[Music] Okay, there are tons of practical ways to save money. I could give you a list of like 15 things to do, but honestly, what I have found is changing my mindset is probably the most effective way when it comes to building wealth. So, I'm going to be sharing the savings hack that nobody really talks about and the three times it actually saved me from wasting money. Now, before we get started, make sure to like, subscribe, and share this video with a friend.
Okay, so let's have a little fun and make this a little game and I'll share the three times that I used this hack with my own budget and by the end see if you can guess what the hack is. And if you know, drop a comment down below for your guess. All right, so Winston and I went to New York. Um, this was a few months ago and I had been saving because I wanted this one specific purse and I was like, it'd be f so fun to buy it in New York. So I'd been saving over the couple of months. I had it in the every dollar budget. So, when we got to the store in New York, I went to buy it and it was a nice it was a nice purse, right? Um, it wasn't like my Target purses that I have.
It was a nicer purse, but I got there and I was like, "Okay." And I was looking at it, but it was not they didn't have exactly what I wanted. And so, I had the money and there were like one or two other purses that I was like, "I could probably buy it." And then I kind of felt bad cuz the sales lady helping was like so nice and kind and was like getting all this stuff out for me. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, she's doing so much work." I like kind of feel bad that I like I'm going to just walk away.
Hey, but I really don't really want any of these. And it was just like this whole thing. And I finally just like looked at Winston. I was like, I don't think I want I don't think I want a purse. And he was like, okay, that's fine. Cuz it just was not what I wanted. And so we left and I still had the money. And I was like, you know what? If another purse comes up someday that I want, I'll get it, but it's just not what I wanted after saving for a few months. So that was one thing. Another time that I used this idea about saving is for a pool.
So and I built a house back in 2019 and we didn't have it in our budget to build a pool at the same time. So we're like, you know what, we'll make this like a five to six year goal that we we're going to save up and we're going to do it really well. We're going to like build a beautiful pool that we want and instead of shortcutting it and doing it faster, like let's just take the time to save and get what we want. And so fast forward to now 2025 and it happens like it took about six months to like do the whole project.
Um, but yeah, thinking back in like 2019 when we started this process, it felt so good that at the time it was like, okay, time to pull the plug. We're going to do this or no, I guess time to plug in, not pull the plug, time to start the project. Uh, it like gave us such confidence and it was a very smooth, very smooth process. We we love it, love it, love it. Before I share the third time that this underrated hack saved me money, I do want to talk about one of our incredible sponsors, Christian Healthcare Ministries. So, health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that isn't down.
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Um, we knew that we were going to have to get a different car once our third baby came. And this was about 5 years ago. And I was like, "Okay, we have three car seats. Like, I'm I'm going to need a bigger car." And so we were looking and saving. We had money saved knowing we have to replace my current car. And when it got down to it, it was like, okay, we had money to to do, you know, a nice SUV. Like we did look at those and it was like, okay, we could.
And then I was like, man, I would hate to spend all of this money on something that my kids who God love them. Sweetest little things ever, but they're disgusting. Like they there's crumbs everywhere all the time. Juice boxes spill. They got yogurt that's been dried out. I mean, like, it's just like, who knows what is back there. And I'm not one of these moms that's like, "No snacks in the car." Like, that's not real. Like, like, you you don't live in reality if that's you. Like, it's gonna happen. So, just prepare for it if you haven't already. But like, I remember thinking like, if we spend all this money on this nice SUV, this whole time I'm going to be like, "Oh my god, no food or don't do that.
Oh, oh, oh, don't slam your door." Like, "Oh my god, I'm be so paranoid because cars are expensive." And so then we were like, "Okay, what if we went to a cheaper version?" And and I thought, you know, I've never said this before in my life at that point, but I said it. I was like, "Let's go try a minivan." And y'all, number one, it was a third of the price of some of these other SUVs we were looking at.
It was insane. And it was amazing. Like I sat in there and I was like, "It's like a mom set in here and just said, "What do I need about life? What do I need to solve life's problems?" And she built the minivan. And I was like, "Okay." So, we had money to do something like maybe a little bit bigger and better, but I genuinely it was exactly what I wanted. It's what I wanted. It gave me peace of mind. And so, we bought the minivan and I felt so good about it. So, there was a mindset that I had with all three of these expenses, some more expensive than others, I guess, in this case, but what it was was patience. And when I had patience to save up and pay for something over the long term, there was not this urgency in the moment of purchase to think like, oh, this is what we have to do. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. You make bad decisions when you have limited options.
And when you are urgent on something, you I mean it's like in our psyche, you limit other options and you just go to the obvious choice. And so I think if we were looking for a car and we didn't have the patience and save up, I probably may have gotten the nicer SUV. But since I had the actual cast right there and then I really thought through what our life would be like with these kids in this car, it was like, "Okay, maybe I don't really want the nice SUV. Like maybe I want something different." Or the person in New York, like I actually had the money. So I was like, "Do I really want this or do I not?" And so when you have patience and you save up and pay for things and cash is on your side, suddenly the urgency goes down and you have the ability to make possibly other decisions that you would have made differently if you were not only using debt, but you were in an urgent situation.
So, when it comes to big purchases, you guys slow down, save up, have the patience to get what you want because you're going to have so much more peace at the end of that decision. And if it's over the long term, like the pool, like it was like a five to six year deal for us. And that pool changed like it did from what we would have built before that. So, even knowing that like give yourself the time and patience and it again so much more peace in the process.
So, my number one tip, you guys, if you want to do this and you want this long-term patience to save up for big purchases, have syncing funds in your budget. This is what we do. We put a line item in our budget and you label it pool. I labeled it purse. Like, whatever the thing is you're saving for and put a little bit of money away to do this. You could do this for Christmas. You could do this for vacations. Like, whatever you are doing long term, put it in the budget every single month and save up a little at a time. It Yes, it's going to take more patience. It may not be as fun in the moments. They're like pulling the trigger and doing it. But I'm telling you, you will have more peace. So, today we were kind of talking about mindset, but if you're looking for practical money tips, learn how to save $4,000 fast by clicking here for the next episode. Or if you're listening on podcast, click the link below.
All right, you guys. Remember to take control of your money and create a life you love..
