15-Minute Budget Reset for Busy or ADHD Brains: Quick Wins to Fix Your Finances Fast | 83

Right, so if budgeting feels super overwhelming for you, this episode is for you. So it is a 15 minute. Let's reset your budget and get you headed in the right direction. All right, debt rebel. I am so excited for today's episode. First off is if you're listening to the show right now and I'm talking about ADHD and you're like, hey, you know what, that kind of sounds like me. Or maybe you know what? That's that's not me. I want you to don't don't discount what I'm going to say today. I'm only sharing this because for myself, I am recently diagnosed with ADHD and didn't realize how much of A struggle different different aspects of life were, including budgeting were because of it.

So these things are going to be helpful if you have ADHD or maybe you have ADHD tendencies or maybe it's like, you know what? I don't, but I don't have a lot of time and really budgeting is not that sexy so I don't really want to do it. So. So today that is this is for you because it is a 15 minute reset. I'm Jules the budget nerd and welcome to the Debt Rebel show. This is the place where working families like yours learn how to stop living paycheck to paycheck, crush debt for good, and build a life where money actually works for your family.

In about 15 minutes, I'll share practical family budgeting tips, tough love strategies, and actionable steps to move toward debt free living without the fluff, the shame, or the confusion. And I know a thing or two about this. My family and I have eliminated over $107,000 and consumer debt and that was after I got my degree in economics. So stay tuned. This is going to be a great episode. So grab that coffee, your planner, whatever you need to make this a great experience. Maybe a snack if you're like me.

And let's make your money work for your family. That's going to help you stay focused. Focus is something that you struggle with. I do sometimes my budget looks a little bit crazy to someone from the outside, but I'll explain that in a in a minute. So I want to give you some key points to make some quick fixes to your budget. So First off, it is pick one focus area. So if you have ever tried this is this is a struggle of mine. I go, OK, this is super great. I'm going to overhaul my entire life because I saw one pin on Pinterest and they make it sound so easy.

So I'm going to, so I'm going to just, I'm going to overhaul everything because I saw this one pin on Pinterest. OK, so I will try and fix everything all at one time. And so when it comes to our money and, and if it comes to our attention, so our attention is, is short and especially in the 21st century, it's getting shorter and shorter. Just focus on one area. Don't try and fix the entire thing. It takes the average family, if you've never made a budget before, it takes the average family three months to get to a budget that is like this.

This feels right. So one, give yourself some grace, but two, just focus on one thing. So for instance, check your a great place to start is check your top three categories. And so the top three categories. These also fall into the survival mode budgeting. If you have got, if you have downloaded the debt rebel starter kit, it'll be in there, but it's housing, groceries and gas. So those are the three that can be, housing is typically our biggest expense, groceries and gas, those are the other ones that are a little bit more discretionary and have a little bit more fluctuation based on what life is like.

And so check those 3 categories and see are there changes that you can make there. And so if you have the Debt Rebel starter kit there, there's some great options to help you reduce in some of those areas. But just pick one and say, hey, you know what, I'm going to work on reducing my gas for this month. So what can I do to do that? So maybe it's putting all of your errands on one day. Now I know schedule wise that might not make the most sense. So for instance, today I really want to run to Costco and grab a couple of things because we're we're short on it, but that's an extra trip when tomorrow I'm going to be right next to Costco and I could go tomorrow.

So that kind of stuff is like thinking through and planning ahead just a little bit to say, Hey, is this going to be the best use of my time 1 and of my gas budget. So in that scenario, you know what it makes the most sense to for me to wait till tomorrow. All right, now the next thing is just adjust the one thing. OK, so you have focused in on one area and now it is just shifting. Maybe it's cutting something out or just reallocating. So what does that look like? Just pick the one, one thing. So like I said, you know, for the gas example or going to shift that around a little bit and spend it more wisely.

Maybe it's groceries for you and you're like, you know what, I need to reduce my spending on food a little bit more. So what's 1 little adjustment that I can make there? And I would say one of my, my favorites is to shop your cabinets or your refrigerator. So supercook.com or if you're comfortable using ChatGPT, put that in there and it will give you recipes based on what you have on hand. And so you're not having to make a trip to the store, which Ding, Ding, Ding bonus could be saving you some gas money.

So another tip is to set a reminder for next week, 15 minutes. If you just, if you just spend 15 minutes a week on your budget and just reviewing that maybe it's reviewing your expenses, then you can accomplish a lot. So 15 minutes over a month is 60 minutes. And then if you are part of our alliance coaching program, then there's a couple other opportunities to join for live calls, but you don't have to spend a lot of time and effort on your budget. It's just being intentional with that time. And so for myself, I will set a timer because one, I'm super easily distracted and I'll think, OK, I'm going to solve this problem.

And the next thing I know I'm on a rabbit, rabbit trail is a rabbit trail or rabbit hole. I don't know. Either way, black hole sometimes because I end up somewhere I'm like, I am so far away from my budget. So setting a timer and having some restrictions for yourself, but setting those reminders is going to be super, super helpful. So those are some of the things that I do to just make sure that so 15 minutes, I've started doing this even with like my, some of my house chores or like I really just, I really, really dislike dusting.

So I'm like, I can dust for 5 minutes. It's amazing what you can get done 5 minutes and it's the same thing with your budget. Just set a timer for yourself. Maybe 15 minutes seems too intimidating. Maybe you set it for 10 minutes or maybe set it for 5 minutes and you can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time if you know you're just doing it for a few minutes. Again, just to recap, some of the ways that you can create that reset for your budget is to just pick one area and don't try and refo and don't try and fix everything in your budget, but just pick one area.

Some of those top categories you can choose could be housing, groceries and gas. Those are ones that can be whether they're big expenses or they're variable that you can make some adjustments here and there. And then when you do pick that is to pick that one category is just make one adjustment. So maybe it is that, you know what, because I was really great last week. My goal last week was to reduce my gas budget. So this week that I have more money to put towards my emergency fund. Then that's the adjustment that you make, right?

That's a huge win right there. And the more and more that you do that in those little 15 minute windows, then that's how you make financial progress. Just like when our kids were learning how to walk, it wasn't that, you know, they fell down and they're like, yeah, this doesn't work for me, I'm not going to do it anymore. They got back up and tried it over and over and over and over again, right until they got it. So it's the same thing with budgeting. Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming and let's just tweak a couple of things, change a couple of things and see what happens.

And then just keep adjusting from there because one budget that you make last month is going to be totally different for this month because what matters most to you and your family this month is different from what mattered last month. And life changes all the time, right? Especially when we're raising children. It changes and evolves and grows. And our, our focus is going to change too, because what matters most to us in this moment is different than what's going to matter tomorrow. So I hope that today's episode was helpful.

And if you want some more clarity around your money, I have the free webinar. It's 15 minutes to money clarity and it'll walk you through the step by step process that I take. It's absolutely designed for busy, distracted brains like myself who don't have a lot of time and capacity to pour into a spreadsheet. So you can check that out on my website at Jewels the Budget nerd.com/clarity. That's CLARITY. And I'll link that in the show notes for you too. But I hope that today's episode was encouraging for you.

And remember, you don't have to change everything. These little, little changes here and there are going to add up and accomplish huge things for you. Thank you for tuning into the Debt Rebel show today. Ready to take your family budgeting to the next level, stop that paycheck to paycheck grind and start living debt free? Head over to my website, Debt Rebel podcast.com that's DEBTREDEL podcast.com to grab resources, tools and tips to make it happen. And don't forget, subscribe, leave a review. And if you know another family that will love hearing today's episode, it would be such a gift for both of us, your friend and me.

If you share this episode. And remember your debt free life starts with one brave step and I'm cheering you on every step of the way. We'll talk soon, rebel.

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