For Kelan and Brittany Kline, improving their finances came down to a simple idea: widening the gap between what they earned and what they spent.
The couple, who once held traditional jobs as a prison warden and elementary school teacher, were newly married and had about $40,000 in student debt when they started. reconsider their finances.
They attacked both sides of the equation. They built on the revenue side The smart couplea personal finance blog that ultimately grew into a seven-figure online business. On the spending side, they focused on keeping their lifestyle relatively stable as their income increased.
The couple said their net worth — including the estimated value of their businesses, investments and primary residence — exceeded $1 million in 2020. Business Insider viewed a screenshot of their Rocket Money account showing a seven-figure net worth.
Here are three principles they said helped them spend less without feeling permanently deprived.
1. Consider what a purchase will cost in the long term
One of the biggest shifts for the Klines was mental. They started thinking about purchases not just in dollars, but in hours of work.
“We realized that with our 9-to-5 people, we were trading our time for money,” Kelan told Business Insider. “Every purchase we made, we didn’t really pay for it with money. We actually paid for it with our time.”
For example, a $50,000 truck could represent months of work. A $100 dinner can translate into several hours of work.
“It kind of gives you a perspective of, ‘Is this worth buying?’” he said.
2. Know the difference between economical and cheap
The Klines don’t equate frugality with always buying the least expensive option.
“There is a very clear difference between being cheap and being frugal,” Kelan said.
For example, a cheap customer may buy the least expensive vacuum cleaner and have to replace it repeatedly. A frugal shopper, on the other hand, might pay more up front for something that offers more value and lasts longer.
The goal, he said, is to ask which option provides the most value without unnecessarily costing more.
The Klines live in Rochester, New York, where they met in high school. Thanks to The Klines
That mindset also helped them resist lifestyle inflation as their incomes grew. They stayed in their starter home for seven years, drove used cars, rarely went out to eat and lived in a single-family household for roughly five years.
“You don’t have to improve your lifestyle to be happy,” Kelan said. Instead of succumbing to lifestyle inflation, they focused more of the growing gap between their income and expenses on debt repayment and investments.
3. Give every dollar a job, including fun money
The Klines still track their expenses and stick to a monthly budget.
“We make a plan for our money every month,” Kelan said. While some people see budgeting as restrictive, they see it differently: “When you give yourself a budget and make a plan each month, you actually give yourself the freedom to spend the money where you want and where you get the most joy and satisfaction.”
That includes discretionary spending. For example, Brittany likes to buy coffee, so the couple intentionally builds personal spending money into their budget. Today, they each get about $200 a month, which they can spend however they want, compared to about $100 earlier in their journey.
The point isn’t to eliminate everything that’s fun, but to cut more aggressively in areas that matter less while maintaining the spending they value.
Sometimes the sacrifice is temporary
The couple went through periods of much stricter spending, especially as they focused on eliminating their student loans.
“Sometimes it’s temporary pain to get to the end goal you want,” Kelan said. He remembers declining invitations to eat out or meet friends for drinks and cutting restaurant spending to about once a month. “We sacrificed a ton when we paid off debt.”
The key, he said, was knowing that the restrictions had an end point. Instead of thinking they would live like this forever, they viewed the cuts as a short-term sprint toward a specific goal.
Once the debt was gone, the money that previously went to loan repayments could instead be invested or spent on things they valued more.
