As I mentioned at the start of this episode, I was lucky enough to have met Tonya from Budget and the Beach a few years ago when my husband Josh and I were on our honeymoon in California.
Both Josh and I were debating where to go for our honeymoon, and since we’d already done the whole Mexico resort thing a few years prior, we decided to fulfill our childhood dreams of going to Disneyland. It was beyond awesome, I’m telling you. It seriously is the happiest place on Earth.
Anywho, while we were in California, we were able to meet Tonya for some beer and tacos near Hermosa Beach. Ok, here’s the thing, when I pictured Hermosa Beach I pictured people in bikinis rollerblading along the seawall.
What we ended up getting was cold, cloudy weather pretty much the whole time we were there. When I told Tonya this, she broke the harsh news to us that the locals call this time of year “June Gloom” because of the blah weather. I guess I should have done a bit more research before booking those plane tickets. Oh well, we still had an awesome time, even if we didn’t get to go for a swim in the ocean.
Ever since that meet-up, Tonya has been one of my all-time favourite American personal finance bloggers. So when I got the idea to start my own podcast, I knew I needed to get Tonya as my first non-Canadian guest. She’s just so personable and honest, and I think it definitely comes across in this episode.
Before getting to the blog posts Tonya mentions on the show, I wanted to share the first episode of her Money Stories web series. Just like me with my podcast, Tonya is going beyond her blog to share other people’s money stories and I am absolutely loving it!