Episode two twelve is episode paying off a hundred and five thousand dollars of debt in thirty five months with Kate from Living That Debt Free Life. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
Mm hmmmmm. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are re airing one of your favorite debt payoff stories, our friend from the Instagram handle Living that Debt Free Life. We love these debt free stories, debt payoff stories, and anything that's going to keep inspiring us to pay down whatever kind of debt it is that we have. So we're coming at you again with another one because we
still think it's important and relevant. Another one, but for another one, but first our sponse jomps us I Heart Podcast Network. You may notice something a little different about the show. That's because we're over the moon excited to announce that we have joined the I Heart Podcast Network. What does that mean, Well, it does take a huge load of off of us because my Heart is taking care of all of our advertising. So we still have
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this means for our time, energy and capacity. Again, we know what means more ads, but it also means that we have more that we can give to you all because it frees up time, energy and capacity for us. So I know that ultimately we hope to bring you even more great and amazing things because of this move. Absolutely, we are proud and excited because nothing else is going
to change from the show. We will bring it to you on the same day every week, bill of the week, every week, even our fake sponsors will remain the same, and nothing else will change except for we actually can do more of the podcast. So yeah, we are very very excited, and we thank you for your support. We've shared this privately with some of are with our members and then some of our other listeners, and everyone's just
been so supportive and like gracious. UM. And so we have the best listeners in the world, and we just we love you guys so much. We thank you, um and we're excited for what this move means for us. So uh yeah, so thank you. And uh if you love debt free stories as much as we do, which we know that you do, here are a few other episodes that you can queue up to listen to after this Episode one eight, we actually share three of our
listeners debt payoff stories. This is when you should definitely hear because you are very used to hearing polished debt payoff stories from people who have told their story a lot. But like these are people like you, just our listeners that don't have like businesses or blogs or YouTube channels like behind their debt payoff Like these are our frugal
friends listeners. And so episode for Sure Episode one seventy nine paying off thirty three dollars of debt with el Martinez that her and her husband lived on one of their incomes to pay off their debt. And then episode one seventy one. Should you focus on paying down debt right now? So one seventy one real good ones to key up after this excellence. Let's get back into it, y'all. We are sitting here with Kate from that debt free life. How are you, Kate? I am so good. How are
you guys doing? Wow? Thanks for asking. Good. Happy Valentine's Day as we're recording this for Valentine's Day. Yes, thank you. I'm so excited to be here with you girls. So much love today, so much love, and I love that we're having you on. I'm very, very in love with that. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. Nice. We're excited to talk about your story Kate and hear your perspective and your journey with paying down debt. And we want to hear to kick us off. We know that
your debt was all student loans. It wasn't from overspending or financial crisis. Not to say that there's something better or worse about that at just as your story is student loan debt, what was the breaking point for you to commit to paying off your debt? So a lot of people, you know, reach that kind of I've had a moment that I'm sick, entired, moment that like propels them to take action. I kind of had more of
an epiphany moment. So I had a hundred and five thousand dollars of student loan debt, which was all undergrad and law school loans, everything combined. And I was happily just paying the minimums living my if, not thinking about getting out of debt until we suffered some job layoffs and some things that kind of just made me open my eyes. And even after we recovered from the job loss,
I still did not get myself in gear. Happened was we bought a new house in the middle of debt, right and in the middle of buying that new house, I thought, oh, well, we've got to redecorate it and you know, make it, you know, all the things that you typically do when you get a new house and
not be financially smart. But one of the things that we did was we hired a contractor to repaint our kitchen cabinets and that took three thousand dollars to do and I took three thousand dollars out of my savings to do that. And then after I did it, I panicked and I was like, I've got to put this money back in quickly. And so then I got intentional
about putting the money back into savings. And when I did that, I realized I started paying attention to my money, and I thought, oh, my gosh, what have I been doing with my money all this time? Like I need to get serious about paying off the student loan debt. And then about that same time where I kind of started realizing, Hey, maybe you want to pay attention to your income a little bit more. Things at work, we're getting really stressful, and I mean I was kind of
on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. There were days where like it was just all I could do to get up and shower and like force myself to drive to the office and deal with the office stress. And so I knew that I would never be able to leave my job as a practicing attorney with all of this debt, with this mountain of six figure student
loan debt. So I kind of had this combination of realization that I wasn't I wasn't using my money correctly, it wasn't paying attention to my income, coupled with the fact that I wanted to be able to leave the practice of law and do something else, which I knew I would never make happen, you know, if I kept on the path that I was going. All from painting your cabinets, love many other purchases in there you purchased at home, you did decorate and it was kind of
painting of the cabinets. You know why. It's because I had to take money out of savings to do the cabinets, which is so ridiculous, Like that's an emergency to paint your cabinets, right, So do you like the cabinets or do they represent they are? The funny thing is, before we did it, like I didn't realize how much I talked about painting the cabinets, And when we finally did it, you know, my family was like, you know, you talked
about that like every week. I didn't. So obviously I loved it, obviously, you know, it was a good expenditure, and I look at the kitchen and I love it. But it was a call wake up call. So wow, oh my gosh. So how do you feel about practicing law now that you're debt free? Is it different? Are you still kind of feel the same way about it? So it's a really good question. Um, of course, it's still stressful. That you know, doesn't change whether I'm debt
free or not. But what really does change because I'm still practicing. I have not left the practice of law, which is something people always ask me about. You know, are you are you actually going to leave now? And the thing that I've learned after becoming debt free is that now I'm going to work as an attorney because I'm choosing to, not because I have to because I have no other choice because I have debt to pay off.
When you're doing something that you're choosing versus doing something that you're forced into doing because you've made poor financial decisions in the past, it's a it's a total game changer. So, yes, there is still stress. Maybe one day I might leave the practice of law, but I've learned to look at it totally different because now it's um something that I'm choosing to stay in, and now all of that salary that I earned I get to keep for me and for my future and for investing in doing what I
want to do. So I've been suffering through the law right for all these years for my creditors, but now it's like I want to keep that money for me, you know. Like, so now the moment that I finally get to keep my money for myself is not the moment that I want to leave yet. You know, the keyword is choosing you to choose, and that that can make all the difference. When you suddenly feel a freedom, then things may not seem as daunting or as overwhelming.
It seems more manageable because you can leave at any moment. But I also like that that's your mindset, that it's not as if great, I accomplish this goal. All right, now I'm just gonna go relax on the couch. It's well, now I see the momentum and what this could do for other aspects of my life, and this is something I can choose to do. I have the freedom to
do that. Yeah. And one of the things that I learned from finally paying off the debt and becoming debt free that becoming debt free is really kind of the beginning of my journey, you know, My whole it to pay off this debt. And for all those three years, my mindset was like, Okay, that's the end goal in game, pay off the debt. That's the end and once I got there, I realized there is so much more financially speaking, that I want to accomplish that the free will allow.
And so really paying off the debt and becoming debt free is kind of just the the beginning of my financial journey. Yeah, people don't understand that when they are paying off their debt because it seems like such a big task. They're just looking towards the end of the debt payath and they're not thinking beyond. But yeah, that's so true that because we didn't realize it either, But when we paid off our debt was really the like
point zero of our financial journey. It's when we were able to start making decisions for ourselves about what we were going to do with our money, because before the decisions were made for us. And yeah, it's such an exciting time. You're in such an exciting time right now, that's right, because you just paid off your in November,
is that correct? Congratulations? I mean, we're relatively on the cusp of that, although I'm sure four months feels like you've been able to do so many other things, But that's amazing. It still feels kind of unbelievable. Each day, each paycheck, I get like, oh my god, and there's such a by the time you finished, there's such a
momentum built up. And I think when when we were paying off our debt we paid off seventy eight thousand in two years, we were ready to like take a step back, and I think, like Dave Ramsey says, like, once you're done paying off your debt, you like don't have to be gazelle intense anymore. But once we were done is when I was like, yeah, now I'm ready
to be gazelle intense. Like I was tired before and I was worn out, but now I have all this income and I'm ready to be gazelle intense about something else. I just have to find what at it is right because you've been working for a goal for so many years, you know, or you know your case in my case, and it's like, okay, well what what now I'm going to throw all that focus energy into, Like what is
my next goal that I'm going to get excited about. Yeah, So when people are just starting out, what are some of the things that you did to get that ball rolling? So like expenses, side hustles, like what did you do to get your ball rolling. So we cut a lot of expenses that we were using, um that we decided it wasn't worth paying for anymore, that we would rather send that money to debt instead. And so some of
the things that we cut. We had a family membership to the y m c A. We really weren't using it. I mean, if you're using it, that's one thing, but like nobody ever went. So we dropped it and we don't really miss it, which was kind of surprising, you know. Some of the things were like, oh, we're we can't cut this, we can't live without it, and when we finally the plug was like no, no turning back, you know. So we got rid of the y m c A membership.
We had a storage facility where we just had tons of junk, you know, mainly my husband's not mine to treasures to him. Sure, right right, that's that's debatable. But so we got rid of that. We started kind of on a minimalism kick, selling everything out of there, selling things around our house, you know, realizing that like once we started selling a bunch of things to get out of debt, we started thinking, like we don't really need a lot to be happy, um, And so we just
started selling everything in sight. Um, you know, like I switched to eyeglasses, so I was wearing contacts before and I switched to glasses, so I don't have all that. You know, I was wearing daily contacts and it was just buying contacts all all that good stuff. So that's we saved money that way. I quit getting my nails done. Every month, we did a fifteen day no spin challenge, So every month, fifteen days out of that month, we
decided we would not spend anything that was discretionaries. So if we had to like buy a medical prescription or pay the utility bill, certainly you know that that did not count. But in terms of just spending just discretionary spending, we committed fifteen days every month to just do no spending. And what I love about doing that is after we did that for a year, it equates to six months out of the year of not spending. I love that.
I love that because I talked about no spend challenges a lot and how to customize them, and I think you should customize them so you don't have to follow rules that somebody else has made for your no spend challenge. You could do what works for you and just fifteen days. They don't have to be consecutive. They can be. It's whatever you want. Not equates to six months and not spending, Yes,
that's easy. If you started out and you said, Okay, I'm gonna go six months without spending this year, like that would be an amountable impossible task, like I would never be able to do it. But when you just take it day by day and when they're not consecutive, for me, I found that like not having to do them consecutively was helpful because if I spent one day, let's say I went and got some Starbucks, Like my whole plan was not tanked because of that spending night
had several days left. I could you know, hunker down and not spend. And so it that's what worked for me.
So with you, you know, it's asked me like what are the rules, And my first rule is like you say, like there are no rules, Like just divide thing that works for you, that you challenged and that you know you can stick to it, that's not too difficult that you just give up and throw in the town and it's a manageable challenge, almost even gamifying it a bit that it's like you said, it's breaking it down into bite sized pieces. It's not saying six months out of
the year, I'm not going to spend. It's just every month, find two weeks or a day here and there until it adds up to fifteen days that month. Like there's something kind of fun and alluring about that approach, and
I like it. I like it even more because I doing a no spend challenge allows you it forces you to take a step back and think about your spending in your actions, and when those days aren't planned out, you have to actually take another step back and think about your days and planning in your schedule, and then you start evaluating, like how do my days look, how do my weeks look? What can I cut out? Stuff like that, And so it just adds this another like
mental layer to explore and I love that absolutely. So I'm going off script here a little bit, but because it's Valentine's Day and we're all about love, I'm so curious about the dynamic between you and your husband during this time, being that this debt was all yours. And I know everybody approaches money differently in marriage. Sometimes it's it's all ours, All the money's ours. All the debts ours, doesn't matter how it came to be. And then others
it's like, no, you've got your bank account. I got my bank account, good luck. How how did that go, especially with how serious you all had to be with cutting things, out selling things, doing your own version of a no spend? How did that go with your husband? So he was on board from the get go, you know, he understood how just devastating having this debt was on me and how it affected me emotionally so much, just
the weight of it, and so he understood that. But I think throughout our journey, you know, because it really was my debt, something that I brought into the marriage, he didn't have anything, you know, like he didn't have a car payment, like he had nothing. So I think that he didn't really feel ownership over it as much as I did. Like he was on board like, yeah, let's pay it off, but I don't he felt the
pressure of paying it off like I did. Um, it was always supportive like of that being our goal and wanted that to be our goal, because I think he understood like once that is done, he really as much as I'm like a lover of paying down debt like that was just so fun for me, and I really love that he's like an investment guy, like he wants to invest, and so didn't get to where we wanted to be in terms of investment until we um until
we got the debt out of the way. So, you know, I won't say that he was excited about paying off the debt nearly as much as I was. And I think it's just because he didn't have that ownership of it like I did, but not just you know, he was supportive. He was supported. He probably like, you've got to be on board when you're cutting the y and selling his his treasure around the house. Go through this box in the garage. What can I sell? Oh, it sounds like you found a good one. Cave. I hope
you guys are able to celebrate Valentine's Dady. Is that's what you want? Yes? Up. But it's funny. It's it's a similar story to Jen and I as well. Both her and I are the ones who brought the student loan debt into our marriages. Thankfully we found some supportive husbands, but man, we're a group of ladies bringing in the buying things we couldn't afford. Cheers to being educated. Travis brought Travis brought a little bit of debt. He'll listen
to this. We don't want to leave him out. He brought a little bit of He was much more fiscally responsible than me. But I also still have to tell him to sell things out of the garage. So he's a he's a borderline horder. He loves Yeah, he loves stuff. So it took you three years to pay off all this debt, And even as an attorney, I think sometimes we look at attorneys and doctors paying off their student
loan debt like maybe a little differently. That's just like a bias that some people have of But your story was so so normal, so similar. Sometimes I think we just think of it differently, especially in the financial independence community, that it's maybe a little bit more attainable for people that have certain incomes, are not even incomes, just certain professions, Like we don't know how much the like people are making, and we just assume that they're making a lot more.
But three years to pay off a five thousand dollars of debt is the same as I've seen other people do it in the same amount of time. You know, on teachers salaries and other stuff like that. So this is so doable no matter what your occupation is, um, But it just takes motivation and persistence and staying with it. So, like, how did you maintain motivation over those three years? So I did a lot of different things, because you know, three years is a long time to stick with the goal.
It's a long time to sacrifice financially to meet a goal. UM. So one of the things that I did was I always broke up what I wanted to accomplish, kind of like in those bite sized chunks, like we were talking in terms of no spending. So every month, I set a goal for myself of what I wanted to accomplish that month, and then I kind of zoomed out and decided, Okay, if I'm going to make this goal in three years, this is what I've got to do for those three years, and this is what I've got to do on a
monthly basis to hit it. And every month I would set those goals and check in on myself and make sure that I was hitting them. But you know, kind of in terms of motivation, some of the things that I love to do was I used visuals, so I made like total nerd here, but I made, you know, charts and graphs and all kinds of visuals to track my progress so I could just look at it and see how far I've come and how much I have
left to go, which was really motivating for me. And I know a lot of people do like those charts where they color them in so they can visually see their progress. I didn't really do that. What I did do was I made something called the Chains of Debt. I loved that. I loved watching you do this so on Instagram. Yes, so the Chains of Debt is just like a paper chain, like you'd make it Christmas, you know, the paper chain, and each piece of paper was two
fifty dollars. I think it's it's been a few weeks since i've I've done. I've already forgotten it, so I can't remember. But I made each chain a dollar amount. And this chain, you guys, was so ugly. Make it ugly. That will get rid of me. But well, it's nice decoration. I'll just leave it up. It looks cute. It was so hideous, and I hung it in my bedroom, so it's like one of the first things I supped every moment and I'm like, I can't wait to get this
thing out of here. It's so hideous. But what I love about doing the pain as opposed to like the coloring, And this is really kind of my husband's idea, is that the paper chain get smaller and smaller and smaller over time, so you can see your debt finishing, whereas like if you're coloring something in it's getting bigger and bigger. So for me that I could just watch my debt disappearing before my eyes and fully motivating to just see it.
You know, it's a little overwhelming at first when we when we hung it up, and it was like, you know, seventeen miles long, but the length of your small intestine you can wrap around the world a few times. So so I really loved that. And then one other thing that you know, I would recommend to anyone that we did or that I did, was I started this Instagram account, right, So I started an Instagram account at that Debt Free
Life specifically designed just to document my journey. Like when I begin that account, it wasn't really to like help people or inform them or teaching them. I don't even consider that, you know, is just to keep me on track. And I'll tell you, like the first year that I did this journey, I was not on Instagram, and I only paid off seventeen thousand dollars that year, and then the other two years I paid like forty five thousand or forty something like that. So it was a significant
difference because I had that accountability. That's why I love, you know, social media for that reason. Like, if you can't get a good accountability partner in your life, you can get a fantastic team of accountability partners if you turn to social media and just are comfortable putting your story out there. Yeah. Wow, I love so much of the tips you just gave. That paper chain is brill Ye.
It almost reminds me of the cash envelope system. Bear with me, the idea that we do better with finances if we have physical representations of it and we kind of feel it. You don't have a physical representation of your debt unless you're looking at it all the time and you have that reminder. So this really provided a physical reminder, which it sounds like, helped to keep you on track phenomenally. Absolutely. Yeah, that's a really good analogy.
Thank you got them all talking about the small Intestine reminders. Yeah, in your Instagram, you have over a hundred thousand followers on Instagram. People have just like loved what you've been saying because your Instagram is super helpful. Like you may not have intended to start up this way, but you definitely got there, like you're Yeah, a year into my our debt payoff, I started my first blog for the
same reason. I just needed some accountability. I needed to put it out there, and to me, helping people was my way of maybe staying motivated. And and it did. And I felt that second year went by a lot quicker than the first year, and it was mostly because I was trying to invest in people to get you know, to help them get where I was. And and yeah, that is what you've done on Instagram. You've done such
a great job. If you were on Instagram, choose kids at that debt free life and you will not be disappointed. And you can see the paper chain, and I have
the chain of debt. And the thing I'll say about social media and doing you know, kind of what you and I are doing in terms of our social media is that for me, I made a goal on my Instagram to post every single day something finance related, something about my journey, something that would maybe help other And when you were thinking about it every single day and people are asking you questions and you're talking about it all the time, it's hard to fall off the wagon,
you know, Like it's stay disciplined and to stay where you need to be when you're constantly when it's constantly on your mind and in your conversations and surrounding yourself with it. Yeah. Oh, for sure, You've given us so much good advice already, Kate. But what is the best piece of advice you might have for someone who is just starting their debt free journey right at the beginning,
right at that Painted the Cabinet's Last Week stage. You know, it's it's really such a difficult question, and it's one that people ask me all the time, and I quite honestly never really know how to answer it. There are so many different advice you can give. Um. You know, one piece of advice I would say is just too believe that it can happen. You know, your mindset is
so critical to your success. I know a lot of people in that, you know, painting the Cabinet stage they think like I will never be out of debt, and I became debt free. I did a live debt payoff, my final payment. I did it live on Instagram and it's safe there to my Instagram TV stories. You can
see it if you want to. But during that broadcast, I pulled out my journal from those painting the Kitchen Cabinet moments and I went through and I read my journal to you guys, and it was filled with things like this debt will never be paid out of debt? Will I ever be able to do this? Like just total discouragement because I didn't think that it could be
the beginning. But I just want to say that, like, no matter where you are, single income, single mom, dual income earners, no matter if you've got six figures of debt or you know less than that or more than that, Like anyone can do it. It absolutely can be done. Whoever is listening to this podcast, like you, Yes, you can do it if you will just stick to the plan. So make your plan, stick to it. And you know, a lot of times and we talked about today, A
lot of times we talk about motivation. And one of the pieces of advice I give people who who are asking about how to get out of debt is Honestly, motivation really doesn't matter. You've got to learn to be disciplined. So if you yes, like you don't want to do it, Like you don't want to spend you know that money, you don't want to send it to student loan, you want to go blow it on a shopping spree or whatever. Like, Honestly, it doesn't matter what you want to do. You just
have to do what you have to do. So if you can devise a plan and be disciplined, you'll get out of debt. That's all you need. Knowledge and discipline, that's all you need. Yes, good word, Wow, I can't top that. Nope, other than just go into the best time of the week. Yeah, that's a perfect segue to the Bill of the weed. That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby
was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. To bill Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week, Kate. Every week we asked our listeners or our guests to share with us their favorite bill. Do you have a bill for us? I have a bill and it is kind of a play on words, so I don't know if this will county girl break in. My favorite bill is my play bill from The Lion King in New York.
So when we get came debt free in November. That very next month, in December, we did a bucket list item which has been on my bucket list for a hundred years, and that is to go to New York City at Christmas time. And while we were there, we saw The Lion King, which is something I've been wanting to see on Broadway for a while. So if that counts yet, we've never had that one. Yes, well done. And how was it the Lion King on Broadway? That
sounds amazing? Gosh, I loved it. It It was spectacular, spectacular. Oh that's amazing. How long were you in New York City for? We were there for about five days? Glorious glory. US. Traffic is terrible that time of year, but glad you went. The beauty overshadows it. Traffic is always terrible, let's be real, but even more terrible if you can imagine that, But amazing when you get to see the Lion King on Broadway. Hey, even Christmas songs talk about it. So I feel like
that's okay. Traffic is how do they say ridiculous? That's not it? I don't know traffic. Well, if you have been through the traffic and you have a bill to share with us, please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill to leave us a voicemail or speak pipe and uh we will play your bill on the air. Whether it took you hours of traffic to get to or not. We'll play it focusing it on the wrong things. I'm sorry. That's what we're here for, to go off
the rails. All right, and now it's time for our second favorite time of the week, the lightning Round. I'm not wasting any time. Nope, we are shooting off our favorite or the things we're looking looking or looked forward to buying the most after debt freedom. So we are all in different stages of debt freedom. I've been debt free for two years. Kate's just step free. She'll still working on it, and so there soon, guys, you're going,
you're going getting there. You'll get a different perspective on everybody's answer. Um so Kate as our guests, please go first. But first thing thing you're looking forward to most about buying or that you have bought. So the big thing that we are looking forward to buying is new kitchen floors.
If you've been a long time follow our mind on Instagram, you have seen my horrible kitchen tile floors that are legit broken like a hundred pieces, like terrible, But we didn't want to replace them while we're on our debt free journey because we had a mission. So now that it's done, it's going to be several thousand to replace them. But that's one of our um first things that we want to do in terms of you know, uh, fixing up the house after after having freedom, so home renovations.
So this has nice floors to go with those nice cabinets. Since the cabinets, ye don't dip into savings. It's like wearing a really nice top and sweatpants, right, you gotta. The first thing that we did do second after we became debt free was take that trip right to New York. So that was like the bucket list item, crossing off the item. Now that that dream other things, Yeah, there's three,
four or five, six, seven things down the list to do. Yeah. Yeah, So for me, this is gonna sound like teacher's pet answer, but it it's honest, it's real. For where I'm at right now, I'm looking forward to putting the money that we are accustomed to putting towards debt into savings. I don't I travel a ton with my job. We've been able to go on really inexpensive vacations. Like that's just that doesn't hold much for me right now, as far as you know what your typical what you hear, typical
goals might be. For me, it's really just putting that money towards savings and kind of getting up over that hump and the excitement for seeing exponential growth in that direction for long term goals like possibly buying a house if that's even what we want to do. Let's be honest, living in a camper is fun and cheap fruit well, I mean it's it's inexpensive. So yeah, that's that's my boring,
honest answer. Goodness, No, I think so many people can relate to that though, Like you know, every particularly when you go back and you look at and you're like, oh, I spent X thousands of dollars on death. This year, everyone thinks of themselves. I can't wait till our money. You know. I think it's a great, great response. Thanks Kate. Yes, I love You're so easy to please. That's why it's why we work well together. I require a lot, and you are. You are pleased by the simple things, minimalist
that heart. Yeah. So speaking of uh m, a little bougie. The first thing we bought was a cruise because I wanted to go on a cruise. I love cruises. I am not a big world traveler. Um, I don't enjoy that. We had an Airbnb guest the other day that said they went to they visited Honduras, and I was like, that sounds horrible, and I just I like cruises. And we stated at our first all inclusive resort in December, and I still think about it. I still miss it. It was for four five days and all I want
to do is go back. So we we took a cruise and that was great. And it's another Travis and I don't travel well together unless everything is included, because we'll fight about money. I love that you know that about yourselves. That's so brilliant. So that's another reason. I don't enjoy traveling unless it is a cruise or an all inclusive resort, or if you find any other ways to travel where everything is included, just like, let me know, because I will also try those things. So that's mine.
I don't know if it's bougie or if like I've just been in Florida for so long, like I have a retirees mindset. You can get cruises right from where you're at. We just drive twenty minutes and we're at the port. Don't get me wrong. I am going to still travel. I enjoy it, It's just not the first thing I'm gonna do. Yeah, you did go to You did go to Wine Country, and I was jealous of that. I did. I did. I don't want to take the
wine train. I do have some feedback on that though it might not actually be all that you wanted to be. But we'll talk about that later, right, Yeah, Okay, let's talk about the wine train later. Kate, thank you so much for hanging out with us, Yes, morning, Thank you very I loved it. Where can people find more about you and what you're doing this year so they can check out the blog? And that is www dot Living that Debt Free Life dot com and then I am
also on Instagram at that Debt Free Life. Those are the two main places where I hang out. So thanks so much, thanks for having me. Thank you guys so much for listening to this play. We hope that you enjoyed it. If it was your second time around, you got more out of it. If you had never heard it before. We hope that you enjoyed it. And uh yeah, I mean to follow up on that lightning round, we did buy another cruise. We had not been on another cruise since we became debt free, but we did go
on another one because I love them. Oh, it's so fun to look back and see what we've journeyed with you all. It's interesting to me to think about those who binge our podcasts episodes like what Happens as you see four years of our lives. We've gone through a
lot of shifts. So that's a crazy journey for you all, but for me looking back, it has literally been a long time and and I think I have really experienced that joy and excitement and I've seen that pendulum swing from going hard at debt payoff to now all having surplus of money that although it doesn't always feel that way because we're cash flowing renovations on our home, but that's what being debt free has afforded us to be able to do some really amazing upgrades to our home
without going into further debts. So that's my update on that lightning round. Oh that's so awesome. So yeah, thanks for listening. Many of you know we actually have a private community where we do um monthly money challenge challenges to help people sustain motivation to pay off debt, because one of the hardest things about paying off debt isn't actually transferring money to the account, it's staying focused and
staying motivated. And so we have a membership that helps people with motivation, and then we also offer accountability groups. And we actually want to congratulate one of our members for a big win. So this is from Julie l. And we have a we have a course inside called Personal Finance Plified. It's just a personal finance one on one course that is totally optional. But she was commenting on module one of the course. She said, my small
in parentheses big to me things. For module one, she says, I've been feeling like I don't know where to start this journey. So I just dove in with these things. I shifted some money into my savings account, I canceled to credit cards that were hanging out in my wallet. I wrote down my quote unquote financial vampires, she says in parentheses, things I spend money on each month, but kind of forget about um. I just wanted to know what it all added up to. And then I got
my free credit scores. That was super hard for me, but as it turned out, it was a pleasant surprise. Who knew. So congrats Julie for making these small little steps so early on in the program. Yeah, well done, and thank you all for listening again. If you want to check out our monthly challenged community and the Personal Finance Simplified Course, had to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash club to see what challenge we have coming up next. See you next week. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric
Syrian Jill jan. When this comes out, you'll be in Mexico right What day is? It will be one day after our ten year anniversary or ten year anniversaries on the twelve, So h yeah, we're about to return from Mexico shortly. If you're listening to this on the day it airs. But how was Mexico? Yes, Mexico has enomenal. I'm going to name it and claimant beautiful weather, awesome food time. Celebrating ten years of marriage to Eric, He's wonderful. Yes, ten years. I mean, I'm glad you guys got married
because that's how I met you. So thanks Eric, I'm glad we got married to I mean, who who knew we We didn't. We didn't hardly know. I mean we knew, we weren't. We weren't stupid. We definitely obviously made a decision. I'm just saying, like we were so young, you know, like I feel like it could go. It could. It was like it's you know, but turns out like I really did make a good decision, had like three and you can't say that a lot about a lot of
decisions at twenty three. No, but that's great. But my twenty three year old self chose a solid person who is developing into an even more solid person, and that's phenomenal. It's a beautiful gift. Sometimes you just get lucky and I feel that. So yeah, yeah, I mean, I mean I think I made an informed decision. It's just like you still don't know. There's always an element anything, right, I don't know. I I still don't know who am I going to be in ten years from now. I
could be awful. Yeah, you've seen it. You've seen it. You might be just leaned into that side of myself. I'm gonna try that's I'm gonna try real hard to keep you from that side of yourself, Joe. I'm going to make that a priority in my life, uh, to keep you from that edge. Yeah, so that I can see twenty years with Eric and ten years business partner with you. Absolutely, Okay, pays do it. Yes,