Melanie

  De Jong

Melanie

  De Jong

Hey There, I’m Melanie! I am a former CPA turned personal finance blogger and mom of three. When you ‘Budget With Mel’, you’ll develop monthly budgets, cost-cutting tactics, and learn new behaviors and beliefs about money. It’s time you took the stress and confusion out of your personal finances.

Hey There, I’m Melanie! I am a former CPA turned personal finance blogger and mom of three. When you ‘Budget With Mel’, you’ll develop monthly budgets, cost-cutting tactics, and learn new behaviors and beliefs about money. It’s time you took the stress and confusion out of your personal finances.

7 Strange Things We Did On Our Debt Free Journey

melaniedj • Oct 26, 2019

When you decide to become debt free, you'll find yourself doing a lot of things that other people wouldn't consider normal.

 

During our journey to pay off my student loans in 12 months , we were those people who did really weird things with their money.

 

Now on the other side, I'm here to tell you that being weird WORKS!

In fact, I'd highly recommend it if you want to pay off a lot of debt in a short amount of time.

Here are the unusual things we did during our debt free journey!

Weird Things We Did On Our Debt Free Journey

1. Paused Our Retirement Saving

During our debt payoff journey, we stopped all investing, which seems to contradict convention wisdom that teaches to invest as soon as possible.

This sounds strange because we're taught to invest as soon as possible, whether you have debt or any savings at all.

Instead, we followed Dave Ramsey's wisdom to focus on one thing at a time in order to be as efficient as possible.

In his baby steps, investing for retirement doesn't come until the fourth step:

  1. Save $1,000 in a baby emergency fund
  2. Pay off all debt (besides mortgage) using the debt snowball
  3. Beef up your emergency fund to 3-6 months of expenses
  4. Invest at least 15% of your gross income for retirement

It's important to focus on one thing at at time so you can put 100% of your effort towards paying off debt . Additionally, you'll be more prepared when emergencies arise.

If you try to pay off debt, save for retirement, and build an emergency savings you'll become overwhelmed and not nearly as efficient.

2. Taped Visuals to Our Refrigerator

I'm a huge fan of having visual reminders of your goals so that you're made aware of them every single day.

While we were paying off debt, I had a picture of a thermometer that I would color in every time we made another student loan payment.

This kept me motivated knowing that with every payment we were inching closer to our goal... debt freedom!

 

Additionally, I kept our debt snowball tracking worksheet handy all the time so whenever we made an extra payment, I could easily update it and plan the next payment. It sounds nerdy, but I always got such an adrenaline rush when I would update our debt snowball worksheet!

 

START YOUR DEBT SNOWBALL 
  • The exact printable worksheet we used to pay off over $20k of student loan debt in 12 months
  • Editable & fillable PDF printable worksheet - type directly into PDF 
  • Visualize your progress and stay motivated on your debt free journey 

3. Rarely Went Out to Eat

We ate worse on our debt free journey than we did in college.. . I'm talking grilled cheese and spaghetti friends.

When we first got married, we would go out to eat ALL THE TIME and it wouldn't be anything for us to drop $500 going out to bars on the weekends.

After all we were young, had no kids, and made good money. Why not?

If I could go back, I'd slap myself and say BECAUSE YOU HAVE A MOUND OF DEBT TO PAY OFF, YOU CAN EAT STEAK LATER!

When we started budgeting, we found that eating out was one of our biggest downfalls. But, it become an opportunity for us to change our behavior and send the money to debt instead.

So, we rarely went out to eat during our debt free journey!

4. Rented for Under $600 a Month

No one should be buying a house when they are deep in debt. No, I don't care if it's a good deal.

Don't convince yourself that buying a home is more important than becoming debt free.

Buying a home while you're in debt will not only tire and stress you out, it will inhibit your ability to pay off debt quickly.

Consequently, you'll be chained to your debt a lot longer than you should be and you'll be paying exponentially more interest on the debt than if you would've been patient and focused on one thing at a time.

Only after you become debt free are you ready to buy a home.

5. Lived on a Bare Bones Budget

If I had to describe our budget during this time in one word, I'd say... creative , and not the fun creative ;) We lived on a bare bones budget.

A bare bones budget is one that covers only the basic necessities.

We're talking food, shelter, clothing. If you want a take out pizza, better call grandma and ask if she'll slip you a 20 one last time.

If you'd like to pay off debt, you MUST ball on a budget.

You can get free budget templates by signing up for my free finance planner by clicking here, or sign up below!

6. Put Bonus Money & Gifts Towards Debt

This might make us super weird. We put any money we received as cash gifts (birthday, wedding, etc) towards our debt!

We decided to forgo an exotic honeymoon and nice new purchases for our apartment and instead dig ourselves out of the hole a little bit more.

Yes, it's extremely tempting to spend the money on yourself. However, when you become laser focused on paying off debt, it becomes easier and easier to say no.

7. Ignored the "Grace Period"

The grace period is referring to the six months after your college graduation when you are not required to pay on any of your student loans.

Instead of enjoying this "free period" , I paid on my loans with any extra money I had!

Any payments you make during this period go towards reducing your principal balance (not interest), which is favorable to you.

BECOMING DEBT FREE

The best financial decision we've made to date is to put our heads down and pay off all our debt.

We followed Dave Ramsey's debt snowball method to pay off our debt, and were able to pay off $20k in 12 months while fresh out of college and living on one income!

Believe me when I say if we can do it, anyone can!

Here are some resources for you to get started attacking YOUR debt!

Share this post!

Whether you have credit card debt, student loans, a car loan, or mortgage debt, use these debt free
by Melanie DJ 30 Mar, 2024
Whether you have credit card debt, student loans, a car loan, or mortgage debt, use these debt free coloring pages as your debt payoff tracker; keeping you focused and motivated to become debt free!
The ultimate guide to creating a successful family budget.
by Melanie DeJong 27 Jan, 2024
The ultimate guide to creating a successful family budget. If you're sick of financial stress and feeling squeezed at the end of every month, start budget planning and taking control of your personal finances.
Use my free financial goals worksheet to set and effortlessly track all your savings goals!
by Melanie DeJong 13 Jan, 2024
Get my free financial goals worksheet to set and effortlessly track all your savings goals! Financial goals examples including short-term goals and long-term goals to create a well-rounded financial plan that works for you!
Step by step guide to creating a zero based budget worksheet that will help you track your income, f
by Melanie DeJong 13 Nov, 2023
Step by step guide to creating a zero based budget worksheet that will help you track your income, fixed and variable expenses, savings goals, and debt tracking on a monthly basis.
What is a high-yield savings account and what are the benefits of this type of savings account.
by Melanie dj 30 Jul, 2023
Where do high-yield savings accounts fit into the financial plan for the productive Christian household? Are these types of savings accounts a wise investment for leaving an inheritance for our children’s children and stewarding the resources allotted to us? What are the potential risks associated with these accounts, if any? How can these accounts be utilized to meet your family finance goals? Are they only for the wealthy with tons of excess cash?
9 money challenge ideas to save money quickly. Try the 10k savings challenge for a lofty goal!
by Melanie dj 15 Jul, 2023
One of the best money saving strategies is to complete a savings challenge. Try the penny challenge, envelope challenge, 10k savings challenge, or any of the other money challenges outlined in this post to save money quickly!
How to make a budget in excel step by step. Plus, a free google sheets budget template!
by Melanie dj 07 Apr, 2023
Step by step tutorial how to make a budget in excel or google sheets. Plus, get my free google sheets budget template that can be exported to excel in just a few clicks! Creating an excel budget will save you time and make budgeting a seamless process.
Read how much to spend on housing every month as a first time home buyer in this crazy market!
by Melanie dj 13 Mar, 2023
How much to spend on housing every month is a burning question every homebuyer asks at some point. Here's what you should consider before purchasing a home and how to determine how much you should spend on housing every month in relation to your income.
Roth IRA's boast many benefits, but if you can't contribute to one, utilize the backdoor Roth!
by Melanie DJ 07 Mar, 2023
Roth IRA's are a great investment vehicle that boast many benefits, but if you're ineligible to contribute to one you might feel stuck. The backdoor Roth conversion option allows you to essentially convert your Traditional IRA funds to a Roth and enjoy all the tax benefits! Here's how to do it and who needs to consider it!
Short-term finance goal ideas and tips for sticking to your financial goals!
by Melanie DJ 02 Mar, 2023
Short-term finance goals are essential building blocks to reaching your long-term financial goals. Read short-term financial goals examples and tips for creating and sticking to your finance goals!
More posts
Share by: