Today we are going to talk about finances. More specifically our journey with budgeting, paying off debt, trimming expenses and saving. Then for our Q&A session we were asked about passive income and what we do to pay the bills.
I believe money is one of the biggest barriers to intentional living. Too often the order and priority of our lives revolves around money or the lack thereof. We often choose our careers because of money, stay in our careers because of money and stifle our dreams because of money. Things like debt and income stability become barriers to really pursuing the life we are passionate about. If you’re in doubt ask yourself this question: If finances were not an issue would you continue your present work tomorrow?
These barriers with finances were true for us and we worked really hard to break past these obstacles. While we have cleared some barriers money continues to be a struggle at times. So that is what we are going to be discussing today, how we became intentional with our finances which helped us realize the simple life we wanted and enjoy today.
Here are the links / resources mentioned in the show:
Our Wedding Day
#1 GET ON THE SAME PAGE WITH MONEY!
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University
#2 BUDGET – Every dollar on paper on purpose
#3 TRIM THE FAT FROM EXPENSES
10 tips that can save your $500 per month
#4 PAYOFF DEBT – DEBTSNOWBALL
Things like our Homemade Teardrop Trailer that sidetracked our paying off debt process.
#5 EMERGENCY FUND
Get an emergency fund + 9 ways to fund it
QUESTION – What do you do for income?
OTHER THINGS MENTIONED
Podcast Episode #1 – Overview of Our Story
Come Aboard the Airstream for a Tour
Hello Nick and family my name is Jose and I live near Porto, Portugal, so I apologise if any of my sentences don’t make much sense, unfortunately I don’t have many chances to properly practice my english :). I just came across your blog because I “googled” about small heating wood ovens. And “simple intentional living” just caught my eye. I still haven´t looked at every article, but thank you for sharing your experience, is truly inspirational. Everyday I get more convinced that Knowledge is the true Gold, and when you share it you are multiplying richess. Again, Thank You.
Hey Jose,
You English is great. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the kind words!
Cheers!
-NICK
Hey guys, I was just wondering what you are doing for medical insurance. I know that the cost of private plans are expensive so even though I retired early I made the decision to go back to work for medical insurance.
Good question Billy!
For the first 2years we had a high deductible plan attached to a Health Savings Account. So basically we were covered for anything catastrophic and self insured for anything else. This was pretty costly at $350/month.
After the new health plans came online things drastically changed for us. Because of our income level (we don’t currently make a ton) we got WAY more coverage and pay roughly 1/2 the monthly premium we did before. I’ve heard of many horror stories of people with the new laws but for us we are getting better coverage for a fraction of the cost.
We are thankful because we were pregnant with our son during this time and our out of pocket expenses were only $2k instead of $10k!
Hope this helps!
Hi! loved listening to your podcast. I’m renovating an airstream and have also budgeted about $3K. Just out of curiosity, how much did you end up putting into it? I really love the set up you’ve done.
Thanks Rachel! We have roughly $4k in materials.