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Carlee
Are you one of those people that knows you should probably budget, but maybe you're too stressed out by all this budgeting stuff to get started? Hi, I'm Carlee Myers, your friendly stress management expert, and this month we are talking about money. And I brought on an incredible guest to to talk about. Money. To talk about this, a peace and prosperity coach, a a.k.a., a financial coach, and she's been a financial coach since twenty fifteen. So she's got her feet in the water and she coaches men and women from poverty into prosperity by teaching them how to manage their finances, debts and build generational wealth. I think that's probably one of the most important pieces, generational wealth. And she is also an author and empowerment speaker. Welcome to the show. Please introduce yourself.
Clyrese
Hi, Carlee. My name's Clyrese Minor. I am the peace and prosperity coach that you would know and love very soon. Thank you, Carlee, for letting me, inviting me on here. I'm really excited about this.
Carlee
Absolutely, absolutely. So we connected before the show and you are sharing a little bit about your story. And I thought, like, there's we have to hear it. We have to hear how you how you went from being a single parent, living from paycheck to paycheck to the woman that you are today, because I think your story is just so relatable. So would you mind sharing a little bit of context for how you got here?
Clyrese
Of course I wouldn't mind. So I was a single parent for 11 years before I got married, of course. And I did live paycheck to paycheck. I was I lived on a salary of a CNA a certified nursing assistant, and I made roughly about thirty some thousand a year, maybe a little bit under. And my expenses was not greater than my income. It was the fact that I was wasting money on things like food. So my story is my son and I, we like to eat out. We love food, we like eating out. And I ate out for really any reason. I could just create a reason we're going to eat out and we would just eat out, so. I realized that I was spending way too much money and that when I was at work, my son and I used to go to a store called Wawa, this located in the north eastern region of the United States. And our favorite thing to get at Wawa was the breakfast sandwiches, they're called sizzlers. They're really good and very unhealthy, of course, but we get a sizzler. I would get me one and get my son one and I would get maybe a cup of coffee and some orange juice. So we would do that maybe about five, five or six days a week. So I'll just say about five. And I would spend roughly around ten dollars a day. So ten dollars times five. That's fifty dollars a week. So you multiply that 50 times four, that's two hundred dollars a month on just breakfast alone. That really wasn't doing us any good. It wasn't fueling us it wasn't making us full it was breakfast. So when I realized how much money I was spending on just breakfast alone, you know, it really upset me because I was wasting so much money, I could have been doing things that I really wanted to do. You know, I was wasting two hundred plus dollars because like I said, we like to eat out often. So I was wasting probably over four hundred dollars a month on takeout food alone. And I was upset because there was nothing to show for where four hundred plus dollars was going. My hair wasn't looking perfect. My clothes wasn't the best. My son always looked nice, but I didn't always look the best my car was used and old. So there was nothing to show for it. So it really upset me. And when I got realized what I was doing and how upset it made me, I just stopped it cold turkey. You know, I stopped eating out. I started cooking at home. I started managing my, my, my money better. I created a spreadsheet. I created a system where not only did I stop eating out and became healthier, but I was also saving for emergencies, retirement, all those things. And within months, I save thousands of dollars because I stopped wasting money on takeout food. So that was my problem. And that's what I help people realize how they are wasting money and where they could be saving.
Carlee
Yeah, I think what's really funny about your story is that and really interesting. Well, we'll start with the funny. The funny is that when you you shared about the breakfast sandwich. I grew up in Maryland, so we didn't have Wawa. Of course, I've grown to love them, but we have Sheetz. And I would order the shmuffin, which is I'm which is basically the same version of, I'm sure, the breakfast sandwich that Wawa offers. And those shmuffins, it's so fun to say, are so delicious, but also such a waste in many ways. What's interesting about your story is that it's not that it's like eating out is a waste of money. It's that for you it was a waste of money because you'd rather have other things. And I love that's what I loved about our conversation before the show. And what you do is that you're helping people figure out what's important to them and putting their money there and so. And the fact that you were able to go from four hundred dollars out the out the window, you know, to thousands of dollars saved in just a few months is wild. And on a salary of of 30 grand or less. I used to work a job where I was making thirty grand. And let me tell you, you're very far, especially if you're the only one paying rent.
Clyrese
Right. Right, right.
Carlee
So tell me, what what do you recommend for folks that are that haven't looked at their money and they know they need a budget. They're not really sure what to do. Maybe they're even a little stressed out about it?
Clyrese
Well, for one thing, to have a budget, you have to you have to see that it's a tool that we use to see where our money is going. So if you never had a budget before, then I would recommend there are plenty of free resources out there where you can just create a spreadsheet or you can just download an app, for example, like Mint.com, they have a very, very useful app that you can use that's really going to track your money. Everywhere it goes out, it lets you know, hey, you made a purchase.
Carlee
Yeah, I was going to say, like Clarity Money. You need a budget like all of those. And some of them even hook up to your I mean, I think all three of those examples hook up to your bank account so you don't have to like the grueling hours putting things into spreadsheets if you don't want to.
Clyrese
If you don't want to. I do it. But I'm kind of extra with this because I like seeing where the money is going.
Carlee
This is your calling your purpose of course
Clyrese
So doing that is going to help you like I said pinpoint every every penny that's going out. And that's what you want to do. You want to know where every penny is going out. So you can allocate it where you want it to go, because, you know, when you're allocating it that means you have control of your finances when you're relying on just the bank. And then now this is going through my second tip. If you're relying on just the bank to tell you where to find your funds are going to, then that's how you can easily slip into overdraft fees. So I recommend to everybody and people don't like to do it, balance a checkbook. Every dollar, every penny that is going out and coming in. You need to know what that is. So if you have your budget that telling you how much expenses you have and how much income you have coming in, then you will see, hey, I do need to get an additional additional income. If you have to get a second job. How much is what is that second job going towards? Because I never recommend getting a second job and you you just have to rely on this second job for the rest of your life. But if you have to get a second job just to get your finances in order, then do so. But know, have a plan as to how long you're going to be there, what is it going to be used for and how much you want to save.
Carlee
Because let's be honest, time is our most valuable resource, like we live in a capitalist society. But the reality is, is that for many of us, time equals money. And so having our time can be much more valuable. And I know that, you know, one of the things that you talked about was the law of. I think it was recipricity reciprocity. I can never say reciprocity, and can you tell us a little bit more about that really quickly?
Clyrese
Well, financial bondage Broken is a faith based organization, and we believe in paying tithe and offering and giving back to the community. So I use the law of reciprocity because it says in the Bible that give and it shall be given unto you. Press down, shaken together and running over. So whatever you give in whatever measure that you give, it will come back to you. So law of reciprocity is whatever you give you're expecting that to be to be returned. So if you if you need money, why don't you try giving money? Donate to that homeless person that's begging for a couple of dollars at the stop light. Donate to a a nonprofit that you believe in helping the homeless people because they need and if you do things like that, it will be given back to you. It will come back to you if you believe that it will. But if you have doubt, then you might as well just keep your money in your pocket. Because it it doesn't work like that.
Carlee
Yeah. So, OK, so we we let's say let's do a little summary so that we can all take away some things today. So we've got start with with what I would call a zero balance budget. Make sure you know exactly where every penny is going every single month. Begin saving if you gotta save. It doesn't matter if it's a dollar. I know for me, I used to save twenty five cents at a time. I am not joking. I would transfer twenty five cents for my checking account to my savings account because I was, I was like, I will save.
Clyrese
Right
Carlee
And give give. I don't care. Like for me personally I don't care if it's through Amazon smile or if it's a dollar to someone you see on the street. Giving the law of reciprocity the law of attraction. All of that that really helps us get our finances together. So there's so much more that we could talk about in terms of finances and how to get them together. And in the case that you have more questions, please reach out to the incredible expert we had on today. Now, we do want to know in the comments below what is something that you have a hunch that you could probably be saving a little bit of money on. I know for me, I may be I may be the most common answer to and it's probably some food. I love me some food, so I should probably go back to my budget on food. Now, if you are feeling overworked and exhausted, I do have some good news for you guys. The Stress Less company works with high achieving CEOs, business owners and managers just like you to find that sense of peace and freedom that they desire. And as a result of our work together, they learn how to properly manage their time, tasks and energies so that they can experience more free time efficiency and prosperity. Sounds pretty great, right? Well, you can apply for a complimentary stress, less clarity session today with yours truly. To start the conversation about working together, visit Stressless CO dot COM slash apply for more information. Now that concludes this episode of The Stress Less Show. I want to give Clyrese a big shout out and thank you. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Clyrese
Thank you for letting me be on there. I've really enjoyed myself.
Carlee
Absolutely. So if you've enjoyed this week's episode, let us know by giving us a big thumbs up and hitting that follow or subscribe button. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week. Bye.