Paying off debt is one thing, but achieving your dream career alongside it is truly inspiring! In this episode, Jen and Jill are joined by Katelyn who shares her debt-free journey in 18 months through hard work, multiple jobs, and strategic budgeting, all while obtaining two master's degrees and pursuing a doctorate for FREE.
๐๏ธ Get full show notes here!
https://bit.ly/3VPf8lA
๐ Want to save money and spend better in just 5 minutes? Get The Friendletter! Our FREE 3x weekly newsletter with freebies, deals, and savings hacks.
https://www.frugalfriendspodcast.com/friendletter
๐ฃ Submit your bill of the week and get a shoutout from us
https://www.frugalfriendspodcast.com/bill-of-the-week/
๐ธ Check out our monthly challenge community
http://www.frugalfriendspodcast.com/club
๐๐ผ Subscribe for more on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/frugalfriends
๐๐ผ Hang out with us on Instagram!
https://www.instagram.com/frugalfriendspodcast/
Episode four to twenty seven, how Caitlin paid off one hundred thousand dollars of debt in eighteen months and got thirty thousand dollars in scholarships.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live at your life. Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are sharing Caitlin's story. If you are heading to school, have a child or loved one heading to school, this is gonna be a really good one for you because we're not only talking about a debt free story in our debt Free Summer, we are also talking about scholarships, and Caitlin got so much in scholarships, and we're we're just excited to share her story with you.
I love, I loved all of the ones that we did, but this one particularly struck a chord with me hearing how she was able to essentially cash flow her doctorate program as well. So, Kaylin's real smart and she's got a lot of really cool smart So I'm excited about that.
Yes, But first, this episode is brought to you by Vanity. I am vain, I am petty. These are things I would say about myself, and I'm proud of that. And one of the things that brings me the most joy in life are podcast reviews. For my entire life, my thirty five years of living. I've wanted to hit one thousand reviews on Apple Podcasts, and now we are less than sixty reviews away, and I am going to bribe you to fulfill my vain desires. So I'm gonna br view with one hundred dollars to leave a review. Not all sixty of you, but one person will win one hundred dollars. All you have to do this is before July thirty first. All you have to do is leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Screenshot it before you submit. This is important. Then hit submit and send us the screenshot at Jen at frugalfriendspodcast dot com, or you can if you get the friend letter, you can reply to the latest friend letter that'll go to my inbox reply with a screenshot of your review. Usually it takes like about a week for them to update onto the actual site, So we'll wait a week after July thirty first, and we will draw a winner for ae hundred dollars gift card, and normally we give out Amazon gift cards. But I'm gonna say you can have a one hundred dollars gift card to almost anywhere you want. You let me know, because I'm bribing you to do this. Vanity. It is unbecoming. But when you've become, oh you want to be, what's a little unraveling, it's a little unhinged.
Wow. Ever since you were just two years old, this has been your goal. Huh, one thousand reviews.
Do you think I'm thirty seven? I said thirty five? All thirty five years.
Yeah, But so that means that even when you were two, this is what you want before too, even baby, when I was bbet, yes, you didn't even know what to dream for, but this is what you were dreaming for.
I just want to be. I just want people to say things about me.
Yeah, I'm just going to reiterate that. Because it takes a week to populate. That's why you have to take the screenshop before you hit the submit button. There's been so many times that people have said, I left a review, but I can't find it. Take a screen shop before you hit submit and then submit and then.
We will check after a week after July thirty first, to make sure the winner did actually hit submit.
So it's complicated, but you know what, leave the complications to us. You just leave a review. Yeah, take a screenshot, email it to us. We'll handle the rest. You'll be on or to win.
Yeah, and it can be. It doesn't have to just be sixty. We can go over, you know, so don't feel limited. Please, only one will win, but everyone can leave a rating and review. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. All right, So, if you love debt free stories, we have been doing debt free stories all summer. We've got ten stories for you from listeners just like you, and they are running the spectrum of ways to pay off debt, whether in full, in part, with side hustles, with lowering expenses through student alone, forgiveness, through whatever. And so Caitlin's really unique story today is she got a lot of scholarship. So this is an addition to paying one hundred thousand dollars in debt in eighteen months. So it included multiple jobs strategic budgeting, and then on top of that got two master's degrees, right, and was pursuing a doctor and when we talked to her, you know, small stuft.
Right, little little baby steps.
Yeah, So, without further ado, let's share Caitlin's story with you.
Let's do it. We've got a really fantastic guest and fellow Frugal Friends podcast listener sharing her and her family's story today. Caitlin, welcome, welcome, We're so glad you're here.
Yeah, thank you for inviting me.
Yes, thank you so much for joining us. So, Caitlin, tell us a little bit about you, your family, where you guys live.
Okay, So me and my husband we live in Hampton, Virginia, which is on the coast of Virginia.
We have three children.
So my stepdaf is fourteen, my daughter is almost twelve, and my son is almost eleven. My younger two are less than a year apart. And we are upon birthday season as well as Christmas. So December is the difficult month and our household when it comes to finances. And yeah, my husband and I we've been married for twelve going on thirteen years now and he is in law enforcement and my full time job, I work in human resources for a large Catholic health care system.
Awesome.
December sounds like a busy month for you, but I mean, spoiler alert, you're debt free now, so that's probably not as bad as December's might.
Give it away.
But can you tell us, like, okay, let's look back up. Can you tell us about the debt? How much was it? What was it comprised of? Just give us all the dates.
It was a little bit of everything.
So it was over one hundred thousand dollars, and that included eight credit cards, two personal loans, two car loans, twenty student loans, three medical bills, two cell phones, and a four to h one K.
Loan and a partridge in a partrip exactly exactly. Okay, So how did this menagerie accumulate?
Like, was this an instance?
Was this an event that occurred where you had to take out a lot at once or was this more like overtime?
It was kind of just a little bit of accumulation over you know, the first decade of our marriage.
When we got married, I was quite young.
I was twenty twenty two, twenty three, and we were both in very entry level roles within our career. So I think maybe our first year married, we made seventy thousand dollars combined income total. But we had three small kids, and they're so there's so close together that you know, they went to preschool together, and so all of those and then like the activity expenses all hit together. Looking forward, everyone will be driving around the same time. They'll all be going to college around the same time. So we just, you know, it just started very small, putting a little money on a credit card here, taking out a credit card there. We needed a personal loan for this home repairs. We did have a custody battle in there at one point where we paid a lot of money for a lawyer. So that was the bulk of the credit card debt. But then it just kind of compounded because we could never get out of the minimum payment cycle, and then we would put a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more, and then the student loan debt.
Both of us were non traditional students.
So I had started school college right out of high school, dropped out, started, stop, started, stopped a few times. My husband did not go to college right out of high school, decided to go back later.
Once he was established in his career.
We were not informed consumers when we started our education journey. We kind of just took the easy path, which was, Hey, here's these great schools that offer this great format, but guess what, those schools are really expensive, and we you know, student loans don't seem like real money in the moment, right because there's kind of that thought process that.
Oh, well, I'll end up making more money in the long run and.
I'll be able to pay it back. Well, fast forward ten years. I had spent sixty thousand dollars on my undergrad my husband had spent thirty thousand dollars on his, and we were getting to a point where we were going to have start making those payments. And when we hit this point in March of twenty twenty one. We had always been able to pay our bills. We were never behind, but it was always this anxiety of, oh, my goodness, are we going to be able to make our paycheck stretch.
And meet all of these minimum payments? And we were.
We were just paying minimum payments, nothing over and above, to really dig ourselves out. And then March of twenty twenty one, we were still in the student loan pause. But I knew we were going to have to do something because when those student loans came due, we were not going to be able to make those minimum payments because there was really there was too much what but did they say too much month at the end of.
The page of the money right right.
So that's when we just sat down and we had a really difficult conversation about what and we had come so far too, so we had both been advancing in our careers things of that nature, and we made too much money to not have any money. So we sat down, we listed out all of our debt, which it still makes me like, I have this breadsheet up right now and looking at it just makes me just so nauseous. When we put it all down, because it was like we thought we had everything, and then we were like, oh, well, this debt and this debt, and it just kept ticking up and ticking up and ticking up. And then when it hit over one hundred thousand dollars, I was like, Okay, we're going to stop. We're going to make a plan, and we're going to do something about that. So that's really how we ended up starting the journey.
Oh.
I can so feel all of those different layers that you're describing of young family, young kids, trying to advance in a career not currently making a lot of money, and there's just a lot of reasons for debt accumulation in addition to maybe not being informed consumers.
As you've described.
But what a common story of how you found yourself collecting the Monogoya basurie of debt.
So totally understand it.
But can you share a little bit about how long then did it take you to pay off this debt?
Took us about eighteen months to pay everything off. I will say, so we started this journey with the same guy that everybody typically starts this journey with, so you know, and those principles really did help us, and I was really thankful for that kind of start to the journey. And as we progressed through it, I was able to incorporate more perspectives and opinions and my own kind of process or all of this.
But we use the snowball method, but I call it like.
The modified snowball because when we listed everything out, we did have a little bit of cash in the bank, so we had about five thousand dollars and instead of going for the smallest step first, I went for where's the biggest impact on my monthly budget first, so we were able to kind of start the snowball rolling a little bit more than we could have if we had followed.
That particular protocol, because we had a couple.
Payments that were like like a three hundred and fifty dollars payment that had three thousand dollars left on it, So that got our snowball rolling. And then I think I was able to pay off another one hundred and fifty dollars minimum payment, so that got us up to five hundred.
So that really pushed us forward.
On our journey.
And then my husband worked an amazing amount of overtime. I don't even he must have worked some weeks one hundred hours, I don't think there.
I think there were days that he went without sleep.
It was it was a lot, and I feel very blessed that he has that opportunity. So law enforcement does not make a lot of money when you look at base pay, but the opportunity to earn is there. And then I actually picked up I picked up one side job and then I ended up I ended up with three jobs at the end of this and I.
Still have all three jobs.
So well, one of those jobs I ended and then I started a different job, so we definitely took advantage of every opportunity that we could to increase our income just to knock the stuff out.
Wow, what was that experience of working all of those hours and doing all that, because that is something that does worry people and trade debt free journey?
Did you find benefit in that?
Obviously during the journey, but like now, what was that experience?
Like, I wouldn't change any of it.
I think we ended up even though we didn't see each other a lot, the more time, the time we were able to spend together, it was very meaningful. Our children saw us working really hard, and now they ask really open, like we have open conversations about earning.
And education and bills.
Actually, this morning, I was just talking to my middle school or her and her best friend want to get an apartment when they turn eighteen, and when we talked about how much an apartment was, they have a different plan now, which maybe involves everyone moving into my house. But I'm not quite sure how that's amazing. May have backfired a little bit, but they really they understand the value of hard work, and it's just it was tough for a while, and I know physically It was very hard on my husband because his job is not easy where my.
Job is difficult.
But all of well two.
Of my jobs are remote. So my full time job is remote and I teach. I'm an adjunct instructor for a local university online and then I do teach a leadership class in person once a month. But so I was lucky enough to be here and I have flexibility, so we didn't have to childcare was never an issue for us because they're all in school. This wouldn't I don't think this would have been as easy when they were younger and they weren't all in school. But yeah, it's definitely it's been a journey and we learned a lot in the process.
That's so great. So can you share some of those things that you've learned that you're taking with you now.
So one of the big takeaways from this was when we sat down and looked at our student loans and I paid sixty thousand dollars for my undergrad it really made me sick. So during all of this process of him working, me working all of these jobs, I earned two master's degrees, and because of information that I heard on podcasts like Yours and others. I actually ended up profiting eighteen hundred dollars off of those two master's degrees, completing them both in under fourteen months. And now I'm on a journey to complete my doctorate for zero dollars, and so far I have been.
Successful, Woway, And this is something you would have never known was available or to pursue without starting this journey, right, Nope.
I didn't know how to be an informed consumer. I mean I worked for I worked for a bank for a really long time in lending, and you know everybody asked their financial questions to a bank. Well that's not the people you should be asking, right Like you have to You have to research on your own and get independent thoughts and consult multiple sources. And I took that information and applied it to going back to school and I was able to find programs that allowed me to maximize my education benefits that offered scholarships.
I found independent.
Scholarships and I just asked questions, like for my doctorate. They gave me the tuition, and I have great education benefits at my employer as well, but it wasn't enough to cover it. And I just made friends. But the financial aid officer and said, Hey, is there anything you guys can do? And she emailed me back a day later and was like, hey, we have this grant you qualify for it, like here's the money, And had I not asked, I would have.
Been paying more.
And it was an incredible feeling, like cause the worst they can say is no, right And in this case, I ended up getting a lot of money for just asking the right question. But I think that's a challenge for a lot of people because people don't know the right questions to ask. They have no idea where to start.
Well done. Yeahlynn, this is so inspiring to hear.
I mean, we don't know what we don't know, but as we kind of endeavor on this journey and we learn from others and we listen to podcasts, we watch YouTube videos to get inspired, then we can know to just ask the questions right, Like what was the downside? And the upside is being able to get your doctorate degree at no cost and what you were able to see with your two master's degrees, magodness, you are an accomplished human being and this is so encouraging to hear what you've been able to find with the financial component of that as well.
Yeah, absolutely, and I think what a debt free journey does. It's not only it kind of brings you to net zero, but it really gives you the opportunity to find what questions to ask. That's like an added benefit that you don't really think of, Like the paying off the debt isn't the solution to your all of your financial problems, but it is this amazing foundation that gives you space to get to that net zero and to start to discover those right questions. So congratulations for asking the exact right questions to get two masters and a doctorate.
That's mind blowing.
Thank you. So, in this debt payoff process, did you use any large sums of money like an inheritance or the selling of property or lump sum savings. Did you use any large chunks of money to hack away at the debt?
No?
Really, the only thing we had was that five thousand initial in our savings. Everything else, like we kept. We have a boat, and it would have been really easy to sell our boat, but our boat got us through two summers with our family with not having to spend anything, so that kind of ended up benefiting us, right.
But really we didn't have anything to sell.
Our cars are a decade old, and we're just kind of average normal people. So I mean, we sold a few small pieces of furniture on you know, Facebook marketplace, just stuff, But that actually came with because in the middle of the debt payoff, we also started more of a minimalistic journey too. You know, our home we moved in twenty twenty into a larger house, and around the same time as our debt payoff, we started looking around and going gosh, we moved into a bigger house and.
We still have no room.
And you know, we learned that our home is not a storage facility, it's a place to live. So we started just kind of moving stuff out that way too.
Thank you, Yes, amazing, Yeah, that is wisdom takes notes, all right. So do you have any remaining debt and if so, why are you holding on to it?
So we have just a little bit of student loan debt left, less than ten thousand dollars and we have not paid that off only because the government is doing whatever it's doing. And you know, I do I feel personally responsible for the debt that we took out. But if we can get a little bit that's going to help us kickstart our children's college savings. So just trying to be wise stewards of our of our money. We do have it in savings just in case something goes awry, so that we could pay it off and just be done with it.
But that's what we have left.
Excellent, Yeah, I can understand that. So can we talk a little bit about income some of the nitty gritty. What were you making at the beginning of the debt payoff and then as you kind of collected these jobs along the way between you and your husband, how much money did you end up or where are you at now? How much did you accumulate over the course of the payoff.
So we had a combined income of one hundred and fifteen thousand just our base salaries when we started, we moved up to about one forty base salary, and then with everything else, overtime, extra jobs, we're probably at about one seventy five for this last year.
So nice, and have you gone down any with the extra income taking your foot off the gas at all?
Just a little bit on my husband's over time, especially because he was working so much, but he's still like he worked over time last night picked up some hours here and there because we are we still have some large financial goals that we're trying to hit. We are saving for upgrading our vehicles, and then we are obviously saving for an emergency fund as well. But we're back to investing in our four oh one ks. We have started small college funds for our kids.
So and we also we took a huge.
Vacation to celebrate in September, and we loved it so much. We will be taking the same vacation next September, so we're saving for that as well. Matter of fact, we were in Orlando for the hurricane at the end of September.
YEP.
We celebrated at Universal Studios for six days. Two of those days we were in our hotel room, hoping and praying that everything was going to be okay, which it was.
Sorry on behalf of this.
Okay, you know what, I live in a hurricane prone area too, so I knew exactly what I was doing when I booked when I booked that vacation.
Oh, that's so amazing to kind of know where you want to be next, what the goals are with your income. How does this feel from where you were at the beginning of debt payoff to where you are now.
It is it's just relief and there's no pressure, and it just feels like there's just a lighter air in our household, like there's no I don't want to say there's no worry, because there's always some worry, but there's you know, we're not stressed like we used to be or panicked.
We can go and do like we're like, we're loose budgeters. We're not like strict budgeters.
We have an idea, but we budget like I budget in fun, so my kids know what to expect and we're not missing out on anything with them. I just it feels really good. And now I'm on a journey to help other people. Part of my full time role. I'm kind of like a career coach in a in a sense, so trying to help people make better educational choices and better career choices so that they can stay debt free and get qualified for the roles that they dream of.
Oh that's so great. I too, am a loose budgeter. I love the flexibility, so I get it. So what would you say to somebody or to yourself who was where you were at two years ago and wants to have this feeling that you found. Who wants to accomplish the schal that you've accomplished. What words of wisdom would you give them?
Oh, my gosh, so much.
But I'll go with when you first start, it might seem overwhelming and like there is no end in sight, but there is. You just have to keep moving forward. I forget who says it, but the only way out is through, so just making those small goals and not you know, when I looked at our debt and it was over one hundred thousand dollars, that was so overwhelming. But when I was able to break it down into just smaller wins, like how much can I put towards our debt this week? Or you know, what can we pay off this next month, it was a lot easier. And I talk to people all the time. When I, you know, put out on social media that we achieve this goals, people are constantly messaging me going how do you do it?
How do you do it?
And I'm like I tell them exactly how we did it, and they're like, well, we could never do that. Well I was in that place too one time, where I thought we could never do it. Until we actually just tried, like you just have to try.
Yes, it's so true. It can seem so so daunting. If we just are only focusing on the final goal or final destination, but breaking it down into these small, manageable, tangible, approachable steps, that's where the progress is going to happen and we can find ourselves on the other side, similar to yourself, Caitlin, where we say I did it. I thought I couldn't do it, but I did it because I just took it one step at a time.
Yeah, you're so right. There's so many people that are like I could never do that. I could never do that.
And maybe your journey like doesn't look like Caitlin's or like ours, But if you're focusing on these like getting one percent better sort of like tiny changes, then those snowball and that's yeah, that is really the secret to success. It's not sexy, but like that's it. Thank you all right, Caitlyn. We have come to the time in the episode where it is time for you to celebrate your big accomplishment. This is one hundred thousand dollars of debt in eighteen months, making one hundred and fifteen thousand up to one hundred and thirty five thousand working, feverishly, tiredlessly tired, Lee. And so now we want you to be able to celebrate in whatever way you want to celebrate.
So how is that going to be?
I don't I don't really know.
I think it's celebrating enough just to share the story and encourage other people along the way.
You can maybe give us a little chair spin, it's.
A little twirl.
Hold on, let me make sure I.
Don't Yeah, I don't know if we've got.
Swivel with ye. Congratulations, Yeah, thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing your journey, Caitlin. It is such a pleasure and motivation and encouragement as usual to hear stories like this, you all, you and your husband Travis.
You really crushed it that.
I was great to play again. I think Caitlyn's journey really shows the importance of being an informed consumer asking the right question when it comes to education and finances, and that's what led her to find scholarships and grants and ultimately profit from her master's degrees and get that doctorate for free.
Yeah.
It reminds me in some ways of what we talked about in Nika's story. A couple weeks ago, last week, and just how much research and looking into resources available to you can really help, not just in debt payoff, but in avoiding future debt. I think a lot of times we go into debt that may not be necessary, and we don't always know that when we signed up for these college loans at eighteen years old, seventeen years old some of us. But now we can be implementing some of that knowledge. We don't have to feel bad about the decisions we previously made. We can take actions now to get ourselves in a place that we want to be in. But if we want to be person doing higher education or paying down debt, there are ways that we can do that and still be investing, like we've talked about another debt paying off stories, or still potentially buy a house if that's what you want, or still travel, but finding some of these really resourceful ways of going about it, spending on what we value, paying down the debt. I just love the creativity and the resourcefulness that we're seeing in all of these people, including Caitlin.
Yeah, and I loved all of the peripheral things too, so like the working extra, the dedication, the team work that between her and her husband was great. And then like also they didn't have like large sums of money to throw at this. They didn't sell anything extra. It was just small, consistent payments. And I think that is so boring, Like, but progress come in. What's boring?
Right?
We don't want to be doing this forever. But I think when you start taking your mind off of the bigger goal, start taking it off the destination, and start embracing the journey, embracing the day to day like what the struggle has to teach you, then you can live in these like small moves and like that is what ultimately breaks down the debt into manageable goals and actions are what keep you motivated. Not like you know, coloring the thermometer to reach debt freedom or or the debt payoff sheet grid is fun. But if you're not also tracking actions and really focused on those those small everyday things, the seasons you can't color in as much are not as devastating.
Right.
We feel like when we can't when we're making great product, that's very motivating, but we're not making great coloring progress on our pretty charts that can be pretty rough. So when we stop taking stop thinking so much about the destination and start embracing more of the day to day journey. That's that is such a key part of Kaitlyn's story.
Yeah, that part is what resonated with me. Breaking down the debt into those manageable goals being key to sticking with it making progress. I think when I was in my debt payoff, looking at this big, lofty, tens of thousands number that feels so unreasonable, but to then be able to break it down and say, but what could I reasonably do this month, this week today, That is what helped me personally get through, similar to what Caitlin described, just even if it's a small amount weekly or monthly, being it like you're saying, track those action steps that yeah, here's what I was able to do, or even if it wasn't okay, I could throw twenty bucks at it, but I did make some shifts this week that we'll be able to free up money later in the month, whether that's with food or activities that I ended up participating in. So I think we're seeing that across the board. It always looks different for everybody, but how it's kind of broken down into more manageable pieces is what got these people to this final stage of being able to say I did it, Because it wasn't in this one heroic action. It was in all of the daily decisions and monthly actions that were taken that finally led to this point.
Yes, and we do have an update, Yeah, Caitlin, she says, we are still debt free, aggressively saving for retirement, college savings for our three teens, and paying down our mortgage. Our net worth has gone from negative one hundred thousand dollars at the start of our debt free journey in March of twenty twenty one to half a million dollars. Today. I completed my doctorate. I paid zero dollars for it. I did leave this as a bill of the week earlier this year. My husband has gone back to school to finish his degree in criminal justice, and we found a way for him to complete it for free.
Whoa again, she's just getting these free degrees.
She is it. He recently was promoted to sergeant and if he wants to go for the next rank and a few years, a bachelor's degree will be required. If you recall my quote on my Bill of the week, Yes, there is a difference between paying for a college experience and an academic program. And this is a prime example. Get the degree only if it's in need. We vacationed regularly. Now we found a great cadence of a short Disney trip at the beginning of the year with the kids, and my husband and I are now going to Disney by ourselves for anniversary each year in May so we can eat, drink and ride what we want and then we do a big trip to Universe still in September. What can we say? We love Florida, you know, you know we partial of Florida.
Do we should do a meet up on your anniversary? Hey here.
So fun? We will will buy you knives like as an anniversary gets. We love buying knives for people. But yes, I don't Okay, I don't remember which episode her Bill of the Week was in, but I do remember the Bill of the Week Goldie probably, Oh, Goldie linked it for us again, so maybe we'll play it? Should we play it?
We have another Bill of the Week.
We don't have another Bill of the But why don't we play people?
Should we play Caitlin's bill?
Okay?
I love pulling an audible look at us? Okay, we're just making decisions. Because it's our.
Podcast, We're going to play it right now.
Okay, this is the week.
That's right, It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Tough bills, Buffalo bills, Bill clion, this is the bill of the week.
Hey, Jed and Jill, this is Caitlin.
I'm a longtime listener and I was actually featured on your Debt Free YouTube series in early twenty twenty three.
I shared a little bit about my.
Journey with student loan debt and then getting my master's degree where I actually profited money. I had just started on my doctorate at the time of that recording, and now I am back to share my bill. My final tuition bill for my program was paid and then reimbursed by my employer. So between comparing and price shopping degree programs for value, an institutional grant and tuition reimbursement from my employer, I am super happy and proud to share that my total out of pocket expense for my doctorate in education was zero dollars.
That's right.
I got an advanced degree for free. I just finished writing my dissertation and I'm preparing for the final defense. I hope by the time this airs, I will officially be doctor Caitlin. And since my program is pay per term, I have time left in my term to finish a post doctoral certificate in organizational leadership, so I will definitely be taking advantage of this extra freebee. This is just a reminder that a quality education does not have to be expensive, and there is a difference between paying for an educational experience and paying for an academic program. Thanks for all you do, girl, Yeah, it.
Was worth it to hear that again. It was so worth it, Doctor Caitlin.
Yeah, congratulations. And I know we've commented on this previously in whatever episode we aired if Your Bill on before, but I really want to highlight what you specifically talked about in this bill of the tuitional reimbursement and the scholarship and grants that you looked into. I think this is really important for all of us to consider if we're looking at higher education, and specifically that tuitional reimbursement piece. If you're thinking about going back to school looking for jobs that offer this as part of the benefits package. I know we've talked about that in other episodes when we talk about increasing our income or negotiating our income or benefits within our current employer. If we're not looking to job hop, are there things that we can be asking for beyond just a raise. Could we be asking for more vacation time, better medical benefits, or tuitional reimbursement. If this is something you already want to do, and that can then put you into potentially a higher income earning bracket. So I love that specific tip. I think it's one of the things we often don't consider when looking for work, and it could even be a reason to go back if your employer offers it. Maybe you weren't thinking about getting your next degree, but if your employer does offer it might as well. It could really help you in the future.
Yeah, especially if you're feeling maybe stagnant in your position, then you may want to go somewhere else or do something different within the company. Then this could be a really good thing. And if they offer it, that is essentially money on the table that you are telling the employer, no, you don't need to pay me that that's fine. I don't need that money granted this one. So it's not like the four oh one K match where you really do need not need to do anything to get that money. You should be getting that money. This does take time and so it's not the right season for everyone to do this. But like Caitlin, she had team, you know, children, so they don't want you in your life, you know.
So maybe Kaitlin's awesome. I'm sure her teens love being around here. She takes into Disney, I know.
Right, so that would that would win mom points if there's any reason to pay off your debt so you can win your child's affection through Disney.
So well, yeah, thanks so much, Caitlin. If you want, and if you all listening, want to submit your bill of the week, if it has to do with higher education for free tuition, reimbursement, scholarships and grants, just your own debt payoff journey or your name is Bill and you want to talk about a day in the life, We love to hear it. Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill leave it for us. We can't wait. And now it's time for the lighting around Okay, So this question came from Goldie and it's related to this debt payoff story from Caitlin because one of Caitlin's advice tips was to ask for help in the debt payoff journey. So Goldie wants to know who gave you the biggest support on your debt free journey. Give a shout out if you want.
H biggest support on our debt free journey. We so, I must say Travis and I were really like our biggest cheerleaders to each other. Yeah, that was really And we had like friends who were supportive, but they were just maybe peripheral, they were not You can only require so much of your friends, right, Like, we wanted to put people in our life who were not distracting us from our goal or trying to convince us to not pursue our goal. But so the people that we had in our lives were pretty much just like like cool, yay cool, and so they were very they were you know, on board, but they weren't doing anything for us. Like Travis and I really were like our own you know, getting through.
It, your own cheerleaders were You have even talked about in your own personal story how it was Travis's idea, Yeah, to become debt free, and so he was kind of the initiator and the initial motivator to helping you like realize and envision a future life. And then and then you got on board, and then you both encouraged each other. I love that contagious.
Yeah, it is contagious. It's when you support your partner. I think it is much better to like, I don't know, what do they say pull instead of push or pushing sounds aggressive.
Wait, it's easier to push the pull someone, right, don't I think that this is I don't think.
I don't think it's a good saying. Whatever the correct saying is, but like walk alongside them and really care about what they want in life and how the goals you reach together can better support that. And if the goals you want to reach doesn't better support the thing that your partner truly desires, like maybe you need to reevaluate your goals. So but it just really, you know, our desires lined up. So it was it was good.
Well, and then you've also talked about in you getting on board, it was listening to podcasts and reading books to really embrace and understand. So it sounds like that was a big support, and and you yourself were blogging you were probably your biggest cheerleader.
That was my biggest cheerleader.
That came together Me.
No, but yeah, that was part of the like what I've said, embracing the journey, the day to day, not being so focused on the destination, but really embracing the friction of change, Like whenever you are changing direction, like when you were stopping a car, the thing that stops that car is friction between the tire and the road, right, So like the friction is not doesn't feel great, but it's essential. So how can we embrace that friction? And for me, it was writing, it was listening to lots of podcasts and all of that. That was just like one of the ways that I personally was embracing that journey.
Yeah, I would say the biggest support beyond, of course what you're describing, both Eric and I being on the same team and having a similar goal in mind, Eric's parents offered some really tangible support to us. I don't know if I shared this specific aspects, but since all of our listeners value authenticity and knowing the story, maybe I did. In our debt payoff story I can't remember, but they had a chunk of money from Eric's dad having sold his business that they offered to pay off the loan, and we paid them back, so essentially provided us with a small loan at a flat fixed interest rate. So I think at the time my student loan interest rates were somewhere around six or seven percent, and they offered us this private loan at closer to like a three percent but like flat rate on like three percent on the total amount of money, which was really amazing. We were very privileged to be able to have that opportunity. They were very kind and generous to kind of float that money for a time to provide that loan and for us to be able to pay them off in of course a dedicated timeframe with interest. We still had to pay the money, but it definitely did help I think just the stress levels of the amount of interest that was accruing on the loans from yeah, the loans that we had the student loan debt. So that was just some very big, actual tangible support that I think helped us. You know, we paid off our debt in seven years. It probably would have taken us closer to ten years. Or maybe beyond if if it weren't for that, we were both very dedicated to paying it off. But I was very thrilled that like some of that interest got cut out as a result of their help.
Did they set that up like through a local bank or something online like or did they? Was that just like this is what it's going to be amateurized? Like yeah with three percent?
Right? Yeah? Nice? They they set it up themselves, and I set up automatic payment just like to their bank account.
Nice, and yeah.
That's how it worked for years. It was funny. Then there was one year where his parents, they're getting more than you bargained for. But his parents, his mom especially, is this one who's like, I want you to get money now from us. I don't want to wait till we're dead. And so there was one particular Christmas where they gave all of us kids couples. Eric is one of three, so each kid and their spouse collectively each got a few thousand dollars as a whatever you want to spend it on. I think Eric's brother wanted to put a new window in their house. And I don't know what his other brother did with the money. I can't speak for them. But it was kind of this, this is like your inheritance and we want to see you receive it, and so we bought We did buy a camera. It's still the camera that we use for some of our frugal friends stuff. And then we just gave the rest right back to that. We want this dead. Thank you and here you're going.
Here you go passing money. I love that's like gift cards at our holidays. Like everyone's just passing around twenty five dollars in the form of different gift cards. Yeah, it's really beautiful. Yeah it is. Oh that's awesome.
Well, thank you everyone for listening, Thanks for joining us for this dep free summer. And if you're loving this, please leave us a review. Like we've described, we're doing a giveaway, so screenshot it before you submit it. Send it to Janet Frugal friendspodcast dot com. And here is some fuel. So if you feel like you've got writer's block, here's one that we love comes from Pip and Pop friends who are frugal Together, Stay Together. Five stars. What a great show. So nice to learn new tips and tricks and consider things previously not considered. Budgeting is hard. Thanks for making it fun. Every Friday. Well and Pip and Pop are also making it fun every Tuesday. Yeah too.
We love we love a Friday, but we also love a Tuesday. Thank you for listening. Please please please take a minute to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Not only do you get a chance to win one hundred dollars, it helps potential new listeners know what the show is all about, so they make sure they are getting they're seeing the most up to date reviews, not reviews from like two years ago. We were different people then, you know, so we want them to get really up to date reviews and know what the show's about.
See you next time.
May Google Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. All right, Jill, this is super important to talk about. Today is the day this comes out. Is my annual bi annual every other year Olympic watch part party, Opening Ceremonies watch party.
Cannot wait. I think I've been to We always drop things at this point in the show. We I think I've been to two of your parties, maybe only one, but I feel like too you.
I think you were definitely at the last one for the Beijing Winter Olympia. Yes I do, yes, but there it got a little wonky there with COVID. We didn't. I don't think we did one for Tokyo, but yeah, I've been doing these for a long time. And no, for Tokyo. We actually we did the We did the the summit, the Frugal Living So instead of having just like a party like locally, we really we hosted it kind of like in tandem with our Frugal Living Summit. That's what I did.
And we had an opening ceremony party for the virtual.
Yeah it was virtual. Oh yeah, man.
That was always fun. We have fun.
Okay. So I am obsessed with the Olympics. I think it is a beacon of hope in a world divided. The Olympics really bring people together around hard work and dedication and a little bit of steroids. And I love it. And so I love the opening ceremonies, specifically, like the Parade of Nations makes me cry. And this year, much to the chagrin of my husband, will be my biggest year yet.
Oh tell us more.
Okay, So we are introducing for the first time the Children's Olympics W sorry, the Children's Pentathlon, the Children's Modern Pentathlon, where children will compete to be named champion of the children at our house, everyone gets a gold medal. That's what that means. But we have we have come up with I say we it's me and I told Travis and he's like, yeah, that sounds great.
Uh.
Five sports that literally it's just kind of like you do it. There's no competing involved. You just do it and move on to the next sport. So we've got shot put and I am getting bouncy balls that look like shot puts awesome that you just like throw and then the kids can also like keep the bouncy ball cool. There is breakdancing, where will be a thirty second breakdance timed and raided by the parent. There will be because breakdancing is new in the Olympics this year.
Wow.
There will be basketball where you have to throw your your bouncy ball, which was your shot put.
And we're not getting two different kinds now, no, you're we're frugal.
So you've got basketball. Obviously, there's not all the same modern pentathlon sports for the chill ran Like, I wasn't going to include like any like shooting or archery. So we've got the marathon, which is just going to be a lap around our side lot. We have uh live on a double lot, so this side lot is like perfect, It's a lap around.
Their understanding of what it means to be an Olympian is going to be entirely skewed. They're like, I ran a marathon when I was four.
Yes, and then the last one that was okay, break dancing, basketball, shot put marathon. The last one is equestrian. And we're going to take the kay's little Ford Bronco toy and all they have to do is drive the Ford Bronco from one end of the yard to the other. That's question of a horse horse's space. I mean, Bronco is the horse. So that's going to be the equestrian the riding.
Pl Oh wow, Jen, you're really going all out. I'm excited.
And so I will have themed food den cocktails, the French seventy five of course because it's in Paris, and then probably just a jack and coke for.
What's a French seventy five?
Gin and champagne and lemon? I know, right, why don't we drink French? It is such a good cocktail. And then just some like or dervs like everyone can bring their own country. Oh, I'm getting country flags. So whenever when you walk in, you get to choose the country you're rooting for, picking their flag.
We're never going to leave.
You'll leave promptly at ten thirty or eleven, whenever the opening ceremonies are over.
Yeah.
Yeah, well it's a hard cutoff time. I love that about the party too, because it's a hard cutoff.
Here's the thing that's also happening. It's basically the debut of your renovated home. You have been renovating your house with the deadline of the opening ceremonies of the summer.
She does not tell a lie.
So this day is just gonna be jam packed. I don't think you're getting rid of me till midnight. I'm just gonna say say that I am okay with that.
Okay,