ABOUT

The Full Story

There are several reasons I started this blog:

1. I am PASSIONATE about the lifestyle I live and am even more passionate about sharing it with you.

2. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. I want to do my part in sharing my first-hand experiences and the knowledge I possess to help you obtain a similar lifestyle and way of thinking.

3. To find like-minded people to share ideas and stories with and celebrate our successes along the way!

I wasn't always frugal. I have years of frivolous spending under my belt. They tell you how great having good credit can be for you but don’t discuss the dangers in the same breath. 3 years ago, when my husband and I downsized to a smaller home, I was already on the path of wiser spending (thanks to that infamous Pinterest post referred to in my first blog). I had paid off all my credit card debts and “Interest Free for 1 Year” promos I had racked up. But in that moment of packing it all up, deciding what to keep and what to discard during our move, did it truly resonate how frivolous I had been. I realized how much “stuff” I had accumulated over the years: wall art, picture frames and décor; clothes (oh my gosh, the clothes); single-purpose kitchen items rarely used; decorative furniture pieces; the list goes on. I was literally in tears thinking of how wasteful I had been with my income. We sold the house fully furnished. We wanted a fresh start and down-sizing over 700 sq. ft. and selling quicker than expected, we didn’t have much of an option. The new place was a modular home. 1,464 sq. ft. which was a relief from the 2,200 we were in when it came time to clean. Rectangular in shape so every square inch built was useful and purposeful. No awkward insets with a random accent table that would never be purposeful would have to go to “fill the space”. It was cozy and felt like home. Growing up in a single-wide manufactured home, it wasn’t too much of a shock to the system anyway.

Our goal after moving in was a 5 year plan. We did a 20 year mortgage but wanted to be completely debt free in 5 years. Seems like a stretch, right? It isn’t if you follow your money and have an understanding of how mortgages truly “work”. Having a NC Real Estate License, that will surely be a topic reviewed throughout this journey with you! I had been promoted multiple times with my employer in Corporate Retail and my husband in his Manufacturing career. Without a college degree, we both started from the bottom in our fields and worked our way up. Throughout those promotions and pay increases, we continued to live off the same income, putting the extra towards our mortgage principal.  We currently just celebrated our 3 year home anniversary August 2020 and are on track to hit our goal of owning our home, free and clear, by April of next year; 1 year ahead of schedule! 

I understand there are a LOT of factors at play when it comes to being debt free. Your income, your debts, your lifestyle, economic factors, events that transpire in our lives, etc. I understand everyone’s journey is different and may take longer or lesser time to accomplish what we set out to do but I want to share my experiences, knowledge and lessons learned with you to show we don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck. We don’t have to keep up with the Jones’ and consume our hard-earned money away. We can have financial freedom at an early age in life! There are sacrifices along the way. We all have our own idea of what is valuable to us. My husband and I don’t have the latest and greatest. We don’t have brand new vehicles. We don’t buy name-brand clothing. We don’t buy a new phone every year. But what we do have is piece of mind. A sense of accomplishment. We have a future upon us without the limitations of debt weighing us down, forcing us to run in a hamster-wheel for 50-60 hours every week. Most importantly for us both, we are approaching a moment in our life to where we have an option to align our schedules to where we can see each other every day vs only on the weekends due to our work scheduling. That is why we do what we do. Time. It’s the one thing money can’t buy, but in saving it, it’s lead me to a moment of more time with the ones who truly matter most <3