Speaker 1: Episode to thirty nine, paying off fifty one dollars of
Speaker 1: debt as a teacher and single mom with Katie Lynn.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity rights, and liberal your life. Here
Speaker 1: your host Jen and Jill. Mm hmmmmmm. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are sharing a debt payoff story from
Speaker 1: a teacher. And we have so many listeners who are teachers,
Speaker 1: so many good friends who are teachers, that we really
Speaker 1: were so excited when we found Katie on Instagram because
Speaker 1: we're like, ah, we need more teachers on we need
Speaker 1: more teacher stories. Yeah. I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: can relate to not just teaching as a profession, but
Speaker 1: all so the other parts of Katie's story being a
Speaker 1: single mom and you know, not making a ton of
Speaker 1: money and what does that look like if we're not
Speaker 1: raking in multiple six figures? How do we pay off debt?
Speaker 1: And so I think anytime we can have a voice
Speaker 1: that feels representative of some of our listeners, and I
Speaker 1: think all the voices we've had on here represent somebody
Speaker 1: within our listenership. But I think Katie represents a very
Speaker 1: specific pocket of people where there can be additional difficulties
Speaker 1: in the debt payoff journey and to know how can
Speaker 1: this still be done? What is the hope? What are
Speaker 1: the tips? So we are very much looking forward to
Speaker 1: getting her story in front of you, absolutely, But first,
Speaker 1: this episode is brought to you by listeners like you,
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Speaker 1: sticker for joining Frugal Friends podcast sticker that is waterproof. WHOA, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want that bumper sticker. I know. So hopefully a
Speaker 1: hundred people haven't joined yet and you get that, but
Speaker 1: but who knows, maybe you will still get it. We'll see.
Speaker 1: Oh this is so exciting. It's the culmination of everything
Speaker 1: that I've always wanted and I'm excited to hang out
Speaker 1: there because yeah, Facebook and Instagram aren't for me. I
Speaker 1: really I really want to curate what my social media
Speaker 1: online experience is and this feels like the perfect curation.
Speaker 1: Yeah it does. Uh, so definitely check that out. I
Speaker 1: think we've never done anything like this before. Hopefully it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun, and if it's not, you can tell
Speaker 1: us and we'll make it more fun. It's up to you,
Speaker 1: and uh, we're gonna do what you want here. But
Speaker 1: if you are more interested in debt pay stories, then
Speaker 1: stay here, stay with us. There are a few other
Speaker 1: episodes that you can key up to listen to after
Speaker 1: this that are also debt payoff stories. We've got episode
Speaker 1: two oh three, How Maggie paid off her mortgage as
Speaker 1: a divorced single mom Um. Maggie is great and she
Speaker 1: really persevered through some hard stuff where others might go
Speaker 1: off the rails financially in tough times, looking probably at
Speaker 1: me and my family. Um, she really chose, she woke
Speaker 1: up and chose violence, and she really busted this thing
Speaker 1: out on her own. So I love that violence. Violence
Speaker 1: against her mortgage. Ye, not physical violence towards people, sorry,
Speaker 1: violence against apathy. And then episode one, how Lydia Sen
Speaker 1: paid off third six thousand dollars of debt on one income.
Speaker 1: So she has a family of I think when they
Speaker 1: paid off debt it was maybe a family of four.
Speaker 1: I think now it's family of five, and they were
Speaker 1: paying off their debt just on her husband's income. And
Speaker 1: so that one is a really great one for for families. Ah,
Speaker 1: and here we go. Here's another one that's probably going
Speaker 1: to be a huge crowd pleaser. Yeah. So Katie is
Speaker 1: a thirty five year old single teacher mom and she
Speaker 1: has spent the last four years navigating life's difficulties while
Speaker 1: slowly paying off debt. Her story is unique and that
Speaker 1: she just finished paying off her debt very recently. And
Speaker 1: so I think the further you get out from paying
Speaker 1: off your debt, that the more perspective you have, which
Speaker 1: is a good thing to hear. The closer you are
Speaker 1: to it, the more you remember the pain and the
Speaker 1: sacrifice and everything. And so I love sharing. I love
Speaker 1: grabbing people who just finished paying off debt because they're stories, UM,
Speaker 1: are very good and should also be shared in addition
Speaker 1: to the other stories. So very excited for you guys
Speaker 1: to hear this episode. Let's do it, Katie. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast. We are very excited to have
Speaker 1: you on. Thank you for having me on today. Our
Speaker 1: listeners love debt payoff stories and so do we. It's
Speaker 1: why we highlight them so often. And so to hear
Speaker 1: your perspective with the uniquenesses that make up your own
Speaker 1: story is something we're really looking forward to getting into.
Speaker 1: So to start us off, can you take us back
Speaker 1: to a little bit of the beginning of your debt
Speaker 1: payoff journey? How did you find yourself in debt? Can
Speaker 1: you tell us a little bit about that? Sure? So, UM,
Speaker 1: I really didn't even start thinking about the amount of
Speaker 1: debt that I had collected UM until probably about December
Speaker 1: of two thousand seven teen. I had normal debt, you
Speaker 1: know that people think of as normal student loans, car payment, UM,
Speaker 1: credit cards that I would put things on. But I
Speaker 1: think I really just realized that it was Christmas time, obviously,
Speaker 1: and I was a new mom. I had my son
Speaker 1: was a little over a year old, and Christmas was hard,
Speaker 1: like trying to figure out presence and stuff. I was
Speaker 1: putting like every and anything on my credit cards, and
Speaker 1: I just felt like this overwhelming sense of dread. I
Speaker 1: was like, I can't even you know, pay for the
Speaker 1: Christmas presents. Obviously, all our bills always got paid because
Speaker 1: at the time I was married, so um we had
Speaker 1: separate accounts but joint account for bills and things like that,
Speaker 1: so mortgage, car payments, everything always got paid on time.
Speaker 1: But I felt like anything extra that I wanted I
Speaker 1: was constantly putting on credit cards. So that December I
Speaker 1: kind of just I was like, what am I doing? Um,
Speaker 1: all the stuffs under the tree and I'm going to
Speaker 1: be paying it off for the next year. So I
Speaker 1: just typed in UM to Google search debt payoff and
Speaker 1: one of the first names, obviously that popped up was
Speaker 1: Dave Ramsey. So I bought his book, The Total Money Makeover,
Speaker 1: and I read. I read through it in like a day,
Speaker 1: and I just decided that I was going to try
Speaker 1: it because I couldn't stand that I was. I had
Speaker 1: a full time job, you know, I shouldn't be struggling
Speaker 1: as much as I was. Wow, Christmas was the turning point.
Speaker 1: That's usually the time when we don't want to look
Speaker 1: at our expenses. We don't want to. It's just like
Speaker 1: I just want to give and I want to have
Speaker 1: a really nice time here. I don't want to look
Speaker 1: at the reality that's here. But it sounds like that
Speaker 1: was the time that you actually looked and saw, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is a situation I don't want to be in.
Speaker 1: Were you aware at that point how much debt you had?
Speaker 1: Was there a looking at the bank statements or the
Speaker 1: credit card statement to know the collective number, just um,
Speaker 1: you know, hiding from them, you know, just looking at
Speaker 1: the minimums that I needed to send out. And then
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I did get my credit card
Speaker 1: statement around Christmas time because I had started shopping, you know,
Speaker 1: in November and things like that, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I just the number hurts, you know, because I've always
Speaker 1: had a really great credit score. Um, I mean, my
Speaker 1: my mom and my dad were really good with you know,
Speaker 1: teaching me about credit scores and how you should open,
Speaker 1: you know, credit card just to get something in your
Speaker 1: name for your credit history and things like that. You know,
Speaker 1: all my car payments were always in my name and
Speaker 1: things like that. So I just, um, I remember my
Speaker 1: my one credit limits like ten grand at the time,
Speaker 1: you know. So I looked and I had like eight
Speaker 1: grand on the credit card and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is terrible. Um And I remember too. It was
Speaker 1: kind of funny because I was very anxious and stressed out.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just the money. It was also like
Speaker 1: the clutter in my house. There was just so much
Speaker 1: of it because like as a new parent, you have
Speaker 1: all of this stuff coming in, toys and dippers and
Speaker 1: all of the extra stuff, and I just kind of
Speaker 1: felt like overwhelmed in life in general. I couldn't catch up.
Speaker 1: I couldn't catch up with cleaning, and I couldn't catch
Speaker 1: up with keeping the house organized. I couldn't catch up
Speaker 1: with you know, making extra payments to debt, because even
Speaker 1: when I would put extra on my credit card to
Speaker 1: pay it down, I would just end up putting it
Speaker 1: back on there again. So it was a really big
Speaker 1: mind shift to go. That was the hardest part of
Speaker 1: the credit card debt because I had to go from
Speaker 1: using that as like a backup to not being able
Speaker 1: to rely on them at all and kind of just
Speaker 1: hide them away. So yeah, that December was the first
Speaker 1: time I looked. I wrote down all my debt UM,
Speaker 1: I wrote on my minimum payments, I wrote down all
Speaker 1: my debt totals. I listed them out, and I was like,
Speaker 1: we can't keep doing this. And at the time I
Speaker 1: was only listening my debts UM. Like we had everything separate.
Speaker 1: So all of our our personal loans are cars um,
Speaker 1: credit cards were just in our name. The only thing
Speaker 1: we had jointly was the mortgage. So when I went
Speaker 1: on this journey, I really did start it just based
Speaker 1: on my own things. Yeah, so when you sat down
Speaker 1: and figured out your your debt, it was you you
Speaker 1: ended up paying off fifty one thousand dollars, right, So like,
Speaker 1: how was that divvied up? And it was actually more
Speaker 1: than that, UM, because yeah, so it was probably closer
Speaker 1: to like fifty seven I think when I started, and
Speaker 1: then you know, I started in January, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I read the Total money Maker, I'm gonna ask clean
Speaker 1: slate for two thousand eighteen, I started budgeting UM using
Speaker 1: the every dollar free version and I still used that
Speaker 1: to this day. You know, paper and pencils fine, but
Speaker 1: I just felt like if I could record my transactions
Speaker 1: right away, UM and I still do that, like I'll
Speaker 1: go get gas and I'll record it into my my
Speaker 1: budget right away. But that was like my clean slate
Speaker 1: January of eighteen, and I was like, I looked at
Speaker 1: my budget and looked at what I had incoming and
Speaker 1: what I should have left over after paying just the minimums,
Speaker 1: and I was like, Wow, where is this extra money going.
Speaker 1: I have no clue. There was so much of it
Speaker 1: that I should have been able to put to debt,
Speaker 1: and I just found reasons not too so when I
Speaker 1: started tracking my total debt payoff on the Instagram that
Speaker 1: I run, that was July of two thousand eighteen, So
Speaker 1: there was like some traction that I made between December
Speaker 1: and July. It's just like I would pay it and
Speaker 1: then I would kind of go back, and then I
Speaker 1: would pay it and then I would kind of go back.
Speaker 1: So the Instagram for me, when I started that really
Speaker 1: just made me more accountable because you know, I had
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of strangers watching and seeing what I
Speaker 1: was doing, and it felt worse if I did something wrong,
Speaker 1: you know, or or went backwards instead of forwards. So
Speaker 1: that became I like jumping off point. Really, Wow, there's
Speaker 1: so much to what you're saying that I hear among
Speaker 1: so many people, not just the personal finance experts or
Speaker 1: the people who are blogging or podcasting, but every day
Speaker 1: people who want to make wise decisions with their finances
Speaker 1: but are finding themselves putting the extras on a credit card.
Speaker 1: Like this concept, I am hearing more and more often
Speaker 1: as normalcy that yeah, the bills are being paid, the
Speaker 1: mortgages being paid, everything is being paid. But if I
Speaker 1: want something in addition to that, I'll just throw it
Speaker 1: on the credit card. And someday I'll look at this
Speaker 1: and I appreciate how you're describing. That was one of
Speaker 1: the biggest difficulties because it not it then represents a
Speaker 1: change in behavior and mindset. I'm curious for you how
Speaker 1: you've started to talk of them a little bit about
Speaker 1: your process, like and then what came next, and then
Speaker 1: what came next time? Curious how did that look for you?
Speaker 1: And thinking of the person who how as a similar
Speaker 1: relationship with their credit card and with their bills. How
Speaker 1: did that go for you of changing some of those
Speaker 1: behaviors around using the credit card in that way and
Speaker 1: that aspect of debt payoff. Yeah, especially in those first
Speaker 1: six months for because people are going to have the
Speaker 1: same struggles that you said you had and feel like
Speaker 1: their failures and not move on. But you pushed through.
Speaker 1: Very It's very it's very very hard. That was definitely
Speaker 1: the hardest thing. And credit cards still, I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: I have a really good handle on them now and
Speaker 1: I think I utilized them in the ways that they
Speaker 1: should be utilized. But um, starting back then, originally I
Speaker 1: just I was like, Okay, I can do this. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna keep them in my you know person, I'm just
Speaker 1: not gonna touch them or anything like that. And I
Speaker 1: had a couple of small credit card balances, so I
Speaker 1: really did. I was able to knock out a couple
Speaker 1: like I had a store card to New York and Company, um,
Speaker 1: and another one for lumber Liquidator, and so I was able.
Speaker 1: There were some I was able to push out really
Speaker 1: quickly and that gave me the small win. But what
Speaker 1: really changed for me was when I just um got
Speaker 1: the money together and started saving and got myself a
Speaker 1: little emergency fund because before that I had not been
Speaker 1: able to. I didn't have much in savings. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was having my normal paychecks come in, so I
Speaker 1: would see, you know, the thousand marks and stuff when
Speaker 1: I first came in, and then the bills will go out,
Speaker 1: but really in my savings account a couple hundred at
Speaker 1: a time. UM, so I did. I worked really hard
Speaker 1: to just get to that thousand right away, and that's
Speaker 1: when everything kind of exploded in the house to where
Speaker 1: I started getting rid of everything. So I sold everything,
Speaker 1: I any anything and everything that I wasn't using that
Speaker 1: I couldn't I didn't even need anymore. I put on
Speaker 1: Facebook Marketplace at the time, or offer up let go
Speaker 1: Craigslist even I think back then I was still using Craigslist,
Speaker 1: and I just sold as much as I could, and
Speaker 1: it was amazing. I got up to the thousand dollars
Speaker 1: within like two or three months, and it just felt
Speaker 1: so good knowing that was there, because then I didn't
Speaker 1: feel like I had to use my credit card, so
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't necessarily use my emergency fund in
Speaker 1: the way you should Normally I would dip into it
Speaker 1: if I needed to for things, but then I felt
Speaker 1: like I had to replenish it right away because I
Speaker 1: wanted to keep at least a thousand dollars there. So
Speaker 1: having that that emergency fund, or having some type of
Speaker 1: savings to fall back on, I think is really important. Um.
Speaker 1: And the one thing I did, and this was after
Speaker 1: my divorce when I became like single mom status, but
Speaker 1: I made sure I had a buffer in my checking
Speaker 1: account at all times. So it's not technically my savings account.
Speaker 1: My savings account sits it around three thousand right now,
Speaker 1: but my buffer um was always at a thousand, So
Speaker 1: I always had extra money in my checking account because
Speaker 1: God forbid something come up, or I need to spend
Speaker 1: I need to spend a little bit extra, and groceries
Speaker 1: and things like that. So be tween selling things and
Speaker 1: then just kind of being mindful of all the money
Speaker 1: that was going out for frivolous things, like my grocery
Speaker 1: budget was out of control. I was spending three dollars
Speaker 1: every time I went to the grocery store and then
Speaker 1: throwing out half of the food because we didn't eat it,
Speaker 1: or I would spend all this money at the grocery store,
Speaker 1: and then we would still go out to eat constantly.
Speaker 1: And again, you know, we didn't share finances, so sometimes
Speaker 1: he would pay and it would just be like, oh,
Speaker 1: well I didn't I didn't use it out of my money,
Speaker 1: so it's fine, um, but then we're still wasting the
Speaker 1: food that I'm paying for because I handled the groceries.
Speaker 1: So groceries was a major thing that I kind of
Speaker 1: um went down, way down with how much I was spending.
Speaker 1: I just stopped kind of cold turkey eating out. You know.
Speaker 1: I would just say, you know, if my husband at
Speaker 1: the time wanted to eat out, I'd be like, you
Speaker 1: can go get something. I'm just going to eat something
Speaker 1: at home, because I felt like it was like the
Speaker 1: only things that I could physically control where you know,
Speaker 1: money wasn't going out, Like those were two decisions, so
Speaker 1: I could definitely make um because I didn't want to
Speaker 1: take away from my son and if he needed anything, like,
Speaker 1: I still wanted to be able to you know, buying
Speaker 1: toys or buy clothes or you spend money there, so
Speaker 1: food selling things, getting to that emergency fund quickly, and
Speaker 1: then kind of seeing where in my budget I was
Speaker 1: over spending, so grocery budget for sure, and then also
Speaker 1: monthly subscriptions was just kind of out of control a
Speaker 1: little bit. It's such a hope filled thing to hear
Speaker 1: of this shift that you were able to make. I
Speaker 1: think there's this mindset that continues to persist that people
Speaker 1: can't change, like or old habits die hard, or oh
Speaker 1: I'm too old to make a shift, or I don't
Speaker 1: make enough money right. There's so many different excuses, but
Speaker 1: this this visual of you living life one way, having
Speaker 1: this moment of realizing I don't want to keep going
Speaker 1: in that direction, and then putting action to it. Not
Speaker 1: to say that it isn't difficult, but that there is
Speaker 1: an ability to change some of the behaviors and the
Speaker 1: mindsets and the relationship that you have with money, debt,
Speaker 1: credit card, spending habits, and you're just giving such a
Speaker 1: beautiful example of that that is motivating this this concept
Speaker 1: of so I shifted my energy from buying things on
Speaker 1: my credit card to selling things in my house, Like
Speaker 1: I focused on what I had in my control rather
Speaker 1: than these things that were overwhelming to me that we're
Speaker 1: outside of my control, and those are things we can
Speaker 1: all implement regardless of where we're at in our debt
Speaker 1: payoff journey for sure. And I think you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of the times hustle culture is kind of thrown
Speaker 1: in where you need to get a second job. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, that's just not an option for me, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not taking more time away from my kid. Um,
Speaker 1: And I did two jobs for a really long time,
Speaker 1: like most of my early twenties, I constantly had at
Speaker 1: least two jobs, um, whether it be stubbing or working
Speaker 1: at a gym. Um. In college, I worked at a
Speaker 1: tanning salon and the gym. So I've always hustled, and
Speaker 1: I just felt like I wasn't going to take that
Speaker 1: time away from my kid. And I think that's a
Speaker 1: problem with a lot of you know, especially single parents
Speaker 1: trying to make it nowadays, because they don't have the
Speaker 1: luxury of going out and getting a second job. So
Speaker 1: just it's almost like it becomes a job to find
Speaker 1: more money in your budget, just based on the little
Speaker 1: things you can do. Yeah, you're already touching on it.
Speaker 1: I think, you know what, what we've already highlighted about
Speaker 1: your story of being a teacher a single mom, something
Speaker 1: we didn't mention in this is that through the debt
Speaker 1: payoff journey, you went through a divorce, So that's an
Speaker 1: additional difficulty. Debt payoff in and of itself is difficult.
Speaker 1: We know that there's barriers, but I'm curious to hear
Speaker 1: from you, Katie, with your experience, your journey. What would
Speaker 1: you say were some of the additional occulties of being
Speaker 1: a teacher, being a single mom, going through a divorce,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to focus on their what does that
Speaker 1: tack on to the difficulties of the journey, which we've
Speaker 1: actually had a lot of people request an episode on
Speaker 1: like finances after divorce, So I mean, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people would like to hear what was that
Speaker 1: process like, especially while paying off debt and then the
Speaker 1: result for paying off debt. And I think that's the thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, finances are a big reason why people stay
Speaker 1: in relationships that they should no longer be in that
Speaker 1: aren't servicing them anymore because they don't have anywhere to
Speaker 1: go and they don't have the financial means to get
Speaker 1: out of it. And I do, like, seriously thank God
Speaker 1: every day that I had kind of started the journey
Speaker 1: when I did, because if I didn't, I would not
Speaker 1: have been able to break. Apart from that, I will
Speaker 1: say this, like it was, I should have paid off
Speaker 1: my debt a lot quicker, you know. And if everything
Speaker 1: had gone the way it should and I stayed happily
Speaker 1: married and I could have put as much of debt,
Speaker 1: that would have been great. But along like these four
Speaker 1: and a half years that it actually took, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of things that I cash flowed, the divorce being
Speaker 1: one of them. You know, I had to have a
Speaker 1: retainer for the lawyer, and you know, luckily it was
Speaker 1: very it was very amicable, and everything was settled very easily.
Speaker 1: But um, just even going from that, I you know,
Speaker 1: I refinanced the house. Um, I bought my ex out
Speaker 1: of the house, so I had to take money out
Speaker 1: of the equity of the house and pay him that,
Speaker 1: like I said, the lawyer's fees, and then just figuring
Speaker 1: out my new normal with me just paying all the
Speaker 1: bills and they just coming from my account instead of
Speaker 1: having a joint account for at least the household bills. UM.
Speaker 1: So luckily, by the time that all happened, I think
Speaker 1: I was a little bit more financially savvy and knowledgeable
Speaker 1: about everything. So I kind of projected out my budget
Speaker 1: and what I thought it would be along that time too.
Speaker 1: I also refinanced the house again to lower the interest
Speaker 1: rate because when I had to refinance for my divorce,
Speaker 1: my interest rate hiked up and so I lowered that.
Speaker 1: So just like even finding ways to save um money
Speaker 1: that way. But so much was cash flow during this
Speaker 1: four and a half years that like when times got
Speaker 1: really tough and I was like, this is taking forever.
Speaker 1: I don't want to do this anymore because I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie. There's been many times where I've just kind
Speaker 1: of like went along, you know, I wasn't really focusing
Speaker 1: on paying too much debt. I was kind of just
Speaker 1: paying minimums, and I'm like, I'm tired of this. I
Speaker 1: do want to live a little bit. I want to
Speaker 1: provide things for my kid and have him have experiences.
Speaker 1: So just like continuing to go on even though sometimes
Speaker 1: it felt like it was never going to end um.
Speaker 1: But the thing that the things I'm most proud of
Speaker 1: are the things I had to cash flow. You know,
Speaker 1: I had after the divorce. Um, my car got totaled.
Speaker 1: I had to get a new car, so that was
Speaker 1: like a new car payment and then things around the
Speaker 1: house needed to be fixed. So it's there's always something
Speaker 1: I think that people like think, oh, I need to
Speaker 1: be like so gun ho and pay this debt down.
Speaker 1: Every little bit has to go to debt every month,
Speaker 1: But that's just not reality. You have to have a
Speaker 1: little bit of money to live and you have to
Speaker 1: like be okay with the fact that, like some months
Speaker 1: things come up and it's okay and it'll still happen eventually,
Speaker 1: even if you have to push back the date again
Speaker 1: and again and again, which I feel like I kept doing.
Speaker 1: I kept saying, no, I'm going to be debt free
Speaker 1: by then, and I was like, no, just kidding, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be debt free six months from then. Um.
Speaker 1: I am so glad that you said that, because that
Speaker 1: is I mean, especially in hustle culture, something that is
Speaker 1: so pervasive in the debt payoff community is pay it
Speaker 1: all off at any cost and just live when you're
Speaker 1: debt free. But there is a there is an additional cost.
Speaker 1: While you save money on interest, there is an emotional
Speaker 1: and time cost to that decision. And that's something we
Speaker 1: didn't think about when we paid off our debt, and
Speaker 1: thankfully it only took two years, so it like that
Speaker 1: effect wasn't um was it huge, But it's still a
Speaker 1: cost that you're choosing, and so having paying off your
Speaker 1: debt at all costs definitely gets you there faster, but
Speaker 1: taking time to experience life throughout the journey like gets
Speaker 1: you to the same point with with less kind of
Speaker 1: debt payoff hangover at the end. Um. Yeah, I felt
Speaker 1: like especially at the end I was I was kind
Speaker 1: of like, Okay, what do I do now? You know,
Speaker 1: it's been so long of just doing debt payoff that
Speaker 1: I like I find myself in kind of like a
Speaker 1: limbo right now, you know, even sharing on my Instagram,
Speaker 1: like I don't know what to share, what is knowledgeable
Speaker 1: or you know, what to offer people. Not that I
Speaker 1: think that I'm like a financial guru and people follow
Speaker 1: me to get advice. I literally say all the time,
Speaker 1: this is just what I like. I'm just showing you
Speaker 1: my life and it's chaotic and crazy, but hopefully somebody
Speaker 1: gets something out of it. Look back to just touching
Speaker 1: on like teacher aspect of it, because I knew you
Speaker 1: had said, um, I know people are interested in that.
Speaker 1: I do feel like for my area and my position,
Speaker 1: I do feel like I have a a good like salary.
Speaker 1: You know, some teachers in some parts of the country
Speaker 1: you know, have been teaching longer than me and make
Speaker 1: half as much as me. So I do feel fortunate
Speaker 1: in the fact that, like my salary I think is
Speaker 1: a good one. Um My, my school district paid for
Speaker 1: my master's degree, so I didn't have to pay for that,
Speaker 1: so that helped jump me up to um So, starting
Speaker 1: back in, I got this position in two thousand thirteen,
Speaker 1: right after I got married, and I started around forty
Speaker 1: three thousand, and fast forward ten years later, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: at like almost sixty three. So while you know some
Speaker 1: people get crazy raises in shorter amounts of time, we
Speaker 1: all know that's not happening for teachers. UM So, I
Speaker 1: do feel like I've been appropriately given a livable wage.
Speaker 1: Um And I do think that I'm thankful that I
Speaker 1: have that, and then I'm happy where I'm at and
Speaker 1: I'm not job hopping because also like that uncertainty with
Speaker 1: like raising a kid and you know, being a single parent,
Speaker 1: I just don't you know, some people like to job
Speaker 1: hop and find different things, and me, I'm like risk adverse,
Speaker 1: so I like to stay in the same place and
Speaker 1: know my routine and have my like what I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to be doing. And it's the same way at home
Speaker 1: to like everything has to be its place and things
Speaker 1: like that. So teacher wise, I know it can be hard,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're not making a lot of money.
Speaker 1: I would say to people starting off paying down debt,
Speaker 1: if they have the means to get a second job,
Speaker 1: you know, do it while you can, because like you
Speaker 1: don't want to start doing it, you know, once you
Speaker 1: have a family and things like that and taking time
Speaker 1: away from your home. So do it while you can.
Speaker 1: But then don't feel bad when you have to stop. Okay,
Speaker 1: then yes, that's something that's standing out to me in
Speaker 1: your story and what you're sharing with us is the
Speaker 1: reality of what it looked like for you, which I
Speaker 1: think is the reality for many many people. They're just
Speaker 1: not willing to maybe say it that it's not this
Speaker 1: constant sprint without any recognition of one's humanity or needs
Speaker 1: or desire for fun every once in a while, I
Speaker 1: think we've related the journey of paying down debt to
Speaker 1: a road trip where there are pit stops. There's times
Speaker 1: when you slow down, there's times when you speed up,
Speaker 1: there's times when you just like pull over for a
Speaker 1: few nights. And and what that means also for the
Speaker 1: debt payoff journey, that there is permission for this, and
Speaker 1: especially for what you're describing. And I know that you're
Speaker 1: not alone in this having extenuating life circumstances within debt
Speaker 1: payoff and how yeah, maybe if life we're all rainbows
Speaker 1: and butterflies and sunshine throughout this whole time, it would
Speaker 1: have gone differently, but it wasn't. And so I so
Speaker 1: appreciate the permission that you gave yourself. And as as
Speaker 1: you're modeling that, it's giving permission to others to say,
Speaker 1: look at the context that you're currently in, how much
Speaker 1: money are you making currently? How what? What are what's
Speaker 1: life doling out to you at the moment? Do you
Speaker 1: have some acute grief loss trauma events happening in your life?
Speaker 1: And is there space to shift and morph and pause
Speaker 1: and move around that? And well done. Sure, there's plenty
Speaker 1: of people who could have paid off fifty seven thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a debt in a short amount of time, but
Speaker 1: not everyone was going through what you were going through.
Speaker 1: Managing what you were managing so and I think this
Speaker 1: is why we were so excited to hear your story,
Speaker 1: because it's so real and representative of the human experience
Speaker 1: and the permission that's available to us to do what
Speaker 1: we've got to do within it and still find ourselves
Speaker 1: at the end of the journey saying I did it,
Speaker 1: I paid it off, and you cash flowed stuff. Holy smokes.
Speaker 1: I don't really even have a question in this. I'm
Speaker 1: just like so amazed at what you did. And maybe
Speaker 1: the question is I know that you're saying you you
Speaker 1: gave yourself this opportunity to, you know, not go hard
Speaker 1: and heavy all day every day. But with everything that
Speaker 1: was going on, how did you keep going? Like what
Speaker 1: was it for you that, even with the pauses, kept
Speaker 1: you on track in some way, shape or form, Like
Speaker 1: how did you not just quit and decide the other
Speaker 1: way of life was fine? And I'll do that and
Speaker 1: stiff gone far enough it's fine. Well, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think like any mom can attest to this, like your
Speaker 1: children are your wife, so like my son Mason is
Speaker 1: just I want him to live a life that like
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to stress or worry about this stuff.
Speaker 1: At the same time, I do have conversations with him
Speaker 1: about money because while my parents I feel like they'd
Speaker 1: set me up, they just weren't as knowledgeable. There wasn't
Speaker 1: as much information back then, you know. Um So, Like
Speaker 1: I mean, for instance, going into school, I went to
Speaker 1: a state school I went to I can say I
Speaker 1: went to Millersville University in Pennsylvania. It's a great school
Speaker 1: for teaching, and you know, I got into other schools
Speaker 1: that were more expensive. But like even back then, I
Speaker 1: knew I didn't want to spend a lot of money
Speaker 1: because I was going to be a teacher. I knew
Speaker 1: teacher salaries weren't you know that great? Um So, like
Speaker 1: even back then they didn't know any better. They filled
Speaker 1: out the fast FA and we got student loans, and
Speaker 1: they paid for my college actually, which I don't know
Speaker 1: if a lot of people know that they did. They
Speaker 1: paid for my college, and I still had these student
Speaker 1: loans because dummy me, you know, use them to live
Speaker 1: off of even though I was working forty hours a
Speaker 1: week in college. So like I look back at that
Speaker 1: and like I think when I paid off my student eleans,
Speaker 1: I was just like this has been here. This, I mean,
Speaker 1: these student Lens could have a degree at this point,
Speaker 1: they could have their their high school diploma, and it's
Speaker 1: so annoying because like I really didn't need them, but
Speaker 1: like we just didn't know any better, you know. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I hope to do for Mason.
Speaker 1: Like I just I hope to like instill some knowledge
Speaker 1: in him, you know. I I have his five twenty
Speaker 1: nine set up if he decides to go to college.
Speaker 1: If he doesn't, you know, I really don't care. Whatever
Speaker 1: he wants to do, whatever makes them happy. But at
Speaker 1: least I have that. And we have discussions all the
Speaker 1: time about how like some some things we will spend
Speaker 1: money on and some things we won't, and sometimes we
Speaker 1: need to wait and sometimes we can use our money
Speaker 1: right away. But hey, is my reason for everything. So
Speaker 1: like I just I just want him to have a
Speaker 1: good life. I want him to have the knowledge that
Speaker 1: maybe I didn't have, not because my parents aren't great,
Speaker 1: because they are, um, but just because it wasn't it
Speaker 1: wasn't a thing back then, we didn't talk about this
Speaker 1: as much. Yeah, amen, that's that's beautiful. Um. And yeah
Speaker 1: I didn't have a child while paying off debt, but
Speaker 1: like that was one of the reasons, like I wanted
Speaker 1: to be debt free, so when I did have kids,
Speaker 1: I would have the freedom and flexibility to work when
Speaker 1: I want or not work when I want to, like
Speaker 1: give them what they need should they need it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I totally get that. I have one last question before
Speaker 1: we move on one. I think this would be helpful
Speaker 1: for teachers, but anybody in general. So one of the
Speaker 1: things you said when you started out and made a
Speaker 1: big difference was getting control of your grocery spending. And
Speaker 1: you said you just stopped going out to eat cold turkey,
Speaker 1: So like what was sustainable for you for like I
Speaker 1: assumed you like did meal planning and the grocery shopping
Speaker 1: and then so how did how did that become sustainable
Speaker 1: for you? And how did you feel about giving up
Speaker 1: the take out and the going out like cold turkey? Sure,
Speaker 1: I mean at the time, and you know, how does
Speaker 1: when you have a tiny human you you know, have
Speaker 1: a baby, and the first year after that's kind of
Speaker 1: just chaotic um and you're just trying to survive. So
Speaker 1: I think that was like a lot of us like
Speaker 1: going out to eat you know, um, but I would
Speaker 1: go to the grocery store without a plan, Yum. I
Speaker 1: would just fill the cart with things that I thought, oh,
Speaker 1: we will do this, we'll do this, we'll do this,
Speaker 1: and then I would just never end up using it.
Speaker 1: So a lot of it became about the process beforehand. Um.
Speaker 1: I started really heavily and I think too, so like
Speaker 1: my mom, um and my aunt are a product of
Speaker 1: my grandmother, who is a product of the Great Depression
Speaker 1: r so UM boarding food like crazy, you know. Their
Speaker 1: their pantries would just be have tons and tons of
Speaker 1: food in it and things like that. Um and I
Speaker 1: used to do that. And then I started going through
Speaker 1: organizing my kitchen before before any of this, and I
Speaker 1: found so much expired stuff that I had to get
Speaker 1: rid of, and I was like, you know what, I
Speaker 1: need to start using what I already have. So that's
Speaker 1: kind of when meal planning came up. I would not
Speaker 1: that I would say, Okay, Monday, we're having this, Tuesday,
Speaker 1: we're having this, Wednesday, we're having this. But I would
Speaker 1: just write up three or four meals that I can
Speaker 1: make whenever I felt like it. So if I was
Speaker 1: feeling you know, tacos the one day, we would do
Speaker 1: tacos YadA YadA. UM. My husband at the time work nights,
Speaker 1: so that was a little bit easier to um because again,
Speaker 1: we didn't share finances all the way, so he would
Speaker 1: just grab something at work and I wouldn't even worry
Speaker 1: about it because it's not coming out of my budget.
Speaker 1: But meal planning three to four meals a week, I
Speaker 1: always did pack my lunch because teachers get thirty minutes,
Speaker 1: but really we get like twenty minutes by the time
Speaker 1: we you know, everything happens, so you need to have
Speaker 1: your food. You can't go out and get it, there's
Speaker 1: no time. UM. So that wasn't really a big thing.
Speaker 1: But I just found that I wanted to meal I
Speaker 1: wanted to be easy, so I would take one lunch
Speaker 1: for the week and just make five of them. Um. Now,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people. One of the biggest
Speaker 1: things they'll say to me about that is like they
Speaker 1: can't eat the same thing every single day. I understand that,
Speaker 1: but that's not me. Like I could eat the same
Speaker 1: meals every single day. I mean I pretty much do.
Speaker 1: Like I take two different lunches throughout the whole entire year,
Speaker 1: and that's what I eat all year long. And I
Speaker 1: don't get bored of it. I don't really, It's just sustenance.
Speaker 1: Um So I think when you put it into the
Speaker 1: mind frame of like you don't have to have everything
Speaker 1: you want, you know, you can pick and choose, like
Speaker 1: maybe you do one like you know, foodie night, and
Speaker 1: then the rest is like more budget friendly. It does
Speaker 1: help to you know, in my budget. Um, we're not
Speaker 1: huge meat eaters. So I'll get you know, big things
Speaker 1: of ground turkey or chicken from Costco and that can
Speaker 1: last us a while because we don't eat it all
Speaker 1: the time. Get more protein, you know, do a lot
Speaker 1: of like beans and late leafy greens and things like that. Um.
Speaker 1: I'm blessed with a child who loves fruits and vegetables,
Speaker 1: so that's pretty easy. I live in an area where
Speaker 1: there's tons of farms, so farmers markets. Um so that's
Speaker 1: helpful because I know some places grocery budgets are out
Speaker 1: of control. I also made the decision that I wasn't
Speaker 1: really going to buy any name brand stuff anymore. So
Speaker 1: no Dorito's, no pop tarts, no, you know. Now, I
Speaker 1: do eat oreos sometimes, um, but like back then, everyone's
Speaker 1: nothing that's some everybody values, and so I stopped going
Speaker 1: to our local grocery store and really just started shopping
Speaker 1: exclusively at all the end. That was a big game
Speaker 1: changer too. So like I would make my budget or
Speaker 1: I would make my you know, food log for the week,
Speaker 1: I would look in my pantry my fridge and figure
Speaker 1: out what I had already, and I would try to
Speaker 1: make meals based on stuff I already had. So then
Speaker 1: I'm just having to pick up you know, two or
Speaker 1: three things for a meal instead of five or six things. Um.
Speaker 1: And that really helped a lot too, So I was able.
Speaker 1: I mean, and I still pretty much keep my grocery
Speaker 1: budget around two hundred a month, but I for a
Speaker 1: long time it was a hundred and fifty for me
Speaker 1: and Mason, and that gives both of us lunches for
Speaker 1: the week and dinners. And we're very easy for breakfast,
Speaker 1: so I'll do like a protein shake and Mason I'll
Speaker 1: do it often. But yeah, the grocery budgets where I
Speaker 1: feel like a lot of people just it just explodes.
Speaker 1: And I get I get it if you have certain tastes,
Speaker 1: but if that's like one of the only ways you
Speaker 1: can cut, you know, maybe make the sacrifice for a
Speaker 1: little bit and just see if it does anything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that is often the case for those of
Speaker 1: us who are making less than six figures a year.
Speaker 1: It is going to be looking at those subscriptions, the
Speaker 1: grocery budget, the eating out, that's where we're gonna see
Speaker 1: a big shift in an ability. And then obviously the
Speaker 1: spending habits too that you've already touched on. So I
Speaker 1: love that little like rabbit trail into food because we
Speaker 1: all need it and we're always needing new tips. So
Speaker 1: super helpful and speaking of things that we always do,
Speaker 1: and and yet it doesn't get gland to us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the same answer every time we get the question,
Speaker 1: and it's and it's for a reason. The bill of
Speaker 1: the week, that's right. It's time for the best minute
Speaker 1: of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and
Speaker 1: his name is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. To Bill Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 1: this is the bill of the week, Katie. Every week
Speaker 1: we invite our guests or listeners to share with us
Speaker 1: their bill of the week, and we know you have
Speaker 1: one for us. So let us have it, okay. UM,
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna go with my cell phone bill
Speaker 1: because I know that this is, you know, big for
Speaker 1: a lot of people, and um, cell phones are expensive.
Speaker 1: So back a while ago, one of the subscriptions I
Speaker 1: could change and get lower was my cell phone bill.
Speaker 1: You know, I had been with a T and T
Speaker 1: for twenty some years. Yeah, yeah, twenty some years depending
Speaker 1: on if you know my parents paid for it or not.
Speaker 1: But a T and T all the way and for
Speaker 1: just me, it was almost a hundred dollars a month,
Speaker 1: and I was just like this, I cannot justify spending
Speaker 1: a hundred dollars a month on a cell phone. So
Speaker 1: smack in the middle of UM debt payoff, I decided
Speaker 1: to switch to Mint Mobile. So the reason I'm bringing
Speaker 1: up this bill is because I do it yearly. I
Speaker 1: pay for it. So I just um finished my year
Speaker 1: in June and of June, and I resubscribed um and honestly,
Speaker 1: so I pay thirty dollars a month, but all at
Speaker 1: the same time, So three sixty dollars for unlimited and
Speaker 1: I do it for the whole year, UM and thank
Speaker 1: like thankfully because of Instagram and the community that I
Speaker 1: found and like the people that I talked to, they
Speaker 1: used my referrals and I was able to get an
Speaker 1: entire year free of cell phone, so I did not
Speaker 1: have to pay that at all in June. And it's
Speaker 1: just such like a weight off of my shoulders to
Speaker 1: know that's taken care for a full year. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: that is beautiful, so awesome. Yes, that is one of
Speaker 1: the biggest things with cell phone. Such an easy thing
Speaker 1: to cut by going to these um like mv n
Speaker 1: O companies and there are so much better than like
Speaker 1: when they started. And that's great. And I get a
Speaker 1: Christmas card from Ryan Reynolds every year because he's like
Speaker 1: a part of or something right the tree. You don't
Speaker 1: have to buy any real bill. I pay to get
Speaker 1: a Christmas card for every year, and this year you
Speaker 1: didn't have to pay because your community put in the
Speaker 1: work for you. They've the essentially paid it for you.
Speaker 1: I will say like that, just like having that accountability piece,
Speaker 1: and just like the people that I've met along the way,
Speaker 1: UM and even just like people reaching out and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I've tried this and you know you might this might
Speaker 1: work for you. I've just learned so much just from
Speaker 1: following different accounts on Instagram. It's a really positive place
Speaker 1: to be. It's amazing, Katie. Well done. If you all
Speaker 1: listening want to submit your bill of the week, whether
Speaker 1: it's about getting Christmas cards from Ryan Reynolds, or lowering
Speaker 1: your cell phone bill or getting other people to pay
Speaker 1: your bill, whatever it is, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash bill let us know what your bill is.
Speaker 1: We are here for it. And now it's time for guests.
Speaker 1: Never know how much we're going to yell at them,
Speaker 1: never prepared. Uh So this is the part of the
Speaker 1: show where we get vulnerable, but we will all share
Speaker 1: an answer, so it's not just on you, Katie. Uh So,
Speaker 1: today's lightning round question is what would you have done differently?
Speaker 1: Uh in your debt payoff? It's hard because so much
Speaker 1: of it. Can I say, you know, make sure that
Speaker 1: you pick a partner who you know and have the
Speaker 1: same like mindset financially, because I think that's the thing.
Speaker 1: I don't think people talk about this stuff enough before
Speaker 1: getting together and seeing if they're they're matching up with
Speaker 1: certain things. And I really think it's it's very important
Speaker 1: to make sure whoever you choose to walk life with
Speaker 1: has the same values financially as you as well as
Speaker 1: other things. But finances are one of the number one
Speaker 1: causes of fights and marriages, and I think it's very,
Speaker 1: very important you have these talks way before even deciding
Speaker 1: if you would like to spend your life with somebody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the vulnerability lightning round. So you can absolutely say that.
Speaker 1: And thanks for highlighting something that can be a little
Speaker 1: bit more difficult to look at or talk about. We
Speaker 1: know everyone's coming at this from different perspectives and experiences,
Speaker 1: but I really appreciate what you're highlighting here that there's
Speaker 1: many dynamics and layers that go into compatibility and lifelong partnership.
Speaker 1: And certainly we can't first see everything that the future
Speaker 1: years and decades are going to bring, but compatibility and
Speaker 1: communication and you know, as much as we would value
Speaker 1: other aspects that we talk about, you know, it seems like, oh,
Speaker 1: are you attracted to them or not? Okay, But also
Speaker 1: there's so many other layers to relationship and what makes
Speaker 1: partnerships work emotionally, relationally, financially, and having an understanding of
Speaker 1: the person on on all of those levels and at
Speaker 1: least making sure that there's the compatibility and communication that
Speaker 1: you can build upon. Ah, that's excellent advice. My goodness,
Speaker 1: that's at the top of my day list. Now. I
Speaker 1: have this conversation with friends literally this morning, and I
Speaker 1: was like, you know, that's saying like opposites attract, Like
Speaker 1: that might be it, but like opposites do not make
Speaker 1: for a very good long term marriage. You have to
Speaker 1: you really have to be on the same page in
Speaker 1: some really major things. So yeah, I could not agree
Speaker 1: more were at least a willingness to negotiate, Like I
Speaker 1: think we're not gonna I could never marry me my ruickness,
Speaker 1: like Eric has his work cut out for him. So
Speaker 1: there does have to be some differences. I think I
Speaker 1: don't think I'm compatible with myself, and I think that's
Speaker 1: just me. But at least the foundational aspects of being
Speaker 1: able to negotiate and value one another and communicate, like
Speaker 1: those pieces need to at least be there. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it needs to be mutual, Like it's can't be just
Speaker 1: you doing all the negotiating and all the compromising, even
Speaker 1: if you love There's a lot of growth and change
Speaker 1: that happens to when you're a little bit younger, so
Speaker 1: I think, like being mid thirties, now, you know, my
Speaker 1: my list is like pretty solid, and you know, at
Speaker 1: least at this point, you know, I don't feel like
Speaker 1: I'm willing to negotiate, so I'll just wait and spend
Speaker 1: my time until i get something that checks off all
Speaker 1: the boxes. But financial stability is definitely at the top.
Speaker 1: I mean, even in your thirties. I think people change
Speaker 1: like every ten years, So you have to be willing
Speaker 1: to like be with someone who's a little different than
Speaker 1: they are when you marry them. So a lot of
Speaker 1: that foundational stuff and that value stuff has to be
Speaker 1: like at the core like the same, because eventually the
Speaker 1: person you marry will like change and grow just like
Speaker 1: you will change and grow. That's a good thing, and
Speaker 1: hopefully we change and grow for the better. But like
Speaker 1: you have to like realize that going in and it's
Speaker 1: not going to be you growing and changing the person.
Speaker 1: It's going to be themselves growing and changing, getting into
Speaker 1: like you know, podcast podcast adjacent podcast on relationship. No,
Speaker 1: I love it. We've carried we carried it, Jill. How
Speaker 1: about you? Well, Okay, so if we are giving, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go a direction kind of similar to Katie in like,
Speaker 1: what would have made my debt payoff journey different? And
Speaker 1: if I could have changed anything more from the perspective
Speaker 1: of get into debt, because now we're talking, you know,
Speaker 1: to the people who are before marriage or before dad
Speaker 1: or before I really wish that I would have done
Speaker 1: like community college or some sort of educational path that
Speaker 1: didn't land me in the amount of debt that it did.
Speaker 1: I think I still would have ended up with some
Speaker 1: student loan debt, but I just was too prideful or
Speaker 1: had too much adopted too much of the stigma around
Speaker 1: at the time. I think it has gone away quite
Speaker 1: a bit of what it meant, you know what, fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago to go to community college for your first
Speaker 1: two years. I wish I would have done that, because
Speaker 1: I already changed schools like four times, so my aversion
Speaker 1: to transferring like it happened. I transferred a ton and
Speaker 1: it wasn't a big deal. And I do primarily just
Speaker 1: remember my last two years of college, and I think
Speaker 1: I could have saved myself a lot of any Plus,
Speaker 1: I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was
Speaker 1: undeclared in my major and yet spending a crazy amount
Speaker 1: of money slash accruing a crazy amount of debt for
Speaker 1: that undeclared liberal arts private college. So that's something I
Speaker 1: would have shifted. But that's going way back into the
Speaker 1: archives of my early early adulthood choices. That's you're allowed
Speaker 1: to do that in your lightning round. Thank you, do
Speaker 1: whatever you want? What about you? Jen? Okay, So I
Speaker 1: would have gone into debt the same way, totally fine
Speaker 1: with that. UM. Would have married the same person, totally
Speaker 1: fine with that one. UM, I would have put less
Speaker 1: pressure of my on myself to do it at the
Speaker 1: speed at which we did it, because I was really
Speaker 1: under the mindset that UM, debt is evil and as
Speaker 1: long as you have it, you are not meeting your
Speaker 1: full potential, your family is not meeting their full potential,
Speaker 1: and you cannot live. Life starts after debt. That is
Speaker 1: what I was under the impression of, and just having
Speaker 1: like seen so much, so many people pay off debt
Speaker 1: and still go through struggles, and so many people still
Speaker 1: be in debt and like yoloing and they're fine, you know,
Speaker 1: even if it's not financially, they're still like mentally fine.
Speaker 1: I just I mean and I had that hangover after
Speaker 1: paying off debt. That was just like, I have all
Speaker 1: of this built up energy and nowhere to put it.
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm doing. Um, I would have
Speaker 1: put less pressure on myself. So that was very mentally draining.
Speaker 1: And I think even if we'd pay off our debt
Speaker 1: in three years and just lived more life during those
Speaker 1: three years instead of smashing it into two years, still
Speaker 1: thankful for everything it taught me, Still thankful for the
Speaker 1: degree I received as a result of that debt. Also
Speaker 1: felt a lot of shame for choosing a degree that
Speaker 1: required me to get into debt. No longer feel that shame.
Speaker 1: I don't even use a degree anymore, and I still
Speaker 1: don't feel that shame because I really enjoyed those years
Speaker 1: of my life. So so yeah, that would be what
Speaker 1: I would change. Less pressure on myself, less negative, untrue thoughts, beautiful,
Speaker 1: so much vulnerability and sharing here, and we hope that
Speaker 1: you all listening or havn't at least one takeaway. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it'd be hard to not have more at
Speaker 1: least that, But Katie, I'm curious for you. If people
Speaker 1: want more, it's clear that you've got so much to
Speaker 1: offer from your experiences and perspective. Where can they get
Speaker 1: more from you? Just go to my Instagram. I mean
Speaker 1: it depends on the week or how busy I am
Speaker 1: or how crazy I am at the time, But usually
Speaker 1: I'm sharing my everyday life stuff there, or I'm posting
Speaker 1: others who are either a debt payoff or giving sound
Speaker 1: advice about Like right now, I'm focusing on investments and
Speaker 1: things like that, learning more about retirement just because I
Speaker 1: did payoff for so long and I want to focus on,
Speaker 1: you know, my future. But yeah, my my instagram debt
Speaker 1: free Katie. You just go on there and you'll see
Speaker 1: me rambling like the awkward turtle that I am. I
Speaker 1: would never describe you as a turtle. Well, thank you
Speaker 1: so much Katie for being here. Um, and that's debt
Speaker 1: free letter k letter T and thank you so much
Speaker 1: for sharing. This was so great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: This is fun. Yes, that was good. H gosh. If
Speaker 1: you've ever asked how do I pay off debt? That
Speaker 1: is the blueprint what Katie just said, Like, there is
Speaker 1: no payoff debt quick rich scheme. There is nothing new
Speaker 1: under the sun. We could probably I mean, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: down to say, yeah, here's a magic pill, send us
Speaker 1: two hundred thousand dollars and we'll send you the magic pill. Like,
Speaker 1: I'm down that we could do a scam here, But
Speaker 1: the reality is it's gonna be shifting mindset, shifting behaviors,
Speaker 1: looking at the discretionary expenses and doing it and then
Speaker 1: giving yourself permission to not do it when it's killing you,
Speaker 1: and then to get back on the wagon and keep
Speaker 1: doing it. I mean, gosh, it's beautiful. Yeah, to say
Speaker 1: my future is too important to me to not get
Speaker 1: back up. Two. I can take this rest, but the
Speaker 1: things I want in the future are too important to
Speaker 1: just stop. I think that was my if I had
Speaker 1: to take anything unique away from it, Like every everything
Speaker 1: was very practical and inspirational, but if I had to
Speaker 1: take that one thing because we my experience is not
Speaker 1: having the sustainability. Um, so it's always interesting to me,
Speaker 1: like how do you pay off debt in a sustainable way?
Speaker 1: Where you I hate the word balance. You know this
Speaker 1: about me, So we don't balance, but we shift priorities.
Speaker 1: So how do I shift from prioritizing my life, my health,
Speaker 1: my family in a season to shift back to prioritizing
Speaker 1: debt payoff and how do you make those shifts? How
Speaker 1: do you know when to do it? How do you
Speaker 1: do it? And so that, um, that was a really
Speaker 1: great takeaway that I heard how how she made the shift.
Speaker 1: Oh everyone, thank you for listening. We hope you've got
Speaker 1: your own takeaways and they can be the same as ours.
Speaker 1: That's fine too. Many of you know that we do
Speaker 1: also have a private community where we're doing monthly money
Speaker 1: challenges and offering accountability grew hoops. This is beyond the
Speaker 1: Patreon that we do a step up from the Patreon,
Speaker 1: which you can also join us there, But we want
Speaker 1: to congratulate one of our members for a big win.
Speaker 1: This comes from Emily, who shared I'm loving everyone's decluttering photos.
Speaker 1: I've had a very busy work week, so I haven't
Speaker 1: really dug into any major decluttering projects in my apartment
Speaker 1: quite yet. However, I am keeping a bin handy that
Speaker 1: I can quickly throw any item into when I come
Speaker 1: across something that I know I can part with. I've
Speaker 1: already found new homes for some items in the bin
Speaker 1: with friends, some clothing items I plan to send into
Speaker 1: thread Up for consignment, and some items are tb D.
Speaker 1: This is amazing. I think this is also like it's
Speaker 1: a win, but it's a tip for all of us
Speaker 1: who wanted to clutter but maybe have really full schedules
Speaker 1: and it's still possible. I think that's like a massive message,
Speaker 1: even from our interview with Katie to our wins and
Speaker 1: our membership is finding the path way that's possible for
Speaker 1: you with an understanding of your current context and then
Speaker 1: how do you weave in these concepts in light of that.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful. Yeah, absolutely, congrats Emily, And I think she
Speaker 1: also said this was a longer post that she got
Speaker 1: rid of some dishes so that she would not have
Speaker 1: as many dishes to clean, and as somebody else who
Speaker 1: hates dishes and also did that, it works. Minimize dishes
Speaker 1: and you'll have less dishes and you'll get them done.
Speaker 1: Let fewer dishes will sit in the same Thanks everyone
Speaker 1: for listening. If you want to check out our monthly
Speaker 1: challenge community, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: club to see what challenge we have coming up next.
Speaker 1: See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric
Speaker 1: Syrian oh Jen our younger selves. What do you think
Speaker 1: if we had met when we were in our early
Speaker 1: in twenties, maybe even late teens. I mean we connected
Speaker 1: over our financial journey and being like in a debt
Speaker 1: payoff space. What do you think would have happened if
Speaker 1: the two of us had met but we didn't have
Speaker 1: money to talk about? We would have connected over the
Speaker 1: other things we connect about, like community and trashy reality
Speaker 1: TV and yeah, that's true if we have never been
Speaker 1: ashamed of that. Yeah, if we were twenty one, we
Speaker 1: would connect over our shared love of a good cocktail.
Speaker 1: Um dancing. We would connect over dancing, for sure. There's
Speaker 1: so many things we connect over. Since we're still friends
Speaker 1: and neither of us are paying off debt, we would
Speaker 1: not have connected over podcasting, that's for sure. Neither of
Speaker 1: us listen to podcasts until very recently. Actually, do you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts? Very rarely? Yeah, I listened to true
Speaker 1: crime podcasts or cults. We would connect over cults, yes,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh. For sure. I approach podcasting in the
Speaker 1: same way or similar way that I approach like reading.
Speaker 1: I do it for a purpose. So like I read
Speaker 1: because I'm trying to get a degree or teach something
Speaker 1: or expand my skill set, and I listened to podcasts
Speaker 1: in order to yeah some similar things, or if I'm
Speaker 1: interviewing someone or someone's interviewing me so I can know
Speaker 1: what they're all about, then I'll do a quick dive
Speaker 1: into their podcast. It's U not super altruistic, I suppose. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean I don't listen to podcasts for altruism. I
Speaker 1: I've look to find out who killed who. Perfect Okay, bye,