How Jill Paid Off $56,000 of Debt Over 7 Years

from it. I think that I would probably say different things today than I said two years ago, but at the same time, I think relevant for my life stage then so worth the replay so you can kind of understand what the actual journey was. And then we'll give them a little recap at the end.

own story, and sometimes that's for the better. Sometimes you gain more perspective in some areas and then other parts

you forget. So I think it's always good to and I think this is an encouragement that if you have accomplished something very recently and maybe you don't feel like an expert enough to share or to invest in someone's life with your knowledge, I hope you feel encouraged and responsible to show up in the capacity that you're at, because we need to be sharing our stories, whether we are just out of the thick of it, whether we're a couple years out or we're many decades out, with

the mindset that our perspective is also dependent on where we're at in the journey, so embracing that perspective and not diminishing our accomplishments or over inflating our accomplishments.

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a combination of a few different types of debt. And I will say this, we collected debt throughout our debt payoff. That was intentional and it has led to a lot of the things that we can now enjoy. We don't want to continue collecting debt, but it was necessary for our journey. So I just want to make that kind of distinction. It wasn't as if we had this experience where suddenly I realize my finances and I'm going to

get everything in order. I was very aware, but trying to be creative with how do I get at my financial goals in a way that feels good to me, create as much freedom as possible in the least amount of time as possible. So one of the debts was a thirty two thousand dollars a student loan debt, and then the other debts were mostly private loans for our motor home at one point, our trailer at another point, and a vehicle for Eric's business at another point, so

essentially vehicles, but those were also houses for us. Two of those three vehicles we were also homes, so that was the combination of that fifty six thousand dollars of debt. When Eric and I got married, I was actually still in college. I was wrapping up my undergrad degree. So we got married very very low income. He was working for himself, he had his own electrical business, lived off

of that income. Then when I graduated, I of course graduated with debt, thank you University system higher education, and went right into the social work field, making twenty six thousand dollars a year. To me, that was I knew it was low, but it was something I was so accustomed to not having money. I mean, I'm coming out of college, didn't have a lot of money, so I was pleased to have a regular paycheck. But twenty six thousand dollars, even ten years ago, that was below poverty line.

That was that was not enough to even cover the basics. So frugality was necessary for me just because of my circumstances. And Eric had variable income. He was still just starting out his business, so I would say our take home pay combined was low thirties. So to have thirty two thousand dollars of school loan debt felt like so much.

I know, in some ways it's peanuts compared to what students are graduating with these days, but at the time that was above my annual salary, so that it really did feel like a lot, and I knew I wanted it gone. But of course, like we said, we had other debts that we had, so we went from making

about within that. That said, those seven years a combined thirty thousand two, there were years when we probably saw combined sixty thousand, but pretty low income through those seven years of debt payoff as far as a combined income goes.

this a thing? Yeah, but forever and always, and this will probably come out as we go through this story. We've both been so supportive of each other's endeavors, and I think that is some of the reason behind our unusual journey throughout debt, freedom and some of our non traditional housing situations. So much of us choosing that was to support one another in our endeavors, but in a way that created space and freedom for us as a couple.

So he was on board for paying it off, equally didn't like it, didn't blame me for it, was glad that I was able to pursue the degree that I wanted, was able to put that degree into action and care for the populations that were important to me. And thankfully he didn't have any Lovely, he didn't have any debt. He didn't go to undergrad so it was just that that we had to pay off. So he was on board.

just was some I hate it. I abhorred the feeling of owing tens of thousands of dollars and thankfully we were were you able to make that happen. So that happened in twenty eighteen, that we cash flowed my master's degree and we were able to do that because we were living in a motor home at the time.

it really was for low cost living. A lot of people when we say we lived in a trailailer or a mobile home, they think, oh, you must have traveled the world. You did all not the world, you to all the nation, you did all these things, And that

wasn't the reason for it. I recall Eric and I were living in an apartment at the time, and we went on a vacation with his family, and we were at a lake and rented a pontoon boat, and he and his dad were looking at Facebook marketplace for other boats, and within his Facebook marketplace boat search, like, oh, could we ever buy a boat and fix it up and have something fun to do as a family, he came across a motor home and was scrolling through and kind

of thinking, Oh, that that'd be like a fun vacation and a fun way to camp, and then kept looking at it and saying, this has everything you need. We could actually live in one of these. And I had already been floating the idea of a master's degree, wanting a master's degree, but looking at our finances and saying I couldn't do that. I couldn't get my master's degree and not go in a further debt. There is just

no money for this. And not to mention, if I get my master's degree, I'm going to have to really scale back with work. I'm not going to have much time to even be earning income while I'm spending money. And so that's when the idea just kind of set in of let's see if we could do that, and for Eric and I we do move quickly when we say something and we kind of get the idea in

our head then like we jump. So I probably within two weeks of that Facebook marketplace motor home, we had a motor home and we were beginning to renovate it and making moves to moving into it and so again for the low cost of living, and it really did provide that for us. And I will say what actually allowed for us to cash flow the Masters was the

eventual sale of that motor home. So living in it provided us as a place to live without high rent or utilities or really any of the other expenses of time and resources, which was amazing, just the simple life. But then we renovated it and we were able to sell it at a profit, which is really what allowed us to be able to do that, and we were

able to sell it. And another unusual living experience that we had was we house sat in a log cabin for a couple who was near retirement but they wanted to keep their home, but there was an opportunity within his work to be able to go to Ireland, and they didn't want the hassle of tenants, but they wanted someone to care for their home. So we were able to live there, sell our motor home and not have living expenses, and pay for my master's degree. So the

stars aligned in a lot of ways. But we also were moving and shaking. We were running our own businesses in the background of me getting my masters and really putting ourselves out there for does anyone have things that we can do in a non traditional kind of creative way. It is attainable, I think for people, but you do have to be a specific type of person to be able to live in someone else's home for a year and all that can come with that.

And so maybe how sinning isn't an opportunity that comes up for you if you're listening to this, But the more you put yourself in non traditional situations, the more non traditional opportunities come up for you to take advantage of it.

make that possible for ourselves. I think people are becoming more and more open to having RVs parked on their property. But National Lampoon's Christmas vacation did not give a great look for our veers, and I think a lot of people have that image in their head of you're going to do what and you're going to live in it and you're not just going to camp and where does your waiste go? And I don't think I want it.

But thankfully we had enough other non traditional thinking friends and even people on the Internet who were willing to let us park on their property. So we did a variety. We had our trailer or RV parked at friends' houses at some points for short terms of time. We had it parked in your backyard for a short period of time. There are some RV parks that would allow year round

rent lots, rental spots that you can have. That's not always the most cost effective, and especially if you're like us who lived in the North, usually you can only find a space for six to eight months out of the year. You got to go someplace else for the winter.

So those are some of the barriers. But one of the best situations that we ended up finding when we were living in our trailer was we rented out an office space which was a previous barn that was renovated to be an office on someone's property in the farmland of the suburbs of Philadelphia, and they just happened to be open enough with us to bowl. I don't know. They chose to allow us to park on their property,

which was amazing. So we both rented out the office space because both Eric and I worked remotely, and then we were also able to park our trailer on their property so we could live there and work there and very unusual. I think it was great that they were

open to that. But things like that we've been able to find, and I would say FA Book Marketplace was helpful for us in identifying places that we could park the motor home and be able to meet with people and chat with them and explain to them what we're doing, why we're doing it, the type of people that we are. We're not going to be partying, We're not going to be up late at night. We're gonna be doing weird stuff on your property like we promise, We're professional adults.

But this is what we're doing, and would you be willing to let us, like have your hose in your backyard? Yes?

we had our motor home park there. So for us that was great because we were again running our own businesses, so a lot of that rental could be a business write off, and so we kind of more so factored that our lot rent was maybe more so around three hundred dollars, so let's say three hundred dollars. Utilities were never more than one hundred if you're talking water and electric that kind of thing, and then of course whatever you're going to spend on food and the rest of

your life. But I would say, all in all, you're talking under five hundred dollars a month to be able to live in a tiny home like that, just because it is smaller. What you have to feet in cool and utilize is much less. That said, the amount of time that it took to upkeep a tiny home, and especially a motor home in the winter where you actually have to be concerned about pipes freezing. It did take more time and energy and know how and problem solving

than I think the average person realized. It's not for the feign of heart. I wouldn't recommend just anybody do it, And to be honest, I don't know that I would have done it on my own if it weren't for Eric. He had a lot of that know how, ability to fix things in the middle of the night, to problem solve what might be going wrong with the AC unit or this or that. So there are things to consider with it. At the end of the day, I'm so

pleased for the experience, glad we had it. But that is more so the cost, I would say is the cost of time and in repairs and problem solving than necessarily the finances. So if someone's up for that challenge, then it was a fantastic experience.

back and then some when we sell it. And so on the first RV that we had, I want to say that we made a profit of about eight thousand dollars, and on the trailer we made a profit of a little over ten thousand dollars. Awesome, and that's not to mention that. I mean that's the profit. So we also recouped all of the money that we had put into it. And so when we sold the RV, that paid for my master's degree, and when we sold the trailer, that was our down payment on our home here in Saint Petersburg.

But I want to know, do you have any like tips for listeners who may be considering, like other forms of tiny living to save money or alternative housing.

honest with you about it. Thankfully, a lot of social media can be quite transparent these days, so seeing if the ins and outs of what you think is going to be good still appeals to you, and even if you can talk with people who are already doing it. Thankfully, a lot of people have taken advantage of Eric and I in that way, like, hey, we're thinking about doing XYZ,

and we have opinions on it. People can make their own choices, certainly, but I will be very forthright with you about the pros and the cons of tiny living, and so again, just knowing what that lifestyle is, like, what it's going to require of you, the true costs.

I think sometimes we can glamorize whatever our next step is going to be, but really sitting down and pricing it out and making sure that you're going to experience the savings that you desire to see that you've got the skill set to be able to do that, or at least the willingness time energy to learn how to

do that thing. I would not recommend tiny living in the north with exposed pipes if you're not willing to be up at three in the morning heat like heat wrapping it, yeah, or you know, have an alternative place to stay if your pipe's too freeze, that kind of thing, and then if there's a way to be able to

practice it. We have heard a lot of stories of people who think that this is a lifestyle for them, They change their entire life circumstances, sell everything, move into an RV and last for a month, and then they've

got to go refigure out life again. So if you know our V life is specifically what you're considering, rent one, live in one or borrow of friends and see if you can stay in it, pay them to say in it for a couple of weeks, and really get a feel for if it's a lifestyle you're actually going to enjoy. Sometimes our idealized self is not the same as our actual self, so try it on for size so wide.

with my hands as well. I'm not as much of a skilled laborer as Eric is, but I can do a lot of the finish work, the painting, the calking, the nail filling, the design, although he's good at that too, and we enjoy working together. So we did that for a time, and that was actually the side hustle while I was in my master's program full time. That allowed me the flexibility but still being able to make some money.

And then we were bartenders. We built our own portable bar and created cocktails around different people's weddings and brought our portable bar and served up drinks and had a blast with that too. And then Frugal Friends, I mean honestly, Frugal Friends, has been a side hustle, very bigger than what typical side hustle would be. But these are some of the things and I think they sound like they span the gamut, but really it has. Oh, there was

also a time that I sold plants. It was a short, a short, little season, but I'm like his mom had a ton of plants in her property and she's constantly looking to give them away. And I enjoyed plants, and so there was a season where I repotted plants and put them on a trailer in a front yard alongside the road. Wow. I just like whatever I could see

as low hanging fruit to bring in money. And so despite the fact that it's maybe a lot of variety, it really had to do with what do we see in our tool belt, what's already in our hands, what's the low hanging fruit. And so for the djying, Eric already had music equipment because he's a musician, and so

this is an easy thing to do. We have weekends available, and yet it still allows us to be together because that we enjoy being together, and our work lives took us apart from each other a lot, but yet we needed increased income. So that was a really nice blend for us to have fun, party, play music, make money, be together and have a side hustle. And then you know, with the renovations that that's a skill set we have. And the bartending, yeah, it's a skill set well set.

We basically just like to party and how can we make money doing that? So I think as far as if there's a tip somewhere in there, it's a we don't have to reinvent the wheel. It doesn't have to be let me just what is someone else doing? How can I do that same thing? Just what's in your hand already? What are you good at, what do you enjoy doing, what feels life giving? What is something you don't mind doing? Might even spur you on in your day to day nine to five job provides an outlet

that is completely separate from what you do. It doesn't always have to be congruent to what you're nine five is. It could provide a different look at your personhood. And that's what those things were completely separate from social work and trauma. It was completely separate.

and rich, and so I'm grateful for that. That said, if there were anything that I might change or maybe would have said to myself in the past, again, not a regret, but a message to my younger self and maybe anybody else who's listening. I do wish that I had gotten a hold of the permission earlier on that I had to make changes in the work that I set my hands to, or what might be available to me, the freedom and permission to think outside the box in

what I'm currently doing. I think very specifically to that first job that I had out of college. It was actually the internship that I had that they just hired me on and I kept going with it, and that felt simple to me. And it was very, very difficult, for lack of a better word, and I'm grateful for that experience. I do think it formed me in a lot of ways. But I also think I could have stepped out sooner if I had known the freedom permission

that was available to me. I felt stuck, I felt trapped. I felt like I couldn't do anything different, and this is what my finances are going to look like for the rest of my life, Like I don't how could I possibly leave. I worked at a residential facility for adolescence, and so what mainly kept me there was my heart for these kids. I was very angry at the system, but the kids kept me there, and so there's a

tension in that certainly. But I think I wish I would have realized earlier on that I don't have to care for others at the sacrifice of myself. That I can still matter in the work, and there are other ways that I can care for people. I'm not stepping over myself, exhausting myself, sacrificing myself, unnecessarily burning myself out. I wish I would have made a move sooner.

this is how the profession is. Yeah, so not even knowing that there's more beyond, but once you find out, giving yourself permission to take.

advantage of. But I couldn't see out from under that that just water that I felt what I was underneath and drowning in and once I realize I think I kept waiting for something to change, but nothing was changing. And I felt this like deep heart cry, like I just want out of the situation. This feels suffocating. And it was also in that very moment that I realized I can leave, I can choose to leave, I can I can do anything else creative. I don't have to

wait for something else to come into place. And I get it that the best time to look for a job is when you have a job. But there were a few things that I was able to kind of line up to give me more security in stepping out, but other things can shift and change around. It's not worth us killing ourselves to be in a job if it is really sucking the life out of us. And that is in a lot of ways, the non traditional

living that we chose. We did that so that there could be freedom for Eric to choose what he wanted to do, for me to choose what I wanted to do, even when we weren't making a lot of money, to make space for each other in that way.

I would get three hundred dollars off. So I did that and it has been officially six months later and our trip is completely paid for without any additional interest on the card. Another feature of the card was we got free door dash delivery, so my husband I have been using that one to two times a month as a date night end and once my kids go to bed, and that has been a great feature of the card.

I really appreciate all of your podcasts. The fun that you have during the show makes me smile, and I love hearing all of your tips to being a frugal and what that entails for a happy life. Keep it going, and I can't wait to hear more.

be used in our favor. We can be wise about it if we know how to take advantage of the perks and not allow them to take advantage of Yes, So the way that you're utilizing this opportunity sounds so amazing. That you were able to have a really wonderful trip with your family and then regular dates with your husband indoors, not indoors at home, I maybe outdoors at home.

my favorite things to do. So if you have a bill where you have taken something from a big bank and given them nothing in return, or just know a person that you met on vacation named Bill who knows you can leave us a bill at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill.

we did before. I'm not constantly thinking up how can I make money off of this, or how can someone pay me for this? Or how can I spend the least amount of money on this thing even if I need it? And that has been that's been a really almost just a beautiful consequence of this and earning more income. So it for me, my debt payoff is very interconnected

with earning higher levels of income. So sometimes I don't quite know is what I'm experiencing because I'm debt free, or is what I'm experiencing because We've been intentional about earning more and making more And maybe it's a combination. But I have not I've not felt the need to tally up everything that I'm purchasing at the grocery store or do bare minimum mom with every single decision that

I make. And some of that is just like moving out of scarcity mindset, moving out of literally financially being in poverty, which I'm so grateful for. So there's just Yeah, in some ways, I think it's a habit, it's a thought process. The way that I approach purchases, how I think about them has shifted a lot. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good answer, thank you.

these things. And I think a lot of people looked at us like, oh, you're the tiny home livers, like that's what you do is your identity? Yeah, you dwell in tiny homes and that's it. And we did for a time. It was a big part of our lives and what defined us. But we never intended for that to be this is what we're doing. Because all of our ideology and outlook is intertwined with this. It helped

us a lot in that regard. But anyhow, freedom and that too, that you could do something for a time just to get at another goal.

to be really offended by this. But I spent years figuring out how to lower my expenses, control my impulse purchases, raise my income, and I am still constantly aware of those things, constantly of ware, aware of impulse buying efficient ways to increase my income, not like short sighted ways, and so I am constantly aware of those things, and I do check my accounts monthly to make sure that nobody has hacked me. But I don't really budget anymore,

and so there's pros and cons to that. I've never been much of a budgeter, even so when we did it when we were paying off debt, we did it very strictly every month because we needed to know to the penny. Our income was also lower and a lot more of our money was going towards a short term goal. And now that it is not, we are doing like renovations on our home. But we have kind of set up our lives, in our lifestyles in a way that we can just live on one income and not care

about the rest. I mean not care about it, but like either invest or save the rest. So we just really focus on just spending and spending what we have because what we have is only half of what we make. So yeah, that is a thing that I did not take with me after And one of the cons is that sometimes I can get a little anxious about money because I do also love control, and I don't have control over every single penny. But I think the it's not that serious, Like I have enough other things that

I can control and have power in that. This is one of those things that I know, I'm confident in these skills I have created that I really just check to see if anybody's hacked my bank stuff. And we travel hacked too, so we're always switching up cards and closing or locking cards, so like that kind of helps with the hacking too.

much practice with it, this makes sense for you. I would imagine that you have a very good estimate of your bills and you're spending because I know you say I don't budget, but I'm sure if I ask you, what are utilities monthly? What's your mortgage, what's your discretionary spending? What about groceries? What do you typically spend on takeout? Like you would probably be able to rattle that off within a five dollars range of accuracy.

to budget. But as long as you've got a really good handle on your finances and you have budgeted in the past, you know what that means, and you know where your money's going now. So there's freedom, but there's also a skill set and experience to be built at all as well.

paid off our debt. We became debt free at your place, at our February twenty twenty. We were parked in our RV in your driveway February twenty twenty, and that is where we became debt free. Super celebratory. And then you all know what happened in March, and the world changed and pricing changed and interest rates changed, and the way that we purchased changed, and it didn't feel great. But I had to take on Eric and I had to

take on a loan for a vehicle. We only have one vehicle, but even that we had to buy new because the one that we had previous to that was like its break lines kept it was we're rusted out. And three separate occasions we were in some very precarious situations and it was urgent that we get a car, and we didn't buy a new car. You did buy no no, yes, a certified pre owned, but from a

dealership where we had to take out alone. So there's just been some things that have happened since then that I think also overlay on this debt payoff journey we did.

of it is not nirvana. It's worth pursuing, but it's not the end all, be all, and life is going to continue to happen and there may be times where we have to choose to take on loans with eyes wide open. I think that's the difference is when I took on my student loans, my eyes were not fully open. I didn't know what I was signing up for. But fast forward too, I've gone through paying off debt. The

landscape is different. We need to make wise decisions for ourselves and our safety, and it's going to require XYZ to do that. And I'm okay with that because I understood what it took to pay it off. I understand what it means to sign up for a loan. I understand what needs to play into a loone decision, what sorts of factors I need to consider in what I'm agreeing to, and eyes wide open, I'm okay with this as we take into consideration our income and other risks

and liabilities and all of that. So yeah, it's it's celebratory. I think it's a worthwhile aim, but I think I'm also holding it in tension with now this kind of new removed shame from debt and understanding that sometimes life calls for it when you need the degree now rather than in fifty years, and you need the house now. While the kids are young rather than in fifty years, and you need the car now rather than waiting until the brake lines rust out a fourth time and you're in an accident.

calculate our retirement savings. I think after the last couple of years, I think it's it's safe if you want to use six percent. But everybody I talked to is still using seven confidently, which accounts for the typical three percent inflation, even though we have not seen that in the past couple of years. But this is a small snapshot of a larger picture. And so that means that if your interest rate on your loan is less than six percent, then it can make sense to very evenly

balance your debt payoff with your investing. If your interest rate is far lower than six percent, like I know a friend of ours recently she consolidated her student her private student loans. Now they're like three or four percent. Or if you were lucky enough to refinance your mortgage in twenty twenty one or thereabouts and got a really low mortgage rate, like then it's beneficial to you to

just keep that for as long as you can. So if you are putting more into investing, so things like that you need to think about if you're going to have a complete conversation about.

than putting so many labels on things. And if you all are here for this message, wherever you are in your debt payoff journey, if this is resonating with you, and if you want to hear more, we do talk a bit more about this in our book, By What you Love Without Going Broke By What you lovebook dot Com. We share a whole lot more about this. It is our baby, is our love letter to all of you, So we'd love if you all pre ordered that.

to learn any more about frugality. If you pre order our book, either for a family member or a friend, it helps our publisher put more stock in the book, to publicize it to more people who do need it, to tell libraries that it's an important book, so more libraries carry it, and it just tells more publishers that this is the kind of financial content that people want, not as much get rich quick, get rich with real estate, invest and become a multimillionaire through stocks and so which

are all really great, but the personal finance books are definitely missing a lot of not just earning more so we can consume more, but using our money wisely and consuming only what we value.