1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt, 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: and today we're talking dirt cheap travel with Lauren and 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:08,719 Speaker 1: Stephen from Trip of a Lifestyle. 4 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 2: Yes, I think most people they see traveling as a 5 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,519 Speaker 2: luxury Joel. Right, It's something that isn't completely necessary, and 6 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 2: so because of that they choose to delay. 7 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: Which then means they're actually not all. 8 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 2: That good at traveling. It's like working out. The more 9 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 2: you do it, I think, the better you get at it. 10 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 2: And if that same person sees travel as a luxury good, 11 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 2: I think that also means that they expect to spend 12 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 2: a ton of money on it as well, oftentimes later 13 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 2: in life, which our guests today have completely disproven. We're 14 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 2: joined by the couple behind Trip of a Lifestyle, Lauren 15 00:00:57,760 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 2: and Stephen, who are going to share how they travel 16 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 2: on the cheap and so here's a quick and dirty 17 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:05,119 Speaker 2: little bio on them. They embarked on a forty five 18 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 2: day road trip after college, then rather than honeymooning in 19 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 2: Hawaii for a week, they stuck around for six months instead. 20 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 2: Shortly after that, they purchased their first home in cash, 21 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 2: and so this just goes to prove that they weren't 22 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 2: spending all of their money on travel, and after they 23 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:24,919 Speaker 2: bought their first place, they set out on a seven 24 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 2: month road trip to visit every national park. Oh and 25 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,039 Speaker 2: by the way, they also both retired from their full 26 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 2: time jobs at the age of twenty nine, so at 27 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 2: this point they live semi retired lives, which sounds like 28 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 2: the title of the third Eyeblind album. That's maybe more 29 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 2: in line with how we are living our lives. But 30 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 2: Lauren and Steven, thank you so much for joining us 31 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 2: today on the podcast. 32 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 3: Thanks for having us appreciate it. Yeah. 33 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: Is it possible to look up to people who are 34 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: much younger than you? Matt? I don't know. I might 35 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: be looking up to Lauren Seene right now. Guys. The 36 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: first question we ask everyone who comes on the show 37 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: is what do you like to spend money on? What's 38 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: your craft beer equivalent? Because Matt and I spend a 39 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: good bit ofm on beer. Some people might think it's ridiculous. 40 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: What is that thing for you? Even though obviously you're 41 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: saving the investing, you're thinking about your future too. 42 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 4: Yeah, our biggest splurge area is probably coffee, where kind 43 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 4: of snobbish in a way. We have very particular tastes, 44 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,519 Speaker 4: and if we were to go to like a random 45 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 4: coffee shop and try to get a cup of coffee 46 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 4: that we would really love, it would probably be upwards 47 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 4: of ten dollars. 48 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: So we're not talking folders here, nor are you talking 49 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: about the straight shot of espresso. 50 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 2: You're getting kind of like that organic fixs to go 51 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 2: along with it. 52 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 4: I'm guessing, well, we do love espresso, just like a 53 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 4: lot of it, highly concentrated, highly concentrated oat milk, you know, 54 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:45,399 Speaker 4: the works. 55 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: And so there you go. 56 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 2: That's see, that's the kind of organic stuff I'm talking 57 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 2: about all the other things that I skip. 58 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 4: But earlier this year we purchased a four hundred dollars 59 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 4: espresso maker and that has brought that coffee cost that 60 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 4: would be like an our typical cup of coffee down 61 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,119 Speaker 4: to like a dollar, I would say, And so it's 62 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 4: made it much more affordable to have our little luxury 63 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 4: cup of coffee in the morning. 64 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: Very nice. So the home baristas, I like that. 65 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 2: Heck yes, Steven, is this going to be your your 66 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 2: craft beer equivalent as well? 67 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 3: Oh? Definitely a shared passion. Every every morning. Whoever wakes 68 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 3: up first knows they have to bress. 69 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: You're in charge of it. I just stay under the 70 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: covers and be like a coffee. Steve was like all 71 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: the more reason for me to be a night owl 72 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: and in the morning. 73 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 4: That definitely happened. 74 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 2: In preparing to talk with y'all, I saw that while 75 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 2: y'all were in we didn't even talk about y'all road 76 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 2: tripping out in Australia, but that that's. 77 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: A part of your story that hopefully we'll have time 78 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: we'll do. 79 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 2: But uh, you talked about like you were somewhere where 80 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 2: there was like a severe Australian drought. There's like no water, 81 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 2: but you can still buy you could still get a 82 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 2: nice coffee, which you were. 83 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 4: Excited about, yes, out in the middle of nowhere. Literally, 84 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 4: any establishment in Australia, like if they serve any kind 85 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 4: of food or drink, there is an espresso machine in 86 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 4: that establishment, whether it's a gas station or like a McDonald's, 87 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:06,839 Speaker 4: Like it's a proper setup with whole beans that they're 88 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 4: grinding on the spot for you and very European. 89 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 3: Surprisingly, McDonald's in Australia has actually a great cup of coffee. 90 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 3: They call it macas out there. That's their interesting for McDonald's. 91 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 3: But yeah, they're serious about coffee out there. 92 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: Not to dwell on this too long, but I went 93 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: to Australia for a little while and I fell in 94 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,159 Speaker 1: love with the flat white, which apparently began they started 95 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: making that beverage in Australia and it's and yeah, you 96 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: get even a cheap flat white at the seven to eleven, 97 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: it was like a dollar and it was so much 98 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: better than most flat whites you're going to get in 99 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: the States. 100 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,679 Speaker 4: Sure, so all the coffee there was like amazing anywhere 101 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 4: you go. 102 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 2: Had no idea that they were so on top of 103 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 2: their coffee game there. Okay, Lauraen and Steven, let's talk 104 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 2: about personal finances before we continue to talk about Australia, 105 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 2: because I think I saw, if I read this quickly, 106 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 2: you were saving like sixty to eighty percent of your income. 107 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 2: This is back like starting out, back when you were 108 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 2: in your twenties. What was the inspiration for y'all to 109 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,679 Speaker 2: go like just so stinking hard in those early years? 110 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 3: Honestly, you know, we graduated college together. We moved out 111 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 3: to California for a little minute for me to try 112 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 3: out a grad school program there that I ended up 113 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 3: not sticking with but basically, you know, we were together 114 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 3: living this frugal, naturally frugal college lifestyle. Most people in 115 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 3: college are broke and kind of have to live frugally 116 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 3: because they have to write, and we were pretty happy 117 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 3: with our life, like we never felt deprived as college students. 118 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 3: Like a lot of people say college is the best 119 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 3: years of your life, right, and we definitely felt that 120 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,840 Speaker 3: way too, And we weren't spending much. And then soon 121 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 3: after that we got real jobs and they weren't like fancy, 122 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 3: high paying real jobs. I My first real job out 123 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 3: of college was a public school teacher, started at thirty 124 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 3: eight thousand dollars a year. Lauren was making just a 125 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,840 Speaker 3: little bit less than that. But weirdly, because we were 126 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 3: used to this college lifestyle that felt like a fortune 127 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 3: to us. Just paying our normal bills, we were like 128 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 3: left over with tons of money from every paycheck, and 129 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,159 Speaker 3: our checking account just started to kind of fill up, 130 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 3: and they're like, what do we do with this money? 131 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 3: And that's where we kind of discovered the idea of 132 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 3: investing and that you can turn extra money into even 133 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,479 Speaker 3: more money and perpetual income. And so you know, we 134 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 3: learned about investing that us even more excited about the 135 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 3: idea of saving large percentages of our income, and it 136 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 3: kind of just snowballed from there. 137 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: Did it ever feel like, well, we're making more money, 138 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: we should clearly start to upgrade this in that I mean, 139 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: that's the traditional American reaction to an increase in income 140 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: is to spend a good portion of it, if not 141 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: more even than you're bringing in. So, yeah, what made 142 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: you decide, now, let's keep living like college students? You said, 143 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: we were happy that that was a good way to live. 144 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: But what made you decide that there weren't all these 145 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 1: different ways that you wanted to change your life as 146 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:58,840 Speaker 1: after you graduated and started making more. 147 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 3: So pretty soon we discovered the idea of investing right 148 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 3: that your extra money can create income for you in 149 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 3: the future, passive income. We thought about, like, well, okay, 150 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 3: if we are reasonably happy with the material stuff we have, 151 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 3: like our level of like car and housing and all 152 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 3: the basic needs food stuff like that, you know we 153 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 3: could upgrade that stuff. Sure, that's definitely an option that's 154 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 3: on the table. But when you realize money can make 155 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 3: more money, you start to say, well, wait a sec 156 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 3: if I save enough if I invest enough, I could 157 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 3: actually stop working. Like that, that money can buy you 158 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 3: your freedom, the freedom to do whatever it is with 159 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 3: the rest of your life that you want. It could 160 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 3: actually buy you back forty plus years, you know, from 161 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 3: sitting in an office or whatever, or a classroom in 162 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 3: my case. So we got pretty excited about that idea, 163 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 3: and I think that helped to prevent us from undergoing 164 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 3: that like lifestyle inflation. But also I mean just the 165 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 3: fact that we were pretty happy with what we had, 166 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 3: but we were appreciative of the lifestyle we were already living. 167 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 4: Yeah, I think when you are like setting out to 168 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 4: create a life that you enjoy every day, then I 169 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 4: don't think you end up feeling deprived or in want 170 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 4: of anything. And that was kind of where we were at. 171 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 4: Like we enjoyed our life. We still like took little breaks. 172 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 4: We were living in Orlando, Florida at the time, and 173 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 4: so it wasn't very far to like go to the beach. 174 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 4: Orlando has really great bike trails. Like, we still enjoyed 175 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 4: our life when we weren't working. And you know, to 176 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 4: Steven's point about our finances, we kind of did the 177 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:36,319 Speaker 4: math and we're when we set a savings goal, and 178 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 4: we started tracking our net worth every month toward this goal, 179 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 4: and that was really encouraging too. So we were kind 180 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 4: of seeing that number ticking up toward the goal, and 181 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,200 Speaker 4: that I feel like also helped keep us on track. 182 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 4: It was really encouraging, like, look, how look what we 183 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 4: were able to do this month, Like look how much 184 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:55,679 Speaker 4: we were able to save, Look how much we're increasing, 185 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 4: And you know, it was this shared goal. We were 186 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 4: excited about it, and I think that really helped. 187 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 3: To you a specific example about the lifestyle inflation thing. 188 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 3: I rode my bike to work every day, yes, which 189 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 3: prevented us from ever buying a second vehicle. So we 190 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 3: shared one used car all the time, Lauren, most of 191 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 3: the time drove a car to work. 192 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 4: Yeah, my office was further. 193 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 3: And you know that helped financially in a massive, massive way. 194 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 3: All the money that wasn't spent on a second car 195 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 3: was invested, which is like, really the number one thing. 196 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 3: You don't undergo depreciation on the second car, You don't 197 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 3: have maintenance and gas and insurance on the second car 198 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,079 Speaker 3: and all these things. But most people look at that 199 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 3: and they say, wow, you rode your bike to work 200 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 3: every day. That's like an ultra frugal sacrifice that you 201 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,440 Speaker 3: made for your finances. And I never viewed it that 202 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,319 Speaker 3: way because I really liked riding my bike to work. 203 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 3: I got free exercise, extra calories burned every day, my 204 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 3: health improved, I arrived to work a little more awake 205 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 3: and energized. Like it was just a positive on all fronts, 206 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,319 Speaker 3: all upside, no downside. And a lot of our choices. 207 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: Were like that, Yeah, you're like, jokes on you. I 208 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: really like this story and that's the we're kind of reframing. 209 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 1: I think that's so powerful, right when we're talking about 210 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: stick toitiveness, And I think that's why, like, that's why 211 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: people they try a diet and after like a month 212 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: they give up, and it's because the desired outcome is 213 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: something less, it's not as deep, right, And I think 214 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: that connection to no, I'm not doing this to save 215 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: a few bucks, I'm doing this because this is the 216 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: kind of person I want to be, is so much 217 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: more powerful and it can create more of a long 218 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: lasting change, definitely. 219 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 2: And then yeah, clearly had some personal discipline when it 220 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,559 Speaker 2: came to scaling back and keeping some of those desires 221 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 2: in check. But how much did your community have an 222 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 2: impact on that, because oftentimes the people that we surround 223 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 2: ourselves with can have a positive or negative impact. Did 224 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,079 Speaker 2: your friends and family react negatively to how it was that, 225 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 2: in this case that you were choosing to not spend 226 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:47,319 Speaker 2: your money. 227 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 3: I think in the early days, friends and family definitely 228 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 3: wondered like, hey, like, you have a decent job now 229 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 3: and everything, like why don't you drive a little bit 230 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 3: better car, why don't you have two cars? Or why 231 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 3: don't you live a little bit bigger place or whatever 232 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 3: it is. I'm sure there was some of that, but 233 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 3: over the long run, you know, when we were twenty 234 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,120 Speaker 3: two and living frugally like college gyments, people are like, 235 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:10,959 Speaker 3: why don't you upgrade a little bit? And then by 236 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,319 Speaker 3: the time we were like late twenties or early thirties, 237 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:18,200 Speaker 3: you know, now, I'd like to think that that influence 238 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 3: is kind of going the opposite direction a little bit, 239 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 3: because I think that in a good way, people that 240 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 3: we know are seeing the kind of life that we 241 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,280 Speaker 3: get to live now because we did those things, you know, 242 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 3: taking six and seven month vacations on a regular basis 243 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:36,079 Speaker 3: and not going to a job every day, that people 244 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,839 Speaker 3: are starting to get curious about, like, hey, so, how 245 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 3: exactly did you do that? And really the answer ultimately 246 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 3: is all of that stuff that's just a little abnormal, 247 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:49,440 Speaker 3: the frugal not upgrading your lifestyle stuff that you reference. 248 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:51,839 Speaker 3: So I kind of think I think that influence is 249 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 3: starting to reverse back the other direction. 250 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 2: Now, Okay, so I'm thinking about how So before we 251 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 2: hit record, we were talking about something that y'all are 252 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,120 Speaker 2: actually doing tomorrow, which is heading to a college town. 253 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 2: Y'all are gonna do some marketing with the a business 254 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 2: that you started. You've got like a tutoring company. Talk 255 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:12,559 Speaker 2: to me about like you've retired from full time work, right, 256 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 2: and so y'all kind of live like this quote unquote 257 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 2: semi retired life that we kind of alluded to earlier, 258 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 2: but you're still working. So talk to us just about 259 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,960 Speaker 2: how maybe you view work at this point in time, 260 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 2: because it's it's obviously not something that's necessary. Y'all are 261 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 2: essentially coast fire, but you are still doing this additional work. 262 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 2: Why is it that you continue to work in this way? 263 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 3: Yeah, so, in fact, we're fully fire. I mean, we 264 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:38,719 Speaker 3: could live one hundred percent off of our investments at 265 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 3: this time, and I wanted to. But we did start 266 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,319 Speaker 3: a business about a year ago. It's a college too. 267 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 4: Right after we came back from Australia. Actually we were 268 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 4: like all rested up, enjoying life, where like that was 269 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 4: fun and easy, and a friend approached us to talk 270 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 4: about this idea. 271 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, So to give some context on that, though, about 272 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 3: three or four years before that, we spent basically hanging 273 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 3: out at home, which you know, we live at the 274 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 3: beach now, so hanging out at the beach a lot, 275 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,600 Speaker 3: traveling about three to six months out of each one 276 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 3: of those years. So we were like pretty recharged from 277 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 3: like the career stage of our lives, because. 278 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: You're pretty far from burnout because you opposite of burnout, right, right, 279 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: So we're thirty four now, so it's like, you know, 280 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: we had years of kind of chilling for the most part, 281 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: and so after a while, like you start to itch 282 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:32,680 Speaker 1: for some kind of like productive thing. 283 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,440 Speaker 3: Not to say we did nothing during those. 284 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 4: Years, but right, we have our blog and you know, 285 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 4: we work on that as well, but we were. 286 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 3: Open to the idea of like putting in some hours 287 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 3: towards something that we cared about and was exciting. So 288 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 3: a friend of ours approached us right after our Australia trip. 289 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:50,719 Speaker 3: We were in like a great mood because we had 290 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 3: just come back from this three month vacation, and he 291 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:56,079 Speaker 3: was like, hey, you know, you know that business idea 292 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,079 Speaker 3: we had always talked about because he was a former 293 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 3: coworker of mine from a previous employe, and we had 294 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 3: always talked about this idea is like we should do that. 295 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 3: I was like, all right, I mean I look at Laura, 296 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:09,720 Speaker 3: I like, what do you think should we do it? 297 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 3: And you know, she didn't say no. 298 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 4: I was like, oh, you know, the part that we're 299 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:18,320 Speaker 4: in now, this part of the business a year later 300 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 4: is like what I was envisioning. I was like, Oh, 301 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 4: it'd be fun, like anytime we're traveling to like stop 302 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 4: in do a college and like do some marketing and 303 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 4: have you know, it's we end up in college towns 304 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 4: all the time anyway, because there's always like great food, 305 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,760 Speaker 4: you know, great atmosphere stuff to do in college towns 306 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 4: when we're on road trips, and so it's like, oh, 307 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 4: it's like a really nice fit. But I wasn't anticipating 308 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,160 Speaker 4: the like year of work that we have had to 309 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 4: put in thus. 310 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 3: Far, our last twelve months or so of life have 311 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 3: definitely been the opposite of retirement. I mean, I say 312 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 3: that we just got home from a forty two day 313 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:54,520 Speaker 3: road trip like a few days ago. But for the 314 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 3: most part, for the past year, we've been working really 315 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 3: hard on this project and it's been rewarding. It's been cool, 316 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 3: it's growing. I mean, we both worked our careers for 317 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 3: the most part just as employees, you know, doing the 318 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 3: traditional like work at a job, get a steady paycheck 319 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 3: and save it and put it in the stock market, right, 320 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 3: And that's how we retired. But now it's like it's 321 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 3: like a whole new, exciting and different world to run 322 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 3: our own business, and so I don't regret the choice, 323 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 3: even though it's been a lot of work. 324 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been fun to experience like entrepreneurship in this way. 325 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 4: Both of our parents have a lot of entrepreneur like background, 326 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 4: Like Steven's dad was a small business owner. My dad's 327 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 4: had a lot of different like random gigs he's done too, 328 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 4: and so you know, I think it's kind of in 329 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 4: our blood a little bit, and so it's been fun 330 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 4: to to really try it out risk free. 331 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: Honestly, Like that's what I was going to hone in 332 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: on Lauren is like the risk free aspect. It's so 333 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: much easier to start something and you can kind of, hey, 334 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: this is a crossover something I'm good at and passionate about, 335 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: and like, I also don't necessarily have to hit a 336 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 1: grand slam here. I can hit a single and and 337 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: just kind of see see what develops because you don't 338 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: have to have the income to put food on the 339 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 1: table in the same way. Did that kind of make 340 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: it a little bit easier of a decision? 341 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely. 342 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 4: Uh. 343 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,920 Speaker 3: I think that, you know, whether I would like to 344 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 3: admit it or not, maybe part of the reason why 345 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 3: I didn't jump straight into starting my own business many 346 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 3: years ago is because the steady paycheck is attractive, right, 347 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 3: I Mean, there's risk that that's involved with starting a business. 348 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 3: You got to pay your bills and stuff, and so 349 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 3: that that's not even a thought anymore, like you said, 350 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,200 Speaker 3: which is great. And the initial cash outlay for this 351 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 3: business was pretty low. I mean we personally put in 352 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 3: like I don't know, like five thousand dollars or something 353 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 3: like that if I remember correctly, maybe even less than 354 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 3: that to get it started. So it's like, what's the 355 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 3: worst case scenario, Like, so, yeah, it's exactly exactly what 356 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 3: you said. 357 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 2: I'm curious too, Like, so we've talked a lot about investments, Lauren, 358 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 2: I'm curious. Was there a part so Steven, it sound 359 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,200 Speaker 2: like with you it maybe it was maybe more an 360 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 2: intellectual itch, right, Maybe it was your buddy, it was 361 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 2: a friend of yours I had reached out to you. 362 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 2: Is some of this also due to the fact that 363 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 2: you're trying to kind of bridge the gap, like you're 364 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 2: not fully retired, you're not at the quote unquote retirement 365 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 2: age where you're fifty nine and a half you can 366 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 2: start tapping retirement funds. How much of this is logistics 367 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,239 Speaker 2: where you're kind of like, well, it'd be nice if 368 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 2: we made a little bit extra money here on the side, 369 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 2: in the here and now this year to kind of 370 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:25,240 Speaker 2: cover some of the day to day expenses. 371 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 1: And is any part of it boredom with travel too? 372 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 4: I don't think that there's a boredom with travel. Yet 373 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:34,119 Speaker 4: we keep finding new places to go and so that 374 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:36,400 Speaker 4: makes it makes it fun and interesting and new. 375 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 3: Logistically speaking, there's really not an issue like in our 376 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 3: day to day cash flow. So for context, in our 377 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 3: investment portfolio or our total net worth, like about I 378 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 3: want to say, seventy percent or so of that is taxable, 379 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:56,400 Speaker 3: meaning that it's not sheltered by like iras or four 380 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 3: oh one k's or anything like that where you can't 381 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,200 Speaker 3: tap it until fifty nine and a half. And even 382 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 3: the thirty percent or so that is in those types 383 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,679 Speaker 3: of accounts, there are ways to access those early, right 384 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 3: There's things like the Roth Conversion Ladder, and there's there's 385 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 3: various different tricks you can use to access that money. 386 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 3: So logistically speaking, it really I don't think would be 387 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 3: a huge problem if we wanted to like live off 388 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:23,159 Speaker 3: our portfolio right now. But I mean, like you said, 389 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 3: it is pretty nice to just have some extra money. 390 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 3: And in reality, we have never actually had to withdraw 391 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 3: from our portfolio because we've always had some kind of 392 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 3: little side gigs. We've had a photography business that we've 393 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 3: run together since high school. And I say business lightly, 394 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:41,719 Speaker 3: I mean it's like a side gig, you know, like 395 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 3: once in a while we'll shoot a wedding. 396 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 4: Or someone recommends us and we go do a wedding. 397 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 4: Like we have a wedding I think in October of 398 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 4: this year, and we had a wedding last October, and like, 399 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 4: I feel like we're doing like one or two a 400 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,679 Speaker 4: year at this point, or like someone's grad photos or whatever. 401 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:01,400 Speaker 3: And I maintained a contract with my former employer for 402 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 3: just a little bit of remote freelance work after I 403 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 3: worked there full time. Lauren has done the same thing 404 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:09,200 Speaker 3: in the past with previous employers. 405 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 4: I've done that a few times. Now. I just have 406 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 4: one client that I do social media for, but that's 407 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 4: like not very much work. And yeah, so we've had 408 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 4: enough income that we really haven't had to worry about 409 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,119 Speaker 4: the logistics of things. However, one of the ideas I 410 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,720 Speaker 4: had about this new business was, yeah, in case any 411 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 4: of those random, various income streams were to dry up, 412 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 4: not the stock market, but like our other little income things, 413 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:38,119 Speaker 4: it would be cool to have like another one just 414 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 4: to see and we get to do this experiment in entrepreneurship. 415 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,720 Speaker 4: So yeah, totally that was part of the motivation too, 416 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 4: I guess cool awesome. 417 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,719 Speaker 1: We have alluded to a bunch of trips you've taken. 418 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,879 Speaker 1: It's just in multi month long trip, so we actually 419 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:55,680 Speaker 1: have a bunch of questions. This is something you guys 420 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:59,959 Speaker 1: cover a whole lot. Obviously, the name of your Instagram 421 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,240 Speaker 1: and of your brand is Trip of a Lifestyle, So 422 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,680 Speaker 1: we're going to talk a whole lot about travel and 423 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: saving money on travel. Get to a bunch of questions 424 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: on that right after this. All right, we are back 425 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 1: from the. 426 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 2: Break talking with Lauren and Stephen of Trip of a Lifestyle. 427 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 2: And I mean, it's the title of the episode, right 428 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 2: dirt Cheap Travel, So we got to talk about the 429 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 2: actual travel part and not just work, which is like 430 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,160 Speaker 2: the opposite of travel everything that we've talked about so far. 431 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:33,159 Speaker 2: But I want to hear not only have you saved 432 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 2: money like when it comes to the big ticket items 433 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 2: when it comes to travel, but also like just some 434 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 2: of those smaller ways that y'all have been able to 435 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 2: save as well. 436 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 1: But I'm curious. 437 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 2: I get the impression that y'all are pretty detail oriented 438 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 2: when it comes to tracking how much you're spending, especially 439 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 2: when it comes to travel. Have you found that you 440 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 2: have spent more or less money when it comes to 441 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 2: staying at home living your normal life versus being on 442 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,439 Speaker 2: the road and the expenses associated with that. 443 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,440 Speaker 3: We definitely spend more money out on the road then 444 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,159 Speaker 3: we do when we're living at home, but it's not 445 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 3: very much more so, our main mode of travel, especially 446 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,400 Speaker 3: when we're at home in North America, is traveling around 447 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:16,400 Speaker 3: in our camper van, so there's actually no lodging expense. 448 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 3: And then the weird thing is if we do go 449 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 3: out in our camper van, that leaves our house unoccupied, right, 450 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:27,120 Speaker 3: And so if we're traveling for a long period of time, 451 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 3: we've actually rented out our house and then collected income. 452 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:32,159 Speaker 3: So if you were to subtract that out of the 453 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:34,760 Speaker 3: expenses of the travel, would probably be coming out ahead 454 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 3: in that type of situation. 455 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:36,439 Speaker 1: Nice. 456 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:38,639 Speaker 3: And it's not just the camper van that makes that 457 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 3: possible either. A lot of people are like, well, I 458 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 3: don't I don't want to do van life, so you know, 459 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 3: travel can't be cheap for me. But another example of 460 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 3: that is we went to Hawaii for six months for 461 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:49,840 Speaker 3: our honeymoon, like you mentioned earlier. 462 00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 4: Yeah, for that trip, our lease was actually up at home, 463 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:56,440 Speaker 4: so we just left, moved to Hawaii and got a 464 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,439 Speaker 4: six month lease on an apartment there. Honestly, the was 465 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,880 Speaker 4: roughly the same and we got to kind of live 466 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 4: our normal lifestyle now in a new place. We bought 467 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 4: a car while we were there, a cheap used car, 468 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:11,239 Speaker 4: and we were able to sell it back when we 469 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 4: were done. We actually made one thousand dollars on that sale. 470 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 4: So our rental car costs, you could say it didn't exist. 471 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 3: Our negative rental car costs. 472 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 4: Our hotel costs was just rent. It was the same 473 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,000 Speaker 4: as it was living at home. Right, and then food, 474 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 4: I mean, we're living here now, so we've got a 475 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 4: full kitchen, refrigerator, stove, we're making our own meals, we're 476 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:38,360 Speaker 4: buying food at Costco. Our costs monthly expenses in Hawaii, 477 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 4: I think we're what the same? 478 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:40,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, at home? 479 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: Well you can do that because parts of Hawaii have 480 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: a Costco and Costco is the big money saver in Hawaii. Truly, 481 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:48,359 Speaker 1: Like if you going to the other grocery, SA a 482 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:50,320 Speaker 1: heck of a lot more in hawaiis does it they 483 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: not have all these in Hawaii? I don't think so, ye, 484 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: So Like truly it's a massive game. 485 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,479 Speaker 3: Costco is a life saver. To give some numbers to this, 486 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 3: back then, the Hawaii trip was in twenty fifteen. Our 487 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,200 Speaker 3: annual spending at home at that time was twenty two 488 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,679 Speaker 3: thousand dollars a year combined for two people, like including 489 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,240 Speaker 3: rent and food and like every expense you can possibly 490 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,400 Speaker 3: think of. That was our bottom line total for a year, 491 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,639 Speaker 3: twenty eleven thousand dollars a year per person basically, which 492 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 3: I guess is technically below the federal poverty line. 493 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: But we never never built that way at all. Didn't 494 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: feel that as affordable. 495 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,639 Speaker 3: That is how we were able to save sixty to 496 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,119 Speaker 3: eighty percent of teacher salaries, you know. But when we 497 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 3: moved to Hawaii, because we leased an apartment long term, 498 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 3: like a local wood, we bought a car and sold 499 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,879 Speaker 3: it for the exact same amount, actually one thousand dollars 500 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 3: more than what we paid for it, and we did 501 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 3: all kinds of travel hacks like that, and most of 502 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 3: our entertainment was just going outside because Hawaii is pretty cool. 503 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:52,560 Speaker 3: All you really have to do is walk out the 504 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,960 Speaker 3: front door to have fun. Our annual spend rate there 505 00:23:56,359 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 3: was exactly equal, so we spent net about eleven thousand 506 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 3: dollars total in the six months we were there, So 507 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 3: that's the same twenty two thousand dollars a year combined. 508 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's one of the things too, that long long 509 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: form travel can do, right, because yeah, when you're talking 510 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,800 Speaker 1: about short term travel, you're talking about hotel rooms and 511 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,200 Speaker 1: not having a place to cook, or even if you're 512 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,119 Speaker 1: rent an airbnb, you run it for three nights and 513 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:20,040 Speaker 1: guess what, it's not going to be nearly as cheap 514 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:21,879 Speaker 1: as running something for a month or six months or 515 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,080 Speaker 1: something like that. And then rental cars versus kind of 516 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 1: what you're doing like a little hack there to actually 517 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 1: make money on the transportation you're using. I'm curious too, 518 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: a lot of people with who are super into travel, right, 519 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: they're using credit cards to help reduce the cost. But 520 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,639 Speaker 1: you guys, you're less interested in paying with points. You 521 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: do like the credit card game, but you prefer to 522 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: get cash for those points instead of points, right, So 523 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:47,639 Speaker 1: I'm just curious to know how you guys factor credit 524 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: cards into your travel money savings, and then why you 525 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,199 Speaker 1: kind of take a different approach than a whole lot 526 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:54,240 Speaker 1: of other people in the space. 527 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:59,360 Speaker 3: We travel so frugally, you know, spending instead of on hotels, 528 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 3: on a camper van or on an apartment lease in Hawaii, 529 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,640 Speaker 3: that's you know, one fifth or less of the price 530 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 3: that it would be to get hotels every night, and 531 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,360 Speaker 3: you can't do those things with points, so you can 532 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,400 Speaker 3: take cash back and let's say you get let's say 533 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 3: you get a cash bonus on a credit card of 534 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 3: five hundred dollars, and you could have had seven hundred 535 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 3: dollars worth of hotels instead. Well, that's a little bit more, 536 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,439 Speaker 3: it's two hundred dollars more. But I can get a 537 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:32,200 Speaker 3: multiple much much better than that by just spending more 538 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,119 Speaker 3: efficiently on things that can't be bought with those luxury 539 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 3: hotel and airline points and things like that. So that's 540 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 3: kind of the answer, if that makes sense. 541 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you mentioned the ability for y'all to basically 542 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,920 Speaker 2: have a negative cost of transportation while you're in Hawaii. 543 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 2: You did the same thing in Australia when it came 544 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,439 Speaker 2: to the car that y'all used to drive around the 545 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 2: entire continent. 546 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:57,400 Speaker 1: Basically of Australia. 547 00:25:57,800 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 2: That's a little trick there as to how it was 548 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 2: you were able to travel affordably while you got to Australia. 549 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,479 Speaker 2: But what about actually getting to Australia, because that's an 550 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 2: expensive plane ticket. I mean, maybe that's one of the 551 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,440 Speaker 2: reasons I haven't been to Australia and Joel. 552 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:14,000 Speaker 1: Has because that loaded. But how did you say. 553 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 2: When it came to finding a deal on tickets to Australia. 554 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:20,840 Speaker 4: Yeah, So for that I was just trying to get 555 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 4: a sense of you know, we're in Florida, and so 556 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:28,440 Speaker 4: you could either go you know, across over Africa in 557 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 4: land and say Perth on the other side of Australia, 558 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 4: or you could go westward, you know, across the United States, 559 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,200 Speaker 4: across the Pacific in land in Sydney. And I didn't 560 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,640 Speaker 4: really know because you know, we have a first time 561 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:42,480 Speaker 4: going you know, what was the most common flight, What 562 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 4: was the like regular route you know that might be 563 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 4: cheaper to do. And it looked like everyone every flight 564 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:53,200 Speaker 4: was basically going west with stopovers in Hawaii most of 565 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,440 Speaker 4: the time, like almost every plane was like stopping in Hawaii, 566 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:59,399 Speaker 4: refueling and going on. And so I was like, well, 567 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,920 Speaker 4: if every flight is doing that, these flights are expensive. 568 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 4: What if I booked instead a leg from Florida to 569 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 4: Hawaii separately and then like picked it up the next day, 570 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 4: just stay a night in Hawaii or whatever and leave 571 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 4: the next day to go from Hawaii to Sydney in Australia. 572 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,560 Speaker 4: And so when I split up the flight instead of 573 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 4: booking one not direct, but one flight that goes from 574 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:27,240 Speaker 4: Florida to Australia, and instead booked Florida to Hawaii Hawaii 575 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:31,360 Speaker 4: do Australia as two separate flights. The price dropped dramatically. 576 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,200 Speaker 4: I mean, what did I pay? 577 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:34,960 Speaker 3: I want to say it was close to half price 578 00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 3: to do it that way. 579 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 4: I think I think it was fifteen hundred for one 580 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 4: plane ticket one way, and then I got them for 581 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 4: five hundred each one way. By doing it split up 582 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,159 Speaker 4: that way, you know, you got a factor in the 583 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 4: night that we stayed in Hawaii. We stayed at a 584 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 4: hotel that night, but even still, I think that hotel 585 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:53,359 Speaker 4: was one hundred and twenty dollars. 586 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, it wasn't too bad with. 587 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 4: Airport shuttles, so it was very reasonable. And if we 588 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 4: wanted to, we could stayed in Hawaii longer and made 589 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 4: that its own little side trip too. 590 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:09,360 Speaker 3: And that hack that Lauren used, that's actually pretty generalizable. 591 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 3: It's not the first time she did that before, she's 592 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,320 Speaker 3: the one who discovered it. But basically, anywhere you want 593 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:17,000 Speaker 3: to go that's a really long flight that has like 594 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 3: a connection in between, it's worth taking a look on 595 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 3: Google flights at whatever the most common connection point is 596 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,639 Speaker 3: that's usually the cheapest ticket that you can get that 597 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 3: connects you there, and then just break up that connection separately. 598 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,399 Speaker 3: And another thing to remember is, like our stopover was 599 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,200 Speaker 3: in Hawaii. Well, if you've never been to Hawaii before, 600 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 3: that stopover might not be a drawback. That might actually 601 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 3: be a positive for you. What if you stopped in 602 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:44,479 Speaker 3: Hawaii and stayed for a week just because you wanted to, 603 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 3: that could actually be a plus tier tip. So you know, 604 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 3: feel free to think about it positively that way too, 605 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 3: not as an inconvenience. 606 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: I'm curious. I want to know a little bit more 607 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:53,560 Speaker 1: about the Campra van. You've mentioned it a few times now, 608 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,560 Speaker 1: and they make some really fancy ones out there these days, 609 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,560 Speaker 1: like fancy, yeah, yeah, that's all I'm here. So I 610 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 1: even saw the other day, like I think you guys 611 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: have a Nissan, but Nissan is actually about to re 612 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 1: release one of their pre made campervands like prefab on 613 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: the inside. And the starting price is it's not absurd, 614 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: but I want to say it's almost forty grand. You 615 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: guys did it for a heck of a lot less 616 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:18,840 Speaker 1: than that, So talk to me about creating that Campra 617 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: van and why that makes so much sense. Why is 618 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: such a big money saver. 619 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 4: So our plan with the campra van that purchase was 620 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,040 Speaker 4: for going to every national park. We knew, we had 621 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 4: this plan. We're going to go, you know, six months 622 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 4: or so, you know, everywhere in the United States. We're 623 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,480 Speaker 4: going to drive from Florida all the way up to Alaska. 624 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 4: It needs to have good gas mileage because that's one 625 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:44,400 Speaker 4: of the big downsides to these kinds of recreational vehicles. 626 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 4: A lot of times they get terrible gas mileage and 627 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 4: that's really going to add up over six months of driving. 628 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:53,400 Speaker 4: And so that was our first big line item, and 629 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 4: we're like, how do we decrease that cost and also 630 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 4: add in we get shelter, right. 631 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: So, yeah, the we F three fifty with the with 632 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: the pole behind is going to be a heck of 633 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:04,920 Speaker 1: a lot more money on every front. 634 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 4: Exactly, And so we went with an economical choice. Our 635 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 4: van is a Nissan Envy two hundred. It's in the 636 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 4: same class as like the Transit the Ford Transit Connect. 637 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 4: It's a really small compact like city cargo van. It's 638 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 4: it's just big enough in the back if you lay 639 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 4: down to fit a full size bed. That's the size 640 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,480 Speaker 4: of the cargo area. But it gets what is it, 641 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 4: twenty four miles to the twenty six miles to the gown. 642 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 4: So it's very reasonable compared to other vans that get like, 643 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 4: you know, nine or whatever. 644 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,720 Speaker 3: And it was a twenty thirteen we bought back in 645 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:46,040 Speaker 3: twenty nineteen for twelve thousand, three hundred dollars and had 646 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,960 Speaker 3: like something like sixty thousand miles on it. We drove 647 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 3: that thing to I believe it now has something like 648 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 3: two hundred and fifteen thousand miles on it. I really 649 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 3: gets more, maybe even a little more than that. I 650 00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 3: haven't looked at the odominant a little bit. It's it's 651 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 3: a we ought to crap out on us. I'm not 652 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 3: gonna lie. We actually have just purchased a replacement for 653 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 3: that van. Uh details forthcoming on our blog all about that. 654 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 3: But it served us. 655 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: Really well with he got your money's worth. 656 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,880 Speaker 3: Almost no maintenance for all the way too, well past 657 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 3: two hundred thousand miles, and it saved us literally hundreds 658 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 3: of nights in hotels. So we made our money back 659 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 3: like crazy on that thing. 660 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 2: It sounds like you were able to say, but because 661 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 2: you didn't like outfit it so that it was like 662 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 2: instagram worthy, you know, like everyone's got these pictures where 663 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:34,000 Speaker 2: they're like got the back doors opened and there's a 664 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 2: picture of their feet with like a pour over coffee, 665 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 2: which actually you guys probably actually had. 666 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 1: For our van. 667 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 4: Literally, like I alluded, we we have a full sized 668 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 4: bed in the back, and we just built a platform 669 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,720 Speaker 4: on top on top of like the base of the 670 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 4: and our beds on top. So it's like there's cargo 671 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:54,640 Speaker 4: storage under the bed and that's all that's back there. 672 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,479 Speaker 2: And that's enough space for y'all. Yeah, I assumed, So 673 00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 2: how much how much cooking? Because like you've got your 674 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:01,360 Speaker 2: you know, you can get like a couple of Marina 675 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 2: wool shirts and you're like, sweet, now I don't have 676 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 2: to do any laundry except for like once a week 677 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 2: to wash my one. 678 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:07,320 Speaker 1: Shirt or something like that. 679 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:09,280 Speaker 2: But like there's other stuff that you need, especially if 680 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,479 Speaker 2: you're looking to say that I'm thinking about food, how 681 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 2: does that work for y'all? Like what are some of 682 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 2: the ways that you've found that you're able to reduce 683 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 2: the cost of yeah, feeding yourselves. 684 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: Trail mix all day every day, man weeks on end. 685 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 4: So we do always bring a little camp stove. It's 686 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 4: a little propane a burner like screws onto the top 687 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:31,320 Speaker 4: of this little can of propane, and we bring like 688 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 4: a pot and some silverware and bowls, and we cook, 689 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,720 Speaker 4: you know, can stuff soups and stuff that's like easy 690 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:42,160 Speaker 4: to make that doesn't require like a lot of preparation. 691 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:44,560 Speaker 4: We make a lot of sandwiches and things like that. 692 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:47,560 Speaker 4: We just added a cooler to the mix, so now 693 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 4: we can have like some cold stuff, which is new. 694 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 3: But in truth, we actually eat out quite a bit 695 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:56,440 Speaker 3: when we road trip. We just tend to go to 696 00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:00,000 Speaker 3: like expensive we go to like fast food or fast 697 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 3: casual places like pizza. Yeah. So what we've done though 698 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,040 Speaker 3: with that is we've we've picked out a few places 699 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 3: that are our favorites, mostly out of necessity. We're both vegans, 700 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 3: so we have like kind of limited options for places 701 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:16,280 Speaker 3: that cater to us. But we've picked out like our 702 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 3: most commonplaces that are really well available nationally and even 703 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:24,520 Speaker 3: sometimes internationally, and we've figured out some menu hacks where 704 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:28,880 Speaker 3: you can actually order menu items exactly equivalent to what 705 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 3: you would get if you ordered like a number three 706 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 3: combo or whatever, but you order them in a strange 707 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 3: way where you're like putting together side items or whatever. 708 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 3: And we've actually been able to reduce the price of 709 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 3: certain menu items at certain restaurants by as much as 710 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 3: seventy five percent sometimes by doing these crazy. 711 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,520 Speaker 1: Menus frank and ordering yeah yeah, h strange order number 712 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: three place like our. 713 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,440 Speaker 3: Most recent one. We were just on this this forty 714 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 3: two day road trip to Canada just this year, and 715 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 3: we figured out a menu hack at A and W, 716 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,560 Speaker 3: which is a burger joint very very common in Canada 717 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:07,920 Speaker 3: basically and like every single town. And so I think 718 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,439 Speaker 3: the number was something like this. The Beyond Burger, which 719 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 3: is the vegan burger that's on their menu, costs like 720 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,640 Speaker 3: I want to say, nine or twelve dollars something like 721 00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 3: that Canadian dollars. Yeah, And we figured out a menu 722 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,359 Speaker 3: hack where if you order like the bun and the 723 00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 3: patty and the toppings and things completely separately as like 724 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,560 Speaker 3: line items, and then just assemble it yourself. When you 725 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 3: receive it, it's the exact same burger. And we literally 726 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:37,360 Speaker 3: got it as well as two dollars or fifty cents 727 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:38,160 Speaker 3: by doing it that way. 728 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 2: Wait, so they allow you to piecemeal order a burger. 729 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 3: So she did it probably at a dozen different ANW locations, 730 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 3: and we never had a single problem. 731 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 4: It's got to be super easy to ring in because 732 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:51,719 Speaker 4: no one had any issue with it. 733 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:53,360 Speaker 2: Honestly, that's fascinating. 734 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 4: Yeah. Another like burger hack that kind of works anywhere 735 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 4: is adding a second patty to a so you get 736 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 4: like double the meat less bread per meat basically and 737 00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:07,560 Speaker 4: just splitting that. And so we do that a lot 738 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 4: of times, and that works pretty much everywhere. It's always 739 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:12,799 Speaker 4: cheaper to like add a second patty than it is 740 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,919 Speaker 4: to order a whole nother burger. And like, I don't 741 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,000 Speaker 4: we don't need like double the fries. Like, it's fine. 742 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 3: Do the same thing at your bowtlet like get one 743 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 3: bowl and then just get them to load you up 744 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:25,880 Speaker 3: on the free ingredients like beans and veggies and stuff 745 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:26,279 Speaker 3: like that. 746 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:27,959 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I've done that before. 747 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,479 Speaker 3: Man, you can easily split one of those bowls. You'll 748 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:33,279 Speaker 3: you'll be suffering if you actually ate that whole thing 749 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:33,880 Speaker 3: by yourself. 750 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,080 Speaker 4: Yeah. Lace pizzas like that too. You can add as 751 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:37,840 Speaker 4: much as you want and we'll split a pizza that 752 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 4: way by just having lots of toppings. On it. 753 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:44,280 Speaker 1: It's like literally just a mountain everest of toppings, uh, Lauren, 754 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:47,759 Speaker 1: not to uh, not to demigrate your your your better 755 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 1: half for lesser half of even but I know he 756 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:52,240 Speaker 1: gets stinky in the back of that camper van. Okay, 757 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,879 Speaker 1: And I've heard you guys use Planet Fitness not even 758 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: just to pump iron, but to stay clean. Is that right? 759 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,320 Speaker 1: Is that that is in Plant Fitness around the country. 760 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:04,480 Speaker 1: How are you guys using the fitness chain to save 761 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:05,240 Speaker 1: money in that regard? 762 00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:07,400 Speaker 4: Yeah, So when we were when I was planning our 763 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 4: National Parks road trip, I realize like, hey, you know, 764 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,479 Speaker 4: gyms all have showers because it's people want to rinse 765 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 4: off after they work out. And so if there's a 766 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:22,160 Speaker 4: chain that is you know, most popular everywhere whatever, we 767 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 4: could just be members and show up and shower and 768 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:26,440 Speaker 4: you know, Plant Fit that we had a Plant Fitness 769 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 4: right next to our house where where we were living 770 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 4: at the time, and looking into it, they actually have 771 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 4: I think the largest footprint when I did when I 772 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,480 Speaker 4: looked at it, Bigger than YMCA, bigger than Anytime Fitness, 773 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:41,080 Speaker 4: Bigger than La Fitness locations across the US and actually 774 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:46,840 Speaker 4: now some in Canada and they have a second tier membership. 775 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,440 Speaker 4: They have like a basic membership that's like everyday cheap, 776 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 4: but the second tier membership, the Black Card, lets you 777 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,759 Speaker 4: bring a guest every visit and so you actually get 778 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 4: like two for the price of one that way. But 779 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,280 Speaker 4: the Black Card also enabled you to go to any location, 780 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,319 Speaker 4: So we both got to go to the gym on 781 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 4: one membership anywhere in the country. And a lot of 782 00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 4: Planet fitnesses are twenty four to seven, so you can 783 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 4: like sometimes we didn't work out. Sometimes we literally just 784 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,600 Speaker 4: showed up to shower, but you could show up at like. 785 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:17,400 Speaker 3: But it has been an encourager to actually go to 786 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 3: the gym once in a while. Around the road, it's tough. 787 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 4: It's tough to show up at the gym and not 788 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,279 Speaker 4: like work out, you know, like I'm already here, I'm 789 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 4: already going to shower, So like. 790 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 3: Is that guilt factor? 791 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:28,920 Speaker 4: Yeah, Like there's a little bit of like am I 792 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 4: really just going to show up and not work out? 793 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:33,760 Speaker 4: Like I'm already here? Like that's the biggest hurdle to overcome, 794 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:35,640 Speaker 4: is like actually getting to the gym and like we're 795 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 4: already here. So it did help. It does help us 796 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,840 Speaker 4: stay in better shape, I would say, especially after sitting 797 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:42,920 Speaker 4: on long drives that you get to get out and 798 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,800 Speaker 4: move and so we like it for both of those reasons. 799 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,400 Speaker 4: But yeah, for sure, it's a great way to like 800 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,719 Speaker 4: stay clean, stay active. And yeah, they're everywhere. They're in 801 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:54,400 Speaker 4: Hawaii now. Like last time we were in Hawaii, there 802 00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 4: were Planet Fitnesses on the Big Island and I was like, 803 00:37:56,160 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 4: what this is new. And even in uh Canada on 804 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,879 Speaker 4: this trip that we just came back from, there were 805 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 4: like quite a few that was surprised to see a 806 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:06,799 Speaker 4: lot of them. Twenty four hour two. 807 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:07,800 Speaker 1: That's amazing. 808 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:09,480 Speaker 2: That's one of the one of the perks. So so 809 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 2: I pay for a gym membership and that's one of 810 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,480 Speaker 2: the perks. And recently Jill started working taking a shower 811 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:19,080 Speaker 2: here at our office because water is also included, taking 812 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:21,399 Speaker 2: advantage of the free water in our rent. It's sort 813 00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 2: of like the free condiments where it's just like, well, 814 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:25,080 Speaker 2: I'm gonna pay the rand no matter what, so I'm 815 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:27,200 Speaker 2: gonna take all the showers that I was, right, But 816 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:29,920 Speaker 2: Lord and Steven, we got more that we're gonna get to. 817 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:32,720 Speaker 2: Maybe we'll talk a little bit about fire early retirement 818 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 2: we'll get to that more right after the break. 819 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 1: We're back from the break, still talking with Lorne and 820 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:49,120 Speaker 1: Steven talking about traveling dirt cheap, and I'm curious you 821 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,440 Speaker 1: guys are. I don't know if you guys would consider 822 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,000 Speaker 1: yourselves influencers, but I think in some ways you are. 823 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,160 Speaker 1: You've got the blog, you've got the Instagram, and people 824 00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:59,600 Speaker 1: follow you to learn tips and tricks about how to 825 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:04,400 Speaker 1: this fire and cheap travel lifestyle. But most of the 826 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:06,919 Speaker 1: people who put a lot of effort into becoming influencers, 827 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 1: they do it because they want to monetize that thing, right, 828 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,360 Speaker 1: And the fire movement has sometimes been criticized because early 829 00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:18,480 Speaker 1: retirees they have just actually shifted their work to doing 830 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:20,880 Speaker 1: something else, or they're working their butts off to create content. 831 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:23,840 Speaker 1: But I've seen that you two give all the money 832 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 1: that you earn from your blog and partnerships and stuff 833 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,360 Speaker 1: like that away, So I don't know what was the 834 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:31,160 Speaker 1: impetus behind that. 835 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,640 Speaker 3: So yeah, to address that kind of criticism, I guess, 836 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,200 Speaker 3: first of all, there's nothing wrong with the starting a 837 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:40,920 Speaker 3: blog or social media or whatever it is and having 838 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 3: the aim of monetizing it and making it into a business. 839 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:46,160 Speaker 3: Whether you need that money or not. I don't think 840 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 3: that has anything to do with whether your retirement your 841 00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 3: early retirement is legitimate or not. But with that said, 842 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,759 Speaker 3: it makes sense that someone might have conflicting motives. Right, So, 843 00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:58,799 Speaker 3: if you have an affiliate link for something that's the 844 00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:03,520 Speaker 3: not necessarily the best thing for your audience, but it 845 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:06,880 Speaker 3: pays really, really well, you might end up recommending it anyway, 846 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 3: even though you know of something better, right, and so 847 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,799 Speaker 3: we never wanted anyone to distrust our advice because of 848 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,799 Speaker 3: the presence of affiliate links. So what we decided on was, 849 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,080 Speaker 3: we'll do the affiliate links. It seems like a waste 850 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:20,240 Speaker 3: not to just make that money for stuff we're already 851 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 3: recommending anyway. And then we'll just take all the money 852 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,560 Speaker 3: that comes through affiliate links and was donating one hundred 853 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:27,560 Speaker 3: percent of it to charity. So that's what we did. 854 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:29,720 Speaker 1: This a nice way to pay it forward. 855 00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 2: I also saw over on your site that according to 856 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:35,320 Speaker 2: y'all's calculations, it's going to cost y'all something like sixty 857 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,400 Speaker 2: four million dollars. This is if you were to continue 858 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,200 Speaker 2: working in your full time jobs and if you were 859 00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:44,719 Speaker 2: to bank additional raises, assuming just a basic cost of 860 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:49,120 Speaker 2: living increase over the years, but even still you've chosen 861 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,200 Speaker 2: not to take the more traditional path. 862 00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:52,640 Speaker 1: I guess why is it still worth. 863 00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:54,920 Speaker 2: It in your opinion to quit and for y'all to 864 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:57,319 Speaker 2: have the freedom and to travel extensively like you have. 865 00:40:57,560 --> 00:40:59,759 Speaker 3: At some point you have to realize what was the 866 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:01,520 Speaker 3: point in the first place. Like if we go back 867 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:03,680 Speaker 3: kind of to the beginning of this episode where we 868 00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:07,880 Speaker 3: talked about like what motivated us to continue to be 869 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,440 Speaker 3: frugal and stuff, and the answer was freedom, right, freedom 870 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:13,960 Speaker 3: to do with our time what we wanted to do. 871 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:19,120 Speaker 3: And so obviously, at some point, enough money is enough money, 872 00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:20,920 Speaker 3: and you should just do things that you want to 873 00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:23,640 Speaker 3: do because what you can't get more of is time 874 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:26,160 Speaker 3: on this planet. I mean, at some point, unfortunately, we're 875 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,160 Speaker 3: all going to die. So yeah, that's really the ultimate 876 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:31,839 Speaker 3: reason why you can't extend that logic of like what 877 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:35,439 Speaker 3: would this compound to beyond a certain point? At some point, 878 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,120 Speaker 3: enough money is enough money, all. 879 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:40,239 Speaker 1: Right, Lauren. Also the other thing, probably people are listening 880 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:42,160 Speaker 1: to this and they're like, oh, you take six months 881 00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:44,480 Speaker 1: off here and three months off here and forty two 882 00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:48,560 Speaker 1: days off here, and that sounds like awesome, right, And 883 00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:51,480 Speaker 1: I guess it is potentially more available to people in 884 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: the work from home climate. They might be able to say, well, no, 885 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:56,120 Speaker 1: I will to take a month and live in Colombia, 886 00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,680 Speaker 1: but I will I will work from there. But I 887 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,720 Speaker 1: guess what would you say to people who hear about 888 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:06,040 Speaker 1: the way you guys live your life and they say, yeah, 889 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:08,200 Speaker 1: I got like two weeks from my employer. Do I 890 00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:11,480 Speaker 1: have to become fire in order to live this sort 891 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,920 Speaker 1: of life? So you guys are talking about if so, 892 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:17,080 Speaker 1: that's fifteen plus years down the road for me, even 893 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:19,360 Speaker 1: when we're talking about saving money and doing it cheaply. 894 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:20,560 Speaker 1: So what would you say to those people? 895 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:24,080 Speaker 4: So our trip to Hawaii in twenty fifteen, we had 896 00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:27,200 Speaker 4: only been at our full time jobs for like two 897 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,200 Speaker 4: years at that point, like our first adult you know 898 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,799 Speaker 4: jobs out of college. You know, we had saved up 899 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:35,239 Speaker 4: quite a bit of money, but we weren't anywhere near 900 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:39,400 Speaker 4: fire yet, you know, And so it was more that 901 00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:41,239 Speaker 4: that number that we had saved. I think we had 902 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:43,920 Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty thousand dollars saved up at that point. 903 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:46,160 Speaker 3: So we our total network at that time was one 904 00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:48,279 Speaker 3: hundred and fifty thousand but that. 905 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:51,160 Speaker 4: Was like seven years of our living expenses, you. 906 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:53,759 Speaker 3: Know, right, as we mentioned before, twenty two thousand dollars 907 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:55,719 Speaker 3: a year is what we spent to live. So the 908 00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:57,719 Speaker 3: fact that we were so frugal and the fact that 909 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 3: we got our living expenses download meant that just that 910 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:04,320 Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty thousand dollars net worth, it represents 911 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:06,839 Speaker 3: seven years we could have taken straight off work if 912 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:07,400 Speaker 3: we wanted to. 913 00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:12,200 Speaker 4: Yeah, And so you know, we felt pretty confident being 914 00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:14,840 Speaker 4: able to go to our bosses, or at least in 915 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:16,560 Speaker 4: my case because Stephen was a school teacher, so there's 916 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,000 Speaker 4: a little less like negotiation, you know, with the public 917 00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:22,400 Speaker 4: school system and how flexible they are with your schedule. 918 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:24,759 Speaker 4: But I went to my employer and I just said, hey, 919 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,800 Speaker 4: I'm doing this. I'm moving to Hawaii for six months 920 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:33,799 Speaker 4: and I like working here. I enjoy my work. Just 921 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,160 Speaker 4: so you know, most of it can be done remotely, 922 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:38,839 Speaker 4: and I'd be happy to do any part of what 923 00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:42,239 Speaker 4: I do currently from Hawaii. I'll wake up at what 924 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:44,400 Speaker 4: you know, it's a five to six hour time difference 925 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:46,759 Speaker 4: depending on the time of year. I will wake up 926 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:49,239 Speaker 4: and I'll be available to you whenever you guys need 927 00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,920 Speaker 4: we can plan ahead, I'll make it happen. If you 928 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:54,839 Speaker 4: would like to continue this relationship, I'd be happy to 929 00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:57,759 Speaker 4: make time for you while we're in Hawaii. And so 930 00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:00,680 Speaker 4: they ended up taking me up on that. And while 931 00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:02,839 Speaker 4: we were in Hawaii, I probably worked you know, ten 932 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:06,160 Speaker 4: hours a week, and that was actually enough, you know, 933 00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 4: with Stephen also doing some some freelance stuff tutoring and photography, 934 00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:13,800 Speaker 4: that actually allowed us to cash flow that trip. We 935 00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:16,280 Speaker 4: didn't tap our savings at all while we were in Hawaii. 936 00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:19,640 Speaker 4: That income was enough to pay you know, our our 937 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,799 Speaker 4: super low you know, lifestyle type living expenses that we 938 00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:23,279 Speaker 4: had there. 939 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,360 Speaker 3: So even though we had seven years of living expenses 940 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:28,680 Speaker 3: in the bank, we didn't go down to six point five. 941 00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:30,400 Speaker 3: By the end of the trip. We were still at 942 00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:32,920 Speaker 3: seven because we were making a little bit of money 943 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:36,760 Speaker 3: along the way. By the way, I'll mention because Lauren 944 00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:38,919 Speaker 3: was a little modest about it, but she didn't ask 945 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:44,319 Speaker 3: permission all right, to like, may I please employer go 946 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,000 Speaker 3: on this trip, and will you please allow me to 947 00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:50,160 Speaker 3: do a little bit of part time work. We've actually 948 00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:53,080 Speaker 3: done that multiple times, both of us at various different. 949 00:44:52,719 --> 00:44:55,640 Speaker 4: Pair to just quit straight up but I you know, instead, 950 00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:58,920 Speaker 4: instead I offered them, you know, to continue some kind 951 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,720 Speaker 4: of relationship with them. And they were eager too, because 952 00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:04,919 Speaker 4: you know, it's hard to get employees that you should 953 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,560 Speaker 4: trust and rely on, and so the fact that I 954 00:45:07,640 --> 00:45:09,959 Speaker 4: had been there for two years doing a good job, 955 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:12,719 Speaker 4: they were like, yeah, absolutely, and then when are you 956 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:14,239 Speaker 4: coming back? And I was like, I'm not sure that 957 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:18,200 Speaker 4: I'm coming back here necessarily, and there was like that 958 00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,240 Speaker 4: was a very delayed conversation. But that's another story. 959 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:24,640 Speaker 1: It sounds like that conversation is it's even more possible 960 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:27,360 Speaker 1: these days than it was, oh when you guys started 961 00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:29,640 Speaker 1: out than twenty years ago. Right, not only does the 962 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:33,359 Speaker 1: technology exist, but also just that understanding from employers that 963 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:37,080 Speaker 1: people are more likely to move to migrate somewhere else 964 00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:40,520 Speaker 1: to do something different, and yeah, if they know you already, 965 00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:42,680 Speaker 1: instead of applying for that remote position, it's like, how 966 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,800 Speaker 1: about we make this position that's currently in person more remote? 967 00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,200 Speaker 1: These days, like there is, employers are so much more 968 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:52,200 Speaker 1: open to that. So I think it's but yeah, not 969 00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:55,759 Speaker 1: begging for it, but knowing, hey, you guys know me, 970 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:57,799 Speaker 1: I've put in the work over the years, and so 971 00:45:58,120 --> 00:45:59,720 Speaker 1: let's just change the way this looks. 972 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:02,319 Speaker 2: The fact too that for you to be proactive and 973 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:04,520 Speaker 2: to make that sort of take that first step and 974 00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:07,360 Speaker 2: make that recommendation shows some like a level of initiative 975 00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:09,919 Speaker 2: that I think they're not expecting. And so then they're thinking, 976 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:12,080 Speaker 2: well why not. Actually, they put together a nice little 977 00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:14,040 Speaker 2: package and how this is going to work. They've explained 978 00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:16,239 Speaker 2: the ends and the outs. I think that alone, right, 979 00:46:16,239 --> 00:46:18,799 Speaker 2: there can be almost enough to kind of convince them 980 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:20,080 Speaker 2: to say, let's go ahead, give it a shot. 981 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 1: Make it easy for them to say yes exactly. 982 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:24,480 Speaker 4: I also gave them plenty of notice too. I mean 983 00:46:24,520 --> 00:46:27,359 Speaker 4: I told them months before we were planning to leave, 984 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 4: because if they did just want to replace me, you know, 985 00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:32,040 Speaker 4: I want them to have, right. I want to be 986 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:33,799 Speaker 4: able to help train and that sort of thing, so 987 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:37,400 Speaker 4: you know, leave it tomorrow, right. I was doing my 988 00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:39,040 Speaker 4: best to look out for them as well. 989 00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:39,399 Speaker 1: Nice. 990 00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,560 Speaker 3: But I think there is a certain power in giving 991 00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:45,520 Speaker 3: them only two options, right, which is to say yes 992 00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:48,839 Speaker 3: to your proposal or lose you as an employee. So 993 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:54,120 Speaker 3: I think that's different than going in and asking if 994 00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:56,759 Speaker 3: you could go on this trip? Right, They're very likely 995 00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:57,839 Speaker 3: to say no if you ask it. 996 00:46:57,800 --> 00:46:59,759 Speaker 4: That way and to get the result you want. I 997 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:04,320 Speaker 4: think in terms of the things that other people can repeat. Definitely, 998 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:08,759 Speaker 4: that savings buffer gives you the confidence to negotiate for 999 00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:10,600 Speaker 4: what you want, get what you want in terms of 1000 00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:14,600 Speaker 4: a longer vacation, that sort of thing, and then making 1001 00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:18,000 Speaker 4: money while you're like not being opposed to making money. 1002 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:20,480 Speaker 4: I mean on our road trip, you know, years later, 1003 00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:22,680 Speaker 4: when we were doing our National Parks road trip, I 1004 00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:27,200 Speaker 4: want to say every two for every like three to 1005 00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:29,920 Speaker 4: four days we were doing something fun. We had a 1006 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:32,120 Speaker 4: couple of days that we would sit in a coffee 1007 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,799 Speaker 4: shop for the day and just like you know, get 1008 00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,759 Speaker 4: stuff done, and it felt really nice to have that 1009 00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:39,880 Speaker 4: kind of break. You get a sense of you know, 1010 00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:42,239 Speaker 4: you enjoy the fun a little bit more when you 1011 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,960 Speaker 4: have it contrasted with getting stuff done, and you feel 1012 00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:47,240 Speaker 4: a little more productive, you have a little more purpose 1013 00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:50,160 Speaker 4: baked into it. And so I think doing a little 1014 00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:52,480 Speaker 4: bit of freelance work along the way can also make 1015 00:47:53,120 --> 00:47:56,360 Speaker 4: these kinds of long term travel trips more affordable and 1016 00:47:56,480 --> 00:47:57,960 Speaker 4: more palatable for folks. 1017 00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:00,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes that slow travel much more more possible 1018 00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:02,560 Speaker 2: when you're able to do that. Lauren and Steven, thank you. 1019 00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:05,160 Speaker 2: So much for talking with us at how to Money Today. 1020 00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:07,200 Speaker 2: Where can folks learn more about Shaw Which'll are. 1021 00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:07,400 Speaker 1: Up to you. 1022 00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:09,239 Speaker 3: So if you want some more tips on how to 1023 00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:12,839 Speaker 3: travel cheaply, but also how to save a large portion 1024 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:15,160 Speaker 3: of your income by living a little more frugally, maybe 1025 00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:17,680 Speaker 3: making more at side hustles, and then how to invest 1026 00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:20,359 Speaker 3: all of that money and eventually retire early if that's 1027 00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:22,839 Speaker 3: your goal. Our blog is Trip of a Lifestyle dot 1028 00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:28,400 Speaker 3: com and our Instagram, TikTok YouTube. All those platforms is 1029 00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:32,520 Speaker 3: at Trip of a Lifestyle except for Twitter slash x. 1030 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:34,399 Speaker 3: They got a weird character limit over there, so we're 1031 00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:36,040 Speaker 3: ta lifestyle on that one. 1032 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:38,440 Speaker 1: Awesome. Thank you guys for joining us. We really appreciate it. 1033 00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:40,600 Speaker 3: Thank you for having us well. 1034 00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:43,520 Speaker 2: Joel, have you been bitten by the travel bug camper 1035 00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:44,240 Speaker 2: van style? 1036 00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:44,799 Speaker 1: I could? 1037 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:46,240 Speaker 2: I feel like I could see my wife and I 1038 00:48:46,320 --> 00:48:48,439 Speaker 2: doing that with all the kids are gone. It's hard 1039 00:48:48,440 --> 00:48:50,200 Speaker 2: to do with kids. I can't tough stage of life 1040 00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:50,839 Speaker 2: that we're in right now. 1041 00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:52,760 Speaker 1: And I didn't ask them this question, but I was curious, 1042 00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:55,960 Speaker 1: as a ridiculously tall dude, how might squeezing that thing 1043 00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:57,759 Speaker 1: or not? I don't know, I might have to get 1044 00:48:57,760 --> 00:48:58,000 Speaker 1: some a. 1045 00:48:58,000 --> 00:48:59,960 Speaker 2: Little bit bigger, maybe one that's yeah, I didn't make 1046 00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:01,319 Speaker 2: XL a extra long. 1047 00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:03,560 Speaker 1: I would definitely need that. 1048 00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,920 Speaker 2: Well, you have a big takeaway though from our conversation today. 1049 00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:09,160 Speaker 1: At one point, Lauren said, set out to create a 1050 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:11,719 Speaker 1: life you enjoy every day, and I just think that's 1051 00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:14,839 Speaker 1: like seem so basic but so true. And I think 1052 00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:18,239 Speaker 1: sometimes we're living for that vacation or our lives are 1053 00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:22,080 Speaker 1: out of control, packed to the gills, too busy in 1054 00:49:22,160 --> 00:49:24,719 Speaker 1: our normal everyday weeks, and if we can just make 1055 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:28,560 Speaker 1: our lives a bit more enjoyable in the here and now, 1056 00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:31,920 Speaker 1: healthy rhythms, yeah, maybe we'll feel less inclined to splurge 1057 00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:35,239 Speaker 1: and spend big dollars on the getaway and maybe even 1058 00:49:35,239 --> 00:49:38,359 Speaker 1: make those getaways potentially cheaper than our everyday lives. 1059 00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:40,480 Speaker 2: Totally totally agree, Yeah, that's what I would done. I 1060 00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:42,680 Speaker 2: think that was like when we're talking about like lifestyle 1061 00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:45,799 Speaker 2: creep and finding balance between going out on vacation, and 1062 00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:47,319 Speaker 2: she's like, we don't have to really do that, We 1063 00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:48,839 Speaker 2: didn't need to do that as much. If you kind 1064 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:50,239 Speaker 2: of find this healthy rhythms. 1065 00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:52,040 Speaker 1: And that's like that is so key to be able 1066 00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:54,319 Speaker 1: to keep things under control, because if you like the 1067 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:56,120 Speaker 1: way you're living, if you like the lifestyle, it doesn't 1068 00:49:56,120 --> 00:49:58,720 Speaker 1: matter what everyone else around you is doing or thinks, 1069 00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:01,239 Speaker 1: because you're comfortable in your own exactly and you don't 1070 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:03,600 Speaker 1: mind keeping your spending as is and being the dude 1071 00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:06,560 Speaker 1: who bikes to work or total the people who do 1072 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:08,759 Speaker 1: leave their jobs for six months when everyone else is 1073 00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:11,680 Speaker 1: continuing to work. But you sign up for a different 1074 00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:13,160 Speaker 1: way of living, and you did it on purpose. 1075 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,239 Speaker 2: Yeah, along those lines there towards the end when we're 1076 00:50:15,239 --> 00:50:18,920 Speaker 2: talking about long travel or slow travel, but she said 1077 00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:21,920 Speaker 2: to have some of that purpose baked into those travels, 1078 00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:24,200 Speaker 2: it allows you to switch it up. And I think 1079 00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:26,759 Speaker 2: it's totally true that it would allow you to appreciate 1080 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:29,600 Speaker 2: the vacation in the spaces where you are visiting or 1081 00:50:29,640 --> 00:50:33,040 Speaker 2: traveling at a level that you otherwise wouldn't. Right, Like, 1082 00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:35,520 Speaker 2: imagine just going on this trip and you're just cramming 1083 00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:38,000 Speaker 2: everything in. Certainly you're going to have a whole lot 1084 00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:40,640 Speaker 2: of fun. But if you get to enjoy something and 1085 00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:42,359 Speaker 2: then kind of step back and maybe do a little 1086 00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:44,360 Speaker 2: bit of work and making a little bit of money, 1087 00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:46,640 Speaker 2: I'm sure that doesn't hurt as well. But it just 1088 00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:48,960 Speaker 2: helps to put some of that vacation in perspective. It's 1089 00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,879 Speaker 2: less one hundred percent consumption. Emily and Selma just got 1090 00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:53,480 Speaker 2: back from a trip to New York and she was saying, 1091 00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:55,600 Speaker 2: oh man, it was so fun. But the tough thing 1092 00:50:55,680 --> 00:50:57,920 Speaker 2: is when you're in a hotel and you don't have 1093 00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:00,480 Speaker 2: a place to cook, it feels like you're just literally 1094 00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:03,680 Speaker 2: consuming the city and everything is about what am I 1095 00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:05,920 Speaker 2: going to do? What am I going to eat? And 1096 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:08,600 Speaker 2: there's something about slow travel that beholds itself, especially if 1097 00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:11,560 Speaker 2: you're working a little bit here and there, to more 1098 00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:14,799 Speaker 2: community oriented patterns than consumptive oriented patterns. And I think 1099 00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:16,160 Speaker 2: when you go on a short trip, it's just so 1100 00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:18,200 Speaker 2: much easier to take in a city in that way, 1101 00:51:18,239 --> 00:51:20,600 Speaker 2: and I don't know, you don't feel as deep of 1102 00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:24,080 Speaker 2: a connection to the place or to the culture. Totally agree, yeah, 1103 00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:25,560 Speaker 2: And I think the same thing can apply too to 1104 00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:27,680 Speaker 2: the overall work that you're doing. Right, And so they 1105 00:51:27,719 --> 00:51:30,200 Speaker 2: talked about towards the beginning, we're talking about the business 1106 00:51:30,239 --> 00:51:33,640 Speaker 2: that they're starting, the tutoring company, but the ability to 1107 00:51:33,680 --> 00:51:36,000 Speaker 2: then turn to work that also has more purpose, right, 1108 00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:37,840 Speaker 2: Like you're not doing it just for the sole purpose 1109 00:51:38,120 --> 00:51:40,960 Speaker 2: of accruing more wealth. The fact that you have to 1110 00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:43,720 Speaker 2: earn a paycheck in order to feed your consumption habits, 1111 00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:46,280 Speaker 2: but you can do something that brings you a whole. 1112 00:51:46,120 --> 00:51:49,120 Speaker 1: Lot of fulfillment in its own right. Ultimately, I love 1113 00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:50,799 Speaker 1: that a whole lot as well might pay off even 1114 00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:52,479 Speaker 1: bigger in the long runer, I know, that's. 1115 00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:53,960 Speaker 2: What's so great about this, Like it frees you have 1116 00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:55,719 Speaker 2: to be even more creative, right, Like they came back 1117 00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:57,680 Speaker 2: from this long trip where they fell completely recharged. They 1118 00:51:57,680 --> 00:51:59,960 Speaker 2: were the opposite of burned out. Yeah, and lo and behold, 1119 00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:01,839 Speaker 2: there's this thing kind of just falls into their lap. 1120 00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:03,080 Speaker 2: Isn't it funny how that happens? 1121 00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:04,839 Speaker 1: It's pretty cool? But all right. 1122 00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:07,680 Speaker 2: The beer you and I enjoyed today was called brew Daddy's. 1123 00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:10,759 Speaker 2: This was a German style pilsner. It looks like a 1124 00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:15,239 Speaker 2: collaboration between Steady Hand Beer Company as well as Mutation. 1125 00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:18,840 Speaker 1: What'd you think, well, as a daddy who likes to 1126 00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:22,960 Speaker 1: drink beer like the Bruce brew Daddy myself, I enjoyed it, 1127 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:25,200 Speaker 1: But it was also I don't know that there was 1128 00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:28,880 Speaker 1: anything terribly unique about this this beer. It tasted like 1129 00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:32,319 Speaker 1: a slightly better version of a macro pilsner, which I'm 1130 00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:34,439 Speaker 1: more inclined to pillsers these days, just because I feel 1131 00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:37,120 Speaker 1: like my taste buds have been ransacked by the IPAs 1132 00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:38,919 Speaker 1: and the barrel aged outs of this world over time, 1133 00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:40,759 Speaker 1: and so it's nice to drink something that's just a 1134 00:52:40,760 --> 00:52:43,600 Speaker 1: little chiller without being over the top really in anyway, 1135 00:52:43,719 --> 00:52:46,600 Speaker 1: but also just didn't leave much of a mark necessarily either. 1136 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:48,279 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd agree with that it was tasty, but it 1137 00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,200 Speaker 2: didn't have any overly specific or special flavor notes kind 1138 00:52:51,200 --> 00:52:53,160 Speaker 2: of shining through it in its profile. But it's still 1139 00:52:53,200 --> 00:52:54,719 Speaker 2: glad you and I got to enjoy it, So I mean, hey, 1140 00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:56,759 Speaker 2: we still get to drink a beer know about our 1141 00:52:56,760 --> 00:52:58,480 Speaker 2: favorite subject exactly, so I'm not gonna complain. 1142 00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:01,280 Speaker 1: Even a bad day at the office is a good day. 1143 00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:03,600 Speaker 2: That's right, and that's gonna be it for this episode. 1144 00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:05,560 Speaker 2: You can find show notes up on the website at 1145 00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:07,640 Speaker 2: how to money dot com, But buddy, that's gonna be 1146 00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:09,879 Speaker 2: it for this one. So until next time, Best Friends Out, 1147 00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:11,319 Speaker 2: Best Friends Out.