Top 10 Ways to Save Money

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• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

  Hello and welcome to the Green Industry Podcast, your go-to guide for building a more profitable and thriving lawn care and landscaping business. Your host, Paul Jameson, is the author of five bestselling books, including Cut That Grass and Make That Cash and his latest, Level Up Your Money, all available on Amazon and Audible. Now get ready for more expert insights and practical strategies to boost your business and level up your life. Here's Paul Jamison.

• 1:08Speaker 00

  Welcome to the Green Industry Podcast. Today, we're going to talk about the top 10 ways to save money. I am your host, Paul Jamison, down here in Tampa, Florida. So before we get into the list of the top 10 ways to save money, I want to share why I'm sharing this topic in the timing of the year that I'm sharing this in. So one of the most frequently asked questions I get as a host of a podcast about how to grow a successful lawn care business is what do you do in the winter? Because in most places, and I've lived in the state of Georgia for 15 years, and it gets cold there in December, January, February, and the grass goes dormant and there's, there's no grass to cut. The grass turns like tan and it ain't growing

• 1:52Speaker 00

  until it warms back up in, you know, middle of April.

• 1:55Speaker 02

  So what do you do in those months? Well, we've had several episodes of ways you can make revenue in those months. But at the end of the day, the most successful plan is to save your money during the spring and the summer. There's a fellow I found on YouTube a long time ago. His name is Johnny Mo, and I don't even know if he makes content anymore, but I would watch him back in like 2015, 2014. And he would talk about, because he's in Pennsylvania, he would talk about making the calendar like a basketball game. So you have a first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter.

• 2:36Speaker 02

  And his goal was every year by Labor Day to have the money saved for his winter fund. So he calculated how much he needs to survive, you know, in November, December, January, February, those frigid Pennsylvania winter days when there is no grass to cut. How much money does he need for his wife? And at the time, he had two young children. I'm sure they're grown by now. But anyway, he did it every year. He saved up his money when the going was good. He was making hay while the sun shines in April, May, June, July, August, and setting aside that money. And then in winter, he already had all of his money.

• 3:19Speaker 02

  Now, he's a go getter, so he's not going to just sit around all day and, you know, be lazy. So he would find other ways to make money that would basically be icing on the cake or bonus. And then a lot of years, didn't even have to touch the saving. But it's a good principle to have is to save the money while the times are going good. So anyways, I'm recording this podcast, Labor Day is right around the corner, and I just wanted to share some tips. If you're like, well, how do I save money? I'm going to give the practical tips today. Warren Buffett talks a lot about saving money. His famous, well, he has a lot of famous quotes, but one of his famous quotes is, he says, "Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving."

• 4:03Speaker 02

  Meaning, when you come across money, you serve your customer at the highest level and they pay you, save money first. Save money first, and then you make all of your decisions after that. This is a non-negotiable part of his life was saving money. Then you invest the money. He's a multi, multi, multi-billionaire. Benjamin Franklin said that a penny saved is a penny earned. I think that's who said that, but it's a, it's an old school term or quote phrase, a penny saved is a penny earned.

• 4:38Speaker 02

  In the, in the Bible, it says, "The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but the fools gulp theirs down." Classic example of this is athletes. They, they make all this money in a short amount of time, more money than most folks make in a lifetime who work a nine to five, you know, go to work day after day, year after year, decade after decade. You know, they, they might make $3 million doing that. Just, I'm just using an average number, like, you know, somebody who works a nine to five at a, at a regular salary for 40 years. Let's say that's $3 million. I'm just doing rough draft to make my point, rough math to do my point, rough draft. You can tell I write a lot of books, right? Rough draft.

• 5:20Speaker 02

  But he, um, the athlete, not he, I was thinking of one athlete in particular, but I already feel like picking on him today, but the athletes will make more than $3 million in their career, you know, in the NBA or NFL, or even in a season, if they're really highly paid. And that's what most people make in their whole entire lifetime. And then my point was they gulp it all down, right? They go live high on the hog. They, they go spend it, right? Popping bottles at the, I've never been to a club, but you know, I've been at golf course, but not the, not like the club, club, club, right? Where they, where they have the little sections where they spend all their money. And anyway, fools gulp theirs down. So Proverbs

• 6:02Speaker 02

  chapter 21, verse 20 was written way before whatever the fancy clubs are where these athletes and folks blow their money. But the principle is that wise people store up choice food and olive oil. Wise people think ahead. Wise people look toward the future. Jesus himself said, "Suppose somebody wants to build a tower, won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?"

• 6:32Speaker 02

  So that's what, that's what Jesus taught. He taught about planning and budgeting to ensure we're prepared. Planning and budgeting to ensure we're prepared. Proverbs 13 11 says that dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gains or gathers money little by little makes it grow. So $50 to cut Mrs. Smith's yard here, $60 to cut Randy's grass here, right? Little by little, you make money. And if you're smart with it, you can make it multiply.

• 7:09Speaker 02

  So today's episode, I'm not going to talk about investing. I'm going to talk about saving. But the point of saving is that you have money to invest. So you save the money and you can set a little bit of it aside in like a, like a high yield savings account for the emergency fund in case you need to access it. But the, the point that Warren Buffett was making is that you save the money so that you can then invest that money you've saved. And then those investments can really catch compound interest and grow, grow, grow, baby. So let's get into the practical ways, right? 10, top 10 ways to save money. What's that,

• 7:50Speaker 02

  Mr. Producer? Okay, we're good to go. So number one is to create a budget and stick to it. So if you want to save money, at the end of the day, you need to track your money. So track your income, how much you're making and track your expenses. I literally just made my own spreadsheet. My friend, Leila, she's my budget consultant. I meet with her. Actually got a meeting with her next week. I was looking at my calendar. I look forward to those meetings because we, we update the spreadsheet for the next month. We forecast, look ahead, plan,

• 8:30Speaker 02

  what's the income that I'm scheduled to receive next month? And then what are the expenses for next month? Because no month is, is ever the same. For example, in my life, next month, I have multiple trips planned. So.

• 8:49Speaker 02

  Those cost more money than a than a regular month when I'm just, you know, hanging out here in the sunshine state.

• 8:58Speaker 02

  But we gotta, we gotta plan for it.

• 9:01Speaker 02

  So step one of 10 of ways to save money is to get really good at budgeting and tracking your money. In my new book, Level Up Your Money, I wrote a whole chapter right out of the gate. I just come right out of the gate and talk about

• 9:17Speaker 02

  how important it is to budget,

• 9:20Speaker 02

  which is you look at what expenses do I have this month? What money do I have coming in? And you, you make the plan. And then if something's outside of that plan and it arises during the month, you have the fortitude to say, no, I can't afford that right now. But I'll consider it for the next month. So having a budget, sticking to the budget, I should mention that part. If you have a budget, you don't stick to it. Yeah, you might as well not even have a budget. But if you have a budget and then you stick to it, and then you analyze it at the end of the month, and then you just rinse and repeat for the next month. So it's a great, great habit to have. Again, I hired somebody to help me with this. Like I actually looking forward to my meeting next week with Leila. We'll look at how I did this month.

• 10:03Speaker 02

  And then we'll analyze, I already know my food eating out budget this month. What I had planned and what I've actually spent has, I've spent way more eating out this past month than I had budgeted for. But I spent less on groceries, so it's still pretty similar. But anyway, we, by just knowing the truth of where these numbers are, it really helps. Number two, cut unnecessary subscriptions. So I was on the phone yesterday and I got a little bit aggravated. And I probably could have been nicer to this lady, but I had a membership that they had emailed me like, thanks for renewing your membership. And I was like, renew my membership? I canceled this thing last month, you know? And I was like, these suckers, like I, you know, I went through this whole ordeal to cancel it. Now they're emailing me, thanks for the renewal. And I'm like, oh, man, I was hot.

• 10:48Speaker 02

  I was livid. And of course you barely, you know, speaks broken English. So I'm, anyway, the point was,

• 10:57Speaker 02

  If I wanted to have been on top of it, they would have just kept charging me money for a subscription that I use zero, 000. So I canceled it and then apparently they renewed it and I had to, you know, make sure it's canceled. So if you rarely use, now, you know, I have friends that go to the gym, pay a gym membership, but they go every day. Well, you don't need to cancel that if you're actually using it, but if you've got a gym membership and you don't actually go, cancel it, right? You got those streaming services? People are like, have you seen Happy Gilmore 2 yet? And I was like, I don't have Netflix. I think you gotta watch it on Netflix. Magazines. I mean, there's so many things that are subscriptions,

• 11:40Speaker 02

  right? If you actually use it and can justify it, then it's okay if you can afford it, but a lot of them, they're really, they're really crafty, the way they, right? They were way it gets you in, right? Hey, a free trial, free 10 day trial, free seven day trial, free two week trial. And you're like, okay, free, then you forget about it. Now you're, now you're, now they're charging your card and you don't even notice it if you're not tracking your money because it's only 16 bucks here, 10 bucks there, but that stuff adds up. Alrighty, number three, I can tell I'm stepping on toes, Mr. Producer. Crunch, crunch, crunch, stepping on toes.

• 12:16Speaker 03

  What can $30 get you these days? A pizza, maybe a half tank of gas, or the ultimate lawn and landscape experience. This October, Equip Expo takes over Louisville, Kentucky with a massive 30 acre demo yard where you can test drive mowers, track loaders, UTVs, and more. Need a breakthrough? You can choose from over 100 game-changing education sessions, and when the day's done, you can enjoy the Big and Rich Concert free with your badge. Don't miss it. Contractors from all over the world are growing at Equip. Register now at equipexposition.com and use the promo code PAUL to save 50% off your tickets. That's

• 12:58Speaker 03

  right, tickets for just $15 with the promo code PAUL. You can get those at equipexposition.com.

• 13:06Speaker 02

  Number three. Ways to save money is something I'm working on. I've been traveling so much. Looking at my calendar and I'm still traveling. Oh, man. When I get back from all these trips, my goal is to plan better at cooking at home. Right. And it helps my belly get not so big, but I'm buying groceries, right? Aldi's is right around the corner from where I live. They got good prices there and kind of prepping meals, cooking from home. That can save money and time. So anyway, I know, Leila, if you're listening, I know.

• 13:45Speaker 02

  I've been eating out a lot. My, my, my budgets, my spreadsheets, they tell a story. But what I'm working on is, is cooking more at home. Again, when I get back from these trips, I've been, I, my life, the last couple of months have been wild in a good way, but from a economical food perspective, been a lot of eating out. Alrighty, number four would be shop smart. So when you are going to buy something, the more research you can do, the better, uh, to, you know, to make sure you're finding the best deal. Uh, cause if you're just in a hurry and you're just like, oh, I'll just buy this real quick. You, you know,

• 14:27Speaker 02

  you could get suckered. So when you are going to buy something, make sure you do adequate research on the discounts. For example, great segue, Mr. Producer, Equip Expo. Some people will pay $120 to go to Equip Expo because that's the ticket price this year, full price. If you wait till the last week, some people, they'll pay $60.

• 14:53Speaker 02

  However, you, my friend, can get a discount with the promo code PAUL. You can get 50% off your ticket. Right now they're doing early bird pricing for $30. You can get your ticket for $15. So that's what I'm talking about. There will, there will be thousands of people. Well, there'll be, last year I had 27,000 people there. So let's just say it's the same attendance. There'll be a lot of those people that use promo code Paul and got their tickets for $15. And then there'll be a lot of those people that got the same ticket, same access to everything. Exactly. I mean, everything's exact same. Once you get your Equip Expo ticket and they paid $120. So the wise consumer used coupons, which in this case it's just a.

• 15:31Speaker 02

  You know, promo code, coupon code Paul. It's not like you have to cut out a coupon and turn it into a quip. You just, when you're filling out the registration, it says coupon code, you just type in my name, Paul. Promotional code is actually what it says. You just type in Paul, boom, you get half off. And there's all kinds of other deals like that outside of just the equip expo, you saving half off of that, where we can get discounts by shopping smart. So shop smart with discounts. Number five is to prioritize saving before spending. Back to Warren Buffett's quote. And some people, I don't do this, but some people auto transfer money into their savings account at certain times during the month or whatever. What I do is I check my bank accounts

• 16:15Speaker 02

  every morning. I'm obsessed with it. And with not obsessed, but I'm back to that quote from Jesus, when he said, he's talking about building a tower, but he was like, don't you want to first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? I like to look every month, every morning, how much money came in yesterday, if any, revenue into my business. And then if money came into rev, if revenue came into my business yesterday, I'm going to transfer a percentage of that into my savings. And the main bulk of that is going to go to taxes. But I also have a portion of that that I'll use towards investing. But I, I don't automatically do it. I manually do it. But the point is I do it. I prioritize saving before I spend. So,

• 17:00Speaker 02

  so when a hundred dollars comes into my business, because I serve someone and they're happy and they pay me money, the very first thing I do with that earned the money from serving someone is I save it. Very first thing. Now, out of that money I save, the vast, the vast majority of it goes to Uncle Sam, right? Goes to taxes. But then another portion of it, I'll have sitting there so that I can invest it. Dave Ramsey says, your greatest wealth building tool is your income. So that's the first thing you do with it. Now, I drive a Honda Accord for my personal vehicle, right? And I had, I had a lot of people are like, what happened to the F-150? I had an awesome

• 17:40Speaker 02

  F-150 when I was in Georgia, running my lawn care business in Georgia, and I sold that thing when I went, when I came to Florida. But long story short is they were both paid off vehicles. And they're not, they're not brand new, they're not fancy, but I I'd rather save my money than have some Rolls Royce, you know? Anyway, let me move on before I make everyone mad, Mr. Producer. Good point. Let's take a quick break. Let me, uh, let me get refocused. I know I'm stepping on toes with all of these, man. Cutting unnecessary subscriptions, cooking at home, creating a budget, shopping smart with discounts, saving money before you spend it. These are, these don't, these don't make you, uh, yeah, these don't, don't get the likes on Facebook as, as the kids say these days.

• 18:22Speaker 02

  I guess the kids aren't on Facebook, but my point is this ain't gonna make you popular talking like this old school stuff. But this is what wise people do. This is how we save money. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna do a part two for this. So this was part one and we will be back, uh, for part two. And we'll go over the other five, which are equally important. These aren't, these aren't in order. Like this one is the most important. This one, like the ones I have next up on the list are like next level. So we will have part two of the top 10 ways to save money coming up on the next episode. Thanks for listening.

• 19:15Speaker 01

  Hey, it's Marty, producer of the Green Industry Podcast. This episode is over, but check the episode notes for links to products and services that you heard about during the episode. And thanks for listening.