Mar 31 2025 47 mins 8
This week, we’re sharing 3 of our best tips on how to live on a single income. It's a topic that might feel distant, perhaps even undesirable, but for many, it's becoming an increasingly relevant concern.
We've lived the single-income life by choice and by circumstance. It's not always pretty, but it can be done. And sometimes, being forced to tighten your belt is the exact kick in the pants you need to get your financial house in order.
Whether you choose to live on one income as some kind of FIRE-adjacent power move, or you’re forced into it by circumstances beyond your control, the real challenge isn’t just the spreadsheet gymnastics. It's the people part.
So this episode gets into the conversations, the compromises, and the potential points of friction that can arise in a partnership when resources become more constrained.
We discuss:
- Addressing the emotional landscape: Living on one income throws all sorts of messy emotions into the mix. Who gets to spend? Who’s giving up more? Is this forever, or just until something changes? These aren't spreadsheet questions, they’re relationship questions..
- How to make negotiation your new love language: We break down how to negotiate fairly as you create a budget when the stakes feel high and everyone's nerves are shot
- Getting more comfortable saying No: Living on one income means saying "no"... a lot. To your partner, to your kids, to your friends, and maybe most importantly, to yourself. We unpack the guilt that inevitably comes with that, especially when you feel like you're letting people down.
- Strategic decluttering and selling your stuff with intention: The process of selling personal items for cash can be more emotionally involved than it appears. We talk about the surprisingly emotional process of selling your belongings and how to actually make it work, practically and emotionally.
Links:
- Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away by Julien and Kiersten Saunders
- The Two-Income Trap by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi
- Episode 155: The FinTech Toolkit
- Episode 149: Buying used vs. new
- Episode 130: How to sell your stuff online
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