← HerMoney with Jean Chatzky
HerMoney with Jean Chatzky
A Week In Her Wallet: A 48-Year-Old Working Mom Managing a Rental Property, Two Kids, and a Spring Break Road Trip
00:35:05
Rental property, two kids, a road trip to Florida, and a $6,963 week.
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- [00:01]
A
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- [00:34]
B
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- [01:05]
C
hey everyone. Welcome to Her Money. I'm Jean Chatky and today we are back with another episode in our special listener series, A Week in Her Wallet, where we follow real women from our community as they track their spending for a full week and reflect on the why behind every dollar. This week we're heading to Annapolis, Maryland to hear from Larisa. She is 48, married, and works with full time as an HR director, bringing in a combined household income of around $375,000 a year. She's also a mom of two with a daughter on a competitive dance team and a son who just started soccer and flag football. And she and her husband own a rental condo on top of managing their primary home. Larisa is someone who thinks carefully about her money. She has systems in place for almost everything and isn't afraid to invest in the things that that make her life run smoother, like a bi weekly cleaning service she has happily budgeted for years. Her week happened to fall right before spring break. So we're gonna see what it looks like when real life collides with vacation prep, last minute cleats, Easter basket runs, a road trip down 95, and a Sam's Club trip that started with paper towels and ended with a bathing suit and shorts. Sounds familiar? Absolutely. We're going to walk through her week day by day, hear from Larisa in her own words, and talk about what it really looks like to manage a busy household budget. Larisa, welcome.
- [02:39]
D
Hi Jean.
- [02:40]
C
Hey. So tell me a little bit about yourself and your household. You got a rental condo you got two kids and activities. You got a dog. Sounds like a lot of moving pieces.
- [02:51]
D
Yes. We are certainly a busy household. My husband and I both work full time. I'm lucky enough to be remote most of the time, which is super helpful when dealing with kids and activities and all of the things.
- [03:02]
C
What do you do?
- [03:03]
D
I'm an HR director for a women's imaging radiology company.
- [03:07]
C
Oh, very cool. How do you stay on top of it all financially?
- [03:14]
D
I am the money person in the family. I really enjoy the budgeting and the tracking and so this was like right up my alley and being able to do this. I've always enjoyed listening to the series. I really weekly and downloading all of my expenses and looking at it and putting it in budget spreadsheets. And I have an annual budget and I track all of the things.
- [03:33]
C
Okay, and are there any big financial goals that you're working toward right now?
- [03:39]
E
I think that we're at the phase
- [03:40]
D
where we're starting to think about retirement. I mean, not that we haven't been thinking about it, but it's just becoming more real. Like could be the next 10 to 15 years. So I think the last six months or so we've put a lot more attention into what that might look like. Outside of that, it's really just trying to manage the day to day. The kids are very expensive at this phase of life, so that's where most of resources are going.
- [04:02]
C
How old are they?
- [04:03]
D
My son is 10 and my daughter is 11.
- [04:06]
C
Okay. Yes. Oh my gosh, I remember all of those. Lots of travel activities at that phase. Just a couple of additional questions before we launch into your week. Tell me a little bit about your husband and tell me about your combined income.
- [04:21]
D
Sure. Wilson is. He works full time for a government contractor here in the D.C. area. He's a financial analyst for them. Our combined income is about $375,000 annually.
- [04:32]
C
Okay. Oh my gosh. You saw me smile when you said Wilson because a friend of mine just had a baby and they named him Wilson.
- [04:39]
D
Oh, I love that.
- [04:40]
C
Yeah, you don't hear a lot of baby. You don't hear a lot of Wilsons, but you don't hear a lot of Baby Wilsons. Let's get into the week. On Monday, you had your husband's car registration, an AC repair at your rental condo, couple of cell phone bills, easy pass and book fair money for your son.
- [05:01]
E
Today is day one. I had a number of bills that I had to pay. Today I paid $204 for a car registration for my husband's car for one year. We had some air conditioning unit repairs at a condo that we own, but we have renters in and that was $425. I paid two cell phone bills, one for my daughter for $27.35. And then our main bill for my husband and I was $220.97. We also had an easy pass replenishment. We use that for tolls. Sometimes I use it for work and get reimbursed, but a lot of it's just for our travel around this area using Tolanes. And then I gave my son money. He had the book fair at school today for fourth grade and he spent $31.76. So our total for day one was $934.08.
- [06:09]
C
So how do you mentally prepare for days like that when a lot of bills land at the very same time?
- [06:15]
D
I, you know, most of it was not unexpected other than the rental repair. So while the expenses seem high, sometimes they're all things that I try to plan for. We have the funds when it comes to the rental. We make a little bit on the monthly rental versus the mortgage and expenses that I just save away. So when things come up, I'm able to just pay those without having to dip into other funds. And the others are just part of our budget that we have.
- [06:41]
C
Talk to me a little bit about this rental. Were you accidental landlords? Was this something that you went into thinking, okay, we just, we want to build a stable of real estate. How long have you been doing this and do you enjoy it?
- [06:55]
D
Yeah. So this was a condo in Annapolis that I actually bought right out of college. It's where I lived. It was my first home. And when Wilson and I got married about 10 years after that, we decided to keep it. And so we've been renting it now for 16 or 17 years. And it's been great. We've had wonderful tenants, which is super helpful. It's a great area in Annapolis, so it's pretty easy to rent. And I was just looking at it the other day. I think we have about seven or eight years left on the mortgage.
- [07:20]
C
That's what I was just thinking. Like you're almost at the end and you probably were able to refi into like a great rate.
- [07:27]
D
Yeah, yeah, it's been wonderful for us. So I don't know what the long term plan, if that'll be something we sell and then use towards retirement. I said, maybe it'll be full circle. And I end up back at the condo. I started in who knows?
- [07:38]
C
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- [09:43]
D
You know, the good is obviously it can be, you know, an investment. And we have positive rental income each month based on the mortgage because we have had it for so long at a good interest rate. The challenges are when you get the call that something is broken or something, you know, hasn't happened and you've got to not only take the time to deal with it, but have the financial resources to pay for these additional things that come up. But like I said, we've been really lucky. It's a great condo and we've had really good tenants over the years that tend to stay multiple years at a time, which is also super helpful.
- [10:17]
C
Annapolis is a good market too. I imagine that it's worth a lot more than when you bought it.
- [10:22]
D
Yeah, no, it definitely has appreciated significantly. So that'll be nice for us at whatever point we decide to do something with it.
- [10:29]
C
How do you budget for those unpredictable landlord expenses? Do you have a separate sinking fund? Do you just pull from your emergency fund? Where do you get that money from?
- [10:39]
D
Yeah, so I keep a separate rental checking account. And so all of the money that comes in for rent goes there. All of the bills that we pay come out of it. And so we are positive on rent versus mortgage and expenses. So I just keep all of that there. And so when things come up, it just gets paid out of that so it doesn't have to come out of our normal household expenses.
- [10:59]
C
Okay. Tuesday, another big spending day. This was over $2,600. Now, part of that was your water bill comes annually and it was over $1200. I guess your community switched from a local system to county water and sewer. Sometimes people get messed up when the bills come quarterly or annually? Anything but monthly or every couple of weeks. How do you deal with that?
- [11:29]
D
Yeah, so this is one. We pay a quarterly water bill for our actual water usage and then this is an annual assessment. I want to. It's like a 20 year assessment or something that everyone in our community has to pay. And so it's just part of the budget. So when I set out annually, I have a utility section of my budget. And so I put that whole $1,200 or so in there so that the money is planned for. I don't love paying out that big chunk all at once. It feels worse than paying 100 bucks a month or whatever. But it's just planned for in our budget. I know it's going to get paid every March.
- [12:03]
C
The other big part of the day was Sam's Club.
- [12:09]
E
I also made a trip to Sam's yesterday morning. I spent 107.68. I went in just to get paper towels and I ended up with strawberries and coffee and some new shorts and a bathing suit and some popcorn. So I find that happens anytime I go in. For one thing, I end up with many things, which is why I usually like to do online orders or pick up orders to avoid that. But yesterday ended up with those extra things. I also had a 15 prescription at Walgreens that I picked up.
- [12:40]
D
And then I did a little bit
- [12:41]
E
of Easter basket shopping. I got my daughter a water bottle online from Love Shack. Fancy. It was $70.30. She's really wanted this water bottle, but I did not like that I had to pay shipping. I find that anytime I pay shipping, it just doesn't feel good. But that was the only option to get the water bottle that she wanted. And then we also took a trip to Dick's Sporting Goods last minute. My son had his first soccer practice last night and his cleats were too small, so we had to go to Dick's. We ended up spending 117.63. We got him soccer cleats. We also got a new water bottle and a football because he's also doing flag football. I don't mind those things. I do prefer if I can price shop ahead of time to get the better deal. But in this case, we were desperate because soccer has started. So it was more than I wanted to spend, but it was necessary at that point. My grand total for yesterday was $2,616.70.
- [13:45]
C
You went in for paper towels. You came out with strawberries, coffee shorts, a bathing suit, and popcorn. I have to say, I think that sounds kind of mild. My husband at one point went to Costco. Again, paper towels and Ziploc bags. That was what he was shopping for. He came home with a tent, so. And we don't camp. What happens in Costco or Sam's Club to you?
- [14:10]
D
Usually I do a lot of online ordering, so it's either just getting delivered directly to me when I need paper towels or I need whatever, or I'll do a pickup order just to avoid going in. Because I just know the tendency to the paper towels are in the back of the store. And so I'm passing all kinds of fun things or good deals. So I don't think I've ever gone into Sam's and just gotten one thing, even though that's always the intention.
- [14:33]
C
So what's your strategy for avoiding that in the future? Or is this just part of the fun of knowing that you can do this from time to time?
- [14:43]
D
I think sometimes it's. It's the fun, right? It's getting the stuff that you see. Strategy wise. I think again, I try to do as much online because it just resists that temptation, impulse buying that you see something in the store that was not on your list that ends up in your cart.
- [14:59]
C
You also told us you have a rule about always getting gas at Sam's because the prices are better. I know a lot of people who drive miles out of their way to get their gas at Costco. Do you have other money habits like that? Small, consistent choices that add up over Time
- [15:19]
D
I probably do. You know, a lot of it is trying to resist the impulse buying. I will sometimes do like the no spend January or things like that just to challenge myself to. I'll put a bunch of stuff in an Amazon cart or you know, whatever stuff and just not buy it right away. And when I go back a week later or a month later, it's like, oh, I don't need that or I don't want that anymore. So I try to do things like that. The impulse buying for sure is something that I try to be a little more focused and purposeful about.
- [15:49]
C
Yeah, it can be hard and sometimes it's unavoidable. I mean, you made a last minute trip on Tuesday also to Dick's Sporting Goods, your son's soccer cleats you discovered were too small. And basically you told us you prefer to shop around for price, but sometimes you just do what you have to do.
- [16:07]
D
Yeah.
- [16:08]
C
What are your strategies for getting the best deals for your kids?
- [16:12]
D
I do a lot of price comparison. I use a lot of the apps that you'll get cash back, like Rakuten. I don't know how to say that One and Capital One Shopping are the two that I use the most to get those kinds of deals. I definitely look for like rewards and coupons and things like that. I feel like sometimes it takes the joy out of shopping now that we have so much at our fingertips that I tend to not just go in a store and buy something. Cause if I see it, I'll be like, well, let me look online and see if I can find a better price. And so I kind of miss some of that shopping that it used to be like, like. But I do pretty diligently. My kids will always say, mom, is it on sale? Or mom, is there a coupon for that? Because they just know that's what I like to look for.
- [16:51]
C
Yeah, I actually had a kind of an opposite experience. I found myself so susceptible to the sales that I know I was buying things just because they were on sale and then regretting them later. And I put myself on a no sale diet for. I did it for about six months just to see if the things that I actually bought were things that I wanted more and used more. I've definitely fallen back off the wagon, but it helped for a little while.
- [17:23]
D
Just being intentional and purposeful sometimes about focusing is certainly helpful, a hundred percent.
- [17:29]
C
We're gonna take a very quick break. When we come back, we're gonna get into the second half of Larisa's week when vacation prep mode is in full swing. You know that feeling when you've tried everything, the diets, the early morning workouts, telling yourself this time will be different and the scale still won't budge. Or worse, you lose the weight and then watch it slowly creep back. It is so frustrating and honestly, it's not a willpower problem for a lot of people. It's biology. Which is why I want to tell you about weight loss by hers. Hers now offers access to an affordable range of FDA approved GLP1 medications ready to reach your goals? Visit forhers hermoney to get personalized affordable care that gets you that's F O R h e r s.com hermoney forhers.com hermoney Weight loss by hers is not available in all 50 states. Wegovy is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk as To get started and learn more, including important safety information, WeGovy clinical study information and restrictions, visit for hers. Com as someone who loves to cook, I've always been particular about where my protein comes from. I seek out the good stuff, the butcher counter, the farmer's market because I believe quality ingredients make all the difference. But honestly, with all my travel lately, that takes time that I don't always have. That's where Omaha Steaks has been a genuine revelation for me. My husband asked me to make him the Steak Diane that his mother used to make him. I did. It was delish and you could taste that. It's a real quality standard that shows up on the plate. What I love most is that I always have something exceptional to work with, whether it's a quick weeknight dinner or a weekend dinner party. Get flavorful high quality proteins delivered by visiting omahasteaks.com, +35 off when you use promo code hermoney at checkout. That's omahastakes.com code hermoney terms apply. See site for details. I am back with Larisa Wednesday Felt a little more like your normal rhythm. You mentioned that you're still questioning whether Apple Care makes sense for your husband's phones and your phones because they're a little bit older. How often do you do that kind of audit, looking at recurring charges and est, whether they're still worth it?
- [20:10]
D
Usually I do it annually when I set my budget. So I have like this whole column of like all the subscriptions and things like that. I'm not someone who has a bunch of subscriptions. You always hear about people that, oh, I have all these things. I don't even know what they are I know exactly what I have and what I'm paying. And AppleCare is one that just, you know, I got on the phones when I got it and then as I was doing it I was thinking, you know, like these phones are probably not even worth anything anymore. Like I don't need to spend 20 or 30 bucks a month to cover them. But generally I'm, I'm looking at all of those things annually, you know, if a price goes up to see is it still worth me paying for it or not.
- [20:44]
C
How long do you guys keep your phones and is that a conscious choice as well?
- [20:49]
D
I don't know that there's an exact time. I took my phone in for a repair the other day to Apple and the guy was like, oh wow, this is a 13. It was like a dinosaur to him. I was like, still works, it's still fine. So I think just when they start lagging too much or the batteries, you know, whatever, we'll use it as long as we can. We're not people that need the newest iPhone every time it comes out or
- [21:10]
C
I was thinking it's time to take mine in just to get the battery switched out because. Yeah, because you get another year out of it that way. And I'm such a bad photographer anyway that it doesn't matter which iPhone I have. You treated yourself to a mani pedi before vacation? Love that. Which you said averages out to about once a month.
- [21:31]
E
So I went and treated myself to a manicure and pedicure that was $67 including tip. I don't do that every month necessarily, but probably averages out to be about once a month that I'm doing a manicure or pedicure. And then I also had some last minute vacation clothes needs for my son. So we did a quick Old Navy order for a pickup of 83.15. He has grown since last year. We're to going, going somewhere warmer. So we needed to get some new shorts and shirts and bathing suits for him. Our total spend for today was $453.20.
- [22:12]
C
How do you think about self care spending in your budget?
- [22:15]
D
You know, so it's not a separate line item. And it is one that when I do, I tend to always feel a little guilty spending even though it's just not a lot. I don't do a lot of that stuff but there's still always guilt associated with it.
- [22:28]
C
Why do you think that is?
- [22:31]
D
I don't know. I think because I know it's not a necessary thing and I don't do a lot of it. The manicure, pedicure. Like I don't go like every two weeks or have like a regular rhythm, but I go regularly enough. I can't say I feel guilty every time doing it, but it's like, oh, could I be doing this myself? Do I really need to go and have it done? I have those types of thoughts whenever it's spending on my own things.
- [22:52]
C
I would love to be able to make that go away for you.
- [22:55]
D
I know.
- [22:55]
C
You know, I mean, we work and because we work, not even because we work, we all have things that we do during our day. Whether we're out earning, whether we're at home taking care of things there and I don't know, taking care of ourselves I think should feel okay. But I get it. I mean, I'm having this running dialogue in my head right now because I, I mess up my nails constantly. I won't bother to put on gloves before I do dishes. And that's the kiss of death. And somebody turned me on to this new manicure called Dazzle Dry. Have you heard of this?
- [23:37]
D
I have not.
- [23:39]
C
So it costs more. It's like a $40 manicure instead of a $20 manicure. But it lasts two to three times as long as. So I'm sort of on the. I'm on the dazzle dry fence. $40 feels like so much money to spend for a manicure, right? At the same time, if I'm spending half the time going, but double the money, I don't know. I'm clearly struggling with this.
- [24:05]
D
Right?
- [24:05]
C
Thursday, you are a couple days out from spring break. The to do list is in full effect.
- [24:13]
E
Today is day four. Had a bunch of just miscellaneous things come up today. First thing I realized that we were running low on dog food and we were getting ready to go out of town. I needed to make sure we had enough food to leave with the dog sitter. So I placed a last minute order on Amazon and the total for that was 84.72 for a really large bag of dog food that will last us quite a while. I don't typically order from Amazon, but I was able to get the next day delivery so we would have it in time. I also had a Target order with a couple of Easter basket fillers for my kids. Trying to get that done before we leave for vacation. Needed some half and half and some monk fruit for coffee, which are always priorities. And the total for target was $55.26. I also got a cart car wash. We're going on a road trip and spent $40 on that. I had to make a payment for a summer camp. My kids go to several different weeks of camps and one of them was due today and the total for that was $338. I do use some funds from dependent care spending account that will reimburse for that. I took my daughter to a store to get a couple couple of summer clothes to take on vacation. We spent $37.93.
- [25:42]
C
And you mentioned you use a dependent care spending account to get reimbursed for camps for people who aren't familiar. Can you explain how you use it, how it works for you and your family?
- [25:55]
D
Sure. Our dependent care spending account, the needs have gone down greatly as the kids have gotten older, thankfully. So it's really just used for day camps in the summer. It comes out of, I think it's my husband's paycheck that we contribute. We do. This year was actually the first year that I didn't even do the max. We always like way maxed it out and then some, but we didn't have as much of it this summer. And then after the camps happen, I'll submit for reimbursement. And it's covering all of our camp expenses this year. So it's just a tax benefit to help out a little bit with camp spending.
- [26:23]
C
Yeah, it works just like a regular flexible spending account. The only thing you have to keep in mind generally with most employers is that if you don't use the money up, it's lost. And so making sure that you only put as much in as you know that you're going to use during the year, just like with a healthcare flexible spending account, is definitely the right way to go. I used them when my kids were young as well. Friday, you hit the road, you're loading up the car, you're heading to Florida for spring break. Of course, you have to stop at BUC EE's along the way.
- [26:57]
E
Today is day five. It was a bit of an unusual day because we left earlier on a road trip for spring break. From a bill standpoint, I had just one payment come out for my car. Monthly payment for that was $925. And for our road trip, we stopped along the way. Our first stop was at Wawa and we picked up one lunch and a bunch of road snacks. The total for that was $52.84. That was for myself, my husband and my two kids. I usually plan much better for road trips and bring most of our snacks, but I just had a busy week leading up to today and wasn't as prepared. So we ended up spending more than I would have liked on things like that. For the road trip along the way, we ended up stopping, stopping again for gas. We spent 51.54 and got some more snacks and drinks and coffee for an additional $12 and 65 cents. Further down the road, we stopped one more time at Buc EE's, which is one of our favorite stops when we're headed south down 95 in South Carolina. Spent a total of 110. And that was for dinner for the four of us. Some additional snacks that we always like getting that are very specific to BUC EE's. And my kids always like to pick out a souvenir. So we spent money on souvenirs as well. So that included all of those things. And we are staying at a hotel along the way tonight. And the cost of that is $213.27. So our total spend for all of Those today was 1365. 71.
- [28:43]
C
Tell me about Buc Ees. I mean, I've read about Buc Ees because the new York Times did a big story on them, but I've never been.
- [28:50]
D
It's an experience. It's become a highlight for my kids. It's a tangible thing to get them on board with a road trip because that's not their favorite way to travel. But I'm always like, we can stop at Buc Ees. So it has just about everything. It's a store, it's a restaurant, it's a bakery. It's snacks and fast food, all the things. So they always get a souvenir. There's certain snacks that they always get. It's quite the experience.
- [29:14]
C
How do you think about souvenir spending with your kids? Are you flexible? Are you set a budget?
- [29:19]
D
I'm pretty flexible with them. I mean, within reason. They don't get anything super expensive. But they always ask that the buc EE's souvenir not be the vacation souvenir. So they're always able to get something from BUC EE's. And then also whatever destination we're going to, they might still get another souvenir. And they are at ages that they get such a kick out of it that it's worth it to me to let him pick out something.
- [29:39]
C
What is a typical Buc ee's souvenir?
- [29:42]
D
So my son this year got a Buc ee's lunchbox that has a big Buc ee's emblem. And then he also picked out what she was going to use. Some of his own money. An Easter bunny that's in like a Buc ee's stuffed animal thing. And my daughter got a Buc ee's bathing suit, if you can believe that.
- [29:57]
C
Wow.
- [29:58]
D
Yes, Hilarious.
- [29:59]
C
You mentioned your son was going to use some of his own money at 10 years old. How does he get his own money?
- [30:05]
D
So they are very good about saving up. When they get money for birthdays and Christmas, I keep an envelope and they have their own, you know, for gift cards and all the money that they get. And so there are sometimes things that they want that are, you know, just once throughout the year. And I say, well, you know, you can use your own money. Or sometimes I'll say, I'll split that with you if you use some of your own money. Just to get them into the mindset of you can't just buy things. This impulse buying, right? That we all do. They have Amazon on their iPads. You know, they're always like, mom, I put something in the cart. I'm like, okay, great. But you know, we're not just gonna buy it just cause it's in the cart. So that's where most of their money comes from. We've tried allowances and just have not gotten into a good rhythm with it yet.
- [30:43]
C
It's kind of hard sometimes. And I always felt like when I wasn't in a good allowance rhythm, it was my fault, right? I didn't have the cash, I didn't give it regularly. I flipped the switch on it when my kids got just slightly older than yours and I started electronic allowances.
- [31:01]
D
Okay.
- [31:02]
C
So I opened linked accounts to my checking account that came with an ATM card for them, okay. And they learned how to use the system that way. And I just set up automatic transfers every week so that the money went from my account into theirs. It worked really well. It worked through college. So I. I recommend it.
- [31:23]
D
Awesome.
- [31:24]
C
On Saturday, your total was about 325. Honestly, very, very reasonable for a full travel day with a family of four.
- [31:33]
E
Today is day six. We woke up at our hotel this morning to finish up our road trip. Headed south to Florida. We stopped early at McDonald's to get breakfast for the kids. That was $16.06. And then made a second stop at Starbucks for my husband and I. And the total for that was 21.87. We made one more stop at Buc Ees.
- [31:57]
D
This was.
- [31:57]
E
Was unplanned, but we did need gas, so gas was $55.84. And then the kids did run in. They grabbed a couple of snacks, a salad for lunch, and I think another souvenir. So the total for that portion was $43.13. Although my son has committed to giving me some of his allowance money to pay for his souvenir. We we arrived in Florida and we had already set up a grocery delivery order from Walmart. So that was delivered when we got here. My sister and I just split the groceries. She's here with her family as well. So our portion was $153.69 for groceries for the week. And then lastly we ordered in pizza for our first night, which we also split and our portion of that was $34. So total spend for day six was $325.27.
- [32:58]
C
You mentioned splitting costs with your sister while you're there. How do you do that and do you set it up in advance?
- [33:06]
D
We don't set it up in advance, but we vacation together a lot and so we just split everything 50, 50. So we split the condo that we were staying in. We do a mass grocery order. We split that every time we go out to E. Sometimes we'll itemize that stuff if it's like super different between our families with what, you know, drinks or whatever. But generally like we're very easy and so one of us will pay on a credit card and then we venmo the other person and it works out. It's just an easy way to do it.
- [33:35]
C
It's so nice to have family that you can travel with.
- [33:38]
D
Yeah, it's awesome.
- [33:41]
C
Sunday was your first full day in Florida. Gets us to the end of the week. Your total for the week, just over $6,500. When you look back at the week as a whole and your vacation spending, what stands out? Is there anything that you would do differently?
- [33:57]
D
I don't know that I would do anything differently. I think there were some one off expenses. The big water bill that we had and obviously some of the vacation prep was not normal. But if it wasn't that stuff, it was probably going to be something else again. Some of those impulse buys or things that I hadn't planned on, like the Dicks or the Sam's, Things like that I think about as I log them from a budget. Like what could I have done differently? But I don't think anything was super out of control or unplanned.
- [34:24]
C
It didn't sound like it to me either. But for those people listening, I am struck by how conscious and sort of regimented you are about all of this. How did you get with the program and how would you suggest that other women get with the program?
- [34:45]
D
I think that for me, I'm just kind of methodical and organized in my thinking anyway, and it's something I've just done. For years I've tracked my spending. I make spreadsheets and I share those with friends and family sometimes for them to help track their spending. I think for women in particular, if you're not the one paying the bills, you at least need to know what money is coming in, what money is going out. And as you're trying to plan for a vacation or future spending or retirement, like you have to know what's coming in and what's going on. And so it's always just been important to me. It's something I enjoy doing, which I know sounds crazy to a lot of people. My husband wants nothing to do with it, so we're kind of in a role reversal of that where I have to tell him, come on, we're going to sit down and look at this stuff. So I think you just have to know the importance of it and just start.
- [35:35]
C
Amazing. Thank you so much for doing this with us. Thanks for sharing.
- [35:38]
D
Thanks, Jean.
- [35:40]
C
That's it for this week's episode of A Week in Her Wallet. Again, thanks so much to Larisa for sharing so openly and giving us a real honest look at what a full week of spending actually looks like. If you'd like to be considered for a future episode of this series, tap the link. It's in the show Notes. We would love to hear from you. And before we go, if you love today's episode, please take a moment to leave us a five star review on Apple Podcast. Your feedback means the world to me, but it also helps other women find the show. And if you're ready to grow your investing skills and make smarter decisions with your money, come join Investing Fix, our twice monthly Women only investing club. Expert stock pickers bring up ideas to the table and together we help build a portfolio. Since launching four years ago, we've built a strong track record and more importantly, a community of women who are learning and winning together. Tap the link in the show notes to check out Investing Fix today. Your first two classes are always free. Her money is produced by Hayley Pascalides and our music is provided by Video Helper. Thanks for listening listening and we'll talk soon.