It's Finally Happening and We Paid for It in Cash!

I’m jumping in this week to talk about something to hopefully inspire you to take action on something that you have been dreaming about, but haven’t quite pulled the trigger on yet. If a global pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that we should be spending as much time as possible doing what we love most with whom we love most!

Since I have been working from home I have been driving my car so much less, and I sort of love it! Of course I drive my car and this is not an article about how you should take up biking but it is a lesson in searching deep into our souls to find out what we truly love in life.

For us it was traveling, specifically around the United States. Yes, we are all about international travel but we live in such a large country and we want to explore every nook and cranny. And to be honest, we are obsessed with our dog and she can’t travel internationally. 

After two road trips we realized our Jeep wasn’t cut out for longer trips. It drove wonderfully, had modern luxuries and had great mileage yes, but we couldn’t sleep in it and we had too much stuff to make it enjoyable to temporarily live out of.

This is where the idea of #vanlife came in and we finally decided to go after it! No, we didn’t have tens of thousands to buy one of those fancy vans and a loan was out of the question, so we decided to start looking at older ones that will need some TLC.

In preparation we sold my car to become a one car household during this transition, we are fortunate enough to have this flexibility since I work from home and we don’t have kids.

After months of searching and lots of patience our dream van popped up on Marketplace and I jumped on the opportunity to schedule a time that same day to see the van in person. The van was everything that we ever imagined and we paid cash on the spot so that we didn’t miss out as the market is really competitive at the moment.

My dad came to test drive it with me as Derek was out of town - and of course Kona came with!

Purchasing this van is something that we have always dreamt about but it never felt realistic. We can’t afford three cars. We both have jobs, what are we going to do with a van meant to live out of? COVID has taught me that anything is realistic and it just takes a little bit of thoughtful planning to make sure it happens without added stress.

By selling my car, setting money aside each month and focusing on our van life dream, we were able to pull the trigger when the perfect van popped up! This adventure vehicle will ensure we make the most of our long-weekend getaways. It means that we will be able to see more state and national parks as we will have to pay less in lodging. It means that we will be able to have our pup involved in all of the memories we will be making as we explore our beautiful country.

What is your version of van life? What are your dreams that you are setting aside because you haven’t sorted out yet how to make it work? 

I want this to be your sign to make time in your life for your dreams. What do you need to do to start making it a reality? How much money do you need to set aside to ensure as little stress as possible?

How Much Extra Should I Be Paying on My Student Loans?

This is a fun question because when I start digging deeper into your finances as a coach and I tell you how much you can afford on paper - the jaws drop! We have been trained to think that if we are making our minimum payments we deserve a pat on the back - because we did it! Right? We didn't have an adjusted payment, we aren't in forbearance, we made the payment. Well, sorry, but no. 

That minimum payment will cost you tens of THOUSANDS of dollars in interest that frankly, you can't afford. Nobody can! In most situations you should be able to pay double (at least!) on your loan to get rid of it! There are a lot of financial calculators online, I like Unbury.me, that help you play around with various extra payment amounts to find out just how long it will take you to pay off your debt. 

Give it a shot, it's really motivating to see if you pay just a little extra each month, the number of years you can knock off the term of your loan!

This Is What Debt You Should Pay off First!

Debt, a lot of people have it but no debt is good debt. Hear me now, I will say it again. YOU DON'T WANT DEBT.

Ok, now that we got that out of the way, if you do have debt and you are trying to get rid of what, where do you start? Reminder, no judgement, I was there too with a scary amount of student loans, but I am here to help.

Ok first, we want to list all debts from largest to smallest. I also like to put the interest rates next to them because it might effect things.

After we list all our debts, we are most likely going to pay the smallest debts first. This is snowball method, you can also use the avalanche method which is where you pay off the highest interest rates first. Back to paying off the smallest, this helps with creating easy wins as you pay them off. If it takes you a year to pay off one debt (let's say it's your largest), a year is a long time before you get a win in your journey. Too long and it's hard to keep up momentum. 

With that, if you have a $300 credit card bill that is at 25%, we gonna get rid of that.

Back to the plan, once you pay off your first debt, that money then rolls into your payment for your next debt, and so on. And that's it! Easy right? Stay on track, remember your why and life will be grand on the other side.