"When Unexpected Pregnancy Changed Our Financial Situation: 'I'm not even aware of what's going on with our money'"

The Struggles of Personal Finance: "I truly felt like a failure, like, a lot of guilt because like I said, we were we were at that time, I had student loans. And I'm like, I'm paying this on this $30,000 for this shiny piece of paper and yet I can't figure out how to be able to buy groceries for my family. This is ridiculous. Like, I should be able to do this."

Practical Tips for Budgeting: "I had different color was a washable markers, like the kids' little crayola markers that I was, like, highlighting my liked expenses, you know, all the groceries in yellow and all the fuel in green and all that and telling it all up so I could see, okay, what on average are we spending every single month?"

The Sacrifice for Financial Freedom: "no. If we're committed to paying off debt, we're going to have to go Jessi the car, we can pay in cash."

The Mindset Shift: "And, yeah, we have friends that are like, oh, you, you, like, you can't drive that guest elsewhere no more. It's it's not good for the environment. And I always challenge people and I'm like, we need to switch our thinking here. Instead of being a green consumer, let's be a green citizen because what is better the environment."

The Sacrifice of Letting Go: "That's what I think happens to us when we have to make sacrifices is, you know, in some of these sacrifices are going to be an identity crisis for us because we've held onto things so much and so tightly that it's very, very hard for us to just give them up and to let them go. even if it is a temporary let go."

Trade-offs and Having it All: "But you know, they so much of our society today has told us that we can have it all. We can have it all all the time, and we can't. That is just not even possible."

Money and Marriage: "And So it's good for us because we have that yin and that yang sort of thing happening where it's like, you know, I needed him in that moment to tell me, like, spend the money. This is an actual need. Stop justify like, stop trying to convince yourself that you can just continue on with these appliances that on their last leg. They are not going to survive the rest of the year. Let's get them now."

The Power of a Budget: "So for us, kind of what we have done for years years, is I call it the quick start budget, but you're just using the money... And that is the key to budgeting. It's just that awareness. It's not about being perfect in getting it right down to the red scent. It is like, okay. You know, how do we make this work and how are we utilizing money and how does it flow in our household?"

Creating Financial Safety Nets: "But having some money in a sinking fund just set aside as a separate bank account, just kinda set aside, help to offset that impact on your household budget."