Y’all I am so excited to be writing this post because I have been wanting to write it for so long!
(p.s. Todd and I didn’t notice till after we took these pictures that the “I” had fallen off from the word “in”) lol ….
Todd and I actually paid off ALL college debt as of August of 2018. I planned to share the news then, but honestly times were busy and I forgot!
If you know me, then you know I love talking budgeting, lol. A lot of people think money/budgeting can be such a taboo subject, but I think it’s important to talk about because God has entrusted us with his money and we are to be the best stewards of it we possibly can be (with his help of course!) So why wouldn’t we talk about strategies on how to practically do that!?
So let me start by sharing with you our “debt” story. If you are just here for the tips, well then feel free to skip on down below!
Our Story:
Todd and I both attended Liberty University. I was very blessed and because of savings, family members, and scholarships I did not have to take any loans out in college (a blessing I will always be so thankful for!) Todd was also very blessed and received a good bit of scholarships and had a job that paid most of his school bills. He ended up only having to take out just under $30,000 for all 4 years. (Yes still a lot, but if you know school costs, then you know that this is equivalent to about 1 year of school costs).
In 2016, Todd graduated and we got married one month after Todd graduated. We didn’t tackle our college debt right away because we were getting settled/used to paying all the bills and such together. We also had a few payments we had to finish paying from our wedding. We started paying off our debt as of January 2017 (after the 6 months grace period ended).
At first we weren’t super concerned with paying all the debt off. We considered just paying the minimum and to try to start saving for a house.
But then we took Financial Peace University, and y’all I thought I was money conscious before, but this made me realize how important it was to just get that debt out of our lives! I highly recommend if you have not taken Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, then you get online and find somewhere that is giving the course. It is totally worth the fee you have to pay. Just trust me and do it!
Anyway…After that we decided we were going to Debt avalanche (not just snowball) our college debt! And we did so in only 20 months!
Now you may be thinking, oh well maybe you guys had huge salaries because you secretly had great jobs and that was a super easy thing to do to pay off debt….
Let me just set the record straight that while we had comfortable salaries we are not doctors or lawyers, or any high paying job, just simply a Christian school teacher and a Worship Leader salary. So if we could do it, so can you!
So how did we do it?
1. We lived off of one income:
Yep! We decided we were going to live off of Todd’s salary and pretend that mine did not exist. Every single month We put every penny I earned onto our student loan! The only exception to this was the month we bought Christmas gifts we were only able to use about half of my salary.
2. We tithed every month:
I mentioned earlier that we don’t see our money as our own, rather we know it has been entrusted to us by God. So we knew it was important to give God back some of what he gave us. So every month we gave 10%. Also, we tithed off of both of my income and Todd’s even though we were living off of only Todd’s income.
We knew that by trying to pay off debt we were honoring God, but if we weren’t tithing in the process, then it wouldn’t be very God honoring. So we always made it a priority.
3. We set a strict budget, and didn’t allow for much miscellaneous
We followed a budget every month, that was zero based (meaning we knew exactly where each dollar was going). We also didn’t have a large miscellaneous category in our budget (I think it was around $100 dollars a month and that covered extra car maintenance, clothes, gifts, etc.). Now this is not something I would suggest long term, but we knew there were sacrifices we could make (like not buying new clothes often) for a short period of time. We knew the end was in sight, so it kept us on budget.
When we did have extra “fun” money it came from other sources like gifts, yard-sales, or side hustles.
4. We communicated about money all. the. time.
Todd and I were always in constant communicate during our strict budget time. We communicated about everything, down to if there was money to go get a cup of coffee with someone. I know you’re probably thinking wow, that sounds really frustrating, and truthfully sometimes it did get a little bit old. But by doing this we were reminding each other we were both on the same page. We had one bank account that we shared and sometimes the money in there was already accounted for (like for the rent due at the end of the month), so it was always good to check. Also, I think this really instilled in us good money communication skills. It was as simple as a quick text saying, “hey do we have money to ____.”
If you’re going to pay off debt, then it is so important that both people are on the same page!
5. We rarely ate out
Oh my goodness this is a big one! Seriously! eating out costs so much! While paying off debt, we would rarely eat out. When we did, we saw it as a special treat. Even when we did eat out, we tried to be smart and use a coupon, or sometimes if we had one, a gift card. Sometimes, we would share a meal if it was large enough.
6. We cooked at home and couponed…a lot
This piggybacks off the fact that we didn’t eat out much, so that left eating at home. Every Saturday I would pull up the ads and I would shop the sales (I still do this FYI, I was just a bit more hardcore back then). If something was not a good price, we didn’t buy it.
Also, when something did go on sale, I would stock up. So when the BBQ sauce that we liked went on sale for 79cents, I bought 6 bottles! So before I would even go shopping, I could shop my pantry.
Also, my freezer is my best friend. I could buy discounted bread, extra meat, etc. and freeze it until we needed it.
I also started to find small things that were cheaper. Here are a few of my favorites:
- bouillon cubes over pre-made chicken stock
- tear makeup wipes in half to double the amount
- buying bulk meat, and separating to freeze
- freezing fruit for smoothies if you can’t eat it all before it goes bad
- Making banana bread out of browned bananas
I personally shop at Kroger. So Krogerkrazy.com is one of my favorite sites. I often match sales with coupons. I also have loved using Ibotta.
Also, the Dollar Tree sells papers for $1. So sometimes, I would stop by before church on Sundays and buy a paper for $1 to get the coupons. You have to be early though because they sell out! I believe most DT’s let you buy up to 5 papers.
One important note: I did not waste money on things we would not use. Yes, I did stock up, but only a reasonable amount, and always on stuff I knew we liked!
7. We went to plenty of yard-sales and thrift stores
If you know me, then you know going to yard sales and thrift stores is one of my favorite things to do! I love the thrill of finding exactly what you were looking for but at a fraction of the cost!
Shopping at yard sales and thrift stores allowed us to still get our shopping willys out, but we spent very little money.
Yard sales and thrift stores are also one of my favorite places to find house decor and furniture. And since we started this journey being newly married, we still “needed” a lot of basics (such as christmas decorations, bookcases, etc.), so thankfully our needs were met through shopping often at yard sales and thrift stores.
8. We watched our bills
We were oh so careful to not pay late fees. Also, we still had cable while paying off debt, but the second it rised above our agreed upon cost, we cancelled with them (and they ended up calling us back and giving us an even better deal!).
9. We minimized subscriptions
We made sure anything we were paying for month by month was worth it. About the only thing we kept was Netflix.
10. We didn’t have unlimited, and we payed off our phones
Phone bills are pricey! We decided that since we had wifi at home and work, we would go with shared data. This kept our cost a bit lower. We also payed off our phones and didn’t get new ones until absolutely necessary so we weren’t paying the monthly phone device cost either!
11. We rarely indulged in costly entertainment
We were always super strategic about when we went to the movies, played putt-putt etc. Although not super expensive, these types of activities add up. So we opted for cheaper options, or got the best deal we could when we did indulge.( For example, go see a movie at half price night).
12. We picked up side hustles
Todd really picked up the side hustles during our paying off debt season. He gave piano lessons to multiple kids, and also recorded/edited podcasts. This extra money allowed us to put even more on our monthly debt payment, and allowed us to still take a few trips and celebrate birthdays and what not.
I decided to start my blog during this time, and while it did not yield as much money, or money near as quickly, I still deemed it a bit of a “side hustle”
13. We simply said No.
So many times we had to say no. And yes, saying no is not always fun. It’s hard to turn down your family or friends that want to go out to eat, or want to go see a movie. It’s also hard to say no when you see a new pair of shoes that you love, but know you can’t afford. Self-control is definitely not easy, especially in our modern world. But we did it, we said no, and we said it often.
I will say that so many times when we were saddened by our “no’s,” God would surprise us in the best way. We might have had to say no to some item, but then we would go to the thrift store and find something even better, or someone would gift it to us without even knowing!
Because of our no’s we often were able to experience more of God’s blessings, and that was just really cool.
So now we are college debt free and feeling great about it!
All those sacrifices were so worth it! We now have been able to buy our first home and start living a bit more freely with our money (still very wisely though!).
While a lot of these tips that I shared we don’t do as strictly as we used to, a lot of them we still adhere to, just a little bit more loosely.
I think that by living so strictly to pay off debt, we really set up our money mindset, in a way that let us control our money, rather than having our money control us!
Our next step is to completely pay off our one car payment and build a savings account.
So where are you in your debt story? I would love to hear what you do to save money! Also, if you would like to talk more about how to pay off debt feel free to contact me! It’s one of my favorite topics to talk to others about!
-Kasey