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.

Rude customer holding up a checkout line

A Woman at the Dollar Store Came Up Fifty Cents Short, Told the Cashier in a Completely Flat Tone Like It Was Their Problem to Solve, and Held Up the Entire Line Until She Was Told No and Had to Put Back Her Nail Polish

ByKristin Stones

She’d gone into a well known dollar store chain that morning needing just one item, with plenty of time before work and no particular rush to get through the line. Only one register was open, with six people ahead of her, a slow cashier, and several customers carrying 15 or more items each, making progress…

Young man speaking with two car salesmen

He Let His Dad and His Uncle Talk Him Into a Predatory Car Loan at 21 and One Week Later He’s Realizing More Than Half His Income Is Gone Before He’s Paid for Anything Else

ByKristin Stones

He was 21 and earned just under $2,000 a month, a figure that put his recent decision to finance a car into sharp perspective almost immediately after signing the paperwork. The vehicle came with a $630 monthly payment on top of $400 in insurance, financed at a 26% APR stretched across a six year loan…

Group of friends arguing with each other

Their Friends Invited Them to Crash at a Vacation House for Free, Never Mentioned Splitting the Lodging Cost During Weeks of Planning, and Handed Them a $400 Bill After They Left After Sleeping on the Floor

ByKristin Stones

At a party a couple of weeks earlier, some friends mentioned they’d booked a vacation house for a week and invited them to crash for a night or two. The invitation was accepted, and over the following weeks, they’d exchanged texts covering dates, travel plans, and how to split groceries during the stay. They’d offered…

Young couple arguing over money

She Won’t Move Into His Paid-Off House Because It Doesn’t Feel Like Hers, and Her Solution Is for Him to Sell It and Take on a Mortgage Together Two Years Into the Relationship

ByKristin Stones

He owned a fully paid off house, inherited rather than purchased, earning around €2,000 a month himself, with his girlfriend earning somewhat more but without a permanent employment contract yet securing that income long term. Despite the financial security a paid off home represented, she’d been unwilling to move in, explaining that the house didn’t…

Couple looking stressed while paying bills

A DINK Couple Making $160,000 With Solid Savings Wants to Know How Anyone Justifies Spending $5,000 on One Trip When That’s More Than a Full Month of Their Household Expenses

ByKristin Stones

A couple, 38 and 37, DINK with a combined $160,000 salary before taxes and savings, sat with $65,000 in cash and $275,000 in investments, running about $4,500 in monthly expenses. Against that financial backdrop, the idea of spending $5,000 or more on a single vacation felt genuinely hard to wrap their heads around, prompting a…

Man screaming into his phone

She Blocked Her Credit Card to Make Her Fiancé Clean Up His Trash and Both of Them Forgot About It Until He Tried to Use It at a Store and the Terminal Said It Had Been Reported Stolen

ByKristin Stones

She and her fiancé had gotten into a significant argument over the state of their apartment, specifically his ongoing habit of leaving trash on the floor rather than throwing it in the bin. She’d asked him repeatedly to stop, without seeing any real change over time. He was currently dealing with a cold, which she…