we've met a few times and
we're starting to like I reallyfeel like there's something
there to just be super honest of.
(17:38):
Like this is what I'm lookingfor in relationship, and I'm
just going to put it out there.
And I totally understand if youare not in the place to feel
like this is, you know, the typeof relationship that you have
space for 100%, that is okay, Iget it.
But I just want you to knowlike this is where I'm at and
that's been really helpful to me, because then it's not like
(17:59):
I've made up in my head, likethis is how it's going to go or
this is how it's going to be,but it's like I am just putting
it out there and then sometimesthey'll be like I'm not,
couldn't be what you had hopedit would be.
So those are just some thingsthat have been really helpful
(18:20):
for me, and God has just broughtsome really beautifully sweet,
deep relationships andfriendships into my life as a
result of that, and so I dothink you can rebuild that trust
, but I think it's okay to letyour heart grieve and then set
up some good boundaries andapproach it in a way that is
(18:41):
going to be a lot healthier foryou in the long run.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
You're right.
I feel like once we get oldermaybe even college and past we
don't talk about it, but it'ssomething that we talk about all
the time with our kids, like,yes, the other day I was on a
one-on-one date with my son andthat's what he talked about most
of the time was his friends andyou know some of his good
friends now and some friendsthat you know moved or some
(19:06):
friends that aren't friendsanymore.
You know, and all this, and wetalked about it and and you know
, I gave a little bit of advicemaybe, or thoughts or or yeah,
I've been there, I feel you, youknow that sort of thing.
But then all of a sudden, wekind of how this is a new thing
for you.
Could you talk about why you'restarting it and why you haven't
(19:26):
done it before and what wemight expect seeing from you in
(19:51):
January and 2025?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, so I mean, I've been blogging on money saving
momcom since 2007,.
Talking about finances since2005 ish on the internet.
So this will be like my 20thyear of talking about saving
money.
And um, for years I just talkedabout saving money on groceries
.
I talked about your grocerybudget, I talked about having
cash envelopes for yourgroceries, like everything was
(20:14):
the sort of what I would callsafe money topics.
Because for me, I really feltlike I can talk about this.
I have a lot of experience andit's something that I know
really well.
It's something that I've taughta lot of people and I feel very
confident in this.
But if people were to ask mehow to set up a budget or how to
get out of debt or other typesof things investing retirement
(20:35):
insurance, all of that I waslike no, I'm not your person,
because I really felt like thatI didn't have the knowledge, I
didn't have the experience to beable to talk about anything.
But really, you know homeeconomics, if we're going to
call it that and um.
But I just have felt likethere's such a need for
(20:56):
budgeting, but from a standpointof just really practical,
simple, like teaching budgetingfrom someone who doesn't like
spreadsheets, someone who isn'tgood at math, someone who
doesn't have letters after theirname, doesn't have this
financial certification, someonewho's just an everyday mom,
(21:16):
who's lived on a budget for 22years, and to just share how it
has impacted our life and so,actually, my.
I started just feeling thislike nudge from the Lord to be
talking more about money in verypractical terms At the
beginning of this year year andkind of started moving towards
(21:37):
what would that look like?
And then my publisher came backto me.
I had a three book contract andI knew that the third book was
going to be coming up.
And they came back to me andsaid are you ready to write your
next book?
We'd really love for you towrite a money book.
And my very first book that Iwrote years ago was a money book
, but I didn't have an agent,didn't have a proposal, didn't
(21:58):
have a clue, and it's a terriblebook and I've always been super
embarrassed by it.
No, I mean I'm being honest.
You can go read the Amazonreviews and I didn't know what I
was doing and it's literallylike this compilation of blog
posts that was not edited wellat all and I've always been very
embarrassed of that book.
But I learned a lot from it.
(22:19):
That was something that I wouldconsider to be a failure that I
learned from, and so for futurebooks, I had a completely
different approach, but theywere, like you know, kind of
this is your opportunity thatyou could do a do over it's with
a different publisher, and itwould be a very different sort
of book, but still on the topicof money, and I felt like when
they said that there was justthat confirmation of the Lord,
(22:39):
because I'd really been prayingabout okay, what does this look
like?
What are you calling me to?
And so I spent a few monthsreally wrestling with the
insecurity that I felt overtalking about budgeting and
specifics of money managementand financial stewardship and
then just really allowing myselfto recognize that you know I've
(23:01):
let these negative beliefsreally stifle me from stepping
into something that God iscalling me to do, and I think I
was so afraid of maybe some ofthe backlash that I got when
that first book came out andthen also just knowing that
you're not going to pleaseeverybody and you know some
(23:22):
people are going to say that'sreal dumb and that won't work,
and that's okay I'm still goingto put myself out there for the
people that you know need tohear this.
And it's been so cool becauseover the last few months, then,
I've kind of been putting somethings out there, asking some
questions online and justrecognizing that there are so
(23:44):
many people who actually reallywant to have a budget.
They just don't know how to getstarted or they also just
believe they can't because theydon't have a set income.
You know well, we always livedon income that varies, and we
also budgeted when the moneydidn't even make sense on paper,
(24:05):
Like there wasn't enough comingin, but we still had a budget
and a budget was so helpful,even when we were barely making
ends meet.
And we've also budgeted whenthere was a lot of extra and so
kind of having that experienceand seeing how much it has
impacted a life, I'm just reallyexcited to get to show people
that a budget is not somethingthat's really stifling and a
(24:28):
negative thing, but it'ssomething that's really
empowering and something that isa positive thing and something
that can allow you to be able tohave money to spend on making
memories with your family andspend on fun things and spend on
giving, but also, at the sametime, to be able to prioritize
your financial future and whatdoes that look like?
(24:51):
And so I'm really excited aboutit, really excited about the
book It'll be coming out in 2026.
So this next year we're justgoing to be doing a lot with a
lot of different resources andprintables and videos and some
products and things, to justreally give people very
practical tools to step by stepby step.
Here I'm going to hold yourhand and walk you through
(25:12):
exactly here's how to set up abudget, here's why, here's the
benefit that it's going to be inyour life and here's how it's
going to give you freedom.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I think that'll be great.
So we'll have people.
If they are interested, thenthey can just follow you, get on
your email list and they'llstart to get some of that.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yes, yes, well, we should be launching early
January.
We've got.
We're going to be doing a lotwith kind of helping people who
want to set up a budget for thenew year.
We're going to be doing a lotwith that.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
So oh, I love it Well , and I should have this number.
But finances is one of thethings that tears marriages
apart, that you know.
It just wreaks havoc on ourlife, and I don't know the
percentages, but it's terriblyhigh, and so I think that's so
great, because when you're notin debt and you don't have this
(26:08):
weight on you, then it justmakes life just a little bit
easier, right?
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I think there's so much tension and so much stress
that is in people's lives as aresult of money struggles.
And what was so interesting?
Just I think it was last week.
I asked on Instagram for peopleto answer the question people
who want to have a budget butdon't have a budget.
Why don't you have a budget?
And I said all your answers aregoing to be anonymous.
(26:36):
I'm not sharing this, but I justam very curious and, by and
large, one of the number onethings that was said people said
they don't have a budgetbecause they're too scared to
look at the numbers.
A budget because they're tooscared to look at the numbers,
and to me that was just I mean,that's kind of shocking, because
(26:57):
that says that they don't evenhave a clue.
Like they don't have a clue whattheir numbers are.
So no wonder you have constantstress because you have no idea
if you have enough coming in,you have no idea where it's
going, like you aren't evenwilling to actually look at the
numbers because it scares you somuch.
And so I think to give peoplethis understanding that actually
(27:18):
looking at the numbers is goingto take away so much fear
because once you start doing it,it's going to be hard at first,
but once you start doing it andyou keep doing it for a little
while, you're going to not haveto worry.
You know, when I pay this bill,when I swipe this card, when I
buy this thing, am I going tohave enough to be able to keep
the lights on in my house andput food in my fridge?
(27:39):
You know.
But if you don't even knowwhat's going on, of course
you're going to just be livingin constant kind of that nagging
, gnawing sense that you knowthings aren't good.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, yeah, oh, that's really interesting.
That's really interesting.
Well, I have loved our timetogether and I am going to, like
I said, put your social mediathings out there and have people
get in touch with you via youremail list and anything like
that, to kind of learn moreabout you and what you're, what
(28:11):
you're sharing and aboutbudgeting.
And as we end our podcast, Ialways love to end with these
questions what is your favoriteBible verse or story?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So my favorite Bible story that has been for years
and years and years is the storyof Joseph.
And I love the story because itis such a story of redemption
and it is such a reminder thatGod uses really hard things for
good.
And you know, we get to see theend of his story.
But he didn't know the end of astory when his brothers were
(28:43):
mocking him.
When he's in that pit, left allalone, put there by his brothers
, when he's sold into slavery,when he's dealing with
Potiphar's wife, when he's inprison, when you know he thinks
he's going to maybe get out ofprison because he, you know,
interprets this dream, and thenthe guy forgets about it.
You know, just, thing afterthing after thing after thing
where he chose to trust in theLord and to give his best, you
(29:08):
know we see him continuallyrising to the top.
And that's because he was a manof character and, I really
think, a man of faith, and so Ijust love his story.
When you're going through hardtimes, when it feels like, you
know, the punches just keepcoming to remember that God is
the one that's writing the endof the story.
And had he not been in that pitand been in that prison, he
(29:30):
would have never then been inthe position that he was later
on, like God was preparing himin the pit and in the prison.
And so just to remind her thatin those hard things in life,
god, you never know what God'spreparing you for.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Yeah, and I think it was about 30 years or so and we
can easily say that because weknow how the story ends.
But I don't like to wait foryou know, I feel like I'm in
this time of waiting, I don'treally know what I'm waiting for
.
I just feel like God is sayingthere's something coming,
there's something different,there's something.
And it's so hard and you knowit's only been about a year or
(30:07):
so of this kind of waiting and30 years, and then not to get
discouraged and not to like.
He still had a soft heart,obviously for his, for his
brothers, when they came and sawhim.
So that's pretty amazing.
What are you grateful for?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So much, I think, for me just this year.
God has taught me so much abouthis faithfulness and there's
been a lot of stretching thingsthis year and he's just
continued to show hisfaithfulness to me in little
ways.
Like just recently I waspraying for God to bring another
mom who had a child withdisabilities that could just
(30:49):
really kind of understand theroad that I'm walking.
And would you believe it I meanonly God like that day this
woman who I had met monthsbefore, had not had any contact
with in the last few months,texted me and she invited me to
this retreat with other moms whohave children with disabilities
.
That was absolutely free to goto that.
(31:11):
Then I got accepted into andshe said, hey, like I'd love to
start getting together regularly.
And she has a son who is aboutsix years older than David.
And it was just like God sayingI see you, like I see you, I
have not forgotten you.
And and he's just beenanswering some very specific
(31:32):
prayers in such specific waysthat it just makes you feel so
loved and so seen and so valued.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
That's amazing.
What kindness have you receivedor what kindness have you shown
in the last week?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
You know, I saw this question and I thought it was
such a great question.
I think we don't stop and thinkabout kindness often enough.
But just last night, mydaughter it had been a long day
and I'd been gone most of theday and so my almost 20 year old
who's home from college rightnow for Christmas break she I
(32:08):
had gotten all the kids home.
My husband he coaches baseball,so who's a baseball coaching?
We'd been at my son'sbasketball games.
I get all the kids home andthere were some attitudes and
people who were really needy andeverything and and I was taking
care of all of the kids, thelittle kids, and she just went
out and she cleaned up the wholekitchen and she took care of
all these things Like I didn'teven ask her.
(32:29):
And I was like honey, you don'tneed to do that.
And I come out and the kitchenwas all cleaned up, Everything
was put away and it was just.
You know it might seem likesuch a simple thing, but it was
like again God saying to me likeI see you, I'm taking care of
you and you don't, you're notalone.
And it was just.
It was such a kind thing and itblessed me.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Oh, I love it.
I love being able to bereminded of some of these small
things.
So thank you for sharing andthank you for being on.
I really appreciate your time,I appreciate your story, I
appreciate you taking the timeto talk with our guests and just
can't wait to see what God doeswith your budgeting endeavor in
(33:10):
2025.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having meon, thanks for being excited
for how God's leading and I'mjust, I'm grateful for you and
the work that you're doing here.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Thank you Well at Ordinary People, extraordinary
Things.
Your story is his glory.
Thank you for listening toOrdinary People, extraordinary
Things.
My prayer is this podcast hasreally impacted you and leaves
you changed.
We will be back in two weekswith a brand new guest.
You will not want to miss it.
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