Money Saving Tips While Living Sustainably (with Belle Kraxberger)

Did you know you can save a ton of money while also saving the earth?? More often than not, making sustainable choices that benefit the earth also benefits our wallet.
Belle Kraxberger, Financial Advisor, joins Katie Kurpanek, Eco-Living Coach and Podcast Host, to share money-saving tips and tricks that will help you to create long-lasting habits, to make your money work for you, and to accomplish your goals -- all while caring for the planet!
-------
This show is brought to you by listener support, and I'm sending a huge shout-out to these patrons for making it happen: Elizabeth R, Nancy K, Sarah W, Jodi S, Julia B, Liliana S, Karyn W, Linda M, Detlef K, and Kelly K!
To become a patron and receive all the perks of this community, visit www.patreon.com/allthingssustainable and join for as low as $3/month!
-------
To learn more with your host and Eco-Living Coach, Katie Kurpanek, visit www.thatminimallife.com for blog posts and personalized coaching info!
Instagram: @that.minimal.life
Email: katie.thatminimallife@gmail.com
-------
TRANSCRIPTS FOR EACH EPISODE can be found here: https://allthingssustainable.buzzsprout.com
-------
Belle is a financial advisor serving all 50 states. She is dedicated to making financial services more accessible and customized to everyone's unique needs.

Facebook: Worth More, Get More https://www.facebook.com/missworthmoregetmore

Instagram: @worthmoregetmore https://www.instagram.com/worthmoregetmore/

Email: belle.kraxberger@gmail.com

-------
Shop with SimpleSwitch and find products that make a positive impact with every purchase using my affiliate link here: simpleswitch.org/?ref=thatminimallife

Transcript

Katie Kurpanek: 0:06

You're listening to all things sustainable, where we unpack topics related to sustainable living, as well as how to apply specific actions to your own life. I'm your eco living coach and podcast host, Katie Kurpanek. Let's jump in. Hey, friends, we are back with another episode. And today's conversation is so good. I cannot wait to get into this and to share it with you. We know that living sustainably is more than just taking care of our planet. We want to develop a lifestyle that benefits us in all aspects socially, emotionally, physically and financially. I'm Katie, your eco living coach helping you to minimize your carbon footprint and to maximize your positive impact on our planet. And today I had the privilege of talking with Belle Kraxberger, a financial advisor, she is so smart and relatable and creative. She's well versed in the connections between living sustainably while saving money. And the best part is she is accessible. Her whole goal as a financial advisor is to be focused on providing financial education and support for clients in every stage of their lives. She works with clients to connect their values and dreams to tangible financial steps, and helps them to turn it all into a reality. You definitely don't want to miss a minute of Belle's Tips and Tricks within this episode. Plus what she shares about you being able to access her financial guidance at the end is just mind blowing. It made me so happy when she shared it, and I cannot wait for you to hear it as well. This show is brought to you by my wonderful patrons through Patreon, which we'll talk more about later. But I want to send them a giant thank you for their listener support. Because of our patrons were able to continue empowering others through educational conversations like this one. Alright, let's get started. Belle, thank you so much for joining me today, I'm super excited to talk with you and to have you on this podcast. I've already filled my listeners in with just a brief bio and background on you. But I would love if you could just start out by telling us a little bit about yourself, and how you got into your line of work. What you're most passionate about really anything that you would like to introduce yourself with?

Belle Kraxberger: 2:14

Absolutely, thank you so much for having me today. So I am a financial advisor. This was not the path I ever, ever forsaw myself taking. I got my degree in English education. I was a high school English teacher, before I very quickly burnt out and all these things. But I always held on to this passion for teaching and for leadership and for connecting with people in that scope of you know, how can I be of service to you in a way that really up levels you and moves you forward in a lot of things. So when I was searching for my next career, I stumbled upon the financial office that I ended up signing on with, and their primary focuses were education and leadership. They're like, you know, the dollars and the cents are all the front facing stuff. That's, of course, the stuff that we deal with. But at our heart at our core, it's about how can we improve people's lives through their finances, specifically through financial education and access. And I'm in an office that is really trying to transform the financial industry, we are very quickly becoming you know, more 60 to 70%, female, we're getting more minorities, we're getting a very strong basis in the LGBTQ you know, bringing them in, we're having a big conversation around ethical investing, green investing different things like that. And really understanding that money and wealth is more than just numbers in your bank account. So it's talking with people about how can we help your finances, But like, how can we help you achieve your dream through your finances, whether that's buying a house and leaving a million dollars to your kids, or opening up a dog sanctuary or leaving this planet in a better situation? You know, how can we help you with that? And you know, you you do the dreaming will do the financial planning and make all of that happen. So that's what I've become very passionate about and why I'm here today with you.

Katie Kurpanek: 4:22

Oh, you just said so many things that got me so excited to like, hold back my excitement as I'm listening to you. First of all, I did not even know that you had that connection in your background to education. And I was a teacher before I got into what I'm doing now. And so that connection to education and the empowerment that it gives people to achieve those dreams and those goals that they have set for themselves. There's just no denying how important education is in that process. So I love that that is your background and that that is what brought you to this passion and place that you're at now as a financial expert, and then I also got so excited just hearing about the diversity incorporated within your, what did you call it, it's your team or panel of financial experts?

Belle Kraxberger: 5:13

Yeah, team, we usually call it a team. We're all independent contractors, we all work for ourselves by ourselves. But we recognize the power of a team. So we have an office where we can all meet in Denver. But we also have people on our teams that are in Virginia, in Texas, and California, all these different places. And so we'll meet virtually we'll meet in person, and really pull from each other's expertise. It's like, oh, hey, I have someone who needs help with taxes, I'm going to call in the person who used to work as a CPA, I need someone who specializes in real estate, okay, I'm going to call in this gal who used to be a real estate agent, but now works in finance. And we just really collaborate with each other. And we recognize the power of numbers. So we call it a team.

Katie Kurpanek: 6:00

Okay, wow, that is awesome. So you have so much diversity represented within your team. And then it sounds like you've got a lot of resources to meet pretty much anybody who would come to you. And if you've got virtual options, and your team is spread out over multiple states, then that's pretty awesome to give such an accessibility piece to anyone looking for help within their finances.

Belle Kraxberger: 6:26

Yeah, accessibility is our big thing. You know, we're really trying to disrupt the financial industry and make it something that helps not just the top 10%, that's, you know, it's kind of like, Alright, you're in the top 10%, you don't need as much help. You absolutely need management, but you don't need education quite as much. So we work all across the United States, we can meet virtually you can meet with someone in your state or someone not in your state. Really, it all varies in through there, we work with people who don't have any money that they can invest, and we help them get out of debt and into a place where they can start investing and growing their future. We work with people who have six figures to invest, we work with a whole range of people, because it's about everyone deserves access to finance and financial well being.

Katie Kurpanek: 7:19

That's amazing, I'm really, really happy to hear that you and your team are doing this work and making that so available to people. Okay, we'll get we'll come back to that towards the end when we kind of wrap this up and letting our listeners know how they could get a hold of you or get in touch with your team if that's something that they're interested in. But I would love to transition into the connection between financial stability and then living sustainably, of course, because that's what this podcast is all about all things sustainable. And in the first couple of episodes, I told my listeners and chatted with one person so far about the obvious impacts on climate change and our choices as individuals and corporations. Basically what we as humanity are doing to this planet throughout history and how we are in a time of our life where this really needs to change, we need a massive global scale level of change across the board. But there are a lot of listeners coming into this podcast from various backgrounds. And I recognize that not everybody is going to be as interested in climate change and the impact that sustainable living can have on the planet. So I also want to bring in more of a well rounded approach to this conversation about living sustainably, that includes the other aspects of our personal lives that can be really relatable to people no matter where they're coming from. I would love to meet people where they're at and talk about their finances, or later in the podcast, we'll get into physical health and mental health community. All of this is interconnected within the realm of sustainability. So that's a really long, roundabout way of basically just saying I am so excited to dive into this financial aspect with you and dig a little bit deeper into how our personal choices within our spending and our budgeting can impact both the planet and our wallets in a positive way. Hey, just wanted to jump in real quick to talk about Patreon. Patreon is an online platform that allows you to become a patron of the arts, so to speak, a financial supporter of the creators who enrich your life with their content. Thanks to the generous support of my patrons starting as low as just$3 a month I'm able to continue empowering individuals like yourself through these educational chats with various experts across the spectrum of sustainable living. As a patron of this podcast, you will have the privilege of joining the discussions with guest speakers via zoom and taking part In the exclusive q&a As with them, too. If you can't make the actual interview live, that's okay. You'll have access to the full recorded episode early before anybody else gets a chance to hear it. You also receive the added bonus of personal shout outs in podcast episodes, and other behind the scenes content sent your way. Plus, you'll receive unique discounts to more than a dozen sustainable businesses that have partnered with me so that you can save money and the earth while you shop. If any of the content that I create adds value to your life, or the perks alone have piqued your interest, check out patreon.com/all Things sustainable to join our community and become a patron today. Thank you so much for your support of this journey to minimize our carbon footprint while maximizing our positive impact on this planet we call home. Okay, let's get back to our show. So I'm often told by people that they want to make more sustainable choices, but they can't afford it. Or you know, that lifestyle that zero waste living, that's just too expensive. First, I don't blame them when we're bombarded with ads and greenwashing from companies that are using labels like the word green or eco friendly, basically telling us that we need all these products to actually be living eco friendly or to be taking care of the planet. And not only is that often greenwashing but it's also completely dismissing the fact that throughout all of our history, up until this point, so many of these products weren't even in existence, they were not necessary for us to live our lives. And still within our current time, there are entire cultures and countries and groups of people who don't need these products to be living sustainably or to be living, you know, a happy, healthy life that is also taking care of our planet. What would you have to say to listeners and clients who want to live more sustainably, but they're afraid that they can't afford it?

Belle Kraxberger: 12:00

Yeah, that's, there's so much to that, and so much to unpack, especially around this capitalistic consumeristic belief of like, well, I have to buy the things in order to do the things. And it's things it's like, really just, instead of looking big, start looking small, start looking at your everyday sort of things, and how you can tackle those, it can be things like, rather than cutting plastic completely out of your life, because that is a huge daunting task. And if that's what you're trying to accomplish day one, you are immediately setting yourself up for failure. Instead, you know, like find like Where where's one piece of plastic that I can cut out of my life for good. Easy One is shopping bags, you know, the the grocery store bags, you can get the reusable tote, sometimes you can get those for $1. You know, those are really cheap ways to get started, and cut out that clutter. And then from there, it's like, okay, well, now I'm getting stuck with a bunch of produce plastic bags, okay, I can spend $5 and get reusable produce bags. And it's just one step at a time. So you're biting things off in $5 chunks, $1 chunks, $3 chunks, as opposed to completely restructuring your life. Especially depending on where you are in your community. Farmers markets might be available, they might not be available, refill stations might be available might not be. And so you have to kind of just take into account, what do you have access to and start there. You know, every single step is a habit that you can build on. And it helps you know, there's this mental health I ideology of anything worth doing is worth doing half assed. And it's, it's this idea that, you know, if you're having a really bad day, you're supposed to brush your teeth for two minutes a day. But if you are just struggling to stand up, right, brush your teeth for 30 seconds, because that's better than not brushing them at all. It's better to just take a washcloth over your face and your body then take a full shower, it's better to eat one bite of food than no food at all, you know, these ideas of like you just got to keep going in a forward motion. And the same goes with sustainable living is you know, to take one step at a time, so that every step is a success, and that every step builds on the previous steps. And then within that the financial component is it becomes significantly more manageable because you're just biting things off in smaller chunks. And when you can find ways to save $10 a year you know that's that's a tiny little step$10 a year that's not even a drop in the bucket. But $10 a year over 10 years is $100 and depending on what you do with that $10, you know, you could use that to buy your next small step, you could use it to invest and grow that money so that the$100 becomes $200. And then that's how you're able to afford the super green eco friendly, vacuum cleaner, or you know, the bigger chunk, whatever it is you're trying to get. So it's all about these little steps and just starting where you are, and recognizing that you can't go from zero to 100. But you can go from zero to one, and then from one to two, and two to three. And you just keep building that way.

Katie Kurpanek: 15:37

Yes, I love that. This word sustainable, has so much meaning to me. And a lot of my listeners might be joining, because they've already been following my business ventures so far with that minimal life and my coaching and my blog. But we talk all the time about the fact that if you're living sustainably for the planet, trying to make these greener choices, but those habits aren't actually sustainable for you, you can't maintain that within your own life, whether that's due to your family's needs, or your budget, or your work schedule, whatever it is, if it's not sustainable, then it's not going to be a long lasting habit. And then you're going to end up feeling so frustrated in the process. I wonder if you could give us some specific examples of some of those small dollars saved that you talked about the end up actually adding up to be a pretty big total, like, if you were to make more sustainable choices in one area and you save these dollars by doing that. Do you have any specific examples that you could give some listeners they could relate to?

Belle Kraxberger: 16:45

It can be really tiny things like not buying paper towels, but also not buying the, you know, famous green on paper to paper towels, you know, because those costs somewhere from 25 to $80, for a really small pack. And, you know, I looked at that and I'm like, Okay, well, my dream is to have reusable cloth for cleaning, and then also for napkins, all these different things because I hate buying paper towels all the time. But I don't want to trade my I don't know $6 packet of paper towels for an $18 packet of washable paper towels. So instead, it was going to Goodwill and the ark and thrift stores and things around me and finding old T shirts that I could buy for 50 cents, cutting those up into rags for cleaning purposes. And then also finding like tablecloths that I could turn into cloth napkins or actually finding cloth napkins. And that made it so that I was trading a$6 packet of paper towels for $6 at the thrift store and completing the exchange that I needed, you know, so getting a little creative, you don't have to buy the thing that's specifically designed to replace the thing you're trying to stop buying, you can find your alternative ways around that. And then I of course would not be a financial advisor if I didn't scold people for their $6 lattes. And thank goodness, this is a podcast. So you can't see that I am drinking a $6 latte right now. You know, and it's one of those things of like, finding those obvious things of make your coffee at home instead of spending money where they have to do a lot of plastic product creation because they're focused on bolc They're not focused on sustainability. As well as then you're not getting the cup, you're not contributing to the plastic of all the packaging and all these different things. But it's also like you said, it's not always a sustainable life habit. I am definitely addicted, addicted to my coffee house coffees. And so it's things like okay, how can I regulate this Can I put a limit on it per week? Can I take my reusable cup in? Can I eventually invest in my own home espresso machine and all these things and I've started doing it where on the days that I don't go to Starbucks or the coffee shop to get that $6 latte? I put$6 into a jar and it's like okay, this was money I was going to spend but I'm not spending it and I am saving it and saving is removing from your spending area. Just not spending it does not count as saving saving only counts when you take it out of the equation and put it in a specified saving area. So I put that $6 in a jar and that is quickly growing and growing because $6 accumulates very quickly, and I'm going to one day have my own home coffee station of the milk steamer of the espresso machine all these things so that it's like, I can make a better cup of coffee than any coffee shop around me. Why would I spend money there? You know? So it's, it's those little things of how can I exchange things so that I never ever have to buy paper towels again in my life because I went to the arc and I cut up some T shirts, as well as like, How can I really cut back from the more frivolous spending, that also contributes to a lot of waste as well. So you can do it from the small scale, and you can do it from that medium scale. And then of course, there's the large scale of solar panels and wind turbines, and whatever it is else that you want for your house that's significantly out of reach when you're just starting.

Katie Kurpanek: 20:55

I love the fact that you are visually setting aside this $6 Every single time you don't buy a latte, and you can see that in a jar, I mean, I don't often have cash on me anymore. So I love the idea of actually going back to a visual system, I think I would spend a whole lot less if I were paying attention to the dollars that I am not spending by putting them in a jar, and then ending up with an awesome coffee, espresso machine and whole little--

Belle Kraxberger: 21:29

Yeah, the whole complete set. Yeah, and if you don't work a lot in cash, you can literally take sticky notes and write $6 on it and put that in a jar. Or you can get Yeah, or you can get pebbles, and one pebble represents $1. And you put that in there. And then what I do is at the end of every month, I take that dollar amount, because it's usually a combination of cash and pebbles just kind of based on what I have available to me. But I take that total number and I transfer that number out of my checking account into my high yield savings account. So that I can, you know, really also make that money, grow more money so that I can achieve that coffee maker sooner. That's my little financial trick. That's something that you can achieve with a financial advisor who has access to those sorts of accounts for you to really make your money work harder for you grow faster for you, and make these sustainable purchases accessible to you that much sooner.

Katie Kurpanek: 22:36

That is so smart. I think of all the times where I haven't technically spent that money. But then if I'm not putting it somewhere into an actual savings account or something like that, or you know, a physical jar, then it can easily just be spent in some other way. And I'm just mindlessly going through these purchases, not really thinking about it. So I love those suggestions. I think that's really, really useful. And then going back to the cloth example, I love that you brought up thrifting as a solution for a lot of these things. If you want to save money, and you also want to benefit the planet, then reusing what you already have or what somebody else already had. It's already in existence, and now it can be passed along to you and repurposed. That makes so much more sense than going out and buying something brand new most of the time.

Belle Kraxberger: 23:29

Absolutely, sometimes you do have to buy the thing new, because that's its purpose. If you're really trying to replace something, and make it something that's going to last years and years and years and years, sometimes buying new is kind of your only option, but especially for cleaning products. In this case, specifically cleaning rags. Why in the world would I spend money on something nice and pretty, when its entire function is to get dirty? You know? So let me just go get whatever is available to me in my area. And I love that tick tock and Instagram and all these things. There's this trend of how can I create a $50 Looking vase from something I got for $2 at the thrift store? How can I recreate this? How can I repurpose this? And so there is also a cultural push for all of this from a sustainable point of view from a financially sustainable point of view. And, you know, you can really just let go of this image of it being perfect because it looks perfect, or is it perfect because it works. And I think that's where we run into a lot of issues is we have that ego of it has to look for it. It has to look functional. It has to look like something I can proudly display on Instagram. And it's like, but what is your goal? If your goal is sustainability? Then the uglier, the better, because that's when you're really using what's available to you. So, you know, let let go of that, let go of that drive that it has to look perfect and instead focus on the usability of it. And you'll see that you're achieving more sustainably and your dollars going further, because you're literally not spending it.

Katie Kurpanek: 25:23

You know, the people that will see a lot on social media that have retired early, maybe they retired in their 30s. And they are complete diehard zero wasters like they DIY everything. And that's how they were able to retire early plus combined with some awesome investments or something like that. And then, on the other side of that, we've got a lot of us who are just spending without really thinking about the future. Could you speak a little bit to where's the balance within that? Where do you generally meet people so that maybe their goal is not to save so much waste and save so much money that then they you know, retire early. But where's the balance between all of that?

Belle Kraxberger: 26:10

I think a lot of it is thinking about the future, you know, you hit on something really important, right there is thinking about your future, both the planetary future and your own life future, whether that's retirement, whether that's working until you're 90 and dying on your feet, because you absolutely love your job, whatever it is, but thinking about the future, when we spend mindlessly, it's because we haven't thought about what our future looks like, what our goals are, and what steps we have to take in order to achieve that. Because we're living in just right now. And absolutely, there's so much to gain from living in the present, not hitting that at all, from a meditative, you know, spiritual, live in the present. But from a financial and planetary concept, we do have to think about the future. Are we wanting to live in a future where there's trash in every single gutter? And it's there because we contributed to it? Or do we want to live in a world where we don't have to do any sort of promotion around save the turtles, because we have saved the turtles? Because we've completely cut out plastic and all these things. So really thinking, what sort of future do you want? And what kind of steps do I need to be taking to work towards that future? And again, the small steps, what can I do today? What can I do next week? What is my goal for next year for five years from now? What do I have to do in order to achieve that? And it's the same concept from a financial situation, when I meet with my clients, the number one conversation that we have is, What are your dreams? What are you trying to accomplish in one year, in five years, in 10 years, in 30 years, what are you trying to accomplish? And then we look at your current financial situation, and figure out what can we do now with what you have to get you to where you want to be. And so it's that future? Perception is that future focus. So if your focus is I want to live a more sustainable life. But I also want to be very financially, well, then we try and figure out how can we get these dreams to work together? So it's how can I cut down on my spending by also cutting down on my waste, because there can be a financial component to going zero waste. Like I said, depending on where you live, if you have to drive 30 minutes to a farmers market in order to buy produce without any sort of plastic. That's an hour both ways. And that's gas money that's miles on your car, all these things, it might not be the most financially advantageous move for you right now. So what can we do right now? Well, thrift stores just down the street, start with removing your paper products, your plastic products, things like that. And then as that becomes easier, and as you're saving that money, it becomes easier for you to take that drive to the farmers market, or the refill station or whatever it is through there. So it's really just focusing on your future goals and then working backwards and creating those small steps.

Katie Kurpanek: 29:40

Let's take a quick break to talk about one of my business community partners simple switch. Simple switch is an online shop that allows you to make a positive impact with every purchase. Think of it as kind of like Amazon, but with a heart. Rachael the founder talks about how she wanted to find ways for her everyday choices to empower those with less resources. But she also found it was not sustainable for her busy life to spend hours researching company ethics, labor laws, environmental impacts, and more for every product that she wanted to purchase. Sound familiar? I've totally been there. That's why I love simple switch so much. You can shop online and choose from tons of different products, knowing that every single one of them is making a positive impact in our world. You can choose to shop by product, or by specific social and environmental impacts, or by a particular brand or company that you want to support. For example, you could search for a necklace made by a woman owned company, or for skincare products that are cruelty free and plastic neutral, the options go on and on. And search filters on their website make it easy for you to do good while you shop. And if you use my affiliate link in the episode description, you can support all of these amazing causes as well as my small business because I will receive a small kickback from your purchase. So visit simple switch.org/question Mark, R E F equals that minimal life. I know that's a long link. So I will put the link in the episode description. That way, it's easy to find. Thank you so much for choosing to be a conscious consumer and for supporting small businesses. Okay, let's go back to our show. So you've given some really tangible and helpful examples so far, with how to be mindful of your spending and how to make your money work harder for you. And then connecting all of this into living sustainably for the planet as well. I love your examples. I really love the visuals that you've given so far. And I wonder if you could speak a little bit with your expertise into the accessibility category. Because I know that that's a lot of what your team focuses on. And we've talked about how anyone can start anywhere, reusing what they already have, or making thrifted purchases, it doesn't have to be super expensive or anything. But could you speak a little bit to the accessibility piece? If if there are listeners on this podcast who feel like they still can't really make very eco friendly choices? Because they don't have access to something like, like you said, a farmers market nearby or a refill shop or something like that. Could you expand a little bit more on the accessibility piece?

Belle Kraxberger: 32:31

Yeah, I, I think that sustainability is becoming more and more accessible as there is a growing need for it. I know I live in a neighborhood that, fortunately has a resale station. But farmers markets are not really here. So I have one but not the other. But I'm even finding that in stores like Target and King Soopers. And Walmart. You know, for all my Colorado people who know what a King Soopers is, it's a grocery store. It's, I'm finding that you can get Soap Refill bottles, and not just the old really crazy soap from our childhood. But the better soap is coming in refill packets, we're starting to see brands like seventh generation that have a focus on being sustainable, maybe they're not perfect. They're definitely not perfect because they're still wrapped in plastic. But they're at least there. And that can be a semi step. We're also blessed with the internet, where you can order a lot of products in to you, especially with COVID I've even seen refill shops do a little bit more shipping a little bit more curbside, they'll come to you they're becoming more mobile, because they had to find ways to survive, which means that they're improving their accessibility. So some of it can be waiting for it or finding just what is available to you ordering online. My favorite tricks for ordering online is to bulk buy, whether that's I purchase, you know, six months supply of something, or I call it my mom or my best friend who lives in the area and say, Hey, I'm ordering from this store. They have a you know, they have a sale going on right now something like that. Do you want anything there and we'll combine our purchases so that only one box is being shipped as opposed to two boxes. As well as is I'm just buying for myself. I'm only getting one box every six months as opposed to one box every month because I'm individually buying and I usually don't have to pay for shipping that way because I have a real irk with paying for shipping. I like to pay for product. You know, so there's things like that you can do to sort of counteract that accessibility. If you really want to get involved in it. Start to become the accessibility figure out how can I Start the refill station in my community, how can I get a farmers market to come here? Or can I charter a bus to drive people from my community to a farmers market? Once a month? You know, figure out how can I become that change, if that's within your power, if that's within your budget, if that's within your means, or even just finding the little things that you can do, like I said, it's the little steps. And the more you take those little steps, the more your community stores are going to realize that there is someone in our community who wants this sustainability within our community. So we're going to answer it, we're going to start getting the better brands, we're going to start doing all these different things to make it more accessible.

Katie Kurpanek: 35:55

I love that these suggestions and caring for the planet, benefiting your wallet. And then it also really brings together this community piece that you've touched on. I know that for the clients that I coach, that has been huge, not only are we building a community between each other, and then the people I connect them with, but it usually spreads within their families and their friends circles. And everybody starts working together on these things. Because as soon as you've got one person excited about this, or even just taking the initiative and doing like you said, Hey, I'm gonna do this bulk order of something, do you have anything that you need from such and such business, and let's get it all shipped in one box. I think that brings back this community piece that we're often missing, at least in modern day Western civilization, where so much of what we do is just go go go. And it's focused on our own households. And not that there's anything particularly wrong with that all the time. But it can be very isolating sometimes. And so I love that this sustainability and financial savings piece is often connected with building a strong community around you as well. So you've provided just tons of expertise, and so many tangible, attainable examples. I'm really so appreciative of your time. And I'm wondering, just to wrap up this part of the conversation, could you share one or two or three actionable steps that our listeners could take? You know, as soon as today after listening to this episode, maybe they're motivated and inspired. And they're full of hope. What would be 1-3 actionable steps that you would recommend right off the bat that would benefit both their budget, and then also the Earth at the same time?

Belle Kraxberger: 37:50

Yeah, I think step number one, the primary primary thing is get clear on what it is that you're wanting to do. Because if you don't have that clear vision, you're going to start firing in a bunch of different ways, and a bunch of different directions. And that means you're going to buy the first thing that you see, or you're going to take the very first action that comes to mind. And then next week realize, Oh, that wasn't right. Now I have to rebuy this, I have to redo this. So take a second to get still first take your passion channel it inward, really focus on what am I trying to accomplish? What is important to me? What is available to me? What is my budget? Where am I spending money that I don't want to be spending money, try and get as clear as you can there. And then from there, I think the most important step after that is don't go at it alone. Don't do this alone, whether that's getting your family involved, your friends involved or office involved, your neighbors involved, whoever it is that you can get involved there. Or working with a sustainability coach who can really tell you that's greenwashing versus this is actually sustainable. Or working with a financial advisor who can get a fresh set of eyes, on your budget and on your spending to say, this is actually where you're spending a lot of money that you don't need to be spending or to open up that high yield savings account to make your money go further. Or if money is something that you have taking that and being like okay, let's invest this, let's grow this, but let's put it into specifically ethical companies and green companies so that you're growing your money and you're helping these companies do better in the planet. You know, so don't go at it alone is my other thing. What regardless of where you are in your budget, there is someone that you can bring in to help you. And then step three we've been talking about a lot is just start Small, start obtainable, start sustainable, and build your way up. You don't have to save the planet tomorrow, you just have to do one thing.

Katie Kurpanek: 40:11

Perfect, I could not have said any of that better myself. And that is such a great wrap up to this conversation, and a really nice transition into my final question for you, which is, how can people get in touch with you if they're interested in the services that you offer? You're clearly super just savvy with all of these great suggestions that you could offer people to help them save money. And then I love that you're also very in tune with sustainability. So I'm curious, how could they connect with you? And then also, what is a general baseline or just summary of, you know, the cost and what it's like to work with you? Would you be able to share that?

Belle Kraxberger: 40:54

Yeah, so I can absolutely share how much it cost to work with me because it's zero $0? Yeah, everything I do for my clients is complimentary. Again, that's one of the things that I love about my office is we want to make financial services accessible to everyone, especially the people who need it. Who are the people who don't have a lot of expendable cash. So we don't charge anything for our services, I can meet to just go over budgeting, I can go over investing, I can go over debt management, full plans, small plans, whatever it is that you're looking for all for the same price of $0, which I absolutely love. So absolutely get in touch with me, I am on Facebook and Instagram, my pages are worth more, get more So Instagram, it's at worth more get more. You can even just send me an email saying that you heard about me from here or wherever. It's bellekraxberger@gmail.com. Hopefully, you'll put my name in the show notes because I will get old good old German heritage their last name. But yeah, just reach out to me with any sort of questions, any sort of need, and I can help you out.

Katie Kurpanek: 42:12

That is fantastic. I am just blown away by that. It gives me chills. And I feel like there are so many people who hopefully will be turning to you. And I know that I myself am going to be turning to you because I've got some business questions, but I would love your advice on.

Belle Kraxberger: 42:27

Absolutely.

Katie Kurpanek: 42:29

Oh man, thank you so much for being on this call today. This has been just super valuable. I've definitely gained a lot from this conversation and I'm sure that our listeners have as well.

Belle Kraxberger: 42:39

And thank you so much for having me

Katie Kurpanek: 42:45

I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so please consider sharing it with a friend and subscribing to the podcast so you never miss a new episode. Check out the description for important links. And if you'd like to benefit from the perks of becoming a patron to the show, check out patreon.com/all Things sustainable. Until next time, do the best you can with what you have and remember that you can make a positive impact on this world one day at a time.