I would tell myself like, Oh, if you don't make X
amount every year, you're going to be miserable,
which is so not true.
I making a lot less than 12 year old me thought
that I would need to be happy. I've come to
realize that, you know, you can make it work no
matter how much money you make.
Yeah. My name is Aspeyn Longhouse.
I am 22.
I make $32,000 a year, and I live in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
I work as a canine rehabilitation assistant,
and I've been working in that field for about two
years. I get to help a lot of post-op surgical
patients. Any geriatric patients who suffer with
arthritis or just medically manage a lot of
pain, chronic pain issues in dogs, cats, the
occasional penguin.
I originally started school studying human
physical therapy to be a human physical therapist
assistant, and I came across a YouTube video
actually that highlighted canine rehabilitation.
And I pretty quickly realized I kind of wanted
to switch gears and focus on animals because I love
animals so much.
So I switched to Veterinary Technician
school and I am currently attending the Canine Rehab
Institute to become certified as a canine
rehabilitation nurse.
I absolutely love my job and that's why I feel
fortunate to be able to do it.
But I also want to make sure that I am like my
best self.
So I say all the time, you know, I don't live to
work. I work to live.
I really just started those side hustles because
they're fun. It was more of a hobby than anything
else. Pretty quickly I realized I could make like
a million bowls, but what am I really going to do
with a million bowls?
So I should probably start selling them.
My dad has been in the Air Force since he was 18
years old. Growing up, we moved around a ton.
I've lived in lots of different states and we
kind of settled in Ohio around the time that I was
in high school. I know that my parents were in
debt for a little bit when I was young, so I saw
the amount of stress that they had surrounding debt
and credit cards and money in general.
And I knew that I did not ever want to have to
experience that. I had this paralyzing fear of
being in debt from like a ridiculously young age.
If I could go back and tell my younger self like,
hey, everything is going to be okay, you know, you
will make enough money, you're going to get a good
job. I have been living on my own for the past
four years.
I feel like where I'm currently at, I am
definitely able to support my needs and my
lifestyle. I make roughly $2,200-ish a
month. My rent is $710 a month.
My electric is roughly $35 a month, and then my
wi-fi is about $22.
Both my car insurance and my car payment I pay for
completely on my own.
Everything is in my name.
Aside from my monthly expenses, I spend the most
on food and coffee.
I love getting coffee.
It makes my day every time I go.
I do budget myself a coffee budget every month.
I try to keep it like $80, which might be a lot
for some people, but for me it's reasonable.
I also do pottery.
I have a membership fee.
It's about $65.
And then my yoga membership as well is
about $70.
So when I was going through technician school
and human physical therapy school, the GI
Bill I got from my dad paid for all of that.
I was lucky enough to come out of traditional
university without any student loans.
I only have one credit card to help me when I
need it and help boost my credit score.
I usually pay it off once, maybe even twice a
month, but one is good for now.
This past August, I did go out to Colorado to work
on my education and I wasn't able to save as
much money as I normally would.
Education as a whole is always going to be an
investment. So definitely dipped into my savings a
little bit, but I think it was worth it for what
I'm going to gain out of it.
Schooling for the Canine Rehab Institute is roughly
$7,000 to $8,000.
My work paid for about half and I had to cover
the rest of it.
I don't currently have any retirement fund set
up. I definitely plan to set some up in the future.
I think I would be more comfortable if I made a
little bit more and I could save more.
I think saving is very, very important.
It's very important to set yourself up for
success, but I wouldn't say that I'm like a super
strict saver.
I try and treat myself when I can enjoy my life
while I can and then save whatever I have left over
. 5 to 10 years from now I would love it if I could
still be working with animals, doing
rehabilitation in some capacity.
I would also love to grow any sort of art business,
add more of those artistic aspects to my
life and I do think I will maintain the money
habits that I have.
I've built a pretty good foundation for not going
into debt and spending money fairly wisely.
So I think that I'll just continue to grow.