How to Fully Commit to a Debt Free Lifestyle

hey guys welcome to another episode of the rachel cruz show i have a very special guest on in this episode candace collins is here and her money story is just remarkable you guys when i heard it i was like man i want her to come on because i know a lot of people are walking this money journey and probably have a very similar story or in the middle of their story that was just like yours so candace thanks for being on yeah thanks for having me i'm so excited okay so let's start from the beginning tell me about how you grew up what money was like in your home like how did that all just shape you what was that like yeah so small town south georgia girl here um but yeah when i think about money as i was growing up i i i knew that we struggled so i knew that money was not something that came by easily so i i quickly reckon i was around a lot of adults so i quickly recognized the value of hard work equals money but when i think about my childhood we didn't talk about it a lot and as an adult as i look back that's probably one of the biggest things is when i think about money growing up was we never really talked about it and i know that it's a very personal conversation is a personal topic but it was something that we never discussed um but like i said as a kid i i quickly realized we didn't have a lot of it so yeah so it was kind of the anxious money classroom it's kind of where i put you right it was stressful but it wasn't talked about so it was this like closed communication but emotionally very stressed so it puts you there so how do you think that that affected you when you went out on your own you didn't really probably know how money works though because it wasn't talked about so what did that look like you kind of get launched into the real world and what happened yeah i probably did what most people have done right they they get that small taste of like money and freedom and it's just like spend go crazy do all the things that you never got to do um when you were younger because you have that taste of what freedom looks like financially and so yeah i was wild financially from from day one you know and being one of the first in my family to go to college it was one of those things where you know i quickly dove into the student loan life and quirky realized oh wow i can get extra money as a result of this and i just spent and spent and spent not on tuition necessarily on everything else yeah everything else tuition was kind of there you know but um but yeah i was i was according to me living my best life you know the second i got out on my own so yeah yes no it makes it makes sense though and i'm like that is that's like the absolutely the normal cycle people get in and so yeah what was the first thing that kind of broke you out of that cycle where you realized oh wow i don't have to live life like this yeah i would say you know so i did my whole college career and then post college i got this job and actually let me in in the middle of that so i was doing college and then i took a year off to intern actually at a church in colorado um and when i got out there um my car died and i'm like i'm like the queen of car issues i swear it's like put a put a sticker on my forehead and say car issue girl it's me um but carr died and so i had a friend my best friend her sister who at that point had been like all about financial peace university it had already started changing her life and so she was like hey i'll give you some funds to help you get a car to get back to georgia wow but the only catch is you have to do financial peace university and so that was like my first introduction into like oh there's like other ways to have a relationship with money out here in this world that i clearly had missed the boat on um and so that was probably like my first like introduction into like this whole other world of like what we would call financial literacy and you know knowledge and discipline and all those things so yeah yeah that would say that's probably the first time i was introduced so what were a couple of things do you remember that thought that you thought wait what like what what the heck is a budget but you know when i thought about but i remember like learning the term budget and i remember even then as young and naive as i was that budget to me felt very restrictive it didn't feel freeing it felt restrictive and so it was like okay i know this term i know this concept but i think mentally where i was i didn't see it as a positive thing i thought it was something like okay i just need to do this because i'm supposed to but it was not enjoyable so that was one big thing and then the other thing i think too early on in that first wave of financial piece for me was just the idea of making a plan for your finances and i think i grew up really thinking the answer was always more money right like any career i mean it was just such a worldwide thing to think you know was like just give me more money god i pray that i get more money and more money when really the solution isn't more money right the solution is the habits and the discipline which i didn't learn that until way later on but at that time it was like oh a plan for money uh i don't know so yeah so you went through you learned some new ways of even thinking about money again that relationship with money but then you kind of just dabbled at it right you didn't kind of you didn't go head first so tell me tell me about that yeah i i dabbled enough i mean honestly oh gosh if she's listening she's gonna probably i don't anyways but uh but yeah i dabbled enough to say yes i did and this was like back in the day right we got like the giant notebook of like the cds and all the things that it was like throwback to early days fpu but um but yeah it was enough for me to say okay in the back of my head i knew hmm there's something better out there but i didn't recognize at that time the first time how much my life really needed some structure some knowledge and some just great discipline when it came to my finances because i was still in that stage of my life where i was just truly enjoying like buying whatever i wanted when i wanted to and and having a good time with it you know and not feeling like i want to be to be controlled by something that would get in the way of me experience this life that i had so dreamed of yes growing up i was told no a lot when it came to financial things right like if i wanted something i was told no a lot which looking back now as a mom thank you but that's right but at the time you know when i got to that point in my life i was like i don't get to say no to myself because i don't have to you know i get to make the decision yeah i get to make all these at the time great decisions so yes yes so you realize okay i'm kind of half in half out and you did that for how many years would you say oh gosh so many years i would say that was probably around 2007 and then i don't even know what year it is right now we're in 2021 thanks cover yeah but uh but 2007 literally probably all the way up to i don't know 2018 19 i mean a long it was a long yeah so over a decade over a decade chunk of time you're kind of in and out okay then recently over the past years what got you like back on board and you were like full out doing it yeah so my church um who's really passionate about just financial freedom being debt-free and all the things um so so one year they offered a financial piece university for free for staff and so i was like what the heck why not i know what it is i kind of know the concepts but i mean if it's being offered i'm gonna do it right and so um and at that point i was a mom so prior to that single living my best single life that there is with no responsibilities um but yeah so fast forward at that point i'm a mom and so i think even becoming a mom i recognize i've got to get my ish together like i've got to get things together because i've got this little child now who's relying on me i just knew there were stressors in my life that were directly related to finances and i knew that was impacting my daughter my parenting our life and even at that point we weren't even living on our own we were living with people because i couldn't even afford to live in our own space and so taking it that time as a staff person i was like okay i can be i can be into this so i took it twice like i took it that first time as a church staff then we did as an entire church a couple years ago right before covet hit and that and i got to lead in that stage and so with that that's where because i had to lead it really truly changed because i think there are parts of the journey where something happens right like i said earlier i'm the queen of car issues car issue happens it depletes my emergency fund i'm like discouraged like forget this i can't do it and it's so easy to just kind of fall off the bandwagon right and so i think that's where it started to really click on candice like what you do now in your life sets both of you up for some great things in the future or you can choose to continue to live the way that you're living pension pennies with no budget no discipline no real care for your finances and continue kind of this this life and mindset that you've always lived right and i feel more pressure as a mom that i didn't feel when i was doing those same decisions as a single but that was probably where things started to truly shift for me when i took it again for the first time as a mom with our church staff i love that because it gives you this bigger picture right especially when you have a little one in your life suddenly you're thinking okay this is not all about me it's them so candace what were some of the hardest moments for you when you decided okay i'm gonna be fully committed to this process oh goodness so many i think one of the things too was just first of all i think recognizing okay i cannot live the way i cannot live my life the way that i've always lived it right and so being able the power of saying no no is a full sentence right so being able to say no to things that i typically said yes to was one of the biggest things and also i think especially as a single parent like getting baby step number one accomplished is it's a feat in itself and it can take a long time and so i remember getting baby step number one finally completed i was like celebrating it people were celebrating it with me and then bam within like a week's time i needed four new tires and i'm like again queen of the car issues and i'm like are you kidding me you know and i remember i remember sitting there in tears like uh i mean cool that i can cover it right but still just i had just accomplished that and so um but you know again when i talk when i think about the community that i've surrounded myself with in this journey though i was like disappointed but excited at the same time that babysitter and warren did babysit number one did the job that it was supposed to do but i knew i had to start over which took so much hard work the first time around i had a friend who was like hey i have watched you work so hard at this and i am so proud of what you're doing for you and your family and so if you can get yourself to this point back on baby step number one i will match the rest to get that emergency fund fully funded and so oh wow i worked hard at it and i did it and they matched the rest and so we were back at babysit number one within weeks and it was just you know and that's and that's what's cool rachel is when i think about the community that financial peace university brings you've got people out there who are on baby step number seven which is what we all aspire to do who were looking for opportunities to do the things that they did for me and so it's just like this cool sense of you've got people on the other end who are like i can do this because this process the the these tools have has changed and saved my life and so it's just i just get overwhelmed thinking about how many people have stepped in and that was a huge moment for me to say you know what it's worth it to keep going because someday i get to do that later on and that's exciting but in that moment knowing that those people cared enough to say we'll help you get back there get a little bit of work but we'll help you get back there yeah i mean that's the life-changing thing right and like you said those people that are further along on the baby steps being able to give and that generosity that they're able to do to people like you on your journey i'm like oh it's amazing that's so beautiful i i love that people stepping in in the gaps that you're like yeah okay i can do this because of all the hard work so that's incredible yeah and i and i think there's value in i mean anyone that knows me know that i'm pretty open about this journey and i think being open about it is what kind of gives people the freedom to actually say i want to step into some of those harder spaces in it and so it's been about really just me sharing and being open even about some of those darker parts of this journey that actually gives other people opportunities to step in because i don't know what their story is right but then i learn about their story in the midst of them helping and serving us and that and i've got tons of stories like that but it's just you know don't be afraid to just open up and just share where you are on a journey because people are out there listening and waiting for these opportunities to serve and give and live like no one else yes that and just the encouragement of your story to others i love that so great yeah so tell me your financial status today where are you at financially yeah where i am right now is so i am in baby step number two which a lot of us probably know it's one of the hardest steps because it can be one of the longest steps um and i've got about 61 a little under 61 000 left to pay all student loans so credit card debt is completely gone there's no car debt it's all just student loans at this point um and i'm just continuing to gazelle at it and i love it hard how much you paid off total uh i started off with about eighty thousand dollars so what that math is i am not a math girl but you are chipping away hey twenty years no it's not good i mean i'm head in you know it's amazing and you're a single mom and you're and you're doing it i mean like that's that's the hero i mean to me i'm like you guys especially single parents i don't know how you do it number one so you're incredible but number two the fact that you're saying okay i'm gonna keep chipping away and i'm going to keep at it and it's that consistency that really pays off and like you said even even i heard your tone when you said i don't have any credit card debt anymore no car loans like even that just feels yeah like freedom like you have this taste of peace we're like okay now the student loan we hate sallie mae we're ready to get her out i know you are but but but it's proven that you can do it yeah it's proven that you can do it that when you set your mind to something it's different and that's the thing with people is you woke up a few years ago saying okay where i'm at today i'm not happy with so if you keep doing the same things you're going to keep getting that result and so right flip it in on its head again for you which i kind of love that you you took venice beach university three times i do because that's a lot of people's story but that's a lot of people's story but it's encouragement to say hey sometimes depending on your life circumstance where you're at your everyone's story and journey is going to look different and so you've just done a beautiful job sharing that and and i think for a lot of single parents you really are you're someone that people can look up to is okay if she can do it i can do it so what what encouragement do you have if there is a single mom watching this or a single dad yeah and working and doing it all what would you what would you say to them yeah i i think the biggest thing i would say that's been part of my success is surround yourself with people who are truly invested in you and your journey right like we've got people because again finances are a personal it can get touchy when you talk about it and it's there's times where i felt insanely embarrassed letting people into the nitty-gritty of my financial life and when you have to have those those conversations right typically when you have those with your spouse as a single i don't have that other person have that conversation with and so i realized how valuable it is to have other people in my life that can have those conversations with me that i can say hey here's my budget help me look at it hey i really want that yellow coat please talk me out of it because that's happened as well but surround yourself with people who care for your future as a parent and as a person because that directly impacts the future of your kids and the generation and what you can do to raise your kids that be financially free themselves um so that's probably my biggest thing and the other thing is to don't be afraid if you have to start over like give yourself some grace because again i've done it three times and i have messed up amidst all three times and sometimes you just gotta say all right hey it's okay messed up but hey i've got the tools i've got the resources i've got this community around me that's gonna cheer me on and i can keep going forward because it's not the end of the world if a mistake happens and so giving yourself grace in that i think is huge and what you do right now with your finances actually impacts everything that you do as a parent like i have learned my stress my mental health all those things are directly impacted by my finances and so i just think it just completely gives you a whole sense of freedom as a parent even just to keep going go after it and your kids will thank you for it later on absolutely well i think those are two really great points because i think especially after the year we've had in 2020 there's so many stressors in life that we can't control and we talk about that a lot on the show but there are things that we just can't control i mean and we can sit there and wring our hands all day but you you can't control that person you can't control washington you can't control the pandemic you can't control these things but the two things you mentioned you can control you can control the people you hang out with and so that community piece being known and being cheered on and loved in your journey is huge i mean people yes it's so so massive and then number two controlling the level of grace you give yourself that like we all make money mistakes and to say you know what i'm gonna choose to get back up and i'm going to choose to say you know what life is going to happen but i'm going to continue to choose to move forward and all of that are things in your control that you get to get up and decide and that's a big part of winning with money is realizing okay i'm the one in control what what can i do today and you've done that girl like candace you've done it and it's incredible it's it really is it's absolutely incredible so yeah and our kids are watching right like our kids are watching every moment every decision i mean it's just to think i've got this two little eyes watching me every day it just makes it that much more worth it so absolutely well and her money story like you said is going to be completely different because yes you're doing what we talk about changing your family tree so you're absolutely incredible kansas thank you so much so so much for being on and sharing your story and all of you watching that you've had to start over whether it's the budget or your entire money story all of it candice is living proof that you can start over continue down that road and actually gained traction to pay off 20 grand i mean that's pretty awesome pretty awesome well thanks again candace i so appreciate you thank you so much thank you

Channel: The Rachel Cruze Show

Views: 17,482

Rating: 4.9754224 out of 5

Keywords: the rachel cruze show, the rachel cruze show youtube, money, budget, how to save money, budgeting, personal finance, rachel cruze, save money, how to budget, debt, saving money, save, how to make money, ramsey, finance, how to get out of debt, debt free, How to Fully Commit to a Debt Free Lifestyle

Id: s_KfBFRyO-w

Length: 19min 24sec (1164 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 26 2021