Enlisted On A Single Income and Rocking It

Hey everybody, I’m still making my way slowly across the country. Today I’m bringing you a guest post from Lauren Cecora. She’s going to talk about how she and her husband, an Air Force Staff Sergeant (E-5), live off an E-5 budget. More than live off that budget, actually – how they are checking off their financial goals one by one while still having a great time!

Take it over, Lauren!

The Background

I think it’s fair to give a brief background of how on earth my husband and I got into our financial state. Let me give you some why, how, and where we are now so you can better understand how we came to be “rocking it”.

It all started in our first year of marriage where I had boldly offered to “do our finances” and my husband discovered that my idea of “doing the finances” consisted of me overdrafting our savings account 5 times a month and depleting our savings gradually from about $5k to less than $100 over a year with our horrible spending habits. Let’s just say, money management wasn’t my strong suit at 21.

There were a lot of tears (on my part) and sacrifices (on both our parts) in order to change the way we viewed money and where our money went. We realized quickly that we were throwing money away on “Target Runs” or “Eating out” or “Not planning” for expenses that occur with being an adult: taxes, home repairs, car maintenance, clothing requirements, etc. We were being reckless with money and not taking care of it. In turn, our money was just being wasted on frivolous and meaningless things.

Turning a Corner

So at my ripe age of 22, we made our first budget, withdrew cash for the entire month, locked up the debit cards, did a lot of googling and went into a financial overhaul. We needed to pay off a lot of our debt, but we weren’t willing to sacrifice everything to do it. We still wanted the occasional outing or trip or date night, but we needed to be smart about it. We followed a modified Dave Ramsey approach, by doing this. Why lock up the debit cards? We had no restraint with our cards, so cash it was. Cash made it inconvenient to spend, making us truly question if that item was worth it or not. Everything but our bills got paid in cash. Yes that means we had to walk into the gas station and pay for gas before we could pump.

Was it inconvenient – heck yes. Was it worth it – a thousand times over. We decided that once we started paying off all our debt (student loans, credit card, car payments, timeshare)- that we would solely live off my husband’s enlisted salary and my money would be savings or investments. We started this process in 2010 and we paid off our last round of debt in 2014. (Mil$ note: CONGRATS!!)

We have been debt free for 4 years and have no plans of getting back into debt any time soon. During this four year time period, we PCSed twice, sold our home at our first duty station, I was laid off twice in the span of 3 years, and we went through 2 deployments.

Every time we encountered a new financial situation we went back to the basics: budget, cash, living off our enlisted salary. The hard part was communicating things to our family and friends:

“No we can’t do that this month, it isn’t in the budget”
“That’s out of our price range”
“We can’t afford that kind of expense right now”

Single Income? No Problem.

But over time, it gets less uncomfortable and more second nature. And our circle of friends just comes to understand that this is just us – and if they want us to do things, they have to plan accordingly. We lose some friends over it, but it generally tends to be the people who want the latest and greatest thing or gadget and they don’t understand how we can say “no” to some societal need or want.

And before you get all crazy, my husband was and still is an E5 in the Air Force. He makes a whopping $37k a year (without BAH) and we live in California. I swear this state is one of the most expensive in the nation. Until January of 2018 we were living on the economy, because we could afford it, but prices are skyrocketing in our area and we recently made the smart investment to move on base for the first time in our 10 years together.

Overtime, our focus on finances has brought to light that we need a lot less in our life. Clothes stretch further, we shop smarter for food and sales, we find deals and take advantage of them. We realize we can do a whole lot more with less. We also realize that experiences are worth more than items, so we’ve shifted our focus into more of a model of trips instead of gifts. Now that we have a daughter, we have the same mindset with her. Less is more, and I for one, don’t need her up-to-date on every new kid thing the Disney channel releases. She’s perfectly happy with dirt, a bucket, and a watering can, than she is with a Moana doll that she “had to have” and has played with a total of 5 times in the last year.

So with that change in mindset, we travel….a lot. In 2017 I personally took 13 trips, two of which were girls only, no kids or husbands, visited 4 foreign countries, and attended two conventions for business endeavors. So far in 2018, we have spent 17 days in Ireland, been to Fort Bragg, CA and are planning a trip to Utah this fall and a trip to New Zealand in the new year.

Moving Forward

We met with a financial advisor and are getting clear direction with retirement planning and where to invest our money so that we can retire in the next 15-20 years instead of 30-40. And when my husband sews on his next rank, we will continue to live on an E5 salary and invest the overage of the money that we have. Because we have enough money to live comfortably with date nights, a couple of bottles of wine, and some social events. The rest can go to bigger things that fill our soul more than our cup.

This was a process over the last 8 years together, it took us 8 years to really hone in on what we wanted and desired and making hard sacrifices now for the good later. So start small, focus on your budget and getting that under control. Then get your emergency fund started. Then start snowballing your debt.

I am so much happier with this financial freedom than I was hiding my struggle with our finances early in our marriage. Money doesn’t weigh us down anymore and now that we can have a clear vision on things that we need verses want, it makes life so much more richer for us. We are truly cultivating the life that we want and I can’t wait to see what has yet to unfold. We’re manifesting financial abundance each month in our life and I truly believe anyone can too.

Back to Mil$

Okay, so what are some lessons learned to take from this?

1. Living off a single income, even a low one, is possible. You don’t have to wrack up debt!
2. This allows you to use a second income, if you have it, for debt payments, saving, and investing.
3. Stick to a budget. If you find yourself drifting off into spending more money, go back to the budget.
4. Spend in accordance with your priorities. If something isn’t meaningful to you, don’t spend your hard earned money on it!

Thanks again to Lauren for helping out today. If you have any questions for her, please add them in the comments.

Lauren Cecora is a Postpartum Mentor for women who are desperately overwhelmed and overscheduled. Through her Sanity Saving Tips, free challenges, and book, she’s here to help you regain balance in your life- while making it all effortless. Meet Lauren and get ready to Save Your Sanity at www.laurencecora.com.