What do you need to do to get out of debt?
It is so frustrating to want to be out of debt. I remember that feeling well. I wanted the debt gone so that I could do other things with that money. Now we are completely out of credit card debt. But we have medical debt and a child about to go to college. I’d love to have a new car but don’t want the payment. With him going to college we figure we’re going to be paying out $500/month that we’ve not paid out recently. So here’s some ways I plan to cut expenses and help pay off whatever your debt (or college) is that much quicker.
5 Simple Ways I plan to use to help pay off my debt
1. Cut cable back or cut it out completely. If we were to cut cable out completely that would be a savings to us of $113. Then we could just use our Amazon Prime and our internet to watch tv. That’s a substantial cut to throw at debt.
2. Stop eating out entirely. If we stopped eating out we would save $203. That’s how much we spent last month on eating out. That doesn’t even count the kids lunches at school. That’s just my hubby and I having a date night. That’s me being to tired to cook. Once my son goes to college that’s just too bad. I will be cooking all the time and cutting this out. I may try to cut it in half and do it with cash to see if we can do better next month and then try to cut it down again. I need to make more freezer meals to accomplish this.
3. Stop buying books and dvd’s or renting the dvd’s even. Our library has so many books and dvd’s that there’s really no reason why we don’t take advantage of that more often. I love to read and I do not need to be buying books with all the books in my house or on my kindle. Just reading what I have should accomplish that desire to read. Turn off one click on your kindle so that you don’t accidentally purchase books by mistake. We’ve done that a few times and it can add up. Money saved per month about $25.
4. Make your own coffee at home. Sometimes called the latte factor. If you spend $3/day on a latte or an iced coffee that is $60 a month just on coffee. I can make my coffee so much cheaper than that. I have 2 recipes on my blog one for iced Mocha Coffee and one for a homemade creamer recipe and am about to make a third for Caramel Mocha Coffee recipe (to be seen soon!). I just got into coffee and know that I have to make it at home to save me money and get that boy his college education.
5. Call and see if you can reduce your insurance payments on your car, home and health. I would do this as a last resort and only if I could still get good insurance just at a lesser rate. I do not want to lose coverage to save money. My healthcare runs us around $800/month. It’s ridiculous. I don’t have any solutions to do without it though. I wish I did. That alone would send my son to college. If you were able to save say $70/month here just by calling it might be worth it.
If you did just these things you would save $469 a month. That is almost what I need to send my son to college or what you could use to pay off debt. Getting out of debt is the best thing I ever did. We will live debt free except for our house for as long as we possibly can. It takes spending money at yard sales instead of Nordstrom’s. It takes carrying a sack lunch instead of buying one. But it’s worth it to change your family history. This would also work if you were in a pinch to pay for Christmas. You would have quite a bit in no time! Want to know other ways to pay off debt? Check out Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover Workbook
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My husband and I paid off our credit cards last year, and we both ended up closing our accounts. Good riddance if you ask me.
Great advice. We do not have any credit cards and paid off our place a while back. Now we are slowly remodeling the house.
Good advice! Thanks for sharing.
There is no question that if you’re serious about paying off debt, you HAVE to give up extras like that and not just for a little while, for a long while. It took me four long and very difficult years to pay off our massive debt but it was worth it. I’ve been completely debt-free for over 10 years now.
You really have to cut back if you’re in debt but the reason people stay in debt is because they try to spend more than they make. Living within your means is a plus. Great tips!
Great tips! We make our coffee at home, and if we have extra expenses come up, the first thing we do is cut out all the eating out!
These are great ways to save money. Getting rid of cable is such an easy thing to do but saves so much money!
I love the library tip. We have been using them for our movie entertainment for the past few months and are already seeing quite a bit of savings!
We cut cable last year – and haven’t missed it. Between Hulu and Netflix, we’re set. (I also have Amazon Prime. We share accounts with another family member, so we’re not paying for all of those subscriptions.)
We used to just have the mortgage for debt, but we needed a new car and now have that to pay off too….I’ve thought of giving up the cable…..that would save a lot. Paying bills on time can save money too. We save a bit on our light and oil bill when we pay them on time.
We are always in pay off debt mode. My theory to paying off debt is staying home. It’s hard especially around the holidays.
Wow, it’s amazing to see how it all adds up! I need to work on #2. Found you on Bloggers Brags and pinning to my Solutions, Hacks & Tips board.
Thank goodness we have no debt! It’s really stressful to have that on your shoulders. Great tips!
These are great ways to save! We don’t realize how much we spend on fast food and drinks.
We don’t have debt thank goodness. But these are great ways that anyone can save.
We cut out cable and got Netflix. I don’t even miss cable!
What some great idea – I keep meaning to ring around and see if places will lower bills for us as they do such better deals for new customers.
I try to cut back as much as I can. In order to pay more of the debt back, I was able to pick up a few extra hours at work that will not run into my girls schedule. With interest so high, every little bit helps.
When I try to make both ends meet, I just prepare simple, healthy dishes at home rather than dining out.
There are so many little things to do to cut back. We check movies out from the library all the time. The selections are getting smaller thanks to the streaming movies but there are some still there.
I need to use our library more. That does save money.
Thanks for the great advice on saving money. I don’t buy coffee out and we try to eat at home as much as we can. I can’t wait until we are debt free.
These are great tips. We always pay our credit card bill in full. The idea of debt makes me nervous.
I did all of these last year! It’s been great for us. Pinning!
We try to be careful with our money, but could definitely cut back on a few more things. Unfortunately, our health insurance payments almost doubled this year, so that won’t come down. 🙁
These are great ways to get out of debt. It can be overwhelming to be in debt.
These are great tips! Making my tea latte’s at home helps to save a few dollars. Also, heading to the library to find things to read and watch saves money too.
Great tips – I always tell myself I shouldn’t try to waste any more money to avoid it.. sometimes its hard lol.
We’ve had to make alot of these cuts due to alot of medical bills that I am having to pay off. I feel like we never get ahead. I haven’t done away with the TV yet but it is definitely on the chopping block. I called them yesterday and just by asking them I got a savings of $20 a month! I was pretty proud of myself but it was a no go with the phone/internet company so I will definitely be shopping around for those services soon. We only eat out on Friday nights and if money is tight that week we don’t even do that.
Great tips to save money. It’s important to remember to put those saved dollars towards the debt and not spend on something else (well, that’s the tricky part for me)…
These are great tips! The holidays can get expensive so perfect timing!
GREAT tips! We are cutting back on our eating out so we can save for the holidays AND pay off debt. Freezer meals, pasta, sandwiches, and premade pizza kits (homemade ones) will save us!
All great tips! Debt sneaks up on you and is so over-whelming when you feel buried!
Super tips! Especially with the holidays coming up.
I now there are so many moer ways to cut back our spending. We’ve been getting better but need to make better strides
These are great tips! It’s hard to manage money with a Family of 5.
These are great ways to save money!
There are lots of little ways to cut back that really do make a big difference. This is a good list for getting started!
These are all great tips. When I was working on my masters and hubs decided to go back to school to finish his degree we had to cut out everything we could. We ditched the land line and cable. We kept the internet since I work from home and use Hulu, Nextlix and free resources for tv viewing. We swapped car insurance. We did a modification on our mortgage. We didn’t eat out and pretty much stopped going out. It was hard at first, but we’re still doing most of it!
I agree with everything you posted but sometimes it is easier say than do. Congrats on making the big step.
These are great tips. I’m definitely guilty of throwing my money away on a few of these.
wow, stop eating out entirely is ambitious! I hope you reach your goals
These are all great tips. We have cut back a lot on what we pay for (like cable) but we could do better still.
Eating out and not spending money online. I can get a little out of hand when online shopping.
These are really great tips. I have a little bit of debt that I need to pay that I incurred from having to leave my job and go to school full time.
I no longer use debt. My goal is to get rid of debt in a few years
We are in the process of paying off debt! We just switched our cable provider to a much cheaper one!
Yes! Not eating out saves so much money. We are really bad at eating out!
We recently cut out cable and it has saved us $139 a month, now we just pay $8 a month for Netflix! Worth it!
I’m really big about making my own coffee at home & checking out DVD’s from the library. It saves us an insane amount of money!
These are all great resources and suggestions. I will pass along to people who would like to get out of debt.
Great tips – it is amazing how much we can spend on coffee.