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.

Young woman sitting at her computer looking very worried

Her Sister Sent a One-Page Text Accounting for Their Mom’s $415,000 Estate and $100,000 of It Has No Documentation, No Invoices, and No Explanation

Their mom died last August. There are three of them, all in their mid-forties, and their oldest sister was named successor trustee of their mom’s revocable living trust. She’d always had her act together, and when she said to let her handle the paperwork and she’d be in touch when it was done, it felt…

Father and teenage daughter arguing

Her Dad Said Dealing With His Business Taxes Was Too Stressful So He Skipped Them for 20 Years, Told Her He Had an Accountant When He Apparently Didn’t, and Now She’s a Junior in High School Trying to Figure Out if Her 60k College Fund Will Be Enough

She just finished her junior year of high school, has a 4.2 GPA and a 1440 SAT score, and has been planning for college with a $60,000 fund her grandmother left her. Then her parents told her something they’d apparently been avoiding for a while, which is that her father hasn’t filed or paid his…

Middle-aged home baker showing off her creations

Her Mom Owns a Bakery and Has Been Repackaging Store-Bought Macaroons and Cakes to Sell as Her Own, and When She Was Caught She Said It Was Only One Time and Kept Doing It

Her mom runs a small baking business out of a temporary shop space, working Friday through Sunday completely alone. She sells out almost every Friday, which means she has nothing left for the rest of the weekend and spends her nights baking until midnight trying to keep up. Her back is in bad shape. She…

Woman sitting with her hands on her face looking worried

Her Kids Were Sent to Live With Relatives for Months at a Time, Working Boyfriends Moved In and Out of the Home, and She Never Reported Any of It to the California Agencies Paying Her Food Stamps, Housing, and Cash Assistance

A woman in California who receives food stamps, housing assistance, cash benefits tied to unpaid child support, and health insurance coverage through state programs is now under investigation for welfare fraud. The concerns center on a pattern of unreported changes to her household that stretched across multiple years and involved several different benefit programs simultaneously….

Woman looking down at her phone with a worried look on her face

Woman Gives Her Card Information to Someone Claiming to Be Chase After They Send Real Push Notifications to Her Phone, and When She Calls to Verify the Fraud Department Says They Have No Record of the Call

She got a call from someone claiming to be Chase saying there was suspicious activity on her account, and everything about it looked real. The caller could send push notifications to her phone. They read off the suspicious charges and her recent transactions accurately. They walked her through what they were doing to block the…

Man holding his head and looking like he's regretting something

He Went to the ER for a Dog Bite and Left With a $100,000 Bill, No Insurance, and Debt Collectors Calling a Number He’s Hoping They Can’t Trace Back to His Parents’ House

This year has been one of the worst of his life by almost any measure. He got cheated on, ended up in the ER after a dog bite with no insurance, and came out the other side with a $100,000 hospital bill. His car, which cost him $30,000, needs another $30,000 in repairs. He’s 27,…