Most of us can guess what we spent on gifts. It's everything around the gifts — the flight home, the party outfit, the office Secret Santa, the teacher gifts — that blows the budget. This week, Meghan walks through how to set one total holiday number before the sales and invitations start: find your ceiling, list every category (including the five hidden costs), add a buffer, and trim until it fits — with a full worked example.

This week's action: find your ceiling, build your list with every hidden cost plus a 10% buffer, and move the money into its own savings bucket.

Resources:

Budget Blueprint Builder — Our one-hour workshop with an Excel and Google Sheets template built for exactly this kind of mid-year reset. $47. Linked Here!

🎯 5-Day Expense Reset — Free. For when today's episode made you want to finally just look at the full picture.

📘 The Confident Investor Blueprint

Read the full Show Notes Here!

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Rakuten

Thanks for tuning in and come back each week for a brand new episode! If you liked the episode, don't forget to hit subscribe, rate & review! Check out our FREE Newsletter to get all of our latest advice and freebies!

Connect with us on Instagram @your.money.style

Visit our website for articles, resources, and more at www.liveyourmoneystyle.com

Not all $100Ks are created equal.

A $100K salary, a $100K net worth, and $100K invested sound like the same milestone, but they measure completely different things. You can hit one and be nowhere near the other two.

In Episode 2 of our $100K Series, Maddie and Meghan break down what each number actually tells you, why your salary is the most celebrated and least revealing of the three, and how to figure out which milestone to chase next, whether you’re at $5K or $500K.

In this episode:

• Why “six figures” can still feel tight
• Why net worth is the only $100K that tells the whole truth
• The milestone where your money starts doing the work
• A simple 3-stage framework for knowing which number to focus on now

Resources:

Budget Blueprint Builder — Our one-hour workshop with an Excel and Google Sheets template built for exactly this kind of mid-year reset. $47. Linked Here!

🎯 5-Day Expense Reset — Free. For when today's episode made you want to finally just look at the full picture.

📘 The Confident Investor Blueprint

Read the full Show Notes Here!

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Rakuten

Thanks for tuning in and come back each week for a brand new episode! If you liked the episode, don’t forget to hit subscribe, rate & review! Check out our FREE Newsletter to get all of our latest advice and freebies!

Connect with us on Instagram @your.money.style

Visit our website for articles, resources, and more at www.liveyourmoneystyle.com

The LinkedIn “my role was eliminated” posts. The recorded HR calls with millions of views. The green “open to work” banner on a former coworker’s profile. Every scroll brings a quiet jolt of could that be me? And what would I even do first?

This week, Maddie and Meghan turn that anxiety into a plan. They walk through a step-by-step layoff playbook:

This episode is for education only. It isn’t legal or tax advice.

Resources:

Budget Blueprint Builder — Our one-hour workshop with an Excel and Google Sheets template built for exactly this kind of mid-year reset. $47. Linked Here!

🎯 5-Day Expense Reset — Free. For when today's episode made you want to finally just look at the full picture.

📘 The Confident Investor Blueprint

Read the full Show Notes Here!

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Rakuten

Thanks for tuning in and come back each week for a brand new episode! If you liked the episode, don’t forget to hit subscribe, rate & review! Check out our FREE Newsletter to get all of our latest advice and freebies! Connect with us on Instagram @your.money.style Visit our website for articles, resources, and more at www.liveyourmoneystyle.com

1929, 1987, 2008 — October has a reputation as the stock market's "crash month." But the data tells a different story: September is historically the weaker month, and October is better known for ending bear markets than starting them. This Halloween week, Maddie myth-busts "Octoberphobia," explains why our brains remember scary markets the way they do, and walks through what it actually costs to run from a scary headline — including J.P. Morgan's data on missing the market's best days.

This week's action: match each investment account to its goal and timeline, confirm your contributions are automatic, and write your one-sentence scary-day rule.

Read the full Show Notes Here!

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Rakuten

Thanks for tuning in and come back each week for a brand new episode! If you liked the episode, don't forget to hit subscribe, rate & review! Check out our FREE Newsletter to get all of our latest advice and freebies!

Connect with us on Instagram @your.money.style

Visit our website for articles, resources, and more at www.liveyourmoneystyle.com

The office toy drive. A friend’s GoFundMe. “Round up for charity?” at checkout. Then Giving Tuesday fills your inbox. You want to help, but by Friday you’ve said yes to everything, don’t know what you spent, and still feel guilty.

Maddie and Meghan show you how to give with a plan, so you can say yes with your whole heart and no without guilt.

In this episode:

• Why holiday giving turns into guilt
• Two easy ways to set your giving number
• How to choose your causes before anyone asks
• Ways to give back that don’t cost a dollar
• How to check whether your employer will match your gift

Your move: Set your number, name two or three causes, and check your benefits portal for a match before Thanksgiving.

Resources:

Budget Blueprint Builder — Our one-hour workshop with an Excel and Google Sheets template built for exactly this kind of mid-year reset. $47. Linked Here!

🎯 5-Day Expense Reset — Free. For when today's episode made you want to finally just look at the full picture.

📘 The Confident Investor Blueprint

Read the full Show Notes Here!

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Rakuten

Thanks for tuning in and come back each week for a brand new episode! If you liked the episode, don't forget to hit subscribe, rate & review! Check out our FREE Newsletter to get all of our latest advice and freebies!

Connect with us on Instagram @your.money.style

Visit our website for articles, resources, and more at www.liveyourmoneystyle.com

Open enrollment is one of the biggest money decisions you'll make all year — and most of us make it in twenty minutes, the night before the deadline. This week, Meghan walks through the simple formula for comparing health plans (premiums + expected out-of-pocket − employer money), runs a side-by-side PPO vs. high-deductible example for both a light year and a rough one, and covers how to use your HSA or FSA without leaving money on the table.

This week's action: pull this year's medical spending, run the total-cost formula on your top two plans, and confirm your doctors and prescriptions are covered before you submit.

Resources:

Budget Blueprint Builder — Our one-hour workshop with an Excel and Google Sheets template built for exactly this kind of mid-year reset. $47. Linked Here!

🎯 5-Day Expense Reset — Free. For when today's episode made you want to finally just look at the full picture.

📘 The Confident Investor Blueprint

Read the full Show Notes Here!

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Rakuten

Thanks for tuning in and come back each week for a brand new episode! If you liked the episode, don't forget to hit subscribe, rate & review! Check out our FREE Newsletter to get all of our latest advice and freebies!

Connect with us on Instagram @your.money.style

Visit our website for articles, resources, and more at www.liveyourmoneystyle.com

Meghan’s daily Olipop habit was costing her about $1,000 a year, and she was drinking it on her own couch.

With prices up more than 3%, you need about a 3% raise just to stay even. Maddie and Meghan show you how to give yourself that raise without cutting what you love. These aren’t the “stop buying coffee” tips you’ve already heard.

In this episode:

• Stretching the time between appointments (and the one category you never stretch)
• Spotting the autopilot habits that quietly add up
• Downgrading instead of deleting
• A quick audit of what you’re paying for
• A few unexpected wins, from your library card to cash back

Your move: Pick one autopilot habit and multiply the daily cost by 365.

Resources:

Budget Blueprint Builder — Our one-hour workshop with an Excel and Google Sheets template built for exactly this kind of mid-year reset. $47. Linked Here!

🎯 5-Day Expense Reset — Free. For when today's episode made you want to finally just look at the full picture.

📘 The Confident Investor Blueprint

Read the full Show Notes Here!

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Rakuten

Thanks for tuning in and come back each week for a brand new episode! If you liked the episode, don't forget to hit subscribe, rate & review! Check out our FREE Newsletter to get all of our latest advice and freebies!

Connect with us on Instagram @your.money.style

Visit our website for articles, resources, and more at www.liveyourmoneystyle.com

October is National Financial Planning Month, and it’s the perfect time for a quarterly money date. This week, Maddie walks through a simple three-question audit to close out the year strong: what’s on track, what’s behind (as an actual number, not a feeling), and the one move to make before December. She also shows why Q4 is a full quarter, not a write-off.

• Why “I’ll just reset in January” costs you three months
• The quick math to see exactly how far behind a goal you are
• A worked example: closing an emergency-fund gap with one change
• Building a Q4 plan that survives the holidays

“Partial credit counts. In money, partial credit is most of the game.”

This week’s action: schedule your money date, answer the three questions, and set up your one move.

Read the full Show Notes Here!

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Rakuten

Thanks for tuning in and come back each week for a brand new episode! If you liked the episode, don’t forget to hit subscribe, rate & review! Check out our FREE Newsletter to get all of our latest advice and freebies!

Connect with us on Instagram @your.money.style

Visit our website for articles, resources, and more at www.liveyourmoneystyle.com