Speaker 1: Episode paying off a hundred and five thousand dollars of
Speaker 1: debt with Kate from Living that Debt Free Life. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity rights, and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, this is Jill, and we are
Speaker 1: stoked to have our good friend Kate on the show
Speaker 1: talking about her journey to paying off one hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars of student loan debt. It's six figures, just
Speaker 1: in case you're wondering. Yes, Kate is an attorney in
Speaker 1: Texas and all six figures of that debt were from
Speaker 1: her law degree. And she just has an awesome story
Speaker 1: about coming together with her husband and paying that off.
Speaker 1: And it's a great story and I know that you
Speaker 1: guys are going to enjoy it. You always love the
Speaker 1: debt free stories. So we're we're stoked to bring you
Speaker 1: another one. Yeah, let's get into it. But first from
Speaker 1: our sponsors, trying to say that together, wow, I liked that. Okay,
Speaker 1: we're so in think. So we finished each other's sentences
Speaker 1: and today's episode is also brought to you by Love.
Speaker 1: It's Valentine's Day. You thought I forgot I didn't. You
Speaker 1: wanted to hear an episode about frugal date nights or
Speaker 1: having money conversations with your spouse. Too bad. I'm giving
Speaker 1: you what you need, not what you want, because I
Speaker 1: love you. Real love makes us do things that are
Speaker 1: hard but necessary for the betterment of those around us. Love.
Speaker 1: If you're not struggling a little, you're not doing it right.
Speaker 1: I'm even you what you need, not what you want,
Speaker 1: but also a little manipulative. If they're not struggling a little,
Speaker 1: you're not doing it range. And that's what my mother
Speaker 1: taught me. That's how love is. It's a little slightly manipulative.
Speaker 1: If it doesn't hurt, it's not love. Anyways. Well, I
Speaker 1: love today's episode, and you're going to love it too.
Speaker 1: And we're happy to be your Valentine's while you hang
Speaker 1: out with us on your Gallantine's Yeah, and we hang
Speaker 1: out and listen to this interview together. Let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Let's do it, y'all. We are sitting here with Kate
Speaker 1: from that debt free life. How are you, Kate? I'm
Speaker 1: so good? How are you guys doing wow. Thanks for asking.
Speaker 1: Good Happy Valentine's Day as we are recording this for
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day. Yes, thank you. I'm so excited to be
Speaker 1: here with you girls. So much love today, so much love.
Speaker 1: And when you've read the love I love that we're
Speaker 1: having you on, I'm very, very in love with that.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. Nice. We're
Speaker 1: excited to talk about your story Kate, and here your
Speaker 1: perspective and your journey with paying down debt, and we
Speaker 1: want to hear to kick us off. We know that
Speaker 1: your debt was all student loans. It wasn't from overspending
Speaker 1: or financial crisis. Not to say that there's something better
Speaker 1: or worse about that at just as your story is
Speaker 1: student loan debt, what was the breaking point for you
Speaker 1: to commit to paying off your debt? So a lot
Speaker 1: of people, you know, reach that kind of I've had
Speaker 1: a moment that I'm stick entired, moment that like propels
Speaker 1: them to take action. I kind of had more of
Speaker 1: an epiphany moment. So I had a hundred and five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars of student loan debt, which was all undergrad
Speaker 1: and law school loans, everything combined and I was happily
Speaker 1: just paying the minimums, living my life, not thinking about
Speaker 1: getting out of debt until we suffered some job layoffs
Speaker 1: and some things that kind of just made me open
Speaker 1: my eyes. And even after we recovered from the job loss,
Speaker 1: I still did not get myself in gear. Happened was
Speaker 1: we bought a new house in the middle of debt,
Speaker 1: right and in the middle of buying that new house,
Speaker 1: I thought, oh, well, we've got to redecorate it and
Speaker 1: you know, make it, you know, all the things that
Speaker 1: you typically do when you get a new house and
Speaker 1: not be financially smart. But one of the things that
Speaker 1: we did was we hired a contractor to repaint our
Speaker 1: kitchen cabinets and that took three thousand dollars to do
Speaker 1: and I took three thousand dollars out of my savings
Speaker 1: to do that. And then after I did a I
Speaker 1: panicked and I was like, I've got to put this
Speaker 1: money back in quickly. And so then I got intentional
Speaker 1: about putting the money back into savings. And when I
Speaker 1: did that, I realized I started paying attention to my money,
Speaker 1: and I thought, oh, my gosh, what have I been
Speaker 1: doing with my money all this time, like I need
Speaker 1: to get serious about paying off the student loan debt.
Speaker 1: And then about that same time where I kind of
Speaker 1: started realizing, hey, maybe you want to pay attention to
Speaker 1: your income a little bit more. Things at work, we're
Speaker 1: getting really stressful, And I mean I was kind of
Speaker 1: on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. There were
Speaker 1: days where like it was just all I could do
Speaker 1: to get up and shower and like force myself to
Speaker 1: drive to the office and deal with the office stress.
Speaker 1: And so I knew that I would never be able
Speaker 1: to leave my job as a practicing attorney with all
Speaker 1: of this debt, with this mountain of six figure student
Speaker 1: loan day. So I kind of had this combination of
Speaker 1: realization that I wasn't I wasn't using my money correctly,
Speaker 1: it was paying attention to my income, coupled with the
Speaker 1: fact that I wanted to be able to leave the
Speaker 1: practice of law and do something else which I knew
Speaker 1: I would never make happen. You know, if I kept
Speaker 1: on the path that I was going. All from painting
Speaker 1: your cabinets, many other purchases in there you purchased at home,
Speaker 1: you did decorate, and it was a painting of the cabinets.
Speaker 1: You know why. It's because I had to take money
Speaker 1: out of savings to do the cabinets, which is so ridiculous,
Speaker 1: Like that's an emergency to paint your cabinets, right, So
Speaker 1: do you like the cabinets or do they represent They
Speaker 1: are so different. The funny thing is, before we did it, like,
Speaker 1: I didn't realize how much I talked about painting the cabinets.
Speaker 1: And when we finally did it, you know, my family
Speaker 1: was like, you know, you talked about that like every week.
Speaker 1: I didn't. So obviously I loved it, obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: it was a good expenditure and I look at the
Speaker 1: kitchen and I love it. But it was a call,
Speaker 1: wake up call, so wow, oh my gosh. So how
Speaker 1: do you feel about practicing law now that you're debt free?
Speaker 1: Is it different? Are you still kind of feel the
Speaker 1: same way about it? So it's a really good question. Um,
Speaker 1: of course it's still stressful. That you know, doesn't change
Speaker 1: whether I'm I'm debt free or not. But what really
Speaker 1: does change because I'm still practicing. I have not left
Speaker 1: the practice of law, which is something people always ask
Speaker 1: me about. You know, are you are you actually going
Speaker 1: to leave now. And the thing that I've learned after
Speaker 1: becoming debt free is that now I'm going to work
Speaker 1: as an attorney because I'm choosing to, not because I
Speaker 1: have to because i have no other choice because I
Speaker 1: have debt to pay off. When you're doing something that
Speaker 1: you're choosing versus doing something that you're forced into doing
Speaker 1: because you've made poor financial decisions in the past, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a total game changer. So, yes, there is
Speaker 1: still stress. Maybe one day I might leave the practice
Speaker 1: of law, but I've learned to look at it totally
Speaker 1: different because now it's um something that I'm using to
Speaker 1: stay in and now all of that salary that I earned,
Speaker 1: I geld to keep for me and for my future
Speaker 1: and for investing in doing what I want to do.
Speaker 1: So I've been suffering through the law right for all
Speaker 1: these years for my creditors, but now it's like, I
Speaker 1: want to keep that money for me, you know. Like,
Speaker 1: so now the moment that I finally get to keep
Speaker 1: my money for myself is not the moment that I
Speaker 1: want to leave. Yet, you know, the keyword is choosing
Speaker 1: you to choose, and that that can make all the
Speaker 1: difference when you suddenly feel a freedom. Then things may
Speaker 1: not seem as daunting or as overwhelming. It seems more
Speaker 1: manageable because you can leave at any moment. But I
Speaker 1: also like that that's your mindset, that it's not as
Speaker 1: if great, I accomplish this goal, all right, now I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna go relax on the couch. It's well, now
Speaker 1: I see the momentum and what this could do for
Speaker 1: other aspects of my life, and this is something I
Speaker 1: can choose to do. I have the freedom to do that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that I learned from finally
Speaker 1: paying off the debt and becoming debt free that becoming
Speaker 1: debt free is really kind of the beginning of my journey,
Speaker 1: you know, my whole it took to pay off this debt,
Speaker 1: and for all those three years, my mindset was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's the end goal. It's an in game, pay off
Speaker 1: the debt, that's the end. And once I got there,
Speaker 1: I realized there is so much more financially speaking, that
Speaker 1: I want to accomplish that the free will allow, and
Speaker 1: so really paying off the debt and becoming debt free
Speaker 1: is kind of just the the beginning of my financial journey. Yeah, people,
Speaker 1: don't understand that when they are paying off their debt,
Speaker 1: because it seems like such a big task, they're just
Speaker 1: looking towards the end of the debt path and they're
Speaker 1: not thinking beyond. But yeah, that's so true that because
Speaker 1: we didn't realize it either. But when we paid off
Speaker 1: our debt was really the like point zero of our
Speaker 1: financial journey. It's when we were able to start making
Speaker 1: decisions for ourselves about what we were going to do
Speaker 1: with our money, because before the decisions were made for us.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's such an exciting time. You're in such
Speaker 1: an exciting time right now, that's right, because you just
Speaker 1: paid off your debt in November of two is that correct? Congratulations.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're relatively on the cusp of that, although
Speaker 1: I'm sure four months feels like you've been able to
Speaker 1: do so many other things. But that's amazing. It still
Speaker 1: feels kind of unbelievable. Each day, each paycheck, I get like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh. And there's such a by the time
Speaker 1: you finished, there's such a momentum built up. And I
Speaker 1: think when when we were paying off our debt, we
Speaker 1: paid off seventy eight thousand in two years, we were
Speaker 1: ready to like take a step back, and I think,
Speaker 1: like Dave Ramsey says, like, once you're done paying off
Speaker 1: your debt, you like don't have to be gazelle intense anymore.
Speaker 1: But once we were done is when I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: now I'm ready to be gazelle intense. Like I was
Speaker 1: tired before and I was worn out, But now I
Speaker 1: have all this income and I'm ready to be gazelle
Speaker 1: intense about something else. I just have to find what
Speaker 1: that is. Because you've been working for a goal for
Speaker 1: so many years, you know, or you know your case
Speaker 1: in my case, and it's like, Okay, well what what
Speaker 1: now I'm going to throw all that focused energy into,
Speaker 1: Like what is my next goal that I'm going to
Speaker 1: get excited about. Yeah, So when people are just starting out,
Speaker 1: what are some of the things that you did to
Speaker 1: get that ball rolling? So like expenses, side hustles, like
Speaker 1: what did you do to get your ball rolling? So
Speaker 1: we cut a lot of expenses that we were using,
Speaker 1: um that we decided it wasn't worth paying for anymore,
Speaker 1: that we would rather send that money to debt instead.
Speaker 1: And so some of the things that we cut. We
Speaker 1: had a family membership to the y m c A.
Speaker 1: We really weren't using it. I mean, if you're using it,
Speaker 1: that's one thing, but like nobody ever went So we
Speaker 1: dropped it and we don't really miss it, which was
Speaker 1: kind of surprising. You know. Some of the things were like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're we can't cut this, we can't live without it,
Speaker 1: and when we finally pulled the plug, was like no,
Speaker 1: no turning back, you know. So we got rid of
Speaker 1: the y m c A membership. We had a storage
Speaker 1: facility where we just had tons of junk, you know,
Speaker 1: mainly my husband's not mine to treasures to him. I'm sure,
Speaker 1: right right, that's that's debatable. So we got rid of that.
Speaker 1: We started kind of on a minimalism kick, selling everything
Speaker 1: out of there, selling things around our house, you know,
Speaker 1: realizing that like once we started selling a bunch of
Speaker 1: things to get out of debt, we started thinking like
Speaker 1: we don't really need a lot to be happy, um,
Speaker 1: and so we just started selling everything in sight. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, like I switched to eyeglasses, so I was
Speaker 1: wearing contacts before and I switched to glasses, so I
Speaker 1: don't have all that, you know, I was wearing daily
Speaker 1: contacts and it was just buying contacts and all that
Speaker 1: good stuff. So that's we saved money that way. I
Speaker 1: quit getting my nails done. Every month, we did a
Speaker 1: fifteen day no spin challenge, So every month, fifteen days
Speaker 1: out of that month, we decided we would not spend
Speaker 1: anything that was discretionary. So if we had to like
Speaker 1: buy a medical prescription or pay the utility bill, certainly
Speaker 1: you know that that did not count. But in terms
Speaker 1: of just spending, just discretionary spending, we committed fifteen days
Speaker 1: every month to just do no spending. And what I
Speaker 1: love about doing that is after we did that for
Speaker 1: a year, it equates to six months out of the
Speaker 1: year of not spending. I love that. I love that
Speaker 1: because I talked about no spend challenges a lot and
Speaker 1: how to customize them, and I think you should customize
Speaker 1: them so you don't have to follow rule somebody else
Speaker 1: has made for your no spend challenge. You could do
Speaker 1: what works for you and just fifteen days. They don't
Speaker 1: have to be consecutive, right, they can be. It's whatever
Speaker 1: you want, not equally, it's just six months I'm not spending. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. If you started out and you said, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go six months without spending this year, like
Speaker 1: that would be an amountable impossible task, like I could
Speaker 1: never be able to do it. But when you just
Speaker 1: take it day by day and when they're not consecutive,
Speaker 1: for me, I found that like not having to do
Speaker 1: them consecutively was helpful because if I spent one day,
Speaker 1: let's say I went and got some Starbucks, like my
Speaker 1: whole plan was not tanked because of that spending night
Speaker 1: had several days left, I could, you know, hunker down
Speaker 1: and not spend. And so it that's what worked for me.
Speaker 1: So with you, you know, it's asked me like what
Speaker 1: are the rules? And my first rule is, like you say,
Speaker 1: like there are no rules, Like just divide thing that
Speaker 1: works for you, that you challenged and that you know
Speaker 1: you can stick to it, that's not too difficult that
Speaker 1: you just give up and throw in the town. And
Speaker 1: it's a manageable challenge almost even gamifying it a bit
Speaker 1: that it's like you said, it's breaking it down into
Speaker 1: bite sized pieces. It's not saying six months out of
Speaker 1: the year, I'm not going to spend. It's just every month,
Speaker 1: find two weeks or a day here and there until
Speaker 1: it adds up to fifteen days that month. Like there's
Speaker 1: something kind of fun and alluring about that approach, and
Speaker 1: I like it. I like it even more because I
Speaker 1: doing a no spend challenge allows you it forces you
Speaker 1: to take a step back and think about your spending
Speaker 1: in your actions, and when those days aren't planned out,
Speaker 1: you have to actually take another step back and think
Speaker 1: about your days and planning in your schedule, and then
Speaker 1: you start evaluating, like how do my days look, how
Speaker 1: do my weeks look? What can I cut out? Stuff
Speaker 1: like that? And so it just adds this another like
Speaker 1: mental layer to explore, And I love that absolutely. So
Speaker 1: I'm going off script here a little bit, but because
Speaker 1: it's Valentine's Day and we're all about love, I'm so
Speaker 1: curious about the dynamic between you and your husband during
Speaker 1: this time, being that this debt was all yours. And
Speaker 1: I know everybody approaches money differently in marriage. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: it's all ours, all the money's ours, all the debts ours,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter how it came to be, and then others
Speaker 1: it's like, no, you've got your bank account. I got
Speaker 1: my bank account, good luck? How how did that go?
Speaker 1: Especially with how serious you all had to be with
Speaker 1: cutting things, out selling things, doing your own version of
Speaker 1: a no spend. How did that go with your husband?
Speaker 1: So he was on board from the get go. You know,
Speaker 1: he understood how just devastating having this debt was on
Speaker 1: me and how it affected me emotionally so much, just
Speaker 1: the weight of it, and so he understood that. But
Speaker 1: I think throughout our journey, you know, because it really
Speaker 1: was my debt, something that I brought into the marriage,
Speaker 1: he didn't have anything, you know, like he didn't have
Speaker 1: a car payment, like, he had nothing. So I think
Speaker 1: that he didn't really feel ownership over it as much
Speaker 1: as I did. Like he was on board, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's pay it off, but I don't he felt the
Speaker 1: pressure of paying it off like I did. Um, he
Speaker 1: was always supportive, like of that being our goal and
Speaker 1: wanted that to be our goal, because I think he
Speaker 1: understood like once that is done, he really as much
Speaker 1: as I'm like a lover of paying down debt, like
Speaker 1: that was just so fun for me, and I really
Speaker 1: love that he's like an investment guy, like he wants
Speaker 1: to invest, and so didn't get to where we wanted
Speaker 1: to be in terms of investment until we UM, until
Speaker 1: we got the debt out of the way, So you know,
Speaker 1: I won't say that he was excited about paying off
Speaker 1: the debt nearly as much as I was. And I
Speaker 1: think it's just because he didn't have that ownership of
Speaker 1: it like I did. But not suppose you know he
Speaker 1: was supportive. He was. He probably like, you've got to
Speaker 1: be on board when you're cutting the y and selling
Speaker 1: his his treasure the house. Go through this box in
Speaker 1: the garage. What can I sell? Oh, it sounds like
Speaker 1: you found a good one cage. I hope you guys
Speaker 1: are able to celebrate Valentine's daity if that's what you want. Yes,
Speaker 1: But it's funny. It's it's a similar story to Jen
Speaker 1: and I as well. Both her and I are the
Speaker 1: ones who brought the student loan debt into our marriages. Fully,
Speaker 1: we found some supportive husbands, but man, we're a group
Speaker 1: of ladies bringing in the bud. Cheers to being educated. Well.
Speaker 1: Travis brought Travis brought a little bit of day he'll
Speaker 1: listen to this. We don't want to leave him out.
Speaker 1: Brought a little bit of Okay, he was much more
Speaker 1: fiscally responsible than me. But I also still have to
Speaker 1: tell him to sell things out of the garage. So
Speaker 1: he's a he's a borderline horder. He loves Yeah, he
Speaker 1: loves stuff. So so it took you three years to
Speaker 1: pay off all this debt. And even as an attorney,
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we look at attorneys and doctors paying
Speaker 1: off their student loan debt like maybe a little differently.
Speaker 1: That's just like a bias that some people have. But
Speaker 1: your story was so so normal, so similar. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: think we just think of it differently, especially in the
Speaker 1: financial independence community, that it's maybe a little bit more
Speaker 1: attainable for people that have certain incomes, are not even incomes,
Speaker 1: just certain professions, Like we don't know how much the
Speaker 1: like people are making, and we just assume that they're
Speaker 1: making a lot more. But three years to pay off
Speaker 1: a d five thousand dollars of debt is the same
Speaker 1: as I've seen other people do it in the same
Speaker 1: amount of time, you know, on teachers salaries and other
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So this is so doable no matter
Speaker 1: what your occupation is. Um but it just cakes motivation
Speaker 1: and persistence and staying with it. Yet, so, like, how
Speaker 1: did you maintain motivation over those three years? So I
Speaker 1: did a lot of different things, because you know, three
Speaker 1: years is a long time to stick with the goal.
Speaker 1: It's a long time to sacrifice financially to meet a goal.
Speaker 1: Um So, one of the things that I did was
Speaker 1: I always broke up what I wanted to accomplish, kind
Speaker 1: of like in those bite sized chunks, like we were
Speaker 1: talking in terms of no spending. So every month, I
Speaker 1: set a goal for myself of what I wanted to
Speaker 1: accomplish that month, and then I kind of zoomed out
Speaker 1: and decided, Okay, if I'm going to make this goal
Speaker 1: in three years, this is what I've got to do
Speaker 1: for those three years, and this is what I've got
Speaker 1: to do on a monthly basis to hit it. And
Speaker 1: every month I would set those goals and check in
Speaker 1: on myself and make sure that I was hitting them.
Speaker 1: But you know, kind of in terms of motivation, some
Speaker 1: of the things that I love to do was I
Speaker 1: used visuals. So I made like a total nerd here,
Speaker 1: but I made you know, charts and graphs and all
Speaker 1: kinds of visuals to track my progress. But I could
Speaker 1: just look at it and see how far I've come
Speaker 1: and how much I have left to go, which is
Speaker 1: really motivating. For me, and I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people do like those charts where they color them in
Speaker 1: so they can visually see their progress. I didn't really
Speaker 1: do that. But what I did do was I made
Speaker 1: something called the Chains of Debt. I loved that. I
Speaker 1: loved watching you do this so on Instagram. Yes, so
Speaker 1: the Chains of Debt is just like a paper chain,
Speaker 1: like you'd make it Christmas, you know, paper chain, And
Speaker 1: each piece of paper was two fifty dollars. I think
Speaker 1: it's it's been a few weeks since i've I've done
Speaker 1: I've already forgotten it, so I can't remember. But I
Speaker 1: made each chain a dollar amount. And this chain, you guys,
Speaker 1: was so ugly. Make it ugly, that will get rid
Speaker 1: of it. But well, it's nice decoration. I'll just leave
Speaker 1: it up. It looks cute. It was so hideous, and
Speaker 1: I hung it in my bedroom so it was like
Speaker 1: one of the first things I supped every moment and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can't wait to get this thing out
Speaker 1: of here. It's so vidious. But what I thought about
Speaker 1: doing the ain as opposed to like the coloring, and
Speaker 1: this is really kind of my husband's idea, is that
Speaker 1: the paper chain gets smaller and smaller and smaller over time,
Speaker 1: so you can see your debt minishing, whereas like if
Speaker 1: you're coloring something in it's getting bigger and bigger. So
Speaker 1: for me that I could just watch my debt disappearing
Speaker 1: before my eyes and fully motivating to just see it.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a little overwhelming at first when we
Speaker 1: when we hung it up, and it was like, you know,
Speaker 1: seventeen miles long, but the length of your small intestine
Speaker 1: you can wrap around the world a few times. So
Speaker 1: so I really loved that. And then one other thing
Speaker 1: that you know, I would recommend to anyone that we
Speaker 1: did or that I did, was I started this Instagram account, right,
Speaker 1: So I started an Instagram account at that Debt Free
Speaker 1: Life specifically designed just to document my journey. Like when
Speaker 1: I begin that account, it wasn't really to like help
Speaker 1: people or inform them or teach them, like I didn't
Speaker 1: even consider that, you know, it was just to keep
Speaker 1: me on track. And I'll tell you, like the first
Speaker 1: year that I did this journey, I was not on
Speaker 1: Instagram and I only paid off seventeen thousand dollars that year,
Speaker 1: and then the other two years I paid like forty
Speaker 1: five thousand or forty something like that. So it was
Speaker 1: a significant difference because I had that accountability. That's why
Speaker 1: I love, you know, social media for that reason. Like
Speaker 1: if you can't get a good accountability partner in your life,
Speaker 1: you can get a fantastic team of accountability partners if
Speaker 1: you turn to social media and just are comfortable putting
Speaker 1: your story out there. Yeah. Wow, I love so much
Speaker 1: of the tips you just gave. That paper chain is
Speaker 1: brill Yes, it almost reminds me of the cash envelopes system.
Speaker 1: Bear with me the idea that we do better with
Speaker 1: finances if we have physical representations of it and we
Speaker 1: kind of feel it. You don't have a physical representation
Speaker 1: of your debt unless you're looking at it all the
Speaker 1: time and you have that reminder. So this really provided
Speaker 1: a physical reminder, which it sounds like helped to keep
Speaker 1: you on track phenomenally. Absolutely. Yeah, that's a really good analogy.
Speaker 1: Thank you, just talking about the small intestine reminders. Yeah.
Speaker 1: In your Instagram you have over a hundred thousand followers
Speaker 1: on Instagram. People have just like loved what you've been
Speaker 1: saying because your Instagram is super helpful. Like you may
Speaker 1: not have intended to start out this way, but you
Speaker 1: definitely got there, like you're Yeah, a year into my
Speaker 1: our debt payoff, I started my first blog for the
Speaker 1: same reason. I just needed some accountability. I needed to
Speaker 1: put it out there, and to me, helping people was
Speaker 1: my way of maybe staying motivated. And and it did.
Speaker 1: And I felt that second year went by a lot
Speaker 1: quicker than the first year, and it was mostly because
Speaker 1: I was trying to invest in people to get, you know,
Speaker 1: to help them get where I was. And and yeah,
Speaker 1: that is what you've done on Instagram. You've done such
Speaker 1: a great job. If you are on Instagram, she's kids
Speaker 1: at that debt free life and you will not be disappointed.
Speaker 1: You can see the paper chain and the chain of
Speaker 1: debt and the things I'll say about social media and
Speaker 1: doing you know, kind of what you and I are
Speaker 1: doing in terms of our social media is that for me,
Speaker 1: I'm made a goal on my Instagram to post every
Speaker 1: single day something finance related, something about my arnie, something
Speaker 1: that would maybe help other And when you were thinking
Speaker 1: about it every single day and people are asking you
Speaker 1: questions and you're talking about it all the time, it's
Speaker 1: hard to fall off the wagon, you know, like, it's
Speaker 1: stay disciplined and to stay where you need to be
Speaker 1: when you're constantly when it's constantly on your mind and
Speaker 1: in your conversations and surrounding yourself with it. Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 1: for sure, you've given us so much good advice already, Kate.
Speaker 1: But what is the best piece of advice you might
Speaker 1: have for someone who is just starting their debt free
Speaker 1: journey right at the beginning, right at that painted the
Speaker 1: Cabinet's last week stage. You know, it's it's really such
Speaker 1: a difficult question, and it's one that people ask me
Speaker 1: all the time, and I quite honestly never really know
Speaker 1: how to answer it. There are so many different advice
Speaker 1: you can give. Um. You know, one piece of advice
Speaker 1: I would say is just too believe that it can happen.
Speaker 1: You know, your mindset is so critical to your success.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people in that you know,
Speaker 1: Painting the Cabinet stage, they think, like, I will never
Speaker 1: be out of debt, and I became debt free. I
Speaker 1: did a live debt payoff, my final debt payment. I
Speaker 1: did it live on Instagram and it's staged there to
Speaker 1: my Instagram TV stories. You can see it if you
Speaker 1: want to But during that broadcast, I pulled out my
Speaker 1: journal from those painting the kitchen cabinet moments, and I
Speaker 1: went through and I read my journal to you guys,
Speaker 1: and it was filled with things like this debt will
Speaker 1: never be paid out of debt? Will I ever be
Speaker 1: able to do this? Like just total discouragement, because I
Speaker 1: didn't think that it could be the beginning. But I
Speaker 1: just want to say that, like, no matter where you are,
Speaker 1: single income, single mom, dual income earners, no matter if
Speaker 1: you've got six figures of debt or you know less
Speaker 1: than that or more than that, like anyone can do it.
Speaker 1: It absolutely can be done. Whoever is listening to this podcast,
Speaker 1: like you, Yes, you can do it if you will
Speaker 1: just stick to the plan. So make your plan, stick
Speaker 1: to it. And you know, a lot of times, and
Speaker 1: we talked about today, a lot of times we talk
Speaker 1: about motivation. And one of the pieces of advice that
Speaker 1: I give people who are asking about how to get
Speaker 1: out of debt is, honestly, motivation really doesn't matter. You've
Speaker 1: got to learn to be disciplined. So if you yes,
Speaker 1: like you don't want to do it, like you don't
Speaker 1: want to spend you know that money you don't want
Speaker 1: to send it to student loan. You want to go
Speaker 1: blow it on a shopping spree or whatever. Like. Honestly,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what you want to do. You just
Speaker 1: have to do what you have to do. So if
Speaker 1: you can devise a plan and be disciplined, you'll get
Speaker 1: out of debt. That's all you need. Knowledge and discipline,
Speaker 1: that's all you need. Yes, good word. Wow, can't top that? Nope,
Speaker 1: other than just go into the best time of the week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a perfect segue to the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 1: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. That bill, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton. This
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week, Kate. Every week we
Speaker 1: ask our listeners or our guests to share with us
Speaker 1: their favorite bill. Do you have a bill for us?
Speaker 1: I have a bill and it is kind of a
Speaker 1: play on words, so I don't know if this will count.
Speaker 1: Girl break in. My favorite bill is my play bill
Speaker 1: from the Lion King in New York. So when we
Speaker 1: am debt free in November. That very next month, in December,
Speaker 1: we did a bucket list item which has been on
Speaker 1: my bucket list for a hundred years, and that is
Speaker 1: to go to New York City at Christmas time. And
Speaker 1: while we were there, we saw the Lion King, which
Speaker 1: is something I've been wanting to see on Broadway for
Speaker 1: a while. So if that counts, I will. We've never
Speaker 1: had that one. Yes done? And how was it? The
Speaker 1: Lion King on Broadway? That sounds amazing? Gosh, I loved it.
Speaker 1: It was spectacular, spectacular, that's amazing. How long were you
Speaker 1: in New York City for? We were there for about
Speaker 1: five days, so glorious, glory us. Traffic's terrible that time
Speaker 1: of year, but I'm glad you went. The beauty out
Speaker 1: overshadows it. Traffic is always terrible, let's be real, but
Speaker 1: even more terrible if you can image than that. But
Speaker 1: amazing when you get to see the Lion King on traffic. Hey,
Speaker 1: even Christmas songs talk about it, so I feel like
Speaker 1: that's okay. Traffic is how do they say ridiculous? That's
Speaker 1: not it. I don't know traffic. If you have been
Speaker 1: through the traffic and you have a bill to share
Speaker 1: with us. Please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: bill to leave us a voicemail or speak pipe and
Speaker 1: uh we will play your bill on the air, whether
Speaker 1: it took you hours of traffic to get to or not.
Speaker 1: We'll play it focusing on the wrong things. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: That's what we're here for, to go off the rails.
Speaker 1: All right, and now it's time for our second favorite
Speaker 1: time of the week, the lightning Round. I'm not wasting
Speaker 1: any time. Nope, we are shooting off our favorite or
Speaker 1: the things we're looking looking or looked forward to buying
Speaker 1: the most after debt freedom. So we are all in
Speaker 1: different stages of debt freedom. I've been debt free for
Speaker 1: two years. Kate's just step free. She'll still working on
Speaker 1: it and so soon, guys, you're going, you're going, so
Speaker 1: getting there, you'll get a different perspective on everybody's answer. Um, So, Kate,
Speaker 1: as our guests, please go first that first thing, the
Speaker 1: thing you're looking forward to most about buying or that
Speaker 1: you have bought. So the big thing that we are
Speaker 1: looking forward to buying is new kitchen floors. If you've
Speaker 1: been a long time following mine on Instagram. You have
Speaker 1: seen my horrible kitchen tile floors that are legit broken
Speaker 1: like a hundred pieces, like terrible, But we didn't want
Speaker 1: to replace them while we were on our debt free
Speaker 1: journey because we had a mission. So now that it's done,
Speaker 1: it's going to be several thousand to replace them. But
Speaker 1: that's one of our um first things that we want
Speaker 1: to do in terms of you know, uh, fixing up
Speaker 1: the house after after having freedom, so home renovations. So
Speaker 1: this has nice floors to go with those nice cabinets.
Speaker 1: Since the cabinets don't dip into savings. It's like wearing
Speaker 1: a really nice top and sweatpants, right right, you gotta
Speaker 1: The first thing that we did do second after we
Speaker 1: became debt free was take that trip right to New York.
Speaker 1: So that was like the bucket list item crossing off item.
Speaker 1: Now that that dreams on other things, Yeah, there's three
Speaker 1: four or five, six, seven things down the list to
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah. So for me, this is gonna sound
Speaker 1: like teacher's pet answer, but it it's honest, it's real.
Speaker 1: For where I'm at right now, I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: putting the money that we are accustomed to putting towards
Speaker 1: debt into savings. I don't I travel a ton with
Speaker 1: my job, We've been able to go on really inexpensive vacations.
Speaker 1: Like that's just that doesn't hold much for me right now,
Speaker 1: as far as you know what your typical what you
Speaker 1: hear typical goals might be. For me, it's really just
Speaker 1: putting that money towards savings and kind of getting up
Speaker 1: over that hump and the excitement for seeing the exponential
Speaker 1: growth in that direction for long term goals like possibly
Speaker 1: buying a house, if that's even what we want to do.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest, living in a camper is fun and
Speaker 1: cheap fruit well, I mean it's real, it's inexpensive. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's my boring on a stanswer. Goodness, No, I
Speaker 1: think so many people can relate to that though, Like
Speaker 1: you know, every particularly when you go back and you
Speaker 1: look at and you're like, oh, I spent X thousands
Speaker 1: of dollars on death this year, everyone thinks of themselves.
Speaker 1: I can't wait till that's our money, you know. I
Speaker 1: think it's a great great response. Thanks, Kate, Yes, I
Speaker 1: love You're so easy to please. That's why it's why
Speaker 1: we work well. Together because I require a lot and
Speaker 1: you are. You are pleased by the simple things, minimalist
Speaker 1: that heart. Yeah. So speaking of uh M, a little bougie.
Speaker 1: The first thing we bought was a cruise because I
Speaker 1: wanted to go on a cruise. I love cruises. I
Speaker 1: am not a big world traveler. Um, I don't enjoy that.
Speaker 1: We had an Airbnb guest the other day said they
Speaker 1: went to they visited Honduras, and I was like, that
Speaker 1: sounds horrible, and I just I like cruises. And we
Speaker 1: stated at our first all inclusive resort in December, and
Speaker 1: I still think about it. I still miss it. It
Speaker 1: was for for five days, and all I want to
Speaker 1: do is go back. So we we took a cruise
Speaker 1: and that was great. And it's another Travis and I
Speaker 1: don't travel well together unless everything is included, because we'll
Speaker 1: fight about money. I love that you know that about yourselves.
Speaker 1: So that's another reason I don't enjoy traveling unless it
Speaker 1: is a cruise or an all inclusive resort, or if
Speaker 1: you find any other ways to travel where everything is included,
Speaker 1: just like, let me know, because I will also try
Speaker 1: those things. So that's mine and I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's bougie or if like I've just been in Florida
Speaker 1: for so long. I have a retirees my set. You
Speaker 1: can get cruises right from where you're at, so we
Speaker 1: just drive twenty minutes and we're at the port. Don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong, I am going to still travel. I
Speaker 1: enjoy it. It's just not the first thing I'm gonna do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you did go to You did go to Wine Country,
Speaker 1: and I was jealous of that. I did. I did.
Speaker 1: Don't want to take the wine train. I do have
Speaker 1: some feedback on that though it might not actually be
Speaker 1: all that you wanted to be. But we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that later, right, Yeah, okay, let's talk about the wine
Speaker 1: train later. Kate, thank you so much for hanging out
Speaker 1: with us, Yes, morning, thank you love it. Where can
Speaker 1: people find more about you and what you're doing this year?
Speaker 1: So they can check out the blog and that is www.
Speaker 1: Got Living that Debt Free Life dot com. And then
Speaker 1: I am also on Instagram at that Debt Free Life.
Speaker 1: Those are the two main places where I hang out some.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, thanks for having me. So glad we
Speaker 1: got to do that interview. So good. Yes, I say
Speaker 1: this about budgeting, but I feel like we could have
Speaker 1: a debt payoff story just about every week. I think
Speaker 1: it's so helpful to hear how other people have done
Speaker 1: it at various levels of income earning and various amounts
Speaker 1: of debt to be paid off. But still there are
Speaker 1: fantastic tips for anybody to pull from. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: love it. It's it's never too much to be reminded
Speaker 1: of other people's journeys and stories. So yeah, And obviously
Speaker 1: the six figure numbers are very cool and they're very clickable,
Speaker 1: But I think the real, the true power in the
Speaker 1: story is the time it took for her to pay
Speaker 1: it off. It was almost three years, and that's a
Speaker 1: long time for anybody to be committed to something that difficult,
Speaker 1: And I think there's Kate has a lot of wisdom
Speaker 1: for what it takes to do hard things and see
Speaker 1: them through. Yeah. Yeah, I loved it. And by the
Speaker 1: time this episode airs, Kate's kitchen tile was fixed. She
Speaker 1: did fix the kitchen tiles. Uh, there were tiles in
Speaker 1: her basement or closet or somewhere in the house and
Speaker 1: they were able to fix it. Yes, she had extra
Speaker 1: So congrats Kate. Anyhow, so we want to thank you
Speaker 1: all for the ways that you've been supporting us, and
Speaker 1: we're doing something a little bit different this year in
Speaker 1: in how we're thanking you. But we want to first
Speaker 1: read a kind review like this one. It comes from
Speaker 1: Ibod Travels and it's called Finances for Real People. I
Speaker 1: listen to this podcast us every week. The topics always
Speaker 1: get me thinking about new ways to improve my finances.
Speaker 1: Their advice helped me increase my savings rate enough to
Speaker 1: max out my four oh one K contributions when Amazing
Speaker 1: Bod Travels. I'm so glad to be a part of
Speaker 1: your journey in that way, to be able to provide
Speaker 1: the encouragement motivation community to get at these goals thing.
Speaker 1: What a big change to be able to max out
Speaker 1: your four oh one K contributions and to be a
Speaker 1: part of somebody's story in that way. It's really an
Speaker 1: honor thank you, and so we do genuinely thank you.
Speaker 1: We want to thank you for more than just one
Speaker 1: time leaving a review. We want to thank you for
Speaker 1: every time you share the podcast. So from now on,
Speaker 1: whenever you share the most recent episode and tag us
Speaker 1: in it on Facebook or Instagram, We're going to also
Speaker 1: enter you to win um one of ten dollar Amazon
Speaker 1: gift cards we are giving away for every five tags
Speaker 1: or reviews we receive every month. Yeah, so, like Jen said,
Speaker 1: we're giving away ten dollar Amazon gift cards. You can
Speaker 1: enter by leaving us a review on iTunes or Stitcher,
Speaker 1: screenshot the review, send it to Frugal Friends Podcasts at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com, or share the podcast episode so both
Speaker 1: ways will get you entered to win. Yes, so, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening. Thank you for spending your
Speaker 1: gallon Time's day with us, and share us with your girlfriends. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we love it, and we love you and your boyfriends
Speaker 1: and your boyfriend, your mom and your dad who are
Speaker 1: struggling to love you now. Yeah, okay, we're gonna end
Speaker 1: it now. If you're not struggling, you're not whatever. Love,
Speaker 1: We love you. Bye. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and
Speaker 1: mixed by Eric Seria. Oh Jill, what are we going
Speaker 1: to do for Valentine's Day? Notice how I said I
Speaker 1: just went into week. I didn't ask you what you're
Speaker 1: doing for Valentine's Day? With Eric? I said, what are
Speaker 1: we doing for Valentine's Day? Well, I am parked in
Speaker 1: your driveways, so I'm probably about to come knock on
Speaker 1: your door. Yeah, for sure. Hopefully you're dressed. I'm all
Speaker 1: ready for that. Not. Why don't I just spend Valentine's
Speaker 1: Day alone? No, I'm coming over. Okay, we're spending it together. Rak,
Speaker 1: all right,