Before you get all giddy, let me be completely transparent here:
Yes, we paid off $24,000 of debt in 2015, and my husband’s take-home pay is just slightly more than $30,000, but we did not live on $6,000 during 2015.
What we did instead, was reduced our bills enough that we could live only on my husband’s income, and everything I made from this blog + my online business was put towards debt.
Essentially, we put 44% of our take-home pay towards paying off debt.
Originally, we had planned to pay off $30,000 of debt, but just like every other year, our circumstances and goals changed, which was perfectly ok. So instead of stressing over not meeting our $30k goal, we just decided to pay off as much as we possible could!
{Read our plan to pay off $30,000 in debt in 2015}
Putting 44% of our take-home pay towards debt was certainly not easy {at least not always}.
When we started January 1st, like most New Year’s Resolutions are, it was easy. I cooked from scratch every day, monitored our budget continuously, and hustled extra hard to build my business and online income.
But as the year progressed, it got harder, so we had to come up with methods to keep ourselves motivated.
So today I want to share with you 5 essential pieces to a long-term debt payoff journey:
- Cut your budget (we refinanced, cooked from the freezer, and found some crazy ingenious ways to spend less)
- Communicate until you hate each other
- Embrace New Methods
- Get a side hustle
- Stay motivated
Cut Your Budget
Please forgive the fact that I sound like a broken record. I really don’t mean to.
But, finding areas where you can spend less – and areas where you just can’t! – is the first step.
Like it or not, you cannot skip this.
It’s painful, it will probably inconvenience your family and friends, and is something you will ALWAYS have to do, but it’s worth it.
I’ve written nearly 100 posts about how you can cut your budget, save money, live more frugally, you name it, so I’ll spare you the 800 different methods I’ve found here. If you’re truly serious about your debt payoff journey, then you can check out my best money-saving tips by category here:
{Refinance your debt} – sounds scary, but it’s easy and painless, I promise
{Other Ingenious Tips That Don’t Have a Category}
Communicate Until You Hate Each Other
This year, we tried about 16 different methods to keep each other in the loop about the budget, and none of them worked except one:
Budget Meetings.
They sound so formal and intimidating, and so they scared us away! Well, at least until we developed Marriage & Money. This workbook really solidified our commitment to our financial goals, helped us to celebrate our financial wins, and yes, almost completely got rid our our money fights. {You can learn about + buy Marriage & Money Here}
If marriage & money isn’t your thing, find another way to keep everyone involved in the budgeting & spending money process. Whether you text each other, pay bills together, or check Personal Capital separately, find something that works for you.
{Read about why we use Personal Capital}
Embrace New Methods
If find exploring and learning new things invigorating.
It takes all kind of people, so you may or may not like new thing the way I do, but for a minute, think about wht happens when you embrace them.
Getting our of your comfort zone, coloring outside the lines, or just learning to use something new can completely expand your mind, open your eyes to something amazing, and yes, enhance your budget.
During 2015, we embraced new methods for saving & budgeting:
Digit saved us $1,226.12
Acorns helped us invest an extra $172.42
Paribus got s $25 back on purchases we had already made
Republic Wireless saved us $2,100 off our phone bill
Personal Capital allowed us to integrate our debt, investments, savings, and budget. (It’s free!)
Betterment helped us grow our investments by nearly $650 in interest.
Swagbucks earned us $750 in Amazon gift cards
There are an unbelievably amount of easy to use, free financial tools that are getting rave reviews, so embrace new methods to keep a long debt payoff journey fresh, fun, and exciting. Find what works for you today!
Get A Side Hustle
Think you don’t have time?
Think again.
When I started side hustling I was already working 60-70 hours a week and I was 8 months pregnant.
If I made it work, so can you.
{See The Side Hustles I’ve Blogged About}
Once you find a side hustle that you love and that works with the time you have available, resolve to put all of that extra money towards debt. It will be tempting to spend it, but just think about how amazing it will feel when you get to the end of the year and are able to write a post like this ;-)
Stay Motivated
The hardest part, we discovered, of taking so long to pay off debt, was that just like with a New Year’s resolution, our motivation started to wane after a couple of month.
So instead of giving up, we decided that each month we would refresh our goals using a new motivation method. Here are some of the ones we used:
- Try out a new side hustle
- Fill in a debt payoff thermometer
- Find someone to keep you accountable
- Start a blog to document your debt journey
- Read a motivational, or self-help book
- Check out a new debt blogger for a new perspective
- Do you budget check-in over drinks
- Or, do the budget meeting quickly over appetizers at a restaurant, and then enjoy the date
- Create a dream board for after you’re debt free
- Celebrate milestones with a drink, dessert, or meal
Think about what excites you – could you incorporate that into your debt journey?
Everyone’s debt journey will be different.
The things that remain the same are these 5 principles: save money, communicate, try new things, embrace the side hustle, and find ways to stay motivated.
How long has your debt payoff journey lasted? How do you keep yourself motivated?
P.S. – Don’t forget to share this post for a chance to win this awesome T-shirt or a copy of Marriage & Money!
Petrish @ Debt Free Martini says
Your success story is so awesome!! So many people think that you have to give up so much to become debt free, or work 3 jobs. You and your husbands method makes sense. Thank you so much for sharing your story. Looking forward to see how you both build wealth in the future.
Ramona says
There’s only this much you can save on a small income, so making more money extra is the way to really knock down debt forever and get ahead financially.
Your story is truly inspirational. Congratulations for such a great achievement :)
Jen says
This is truly inspirational and shows that it debt cutting can be done on so many levels. Congrats to you and your husband!
karen says
truly inspirational, reading again and sving. Thanks. Stopping by from #TurnItUpTuesday
Karen Del Tatto says
Thanks for sharing these great tips on ways to consolidate debt.
Amanda says
Great Ideas! I’m struggling with staying motivated and saying no to the things I want.
Angela @ Setting My Intention says
Congratulations! We too just paid off our student loan debt this year – now we just have the mortgage. We had a rough handrawn debt thermometer that was motivational for me at least! We’re just starting budget meetings because my husband is making a career change and we’ll be down by half in terms of income. We have savings, but I’m determined not to spend any of it! I’d like to earn more income through my blog and hubby is doing freelance work until something full time comes around. Visiting from Women with Intention
Elise @ Harvey Ever After says
Thanks for a great article! I need a lot of help staying motivated to pay off debt! And I love your list of resources that helped you earn or save in the past year — very helpful!
Deedra says
This is a great read. My family is just now getting back on out feet from so long ago. My goal is to pay off one of my student loans this year. Just one- but it will make a big difference to me and the stress is causes,
Gina says
My debt journey hasn’t been going on for too long, only since January. Although, I’m afraid that grad school will make it last much longer. This is so impressive what you’ve accomplished! I’ve been wondering about how I can reduce our bills anymore as I already felt like we had reduced them as much as we could. But, I think I’ll have to work more on the side hustles and make sure that we regularly have our budget meetings instead of sporadically as we do know. Thanks for the inspiration!
Diana Met Danny says
Holy moly you are awesome. You put together so much good information for us, and I thank you for it! I just came across your blog, but when I started my debt free journey with my husband last year, it was blogs like YOURS that helped us so much. We paid off $5,000 of credit card debt within six months, and we now have enough to move to a new apartment. It helped that we increased our income because there was no way we could have paid off our debt in the previous years. Thank you so much for sharing. I bookmarked this!