Credit card debt and student loans are no joke. For credit cards, you’re spending money you don’t even see (much less have). And for loans, you go to college so that you can get a good job, but end up working a job just so you can pay it off. And when there’s interest being stacked on top, debt just becomes that much more overwhelming.
But what about those success stories?
What about those people who took control of their personal finance, slayed their debt, and literally bought their own freedom? Now, there are plenty of tips out there for quick-get-out-of-debt strategies and methods that’ll take a few years, so which ones should you actually listen to?
Well after going through a lot of nearly useless success stories, I was able to find a few that had some great tips when it came to paying off debt and staying motivated.
I really wanted to provide value, encouragement, and help so that you can start living debt-free. Not just tell you that you should make a budget. I mean that’s a given right? And while these stories below do talk about that as one of their tips, I’m going to mention the other tips they give that are really smart.
The ones where feel like I’m being given an actual strategy and shown how to eradicate debt for good.
So read over a few of these getting out of debt stories and allow them to encourage, inspire, help you to build your own strategy, gain freedom, and change your money mindset.
It’s time to start your debt free journey!
1. How I Got Out of $40,000 Worth of Debt
Now James goes into budgeting and how he sectioned off his living expenses, and how much he needed to get by for the whole month. He also talked about what he cut back on, but what I liked the best was when he said,
“From time to time, I would fill up my car with gas and my fridge with food and see how many days I could go without spending any money at all.”
What he did was commit himself to a debt-free lifestyle. And this means finding any way you can to bring down that debt. This will just make your freedom that much closer, and then the extreme frugal living will finally come to an end.
If you’re ready for a lifestyle change when it comes to personal finance, then this is great mindset to take on.
Update: Page can no longer be found.
2. How I Paid Off $7k of Credit Card Debt in 7 Months
Like a lot of people, she created a budget and cut out the unnecessary. But one thing she did that really stood out to me was this.
Because she had credit card debt, she was able to call the credit card companies and negotiate a lower interest fee. Then anything she had to pay would be less and she’d be debt free all the sooner. I would never have thought about doing that, and it’s such a great way to get to financial freedom so much sooner
Update: Page no longer exists.
3. More Tips for Saving Money and Setting a Budget – How They Paid Off 20k
Even if it’s not $50k or $40k, owing $20,000 is still a lot of money. But what they did to bring it down was great.
And one of the things they did was plan 3 months ahead of time. So if something popped up, there would be no need to put it on the credit card.
Just being able to have the money put aside for surprises, or known future expenses can save you from adding onto your already existing debt.
Read more of their tips for saving money and paying off debt!
4. We Were Tired of Being Broke So We Paid Off $52K in 7 Months
If you’re tired of working hard and having nothing to show for it, then this is a great story for becoming debt free.
Being $52,000 in debt is pretty overwhelming. Even just reading about their story and how they got their wakeup call is a lot to take in. But their story doesn’t come without success.
One of the best tips they had? They used the Dave Ramsey Snowball Method which has you line up all your debts, smallest to biggest. Then you pay off the smallest debt with all the money you can throw at it.
And while you do this, you pay the minimum payment with the other debts. You keep on doing this until you get to the next debt and do the same. The point is to make progress fast so you can start to see and feel hope.
Progress is the biggest motivator towards your success!
See the rest of their story on how they paid off all their debt.
5. How We Ditched $18,000 of Our Debt in a Flash
Sometimes it’s hard to give up what we want the most, but this writer Jessi, did just that.
She and her husband were deep in debt and has just purchased her dream car; a fully loaded Tahoe. And even though she was the one who wrote the check, she was also the one who said she’d give it up and get something cheap.
After finding the right dealer who would do an exchange, they dumped $18k of their debt and were able to work on their other debts. Lightening the load may hurt, a lot, but it’s what can make you free from our burdens.
Update: Link removed, page is no longer there.
6. How We Paid Off Over $22k in Less Than 9 Months
On one low income, taking care of a kid, and another on the way, Shannon and her husband had expected to become debt free in 10 years, not one.
And while she had other good advice on paying off debt, I really liked this one tip.
Every time an appliance stopped working or got damaged, they replaced it with something cheaper or improvised. And any of the money they might have put towards the broken item was put towards the debt, bringing them out of it that much faster.
Read the rest of her story on how she paid off her debt!
7. That One Time We Paid Off Our House
Now while paying off a house may not be the same as paying off credit cards or student loans, it still is debt. Over years you need to make payments so that one day you’ll fully own the home you live in. And getting there can be pretty hard, but Kelly was determined.
Along with paying cash for everything (so credit card debt didn’t just get piled on top of the house payments), or her and her husband riding a junky car, they also bought less house than they could “afford.”
This meant that they sat down and found out how much house they could actually afford in payments. They were also able to do this by finding a good real estate agent (they give a link to finding the best real estate agents), someone who had their best interest at heart.
Check out the rest of their story on how they paid off their debt here!
8. How We Got Out of Over $147,000 in Debt
Quick and simple, Anna and her husband made payments towards their huge debts with every chance they got. So that might mean eight payments a month with the extra money they had so they could be debt free.
I thought this was a good tip since I’ve always thought of paying off debts as a once a month occurrence. But just making multiple payments whenever you can sounds like a great solution for shrinking the debt fast.
Update: Page no longer exists.
9. How to Pay Off Debt in 90 Days
Now if you’re a single person with a debt that isn’t as crazy as $100k or even $20k, then this tip is great.
Lauren was $8k in credit card debt and had been told it’d take a year for her to pay it off. But she didn’t want to wait that long. In fact, she wanted it paid off in 3 months (now that’s fast!).
So what did she do? Well she got clear on her numbers. If she wanted to pay off $8,000 in 3 months, she had to pay $2700 towards the debt each month… this was steep, but she wanted it gone.
By just determining your own time frame for your debt to be paid off, you’ll have a clearer vision of your freedom. It won’t be some far off in the future goal. Also, the bigger and crazier the deadlines, the more things you’ll end up cutting out that you wouldn’t have before (therefore prolonging your debt freedom).
If you can make it work, then it’s worth tightening up your belt, and taking it out fast so that it’s not a burden to you any longer.
So definitely think about your own personal goal and set up a debt free plan this week!
Update: Link removed, page no longer exists.
10. How I Paid Off $170k of Student Loans
Living just off of her husband’s salary, Crystal put all of her income towards the debt to fight it off. Now this may not be an option for some, but for couples who are both working, this is a great way to get rid of debt.
It may seem hard at first to not spend that extra cash coming in, and living on one income may hurt at first, but once it’s done, it’s done. There’s no more thinking about it, and then you can focus on how you want to invest all of that extra cash you didn’t have before.
With a plan like this, you can become debt free so much faster!
See the rest of their debt free tips here!
Bonus – Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps Infographic
Whether you like him or not, Dave Ramsey still has some great tips when it comes to knocking out debt. And this infographic on doing just that is a great visual representation of one of his strategies. It really is an awesome photo to save when you need some help and inspiration.
Also, you can read more on the Baby Steps strategy here!
Grace Moser is the author and founder of Chasing Foxes, where she writes articles to help women create a life they love in big and small ways. She's been a full-time traveler since 2016 and loves sharing her experiences and exploring the world with her husband, Silas. Her lifestyle and travel advice can also be seen on sites such as Business Insider, Glamour, Newsweek, Huffpost, & Apartment Therapy.
I like Dave Ramsey’s baby steps, but I guess I would change some of it around and say save expenses (3-6 mo.) first just in case something terrible happens, like a job loss. $1000 wouldn’t cut it for me if something really bad happened – my car is almost 10 years old and I know things will go wrong soon, and I’d rather fix it then get a new one and have car debt + monthly payments, for example! 🙂
Also, I’d rather pay down the debt with the highest interest rate rather than the smallest debt amount. My smallest debt amount has an interest rate of 1% so… I wouldn’t even save that much paying it off first. Otherwise, these are awesome tips and I’m off to check out Dave’s books!
Sell everything you haven’t used in two months and pay down your debt. You’d be surprised at the items that add up to neutralize debt when yo take the time to post them on sites like “offer up” or “Craigslist”!
Awesome tip Daniel! 🙂
Thank you so much for including me y’all! 🙂
Thank you so much for including me in this list guys! Such a great compliment xD
haha You’re welcome Jaymee! 🙂