Hi, I'm Monica Packer, and you're listening to About Progress, where we are about progress made practical.

When we initially got married, I saw myself as a savor. It was a big part of my identity,

thanks to being raised in a very frugal family.

But this was an identity that was not only challenged after we had kids, but shifted in a pretty negative way, one that impacted my relationship with money for years. Why? Because in my role as the primary caretaker of our

children, I had to take on the position as the spender. And that spending was constantly in my face. From the exhaustive ways

we were budgeting to the never-ending decisions I had to make about how to spend our money down to what diapers to buy and which sports

to put our kids in.

Somewhere along the way I also developed the bad habit of online shopping. It was almost a weird form of self-sabotage, where I fed

this hated identity as a spender via embarrassing cycles of buying things on sell and then returning them or trying to sell

him online, when in actuality I was just a very stressed-out mom who needed more outlets.

If any of this is resonating with you,

then today's interview with Jen Smith

is going to help you make a lot of needed shifts

from the way you view money to how you budget or choose not to, to how your

habits can help lessen impulse spending.

Ultimately, Jen's goal is not just to help women save money, but to gain the skill of spending money well.

Jen Smith is a personal finance expert and co-host of the Frugal Friends podcast.

She and her husband paid off $78,000 of debt in two years while battling unemployment and buying a house.

Jen has since become a sought-after writer of several books

and a speaker helping people live for today

while being able to save for tomorrow. Jen and her co-host Jill Serreani

are about to release their new book, Buy what you love without going broke.

...