Editor’s Note: When I heard that my friends Gina and Josh Masters had recently paid off $66,000 in debt and had made a list of the 33 lifestyle changes they had incorporated to accomplish it, I asked if I could use it as a guest post to teach others how to get out of debt. They humbly agreed. And this is the result:
“Live like no one else now… so that you can live like no one else later!” – Dave Ramsey
Three years ago, my husband and I found ourselves drowning in debt – $80,000.00 to be exact (and that’s not even counting the mortgage). Around that time, coincidentally, our church began offering a financial program called Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. We spent the last $100 from that pay period to sign up. And the rest, they say, is history (or at least, most of our debt is now history).
As I write this, over the past three years, we have paid off $66,000.00 in personal debt. No magic, no quick fixes, no debt consolidation, or bankruptcy filing. Just persistent sacrifice. We have saved ourselves from financial destitution by making a number of simple, small changes in our lives that led to us getting out of debt.
Recently, my husband and I sat down to make a list of every change we had made hoping that it would encourage others. When we finished, we reviewed the list and were surprised at how simple it looked. Yet, all of these ideas—put into practice over a period of time—have nearly completely got us out of debt.
They are tried and true. And best of all, simple enough for anyone.
33 Proven Ideas to Getting Out of Debt:
- Re-shop auto, home, and life insurance to see if you can bring down your payments.
- Downgrade your home television package/services, or get rid of it entirely.
- Disconnect your home phone (for sure). And double-check the rate on your cell plan for a better deal if it’s been awhile since you checked.
- Buy and sell clothes at your local consignment or shop at Goodwill.
- Have a massive garage sale. (If you’d rather be out of debt than have an item, choose to sell it to help you get you there.)
- Advertise higher quality items on Craigslist, Facebook, or your local newspaper to get better prices.
- Focus on buying mostly sale items at grocery store or generic brands to reduce your cost.
- Use a grocery store awards program to earn money off gas.
- Cancel unnecessary expenses like magazine subscriptions, newspapers, manicures, pedicures etc. Anything that could be considered a “want” instead of a “need” should go until you are out of debt or greatly decrease your debt.
- Go to the matinee movies instead of paying full price (and skip the concessions).
- Or better yet, use at-home movie entertainment.
- Get temporary work or seasonal part time work to boost your income.
- Read books from the library.
- Buy your most expensive groceries in bulk at Costco: meats, breads, cheese, produce, paper products. Establish a monthly grocery budget for the additional needs at regular grocery stores.
- When eating out, skip the soft drinks and stick with water. Skip the extras too (dessert, etc.).
- When eating out, share a large entrée or have small appetizers instead of the costly meal.
- Plan your errands more efficiently to conserve gas.
- Find friends that you can trade services with…hair-cutting, handyman, photography, babysitting, pet-sitting.
- Give home-made gifts, baked goods, or service IOU’s rather than expensive presents.
- Boxed cereals are expensive; switch to oatmeal, eggs or fruit for more nutritional and financial bang.
- Call the utility companies and get on a budget plan to give you more consistency with expenses each month.
- Set a spending limit with family at Christmas and/or draw names.
- Use exercise videos, walking or hiking instead of paying for the gym.
- If your haircut is too expensive, find a less expensive stylist or see if your hairdresser will cut you a break on price temporarily—ours did.
- Say “no” to hosting and/or attending in-home parties where you feel pressure to purchase.
- Does your family live nearby? Once a week dinners with mom or dad saved us a meal out of our shopping budget. Additionally, it usually led to leftovers and our parents looked forward to our visit each week.
- Make your coffee at home instead of buying it each day.
- Pack your lunch—not once a week, but regularly.
- Make extra dinner servings on purpose to have leftovers for lunch.
- Our dentist advised us we could skip the fluoride treatments if we were using a daily dental rinse—which we did… and bought on sale.
- Program your thermostat for savings on heating/cooling when you’re not at home.
- Tempted by certain retail stores? While digging out of debt, avoid window shopping these places where you’ve failed to control your impulses before.
- Give**.
Many may say, “What? I need my manicure!” or “My kids will only eat box cereals!” But trust me. If you are serious about getting out of debt and changing your life, the only thing you need is a roof over your head, clothes on your back and gas to get to work to bust your way out of this.
Plus, take comfort in knowing that you don’t need to eliminate these things forever. Personally, I look forward to hiring back our housekeeper and treating myself to a few pedicures next summer. But until we are debt-free and have a fully-funded emergency fund, we’ll be focusing on using the dollars we bring into our home to set us up for a lifetime of success.
**Many wonder about Number 33 (Give) because it seems counter-intuitive to most of us. One thing we never stopped doing – even in the worst of times—was giving. We always gave money to our church, our favorite charities, and foundations that we believe in. It’s easy to say “I can’t give. It’s not in my budget.”
But if we’re looking for a lifetime of success and influence—not just the latest gadget or status symbol—how can we afford not to give? Giving reminds us that we can live for a purpose greater than this world and all the temporary treasures it offers.
It helps keep everything else in perspective. So pick and choose from our list above – do one or two or everything on the list to get yourself out of debt – but don’t leave out number 33. We can attest from firsthand experience, it will radically transform your life!
Image: The Cleveland Kid
Isn’t getting another loan counter intuitive to this exact message? 😐
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A good list, very sensible, but asking your hairstylist for a discount is rude. Regardless of the relationship you have with that person, you are telling them that the training and experience they have is not worth the cost they have already determined. You are asking someone whose financial situation you don’t know to take a pay cut to benefit you and your debt repayment. That’s not classy or thrifty, but selfish. You are taking advantage of their goodwill and generosity, and you should be ashamed. You wouldn’t ask a restaurant or mechanic or plumber for a discount just because you don’t want to pay their prices, they’d laugh you out of the room, as your hairdresser should have. And I’m guessing you probably won’t make up the cut they took in tips going forward, either.
Kinda felt uncomfortable about that one too. Maybe seek out a Cosmetology school instead of asking a licensed professional to reduce their price. Students do a great job and also gives them the needed “hands-on” experience they need.
I used to clean the beauty shop in trade for hair services and did her bookeeping. Win win for both of us.
In my opinion, we do have the right to ask anybody for discounted services. We can call utility companies and ask them to reduce our bill, we can ask the plumber our handyman or anybody that quotes us anything if that is your best price. We have the right to ask for anything. And likewise, everyone else has the right to say yes or no. If someone asked me to reduce my service cost for them. I would consider it. Most service industry people reserve a certain number of discounted or pro bono service times to help out their clients and community.
I agree that asking for discount is not the way. Learn to cut your hair at home through tutorial if you really can’t afford to pay your hairdresser what they ask. That is their income, how they make a living. Can’t put someone else in a place to get into debt, for us to get out of debt. But, they rest of the list was great!
Aww… I totally agree with you. I can just picture their poor hairdresser, on the edge financially, backed into that embarrassing corner by customers with no sense of discretion or class.
There are more dignified ways to be frugal.
I absolutely agree! I was appalled! Asking someone else to reduce their wages so you can pay off debt is horrible! I hope they paid him/her back!!!!!
Maybe a deal to exchange a haircut for something the hairdresser wants would be more appropriate?
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If you have enough money to blow on pedicures and housekeepers, then of course you can get out of debt in three years. Unfortunately, not everyone has a disposable income for luxuries such as those mentioned…so, such sacrifices cannot be made. If I had enough money for a housekeeper, then I would have been tossing that money at the debt long before reading this article…because I think paying someone to clean your house is excessive spending.
I agree, a housekeeper is very unusual in the UK. Only the super wealthy have these. Some more affluent families have a cleaner for a few hours a week!
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This is an excellent post with a very useful list of ideas. I am also blogging about how we changed our lives dramatically in order to save money, live more simply, and take control of our finances. My husband and I (and our dawg) moved into a tiny home, 125 square feet to be exact, and it’s paid for. And that process has revolutionized how we spend, live, and enjoy each other. While not for everyone, going tiny to simplify life has a lot of great side effects. I’m exploring specific ways we made this transition on my blog: http://www.onetinylittlehome.com and I’d welcome you to drop by and see how I go in depth on each change we have made and are making, and how it has changed our lives for the better. None of this was about sacrifice for us, we never lived “high on the hog” so to speak, but we took a number of financial gut punches right in a row. Therefore it was time to live the adventure of making new habits, changing our mindset, and living gratefully. I’m looking forward to sharing what we’ve learned so that we can help to take the fear out of it for other folks who are also experiencing financial devastation. It really is going to be ok, but only if you get proactive instead of reactive.
I do all of these and a lot more. For instance, I don’t turn on my heat except when I have no choice. Helps that I live in a townhouse between two others. I wear extra layers and spend more time upstairs rather than down. I wash/dry clothes once a week. I even wear all light or all dark colors to cut down on loads. I only go out to eat maybe once a month or not at all. If I do I choose less expensive items or go ala carte and always water. I don’t do any unnecessary driving. I’ve carried the same Coach leather purse, a Christmas gift, for the last 10 years.
34. Don’t pay Dave Ramsey or anyone else $100 to tell you how to get out of debt when there is free information everywhere on the web.
Never buy a new car. Buy a reliable one that is 2-3 years old or older. You’ll save thousands of dollars in depreciation.
Staying out of debt requires mindset and lifestyle changes. I have found that as I’ve gotten older and life tragedies, material things are not as important to me anymore.
A way that I love to “Give” is to save those coupons from Kohl’s, etc. – if you spend $50/you get $10 off your purchase, or even the percentage off coupons that arrive in the mail, usually on Tuesdays.
I actually drive to Kohls’ or Michael’s and then give those coupons to people standing in the line. What a great feeling this gives me! When I give the coupon to the person, who is in shock that someone could be so thoughtful–from the look on their face, I just say, Please pay this forward! They are so happy- as if they won the lottery! Anyways, this is a way to “Give” that saves you money since you will not be using the coupon, and makes others believe that kindness still does exist in this world. :)
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