Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck

The speaker begins by expressing their dissatisfaction with the current state of Washington, D.C., noting the increase in homelessness, filth, and crime in the city. They also mention their dislike for the use of gender-neutral public restrooms. The speaker then transitions to discussing their recent trip to Washington for a conference, where they had the opportunity to advocate for workplace policies with local representatives. They introduce their podcast, the Christian Career Coach, and highlight their mission to help working mothers achieve success while maintaining their faith. The speaker invites listeners to join them on their podcast for inspiration and guidance on career growth, work-life balance, and increasing income. They also offer personalized coaching sessions to help individuals overcome career challenges and align their work with their Christian values. Are you sick of living paycheck to paycheck? If so, you're going to want to listen to this episode because today I'm going to give you three simple steps to make more money. Give you some clues on how you can actually stop the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. Before we get into today's episode, I do want to say I am actually recording today's episode in Washington, D.C. I came up here for a conference and it's been amazing. I've had a great time. I do want to make a comment though, well a few comments actually about my trip. I came with my husband here about 10 years ago before we had kids and I remember commenting to him so many times about how clean the city was and how cool the buildings looked and you know just like these old brick buildings that were built so long ago. Massive structures and I do remember seeing a few homeless people that they really just kind of stayed out of your way. It was sporadic if you did see them. It wasn't really like a normal thing. You know they were you know kind of out of the way and they didn't really walk around and make themselves known. They just kind of laid back maybe in a doorway or something and this time in D.C. this city is gross. That's all I can say. They now I guess allow food trucks which is clearly something I didn't see before. I don't remember seeing it. I definitely would have remembered seeing what I've seen this time which is a massive, massive amount of food trucks. Imagine going down a street and in a city, a big city and you know cars are parked back to back to back to back like just tight tightly parked against the curb. Now replace each of those with food trucks and surrounding the food trucks there's trash from whatever people ordered and they missed the trash can or you know just dropped stuff as they were walking and some of the food trucks have supplies and stuff sitting outside of them and they're not that great of food trucks. I mean I don't know about the quality of food but you know they they're one I saw today like the bumper was completely like pushed in. You could barely read the license plate and I remember thinking um is that even legal to ride around like that? But anyways this city has gone to trash. It's not clean anymore is is my point and there are homeless people everywhere and they will approach you. They will walk up to you. They will walk through the streets in the middle of the day. They don't care if it's a green light or red light. They they don't care. They just walk around like they own the place and there's also a massive amount of people on fentanyl. Massive amounts of crime here. It is it's disturbing honestly because you can go down any street at any time of day here and see something inappropriate. A colleague of mine actually videoed a man walking around banging on parked car windows with like this I don't even know what it was it looked like a big loop of like metal beads that he was like banging trying to I guess break the glass and break into the car. I don't know. She then told me the story that when she after she saw that they went into this restaurant that was nearby and shortly after she walked in a man walked in holding the back of his head and it was just completely bloody. So she assumed that the man walking around with this metal whatever thing might have hit him in the head in the back of the head. So I also am not a fan of men and women using the same public restrooms. Not a fan at all and every restaurant that we went into they don't really mark the bathrooms anymore with men and women. They try to be cute about it and say all humans or I don't remember everything but I just remember being disgusted because as a woman I do not want to go into a room where a man has peed either on the floor or on the wall or on the seat or in the urinal right next to me and smell and oh I just it's so disgusting to me. So that's my opinion and it is really really sad to see what has happened to this city in the last 10-12 years. I guess it was probably 12 years ago that we came up here because I really expected it to be the same as it was back then but yeah there's just homeless people everywhere everywhere around here and the streets are filthy. There's trash everywhere on the streets now. It's uh this town has gone to you know where. It is awful. There are fences up that surround all of the national monuments I guess because there's so many protests and like people vandalizing things that they just constantly keep up chain link fences around these things. I don't know if they're always there or not but anyways there's one about around the Lincoln Memorial. It looked it appeared like they were doing construction but you can still actually go up in the Lincoln Memorial and walk around in there and actually see Abraham Lincoln and go up on the steps in you know to the memorial but anyways there was still a chain link fence all the way around it except for the front part which makes me wonder why. I don't really know why they need that but anyways also there is a chain link fence around the pentagon which I got to spend a significant amount of time in during this trip because I was here for SHRM for a SHRM conference. Talked about SHRM before but this happened to be the annual conference for chapter presidents and state council so it's really kind of a legislative you know SHRM is the organization that advocates for workplace policies so we had meetings set up with some of our state senators and our yes and house of representatives and anywho so we got to go in the tunnels underneath started on the senate side and rode this little train thing underneath the pentagon through the tunnels over to the senate side had our meetings there and then we got a private tour not a private tour because there were other tour groups walking around inside of the capitol but one of the interns for one of the offices that we visited walked us around it was a small group of us like six of us and it was really cool to just kind of hear you know some of the stories and see so much of the history you know inside the building so anyways we were able to actually advocate for workplace policies with our local representatives from the state of south carolina for workplace policies immigration reform a couple other things so that's the cool part of being a volunteer leader which is actually the name of this conference it's called vlbm it's the business meeting for volunteer leaders so it's volunteer leader business meeting so all the yeah all the chapter presidents i think there's like 50 something chapters across the u.s i don't know i could have my numbers completely way off because i've heard a lot of numbers in the last few days but yeah so all the chapter presidents and state council representatives were here and so there was about a thousand of us maybe 800 but it's been a good three days and yeah so that's uh that's the delay on this past week's episode just preparing for travel but i definitely wanted to share my insights on my trip and tell you a little bit more about it before we actually dive into making more money stopping living paycheck to paycheck so that's enough about me and my trip to washington dc let's talk about it let's dive in hey there you professional ambitious working mama welcome to the christian career coach podcast do you want to achieve remarkable success and experience unwavering faith in your professional journey do you find yourself up late at night searching for answers on how to make more money maintain a positive work-life balance and achieve exponential career growth do you wake up with big ambitious goals only to feel overwhelmed and uncertain when faced with setbacks frustrations and unexpected challenges well you're in the right place i'm susan edwards and on this podcast we tackle those exact concerns head-on we dive deep into strategies to propel your income accelerate your career growth and help you align your work with your faith so if you're tired of feeling stuck and you're ready to move on to the next step in your career you can do it if you're tired of feeling stuck and you're ready to embrace extraordinary success unwavering faith and a purposeful life then join me on the christian career coach podcast together we'll navigate the obstacles find clarity amidst chaos and unlock your true potential get ready for inspiration actionable advice and powerful insights that will empower you to conquer your fears and create the fulfilling career you've always dreamed of let's walk this transformative journey together welcome to the christian career coach podcast where ambition meets faith and your dreams find their wings hey amazing listeners i want to share an exciting opportunity that can help you thrive in your career while aligning with your christian values as a devoted christian career coach i offer personalized one-on-one coaching sessions designed to empower you to achieve remarkable career growth maintain a healthy work-life balance and increase your salary if you find yourself yearning for more money missing certifications or lacking certain job qualifications i'm here to guide you through the process with my expertise and faith-based approach we'll address these challenges head-on and help you overcome them together we'll develop strategies to bridge the gaps and position you for success work-life balance is crucial especially for christian moms with ambitious career goals i understand the importance of maintaining harmony between your personal and professional life through my coaching program you'll learn practical techniques to prioritize what truly matters ensuring you can excel in your career while still nurturing your family and faith now let's talk about career growth and the desire for a higher salary i am here to help equip you with the tools and insights you need to advance in your profession and increase your earning potential with personalized guidance and a faith-based perspective will unlock opportunities for growth help you negotiate your worth and create a path that aligns with your aspirations and christian principles to take the first step towards transforming your career i invite you to book a free 30-minute career clarity call with me during this call we'll dive into your goals address any obstacles and explore how christian career coaching can accelerate your journey don't let missing certifications or qualifications work-life balance concerns or stagnant salary hold you back together we'll navigate these challenges and unlock your god-given potential to book your free career clarity call simply visit my website at www.forwardscareerservices.com let's embark on this transformative journey towards more money career growth work-life balance and a higher salary all while staying rooted in your christian faith i can't wait to connect with you and guide you towards the abundant career you deserve visit www.forwardscareerservices.com today and take the leap towards a fulfilling and prosperous professional life hey hey friends all right we are going to talk about how to stop living paycheck to paycheck today i want to tackle a common struggle that many of us face living paycheck to paycheck more people live paycheck to paycheck than you could imagine when i'm talking with my clients and i ask them about their frustrations or their goals or you know i do a lot of sales calls and when i'm talking with a potential client and i ask about that that's one of the main things that they want to do is they want to get out of the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck they want to make more money so today i've got three simple steps that are going to help you break free from this cycle and start making more money this might be a good episode for you to grab a pen and paper and take a few notes write write a few things down jot down some ideas as we go okay so we're going to dive in this will be a short one there's only three steps so of course it'll be short i can share more stories about my washington dc trip if you'd like i'll tell you the things that were really cool so let's dive in step one assess your current financial situation living paycheck to paycheck often is a result of a lack of awareness you may not know where your money is going every month every week every day even if you take some time to review your monthly income and your monthly expenses this will help you get on track better you want to take a look at your bank statements obviously the bills that you have every month and then take a look at the receipts that you have and sometimes these are going to be electronic sometimes you're actually going to have a printed receipt for this but it's much easier to get a hold of your finances if you're able to to really do a true assessment on your current situation you've got to understand your financial landscape because if you want to make informed decisions and you want to take control of your money you have to know how much is coming in and how much is going out and what exactly it's going out for and you actually have to track this on a regular basis daily basis would be the most ideal scenario even small things when you go to vending machines and you drive through starbucks or duncan i actually would never promote starbucks because i really don't like their coffee but if you have a favorite coffee shop a local hopefully a local coffee shop that's actually my favorites over any of the big boxes but anyways i digress if you can keep up with every single dollar that you spend you'll be able to look at that and know what you can cut back on okay so let's move into step two let's say you've got it under control you've tracked everything you've built a spreadsheet or you've downloaded a free app or maybe your bank actually has a feature within its app or on its website where it will do this for you based on you know when you use your debit card you'll actually could build a budget in one of these apps or one of your banking apps so if you have that i would encourage you to check it out certainly you know i would always recommend start with the free the free features and see if you like it and if you really like it and they have a paid version the paid version is just gonna basically put that free version on steroids so you know that would be a wise investment especially if you really like it and it really helps you manage your expenses so step two then is to identify additional income streams once you have a clear picture of your finances it's going to be time to explore ways to increase your income it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go out and get a second job it could involve leveraging your skills your talents or any of your passions to create additional income streams this is where the gig economy comes in so you want to consider freelancing consulting starting a side hustle this gig economy is it offers various opportunities that can fit your schedule and your skill set remember the goal is to diversify your income sources to create more stability in your financial life you don't have to limit yourself to just one of those either if you've got a solid skill set where you could you know like me coach or mentor others and then let's say you have a hobby that you love let's say you love painting or building jewelry you know making jewelry or what are those machines like the cricket machines where you can actually do cool logos and you could actually create your own store on etsy and start to sell those things that you love to do as a hobby that's two side hustles that you could have two things two gigs in the gig economy that you could have so think outside the box and let's say you don't have any of those skills let's say you're burnt out because you do work a lot maybe it's a strenuous job you're on your feet a lot you really just are burnt out and so instead of you know using your brain and trying to build a side hustle and all that maybe you just want to drive around mindlessly why not get paid for it there's uber and lyft and there's of course the meal deliveries which is i guess uber has one uber eats and then door dash you can also deliver groceries through instacart and those basically allow you to control your own schedule and control how many hours you're working which i guess is your schedule so i just repeated myself there but you get the point this is your opportunity to identify ways to make more money this is identifying those additional income streams and that's step two so finally we move into step three and that is to invest in yourself one of the most effective ways to make more money is by investing in yourself this could mean acquiring new skills pursuing further education or improving your existing talents the more valuable you become in your field of expertise the more opportunities you're going to have for advancement and increased income you can do things like attend workshops or take online courses or you can even seek mentorship to enhance your professional and your personal development doesn't all have to be professional you could certainly think of ways that you could personally develop which in the long run is going to make you a more mature a more responsible a more stable human being this one can be tough if you don't have the money to invest in yourself or you don't have the desire to get an advanced degree but there are so many ways to get free certifications now and you just have to look you have to be willing to spend the time to do the research and find the certifications that are going to look good on your resume those that are going to make you stand out above the rest of the competition and you never know like some I guess and some companies actually reward you financially for new certifications or for leveling up your skill set so if you're not sure if your company offers something like this then I would recommend you call your HR office you know send them an email and ask about it you know if I obtain a certification is it possible to get um XYZ a certain dollar amount pay increase you know the certification is free or the certification costs $250 or you know whatever the case if you don't ask the answer is always no so I encourage you to reach out to your HR departments and find out it's important to note that breaking free from the paycheck to paycheck cycle is a journey and it does require commitment and consistency if you can follow these three simple steps assessing your financial situation identifying additional income streams and investing in yourself you're setting yourself on the path to financial empowerment I know that first one is probably going to be the hardest especially if you've never budgeted if you aren't on a budget now it is going to be hard to actually start to look at your spending day in and day out because you're basically giving yourself a report card every single day how did you do today did you spend any money that you probably shouldn't have or that you really did not need to and it's kind of like a gut check it's an opportunity for you to really really look at yourself and really reflect on your spending and your habits your financial habits and it's tough because I know that many of us myself included have not grown up or did not grow up with positive financial mentors or someone that was there to actually teach us about money and teach us about borrowing and your credit and using credit cards and interest rates and all of those things that's why this is becoming a big topic for the schools the you know high schools to actually start teaching financial literacy to kids as they are in high school because if you have a nation that's full of debt it's hard to get ahead if if you are constantly owing other people so let's stop living paycheck to paycheck let's get a handle of our finances let's start to bring in some additional income and let's invest in ourselves so that we can control our financial future so I'll leave you with this my trip here in BC I'll share a little bit more with you I did say that there's filth and just it's just it's just a gross town I don't really have any desire to come back here I would love to bring my kids one day because I love history and I love you know just learning so much about where we came from I guess I get that from my dad he rest in peace it's really cool the amount of history that is in this town and the potential that this town has I'll also say that although it seems like the police have been defunded here there are sirens I'm on the third floor of my hotel room and you may have heard at some point during this episode multiple sirens because there's not a 10 minute period that goes by that I don't hear sirens so take that for whatever it's worth and just know that I am sure that this city has the potential to get back to where it once was just have to have the right leadership in place and making sure that we can get a handle on the issues in this country like the homelessness situation and the drug crisis with the fentanyl abuse and then I will be glad to bring my kids here and show them our nation's capital and all of the monuments and museums and history that lives in this town so that's enough about my trip here to DC hope you enjoyed my stories I will say that the conference has been amazing it was amazing last year and it is definitely worth the investment to come to this conference I'm fortunate that I don't have to pay for it because as the chapter president of my local SHRM chapter they actually we actually budget for it and so it's in the budget that that SHRM actually covers your chapter presidents to come to this business meeting once a year so if you're in HR and you're actually thinking about it if you're not a member of your local SHRM chapter I would encourage you to look into it you know just if you're not sure if there is one in your area just do a quick google search and try to you know try to find it but definitely it's great because of the networking and obviously the continuing education credits if you have your certification but yeah this conference is definitely one that I enjoy coming to and hope to be able to come to it in future years but I guess that all depends on where where the future leads me so wish you the best of luck getting your finances under control and I'd love to hear if you take this advice if you're able to actually get your finances your expenses and and your income up your expenses under control I'd love to hear some feedback from you I want to know how it's working out for you and so jump on my facebook page at forwards career services or send me an email at forwardscareerservices at gmail.com or you can even jump on my website and you can actually send me send me your uh your your follow-up there or instagram all of the above all of the social medias you can find me on linkedin I'm Susan Edwards and this is the Christian Career Coach hey there ambitious mama I hope you enjoyed today's episode of the Christian Career Coach podcast if it resonated with you and provided valuable insights I'd love for you to take just 30 seconds and share this episode with a fellow Christian professional who may benefit from the career advice and inspiration together we can uplift and empower more women on their professional journeys and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode oh and one more thing that would mean the world to me could you leave a review your feedback and support light me up and let me know that this podcast is making a positive impact in your life as we continue this journey together remember that you're not alone I understand the joys and challenges of being an ambitious mama and I'm here to cheer you on every step of the way so march your calendar because I'll meet you back here next Tuesday for another episode filled with valuable insights and practical tips until then keep chasing your dreams balancing your roles with grace and shining brightly in your career and family life you