We are at war and it's not against our neighbors , spouses , children , politicians or whatever else we feel like we're battling against .
So the questions are who's the fight against , and are we winning or losing ? We're the Adkins , and we are a force to be reckoned with .
Are you ready to ? Join the force what'd you just say to me that I just found out we're doing this ?
well , I don't even have my headphones on welcome back everybody to another week of A Force to be Reckoned With . Where sometimes we're a force , a force to be reckoned with , and sometimes we are to be reckoned with .
You are definitely to be reckoned with .
We hope that you're all having a good week . Corey is throwing a temper tantrum .
A temper tantrum . Because , that's an exaggeration .
We're playing a new game . Okay , first off , we're talking , we're going to have a great conversation here , like about tax returns , what are you doing with yours ? But before that , we're going to be playing a game , just to get into the right mindset .
Okay , oh , this helps us get into the right mindset about tax returns .
Yeah , and also , if you're looking for like a super professional tax return thing , it's just Corey and I today , so keep listening , but keep wishing All right . So , brooke and I , my sister , you know former stars of the Brooke and Beth Show .
I don't know if you've ever watched it Probably not , but you can go on over to her Instagram highlights and see some clips . No , I'm just kidding , don't do that . Anyway , we went on a road trip , okay , a long few years ago , and it was a lighter time , a happier place . We were traveling cross-country from Are you pregnant ?
Yeah , we were traveling cross-country from California to Ohio . It was an election year and also the year of COVID .
Yeah , I know .
That was really , really , really hard . Well , we decided to make up some games , and one of our games was called Hit it or Quit it . That's what it was called , guys .
That does not sound .
Hit it or Quit it .
It just doesn't sound like a game .
I'm going to explain . You pick a song , okay , for your opponent , and basically the point is to humiliate them and we had a lot of fun doing this .
But you pick a song , a song specifically , that has a high note , where they kind of go into falsetto Like Mariah Carey , we Belong Together , okay and where she sings you know she's doing the high note part you play .
They're singing along kind of like karaoke and then when it gets to the high note falsetto part , you pause the music and your opponent has to hit it . Hit that high note or quit it .
When it was my turn , brooke picked this one song for me , song for you brooke picked this one song for me and we posted on instagram and the musician responded oh yeah , who was this ? I don't remember he responded and he he said he was cracking up because it actually wasn't a falsetto .
It was a part in the song where he goes and she wanted me to hit that note .
Oh my gosh .
So I did that .
Sounds like you're swallowing something .
It was really funny . But anyway , we're playing over a little round of hitting Hit it or quit it . So are you ready .
I think we need to pause for a second because I need to see if this is the right part of the song . I got a different song for you than what I originally thought .
Well , this is good , because the first one that you thought wasn't good , which is why I said you don't get it . It's hit it or quit it . You have to hit the high note and I thought it was kind of high . So stay tuned , we'll be back . All right , corey's got a song .
He also picked his song that I'm playing for him , so I don't really think this is fair .
But I didn't know the song you picked .
Right , because you don't know that many songs .
Why would I know a Mariah Carey song ?
Because you grew up in the 80s and 90s , not listening to Mariah Carey .
Well Listening to like 50 Cent .
Well , that's true . Me too , I was in fifth grade , walking down the street , walking home from school . Give me two pairs . I need two , that's 50 Cent .
That's Nelly .
So I can get to stomping in my Air Force Ones . Are you sure it's ?
Nelly , I promise you .
Hold on . What's the 50 Cent song that I tried to learn ? I printed the lyrics out from my computer . It's Nelly . I promise you . Hold on . What's the 50 Cent song that I tried to learn ? I printed the lyrics out from my computer . It's your birthday . Air force , you know we don't .
It's not your birthday Party in the club One song Bottle full of bub . Mama , I got what you need . Oh , you're right , it is 50 Cent .
It is N nelly told you um 50 cent song songs because I had this specific boyfriend , marlos . If you're out there , this one's for you . He was my first boyfriend . I don't know if I ever told you this in the club that's what it was .
I printed the lyrics out to in the club and in my dorky fifth grade bedroom , with my dorky glasses and my dorky frizzy hair , I printed all these lyrics out and on a piece of paper and I just practice , practice , practice , practice .
What did you do ?
I was singing , I wanted just I needed to know it so that when we went to tea night on Friday nights , oh my gosh , I thought you made like a video or something .
No , a music video .
Well , yeah , I did that .
I would have loved to have seen that .
Oh , we have those in the archives for sure . I told you this For when I won , I did a poster contest when I was in fifth grade . Also , fifth grade was a pivotal year for me and it was a dare contest remember you used to take dare like what is it against ?
yeah , just say no drug and alcohol whatever , and the contest was you made you draw a poster , try to get . I won two years in a row . The first year it was my motto was I like silence more than violence , and I won two hundred dollars you won .
Yeah , the computer's probably . Yes , please get this girl quiet . We do . We love silence too .
If not , I'm about to commit violence my dad helped me to make a poster and it was a castle and inside the castle , the whole castle was filled with the letters w-i-n-n-e-r for winner .
But then inside the word , the letters , the bubble letters like that filled the castle were bricks , the it was like built of bricks , and on each brick I wrote things that it takes to become a winner , like hard work , perseverance . I want , let me tell you when I won $500 .
You won $500 on that $500 .
And my dad drew that whole poster himself with his own two hands . I didn't give that man a penny , not a penny .
Dang .
Actually I might have , I don't know .
And you guys made videos and stuff too .
So , with that money , so bad , for like two years before this I wanted a video camera . So bad A camcorder .
Yeah .
Like it was my dream . I wanted to produce movies and act things out . I would have friends over for sleepovers and I would make them become parts in my movies . We would act stuff out and I used my dad's and I wanted my own camcorder . So this is in my movies . We would act stuff out and I used my dad's and I wanted my own camcorder .
So this is in my blood . This is like who I am . So , with my winning money , I spent three hundred and forty nine dollars on a camcorder , plus tax .
Wow .
My dad made me calculate the tax . At the time it was like eighteen dollars or something like that . I couldn't believe it . Now I'd probably be like fifty or sixty .
See , my family couldn't afford poster boards , so we didn't have these . If you couldn't make something out of like milk cartons and empty beer cans , like you weren't making a school project . Five hundred dollars would have paid our bills for three months .
Stop .
If I would have , if I would have won that , it would have been a payment on our mortgage .
That is so ridiculous .
I didn't see a camera until I was in high school .
Just stop , cut the act . Cut the act , oh my gosh . Anyway , back to hit it or quit it . So how did we even get there ?
You made this up .
How did we get there with the video camera ? Because ?
you started with 50 Cent . You thought 50 Cent did Air Force One . Yeah .
Well , we're going to have like three minutes to talk about tax returns .
We've done our rabbit trail . That's about all we need .
Okay , so let's do this . Here comes your song Are . Okay , so let's do this . Here comes your song . Are you ready ? I'm going first . Yeah , I have the lyrics here , just in case you get stage fright because my armpits are sweating .
All right , okay , I want to get used to . There's no man who's terrified .
Oh , you sound good .
There's no man who stands to lose you . I hope I don't lose you . Please stay . I want you . I need you , oh God .
Don't take these beautiful things that I've got . It's not please , it's not fun with you I want you , I need you . Oh God , it's not fun with you .
Why .
Because you like hit the notes and stuff .
I was not good .
With me and Brooke . That was terrible , did you hear my voice .
It was no , it's bad , all right , that was no , it's bad , all right , that was bad . It was mine , all right . Are you ready ?
Yeah , I'm ready .
Okay , here we go .
I need the words . I only pray you'll never leave me behind . Never leave me , Because good music can be so hard . Oh yeah , it can me . Oh yeah , it can Take your hand and hold it closer to mine . Thought love was dead , but now you're changing my mind . This isn't high . My heart's a stereo . It beats for you . That wasn't very high , so we bam .
That's close enough man . Okay , we'll be back for another episode of A Force Be Reckoned . No , I'm just kidding Of Hit it and Quit it , next time with actual falsettos , but that's the concept . It was good you got to hear my beautiful voice .
I don't listen for falsettos .
It's a stereo .
Oh .
Okay , so it's just been a long week , so we're just a little cuckoo . Today we're talking about what you doing with that tax return , marlowe .
Oh my gosh .
I should probably not , but you know what ? He's a great guy . He's a great guy . I believe he's a father now . He was a good kid . We were friends after , and I wish him the best . I wish him the best , so it's okay that I used his first name , all right . I wish him the best , so it's okay that I used his first name , all right .
So this is actually really um , oh , you know what this is .
What .
This isn't just about tax returns . This is our debt .
Oh , all right , I'm , I'm out .
Okay . So we're just going to do this real quick , okay , because ?
I'm out .
Like , honestly , I've really been struggling with the dead updates because I just feel like we already did this before and we're . We were in a different season of life . We were like middle baby middle baby middle baby like adults , and now we're like adult adults , and so to still be in this situation listen , it's . It's kind of embarrassing .
And then like I'll see people in public or like I'll be in a meeting with all these you know really successful people , and then they're like oh , what's your podcast about ? And I'm like it's called um getting out of debt no , have you ever heard of ? Uh , actually , I forget the name of it right now .
Don't listen to it , I don't have a podcast , Because we're in a lot of debt and you own five businesses .
We talk about Balcinians and we talk about our debt and we sing . But you know what the thing is and just keep this in mind as you're driving to your meeting today and you have it's like , yeah , you want to be the same person all the time , like you do want to be .
You don't want to be two people fake , like in a bad way , but sometimes you do have the element of let loose a little bit more . I mean sometimes , in some settings , you're more professional and honestly recently , honestly in the recent months , I have realized that not everybody deserves that version of me , because some people don't appreciate it .
The funny one .
Yeah , and it's like well , if you're not going to appreciate it , then you don't get it , and so you're just going to get the uptight version of me that has really high expectation .
The older adult version of me is getting more to that phase where it's like I don't give a what what , more to that phase where it's like I don't give a what what and I just am like blending more of myself to be the same all the time .
So I don't know take it or leave it , but as you're driving to your , as you're driving to your meeting today , just know that there's people at home that love you . When you get home and you want to change into sweatpants and play a game and stuff , that's OK .
But it's also okay to let a little glimmer of that shine through the clouds of your meeting today too so this sounded like one of those advice radio , like a caller , you got a caller call in , just let a little bit of yourself , yeah , shine through the , through the clouds , just a little glimmer , yeah , like Delilah , just a little glimmer , okay .
So dead update Real quick . Yeah , this is really embarrassing that we're even having this conversation right now . But habits that we're holding strong to , we've done well on .
Don't spend money .
One day I even wanted to take out and Corey said we're going to have to report back and I said to who ? He said to our podcast . So we're not eating out , we're doing monthly check-ins with each other which we've talked about .
I'm paying bills biweekly and then at the end of the month we kind of touch base and I just give them the whole view and we have this Excel sheet that has all of our debt tallied and it totals it all at the bottom . Our debt tallied and it totals it all at the bottom . We have a our debt form that we've talked about before .
So we're just not avoiding the situation for weeks and months . And all that , absolutely no credit card usage . Now . I'm gonna have a confession right now wait to me yes , I did what did you do ? My costco card at costco but had the tell me if this is okay or not . I think it is .
I had the cash in our checking account and I paid it off right away , but you get , so why did you use it ? Because you get like 2% back .
I feel like if you slip up one time and you pay , you miss one penny . Yeah , then we're going to have to give that uh yeah cut it , yeah , but if you can stick to the , to the rule , yeah , then I think it's . It's fine for now yeah , okay , sounds good so does that count ? You said absolutely no credit .
I mean you kind of used it , but you did pay it off right , I mean like , so I broke the rule it's kind of like I broke the rule . I like having a , but like I'm not using we're using for any purchases that are online .
We're using our debit card like we're using cash for everything , so I don't know . You have to figure out what's what works for you and your family , and for me this month it was that I've used the costco card and paid it off right away , but it's like if you have the cash and you're going to pay it off right away . I think that's .
This is where I'm just like . I'm over here , Like , like , should I even get gas right now ? It's like , bro , your truck's on empty . I'm like all right , I'm ordering Every day , I'm ordering , ordering , ordering no .
But so I've been cooking a lot more at home , mixing it up a little bit with different recipes . So not eating out monthly check-ins , paying bills biweekly , absolutely no credit card usage . Now it's tax return season , people . So what are we doing with that tax returns ? And I'll tell you what I'm doing .
Well , I went in to our accountant we have an accountant because we have a business and it just got too complicated to do it on our own and I was like we went in with a plan , like I knew in my head okay , we're going to be responsible with this , okay , we're going to have we usually get about the same amount every year we're going to be putting like a
third of it in savings , a third of it toward the backyard and a third of it toward debt yeah , yeah . I was like really thrilled we get in there . This man has the audacity to tell us that we owe uncle sam . Huh , yeah , we owed .
The only reason we ended up when we walked out of there , breaking even , only reason we ended up when we walked out of there , breaking even , is because , like , we do our business in personal together , so essentially , we were getting some back , but basically we broke even .
The child tax credit . Yeah , Helped us there too , but yeah , so now we're divvying it between three places .
I don't want to give too many .
We're going to give $50 to want to the savings , $50 to the backyard and $50 to debt .
Right . So that was unfortunate Broke . Even no tax return this year , and . But going forward , we do have a game plan . We need to take a little bit more than expected out of the paychecks so that this doesn't happen next year .
And also I hired a what's it called a bookkeeper , so she's wonderful , she's super sweet and going to help me throughout the year with the business . Just to make sure I'm categorizing things right . So not that we were counting on this stuff , but it just would have been nice , but just we don't want to . Oh , you know .
Yeah , like , what is this Like when we need Daddy T and Elon get this doge thing cracking off , because they they were flirting out there , they were going to get rid of the federal income tax .
It's not going to happen .
If we could get rid of the federal income tax . We waste so much money on stuff . Give me my money back , bruh .
That's a whole other conversation .
I know , but can you imagine ? Can you imagine if you didn't have to pay a federal income ?
tax , but don't you think prices would go up ?
Because we didn't pay . No .
On stuff .
I mean there'd probably be a mild amount of inflation , potentially because people would have more money on stuff .
But then that would stabilize out . If tariffs are going up it's gonna make the cost of goods a bit higher .
Well , that's a whole other conversation . That's playing a game of chicken . The tariffs aren't gonna fully stay in place , but some of them will . But it balances out because what happens is when you put tariffs on stuff , people buy more stuff made in America , which ends up saying our economy , so it ends up helping us significantly more .
That's how we used to do it back before , like 1913 . Everything was based off tariff , there was no federal income tax and we were fine . We were better actually .
All that , that to say , as tax return season comes in and you're getting your tax return , just this is our public service announcement to be cognizant and go in with a game plan before you have the return . It'll be disappointing when you don't get anything back , but if you do go in with a game plan , then it's not like you want to be intentional .
That's the whole point .
You want to be intentional . So before you spend a penny , sit down with yourself , if you're single , and come up with a game plan . Sit down with your spouse , if you're married , and be responsible about it . If you have debt , then consider that .
If you don't have a savings , consider that Maybe you shouldn't buy those concert tickets , maybe you shouldn't go on vacation .
Yeah , like in all honesty , like the right thing to do if you have debt would probably be to pay off your debt with it , or at least put all or give yourself an emergency fund or give yourself an emergency fund , and I think that you know you can make a case to where maybe you put some towards like investing or something like that .
But yeah , and for us , we have a project going on at our house which you can also argue . You know , makes the house more enjoyable .
I mean , as you guys know , we're great rationalizers . Builds equity , you can pretty much rationalize anything .
Whatever . But all I'm saying is like , unless you don't just want to go blowing it on a vacation or concert tickets or something like that , if right , just have a game plan and be wise .
So we previously , when we did this debt update , we did an entire episode .
Trust me , because we've done that , we , we've done that and this is why we're where we are I mean , I don't think that's fully true .
We're usually pretty responsible with the tax return , but this year that was a different time . We were depressed . We were depressed okay destined . We made bad decisions and we were depressed . We also painted our entire downstairs and cabinets in like three days . Okay , it wasn't all downstairs , it was like half of it .
But don't let depression get the best of you . That should be the episode . Don't let the depression get the best of you . Debt update Some turned the house project , which again is like an asset to the home . But you know smart financial people , they might say bad idea . Dave Ramsey he's probably mocking us on his show right now .
He's not listening . So , you think Dave is listening to our podcast .
Yes .
I do no , no , dave Ramsey .
Yeah , I do .
Not Dave . Yes , I knew who you were talking about Dave Ramsey ?
Yeah , yes , I knew who you were talking about Dave Ramsey . Yeah , he's listening .
There's no way .
He is Okay , you speak with confidence and he'll be calling us up to be a guest on the show before we know it and we'll probably tell him no .
The only Dave listen to our podcast is my boy , dave .
I highly doubt that . There's definitely more than one , dave . Okay , so numbers , we're just going to get into it . So , started out the year , $91,978.18 in debt . By February we were $88,850 . What are you ? Between January and February , we paid off $3,100 , which was really good . We talked about that . Probably more than we had anticipated .
You we had some like residual stuff coming from the end of the year . Is that the right word ? Yeah , so the the payoff was more than would be normal for a month . Um , so from february to march in february the total was $88,867.54 . This month , and that's with seven lines of credit this month we're at $86,288.55 . So that's a difference of $2,578.99 .
So that's good , we're making progress . We are about $1,500 away from paying off our first line of credit Nice . So I would say this was also higher than expected .
Think we can get that bad boy knocked off this month , I'm hoping . I'm hoping that by our next update I mean , if things are trending the way that they've been trending , we should be able to knock that guy out .
We might be down to six lines of credit by the next dead update .
So that'll be our goal .
That'll be our goal .
Smack in the mouth . Send him packing . Yeah , that'd be great . Get out of here . You see .
Yeah , so while it seems like from day to day where we are being definitely more disciplined but we are still living life , I think it's like implementing those little things back to the beginning of the episode . Those things add up .
I mean . So what you're saying is , we could do better .
No , what I'm saying is that we have implemented simple practices that from day to day it feels like we should be working so much harder , but like these practices have become habits , now that like , make us more consistent that we're not eating out . We're probably 80 percent less eating out .
Yeah .
We're monthly checking in , we know we're going to have to report back , we are not using our credit cards and like , have been so much more intentional about Amazon Prime purchases this and that , and so those little habits , even though it's not , they add up .
Those small things really add up and us just doing this has stopped some of those . I was laughing because last night Carter had a scrimmage . It was till like 730 . We're leaving the scrimmage and he's like , can we stop ? And get something to eat and I was like no , bro .
I was like we got debt to pay off and he's like I'm so hungry , dad , I haven't eaten in three days .
He goes please he goes , he I have this would have worked on me before . He's like , but we never like just go and eat like you and me , and go get something you didn't't , kate , and he's like it could be just like you know , you and me get doing something . I said bro . I said we can't . I said we got this debt to pay off , dude .
I said we're going for your tournament this weekend Like we're going to be eating out then .
Oh my gosh .
I feel like a terrible and I was like I've eaten more than you and he's like only one thing . And he started laughing and I was like no , you didn't . He's like no , I ate breakfast , lunch and dinner .
He is so reasonable and he's so supportive of this . He really doesn't give us that hard of a time , but I feel really bad . You would have caved . No , I did , kate . Are you kidding me ? I had the girls last night .
You're so weak I spent eight dollars on what I took them each to get snack size blizzard . Are you kidding me ? You could have gone to giant eagle and gotten a thing , a whole thing of ice cream for like two or three dollars the worst part is may Maya didn't even eat hers . I know I'm so mad right now .
I'm so sorry .
I'll make it up to you , I promise stop spending our money it was like I probably would have spent that or less on Carter and I going to get something to eat and I still dollars .
I still don't dollars . Yeah , dude , his order from Wendy's is like $12 from From the dollar menu .
It's not .
That's it . I just had to confess because I feel so bad .
And I don't feel jealous , like oh well , if you spend it , I should have spent something . I was like no , you just should not have spent it .
And you just got robbed of an opportunity with Carter .
I'm going to hang out with him this weekend . He was trying to play me , just like they played you , and then didn't even eat the ice cream . If you would have got the container then you wouldn't have wasted it , because she wouldn't have even eaten it anyways . It'd be sitting in the freezer right now .
As a matter of fact , there's at least a partial thing of ice cream in the freezer right now .
I'm so sorry . Well , that's all folks , so that's our debt update .
There's two bags of popsicles in the freezer .
He started the episode mad . He's ending it mad about something completely different . Welcome to the life of court . It's going to be all right .
Is it ? Yeah , is it ? You're over here talking about how the little things add up ? Yeah , we could have had eight less dollars on our debt .
I'm so I know .
Okay , all right , I am the weak one and it was probably like $8.94 and you're rounding it down to eight ?
No , I don't remember , I just remember the number eight yeah .
It could have been $8.99 .
$15.88 . No $15.88 .
No , no , I'm just kidding , it was $8 . $15 on ice cream .
But I do just want you to know that this month I was the weaker one , and next month I'm going to be the stronger one I am . You got your work cut out for you . I might become looking tattered and worn and just like I'd been through the ringer , but I'm going to do it .
You're making your coffee at home , your decaf .
Yeah Well , all right . So is there anything that you want to add ?
The rest of the year , you're doing nothing but at home coffee or free coffee from offices or whatever .
I've only been using gift cards . That's my rule . Yeah , I promise All right , Well . Yeah , I promise All right . Well , I hope that you guys have a better week than us . So I'm just kidding . Is there anything ?
you want to add to the episode ? I'm trying to get my mind right right now .
Stop Enough .
Enough . Get a leash on your wife , men . No , I'm just kidding Kind of , but no seriously . Get a leash on them . So takeaways , play , hit it or Quit it but no , seriously gotta leave showing them .
So takeaways play , hit it or quit it . It's really fun . If you have hit it or quit it suggestions , message them to me on Instagram . My Instagram is linked in the bio or you can email them to me .
That's also or in the show notes in the show notes like we quit .
I quit in the middle of mine cause it was like cause you couldn't hit it yeah , yeah that name just sounds . Well . Provocative Just keeps you guessing .
So when you said we're going to play , I'm like what ?
Play , hit it or quit it . Don't be irresponsible with your tax return and stay on mission with your debt . We want to know your progress , we want to know your updates , so so keep us posted on those two .