How I did it: I got rid of/sold/cancelled anything that was not essential to my life (cable tv, house phone, excess yard watering, anything you can think of). Every dime I brought home, I ensured went to pay off bills. I put my student loans on hold (this is an a-ok thing to do, just contact your student loan holder) and used that extra money to knock out bills. I got rid of my car that I was making payments on and bought a little used car for $1200. My insurance dropped, the gas usage dropped, and the payments were elimintated, saving me almost $700 a month after all those expenses. Even that money, I put towards bills. Finally, its all paid off, and I can now FINALLY save my emergency fund, then turn the student loan payments back on. PHEW!!!

Lessons & tips: Reevaluate what is essential in your life. I decided to keep the internet and add netflix and instead cancel the tv subscription. Now I don't waste time watching regular useless shows and instead get to see movies that Ive been wanting to catch up on. oh, and save money!! I even bought dog clippers to groom my dogs myself (i have a zoo). ANYTHING that isnt essential is GONE. (If you have t-mobile, you can even add hotspot@ home for $10 a mo and your cell calls from home are unlimited!).

Resources: The hotspot@home from tmobile was a big money saver, allowed me to ditch the home line AND not worry about minutes used. Getting netflix definitely was a money saver and still gives me the satisfaction of looking forward to shows/movies.  Calling my student loan servicer to put my student loans on hiatus definitely helped. Just re-evaluating what it was I needed in life, which I concluded was: Food, Shelter, Utilities :) If it didnt fall under one of those (ok netflix doesnt but hey its my only joy), then it needed to go, at least for now.

Apr 01, 12:23AM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer