Courtesy of Mike Monfredi
The author, Mike Monfredi, pictured with his wife and daughter.
- Mike Monfredi works as a forensic scientist and his wife Monica works as a dentist. They own and operate a dental practice and earn a combined six-figure income.
- They're also paying off $140,000 in student debt and preparing to welcome their second child.
- For Business Insider's "Real Money" series, Mike shares how they spent their money during a recent week, which ended with a much-anticipated vacation in Maui.
- Want to share a week of your spending? Email yourmoney@businessinsider.com.
Spending money intentionally is something my wife and I aspire to regularly.
We're young business owners (30 and 32 years old) who own our home and have a 3-year-old daughter with another on the way. For years, we haven't had the luxury of spending frivolously. …But we're making progress.
Personally, my current job duties include running our family's dental practice, working a different full-time job as a forensic scientist, and running my blog, MikedUp Blog. Busy doesn't begin to describe my typical day.
And I know what you're probably thinking - his highest budgeted category must be for energy drinks, Starbucks runs, and anxiety-related therapy visits…
But since we purchased our business about 16 months ago, subsequently relocated the office about 8 months ago, and have had some time for daily tasks and habits to settle out, my stress is currently at a healthy level. I do have an obsession with coffee, though - more on how that affects the budget below.
Our main financial obstacles now consist of us finding balance between digging out from a mountain of debt (student loans, business, and mortgage), while saving and investing for the long-term, and still trying to live our best life in the present moment (where's that guidebook?).
The good news is that we're starting to gain some financial momentum, and as our business has grown in the last 18 months, we're breathing a little easier during our monthly budget talk.
Because of the progress, my wife and I decided to book an 8-night Maui vacation. Call it a combination of celebration for our hard work and one last getaway before our new baby arrives. We'd been to Maui before, but this would be the first trip with our daughter and we were thrilled to bring her along.