My guest this week is Jen Smith, a personal finance expert and author of the Amazon best-selling book The No-Spend Challenge Guide.

Jen and her husband paid off $78,000 of debt in less than two years making well under 6-figures. She talks about it on her blog, Modern Frugality, and as the co-host of the Frugal Friends Podcast.

3:07 – Jen 101

• Jen’s podcast teaches people how to spend.
• She believes people can live a life they love with the money they already have.

9:48 – Money mindsets

• We think that money is just numbers on a screen when you check your account balance or dollars in a wallet, but it’s only a means to get the things you want.
• Money touches everything in your life that you care about.

19:30 – Pivotal moments

• There are pivotal moments in your life where you can choose to be challenged, but it will provide a lot of growth.

21:58 – Dealing with debt

• Paying off debt is like going on a diet. You try to go extreme and lose it fast, and then a week in you aren’t doing it anymore.
• The radical middle is making small changes with large impact.

32:41 – Less friction

• The less friction and barriers there are to paying for something, the more people pay, on average, according to studies.

39:53 – Post debt hangover

• After paying off debt, it can be hard to get over the shame of how you previously spent money.
• You can always choose a different path.

51:17 – Get to know you

• Her splurge item? CrossFit
• Something we’d never guess about her? She doesn’t like celery.

FEATURED QUOTES

When I was able to identify what a money mindset really is, I was able to start identifying what I thought about money.

We think that money is just numbers on a screen when you check your account balance or dollars in a wallet, but it’s only a means to get the things you want.

Money touches everything in your life that you care about.

https://www.modernfrugality.com/author/jensmith/page/5/

https://www.frugalfriendspodcast.com/about/

Thank you to our partners of the show!

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