113- Life After Becoming Debt Free With Money Launch Club Member, Josie Espinoza (Bonus Episode)

This week, we have another bonus episode for you. In episode 113, Josie, a Money Club Launch member shares her debt free story. She was the first in her family to go to college. But then she found herself in student loan, credit card, and auto loan debt. Listen to how she paid off $50k and now is on her way to financial freedom and independence.

Along her financial journey, Josie discovered her passion for financial freedom and independence. She became a blogger with the mission to inspire the latino community to improve their finances and live a minimalist life. Now that they are debt free, Josie and her husband are focused on financial planning, saving, and securing their family’s future.

The day has finally arrived! The Money Launch Club (the membership community to help you reach Financial Freedom & Independence) doors are now open! Join us here MoneyLaunchClub.com before the doors close again in a few days!

More About Josie Espinoza

Current location (city)

Porterville, CA

Profession

Teacher

Josie we are excited to share your story with the Journey to Launch community. Before we dive into your journey, can you tell Journeyers more about yourself?

I was born in Mexico, and I am the youngest of 9. I was the first one to get a college degree, but 3 of my older siblings own successful businesses in Mexico. My parents brought me to California when I was 8 years old along with two of my siblings. They have been farm workers ever since, picking different types of fruit depending on the season here in the Central Valley, California.

I never went to a babysitter because my parents would take me to work with them on the weekends, school holidays and summers. My first paycheck was from picking grapes one summer. Even though it wasn’t easy working in the fields, I still didn’t value money. My mom would always say “Money is made to be spent,” and that’s the mindset I grew up with. In college I had two jobs, bought a car, got my first credit cards, spent all my money, and didn’t save a dime.

In about 2014, I came across the snowball debt payoff method on Pinterest which then led me to find Dave Ramsey. I started tracking my debt and tried to pay it off but wasn’t really focused. Fast forward to July 2018, we got home from a summer trip and had no money because our credit cards were maxed out and my next paycheck wasn’t coming for another three weeks. Those three weeks without money were my rock bottom.

It was then that I really focused on my finances. We made our finances a priority, we made a budget and stuck with it. Every morning I take a few minutes to check our budget and remind my husband what our goal for the day. For example, sometimes we had a no spend day, no coffee, sell one item, or spend less than $10 goal. I started listening to finance podcasts instead of music and reading every finance book I could get my hands on.

Then, I started following the Debt Free Community on Instagram and joined financial independence (FI) groups on Facebook. I also sold a lot of stuff that I wasn’t using which led me to become an aspiring minimalist. Currently, we are working on saving 3 months of our expenses in our emergency fund. We have paid off the majority of our debt and only have our mortgage left. We know our financial independence (FI) number and have a plan.

We are still spenders but only spend our weekly allowance. I’m fortunate that my husband and I are on the same page when it comes to our finance goals and we hold each other accountable. Thanks to the Journey to Launch Podcast and the Money Launch Club I felt financially stable enough to take a risk and resign from a job that was affecting my mental health. I wish I would have known everything about finance when I started working.

I started a blog and an instagram page “Minimalisa Todo” which means minimize everything. My goal is to share my journey as I minimize my financial stress, my clutter at home and my weight. It is in Spanish because I want to inspire the Spanish speaking community.

Wow what a journey. Josie what advice would you share with other Journeyers still on the journey to reach their goals?

First I would say, write everything down, track your progress, and celebrate the small wins.

I am a very impatient person and seeing a visual of where I started and how far I’ve come gave me motivation to keep going. I also like to celebrate the small wins, things like not buying a coffee in the morning, eating lunch from home three days in a row. My celebrations were always within the budget and sometimes it was silly things like a happy dance or a high five from my husband.

Josie, what else motivates you? What’s your “Why,” or the reason you are pursuing Financial Freedom & Financial Independence?

The freedom to spend time with my daughter and my husband is my why. My husband is a truck driver and is always on the…

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