Hi, my name is Rachel Smith. I’m 24 years old. My husband Travis and I began this journey with well over six figures in student loans. If you are there too, I get it. And you can get through it! We are now debt free with our 3-6 months emergency fund. As of October 2017, we moved into our first/forever-while-we-live-in-this-state home where we live with our two kids (ages 2 and newborn), a dog and a cat.
This blog began writing to reach out to those who have acquired massive student loan debt. It’s a MAJOR problem in the U.S. that not many people talk about. Paying off debt this intensely can affect every aspect of life. Something that our family decided right away is that we would NOT sacrifice our health for the sake of becoming debt free. We ate Paleo /Whole30 until I had a health concern came up in August 2018. Now I’m on a mission to eat low acid, and you can read about that here. We pay for gym memberships (yes more than one) and use them. In fact, we even did this during the most extreme parts of our debt payoff. We also LOVE being outdoors. Camping and hiking are a priority of ours. In 2016 we had a tragedy that allowed us to become debt free much earlier than we thought. You can read about that here, but the moral of the story is that life insurance is an essential investment.
The Budgets & Kale Mission?
To help people live with excellent physical and financial habits.
What are our biggest financial beliefs?
- Have a budget to know where your money goes.
- You can’t afford NOT to have life insurance. Read why here.
- Living debt free allows you the most flexibility in life, and keeps fun things (like vacations and travel) actually fun! note: we consider a mortgage as an investment, not a debt.
- You CAN travel while paying off debt, but it has to be cheap and you need to still be hitting your goals.
- You can’t get rich off credit cards, but you can get some awesome rewards if you use them wisely.
- We use the Hilton Honors American Express Card. It’s the only travel card with bonuses on groceries, and has a $0 annual fee forever. Click here to earn 65,000 bonus points upon signup!
- If you have consumer debt, only consider a credit card for a simple recurring bill.
- Just because you can make the payment, doesn’t mean you can afford it.
- We will probably never buy a new car. And we will definitely not lease a car or finance a car. Why? Depreciation.
- You do not have to sacrifice your health to become and live debt free. I have worked with Whole30, Paleo, and Vegan people to help lower their grocery budgets.
If you are interested in changing your life, eating healthy on a tight budget, and putting that money toward your financial goals then please join me.
But Rachel…what do you do for fun?
I love writing! This blog is fun for me. But some other things I enjoy are cooking (again, that goes with this website), brewing kombucha, finding DIYs for our house, home decor, and learning. I am a lifelong learner. I love reading books, listening to podcasts, scouring the internet, and watching videos from people who know more than I do. To me, learning truly is my fun. I am passionately curious.
Cheers,
Rachel
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