How Do You Afford This?

#04: Her Money Blueprint: Living Abroad With a Kindergartener

• Ashley Feinstein Gerstley • Season 1 • Episode 4

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Ashley Torres spends three months per year in a new country with her family, takes five other trips a year, salsas with her friends one to three times a week, and runs multiple businesses. She's been a full-time content creator for over 15 years, writes about her family’s travels on Substack, is the co-founder of LA Girl Dinner Club, and wants us all to live life to the fullest. In this episode, she breaks down how she actually affords the lifestyle.

Ashley walks through exactly what her recent three-month stay in Uruguay actually cost, the surprising income streams that offset the costs, and the trade-offs she makes that make it all work. Plus, she shares her salsa-at-10pm hack that fuels her energy and the worldview that drives her whole approach.

Ashley also reveals how she and her husband Andy navigated combining finances after years of keeping them separate, what she's teaching her daughter about money and gratitude, and where her clothes-and-decor budget actually goes.

Get Ashley’s travel budget template where you can estimate trip costs, compare options and plan in advance so that all you have left to do is enjoy your trip, financially stress free. 

Connect with Ashley on Instagram at @everydaypursuits and her family travel Substack.

Check out Ashley’s Money Club to join a community of women unabashedly going after their money goals. 

Take this quiz to get a personalized Wealth Building Blueprint.

SPEAKER_02

The next day it's never promised, right? This teacher is never promised, and we have savings, we're doing all the right things. But at the same time, if you keep taking it with you, you guys.

SPEAKER_01

My guest today is a content creator, OG influencer, and former CPA who has mastered the art of living fully. She spends three months per year living in a new country, takes five other trips per year, and is outsaw dancing up to three times a week, all while raising a daughter in LA and running her own business. And in this episode, we get into the actual numbers. Ashley Torres breaks down how her family spent less than $10,000 extra to live in Uruguay for three months.

SPEAKER_02

We basically spent less than $10,000. $10,000 that we wouldn't have spent if we stayed home. That's $10,000 more doll to spend three months in Uruguay. If you do the math, that's a four-day trip to Walt Shepherd.

SPEAKER_01

She shares the unconventional money move that pays for mortgage while she's abroad, and the mindset shift that makes it all possible.

SPEAKER_02

We moved it to our house seven years ago. We still don't have bar schools. We don't have anything on the wall. I would rather buy flight than buy a thousand dollars in what I mean.

SPEAKER_01

Plus the money philosophy behind her marriage, the real cost of raising a child in LA, and why she says the greatest life hack might just be having one kid. I'm Ashley, certified financial planner, founder of the Fiscal Fund, and I'm asking the question everyone is already wondering. How do people actually afford their lives? This is how do you afford this. Welcome to the show, Ashley. Thank you. I'm excited. So, Ashley, you work for yourself, you spend three months of the year in a new country, you take five other trips per year, you salsa with your friends one to three times per week, all while raising a daughter in LA, which is a high cost of living city. Every time I open Instagram, you're on a new fabulous adventure. You like emanate fun and joy. You inspire me to live my life to the fullest. How do you afford this? Please tell us.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Well, first, dual income household. I think that is the key for us, dual income and only one child. I think that's like a life hack, at least for us, to be able to, you know, that's another that's another layered thing. But yes, cost-wise, there's multitudes of things. Like we really are smart with using our credit cards and banking on credit card points. So especially before our last trip, we opened a new car, got the opening card bonus, and that paid for all of our flights home from the trip, most of our hotels when we were gone. So leveraging credit cards is something that I would say is a number one way that we do. We asked to live in a high cost of living city, but we prioritize travel more than anything. You know, when you're in your 20s, you're like, designer things, I want fancy things. And now we moved into our house seven years ago. We still don't have bar stools, we don't have anything on the walls. I would rather buy flight than buy a thousand dollar bar stools. You know what I mean? The other way, I guess this is actually a really key point, is we rent out our house. So we're gone for large periods of time. We rent at our house on a platform called Peer Space. It's kind of like Airbnb, but for production. So no one's staying the night, but people are coming to shoot commercials or social media content. And that has been a huge saver for us in the way that we've been able to pay our mortgage when we're gone, sometimes even making more than our mortgage, which we can put towards the trip.

SPEAKER_01

What is the length of there's so much there, by the way, but what is the length of trip where you're like, this is worth it to put it on peer space?

SPEAKER_02

We actually are on peer space consistently. So we'll do one-day shoots every once in a while. The demand for peer space used to be much higher three or four years ago, but I would say we're having at least one shoot a month while we're home, too. Just you know, we you kind of have to keep it going, right? So you have reviews and it's showing up the algorithm. You can't just be like, hey, I'm leaving town. This is the only town that I want to do with. But again, that's definitely a big city thing, right? Where there is production happening, you New York, Los Angeles. Although I know people in, I know I just had a friend that lives in Dallas outside of Dallas, and someone just rented her place. So just can't hurt, right? You just have another revenue. Yes, it's another revenue stream, and I think more than anything, it's a detachment from things. This lifestyle that we live is a detachment from things in all different facets. Like, of course, I love my house, it's beautiful, but I am not precious with it. Like, if someone wants to come in and pay me a thousand dollars to shoot in a day and they scratch up a wall, fine, it's okay, you know? And the into the other things and the detachment of it, it's like we are trying to accrue experiences and not things. We're very minimal, minimalist if we can be in that sense.

SPEAKER_01

What is the prep like for and I'm the feel the same because I honestly think a production house in my house is probably less damaging than my children. So you know, but like what do you have to do to get it ready? Like, is there a process with that or it's simple?

SPEAKER_02

It's not simple, but it's easier than because people that have done this program that we do when we travel in these three-month school programs, some of them rent out their house for rentals for people to have short-term rentals. And in that case, you have to can't take everything out, right? You just leave your furniture, but you have to clean your closets, clean your drawers. A piercing stuff is amazing because we can leave our closets, we can leave our drawers, we can leave all those little things as long as they're not out on display. So, yeah, I mean, it's a good practice for us to do purging every few, you know, like every six months we're doing a purge. It's not easy. And this last time we left in January, well, no, we left at the end of December. Layering on that with Christmas, I was like, why am I doing this to myself? It was very stressful. But yeah, no, it's just making sure your house is shoot ready. So typically that means knickknacks and everything are gone, everything's clean. You know, our fridge, we clean up. I mean, if you're leaving anyways, like your fridge needs to be cleaned. You can't leave stuff in your fridge. So it's it's a process, but worth it, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01

Right. And it keeps you honest with your detachment. When is that a new philosophy or have you always had that?

SPEAKER_02

I think it's probably within the I think since my daughter was born. Honestly, I feel like having my daughter in 2020 changed my perspective on so many things. I mean, I always used to love like travel has always been a love of mine. Not always, since my mid-20s, when I had like a little bit of money to start traveling. But I think after I had her, I work, you know, primarily in the fashion space. And I think I after I had her, I was like, this is there's more to life than what you're wearing, you know, it can be an amazing compliment to everything that's going on. And I there's no doubt that what you're wearing and how you're feeling, you know, you makes a difference in how you present yourself. But I think coming from someone in my late 20s, early 30s, that was just, you know, the latest designer thing, the latest chains, I need these shoes. And after I have my daughter, I was just like, this is not important anymore. This is not the priority. The priority is her, the priority is living, creating experiences with her. I mean, I'll never forget. I mean, she well doesn't remember it, but taking her to the Eiffel Tower when she was 22 months, we had a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. She was walking around just being so silly, and the Eiffel Towers in the background. I'll never forget that. And we have pictures, and she she remembers it through the pictures, but she'll tell people, you know, I went to the Eiffel Tower. I I was there. It's cute.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. I was curious, I was gonna ask about like what drives this vision for your travel, but I think you're kind of explaining it. It's the experiences, it's those memories. Anything else that has helped you craft this like vision for it with especially with the the traveling, living in a new place for three months at a time. Like, what is behind that?

SPEAKER_02

Well, so my husband and I both work remotely, which again is also kind of a necessity to live a lifestyle like this. And I think when we started putting our own house on PR space, we realized, okay, we don't have to be in LA. We could make money by someone renting at our house. Why, why are we here all the time? You know, and especially our daughter's only you're she's only young for so long before she has to get into school. And you know, there's so many layers of that. And I it was in it was during COVID that I booked a one-month Airbnb in Tuscany. Like we were deep in COVID, no one was traveling, and I just was like, I need something to look forward to. I went on Airbnb, found the most insane, insane Tuscany villa. And back then, like the prices were amazing because no one was traveling, right? So I just locked it in and I was like, we can cancel it. And then next thing you know, that next year, I was like, all right, well, let's just think if we're gonna be there for a month, we might as well add Paris, Lisbon, whatever. Like, we can technically legally be in Europe for three months. We might as well take advantage of those 90 days if we're gonna do it. We at least personally, I think and Andy, my husband, has jumped on board with this lifestyle too, but I went through a lot of death when I was young in my early teens. And even in my teenage years, my dad passed away, my stepmom passed away, my best friend in high in high school passed away. And for me, it's like the day, the next day is never promised, right? The future is never promised. And this might not be part of the your mantra around, you know, being financially responsible, but we are like we have savings, we're doing all the right things. But at the same time, I'm like, you can't take it with you when you die. You and who knows how long you're gonna live. Like, I'm not trying to create this nasty so that when I'm 65, what if I'm gonna live for five more years, you know? So our mindset is today is the day, now is the now. Let's live it, let's be responsible. But uh yeah, let's just do it and let's go and experience it because tomorrow's never promised.

SPEAKER_01

It's beautiful. Also, I love how open you are about it. Like I saw the post when you talked about the barstools.

SPEAKER_02

Maybe you talk about it often, but it's I do because it's just like trade-offs, like maybe that I I don't even notice it anymore. And then, you know, every once in a while I'm like, well, maybe we should get some barstools and I go look online and they're all twelve hundred dollars. I'm like, that's thirty, six hundred dollars for three that I could that could fly us all to South America, you know what I mean? So you know, one day we'll get them. Maybe soon.

SPEAKER_01

Or maybe not. We'll see. And yeah, can you walk us through you mentioned I think the the renting out of the home is a very big piece of this, but walk us through what the finances look like for a typical three-month stay or or even your most recent stay in an Uruguay.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I just actually I did a Substat post on this where I did, I I used to be a CPA, by the way. Like my past life was I worked as well. I don't know that. Yeah, I was at Deloitte for a few years and then decided that was not the life for me. But I'm a secret Excel girly and I really like numbers. So I put together the spend and I compared it to we basically spent less than $10,000. $10,000 that we wouldn't have spent if we stayed home, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02

Like $10,000 ten thousand more dollars to spend three months in Uruguay, which that's kind of if you do the math, that's a four-day trip trip to Walt Disney World. Like if you're doing Walt Disney World on and you're flying there and you're paying for the tickets to all the things. I'm never gonna I've never been to Walt Disney World, so I don't know the exact all the things that I looked it up and I went to this website that calculates if you're gonna do Walt Disney World on the budget, if you're gonna do it on you know, a little bit upscale, if you're gonna do it via key, and it was like, yeah, families are spending $10,000 to $12,000 to take their kids to that's crazy. Like that is bananas. And I just spent three months in another country soaking up culture, experiencing this with my my family. And like, you know, not everyone gets to pick how they spend their money, but I just thought that was crazy. But yeah, I mean, I think it was under $10,000 additional than what we would if we stayed home, is how much sounds like you're like an opportunity cost queen.

SPEAKER_01

So essentially you're I don't think a lot of people do the math. They might think, like, see your life and say, There's no way I could do that. And then they do go to Disney or they do go to like the Bahamas or whatever the trip is that costs half of that. And so I think a huge part of it is like actually calculating it out and deciding what you want, what's more valuable to you. And it sounds like you're doing that all the time with travel, with your decor, with you know, all the things in your life. A hundred percent, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02

And yeah, if it's I I I think I read a stat in 2024, the average American vacation was $2,000, $3,000 per week, right? Like you and a family is spending $3,000 on spring break to take their kids somewhere or summer break. So, you know, three months for $10,000 for under $10,000 is kind of a steal, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01

So the renting of your home is offsetting the cost that you're are you staying in Airbnb's and then Yeah, we're usually staying in Airbnb.

SPEAKER_02

We are always staying in Airbnbs when we're abroad. So yeah, we're so we're renting out our house for more than more than our mortgage, right? So our mortgage is getting paid, plus we're getting a little extra that's going towards our trip. So what that that takes our Airbnb cost in Uruguay down a few thousand dollars a month. We all we rent out our cars too with Turo. And that's help and helpful to pay our car costs. Our cars are like very expensive. I mean, it's crazy, like with insurance and stuff. But like you're gonna pay car insurance no matter what, if you're at home or if you're on a trip, somewhere up on vacation. The renting of our house really does offset a lot of the costs while we're there. And I mean, even like our it's it's kind of minimal, minimal, but not that minimal. Like, I think our power, like our water and power bill, because people aren't living living here, right? Our water and power bills were down like five or six hundred dollars. It's not nothing. So, yeah, renting out our cars, renting out the house. Those are the two main ones. What else do we do?

SPEAKER_01

Are you generally spending, I guess, like are you spending similarly in your everyday life when you're on a trip? This is a great question.

SPEAKER_02

No, we're spending way less.

SPEAKER_03

Why?

SPEAKER_02

Because what I found, well, in Uruguay specifically, there's no Amazon. So when you can't get something same day or in a few hours in LA in our case, it turns out you don't really need it that badly. And so we spent three months not buying from Amazon, not buying same-day target delivery. And I haven't done the math, but I assure you we saved thousands and thousands of dollars because of that.

SPEAKER_01

And that's not even in the 10. That's not netted right now.

SPEAKER_02

No, no, that's just hey, we didn't spend that money. And traveling has really taught me how to be more minimalist and work with what I want or with what I have. Example is our Airbnb and Uruguay didn't have a blow dryer. It's pretty human there. You don't really need it because your hair's gonna be for I mean, mine's gonna be crazy anyways. Would I have loved to have one because I usually do style my hair pretty often? Sure. But I was like, I'm not buying one, I'm not buying one for three months, especially with a different outlet that I can now never use it again. Like I can't bring it home. And so I didn't. I spent three months just living my life with my hair crazy and without a blow dryer. And it's like it's just like a microcosm for everything, you know what I mean? It's just an example to show you that we just don't need it. And so, yes, we definitely do not spend like we do on just things when we're traveling. Also, I feel like when you're traveling, you're getting that dopamine hit from new experiences and being out in the world versus when you're at home, you're like, oh well, let me go online and buy those eye patches or buy that, I don't know. It's like what's in your Amazon card right now. I actually have a friend, and I think this is a really good hack. She creates an Amazon wish list and puts things that she thinks she wants into her wish list. And at the end of the week, if she still wants it, she'll buy it versus just being like boom, boom, boom. It's pretty awful.

SPEAKER_01

And I'm curious what percent she actually buys, like if it's like a 40%.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I don't know 99% of the time it's nothing. Because right, she wanted it in that moment because it would have been delivered in LA same day. Most of the stuff is the same day, you know? Right. She realized like I didn't need it, or I don't care for it that badly.

SPEAKER_01

I like that tack. And how does Luna add to the cost of the trip? You mentioned she's in a program. How does that work?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, so she's uh that's another saver, actually. She is in a program or was in a program called Boundless Life. It's now around the world, and everything happens in three-month cohorts. So you know September, October, November, January, February, March, April, May, June. And it's ages two to 14. I think now it's 14. And it's basically what we call study abroad for families. Study abroad for I mean, it's study abroad for your kids. My daughter's five. It's crazy to say that out loud, you know. But especially if you have young kids who are not in public school, can't be in public school yet, you're paying for daycare, you're paying for preschool, right? Out of power between the ages of two to five. The cost of this school is almost exactly, I think maybe $150 to $200 different than her preschool here.

SPEAKER_01

So that's another thing. Wait, so when you're calculating the 10, are you calculating that?

SPEAKER_02

Or are you including the cost of the yes, I calculated the difference with that too.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

There's there's a lot, there's an additional fee as a parent to part be part of this, just a community fee. But let's see.

SPEAKER_01

And so this is your childcare when you're there.

SPEAKER_02

You're not yes, I'm not, yeah, and she and we're working, right? She's in school from 9 a.m. to three o'clock every day. Monday through Friday, honestly.

SPEAKER_01

And how do you envision doing this as she gets older or doing it a different time of year if she's in school? How are you? Do you have a vision for the future with it?

SPEAKER_02

I don't because she's starting first grade in the fall and we've committed to being here for at least a year. I mean, I'm actually really struggling with it because it's been basically we have traveled, if you combine it all, two of the last four years. Wow. And it's a lot. It's a lot, it's been a lot of time, it's been a lot of her life, it's been a lot of our life as parents. And the idea of staying home and not having traveled like that on the horizon is giving me a little bit of a little itch. But uh they do have summer programs, and the thing is their camps, it's it's a different experience. Going for three months versus going for four weeks is a different experience. Also, we love LA in the summer. This is like our hack has been we leave, we leave in the winter in the spring and come back and get to be in beautiful Los Angeles. You know what I mean? We were we've been with so many other families who have older kids, and there's a certain point where your kid is like, hey, I don't want to leave school and do something. You know, I don't want to keep like doing this. I I don't want to keep trying having to make new friends, you know? Right. Uh so we're gonna play it by ear. It's just a little tough, especially in LA where we live. She's not she's not going to public school. So if we're putting her in private school and then having to pull her out and pay tuition and then pay that tuition, I'm like, yeah. Someone needs to leave me a trust one for that. We do I travel a ton just solo and with my friends and you know I prioritize the group trip. Yes. I'm a big like get out of the group chat. Let's go to Mexico City, let's go to Colombia, let's go to wherever. You know, it's especially now. We're we're adults, we have free will, we can take a Friday off and make a long weekend of it. There's no and I'm curious.

SPEAKER_01

So I am always admiring your group trips. How does it work? Do you all talk budget first? Like how does the how do the finances work of the group trip for you? Every trip is a little different.

SPEAKER_02

The most recent trip I did was for my birthday, so I covered a lot of it. But then we had a we had like split-wise, or there's another one. What's I don't know if the other half days where someone just played treasure the whole time and at the end we split it all up, especially I'm feeling super grateful in the last four or five years. I've really built a crew of mamas that like we just all have the same vision of living life. And yeah, I don't know if you still it's a TikTok or Instagram where it's like, let's go, let's book the flight. Like I'm ready, you know? And that's how all of my girls are. You just someone just drops it and we're like, okay, let's go. Can we go that day? You know, right?

SPEAKER_01

It's like, don't tease, like, we're in.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, we're in. We're really into we a lot of us want to see Carol G. I'm like, okay, well, should we see her here in LA or should we just I don't know, go to Mexico City, go to me org? Like, let's make a trip out of it. Let's the joys of adulting, I guess. Yeah, and I guess like responsibility.

SPEAKER_01

If you live similarly, right, in your everyday life, like similar types of restaurants, but just like in deciding where to stay, right? Like, do you just have an idea of budget for that?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

With depending on who you're going with, like level of hotel or if you're staying in Airbnb or I'm the Airbnb girly.

SPEAKER_02

I always am the one to find the spots because it's my love language.

SPEAKER_01

I would definitely delegate that to you in the group for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Anytime. I down. It it makes me so happy. It brings me so much joy. In terms of budget, I for us it's just typically an Airbnb is always less than a hotel, you know, especially when you have multiple people because you have to get multiple rooms. So I don't know. I'm like, if we can I guess we've done a few trips to Mexico City, where like if we can keep it under $200 a night, which is a steal because most hotels now are like $350 or something insane. But yeah, I don't, I think we're all just really cognizant of spending on what we prioritize, you know, and that is so most it's like when I go with my girlfriends who love to eat, it's like we're gonna prioritize eating at really good restaurants, right? When I travel with Andy and Luna, we don't prioritize eating at good restaurants because both of them have a have the palates of a five-year-old.

SPEAKER_01

You're right. Each has its place, and you're so open about money, so I just can imagine you're just like, ah, that's expensive. This is a good deal, or it's not like it's a hidden thing for you. Oh, of course. No, not at all. And you're an OG creator, like 15 years, and I want to talk about the longevity longevity of that, like when we talk about income. But curious, like, I always wonder, what are you getting for free? What are you paying for? Can you put a value to like what you would you get in a year if you had to pay for it yourself?

SPEAKER_02

And does that include travel? I'm if I left over, you can I wish you could see because we just got home from our for three months away, and there was so much PR that came, and it's always beauty PR. Beauty PR, they have the margins that these people have is crazy. They're just like lip glosses, everyone, not everyone gets a lip gloss.

SPEAKER_01

I don't yeah, your lip gloss looks great.

SPEAKER_02

Thanks. Yeah, I could not tell you the last time I bought lip gloss in the last 10 years. I have not purchased any type of lip product in 10 years because it has been showing up to my door. Um, I don't a monetary value. I don't know if I could put a monetary value on it. It's a lot of beauty stuff, a lot of beauty products, which 95% of the time I give away to my girlfriends and my sisters because you know your girl only has one face. And especially when it comes to skincare stuff, I'm super, super picky because I have acne chrome skin and I don't like to try new things. And with my makeup, I'm pretty pretty minimal too. I have my brands down, so it's not that it's a lot of stuff, but it's not necessarily besides lip gloss. Like I'm saving a ton of money. It's not what you would be buying, right? Yes, yes, yes, yes. You know, like I'm looking right now and have 15 eyeshadow pens, like glitter eyeshadow pens. I'm like, what am I gonna do with that? So and then travel, it's funny you ask, because I feel like in the start of my career, tra like trades for stays were a much bigger thing doing hotel stays for trades. Now what the brands want does not align with making it worth it for me. Right? So, an example, a hotel is like, hey, we'll give you two nights, and then we want two reels, we want seven images, we want X, Y, and Z. And especially if I'm traveling with my family, and like it's it's not worth it. It's not worth us spending our whole time there shooting content because we actually wanted to go there to experience the city or experience, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01

Um and they wouldn't pay like that, wouldn't be your what you would charge. Well, so a reel.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, right. Exactly. Exactly. It's like, well, your $350 a night is absolutely not what I charge for creating a reel and posting it on my channel and licensing it to you and all the things. I think if you're if you're a younger creator who doesn't have a family and has a little more time, it makes more sense, but time is of value and being present with my daughter too, you know, which is I'm trying harder and harder to be off my phone whenever we're together.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So it sounds like lots of beauty products are getting travel perks, you're using them less. What about clothes?

SPEAKER_02

Not really. I feel like few and far between. I think people think this life is very glamorous. And there are a lot of perks, and the biggest one I think is having a flexible schedule, right? But you've seen that I don't know, meme or something on Instagram that's like, I uh I want to be an entrepreneur so I can have a flexible schedule and work instead of working 40 hours Monday through Friday, nine to five, I'll work 180 hours throughout the week, like at midnight on the Saturday, you know, and that's it's like that, you know. Yes, I can go to Pilates at 10 o'clock in the morning, but I'm also probably up till 11 o'clock at night editing a reel for the next day. Thinking about it in the shower. Again, and this is like I feel like we're digressing a little bit, but I think this lifestyle, I don't really know, and I'm trying to be better at it, how to live without thinking it about it through the lens of content and everything that I do. And it's wild. It's kind of wild to say that out loud, you know?

SPEAKER_01

Right. It's like a perspective that's so ingrained.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And curious on, because I love how you have prioritized fun, you're a champion of fun. Outside of travel, like what is the, I guess not in addition to the investment, like curious what it costs for a night of salsa, but just like also to carve out that time for it. You're mentioning, you know, how busy you are.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, let me tell you the biggest hack, guys. The biggest hack about salsa dancing is it happens starting at 10 p.m. at night. So and everyone's like, wait, I'm already in bed. But listen, if you have a family, if you have a husband, I can I'm doing all my mom duties, right? I'm cooking dinner, I'm putting my daughter to bed, and I still have time to get ready and go out dancing. It's it's like a wash. They don't even know. She doesn't even know I'm gone half the time. And my husband, he's an early to-bed guy and he's a golfer. So we're basically ships fasting in the night. Like I'll come home at two o'clock in the morning and he'll wake up at 5 a.m. to go have the first tea time somewhere. And that it works for us. It works for us. Not everyone's like that, obviously. But this is, I think, something that a lot of women, especially, they're like, well, how will I find time? Yes, you are gonna lose out on some sleep. But I guarantee you, all you're actually doing in that time is sleeping. You're not, you're not wasting time out with your kids or your family. You're probably scrolling on your bone, like, get out, go dance, enjoy, connect with people. And cost-wise, I mean, I took classes for the first year or so. It's really addicting with the second you start dancing, you're just want to get better and better. I think the classes were maybe $250 for six weeks, which isn't that bad. Right. And then it, but then in general, though, if you're going to a salsa social, which is what I do now, like on a Tuesday night, I'll go out at 10 o'clock and dance for a few hours, 15 to 20 bucks, which that's less than a workout class. You know, I was thinking about this today when I was prepping for this. I'm like, you know, my Pilates class, I think, is $35 or something. In Miami, oh my god, it was I just took a my favorite Pilates class there, and I think it was like $39. I'm like, what are we doing? That Pilates is $39 now. But still, you know what I mean? That's I can go dance for a night for $20. And it's a workout and it's social and it's connecting and it's having shared experiences with people. There's so many benefits. I need everyone, everyone.

SPEAKER_01

And are you always going with your friends, or are you sometimes going solo, or how does that work? I both.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, so I I've been doing out for three years, and the self self scene is gets very small. Like once you're in it for a minute, it's very small. So you start to know everyone. So even if I go somewhere by myself, I will know somebody there. But it's great. It's it's such a beautiful life. I I can't complain. It's the best. And the sleep transform me.

SPEAKER_01

And the missed sleep, I was thinking like maybe if you're thinking about Luna's age, you just got more sleep because she got older, but then you it's almost like it didn't change because then you go solid. Like, how do you deal with the the less sleep?

SPEAKER_02

You look so rested. I would argue girl, I was uh time I went to go last night, 2:30 in the morning, and that's after going dancing to so dancing Tuesday and Wednesday night. Back to back. It it gives you energy, or at least me, I can't speak for everyone. It gives me energy that nothing else, like nothing else. And I don't know how to describe it, but it's so different than you know, going to a late-night dinner with your friends and drinking and going to bed really late and waking up being like, ugh, there's something about salsa that it gives me life and I can dance all day and all night and not be tired. And it's amazing. Wake up the next day and feel really good. I don't know, I just want everyone to do it, or at least try it because it's really a few of my girlfriends who've gotten into it recently, they're like, oh my god, Ashley, what am I when why have I waited so long?

SPEAKER_01

Like, what I've been telling you for three years.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And okay, let's talk about income because that's a big part of this and making this work. What are the ways you earn money?

SPEAKER_02

My biggest source of income is brand partnerships on Instagram. So that's a brand paying me to create content for them and either post it on my stories or my Instagram feed. They're also sometimes licensing it for their own ads so that they could run ads in the background. So that's my biggest, biggest, biggest source. And then I would say my next source is affiliate revenue. So that's when I link out to products and people purchase through those links, you get I get like 8, 10% commission, which if you do the math, is not that much. It's not like you gotta have a lot of sales to be making really good money on that. And then another way recently I started a Substack last year around our family travel. So I have some paid posts on there. I'm gonna and I'm gonna start getting more into that too because I miss writing and I miss talking about travel and how we're able to do it and kind of you know, stuff like this.

SPEAKER_01

And so it's from paid members or you're getting sponsorships. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

No, paid members. So to be a most some of my Substack posts are free. I would say 50% of them are free, but then 50% are you have to be a paying subscriber and it's five dollars a month. Like the post about where I do the calculation between Disney World and RTR that paid because it's very specific and it has like what our mortgage costs, which I'm like, okay, you can pay five dollars to know what our mortgage costs are. I don't mean that out on the internet for everyone, everyone to see. So yeah, those I would feel like are our three main categories. And then I also last year started the LA Girl Dinner Club, which is a community in Los Angeles of women who do we create like bespoke events twice a month. Think I don't know if you know Uchi, but it's a really popular sushi restaurant here, and we did a mocky roll making class and omakase happy hour, and we made it specifically for the girls. And I work with my co-founder to create those events, and we leverage our Instagram following to get discounts from these restaurants. It's like, hey, we're gonna post about it, and we're gonna bring in local LA girls who would probably never have come or you know have money to spend, and we'll bring back their friends and for future trips. So that has been a new kind of avenue for us. We're still trying to figure out 100% how to monetize it. We do have a membership, it's $25 a month, it's $25 a year to be a member to be part of these experiences, and then we charge per event. But when I started talking about doing this, someone DM'd me and she goes, Can I give you the biggest tip ever? Never get into events. There's no money in events. And now I'm seeing it even when we're leveraging our it's just it's hard. It's especially you know, food, food and beverage costs in LA are so expensive that adding even just a little for us to take from the top, it's hard. So we're still trying to figure that out. That's but that's regular 2.0 of what I'm hoping to build.

SPEAKER_01

And I do think people want to gather in person. Like I'm really feeling it and seeing it. So thank you for creating space despite the challenge.

SPEAKER_02

If you know me, we're getting, we're gonna get, we gotta live life. We're gonna be get together, connect, have shared experiences. I feel like that's the key to happiness.

SPEAKER_01

And people can get like the full details by paying for a Substack, but what can you share as far as amounts and ranges for your different revenue streams?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, there's been certain years where I was making like upwards of $400,000. This year has been very slow, and I I posted about this on my stories right before I got on this with you. The landscape is changing, it's evolving, and therefore I'm evolving with it, and it's why things like Substack are growing and these kind of communities are building. But we're not doing bad. Like my husband and I both make six figures, but we both also need to work. I think that's something that from an outsider's point of view, if we were to look at some of our trips, you know, you're just like, oh, this girl comes for money and this girl has a trust fund. No, I have been working since I was 16 years old. I had $100,000 in student debt when I graduated from college. Like we hustle and we just prioritize how we spend our money. And yeah, we're making we're making big we're making adult money now. You know, it's not we're not 20, we're 40. It's a little different. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. And it I mentioned earlier you've been you've like are an OG creator. Is it the time freedom? Like what keeps you going? Like what keeps this longevity in it?

SPEAKER_02

This is the last question asked because I yeah, no, true. Like this year in Teleko has been so slow. And I look at my husband like, well, what else can I do where I will have this flexibility? I don't know. Like, I truly don't know. And you know, one of my girlfriends was like, you should do real estate. And then the other one's like, no, if you do real estate, you can literally never leave the city. You always have to be here. And you know what I mean? Like it's it's hard. I think that's a true, you know. I don't know. Like now it's a cash grab, I think, for a lot of people becoming creators because it's easy. The barrier to entry is really low. Supposedly, like, easy. It's not though, because there's highs and lows and money's not always there. But for me, it started as a passion project when I was an accountant. I just wanted to write about shoes and it's evolved so much since then. And with that has come the flexibility to be a mom. I mean, both of us, we both work from home, and that's not just for our travel, but for our daughter. You know, I try to tell her all the time, baby, not everyone gets to have their mom and papa pick them up from school at three o'clock. You know, not everyone gets to spend this much time with their parents, and I feel so, so grateful for that. And now, you know, the next iteration, it's got it's gotta try to some give that to me because I don't know, I don't know. I just can't imagine doing the be at a workplace for nine hours a day and not having that flexibility, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that drove a lot of why I left my corporate job too. I looked even around at the very senior people and I was like, that is not what I want, you know? I know.

SPEAKER_02

I know. But and it's I think we're all learning that the timeline that we need to. Yeah, because I have a lot of friends who are now in their early 40s and they're just like, What am I doing climbing the ladder? You know, I have I missed out on so much. We the people we travel with too, they have older kids and they did this program and they're like, you are so smart that you realize this sooner than later. They're like, this is the first time my kids are 13 and 14. This is the first time we've spent real time with them. Because they were always just locked in and working, working, working. So I feel really grateful for that. I feel really grateful for that. And I feel I know the universe will provide. It's all gonna work out.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And for you and Andy, how do you handle money together? And like, has your money philosophy changed? Like, as you this is a great question because more serious.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. We've always until recently, until I think like two years ago, had our money separately. We had one joint account where we put our like our mortgage in. Our mortgage went in there, and Luna's tuition went into there. And we each put in the exact same amount and our savings, and that all dispersed from there. But he, whatever else he made, and whatever else I made, like, do you. And you know, and I have no visibility into it, right? Like, he would come home. My husband loves Legos, so he would come home with brand new Legos or brand new computer. I'm like, what are you, what are you doing? And at the same time, I'm like, I'm going to get my Botox. And he has no idea how much that costs. So, like, let me end my life. But I feel like in the last few years with travel, with our jobs changing, at one point, he was an employee of mine, the way that we were running our Hus Corporation. We have we had to combine it a little more. And I don't know, I don't love it like that because I feel like I don't, I just we were, we were not like we're hiding anything, but just like, I don't know. I feel very strongly like you do you, I do me. But having it more visible, it's like, oh, what are you what are you spending? You're spending money on that, or I don't know. Like I just try not to look at it if I don't have to, because I don't want to be judgy.

SPEAKER_01

So you're at the way reason you don't like it is you're seeing his stuff more, not that he's seeing your yeah, or even I mean both.

SPEAKER_02

I don't think yeah. I think you can tell, like when I I go salsa dancing, he has golfing. Like we have our things that are just ours, and I think that has is the key to our marriage that it's not like so ingrained. It's not every little thing isn't, you know, what is he doing? What am I doing? Or are we talking? I don't know, like obviously of great communication, but do you think you'll go back to the other way?

SPEAKER_01

Or you'll just get more used to it?

SPEAKER_02

I mean, not right now because uh thank God this has my husband has a real good job right now because I'm not making that much money. Right. Yeah, and then and then you're like, oh, this is partnership, right? This is partnership that one I want. The same thing, like during COVID, he was in between jobs and like I was the breadwinner and we kind of ebbed in flow in that sense. And you know, the gratitude for having a partner that can do that with you is amazing. You know, always so grateful that we can ride the ride together.

SPEAKER_01

That was actually a question I had is like, is that a piece of when income varies? Like, do you have a system for that? But it sounds like the combination is your system so that it still works.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Yeah, it still works. And you know, I think what we always have prioritized is making sure we're saving and we're investing. And as soon as that's done and taken care of, it's fun money. But yeah, I mean, back to your thing, like he had never knew how much Airbnbs cost because I just book them or even food. Like I do all our grocery shopping. And the other day he was like, Whoa, that was $200. I'm like, Yeah, babe.

SPEAKER_01

Three bucks. Wait, you paid for the whole thing, like on a trip, would he send you money for the Airbnb, or you just would cover it? I would just, I would just cover it.

SPEAKER_02

We came up with a system that wasn't even a discussed system. I do Airbnbs, he does flights, like it just happened that way. You know, he loves the points game and finding the flights and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01

I love doing the Airbnbs, and that's just how we and it felt like it was even, or did you usually pay more? Because Airbnbs might be more.

SPEAKER_02

But that's like we never did like the tit for tat, right? We never did the is it even if it's not? It's like yes, we have separate money, but uh, it's a whole, like it's ours. But as long as you're paying your credit card bill and I'm paying my credit card bill, it doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_01

Got it. And the food is a big one to cover all the food.

SPEAKER_02

I know, and that's been really interesting lately because I'm like, well, also we've been we realized, and this is like a good tip the Amex goal has great multipliers on grocery stores. And I realized I was putting the food on my chase card, and I'm like, we should not be doing that. I should be putting it on your Amex. So you know, things like that.

SPEAKER_01

But for the moment And that maybe is easier to see when you're both seeing it, I guess. What about having like raising a daughter in LA? Any like expenses shock you about that? Or like any real numbers you can share?

SPEAKER_02

So we have, I mean, our preschool is on the less expensive side and it's two grand a month. I don't know what that how that hits, you know, nationally. I feel like Right. There's there's there's places that are $4,000 a month. So to me it's we're getting a deal. But yeah, I mean, have again, like back to your in the beginning, how I said I think a life hack is only having one child, especially in a big city. It's really expensive, it's really expensive. And we realized there's many reasons why we only have one babe, it's not solely financial, but I think the way that we would like to live our lives and how much we want to live, live, live it and experience it would not be possible if we had more kids.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and the biggest thing so far has been tuition other than I guess the kid costs like getting set up.

SPEAKER_02

Tuition and health insurance till until recently. So we were we we are an escort, but Andy just got a full-time job, and we were paying health insurance out of sixteen hundred dollars a month, which is insane for our family, and I don't even go to the doctor ever. I go like once every two years to get pap smear and I'm done. Yeah, but the healthcare is crazy.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. When it and especially when you don't have it through work.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yeah. That I will say that is one of the biggest kind of creator expenses that I think a lot of people don't consider when you're working for yourself.

SPEAKER_01

And what do you hope Luna learns from you about money?

SPEAKER_02

This is a great question. We've been trying to practice gratitude recently. I think I'm actually having a hard time. I don't know how you teach gratitude to a five-year-old, almost six-year-old, because especially when we were in Europe, it's like I made it, I made a statement to a friend that was traveling with us that I don't want her to think this is real life because it's very special. And a friend who also had kids there said, No, but I want my kids to realize like this could be their life. Like if they worked hard enough, if they prioritize the things that they want to prioritize, this can be their life. It is and it is our life. It is our life. Right, it is their real life, yeah. Yeah, and that kind of changed the perspective for me. I think I mean we could have a whole nother podcast on people's, including my feelings around money. I grew up thinking money was bad, wanting money was bad, anyone who had money was bad, that they were just not good people, or they were greedy, or I don't know. I don't know why that was just how I grew up. And it took a lot of I know. It took, I read, oh my god, what is that book? Oh, it has a green cover. You're a badass with money. You're a badass with money in my 20s, and that changed my life. It changed my life. Honestly, I think I don't need to go back and read it, but it's Jen Sincero, I think, is the author, right? Yes, yes. It changed my relationship with money, and I now look at it through the lens of money supports my happiness, money supports my joy, money allows me to do the things that bring me joy and happiness, and to spread that joy and happiness to other people and reframing that. Oh my god. That's like when I quit my job and started doing this full time.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. So and I do think you have an amazing balance of being grateful and crafting the incredible life. Like you're feeling very grateful for what you've created, and it's your real life that you're creating something beyond what someone might think is possible. So I think your modeling will probably help a lot too.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, hopefully, because I don't know. I mean, this girl, I gotta teach her that I don't know. It's yeah, I just I want her to be smart with money, right? We all want to be smart with money and but have a good relationship with it and realize it can bring so much joy and happiness into your life, you know?

SPEAKER_01

Yes. He my oldest one, he always wants to fly like business class. We did it one time and he had it was probably the highlight of his whole trip. And so instead of so I say, like, if you work really hard and that's important to you, you can have that. He's like, Well, you work really hard. And I'm like, Well, that's not something we're choosing right now. We're choosing other things. That's a great way to frame it.

SPEAKER_02

That's a great way to frame it. Yeah, my child has also been spoiled with flying business labs. So she thinks every big flight has a lie flat then. And I'm like, This is your dad. Yeah, I'm like, this is just because your dad is really good with credit card points and figures out a way to do it.

SPEAKER_01

I should have Andy on too to talk points. You really should. He's he's good.

SPEAKER_03

He's really good.

SPEAKER_01

All right, I know I've kept you a long time, and there's we could have multiple podcasts, but what's something about your finances people would never guess?

SPEAKER_02

I think people, I mean, after listening to this podcast, they would probably guess it, but I think from the junk, people would assume that I am spending a significant amount of money on clothes, and I'm not like at all. I think I I think that would be an assumption, like just like clothes.

SPEAKER_01

Well, that we should do a podcast on that because you also always look so fashionable. So it's like, how do you do that without spending a lot of money on clothes?

SPEAKER_02

This is this is the performer challenge. I think another thing that people would be surprised, not women, because I think what maybe younger women is the cost of just self-care and aesthetics as you get older. Like no one told me that I needed to save as much money for Botox and lasers. And again, like it's a choice that I make to spend, but woo! Yeah, that's what I told Andy. I'm like, I don't I don't care about new clothes, I don't care about bar stools. I just want to make sure I can get my Botox every four months.

SPEAKER_01

I know. My mom and I say that we're like, our our money's not in our closet or our shoes, it's at the med spawn.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, a hundred percent. No one told me that when I was 25 years old.

SPEAKER_01

And what are you working towards affording next?

SPEAKER_02

Bar bar back to the bar stools. No, we are so I might almost get sad when you have bar stools, you know? It's like, what are we even talking about? End of an yeah, no, so we lived in our house for seven years. And aside from the initial, you know, furniture haul that we did, we don't we just haven't put a lot of personality into our house because it's been rented and people actually like it without personality because it lends to a very blank campus. Now that we're gonna potentially be home at least for a minute, I'm like, oh, maybe we can start decorating, start putting some more of our feel to it. I really want to put a pool in our backyard, like a little plunge pool. So that, yeah, that is something that I am going to be working towards affording because that would be a dream.

SPEAKER_01

I love it. This was so valuable. Thank you, Ashley, for this inside look into like how you've curated this incredible life. And I love the mottos, the mindset, how you make the numbers work. Where can everyone find you and support you in your work?

SPEAKER_02

On Instagram at EverydayPursuits and basically everyday pursuits across all the places. But yes, like, like, save, comment, share. I don't know. Go follow Ashley. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Amazing. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you so much for listening to How Do You Afford This? If you loved this inside look into how people are actually affording their lives, follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We have a new episode dropping every week. And trust me, you do not want to miss them. And please share this with a friend. You'll get credit for introducing them to their new favorite podcast.