Live like nobody else...

When everything in my life flipped upside down in 2017, I went on this voyage of becoming a minimalist. Part of it was because I didn't want to own anything that I had with my ex-husband, especially things that had been involved in his indiscretions. And part of it was because it was then just me and I didn't want or need a ton of things. 

It seemed like it was a perfect fit when Nick and I met. He wanted to live in a tiny house, something I'd heard of, but hadn't ever considered. But the more I learned about it, the more intriguing it was. It seemed like our two worlds of becoming minimalists were coming together. 

When we started looking at places of our own, we considered so many possibilities. Buying an RV, converting a shed into a tiny home, buying a tiny home, renting an apartment while we saved for what we really wanted. We literally threw out all the possibilities. And we went back and forth on it all. 

One minute, we wanted an RV so we could travel and not be stuck in one place. But then we started listing the cons of that. Then we wanted to rent an apartment because we could see what was out there while we were saving. Then we wanted to convert the shed or build/buy a tiny home. It was hard because it seemed like our minds changed daily. 

Finally, after weighing out pros and cons of everything, we decided to look at what was on the market and then go from there. Thankfully, I have an amazing friend and realtor who was able to narrow down exactly what we wanted. Nothing too big with a garage for our gym. Darn if she didn't find just that! 

We have our own tiny home with two bedrooms and one bath, but enough room to live comfortably for all of us. And even better, it has a large backyard with a large two-car detached garage. I mean...HELLO! Perfect for our family and needs right now. 

It was nice finally having made a decision and having a place of our own! We've been moved in and settled for almost a year now, and we've slowly but surely made it our own. 

And now, our big focus is on paying off our debt and being able to live like nobody else. We recently started following Dave Ramsey's baby steps and paid down a lot of our debt already. We went from two cars to one, which has saved us on all sorts of costs. It's been an adjustment, but one we've handled very well. 

Our big goal is to live like nobody else will now, so we can live and give like nobody else can later. We are sacrificing a lot now, from taking vacations or going out, so we can pay our debt off as fast as we can. I can't wait for the day when our paychecks are paid to US and not to our BILLS. It will be a nice change from living paycheck to paycheck and feeling like we're always behind. 

I haven't ever been one to try to live like the Jones', but now I'm really not interested in following in their footsteps. And I'm happy Nick and I are on the same page with it. 

Debt is dumb. Cash is king. 

It's really that simple! 

I love our life. And I love the journey we are on to becoming debt free. We budget for literally everything. And we haven't used our credit cards ONE TIME since we started this in February. It really is very freeing and liberating to be able to say NO if we don't have the money for it. And it's so much more exciting when we're able to pay for things outright without paying for it months after the fact. 

I mean, the number of times I would use my credit card and be paying for it and literally have no idea what I was paying off. I couldn't even remember the things I was paying for. And I hated our paychecks going towards paying off credit cards. It will be so much more fulfilling to have our paychecks be OURS. 

Ah! Looking forward to the day when we can make our DEBT FREE SCREAM! 

If you're interested in learning more, let me know. Taking on the baby steps are easy, but changing your mindset and putting forth the effort takes WORK. It takes DISCIPLINE. It won't necessarily be easy, but I can promise you, it will 100% be worth it! 

I'm ready to no longer live like everyone else :) Are you? 

Have a beautiful week! 

With love and wellness, 
​Whitney