• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Beyond Just Numbers

A Journey to Financial Freedom

  • Hometo start
  • Shopin store
  • Aboutme
    • My Story
    • Contact Me
    • Privacy Policy
  • Readthe blog
  • Real Estateinvesting
    • Series: Getting Started in Real EstateA step-by-step series
    • Series: Here is the Dealdeal breakdown
  • PERSONALfinance
    • Financial Independence | Retire Early

in Budgeting Tips | Money Talk · December 2, 2020

Traveling on a Budget

One of the reasons I had a difficult time taking budgeting seriously was because I didn’t want to be captain buzz kill. My overall thought was that you couldn’t have fun and also be on a budget. However, ever since I became serious about budgeting, I’ve actually been able to plan and do more of the things I want while staying within budget. For example, this year we were able to book our 2021 Summer vacation to Hawaii without breaking the bank.

The reason we budget is because we have a monthly savings goal that needs to be met for us to be able to reach our financial independence number within our 7 year plan.

Knowing this has forced us become more creative and smart about how we handle our finances. Here are a couple of hacks that has helped us do more of things we love while staying on track:

Find Free/Low Cost Local Attractions – One of the reasons we chose to move to Georgia was because it is bordered by several states which made road trips more likely. Tennessee, Alabama and Carolina States are just a couple of hours always. We like nature and Georgia has a lot to offer in that regards. Most of these attractions are free or low cost like State and National Parks. We created a list of local attractions that interested us and have scheduled monthly trips. Rather than eating out during these trips, we will either buy a Publix Sub/Chicken or pack lunch from home. We all know how eating out expenses tend to creep on you.

Use credit card points – Most of you are most likely familiar with Credit Card Travel Hacking. Basically, you get a credit card with rewards that you can then use to pay for travel. This is how we fund our larger trips. On 2018, we decided to invest in the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card which has an annual fee of $475. When you add all of the perks, the card pretty much pays for itself. I also have our Realty business card with Chase and I am able to combine them with our personal points. Chase gives us bonus points when booking travel with them. In 2019, we went to Europe and our flights were fully paid with points ($1,400 worth) and the annual travel credit paid for 1/3 of our stay. In 2021, we are going to Hawaii and these flights were also fully paid for with points ($1,500 worth).

Set a Fun/Travel budget – In my previous failed attempts to budget, I would have $0 allocated to travel or fun spending which is unrealistic knowing me. Currently, we have a Fun/Travel budget category and we actually transfer part of this money from our checking account into our Ally savings account and allocate it to the Travel category for future trips. Whenever, we plan on a vacation, we take the funds from this savings account rather than plunging the budget for that month. This is how we paid for the Airbnb for our 2021 Hawaii vacation without going over budget. If you give yourself a Fun/Travel Budget then you are able to better plan how to spend the money and not have to be worried about whether you are spending your grocery money when you are out having fun.

Share expenses with others: Want to go spend a weekend in a Cabin in the woods? Invite some friends and split the cost of the cabin and gas. Even though we don’t do this often, this has been great on the budget every time we do it.

Prioritize what matters most: Depending on the destination I may prioritize convenience over luxury. For example, for Hawaii, we could have chosen a $300/night luxury hotel. Instead, we went with a budget-friendly hotel 2 blocks away from the beach. It’s not ocean view, but it had a bar downstairs (priority for me 😝) and it was walking distance to several local attractions. We are going to spend most of the time outside and as long as the place is clean, has good reviews and a comfortable bed (read reviews), we are okay. Ryan and I are not fan of hostels or shared apartments, so we do have an overall preference we generally stick to. For example, when choosing cabins for a winter vacation, we might lean over to luxury since we will probably be spending most of the time in the cabin itself. We like to keep flexible, but budget conscious.

Side-Hustle money: Another way we pay for vacations is by increasing our income. In our case, that would be coaching or accounting. We use the extra income from these sources to fund our vacation savings account and then use when needed.

As you can see, being on a budget doesn’t have to be boring!

I hope you found this helpful! This is all I have for now. I just wanted to share that it is possible to have fun while budgeting. While I would love to mindlessly splurge on vacation, we don’t have that luxury. Unfortunately, we are not rich and swiping away during vacation to then come home and cry is not such a great feeling (I talk from experience). We have a goal in mind and we just have to get creative to get the best of both worlds: Having fun while saving lots. Some may argue that I could reach my goals faster if I extreme budgeted and didn’t leave room for fun, but I believe that enjoying the journey is more important than the destination. What are your thoughts?

Do you have any tips you can share with us? We are always looking for new ways to approach our Financial Independence Journey.

Cloudland Canyon National Park

This post may contain affiliate links. I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this blog.

Previous Post: « How I used sinking funds to buy Gifts without killing the budget
Next Post: My 2021 Goals- A New Approach »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Here is the Deal – Buying Short-Term Rentals to Build Wealth
  • Time to Buy- How to Make a Winning Real Estate Offer
  • How to Fund Real Estate Investments – Part 3: Private Money
  • How to Fund Real Estate Investments – Part 2: Hard Money
  • Here is The Deal – Skyline Purchase Breakdown 

Categories

  • Budgeting Tips | Money Talk
  • Financial Independence | Retire Early
  • Money Mindset | Mental Health
  • Real Estate Investing
  • Series: Getting Started in Real Estate
  • Series: Here is the Deal – The Breakdown

Welcome!

Welcome!

Let's talk financial freedom via real estate investing.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Subscribe

Never miss a thing! Subscribe now to get the latest news.

Starting a New Business?

Starting a New Business?

Buy the Book!

beyondjustnumbers

New Blog Post 🚨 In this week’s blog post I am New Blog Post 🚨 In this week’s blog post I am going over why we bought a short-term rental, our experience so far. Plus what we did prior, during and after purchasing our first short-term rental in March 2022, a Cabin in Blue Ridge, GA.

Check it out at www.beyondjustnumbers.com or link in bio @beyondjustnumbers
I can’t stress this enough. Some investors are l I can’t stress this enough. Some investors are looking to make money from day one, but that’s not always the case. It wasn’t for us and I’ve talked to a lot of rookie investors who have told me “Thank God I have my personal finance situation together.” 

This is just my opinion. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments!

Want to join a free community of like-minded individuals? Join our REI Coffee Chat Community where we talk real estate investing, personal finance and financial freedom, and much more! Link in bio @beyondjustnumbers

Want to learn more about investing in real estate? Read my blog www.beyondjustnumbers.com

#realestateinvesting #realestateinvestor #creativefinancing #investmentproperty #buyrealestate #firemovement #debtfreejourney #financialindependenceretireearly #rentalproperty #investinginproperty #personalfinanceblog #wealthbuilding #planforretirement #investorlife #livefree #airbnb #moneyisfreedom #enjoythejourney #reicommunity #realestateinvestments #shortermrentals #cashflow #realestate
I used to think that investing in real estate was I used to think that investing in real estate was for the rich. I became in love with real estate while working for a real estate investment company that owned hundreds of units. This was back in 2011 and I was 20 years old at the time. I had less than 5 years permanently living the US, so I had no idea about anything. I grew up in Colombia and the only talk of money we ever had was the lack of it. 

The investors I worked for were a wealthy family, so naturally, I thought… Real Estate requires wealth. I don’t have wealth. Therefore, I cannot invest. 

I figured… well shit, I need become wealthy so I can invest in real estate. Eventually, after educating myself I realized how wrong I had it. You can build wealth BY INVESTING in real estate.

Took me a couple of years to figure it all out. Hence, why I didn’t start investing until 2019. I wish I had figured out earlier, but it is what it is. In just 3 years of investing in real estate, I was able to accumulate more wealth than I ever thought possible. 

Just to give you an idea…Did you know you could invest in real estate with as little at 3.5% of the purchase price? For a $150,000, that’s only $5,750. Buy a duplex that needs a little bit of work, fix it up, rent one side and live in the other. This will reduce your monthly expenses significantly, save the money and do it all over again.*

Of course it’s not that simple, but it’s also not that difficult. There are some particular steps and considerations which is  why I recommend doing further reading on the subject. 

Book Recommendation:
✅“The House Hacking Strategy” by Craig Curelop and ✅“Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down” by Brandon Turner. 

#realestate #realestateinvesting
🚨 New Blog Post! Continuing the “Getting Star 🚨 New Blog Post! Continuing the “Getting Started in Real Estate Series” 

You’ve found a property either on your own or through a realtor, you’ve run your numbers, you’ve got a lender and now you are ready to make an offer. What’s next?

In this post I want to discuss a few items:

✅Key components of a real estate contract
✅How do you make a compelling offer to ensure you get the property you want
✅The main contract contingencies and how they work
✅Communicating with your realtor

I also provide real examples of what we have done personally. 

Check it out at www.beyondjustnumbers.com

Let me know what you think!
If I listed all of the hats, I’d never end 😂. If I listed all of the hats, I’d never end 😂. Anyone else? Show me the multiple hats you wear and tag me. Let’s have fun with some reels.

Trying to get good at the real game like @investinginyourwealth. How did I do?
The fact that you are not where you want to be doe The fact that you are not where you want to be doesn’t mean you won’t get there. Greatness takes time. Focus on what you control.

And remember, it’s okay to pivot.

#mindset #realestate #firemovement #realestateinvesting #realestateinvestor #rentalpropertyinvestor #rentalproperty #cashflow #motivation #financialfreedom #financialindependence #financialindependenceretireearly
We see a lot of advice around hiring a real estate We see a lot of advice around hiring a real estate friendly CPA. However, when you look up  CPAs that specialize in real estate, they can be pricey.  However, that doesn’t mean that other CPAs or tax professionals aren’t good. They might not be particularly aware of certain items, but they can research and collaborate with theirs peers. Perhaps it may require you to do a little of work to compensate. Things you can do:
✅ listen to The Real Estate CPA podcast or join the Facebook group
✅follow social media accounts of the pricey Real Estate CPA and take notes of what they are saying
✅attend free educational events 
✅read BiggerPocket book on Real Estate taxes 
✅if you know anyone working with a really good Real Estate CPA firm, ask them what they are doing

Then use that to go your CPA or tax professional and be like “Hey, is this something we can do for me?” They’ll probably say, “Let me look into it”. 

If they are good, they are going to research it and/or ask their CPA peer group. (CPAs and tax preparers also have Facebook groups where they collaborate with each other).

Here is a piece of advice, if they tell you “No, we can’t use this loophole or no, you don’t qualify to use this strategy” —> Ask WHY and “How can I qualify in the future?.” This way you confirm they did their homework and aren’t just being lazy. Don’t just take no for an answer. You can then get a second opinion by asking a question in a forum or to your peers.

So don’t panic if you don’t have a real estate CPA or tax professional. 

Next video I’ll be answering the question… “Can I skip the tax professional altogether and do my own taxes?”

#realestate
Load More Follow on Instagram

Footer

Beyond Just Numbers

A Journey to Financial Freedom

Subscribe

Never miss a thing! Subscribe to the newsletter to keep up to date when posts are available.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • My Story
  • Contact Me
  • Shop
  • Home

Copyright © 2023 · Beyond Just Numbers · Design by Studio Mommy