Intentional Living

To “live intentionally” means to live according to your values and beliefs.  I believe when we commit to being more thoughtful in how we spend our time and our money we can overcome the overwhelm, reduce financial stress, and live a more purposeful life.

Intentional living allows us to take better care of our minds and our bodies, and in turn, better care of those around us.

Here you’ll find content to help you spend less time and money on the things that matter less so you can create margin in your life and your budget to spend more on the things that matter most.

Sad and stressed man

He Has a 2.25% Mortgage on a $750,000 Home and Four Kids Half the Time and Is Trying to Decide If Keeping a 5,000-Square-Foot House With a Pool Makes Sense When He’d Be Running It Entirely by Himself

ByKristin Stones

He was in his 30s, going through a separation from his partner, and facing a significant housing decision while raising four active kids who would be splitting time between him and his soon to be ex partner roughly 50/50. His current household finances, calculated as his portion after dividing everything equally and adjusting his investments…

Older parents arguing with adult son

His Parents Have Bad Knees, Bad Hips, and a Split-Level Home Built Almost Entirely of Stairs, and Every Time He Brings It Up Nobody Wants To Talk About it

ByKristin Stones

His parents were in their mid to late 70s, both dealing with bad knees and bad hips, living in a split level home structured across four half floors, or three and a half if the basement didn’t count as a separate level. Regardless of how it got counted, the layout meant near constant stairs throughout…

Couple talking on couch

Her Fiancé Wants Her to Leave Nursing Until Their Future Child Starts Preschool and She’s Realizing the Break He’s Calling Temporary Would Permanently Cut Her Salary by Two Thirds

ByKristin Stones

She currently worked as a nurse in the public sector, a position that came with meaningful advantages over private hospital work in terms of pay, stability, and career standing. She and her fiancé were planning to marry, but he’d already made clear he didn’t want her working full time once they did, expressing concern that…

Parents arguing with adult daughter

She Lives Rent Free, Pays No Bills, and Had Over $1 Million Spent on Her Education, and She’s Frustrated That Her Wealthy Parents Still Expect Her to Hold a Job She Doesn’t Want

ByKristin Stones

She was 20 and currently in college, having gotten her first part time job at 18, an experience she’d found genuinely miserable enough to quit after nine months. That was followed by two years of unemployment, ending only recently when she started a new job that she already found herself resenting, mainly because of how…

Blonde woman counting money

She Spent Her 20s Keeping Everything in a Checking Account With No Plan Behind It and Just Hit $12,000 in Savings Two Years After Finally Starting and Still Wishes She Hadn’t Waited So Long

ByKristin Stones

She was in her late 20s and had only actually started saving seriously about two years earlier, a timeline she wasn’t entirely proud of looking back. For years before that, she’d kept everything sitting in her checking account without any real budgeting structure behind it, money coming in and getting spent without much intentional separation…

Couple talking on couch

His Wife’s Car Was Burning Three Quarts of Oil a Month and He Found Her a Replacement for $10,000 Before Anything Was Even Signed, and She Called Him an Ass for Taking Her Choice Away

ByKristin Stones

His wife’s current car had been steadily falling apart, an ongoing maintenance project he’d personally managed since, in her own words, she didn’t know much about cars herself. Over the past year, he’d worked hard trying to keep the vehicle functional, with the most recent problem being an engine burning through three quarts of oil…