Money Only Matters If It Helps You Live The Life You Love

Camilla and I have been working very hard on our side hustles lately. We've been having a lot of fun with it, too. We're always so energized when we talk about it together. We currently focus most of our extra time and energy on our reselling business and it's a whirlwind of excitement. We often talk about what we should be doing with the profits we make from those sales, and we've essentially decided that it's meant to do the same thing our regular jobs do: help us live the life we love. No more, no less. We're not frivolously spending it all in one place, and we're not hoarding all the profits. We're just moving forward with our plans.

Our philosophy is one that integrates our faith and our finances, but I think it's worth taking some time to focus purely on money and what we intend to do with it. Financial Independence is all about having choices. I think at the end of the day, Camilla and I want to be financially responsible, but make sure our money is working for us. We want to have fun when we have the means and the opportunities to do so. We continually walk the fine line of financial responsibility and loving life by having as much fun as we're able to. We don't want to deprive ourselves of the joys in life.

It's no secret we like to give away our money: Camilla has set up reoccurring online donations for the church/charity she loves, I dedicate 10+% of my budget to go to various church/charity groups each month, we set up a 10% donation on items in our eBay store, we give away money and food to homeless beggars if we have it available, and most important of all, we actively talk about giving away money if we ever have small windfalls - such as giving away a portion of our 2020 stimulus check.

After that, we feel like we can save what we want (to eventually get to our FI goals) but also make sure we're enjoying ourselves. This part is a tough one to juggle - how much do we know how to save and how much are we allowed to spend on ourselves and the ones we love? When reflecting on these questions, I am reminded that there needs to be balance in these considerations.

We have these dreams of making so much money from our side business that it replaces our full time jobs. It's been done before by so many others, so why not us? We love the idea of not being tied to our weekly 8-5 jobs and being free to spend time with our future kids as much as we want. We would even settle for eventually being able to live comfortably on just one income and having the reselling business supplement that income (after all, Camilla eventually wants to be a stay-at-home-mom). But those are just dreams for now. It is one of many possibilities. We may one day get there, but maybe not (and that would be okay). We don't even know if we'll enjoy the reselling business forever, but hey - we're open to other possibilities of making money. We'll be satisfied with ourselves as long as we don't "get lost in the sauce" when pursuing success.

I think if we keep things simple and stick to our formula for happiness, we'll be just fine. Our formula for living the life we love can be seen as this: Happiness = Charitable Giving + Saving + Fun (in that order).

So while we both work full-time jobs and work on our reselling businesses on the side, we constantly remind ourselves that it's not just about the money. It's about the fun we have going to thrift shops, finding new homes for the clothes we've "rescued," growing our business, and being able to do whatever we want with that money. After all, money only matters if it helps you live the life you love.

With confidence,

Khang

P.S. If you'd like to purchase something on our Poshmark or eBay closets, please feel free to reach out to us and we'll work out a direct sale! Camilla also has her Instagram thrift store! We would love to avoid the fees on those platforms if possible :)