How You Spend Your Days

Colin talks about money mindsets and budgeting with Tawnya Schultz, The Money Life Coach.

The roller coaster of paying off debt. This week I'm giving an update on how much I owe between IRS back taxes and consumer debt.

A chat with Qoins' CEO, Christian Zimmerman. Qoins is a mobile app that helps people get out of debt faster. We go behind-the-scenes with why Christian wanted to build Qoins and how it has helped people pay off over $10 million in debt.

Back to basics: income, spending, saving, investing, and government assistance available in the times of the Coronavirus.

Ep42: This is a little bit of a different episode since we've been on hiatus but I'm excited about the launch of Year 2! You can think of this as a Season 2 of HY$YD and I'll be documenting my continued journey of getting out of debt and investigating the habits that influence our decisions to save, get out of debt and live a healthy life - physically, emotionally and financially.

Ep41: Holy cow! We’ve hit one year of How You Spend Your Days! In this episode, I look back on some of the conversations we’ve had since October 2018.

Ep40: We’re mixing it up a little bit this week with a meditation on money and life from philosopher and thinker, Alan Watts. Next week we’ll be back to our regular episodes for episode 41, which marks exactly ONE YEAR of this show. I’ll be providing an update and talking about what has happened inRead more

Ep39: This week we talk to Monica Thompson about hitting one of her financial milestones and learn more about how she has taught herself what she knows about financial literacy today. We touch on buying cars, mortgages, credit cards and feeling financially secure. Congrats on paying off the adventure wagon, Monica! Our Guest This Week MonicaRead more

Ep38: In this episode, we talk about subscriptions. Today we have access to more subscriptions than ever. We have subscriptions for movies and television (Netflix, Hulu), toothbrushes (Quip), meal prep (HelloFresh), underwear (MeUndies), and even pet food (The Farmer’s Dog). Now there is no judgment on this next part but how many subscriptions do youRead more

37: This week I’m talking about money in relationships and put my girlfriend, Chanelle Bessette, in the hot-seat. We walk through a list of questions to see how each of us manage money individually and how we approach discussing money in our relationship. Our Guest This Week Chanelle Bessette, Personal Finance Writer Instagram: @crbessette‬  FollowRead more

36: This week we talk about identifying financial fatigue and how to combat it and avoid it altogether. Identifying Financial Fatigue Some of the feelings that come along with financial fatigue include: The feeling that managing your finances is tedious The end doesn’t seem to be in sight Your efforts seem hopeless These feelings canRead more

Ep35: This week I sat down and reevaluated my finances and refactored my “Numbers” spreadsheet. This is a little bit of update episode since it has been a minute since the last one. This is also a good reminder for you to sit down and take a look at how you are doing financially andRead more

Ep34: This week we get very tactical and jump into how to make the numbers work around freelancing or being an independent worker. Come up with a number Align your expectations Timebox your work Reduce and automate the meta work Track Your Time Automate Invoicing, Proposals, and Contracts Automate Withholding Taxes & Retirement “Work expandsRead more

Ep 33: This week we dive into seven things you should do to make sure you stay financially fit. Check your Credit score Nerd Wallet Credit Karma Mint Set a savings goal and create a named virtual savings account for that goal Take inventory of your recurring expenses Evaluate how you can make more money IfRead more

Ep 32: This week is a fun update! HY$YD is hosting a screening of the documentary Playing with Fire. You can listen to my interview with Scott Reickens in Episode 10 if you’d like to hear more about Scott’s background and why he set out to make this documentary. Get tickets for the Reno screening: https://www.tugg.com/events/playing-with-fire-tdrl Get theRead more

#31: In this episode, we’re joined by Linsday Barrett who conquered $37,000 in student loan debt in 3 years after graduating from college and investing in herself with a web developer bootcamp. I’m honored to have played a small part in her journey as I was the teacher for that bootcamp so it was a lotRead more

This week, I chat with Lara Cattlin, friend and freelance copywriter, about the ins and outs of freelance finance. Freelancers have a gauntlet of tasks that they have to do in addition to doing the work that they specialize in. We talk about cash flow management, the pros/cons of freelancing and how to set boundariesRead more

This week, I sit down and calculate my official debt free date and discuss why it’s important to have a clear and defined date. This date allows you to make informed decisions on where you spend your time and money and increases the likelihood of you hitting your goal. Essentialism by Greg McKeown (Essentialism episode comingRead more

This week, I called my credit card companies to confirm my interest rates and attempt to negotiate down my interest rates with each card. My results were mixed as you will hear in this episode but getting your credit card companies on the phone is a good idea, even if it’s just to confirm theRead more

This week I’m joined by Todd Clary of Clarity Financial Coaching to discuss the stigmas around talking about money and why he decided to become a financial coach to help others accomplish their financial goals. Some of the articles and resources we discuss in this episode: Dave Ramsay Financial Coach Mastery Training Shop Twice, SpendRead more

This week, I’m joined by a friend and colleague, CJ Avilla. We discuss his philosophies around money, how his family tracks money, how they spend money and how CJ and his wife have been teaching their kids about money. Some of the articles and resources we discuss in this episode: Americans Spend $18k a yearRead more

Episode 25! This week is a quick rant on recalibration. It’s a good time to bring back some awareness around how much I’m spending, on what, when and why. With the start of a new month (May), I’m looking to jump back into another frugality challenge and only allow myself to spend money dining outRead more

This week marks the point where I've been doing this show for 6 months. It also represents 6 months of me paying more attention to my financial health than I ever have.

This week I explore the Resistance that one encounters when trying to complete creative endeavors, especially ones that take a great deal of time to see to fruition. The idea of “Resistance” with a capital R is a big focus of Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art”. I first read the book many years agoRead more

Tanja Hester is back this week to join us for Episode 22. We spend this episode going through updates on what is going on in our lives. Check out the bulleted list of topics below. Cashflow as a Freelance Adding to the Emergency Fund with a “Life Happens” fund (idea from Suze Orman) Setting aRead more

In this episode, I get a little introspective and talk about valuing your life energy, as talked about a lot in Vicki Robin’s book, Your Money or Your Life. Up until now, we’ve been largely focused on minimizing spending but another way to value your life energy is to free up more time by maximizingRead more

This week I am checking in to discuss how I’m approaching travel, trips and “vacations” while continuing to prioritize getting out of debt. Resources In This Episode Kayak Marriott Bonvoy Southwest Rapid Rewards Hotel Tonight Follow HY$YD or send us questions/feedback Twitter: @howyouspend Instagram: @howyouspend Web: howyouspendyourdays.com  

In this episode, I’m joined by Chanelle Bessette to talk about the “No Spend Month” challenge that we both undertook for February. We discuss what rules we set for ourselves, the challenges we ran into and the results from taking a financial detox period. Links from this episode Frugalwoods Get Money by Kristin Wong NPRRead more

In this episode, we’re joined by Nicole Rose Dion, who conquered over $80,000 in student loan debt in 6.5 years after graduating from college. I talk to her about the stigma around debt, the constant stress and anxiety she felt while she was paying minimum payments and how she was able to shift her mindsetRead more

After four months of doing this show, I revisit the goals that I set in Episode 3. 17 weeks have gone by and while I am slowly chipping away at my overall financial goal, a lot has happened since I started paying better attention to my finances and cultivating a better relationship with money. To recap, thoseRead more

This week we jump into habit formation and how we can develop intrinsic motivation and develop lasting behavior change that help us to achieve our long term goals, like getting out of debt. Check out more about James Clear and his many amazing articles at JamesClear.com or pick up his book, Atomic Habits, to continue learning about theRead more

This week is a little different. I jam on minimalism and how adopting minimalism in some areas of our life can help you to save money and energy so you can spend it on the things that you truly enjoy. Resources from this Episode: Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo Follow HY$YD orRead more

This week I’m joined by a new friend, Dani Morris. In this episode, Dani shares with us how she and her husband were able to thrive on a $30/week food budget for nine months so that they could buy a house. Each of us has been able to reconnect with food by focusing on our financialRead more

This week I talk about frugality, places you can save money automatically and ideas for frugal substitutions for behaviors and expenses that you've become accustomed to (ahem, hedonic treadmill).

This week I am checking in with an update on The Numbers and releasing the spreadsheet!  Don't worry this episode isn't me reading a spreadsheet aloud. I also dive into lifestyle creep a little bit and share how I've observed the effects of hedonic adaptation at work in my own life.

This week I have the pleasure of speaking with Katharine Schweitzer about how Dave Ramsey's methods and books helped her move away from the stresses of living paycheck to paycheck.

Colin chats with an old friend and aspiring FIer, Scott Rieckens. Today, Scott is focused on producing "Playing with FIRE", a documentary that uncovers the growing the community of frugalists, mustachians and valueists choosing a path to financial independence and early retirement.

This week is a quick update from Colin. We'd love to hear any personal finance questions or stories from your own harrowed journeys toward financial independence. You can send us questions, comments and feedback to @howyouspend on social networks or shoot us an email.

This week, we review the goals that I set with Tanja in Episode 3 - Setting Goals. We discuss how and why people fail to achieve New Year's resolutions and how we can avoid becoming part of that statistic while moving toward our results.

This week, we dive into the holidays. Calvin joins me again to discuss holiday spending and how our IRL spending habits tend to also bleed into virtual worlds like World of Warcraft.

Colin has a quick update this week with some resources to set the stage for the holidays.

This week I am checking in with a solo update and answering some questions from friends and listeners. Thanks to Steve and John for your questions! Follow HY$YD or send us questions/feedback Twitter: @howyouspend Instagram: @howyouspend Web: howyouspendyourdays.com  

This week we discuss facing your consumption and expenses by building an expense inventory. I looked at every recurring expense and expense category (food, drinks, etc.) to see where my money has really been going. This week I’m joined by a friend and fellow podcaster, Calvin Fung. We talk about the latte factor, our cocktailRead more

This week I sit down with Tanja and talk about my upcoming goals for tackling my financial obstacles. Goal 1: Create a $1,000 emergency fund Goal 2: Establish a plan with the IRS Goal 3: Choose a plan of attack for credit card payoff Goal 4: Inventory my expenses Goal 5: Smooth out my freelance income or get a job The audio in this one was captured poorly. Tanja was not actually recording in a fish tank and I was a little under the weather but we can only improve from here! Thanks for listening. 

Today we talk about my debt, put actual numbers to it and draw a line in the sand. These numbers will be available soon at http://howyouspendyourdays.com/numbers so you can follow along with my progress. You can follow along with us on Twitter at @colinloretz and @our_nextlife.

In this first episode, we’re setting the stage with our backstories. Who we are, what we do and how we find ourselves talking about debt today. You can follow along with us on Twitter at @colinloretz and @our_nextlife.

This is the show where we explore debt, break down the stigma around talking about money, and give you a behind the scenes look at my own journey of becoming debt free.