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.

Man and pregnant women sitting on a couch arguing

They Own Two Paid-Off Cars With No Loans and Strong Safety Ratings, His Wife Is Six Months Pregnant and Wants to Finance a $50,000 SUV, and the Moment He Pushed Back She Said He Was Prioritizing Money Over His Family

ByKristin Stones

He and his wife have two fully paid-off cars sitting in the driveway, a 2012 CR-V and a 2015 Mazda 3, worth somewhere between $18,000 and $20,000 combined. Both have complete service histories, solid safety ratings, and no loans attached to them. He’s been proud of the fact that they’ve never carried car debt during…

Man working at his computer looking stressed

Man Who Has Lived in His Grandmother’s Home His Entire Life and Paid the Property Taxes for Seven Years Finds a Transfer in the County Records That Nobody in His Family Knew About

ByKristin Stones

He discovered something unexpected while browsing county property records online, and it’s turned into a situation that could affect where he lives entirely. His grandmother passed away in Virginia in 2018, and as far as anyone in the family knew at the time, she didn’t leave a will. He’s lived in her home his entire…

Man in bright vest and hard hat looking frustrated on the phone

Man Writes a Check to Help a Family Member With Moving Expenses and the Bank Reverses It After It’s Already Been Cashed and Converted Into Money Orders With No Explanation

ByKristin Stones

He wrote a check to a family member a week ago to help cover some moving expenses, which felt straightforward enough at the time. His relative took it to the bank, cashed it, and used the money to buy money orders at the post office, choosing that route because the fees were lower than other…

Man raising his eyebrow and scratching his head

Two Men Say a Panicked Stranger Approached Their Restaurant Table With Discounted Steaks From a Truck With a Broken Cooler, and the Whole Thing Felt Weird

ByKristin Stones

He was having lunch with a friend on the outdoor patio of a restaurant when a man who looked to be around 50 came rushing up to their table looking genuinely panicked. The man said he was in the middle of delivering steaks when his refrigerated cooler broke down, and he pointed toward a truck…

Man looking frustrated while looking at his phone

Man Called His Gym More Than 15 Times and Showed Up in Person 4 Times to Cancel His Membership and the Billing Company Is Still Threatening Late Fees Because No One Ever Answered

ByKristin Stones

Cancelling a gym membership shouldn’t require finding staff that may not actually exist anymore, and yet that’s exactly the wall one gym member ran into after the location he’d been a member of for years got bought out, gutted of services, and apparently left to run on automated key fob access with no humans answering…

Tree laying on top of a damaged car

Neighbor’s Tree Totals His Car After He Spent a Year Documenting It Was Dead and Sending a Certified Warning, and Now the Insurance Company Is Asking Him to Sign a Document Saying He Shares the Blame

ByKristin Stones

Sending a certified letter warning your neighbor about a dead, visibly hazardous tree, having him ignore it entirely, and then being told you bear partial responsibility for the resulting damage because the warning made him “aware of the risk” is one of the more backwards liability arguments to come from an insurance company in recent…