Stop Financing Your Personality | The Truth About Debt & Money Habits

Debt is not a personality trait, it’s a season.

In this video, Erica shares the real reason many people stay stuck in debt: avoidance. She explains how she nearly filed bankruptcy before realizing that debt is simply math, and the real solution is structure, awareness, and consistent financial habits.

You’ll learn practical strategies to take control of your finances including the 48-hour rule for impulse spending, identifying hidden spending leaks, and how to use the Debt Snowball and Debt Avalanche methods to pay off debt faster.

Erica also breaks down the critical difference between credit card due dates and statement dates, a simple trick that can help you save money on interest and improve your credit score.

If you’re tired of feeling overwhelmed by your finances and want to build a life you can truly afford, this video will help you create the structure and mindset needed to move forward.

Follow Us for More Inspiration:

📸 Instagram: @erica.rawls
🎥 YouTube: Erica Rawls
📧 For inquiries and collaborations: customercare@ericarawls.com

✨ Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to stay updated with our latest episodes! 

Transcript

omfort Vs Overwhelmed

Erica Rawls 0:00

Can I say something that might sting just a little bit? And I'm gonna say it in love. A lot of us, we're not overwhelmed. Not overwhelmed at all. We are actually too comfortable. We're too comfortable allowing ourselves to carry credit card balances, or saying that I'll pay it later, or looking like the park and all dressed up. And you're really, you're stressed the hell out. What I've learned is that that does not define you, but it does reveal who you really are. And let's talk about it. Welcome back to another episode of Coffee with P. And if you're new here, hello, I'm Erica Rawls. I'm your financial wholeness bestie, and I cannot wait to meet you in the comments. Around here, we talk about building wealth, living beautiful lives, and able to afford it. Not just the aesthetics, peace too. So go ahead and subscribe if you feel as though you are serious about getting your money right and you also don't want to lose your style. This is the place to be. Oh, and do me a favor, that friend that says she's on a budget, but you and I both know she has three packages on the way, send it to her too. Okay, I want to start here. There's a difference between having debt and actually identifying yourself with it. Some of us talk about debt as if it's a personality trait. Stop doing that. We're gonna stop that today because I'm here to share with you that it's actually a season, a season that you're going through. And it's something that you actually can overcome as long as you put structure and a plan in place. There was a time in my life that I almost filed bankruptcy. Did y'all know that? I almost fouled bankruptcy. And the reason why is because I only would look at certain things and I would avoid other things. And one thing I learned about debt, debt was not the problem. Debt is math. My issue was avoidance. I would avoid by any means necessary. How many of you out there are just the same way? You're willing to avoid looking at the things that you need to in order to overcome your situation. You're not alone. I got through it and I'm confident that you can get through it too. When you think about your finances, are you feeling calm or do you feel exposed? The answer to this question is going to say a lot. It's going to give you a lot of information. If your answer is calm, then the good news is you probably more than likely have structure. If you feel exposed, that's okay. Because that just means that there's something that you're avoiding. There's something that you're hiding, and you're going to work through it. And let's do it together. And a lot of times when it comes to avoiding, sometimes we like to distract ourselves from the issues that we have. We upgrade the trip, we say yes to brunch, and we'll grab that outfit. And then when that statement comes, all we do is get irritated. Why? Because we know that we stretched ourselves and it never feels good. That's what I mean when I say some of y'all are financing your personality. Not because you're fake, because you're trying to keep up with the personality that your bank account can't afford just yet. There's a difference between having expensive taste and having expensive impulses. One that you're actually going to plan. The other one, you're just shooting from the hip. We don't want that. That stops today. And once you can tell the difference, that's when you can change the pattern. More on patterns in a little bit. Most spending habits are emotional. It's after you had a long week or you saw something on Instagram that you wish that you could actually have, or you're just overwhelmed, just period. So what do you do? You end up spending. You buy something, and for a moment it felt good. That's the part we don't say out loud. Now, here's the difference. Strategic spending sounds different. It sounds like this stop the spending and support what we're building. Hey Luxie, guess what, y'all? If you haven't realized I sell real estate, I help buyers and sellers purchase their home. So if you're looking to buy or to sell, reach out to your girl. Now back to the show. So one small thing that I actually practiced was the 48-hour rule. That meant if I felt like I was about to buy something before I actually bought it, when I knew I was in that impulsive state, I literally would take 48 hours before actually making the purchase. I would think about it, I would think about it some more, ask myself, why do I want this? And also if I afford it, and if it made sense, then I go ahead and purchase it. That little practice right there, Luxis, is going to save you a lot of money. You don't have to say no, you just have to say, don't say yes immediately. Take your time to think about it. The 48-hour rule is there to be your friend. Now there's this, it's only. Well, it's only$40. Well, it's just$25. Those littles and just only's, they add up. See, it's not the big bills that get us, the rent, the car payments. No, it's the little ones. Trips to the coffee shop. It's those little trips to get your nails done. It's the little trips to get your hair done. Those over time end up being big item costs. For example, I would challenge you to look to see how much it costs you every week to eat out. If you're a foodie and you like to go out and eat, you probably have over$100 that you spent on just eating out alone. Because eating out is expensive. So look to see how much that actually costs you. And the money that you end up saving once you realize that it's only is causing damage, is you're going to be so excited. I need you for you to put in the comments, okay, Erica, by looking at how much I ate this week, I see that I'm able to save$100. And when you get that$100, you're going to put it in your savings because that's going to actually help you get toward your goal and your future self is going to thank you. Hey Luxis, if you're looking for a construction company, I have just the one for you. They are great at everything. You want to know I know? Because I use them personally. Top construction. Check them out. They are reasonable and they get the job done. Now back to the show. So let's reset. Not dramatically, we're going to do this calmly, okay? We're going to start looking at our debt. I know, I know what you're saying. Let me get some coffee real quick because I know you're just like, oh gosh, here we go. I need you to do me a favor. We're going to check out what your real number is. Okay. Not the roundabout, not an estimate. We're going to look at real numbers so that we know exactly where we need to go. So that means, you know, those letters that you were throwing to the side that you didn't want to open up and you know they had a bill in there, it's going to show the true balance. That's what I need you to look at. You know that online or the text message that you would get from the person saying you need to pay X amount of dollars, that's what I need you to look at. Or you know that online payments that you said from Clarina that you've been missing, we're going to look at those two. Any credit card statements, any bills that you have that you pay on a monthly installment outside of your rent and or your mortgage, those are the things that we're going to be collecting. And then what we're going to do is we're going to figure out which way we're going to go about reducing our debt. Now, there's two methods out there that we're probably everyone knows about or heard about in passing. The first one is the snowball method. Now, that one I really appreciated when I first started and got out of debt, okay? Because what you do is you're going to line up all of your debts that you have and you're going to pay off the smallest balance first. What that does is going to create a rhythm and momentum for you actually to start paying down your debt. You're going to see quick wins. I need to see quick wins. A lot of people need to see quick wins because that lets you know that okay, that's a motivator. I'm getting somewhere, I'm paying off some debt, I'm going in the right direction. Once you build up the habit, what I decided to do was I went from the snowball method to the avalanche method. Well, what is that, Erica? I'm about to share with you. Here we go. So the avalanche method, you're going to look at your highest interest rate because what kills people most times is the interest expense that you have to pay on a yearly basis. And that is something that we want to eliminate. I want to share a little bit about another secret too to help you with that interest rate. However, once you get in the momentum of the snowball method and you're paying off those quick wins, you're going to celebrate. And then once you get into the rhythm, you're going to switch to the avalanche method. Now, if you're very disciplined and you think that you want to go all in and start with the avalanche method because you want to save on your interest expense, you go for it. Here's another secret that a lot of people don't tell you about. There's a difference between a due date and a statement date. Check this out. Due date is going to keep you in debt. The minimum payment is going to keep you longer trapped. We don't want that. Any way that you possibly can, you want to pay that statement balance off because that's going to save you interest in the long run. The way you do that is the minimum balance, you pay it before the statement date. The statement date is different from your due date. It's typically five to ten days after your due date. And that statement date, a lot of people don't know that, that's when you actually report to the credit bureau. So that's going to affect your credit. Identifying your due date and your statement date and seeing if there's any way that you can pay off your statement balance, that's going to save you a lot of money and you're going to see your credit score go up. I want to tell you, it wasn't too long ago when I found out about your due date and your statement date. That's a huge win. Seriously, that's a huge win. So I had to share it with you. Now, for those of you that are out there, you go through this drill and you notice that the total amount that you owe is greater than the actual amount that you bring in each month. This is not the conversation for you. There has to be, there's a different plan that you're going to have to be on. Don't get overwhelmed because there are ways in which you actually can pay off your debt, but I would not recommend the snowball or the avalanche because what it's going to do is the snowball is just going to be a perpetual life cycle that is going to cause you a lot of stress. You are not alone and you're not by yourself. There's other people that are in your same situation. You want to get ahead of it. So what how do you do that? So possibly getting another job to pay off specifically for those debts, and that's it. Ultimately, there's credit counseling. There's credit counseling where you can get debt consolidations. However, I'm not an expert in that area, but you do want to look into different methods in which you can actually consolidate all of your debt. And finally, there's bankruptcy. I don't wish that for anybody, and I and let that be your last resort. Hey Luxis, All-State Insurance, Robert Shaw. He's the guy you need to call when you need insurance for your home, for your car, for your flood insurance. He's the guy, Robert Shaw, All-State Insurance. Now, back to the show. Back to everyone else and choosing your method. Once you start seeing your wins and you start getting$1,000 saved, please don't splurge that. I'm going to recommend you either put in your savings account or you're going to put it towards additional debt. That's what the snowball effect is. The snowball method is all about. And then once you do that, you're going to start feeling lighter. And you're going to feel like, yes, I finally got this. And then you can save up for those things that you really want. Even if you want to splurge, you'll be able to do it with peace of mind. So let's talk about your future self. Your future self is tired. She's tired of bailing you out. She's tired of you transferring money into your savings, and in 24 hours you're putting it back into your checkings account. She is tired of you robbing Peter to pay Paul. She just wants you to be calm. She wants margins. She wants some options. You can give her some options because you deserve it and she deserves it. Consistency. And another thing, let's stop saying you're bad with money. You're not bad with money. You're just not willing to interrupt your patterns that you already created for yourself. And patterns aren't created by accident. You literally have to take some time out to change them. And that, my friends, is maturity. Debt does not define you. The way you handle it is going to determine the next version of yourself. Now, this isn't about shame. This is about getting clarity. This is being kind to yourself. Understanding that, yep, I don't want to be in the same position that I am in today. My future self deserves better. And I know for a fact that when you get through this situation here and you get this sinking in your head, you are going to be able to fund the life that you truly deserve beautifully and be able to afford it. And that is only your lux. Financial Wholeness Journal is coming soon. And it's not just about the numbers, ladies, it's about your whole life, financially, relationships, emotionally, and generationally. And I cannot wait to share it with you. We got things to do. We want to live beautifully. We want to fund the life that we truly deserve. And most of all, we want to afford it.