Can you imagine a fourth quarter so intentionally planned that it catapults you into a successful new year?
That's what we're bringing you in our latest episode. Ahead of the curve, we discuss our own financial journey, sharing updates on our debt and offering insights into effectively managing time and money.
As the holiday season approaches, the hustle and bustle can often lead to stress and overwhelm. But what if this year could be different? We lay out strategies for decluttering and getting our homes organized, setting the stage for a peaceful and joy-filled holiday. We also delve into the complexities of gift-giving, giving tips on managing gift exchanges and ensuring that your children have a dedicated space for their winter activities. If you're looking for a guide to reducing stress this holiday season, this episode is a must-listen.
And as we look forward to 2024, we share proactive health strategies designed to reduce sick days and boost morale. From setting a realistic budget to embracing self-care, we provide you with tools to set the stage for a healthier, happier year. It's all about intention and planning.
So join us, and let's tackle 2024 together – with confidence, ease, and, most importantly, good health! This episode promises to equip you with the knowledge to craft a well-planned, abundant new year.
Tune in and let's make 2024 our best year yet!
Episode Highlights:
We took an unintentional 2-week break.
It’s October!
Let’s finish out this year with a bang!
Ironing out finances.
Setting a realistic budget for Christmas.
Organizing and taking inventory of your home.
Identifying needs & potential Christmas gifts.
Making intentional choices to support our immune systems.
Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:
Can you imagine a fourth quarter so intentionally planned that it catapults you into a successful new year?
That's what we're bringing you in our latest episode. Ahead of the curve, we discuss our own financial journey, sharing updates on our debt and offering insights into effectively managing time and money.
As the holiday season approaches, the hustle and bustle can often lead to stress and overwhelm. But what if this year could be different? We lay out strategies for decluttering and getting our homes organized, setting the stage for a peaceful and joy-filled holiday. We also delve into the complexities of gift-giving, giving tips on managing gift exchanges and ensuring that your children have a dedicated space for their winter activities. If you're looking for a guide to reducing stress this holiday season, this episode is a must-listen.
And as we look forward to 2024, we share proactive health strategies designed to reduce sick days and boost morale. From setting a realistic budget to embracing self-care, we provide you with tools to set the stage for a healthier, happier year. It's all about intention and planning.
So join us, and let's tackle 2024 together – with confidence, ease, and, most importantly, good health! This episode promises to equip you with the knowledge to craft a well-planned, abundant new year.
Tune in and let's make 2024 our best year yet!
Episode Highlights:
We took an unintentional 2-week break.
It’s October!
Let’s finish out this year with a bang!
Ironing out finances.
Setting a realistic budget for Christmas.
Organizing and taking inventory of your home.
Identifying needs & potential Christmas gifts.
Making intentional choices to support our immune systems.
Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:
We are at war and it's not against our neighbors, spouses, children, politicians or whatever else we feel like we're battling against.
Speaker 2:
So the questions are who's the fight against, and are we winning or losing? We're the Adkins, and we are a force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 1:
Are you ready to join the force?
Speaker 2:
Hi everyone. We took an unintentional two week break. Sorry about that. I know some of you are very, very upset. So we had an interview that was supposed to go out and then we decided not to air it. And then we were planning on recording and then our crap hit the fan in our household. So we are gonna do a full blown update next week, which we're actually recording it today. But I wanted to get this one out first before we go into the one where we share more details about what's been going on in our life, because this one is more timely for the first week of October. So you'll have to stay tuned for next week. So if you want details on all that's going on, so follow the show and we will make sure that there's an episode coming out next week too.
Speaker 1:
Have you ever wondered why it's called Octtober? Because Oct is usually like eight right and this is month ten.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:
August is the eighth month, so it should be called Dectober, but that's December.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I don't know, december is 12.
Speaker 1:
Does Dec mean ten?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, like a decade.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:
You knew that, okay, so we hope you that you guys are doing really well. It is October, if you can even believe it, which I cannot.
Speaker 1:
I feel like if people said Dectober, that would get mispronounced a lot.
Speaker 2:
I don't understand Dectober.
Speaker 1:
No, somebody will. Somebody will get that.
Speaker 2:
Dectober, I don't know. Anyway, no, I don't Moving on everyone.
Speaker 1:
DEC, guys DEC.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so it's October. I don't know where the rest of the year went, but that sounds very cliche. It makes me sound really old. But today we're going to talk about going out with a bang, and what I mean by that is we have three months left in the year, so we're three quarters the way through. We have one quarter left and this is Fourth quarter time baby.
Speaker 2:
Right. This is the time of year where everybody's getting their pumpkins out. They're full of the core out and I love it. I love this weather, I love having a clean house and a lit candle, and I do like pumpkin stuff just as much as anybody else out there.
Speaker 1:
Pumpkin spice.
Speaker 2:
You know, it's just that cozy time of year, and so October hits, and then Halloween hits, thanksgiving, christmas. Aren't there other stuff going on? It's just crazy, yeah, right.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So basically, if it's fourth quarter time, we want to pull a Kobe or Jordan and not pull a LeBron and choke in the fourth, all right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I'm not getting your analogies today, but we'll go with it.
Speaker 1:
So you don't understand sports.
Speaker 2:
So Kobe usually like flies under the radar.
Speaker 1:
Kobe's an assassin in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2:
OK.
Speaker 1:
Jordan assassin LeBron.
Speaker 2:
It's like he already he's puttering out.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, he's like, starts flopping and whining and OK Well and then fails.
Speaker 2:
Then, yes, that's the point of this. So yeah, because what happens is this time here comes, we're all so excited, we're so happy, we're at the Apple Orchards, the pumpkin patches, and we should do all of that. But the year flies by and then we go into the first of the year ready to start goals, except, you know, we might have indulged a little bit too much. Our houses are chaos from Christmas, it's like that. You know, that week before, between Christmas and New Year's, we're like what happened?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you know, and you're like I don't know where I am, I don't know who I am.
Speaker 1:
What's my name? What time is it?
Speaker 2:
I'm. Am I wearing a fat suit?
Speaker 1:
No comment.
Speaker 2:
OK. So we're just going to share. We're doing this right alongside you guys. We're just trying to spend the remainder of 2023 going out with a bang, meaning we are just trying to be more intentional going into this crazy season and be more proactive so that we can enjoy it, embrace it, not be stressed about it, and then start 2024 like ahead of the curve. You know what I mean, because we didn't spend these three months backtracking.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
OK. So these kind of there's one, two, three, four points, and they kind of all flow with each other, and some of you guys might do this stuff already, some of you guys might never want to do it, but these are things that we yeah, we have implemented some in the past, but I don't think we've really done all at once, but there are always ones that I'm like sorry, I'm rambling, it's game time. There's always ones that I'm like I wish I would have done this, you know, yeah, okay, what's number?
Speaker 1:
one.
Speaker 2:
So number one is set some time aside in October to iron out your finances. So yeah, seems like a weird time, which I don't know if there was like there's like a cool sound, oh, yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1:
Crickets trip. Okay, we'll go with that and applause.
Speaker 2:
Thank you everyone. Thank you Because we have done this. We did this just a couple of weeks ago. Finally, and some of your favorite topics, you listeners out there, have been our finance episodes, and so I'm excited to announce that we have the numbers. We're just having trouble saying them. So we are going to do that on the first of the year, so we're going to start talking about our debt updates which, by the way, we do have a little bit of debt again and we'll share a little bit. A little bit, we'll share more about that later Okay.
Speaker 2:
Sorry, I'm going off on a tangent a little bit, but this is hard. This is harder than it was before, and I'm just going to say this yes, the people that literally went through a whole journey and shared with it live on the internet.
Speaker 1:
They're like I'm going to do this. I'm on this podcast of us getting out of debt and saying for how I'm starting fresh and doing a whole new journey. I've gone back Right Words.
Speaker 2:
But what I'm saying is so yeah we are human, just like you.
Speaker 2:
No, listen like okay, yeah, we are. So buckle in, go over your finances and we're gonna work through them. This year we're not gonna get worse off in the Christmas season and then, come the first of the year, we're gonna all together, as a community, implement getting out of debt and we're gonna have budget trackers and contests and all of this good stuff. So that's just a little teaser for you, so stay tuned. But what I wanted to say about why it's harder is okay. When we started this podcast, we had been in California, we just moved back to Ohio, we had no friends here. We didn't know anybody. So it's like we could talk about our finances and it wasn't like you could go look people in the eye and they didn't. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:
Now, when you get that weird, look when you're at the football game.
Speaker 2:
You know, like when you're carrying a Starbucks coffee.
Speaker 1:
There's people looking at us like why are you carrying a Starbucks? Right now I know what your debt's like bro, and they're like what Is? That a new shirt? Is that a new shirt you're wearing? You just told us how much debt you were in. Why'd you buy a new shirt?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it was just awkward. I don't know how. We were brave enough last time to do it, and but we're gonna do it again, so it's just a little bit scarier this time around.
Speaker 1:
So anyway, I actually don't care.
Speaker 2:
Well, I know you don't.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I care that we're in debt, but I don't care that people know.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I know, I know you don't, but anyway, you guys love those ones before, so there's more of those coming. So we just wanna encourage you guys set some time aside in October to iron out your finances, and that flows into point two. Once you go over your finances and you figure out where you're at, set a realistic budget for Christmas.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and then-.
Speaker 2:
And when I say realistic like think realistically, because sometimes in the past we've set a budget and then it was like so unrealistic that we blew through it with like two gifts, and then it was like well, that's out of the window, let's just rack it up.
Speaker 1:
Oh my goodness, hence the debt episode.
Speaker 2:
Let's have the best Christmas ever. What are you gonna say?
Speaker 1:
I mean in all honesty. I mean, and we've talked about this before and we've done this in the past, we just didn't do it this year. You know, really, at the beginning of the year you should start planning like, okay, here's a budget for vacation, here's a budget for Christmas, here's a budget for whatever these different events, things that are gonna happen within the year, and you can just you can at the starting, at the beginning of the year, start setting a little bit of money aside each month so that you're not, like having to put a whole big lump sum in at one time. We didn't do that this year and I'm willing to bet that there's probably 90 something percent of people out there didn't do that either. So, realistically, it's October.
Speaker 1:
This is a nice little reminder for us and anyone else listening that you need to start setting that budget so you don't go overboard, so you don't find yourself getting in debt, so you don't start getting a bunch of unneeded stuff in your house. And I don't know if you're gonna talk about this or not, but like, let's be honest, like our kids are happy. It's so funny. Our kids are happy, honestly, most of the time, no matter what they would get in.
Speaker 1:
It's also not about them and them being selfish. You know what I mean. So, like you don't have to go crazy with expensive Christmas gifts, get them meaningful stuff, things that you can do as a family, things that you like to do, and stay within your budget. They're gonna be happy just to have the Christmas experience, no matter what.
Speaker 2:
Right. So we would encourage you like maybe one evening this week you go over your finances and then another evening you say all right, now we know our financial state, realistically, let's talk through a realistic budget for Christmas and in that same meeting let's start thinking about Christmas lists for our kids. And if your parents buy you and your husband gifts, realistically think about those things now, because I know what happens to me. I know I should probably start doing that. And then November comes and we're sitting at Thanksgiving and my mother-in-law is like okay, what do I wanna get the kids? What do you guys want? What do you guys need what? And my mom does the same thing and we're so fortunate. But it's so nice to already know those ideas by having them intentionally picked out. So go over your budget one week, the next week set aside okay, what's our Christmas budget and what do we want to get our kids and what do we want other people to get our kids?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and like she said, what if people ask parents or siblings or whatever, like, hey, what does your spouse want? Or whatever you know? A lot of times I'm like I don't care, surprise me. And then I end up with a fricking Costco sweatshirt.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so unless you oh don't you worry, my friend, more to come on that.
Speaker 1:
Unless you want some Christmas presents that you're never gonna wear or use. Hey, listen, they're gonna spend the money anyways. They might as well get something you actually like.
Speaker 2:
But you mean Costco branded, because there are some nice clothes from Costco.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. People knew what I meant.
Speaker 2:
I know, I know. Have you seen all the people that have been tagging me and stuff?
Speaker 1:
I am appalled. I'm so happy.
Speaker 2:
I'm heartened.
Speaker 1:
I'm so disappointed in all of you.
Speaker 2:
So, yeah, the whole point of that second meaning is like let's just be proactive and let's just be intentional and it and write out these lists and yeah. So the third point. There was something else I wanted to say but I can't remember, so the We'll just move on to the third point. Maybe I'll think of it. But the third point is kind of flowing from that second point and that is spend some time over the next couple months weeks Decluttering, organizing and inventorying Is that a word your house.
Speaker 2:
So we're about to go into the holidays we're gonna have we you know, black Friday and Christmas and all of that, and it's just a good. This is a good time, like October is the beginning of the busy, and so, as you could really what I? We just did this a couple months ago, but you could really say, alright, we have eight rooms in our house, so I'm gonna focus on one room over the next, one room a week over the next eight weeks. You know what I mean. And so then that's October and November.
Speaker 2:
By the time December comes, each of your rooms are decluttered and Inventory. You don't even have to be like intense about it, but this, just every time I do this, it gives me ideas for like, oh, I think I would like spice holders or organization bins, or oh, liberty doesn't have any pants that fit her. Carter grew out of all of his underwear and as you're doing that, you can start writing things out and that gives you ideas for Christmas. It gives you ideas to give other people for Christmas and then you're going into the season knowing, okay, these are great gift ideas because these are things my kids actually need, like one that I think Would be really I thought about for Liberty as we've been moving her room around and stuff, as she's been loving arts and crafts and look at my office right now it is trash.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, we gotta matter here so you know, a good gift would be something like a desk or something yeah so and just with that, all I want to say is that you know it helps you to run more efficiently.
Speaker 1:
You don't necessarily always realize you know how much crap you've got like laying around and cluttered that you got to clean up or whatever.
Speaker 1:
And the other part of that is To is when she talks about one room at a time, it helps you to not feel overwhelmed by the whole thing and then, which means you just don't do it right.
Speaker 1:
And then the last thing I want to say is I don't know if people are like us and it just probably depends on where you live and what the weather is like, but you know, we've just spent the last what four or five, six months like outside, playing outside, and we're gonna start hitting that cold weather and hitting the snow, where you know we're just not gonna be outside as much. So you know, like our basement is dedicated as, like, the kids own and they really don't use it that much that way throughout those warm months Because we're outside playing, but now they're gonna, you know, as colder weather, so they're gonna start using it. So you really need to make sure that, like your kids have space and it's not cluttered and it's not messy and like a good where things go and then also, as you're Decluttering and knowing where things go, you can make sure that you have space for what's to come in this new season.
Speaker 2:
Because also, when I talked about that week between Christmas and New Year's, like our kids will get an influx of gifts, especially if we're not intentional in what we ask people to buy. Oh, I thought of my other point. But, yeah, when you are intentional, you have less stuff coming in. But also when you are proactive about what you ask people, you can make space for it in your house as you're decluttering, so it like all flows together. But what I wanted to say and we're probably gonna do a more detailed episode on this later, maybe, maybe not, cause I feel like we've talked about it in the past but talking about Christmas budget and Christmas gifts, something that we have done couple ideas. I'm one of seven, so as we became adults, we were like, yeah, we're not getting all of each other. I think we even did it like toward the end of like Bailey being in high school, brooklyn Bailey but we decided all right, we're gonna do a sibling gift exchange, where we do a drawing at Thanksgiving and we each get one person and then we exchange gifts.
Speaker 1:
That's a secret Santa.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So that's one way to help with budget and it's also really fun, and then it's not stressful and you can be intentional about what you buy that person, instead of having to buy seven gifts plus gifts for the spouses. It's just super expensive. Or you could say, like what we do with your brothers and like wit and you know your brothers and our sister-in-laws is we say, hey, let's not buy each buy gifts for each other, but we'll still get gifts for the kids. But now this year we have six kids, which we'll talk more about that next week. Yeah, you heard me right Six kids. We're a family of eight right now.
Speaker 2:
That's a massive burden, that's not really fair for us to expect people to buy each of our kids gifts.
Speaker 1:
That's expensive, so we might even reevaluate from there and just say, hey, let's just not do gifts this year and let's just do like a fun event Buy one box of crayons and give one to each of our kids, and they got a full box together.
Speaker 2:
But also like we could say our kids don't even need, like they don't have a need. We wanna make memories with you guys, so let's go do something. Instead of do a gift, let's go whatever you know. Okay, so point three was declutter, organize, inventory or house and while you're doing that, write needs, that you guys have things that you need to buy, and then think about what you can turn into Christmas gifts, et cetera.
Speaker 2:
And then the fourth one is kind of a little bit random, but not really. It's make more intentional, healthy choices to support our immune systems and be on track for the new year. So that's kind of broad, but the reason I want to even make that a point and we're doing it for ourselves too is because this time of year is always such a struggle, you know, like I said, financially, but also there's so much good food and you get out of routine and you get out of normal grocery shopping because you have all these parties and all of these events and it's just like as soon as Halloween hits, it's just one thing after the next and not even that, but also it's cold and flu season, so everybody gets sick, and then when you're sick and you don't feel good, then you don't want to eat. Good, it's just like it spirals easily.
Speaker 1:
Plus, I'm sure there's the statistics on this are pretty accurate to what's in my brain, but I'm pretty sure that 97% of Americans come out of all the holidays and start the new year with diabetes. So you know how like you tell your kids like, think before you speak. Right, let's do a little think before you eat. All right, Before you go and take that first bite of whatever's happening, just ask yourself is this gonna push me closer to having diabetes or is this gonna keep me from getting diabetes?
Speaker 1:
Okay well listen, I'm not saying don't have a nice solid Christmas cookie. You know, I like the ones with the little like. What is it like the peanut butter thing with the hardship kiss on top? I don't remember what that's called, but that's my favorite one.
Speaker 2:
I'm just saying you don't need to eat the entire Christmas cookie tray that you just exchanged with your entire neighborhood, or family and, like my personality, I'm all or nothing, and so I'm either eating really really good and clean, or I'm like it's the holiday season, why not, let's just celebrate.
Speaker 1:
I'm just messing up these yoga pants stretch.
Speaker 2:
Look at these squats.
Speaker 1:
Hey, don't worry, I kept my fat jeans from last year.
Speaker 2:
No, but seriously, Tracy, our nutritionist probably, if she's listening to this, is not gonna be happy about me saying this, but an example of this is I'm Syrian, you know, and our family we like to have Syrian feasts around this time of year, and so I'm gonna enjoy a piece of baklava, maybe two, potentially three, but Tracy, you better text us right away and tell us busted.
Speaker 1:
All right, if you're hearing this, you tell Beth right now busted.
Speaker 2:
No, but seriously, it's not like you can't enjoy the holiday season. Enjoy it. Drink a pumpkin spice latte if that's your jam. Eat a pumpkin roll or a piece of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:
You wanna be inflamed and get dementia and Stop you're so annoying. He's a silly actor, he's. You guys, I have to live with him.
Speaker 2:
I have to live with him. So All I'm saying is like give yourself permission to enjoy the holiday, but the thing is, from October 31st to December 31st, you don't have to indulge every single day.
Speaker 1:
There's still some normal days in there, you can sneak a couple pieces of candy out of your kid's bag, but don't eat the whole bag.
Speaker 2:
Right, okay, and I'm truly convinced. So, cold and flu season, right. Why is it this time of year? You know, you want to know why I think it's this time of year.
Speaker 1:
I'm actually really curious yeah.
Speaker 2:
Because, first of all, everybody's in their own families for the summer. Mm-hmm, september hits, school hits. I would be curious to see if other countries have cold and flu season this time of year. So there's multiple reasons that I think that it's this time of year. Then in September everybody goes back to school, so all these kids are condensed together, passing germs, so they're more likely to get sick. At the same time, we get less sunlight, the days are getting shorter. So our vitamin D decreases, so our immune systems decrease. And then the holidays hit.
Speaker 2:
And we have so much sugar, all kinds of sugar, which totally damages your immune system and your immunity and causes inflammation and whatever. I'm not saying don't eat sugar, but what I am saying is make sure you're getting sleep, make sure you take your vitamins, like my kids take Mary Ruth's vitamins and I have not been good at giving them to them, but right now we're taking them every day. They're getting zinc, they're getting vitamins.
Speaker 1:
Because I want to do everything I can to combat the illnesses.
Speaker 2:
And eat fruits and vegetables. I'm not saying you have to go running every day and work out every day and not enjoy a Christmas cookie, but just try and be healthier so that when you do get sick you're not sick as long and also so that you can enjoy the holiday season. If you're eating a cookie every single day, it's not a special or enjoyable, and then also, when January 1st comes, you're going to have to lose the same 20 pounds that you had to lose last January 1st. I just don't want to do that. I've done that far too many years.
Speaker 1:
I'm really considering doing a 75 heart overall.
Speaker 2:
No, no, no, no, please, don't, please.
Speaker 1:
You're like convincing me right now, because you're so extreme. I'm not extreme, that's not extreme.
Speaker 2:
You guys are getting a look into when we don't talk about these episodes before. Because if we had talked about this before, Cory would have said this and I would have been like. Don't mention that and then yes, Please don't, I'm not. This is the thing you guys Don't be like Cory. You don't have to completely cut out all the joy and fun and suck the life out of everything.
Speaker 1:
I still have a great time.
Speaker 2:
But just try and be a little bit healthier. So that's what we have today. Is there anything that you would like to add?
Speaker 1:
Nope, I'm good.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so those are our four things on how we're going out with a bang in 2023. Setting time aside for our budget, setting a realistic budget and starting to think about Christmas lists. To be proactive and intentional about sharing that with family, decluttering or organizing or inventorying our house, and then be more intentional about our health. So we're going to be doing that through this crazy season so that we'll have shorter sick times, less sick times and we don't have that holiday 20 to lose at the beginning of the year. So we'll see. I mean, we're not going to be stepping on the scale or anything on January 1st for the podcast, but or should we?
Speaker 2:
No, we definitely shouldn't. We definitely shouldn't. We hope that you guys have a good week and we appreciate you all and we'll catch you next time.