Mike and I both graduated college in 2015, and with that, we knew we wanted to get out of debt as soon as possible. Thankfully, we only have student loan debt, but the cumulative amount was quite substantial. We started listening to Dave Ramsey when we were still in college, and we knew we wanted to follow his plan in order to pay off our debt. So with that, we decided to live on half our income once we started our first jobs after college.
The end of March marked the third month we have been budgeting our money and being “gazelle intense” about paying off debt, and we have already paid off a ton of debt and we have also grown so much!
While we were in college, we both worked on and off, but we didn’t really have the intensity needed to pay off debt, or the income. We just tried our best to budget and live within our means, and most especially, not take out student loans for any reason except paying for school. Not groceries, not car payments, not spring break vacations, just tuition and books. The rest we both worked part-time jobs to pay for.
I know we are quite “green” on this subject, but I just wanted to write a post documenting some of the things we have learned so far. If our tips can help anyone, that is wonderful, but because we are really creating this blog as a way to document our lives, this post may be useful to look back on if we come to a point where paying off debt isn’t coming so easy (losing a job, paying for a wedding, having kids, etc.).
- Contentment
- Mike and I allow ourselves to have $50 each per month to use however we want. We call it fun money, and we don’t have to be accountable to the other person on how we choose to use it. Mike likes to golf, and I like to go out to lunch on Fridays with my coworkers, so that is how most of that is spent. Because $50 isn’t really that much money for an entire month, I have been focusing a lot on contentment. Sure, we all love to go shopping and get a few new pieces of clothing or a couple new couch pillows, but those things truly do not enhance your life all that much. Moving to Myrtle Beach has been a great test of our ability to feel content. We are renting a furnished condo, and the décor isn’t all that bad, but it definitely isn’t “us”. We easily could have gone and spent a bunch of money at TJMaxx and made our home more homey, but we both agreed that isn’t the only thing that makes our home feel like home. What makes home a place of comfort is knowing that we can afford it, and that we have each other to come home to. To me, that is what matters most.
- Budget for Groceries
- Mike and I both like good food, and Dave Ramsey always says to eat “rice and beans, beans and rice” in order to pay off your debt faster. Now, we don’t take things to that extreme, but I have really gotten better at utilizing (and finding) coupons and buying the weekly specials. I use coupons.com to search for coupons and it really is a great site. I don’t go crazy, and I only print coupons for things I know we would normally buy anyway. Coupons are generally a marketing ploy to get consumers to buy goods they wouldn’t normally buy just because they have a coupon and it gives them warm, fuzzy feelings inside about getting a good deal. I have fallen for that before, but I don’t really find that happening anymore.
- You Have To Be On The Same Team
- Let me be the first to say that Mike is an amazing partner. He supports me in so many ways, and I am so thankful that we have the same life values and have similar views on most situations. With that being said, I don’t think living on a strict budget and paying off debt would be this easy (or even possible) without a partner that has the same goals and can hold you accountable. Money fights and money problems are the number one cause of divorce in the United States, and if you can agree on money, you are already that much more likely to succeed and have a successful relationship, marriage, and life.
- It’s Easier Than It Sounds!
- I know it sounds crazy when you hear “living on half your income,” but it really hasn’t been that hard. I think that is mostly because we were used to living on nothing before. In college, we were already living quite humbly (hello, 286 square foot studio apartment). Transitioning from college budgeting to career budgeting has made this whole thing so much easier. I totally understand and have sympathy for families that have kids and “normal” debt like car loans, mortgage payments, and credit cards that all of a sudden decide to cut things way back in order to do the Dave Ramsey plan. That adjustment would be way more significant than what Mike and I have experienced, and I salute all couples that do that. All of that said, I think our experience so far only solidifies the fact that doing this as soon as you are out ‘on your own’ is the best thing you can do for yourself. Start out right away living well below your means, and you won’t feel that metaphorical stomach punch later on in life when you realize you have all this debt and you want to eliminate it.
Now, I know there are areas in our life that we could cut back even more, and I know we have some things coming up this year that don’t follow the Dave Ramsey plan exactly, but Mike and I agree on those things, and that’s what truly matters. We live 1,000 miles from home, and because of that, we feel more comfortable having more than $1000 in savings (like the Dave Ramsey plan suggests), and we do not feel guilty about planning a trip home to see our families once in a while. I am so thankful that I not only found Mike, but that we together have made the decision to live life the way we are, in order to create a better future for ourselves.
Layna O'Connor 