On today's episode, Cody and Justin are joined by Andy from Marriage Kids and Money. He tells us his relatable yet inspiring story of living a life with far too much spending brought on by lifestyle creep.

Lifestyle creep is when you get used to a certain way of living but then as you make more money you increase that style of living little by little until it becomes unsustainable or at least larger than you intended. Andy and his wife were spending every bit of their salaries which totaled over $100k. Reality struck when she became pregnant and they knew they needed to change their ways.

Now listen to the story and hear their remarkable turnaround and how Andy is now helping people walk in his footsteps.

Episode Summary

Andy and his wife go together in 2010 with a combined earning over $100,000 but they were carrying a good bit of debt and spending everything they earned

That debt included $50k in student debt, a nice car loan and frequent use of their Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)

They had a wake-up moment when he realized they were going to be having their first child

Quickly he started pouring over podcasts, blogs, and anything to help them learn

They’re currently living around Detroit which has shown a huge turnaround

He bought a house right out of college in mid-2000s and realized he couldn’t afford the mortgage

To help with the bills he ended up bringing in several roommates who paid the mortgage for him...Another house hack win!

When he got married they realized the roommate situation wasn’t going to work so they bought a new house with the goal of paying off the new $350k house in 5 years

He was able to get back all of his money from the first house but didn’t make anything off of it

The first material that helped Andy really turn things around was Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover

Once a month, he and his wife would sit down and review their budget until they got it under control

The biggest changes they had to make was cutting out entertainment like food and drinks

He talks about how tough it was saying no to friends in family in order to pay down their debt so aggressively

We discuss the struggles with getting your spouse on board with this new financial plan

He said his biggest mistake was focusing on the process and numbers vs the outcomes, emotions, and the “why” behind the plan

Once the subject went from percentages to a discussion of having more time with their kids, Andy’s wife became equally as fired up about the journey

A powerful exercise he discusses to help with this is to just sit down with your significant other and talk through your perfect day/life if money wasn’t an issue

Then we swap to start discussing how their life is changing now that their finances are in a good place and they’re starting to build their financial independence lifestyle

With their kids starting school, his wife has begun a home organization business which is just another great example of how you will discover your true passions when you step away from a full-time job and those passions will probably bring you unexpected income

We then shift the discussion back to their debt pay-down where Andy gave us the tangible steps to paying off their house in 4 years

The first piece was a $150k down payment after a lot of aggressive savings

That got their mortgage down to $200k

They continued their monthly expense reviews

Every bonus or additional dollar they received they put towards the house

Andy’s wife actually stepped completely away from her day job to be a stay at home mom with $80k left on the mortgage

That mortgage was completely paid off a little over a year ago

That down payment that they had been saving up for was all in cash after so...