Do you ever step back and wonder, “What’s the point of being frugal?” You might live in a small house, drive a 10 year old car, and have a wardrobe that should have been burned before the new millennium.
Your friends, on the other hand, don’t seem to be in financial duress, and they’re living in a McMansion with a couple of brand new cars in the driveway. Just once, you might like to purchase that new car on credit or upgrade to the house of your dreams, but I would urge you to stay the course and continue your life of frugality.
Our Story
My wife and I have been married for 2 years and like many young couples, we started with an overabundance of love, but money was scarce. We still thought that we deserved to go on trips and spend without regard, but once the bills started coming in (mainly, the student loans), we knew that we had to make a change.
In just over a year we paid off all of our debts. And, just so we’d never find ourselves in that situation again, we decided to cut our expenses so that we could live on just one of our incomes.
My wife and I both thought that this would be tough, but actually, it was kind of fun! Once the debts were paid off and our expenses were cut, we saved up money at an unbelievable rate! Within 4 short months, we were able to take our savings and purchase our very first house (of course we bought a cheap foreclosure so that we could still survive on one income)!
Two months after we purchased our house, my wife received the news that she no longer had a job (through no fault of her own – there just wasn’t enough work to support her position). Oh, and by the way, she received no severance and did not qualify for unemployment income.
Picture the average American in this situation. They have payments on their car, a large mortgage, and might even have furniture that’s not fully paid for. They would absolutely freak out and start hunting for a job immediately because those bills are still going to show up in the mailbox at the end of the month!
When I heard the news, I knew that we would be sound financially – we had planned for something like this. My income would continue to support our lifestyle without a hitch.
And now, rather than pushing my wife to find another job, I think it’d be cool if she pursued her passion in photography and design! Since she got that “bad news” she’s been coordinating photo shoots and spreading the word about her photography business. She’s having a blast and has actually had some people hire her for some projects already! I can’t wait to see where her new venture takes her.
Are you in good shape financially? Have you ever been in a situation like ours? What’s your story?
That’s a textbook case of exactly why you should be proactive about your finances. Like you said, most people would be sunk if they lost one of their incomes.
This creates a really great opportunity for your wife now. She’s started a business that she likes a lot more than the job she was in before. That’s pretty cool.
I can’t imagine what would have happened if we went the typical route and bought a huge house with massive payments…. we would be sunk. I’m so glad we went the route we did!
That’s the unfortunate part about being proactive about your fiances. It usually stinks, and it doesnt pay off until something goes wrong, and when something goes wrong its too late.
Yep. It’s not great when you’re forced to be frugal, but being prepared for life’s uncertainties can really aleviate some stress!
This is an awesome story. It can be done and this consumerist mindset we live in America is so convoluted. It IS possible to live within your means and thrive. Congrats on your success story and tell your wife good luck!
I will send her your good wishes! Thanks for the comment Jon!
I didn’t realize that she had lost her job. Kudos to you guys for being ready to handle it! I think if more Americans were ready and made a point to live on half of what they bring in, we might not be in the crisis that we are in now. But there are always lessons in life. As long as we learn from our mistakes, we will be better for the struggle.
Please tell your wife I said good luck with the business! I’m sure this will be a change for the better.
I will tell her good luck! She’s pretty excited about her new opportunity. I know she’ll do great!
Good planning! My wife had a good job when we got married, but we knew eventually that she would leave once we had kids, as we both agreed that she would stay at home. Thus, we purchased our home and set our budget as if her income wasn’t there. This allowed us to aggressively pay off student loan debt while she was working, and when it was time for her to quit, it put no financial panic upon us whatsoever. Great planning!
Sounds like you’re pretty good at planning too! This is probably good practice for us because when we have our first kid, my wife will be staying home as well.
Great job being supportive. While my wife are frugal, we would be stretching it if she lost her job (she’s the bread winner, while I’m finishing up grad school) because we live in an expensive area of the country. Seriously though, with your goals of paying off the mortgage and such, I’m sure it is at least a little difficult. But, it seems you are in great shape already, so why not take a risk or two.
We might take a risk, but ultimately, my wife and I would like to invest in real estate (which is a great investment in our local area). I think the plan will be to pay off our house as fast as possible, and then start doing what we want.
Support her in any direction she would like to go. I would love to give up my day job and work only for myself. But I’m not quite there yet.
I will definitely support her with any decision she makes. We’re a team and will stick together!
Love this story!!! Congrats to you and your wife for making the changes necessary for all of this to be possible. It must be wonderful for her to pursue her hobby and make it into a profitable business. Plus, if you have kids, she will have the flexibility to stay home and make an income if she chooses to.
You are a great example to all!
I’m so glad that we did make those changes! We could be in big trouble right now otherwise.
It’s terrific that you already had a plan underway and no debt. I think it’s great you can support her photo endeavors and allow her to turn her hobby into a possible business. But it’s because you were willing to live frugally and pay off your debt. Debt free is really just FREE to do what you want. ;)
Yep, you’re right. Without this planning, we certainly wouldn’t be looking at this occurance as an opportunity. I’m loving our decisions so far!
Great story! I believe that everything happens for a reason. Losing a job is tragic but having no debt helps. Pursuing your passion and having your own business is a dream come true. I think it all worked out for you guys.
It sure is a dream come true! I’m really glad that my wife doesn’t have to work those crazy hours anymore. Plus, she has a dream that could really benefit us financially as well!
Congrats on paying off debts and the Photography business – the shots look great! It’s great you figured out how to fit everything into a single income before it was necessary. Most people find themselves scrambling to make it work after they lose the income, but you did it right.
I’m glad we don’t have to scramble. That would just be a terrible feeling! Thanks for the compliments on the photos. I’ll let my wife know.
Wonderful and inspiring story!!! This is key support for living below your means. Good luck to you and your wife.
Sometimes living below your means is not very fun, but in times like this it helps me remember why we do it.
This is called smart planning. Things can and do happen. It’s when people just expect things to go on without a hitch, that such issues can cause huge distress. In your case, those issues don’t cause such problems because you were clearly wise. Great example you shared!
Yep, plan on hitches. They always happen no matter what.
Like everyone else has said, this is smart planning on your part. Who knows, it may turn out to be a blessing if her photography business takes off. Then she brings in an income doing something she loves. It doesn’t get better than that!
It really is a blessing. She was working way too hard at her other job. I’m glad it’s over.
Im really impressed with the story…it’s awesome that your wife was able to pursue a passion like that. I often wonder what I would be doing right now if I were a little more financially independant like that!
If it happens to me in the future, maybe I’ll be making money online full-time! Who knows… :)
Great job Derek. I’ll never get tired of hearing your story. We are also working toward living on one income. It’s more difficult for us because we already went down the other path…. I wish we started young like you guys did.
I’m sure you’ll get to that one-income lifestyle soon. Sounds like you’re on the right track. I always love reading about your rental property experiences by the way! :)
Too many people allow themselves to be “victims of circumstance,” but I seem to see that people let themselves be victimized! It’s very easy to get hooked on the assumed security of a job of the ability to put purchases on a credit card without having a real safety net. Everyone has a right to be angry about the state of the economy- truly, it sucks- but the fact is, we are all responsible for protecting our own ass…ets in case of disaster or a slowdown in income, nobody owes us that.
I’m glad you were prepared and after 2 years of marriage you figured that out- I know couples that have been together far longer (OR got divorced) without getting their financial lives dialed in. Good job!
We still have a lot to learn I’m sure, but I am glad that we were semi-prepared for this. Thanks for your comment!
Good point and great team!
Essential living pays off.
We really are a great team! :)
Way to overcome some struggles as a “unit!” It’s so encouraign to see that especially with me getting married this next year. We’re going into the marriage completely debt free which will be nice. So cool to hear more of your story Derek, great work!
Wow, going into marriage completely debt-free is unheard of! Sounds like you guys will have a great start at a very successful life! Congrats!
This is a great reminder to stay the course of good personal finance. Sometimes I wonder how some people can live paycheck to paycheck, buy whatever they feel like, be up to thier eyeballs in debt with no savings and not seem to have a worry in the world. I wonder if I have it wrong by disciplining myself to save and sacrificing things I may want now for a better, more secure future. But stories like this remind me why it is important to follow sound personal finance principles.
Yep, from this point on, we’ll definitely be staying the course when it comes to frugality.
Derek, this is proof positive how good financial behavior provides choices. Good luck.
Yep. I think there will plenty of choices in the future as well. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for sharing your story! That is why it is so important to budget and plan for the unexpected!
No problem! I love sharing my story. Can’t wait to let you in on what’s next!
Great story – thanks for sharing!
We followed a similar path – at the beginning of our marriage we decided to live off one income – and it has worked out very well for us. It has given us flexibility that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.
I think I’ll always take flexibility over a bunch of stuff or a mondo house. It just keeps life a little more peaceful during the rough patches. :)
Great story – thanks for turning it into a post.
Currently my fiancee and I could live off of 1 income, but we are heavily saving with two. Both of us have pretty good job security, so there something we have to look forward to.
I bet it’s nice to put that money away! Keep it up, you’ll be glad you did someday.
Great defensive positioning on your part. I honestly think a lot of the foreclosure problems we’re drowning in as a nation were caused by ill-advised or over-confident borrowing. People just exposed themselves to too much risk thinking the good times would last forever.
You’re right Hunter. Makes me think of the people that were buying up California homes to make a quick buck on the market upswing…even though they really couldn’t afford it.
I think you’re right Hunter. It makes me think of all those California houses that were purchased to flip, and the the market tanked and the “investors” didn’t have the money to pay the mortgage….
Sorry to hear about the job loss but it sounds like things are well on their way to recovery. I think it is great that you two are debt free and had a plan in place. Not many young people have this kind of foresight which is unfortunate. I agree with Hunter too- too many people took on more than they could chew and now everyone is paying for that mistake. Best of luck going forward.
We went through the same exact thing! We got rid of our debt and could live on one salary. My husband got laid off and 4 months later I was laid off. It’s tight living on our unemployment insurance but we are not freaking out, just looking for new jobs!
When we bought our house it was the cheapest one on the market. It wasn’t our dream home but it’s become that- the mortgage is so cheap!
Good thing you were prepared! I’m glad we were too.
I’m in pretty good shape, but I only have my income. I am re-building my savings after my first home purchase. I hope to get myself to a point that, God forbid, I were unemployed I would be okay for 6 months or longer.
I think you are intelligent in the fact that you have an additional income with your website. As long as you don’t depend on this income now, it will give your savings a slight break if that job loss actually happened.
I don’t want to be the only one singing a different song here but, I need to speak my mind. I don’t think continuing life long frugality is an option for me. Even if you put frugality in softest way, it’s not very different than depriving yourself from some pleasures.
I know I am working my ass out every day to earn more. I am not going to die with a pile of cash kept beneath the seat of my 15 year old car, nope. I never been in your situation of job loss. I am forever living in one income and have absolutely no problem.
I want to ditto Eric above on my financial situation, I am saving for buying first home without mortgage. I don’t have any additional income at least so far..
Very inspiring story. I am happy to hear that she is now pursuing her passion after job loss. I know she will be more than happy with what she is doing now and succeed on it. May you inspire more young couples.
Derek, I think it’s GREAT your wife is now able to pursue her photography passion full-time! I always think in a relationship, that both of us don’t have to “suffer”! If one can allow the other to pursue their passion, that generates little income, PERFECT! Maybe it’ll be something good someday, maybe not. But at least there’s the option!
I am happy that she’s able to pursue her passion, plus she’s generous enough to help me out with mine! I think she’ll be helping me research for my future eBook. How cool is that?! :)
I’m so glad your wife is pursuing her dream of design and photography and that you guys are in stable financial shape. I’m a photography nut myself and am always taking pictures of something. If your wife is interesting in sharing her story on Untemplater, please let me know! I love sharing stories about people who are shattering the template lifestyle to pursue their passions. -Sydney
That’s a great planning on your and your wife’s part. I am not as fortunate as you are so if I were to lose my job, my family would be in serious financial trouble. This risk is making me work harder so that I am considered one of the key contributors. Currently trying real hard to build a solid emergency fund. I’m almost there but it just seems like it’s never enough…
I’m just wondering why there was no UI or severance? In any case, that’s pretty cool that she took the opportunity to follow her dream!
There’s no unemployment because she was technically working for a company in another state, plus, she hadn’t been working full-time long enough.
Fantastic story Derek, we all need reminders of why we’re doing this from time to time.
Yep! Unfortunately, I had to be the guinea pig! Haha, no, it’s fine. Because of our frugality, we could basically go on with life as usual. It’s a great feeling!
I love that we have this option too! She’s very talented and it’s fun to watch her succeed in her passion! :)
Glad to know that you were prepared Derek! Best of luck to you and to your wife, maybe you and your wife could blog about photography. ;)
Very cool that you guys were able to pay off all your debt in one year. That takes a lot of will power I’m sure. I have been trying to do the same, to prepare for the “what if” scenario incase my wife or I were to lose our job at some point.
How great for her!
We currently live on just my income. My other half is pursuing his dream of writing, and he’s getting his education.
Thigs can be awfully tight around our household, but I think its worth it to give him a shot at his dream.
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