Episode 009: Interview with Dave Ramsey’s Daughter, Rachel Cruze, and Here’s What She Had to Say

This week we have a treat for you.  First, Cassie woke up with a terrible case of laryngitis the morning we planned to record this episode.  If you’re wondering, that’s not the treat whether for you or for her.  The treat is that we share an interview from a special guest that we recorded over a year ago.  That special guest is the daughter of Dave Ramsey and at the time new author, Rachel Cruze!  Today she shares with us some of her thoughts from her at the time new book, Love Your Life, Not Theirs: 7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want.

It’s odd to think back on this interview because it was recorded so long ago.  Our audio even has some challenges as you’ll find out.  However, we thought this content was too valuable to not share it with you; we hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

The reason I find it so odd it so odd however is because we had planned to start our podcast over a year before we actually started.  It was a dream and goal for one day…  We kept putting up barriers for why we couldn’t start.  It wasn’t until we just decided to just do it that it happened.

I share this because I’m preparing the show notes on January 1st.  How many of us will set goals and resolutions for the new year, only to find ourselves months from now having yet begun any progress towards reaching them?  Sit down, map out a course for your goals and then just start!  Will you do it?  It may not be perfect but once you start working towards your goals, your expertise and accomplishment will build each step of the way.

So as you listen today, we want you to realize that you goals are achievable.  Just don’t do what we did and drag your feet while hoping that your goals will be met one day.  Start where you are and get working on them today!

What is Her Book About?

Rachel’s book was released back in October 2016 and she’s had a great time encouraging people in their lives and with their money.  Her book starts off discussing how social media impacts our lives when it comes to our finances.  She walks families through seven money habits to live the life that they want without debt, stress, or worry.  To share just a couple of those habits, her book discusses quitting the comparisons, steering clear of debt, making a plan for your money and others.

The Social Media Trap

We really love this because whenever we look at our social media feeds, we all do such a great job putting our best in front of others.  With few exceptions, we don’t share the struggles.  It can cause so much frustration because when that is all we see, all we want to do is have everyone else’s lives.  As Rachel refers to this, the feed we scroll through is the highlight reel.  So in a sense, we start comparing our lives to make believe.  And this can be difficult to be caught in that comparison trap.  Overcoming that battle of comparisons is key.

Rachel shares with us a tip on how to work through this.  It’s not that social media is “the bad guy” but merely the vehicle towards this temptation.  As such, she and her husband have learned to put up a boundary in place to keep that from being so consuming in her own life. 

But even more so, she found when living a life filled with gratitude that there’s no room for those comparisons.  So every morning she takes the time to jot down two items she’s grateful for into her gratitude list in her iPhone.  What’s great about this is that she can go back to that list and see all the things she has to be grateful for, which helps her learn contentment.  This really helps her stop those comparisons.

Aren’t Habits to be Dreaded?

We often think of habits as these dreadful things that will require us weeks of drudgery to learn.  Plus, we usually think of that habit itself as something we didn’t want to do in the first place.  We ask Rachel to share with us how habits are not undesirable things and instead can help to improve our lives.

Rachel shares how habits are simply small choices we make day in and day out.  Creating good habits simply happen by making intentional decisions that soon becomes a part of who you are.  She shares how getting out of debt and no longer living in that debt mindset just changes your attitude.  When asked by a clerk whether she wants to open a store credit card, it’s not even a temptation because her habit of living debt-free doesn’t even consider that as an option.

Her mom and dad (aka, Dave Ramsey) didn’t force upon them the principles of debt freedom, but they were very influential and intentional.  She realizes that she didn’t have to make devastating mistakes with her money to use it wisely.  Instead, she learned a lot of the habits she uses and shares today that are engrained into her.

She really shares how anyone can start making those small decisions day in and day out to start winning with your money!

Society’s Most Damaging Money Habit

Rachel shares that again, that comparison mindset we so often get from social media really is that damaging money habit.  Understanding when the comparison mindset is your foundation that it’s going to be very shaky. 

This makes me remember where Cassie breaks this down even more in our book where she shares a story from a shopping trip at the local Target.  The woman she saw with the perfect life (aka, like we see on social media) caused Cassie to yearn for her lifestyle.  But as Cassie saw that image crumble in front of her as the woman couldn’t even afford a pack of gum, she woke up and realized the reality before her was anything but perfect.

Again, Rachel goes back towards recommending a life of gratitude and contentment as a much stronger foundation.  When that becomes your foundation and you stop the comparison battle, you can do so much more than you would even think possible.

What’s great is that what Rachel is sharing is that lifestyle was not only taught to her, but even something she “caught” by her parent’s example in daily life.  We need to redefine normal in our own lives and then teach them to our children.  But not just teach these values, live them out so our own children can catch those lessons in their everyday life.

What Does Living Intentionally Mean and How To Do It

We share how we teach the idea of intentional living, not only in our finances but all areas of our life.  We even shared about our 30-Day Be Intentional challenge (see more in the resources) and how we walk through each area of life, taking baby steps to understand how to live more intentionally in everything we do.  Rachel shares this vision and helps us understand more what living intentionally means to her.

Living intentionally is living with purpose.  Rachel shares that in regards to her family’s finances, living intentionally means living according to a budget.  Instead of waking up at the end of the year trying to figure out where all the money went, use a budget to tell the money where to go and how you plan to use it.

No matter who you are or how much money you make, use a budget to live intentionally when it comes to your money.

How to Live with Less Debt, Stress, and Worry

Rachel Cruze shares that it starts with the habits in her book, both the habits you need to stop and the ones you need to adopt.  First, learn to live without debt and stop borrowing money.  She shares the tip to pay off your debt by ordering your debt from the smallest to largest amounts, regardless of the interest rates and paying those debts off in that order.

One key tip that she shares is that personal finances is less about head knowledge and more about change in behavior.  And then learning to live without that debt and to live by a budget you will all sudden lose that stress and that worry.  When you don’t owe anyone anything that freedom is huge!

When people think about debt, they think about the calculations and the numbers.  Often they don’t consider the emotional side of money, but it’s real and it’s powerful when you do get back that control.

We still remember that feeling of hopelessness when the creditors were calling and when we didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.  Those feelings of hopelessness and learning the path back to living life with hope drives us every day on our site.  We know exactly what Rachel is talking about how it truly is a night and day difference.  And again, in case you missed it, there really is a way out.  We know because we’ve been there and found that path.  Our goal is to share that with you.

You really can’t put a price on debt freedom and not having that stress.  It really is freedom!

The Importance of a Money Plan?

Rachel shares that using a budget sounds terrifying and can feel hard to implement.  But once she started that habit of living by a budget she found it to be so freeing.  She found that what she once considered to be so limiting actual gave her freedom.  It gives you permission to spend money.  And as a spender that totally changed her mindset.

No longer was she in the store, preparing to check out questioning whether she should buy the clothes in her basket.  She found the permission to spend because her budget told her that’s what that specific money was allocated for.

Rachel shares that she had to get over her preconceived notions of what having a budget meant.  She always though people on a budget weren’t any fun.  They couldn’t go out to eat.  They couldn’t travel.  Instead she found that although a budget has limits and boundaries, you could still live a great life and be on a budget. 

She shares her approach on creating a budget from tips on listing out all the places where you spend in the categories in giving, saving, and spending.  She does share that it may take a few months to get it right so give yourself some grace the first couple of months to get it right.  Make sure to create a budget when you start every month and you’ll start to feel that freedom and win by leaps and bounds because you have the control

Honestly, when you look at the budget as what you can spend instead of what you can’t it changes your mindset.  It can become a fun challenge to see just how far you can stretch it!

She challenges all the spenders out there to see a budget as: Permission to Spend!

Questions from Our Readers

Before this interview we asked many of you to share your own questions for Rachel.  Here are just a couple:

I struggle with balancing making memories with my family and saving.  I don’t want opportunities to pass me by; my four kids will be gone so quick.  How would she recommend that I find balance?

Rachel says that your budget and income will dictate that.  That doesn’t mean you can’t have experiences and can’t have fun, but if  you can’t afford certain experiences then you will have to sometimes say no.  She then encourages that experiences don’t always have to cost money.  Especially when you have teenagers, they want more T-I-M-E than anything with their parents.  She remembers a couple of trips, but it’s those experiences of time with her parents that are engrained in her head.

This next question seems to keep coming up time and time again. 

I’ve come to a point where I understand we really have a huge behavior and money issue in our household.  How can I get my spouse on board?

Rachel shares the first thing you need to do is share your why.  If you just come out and tell your spouse they need to sell their motorcycle it won’t go well.  Instead, share the why to help get your spouse on board.

At the end of the day if you just can’t get your spouse on board you might not have a money problem but rather a marriage problem.  You just might have to go to a pastor or counselor to get help.

We share at the end how much we love Rachel’s book, Love Your Life, Not Theirs: 7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want.  We encourage you to check it out as we’ve been blessed and grateful for the tips and habits she shares in her book and the practical ideas to implement them as well.  

Our 2% Tip of the Week:

We will get back to our normally schedule 2% Tip again next week! 🙂

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

• Check out our book, The 2% Rule to Get Debt Free Fast: An Innovative Method To Pay Your Loans Off For Good.  As we mentioned above, Cassie shares a really emotional story that she experience that shook her to the core.  It helped her wake up and realize that her mindset was messed up and how to correct it.  Plus we share some slightly different approaches towards setting a budget and talking with your spouse.  Read both and see what you think!
• We created a 64-page workbook to give you the tools and the resources to help you pay off your debt.  You can see the digital version or the printed version.
• Check out Rachel Cruze’s book Love Your Life, Not Theirs: 7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want.  This was the inspiration for our discussion and will go into further tips on those specific habits and how to get started implementing them.
• We really do believe in living life intentionally to find success.  If you are looking for a way to learn more about, we encourage you to check out our 30-day challenge to get you started!
• Last week’s episode actually helped answer the question on How to Get My Spouse on Board?  If you’re wondering how to overcome a defensive spouse or even become more united on your financial goals in your marriage, you’ll want to check this out.

Don’t Miss an Episode:

If you want to make sure that you never miss an episode we encourage you to sign up for our Take Back Your Finances Podcast list.  As mentioned above, we will send you the free Spouse Questionnaire sometime during that first week just for signing up.  Additionally, we will also send you other resources from the latest podcast episode like checklists or related worksheets.  You just might receive resources on some of our favorite money-making or money-savings tool as well!

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