If you found this blog because something isn’t adding up (the income, the budget, the sense that you should be further along by now), you’re in the right place.
Small Budget Big Life is for families managing money on one income, for immigrants navigating a financial system nobody explained to them, and for anyone who has wondered whether starting small is even worth it. The answer is yes. This blog is the proof.
Here’s where to begin.
Step 1 — Before any framework or number on this blog, there’s a story. My wife Sarah and I got married in 2020 and moved to Taiwan with $2,000 in our bank account and a missionary income of $1,200 a month. Every financial decision we made from that point came out of that context: the budgeting system, the emergency fund, the $30 a month we started investing.
I start here because I want you to know the numbers on this blog are real, and the circumstances behind them were tight. If this worked for us, it can work for you.
Read: What 6 Years as a Missionary in Taiwan Taught Me About Money
Step 2 — Learn the budgeting system
We ran our household on a modified 50/20/20/10 framework (50% needs, 20% giving and savings, 20% investing, 10% wants) on $1,200 a month, in two currencies, with an income that didn’t always arrive on time. This post walks through exactly how we built it and how to adapt the same framework to your family’s income, whatever that number is.
Read: How to Build a Reliable Family Budget on One Income
Step 3 — See what consistent investing actually looks like
In 2020 I set up an automated transfer of $30 into an index fund. Six years later, that account holds over $23,000. Not because of a high income or a perfect strategy. Because of a habit that ran every single month without stopping, including the year the balance barely moved and I almost quit. That year matters most.
Read: How We Started Investing on $30 a Month and What 6 Years Looks Like
Step 4 — Step 4 — Get the free tools and stay in the loop
I built two free tools to go alongside this blog: a Family Budget Template and an Investment Tracker, both in Google Sheets. The budget template is the exact framework we used in Taiwan. The tracker is what I wish I had from the beginning to document our journey year by year.
Drop your email below and I’ll send the Family Budget Template straight to you. You’ll also get new posts as they go up. No noise, just the content.
The Investment Tracker is included in the welcome email when you subscribe above.