Jul
20
There are many circumstances that can lead to debt. Some are conscious and necessary, such as student loans that act as a means to a better end with the premise that a good education is the a stepping stone to a well-paying job (unless you’re one of those tech mavens who dropped out of college and were just smarter than the rest of us).
Then there’s debt that occurs out of plain bad luck, bitter circumstances that made one wonder: why did it have to happen to me?
Frugal Babe was unfortunately one of the latter. Together with her husband, she explored different businesses to make a living. Her first, an insurance brokerage turned out to be a lemon and her second, a multimedia business saw her supplier nearly going belly up that left them with almost $18,000 worth of debt. Then an unexpected, but necessary dental procedure for her husband added another few thousand dollars. Forced to survive on credit cards they gradually found themselves stuck with close to $40,000 worth of debt.
But through careful saving and frugal living, they slowly paid it all back and made their monthly mortgage payments on time too! Now two years later, she is almost completely debt free with only the rest of the mortgage left to pay.
How Frugal Babe and her hubby got themselves out of $33,000 worth of debt:
- They learned to live the simple life. Instead of splurging on $200 weekends like they used to, they now spend nearly nothing and still have a great time.
- She mastered the art of balance transfers by carefully pursuing good offers and negotiating down interest rates with the banks. By being proactive, she halved their debt in just one year.
- They didn’t have to sacrifice healthy eating through careful budgeting, good planning and by even growing their own garden. Some excellent tips here.
- She sold her diamond engagement ring to raise cash, and replaced it with a cubic zirconia instead.
- Once embarrassed by her parents’ frugality, she gradually embraced it and now believes in it wholeheartedly.
On selling her ring:
So a couple years ago, we tossed around the idea of selling the ring. We talked about it every now and again, but never did anything about it. Then last weekend, during a ten mile run with our dog, I decided that I was ready to sell it. The notion that the ring signifies our love or has any meaning in our relationship is ridiculous. I do not know any couple with a stronger partnership than we have. We are each other’s best friend, we share the same hopes and goals and ideology. After six years, we still spend every evening and weekend together. We take very good care of each other, and will continue to do so for the rest of our lives. Of that I am as certain as I am that the earth is round. A diamond (or lack of one) has nothing to do with our marriage.
Check out her blog for some excellent tips on living a full life frugally.
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3 Responses to “Living Frugally Paid Off $33,000 Worth of Debt in 2 Years”
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Thanks for the post about us! I’m glad that we can be an inspiration for others who are in debt - we sure are happier without it. All of our debt (except the dental bills) really came from the same thing - starting our own insurance brokerage. At first we worked for another agency, but we didn’t like that and set out to build our own brokerage. We spent $12,000 on multimedia business cards for our brokerage, but we ended up getting a lot less than we paid for, because the supplier nearly went bankrupt while they were processing our order. We’ve been in busines about 5 years, and are still going strong. I would consider our debts to be along the same lines as student loans, as we incurred them in the process of becoming self-employed, and it’s put us in a really good place now (ie, working for ourselves and making a living at it). And as for the ring, I love it just as much as the original, and I actually get a lot more compliments on it :)
[…] Our story has been featured at We Beat Debt, a new blog written to spotlight the positive stories in the debt-o-sphere. If you’re in debt and looking for inspiration, they are gathering it all in one place where you can read lots of stories from people who beat debt. And if you’ve already dug yourself out of a money hole, you can submit your story to be featured on the site. I’m flattered that they found my blog and highlighted so many of my favorite posts. Thanks guys! […]
Glad things worked out so well, I never used to think that debt could be a good thing, but sometimes you need to take a risk.
As for the ring, after reading a photo essay (have to find the link again somewhere) on how terrible diamond miners are treated, I decided that I don’t ever want to own diamonds, and especially not as a symbol of love, so I really loved that passage of yours ‘cos it rang really true for me. :)