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  • Christmas Budget - Ticket to FI
    Save More, Spend Less

    Creating Your Christmas Budget

    October 15, 2019

    Christmas is just around the corner which means it’s time to set up your Christmas Budget. We know how easy it can be to spend more than you have but with a budget in place you will be able to get gifts they love with money you have. In all honesty, Nate and I both LOVE Christmas. Both of us have moms that love Christmas and decorate beyond your wildest dreams. And in the past 5 years, I’ve finally started to understand my mom’s excitement for Christmas. Getting the perfect gift for a loved one is the BEST feeling. The anticipation from when you buy it, building up as they…

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  • October's No Spend Challenge
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    October’s No Spend Challenge

    October 1, 2019

    This month’s money challenge is focused on changing your spending habits. Since October is the calm before the storm in regards to the holiday season, we thought it would be a good chance to implement a No Spend Challenge. Why We Do Monthly Challenges Humans are competitive by nature, especially us. We like to play board games, yard-games, Nate loves Fantasy Football and is always up for some Mario Cart. To help play on that nature and make your personal finances more than just another chore, I thought we could add some monthly challenges to the mix of getting your finances in order. Back in August, I had posted on…

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  • Save More, Spend Less

    DC Vacation Budget Recap

    September 25, 2019

    Hi all! We are officially back from our week-long vacation/work trip and wanted to get our DC vacation budget out ASAP. But first, we needed sleep. Lots of sleep. This conference just sucked the life out of us. Especially when we were up until 3:30 am and need to get back to a conference session by 9 am. We had the best time, though, and we are pretty content of our overall spending for an 8 day trip to such an expensive city as Washington DC.  Why Washington DC? We actually went to DC for FinCon 2019. This is an annual conference popular among personal finance bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, etc.…

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  • How Credit Cards Make Money
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    How Credit Cards Make Money

    August 15, 2019

    Hello TTF Community! Today we wanted to shed some light on the credit card industry. Specifically, how credit cards make money off of consumers like you and how you can take precautions to avoid paying into their wealth. But first, we have a confession to make. It is something we have had a very easy time coming to terms with, but nonetheless, a confession it is. Ms. TTF and I are complete and utter deadbeats. I know, I know… how could we possibly be okay with this? And why in the world would we admit it to everybody in such a fashion? It’s simple, really, because we are deadbeats in…

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  • Saving 50% on One Income
    Reaching FI,  Save More, Spend Less

    How We Can Save 50% on One Income

    July 23, 2019

    As you may know, I am officially working from home. After lots of planning and calculating, we are ready to hit the ground running. Even though the actual day we decided to put in my notice was somewhat unplanned, we had actually planned for the possibility of me leaving wage-paying work. We had planned to continue saving money and obviously be able to cover all of our regular expenses. So we wanted to dedicate this whole post to how the heck we are going from a DINK (dual income, no kids) to one salaried income and one stay-at-home blogger making $0 (SO FAR!). And yes, as the title suggests, we…

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  • Ticket to FI Fixed Expenses
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    What Our Fixed Expenses Look Like

    July 16, 2019

    Every month we review our expenses and we separate everything into Fixed Expenses and Variable Expenses. You can take a look at our post on tracking expenses to see more about the specifics! Today we here to reveiw what our monthly fixed expenses look like. These are the items we have to pay every month and come in a fixed cost so we can plan ahead. But first… TTF Family, how are you? It is hard to believe we are midway through July already. Less than half the year is left?! It is absolutely, positively incredible how time flies. Weren’t we just watching the ball drop in Times Square? Well…

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  • Car Buying Mistakes
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    Car Buying Mistakes: Leasing

    May 13, 2019

    TTF Family!! Today, we continue on the beaten path of my Early Money Mistakes, focusing on my car buying mistakes. There are more mistakes? you ask. Yes, there are more and honestly, the more that I write about these mistakes the more that come to mind. So raise your glass and cheers to me learning the hard way (so hopefully you don’t have to), and we are off to another one of Mr. TTF’s fumbling face plants. Do you remember how I told you that my life has been a series of “one step forward, two steps back” scenarios? Well, I wasn’t kidding and here is yet another example of…

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  • Money Mistakes
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    Mr. TTF’s Early Money Mistakes Part 2

    March 18, 2019

    Alright TTF family. After an extended delay, I am back to talk about me falling on my face some more. Isn’t it funny how we say we never want anybody to fall on their face, but at the same time, we don’t always look away when it happens? So here is me falling on my face for your viewing pleasure. And for the greater good of you punching your ticket to FI sooner than I. Diving into the Records To prepare for this article, I had to knock some serious dust off of the old apartment leases. I have to give a huge shout out, and thank you, to Miss…

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  • Disneyland Ticket to FI
    Reaching FI,  Save More, Spend Less

    How to Save Money and Stay Happy

    February 11, 2019

    Mr. TTF’s birthday was just a few weeks ago and we decided to spend it with family, away from work, at the Happiest Place on Earth. I feel like that might be trademarked because, well, it’s Disney. But we got a sweet little taste of FI, as we do with any trip to Disneyland. So we wanted to put together a quick post on how to save money and stay happy. As a disclosure, some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, we can earn a commission on any purchases made through the link, without any additional cost to you! For me, vacations are always a must.…

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  • Money Mistakes
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    Mr. TTF Early Money Mistakes

    January 1, 2019

    Admittedly, this is a tough one to write about. I wish the title was simply “Money Mistake.” If you didn’t catch the difference, the current title is plural and not so singular (I wish). The current title also indicates “early” money mistakes which will means there were also more current mistakes. The truth is, to get to this point, which as we consistently remind you, we’re a long way from FI and I have made many mistakes along the way. The harsh reality too, is that I am probably not done making them. With that in mind, it is my Silver Lining that in writing about them, I can hopefully…

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  • Save More, Spend Less

    Digit Review: Saving Money in Your Sleep

    November 12, 2018

    Just Dig-It!   We have told you what FI is and what that looks like for us. Hopefully, you can see what that looks like for your future now, too. Now, don’t get us wrong, we are nowhere near our end goal. BUT, we definitely are closer than we were a year ago. And we want to get you that much closer, too. But, how do you even start on a path to FI? Doesn’t that require saving all your money. And aren’t we all terrible at saving? Don’t worry, so was Ms. TTF. She once ordered delivery for a glass of lemonade and room service for orange juice at a…

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One of main reasons we set up an opportunity fund One of main reasons we set up an opportunity fund was to be able to find opportunities to no longer work W-2 jobs for a paycheck. After 2 years of saving up enough to first buy a home, we now have enough to quit our jobs and sell everything we own to take off on a year long trip around the world. We’ve actually already done the first two things and we’re jetting off in just 17 days. Follow our travel account @thepassportcouple as we take off on this adventure!
📸: @beccaromerocreative
This is weeks late, but we finally got our October This is weeks late, but we finally got our October Spending Report up on the blog! We had a wonderful month and didn't end up spending too much. Actually, we were UNDER budget, doesn't happen too often here.
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Take a look at the link in our bio!
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Have your reviewed October spending yet?
Here’s one of our first pictures together, over Here’s one of our first pictures together, over a year after we started dating. We thought, with it it would be appropriate to tell you our story about how we get started on our personal finance journey.
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We started after Nate found @mrmoneymustache and saw that there is more to life than living paycheck to paycheck.
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We started with our why. Why was it so important to us get our finances together. This Day was definitely motivation for us. Seats behind home plate, probably one of the best days of my life.
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From there, we started looking our spending habits. We tracked our expenses monthly and were shocked by so many of the numbers.
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We worked on one category at a time, starting with those that were highest (eating out, groceries, shopping). Slowly our monthly spending started to come down and we were able to start stock piling our money away.
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It wasn't easy and we often got frustrated with ourselves. But as the months wore on, we were able to see the progress we were making.
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I only wish we had started tracking our net worth when we started tracking our expenses! That would have been so motivating to see it grow month after month!
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Have you started your financial journey yet? How did you get started?
I used to be a huge culprit of spending guilt. I w I used to be a huge culprit of spending guilt. I would go out and buy something that I knew we could absolutely live without but having it may make our lives easier or better.
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Take our date night meal and drinks, for example. We could just as easily eat something at home and we don't need to go out. But it's important to our relationship to have that time together outside of the house every once in a while.
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I knew this but every time we would get the bill, I cringed a little inside. I would feel guilty that we could have saved that money instead.
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But that is not the point of this journey! We cut our spending purposefully on the things we don't care about and still spend frivolously on what we do care about. It brings so much value to our lives and we enjoy it in moderation.
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Our wealth building journey is about finding what makes us happy. It's about building a life that we can live to the fullest. There is no room for guilt in this life and if it truly brings value to your life, then by all means, spend the money!
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What makes you feel most guilty?
Back in my hometown for the weekend. They have suc Back in my hometown for the weekend. They have such a lovely downtown, I just had to take a picture. I’m actually supposed to be in town for a dentist appointment (it got rescheduled but I wanted to tell this story).
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I have been living in San Diego for over 5 years now and I have gone to the dentist maybe 3 times in SD. Every time I tried to go, I ended up paying an arm and leg for a simple cleaning. And then they would tell me I need $3,000 worth of work.
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The first time I heard that I freaked out. I know I didn’t floss but 13 cavities?! I called my mom in a panic and she told me to get a second opinion. So I found another highly rated dentist and yep, I needed $2,500 worth of work.
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I just kept avoiding and avoiding until finally last month I went to my dentist in my hometown. My parents go to him and trust him. I have my cleaning they say I have 1 tiny cavity. $77.10 worth of work. 😳😮
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Uhhh excuse me? The dentists in San Diego? Total shams. I’m so glad I checked my resources and went with one I trust. The same could happen with any specialized professionals (doctors, auto repair, home repair, etc.) so always go with a trusted referral if possible!
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Join us on our journey to financial freedom and learn how to take control of your finances. We are Nate & Alicia and we look forward to learning with you. 

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