Financial Conversation Podcast

This week's episode is about the obsession of earning more money.

While the ability to earn more money is one of the nice things about being self-employed, it can also be something that's tough to deal with.

When you are self-employed, you have the flexibility of working whenever you want, as much as you want, and you can charge as much as you want for your services. This means the sky's the limit when it comes to how much money you can earn.

But that flexibility can also drive some entrepreneurs to work longer hours, harder than ever, which isn't good news for your work-life balance.

In our niche, there's also a lot of pressure to hustle, work hard, and earn more money continually, especially if you find yourself trying to "compete" with others who share all of their income information online. This can quickly lead to business burnout.

So how can you deal with the obsession of earning more money? Here are some of our tips.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:10 - Side hustling: What is it?
• 7:40 - Skipping the side hustle: How Erin started freelancing from scratch
• 27:30 - Finding motivation to keep working and earning more money
• 35:50 - Seeing the potential to earn more money
• 37:45 - Defining success with things other than money

Related links to check out:

• Ep. 2 – Your Job…Or Your Health?
• Ep. 7 – Freelancing: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
• Ep. 13 – Crazy Side Hustle Stories
• Ep. 16 – Dealing with Business Burnout

In this episode, we are talking about something that is very important for everyone no matter where you live or what you do: self-care.

There's no doubt that the costs of personal care can be expensive, but there are ways you can reduce your self-care expenses and budget for it so it doesn't take you by surprise.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:45 – Why is self care important?
• 6:00 – What gets in the way of self care?
• 13:45 - What is worth it and what isn't when it comes to self care?
• 20:20 – Frugal ways to fulfill self care needs
• 29:15 – Splurges and guilty pleasures
• 38:50 - Are self care costs higher for men or women?

Related links to check out:

• How to Handle a Stressful Job
• Ep.2 – Your Job…Or Your Health?
• How I Get My Makeup for Free
• Good Financial Cents Blog
• Less Makeup, More Confidence: My Frugal Beauty Manifesto - Frugalwoods

We are thrilled to present to you a special episode of Financial Conversation! This one was recorded live at FinCon 2016 - otherwise known as the Financial Blogger's conference.

We finally got the chance to record face-to-face, which made things a lot easier and more interesting.

And, what better topic to cover than networking, since we were at a conference to make connections and further our careers.

(Yes, it's kind of meta, and yes, we're totally okay with that.)

Since we had an extra chair, and since we were at FinCon, surrounded by many awesome folks, we decided to find Kara, blogger at From Frugal to Free, to come fill our extra spot. Thankfully, she agreed to come on!

Besides having been a great guest on the podcast before (you can listen to her episode here), she was a first-time attendee, and we thought that would make for an interesting perspective. Erin has attended 3 times, while Chonce and Kayla have attended twice.

That doesn't mean it's always easy, though. Erin and Chonce are introverts, and even when you have experience, it can be hard pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to network. That's why we wanted to share these tips with you!

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:30 – Our backgrounds with attending FinCon in the past
• 5:20 – How icebreakers can make networking easier
• 10:30 – Networking don'ts (and what to do instead)
• 25:15 – Networking as an introvert

Enjoy!

In this episode, we are talking about our views on money and how our they've changed over time.

This episode was inspired by a recent blog post on LifeHacker and we wanted to give our opinion on some of the same topics.

In this episode we discuss:

• 2:10 – Our Money Stories (our background with money)
• 17:20 – Focusing on what you make versus what you spend
• 19:50 – Using money as a tool so that it's not an enemy

Related links to check out:

• Money Is Not Your Enemy or a Goal, It's a Tool

Enjoy!

In this episode, we are going to be talking about a topic we are all passionate about. Debt. And how to most efficiently pay it off.

Our guest in this episode, Melanie Lockert from Dear Debt, is an expert at paying off debt. She successfully paid off $81,000 of student loans while living on a low income.

We're talking graduating from NYU with little to no job prospects, moving to Portland for better non-profit opportunities that didn't surface, living on food stamps, and taking control of her career and finances by side hustling and eventually becoming self-employed (while making a heck of a lot more!).

Melanie shares some of her biggest struggles, tips for paying off debt, and more in this inspiring episode.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:20 – Melanie's story
• 9:50 – Why "Dear Debt" letters?
• 18:30 – What being debt free feels like
• 27:40 – Entrepreneurship and things you might miss from a "traditional" job
• 35:40 – The emotional toll of debt and reaching out for help

Related links to check out:

• Chonce's Dear Debt Letter
• Kayla's Dear Debt Letter
• Erin's Dear Debt Letter
• Find out about contributing to Dear Debt
• Dear Debt: A Story About Breaking Up With Debt

In this episode, we're excited to be talking about one of our favorite seasons of the year - fall!

While there are many reasons to celebrate fall, like beautiful foliage, and pumpkin flavored and scented everything, the biggest reason we love fall from a financial stand point is that it tends to be a pretty frugal season.

Now that fall is finally here, we are excited to talk about how we save money and make fall the most frugal season of the year.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:00 – Why We Love Fall
• 4:10 – Fall: The Season of Frugality
• 6:00 – Frugal Fall Meals
• 11:20 – Saving on Utilities
• 17:10 – How to Save Money on Entertainment During Fall

Related links to check out:

• FCP015 – Spring Spending Temptations
• FCP028 – New Ways to Enjoy Your City (Even in a Small Town)
• FCP037 – Unconventional Ways to Save on Your Wedding

In this episode, we're talking about how to save money on what might be the biggest day of your life: your wedding day.

It's no secret that weddings are expensive. Various studies have been done over the past few years showing the a wedding can cost on average anywhere from $19,984 to $32,641.

Luckily, there are ways you can save on your wedding. Here are some of our unconventional ideas for saving on your wedding.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:40 – Average cost of a wedding
• 11:45 – Trimming your guest list
• 21:45 – The origin of traditional payments for weddings
• 26:15 – Negotiating and bartering
• 31:10 – Erin's contrarian views on weddings
• 37:20 – Wedding "seasons" - can you save by getting married during a certain time of year?

Related links to check out:

• Chonce's Wedding Guide - Save Thousands on Your Dream Wedding
• Cost of Wedding
• CNN Money - Average Wedding Costs
• Making Sense of Cents - Bartering for Wedding Costs
• The Knot - Is there a "wedding season" anymore?
• The Bridal Guide - Who Pays for What?

Feel like it's time to move on from your job? This can be a nervewracking transition for anyone, but it's inevitable, and it's best to prepare so you don't burn bridges. Here's how to quit your job in the nicest way possible.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:15 – What it takes to be prepared
• 6:40 – What to do if you're not prepared
• 9:30 – Chonce's Side Hustle: Origins
• 18:00 – Fear of the unknown
• 21:45 – Importance of networking
• 32:15 – How having many skills helps

Enjoy!

Being below the poverty line is a startling reality for 45 million Americans - it's a challenge many are familiar with. Our guest, Femme Frugality, discusses the psychology, solutions, and problems with poverty and government assistance.

In this episode we discuss:

• 2:00 – Femme's backstory, living at the poverty level, and her experience with overcoming poor
• 5:10 – Remembering where we came from and how we got to where we are today
• 14:10 – Welfare requirements
• 26:10 – Government subsidization of minimum wage workers with tax credits
• 37:20 – How education can help you with overcoming poor
• 53:20 – Femme's plans for the future

Enjoy!

Chonce recently announced on Facebook that she and her family adopted a new cat, Emma, and we thought the cost of pets would make for a great topic of discussion on the podcast.

Furry friends can be expensive, and since all three of us have pets or have had pets in the past, we've learned many ways to save money on pets.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:00 – Chonce's Cat Adoption Story
• 2:10 – Pet Expenses
• 6:50 – Cats vs. Dogs
• 10:45 – Pet Costs for Apartment Living
• 20:35 – Saving on Pet Food
• 27:00 – Litter and Waste Management
• 30:20 – Pet Toys and Spoiling Your Pet

Related links to check out:

• Approximately 3 in 5 Americans own pets
• Comfort your Cat with Feline Comfort Spray

Enjoy!