We had the good fortune of connecting with Anna D and Adam and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Anna D and Adam, do you have a budget? How do you make lifestyle and spending decisions?
We absolutely have a budget! In the beginning of our relationship, we rarely discussed money because we both had very different goals. Adam is the saver and Anna is the spender. However with no communication comes trouble. In 2020, we found ourselves 36k in the hole (car loan, credit card and other non-home loans). We knew we had to get out of that because we were ABSOLUTELY being asphyxiated by all the monthly payments. After several, long and tough conversations we began getting on the same page. It didn’t happen all at once but we both had one common goal, get out of debt as quickly as possible and never go back. After re-doing our budget and selling A LOT of our non-essential personal belongings, we got out of debt in a year. Then, we saved for a 6 month emergency fund and then began saving for all the fun stuff. It took a lot of conversations, planning and discipline. Now, whenever we contemplate spending any money outside of what we have budgeted – we will have an in depth discussion about it. Anytime we have an “impulse” moment, we think back to how that $5 purchase is taking $16 away from paying our mortgage early ($5 for principle and $11 in interest saved over the 30 year course). This may seem ridiculous but if you tally all of the impulse purchases of things you don’t really need or provide value, you’ll find a lot of money that could go towards your actual goals (paying the house off early, travel, college fund, etc).
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We are a husband and wife duo who create travel vlogs on YouTube. In the grand scheme of things you could say we’re, “Just another husband and wife travel vlog channel” however, we’re more than that. We’re currently in our late 30’s and we went straight from University to finding well-paying jobs, getting married, buying a house, etc to designing and creating a more meaningful life for ourselves. Our goal is to share more of that with the world.
Honestly, it took a pandemic to force us to take a hard look at our lives. We always knew we were missing something but couldn’t quite put our finger on it. During 2020, we had a LOT OF TIME to talk and spend in nature (we live in Colorado). On a whim, we decided to merge our love for photography and videography into a little pandemic project that later snowballed into something we wanted to do more regularly.
Our travel vlog has been so much fun but definitely a huge challenge. We both work full-time jobs, which means that our adventures have to remain local most of the time. We also don’t have a huge budget for pretty much anything so we handle all the YouTube key-wording, social media, marketing, editing, planning, etc of the vlog. We’re also constantly trying to come up with new content that is entertaining and educational. We’re not YouTube celebrities and it takes quite a bit of work to be monetized on YouTube. But the beauty is that Adam and I work so well together so we are able to motivate each other quite often and are always inspired to keep creating and growing creatively.
We think it’s so important for the world to know that you can pursue any dream or idea at any point in your life. The goal is to be persistent, consistent and in it for the long haul.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We’ve actually done this for friends!
We would recommend that they stay at the Maven Hotel in Denver and enjoy meals anywhere on Larimer St. They would definitely need to go to Meow Wolf and a home Football, Baseball or Hockey Game (depending on the season). Visiting a local brewery is a must so we would spend a day in Golden and on a warm day tube down Clear Creek Whitewater Park and have beers at Mountain Toad while enjoying food from whatever food truck is there for the day. Naturally, there would be a trip to Red Rocks because it’s the most iconic venue we know of. However, no trip to the Rockies is complete without a trip to the Rockies. While visiting Rocky Mountain National Park is an absolute must, we’ve found that a day trip to St. Mary’s Glacier will do the trick. It’s a short hike to Saint Mary’s Lake and no timed entry is required during the summer (although you should arrive at 6am because it does get crowded).
Of course, there are soooo many more places to visit like Boulder, Estes Park, Colorado Springs, the Sand Dunes and more but this is a pretty sweet itinerary if you’re going to be in the Denver area on a warm weather day.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would not be here without The Minimalists whose documentary “Minimalism” got us started on living a more intentional life. Then through learning from them, we encountered Dave Ramsey whose book “Total Money Makeover” was an ABSOLUTE game changer. Regarding our video work we would love to shout-out Devin Schiro who taught a course at Brooke Shaden’s Promoting Passion Convention that ignited Adam’s love for videography.
Website: annadandadam.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annadandadam/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnaDandAdam
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnaDandAdam
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AnnaDandAdam