90 Days to Abundance | Josh Elledge | Episode 222

Josh Elledge is the Chief Executive Angel of SavingsAngel.com – Consumer Advocate, Journalist, and Expert on money savings and time management issues. He is a syndicated columnist, TV, and radio personality. Josh is on a mission to help Americans save money and time so they can give. He is Founder and Chief Executive Angel of SavingsAngel.com, which bolsters the buying power of the average U.S. family by combining technology, coupons and smart thinking for extreme savings on household consumables and everyday items.

WHAT IS THE NUMBER ONE THING A PERSON NEEDS TO DO TO SUCCEED IN SAVING MONEY?

They need to respect their money. If you have no respect for it then you will spend it on stuff that doesn't have value and meaning to you. So if you respect your money, your money is going to respect you.

HOW DOES THIS PRODUCE JOY IN YOUR LIFE?

When you are doing something and you are only doing it for the money or you are only doing for security, but you are miserable, there never will be joy in that. Like a musician on a stage, joy comes when you have to do that thing even if you are worried that it does not pay that much. Even if podcasting does not pay that well  I know that God has blessed me with the ability to communicate through this medium and that is what I'm going to do.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WISH YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT SAVING MONEY BEFORE YOU GOT STARTED?

I wish I would have known what I know now, earlier. I say that in jest because I am grateful that I did not have the knowledge then because I was able to gain these things by experience. I promise you that you will learn more powerfully through experience than through any book learning or any other kind of learning. It's putting these things into practice and that is such a powerful teacher.

If I would have know at twenty years old how to spend my money better, I would have been able to keep my house. I would have been able to live without all the burden of the stress. I would not have had to put my family through that. Learn to love the rules of money because if you do you will lead a completely different life. It's not about how much money you make, it's about what you are able to do with that.

WHAT IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES YOU SEE PEOPLE MAKING IN REGARD TO MONEY?

Things like people buying new cars or buying a lot of new anything. I know it's fun to have a car with a new leather smell but  just look at the data at how fast a car loses it's value. We have to stop taking our financial and money lessons from marketers and sales people. We need to start thinking for ourselves and not be afraid to do our due diligence and ask ourselves about the things that are really important. Learn to spend less money on other people's profit.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Be a student. I like to read and listen to podcasts and take in as much positive information as I can.

RECOMMENDED BOOK

Think and Grow RichThe Richest Man In Babylon

DON'TS AND DO'S FOR FINANCES

Don'ts

Don't think that you know everything. Be humble, be coach-able

Don't think if you are going to be financially responsible that you should not have any "blow" money. You don't have to stop it, you just have to be mindful of it.

Don't put this off. You are flushing money away if you are not willing to look into this.

Do's

Do some searching and learning about how to effectively use coupons.

Do buy more healthy food. You will be able to do that when you save more money.

Do learn to love other people. Develop an interest of learning from different people even if you think their ideas are so different from yours. Be open to new ideas.