Budgeting Tips That Helped Me Pay Off $80,000 in 24 Months

Debt payoff can be a struggle, but I promise, it truly boils down to your budget and how you manage it.  Your budget is a plan, and without a plan, you are just going to be wishing to get out of debt without it ever actually happening.  Trust me, I went through this time period where I was frozen in fear of my debt and totally unwilling to make a plan.

It all just seemed too hard to accomplish.  I saw other people getting out of debt, but thought, that could never be me.  They must have some super intelligence I was lacking. I was afraid to face it all.  I was so overwhelmed.  

After finishing my education and getting my first real job, I realized I was also going to have my first real paycheck.  My income was about to more than triple from the previous year during my internship program. This large amount of money was exciting, but also terrifying.  

What if I finally had money and just let it all disappear?  I was so thankful to finally have a real job, I definitely did not want to waste my efforts and not make my money work for me.

I remember the day I decided to actually try to put a budget together.  I had to face my debt and see how much I actually had. Up until this point, my debt was seriously just Monopoly money to me.  I had student loans coming out my ears, a personal loan, my husband’s student loans, a car loan, a new mortgage we couldn’t afford and more.

It looked like a paper explosion on my bed.  I had all my debts, utility expenses and past three month’s transactions all spread out.  I wanted to cry. It took me hours to sift through it all and figure out what to do with everything.

I remember the moment I said, “This is it.  No more self-pity. This is my mess. Get it together, start my budget and let’s go.”  I put my head down and got my budget and my debt snowball put together.

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The budget is just step one.  Then, you actually have to start implementing your financial plan in your life.  There are certain things you can do to put yourself in the success column if you are trying to accomplish something with your money.

In a 24 month period, my husband and I were able to slay $80,000 of debt and expenses.  Now, your income may be different than ours was at the time, but the principles are still the same.  If you have financial goals, they can be accomplished if you use these tips.  

Best Budgeting Tips to Pay Off Debt

1.  Use a paper budget.

When you are first starting out with budgeting, or you have finally decided to get serious about budgeting, you NEED to be using a written budget.

Did you catch that?  I want you to go back to third grade and use pen and paper to keep track of your budget and expenses.  There is something that happens to us when we write stuff down. It’s like it actually sinks in and we are more connected to the information.  

Don’t get me wrong, some of the budgeting apps are awesome, however, you need to have an insane level of control and interaction with your budget if you are going to really nail stuff down and hyper-focus.  It’s way too easy to “set it and forget it” when you use a budgeting app. It makes you rely on the app instead of holding yourself accountable.

I have been seriously budgeting for 4 years and I STILL use a handwritten budget.  I don’t think I will ever stop doing it this way. I have been too successful to switch it up.

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2.  Get your spouse on the same page.

Let’s be totally honest here, if you are trying to budget, your husband can totally ruin this for you.  Whether intentionally or not, if you are not on the same page, it isn’t going to work. If you are married, this may be one of THE most important factors contributing to your success or failure when it comes to your financial goals.

Instead of trying to list everything here, if you are struggling in this area, please head over to:

Essential Tips To Get Your Husband On Board To Budget

The Key To Get Your Husband to Budget With You

If you struggle in this area, just work on it slowly and you will get there eventually.  My husband wasn’t fully on board for a good year, and even now, we still have patches where he just gets tired of the budget and our lifestyle.

No husband is perfect, but you can work together to find a middle ground where both parties can be happy.  I often give in on a little battle (ie. getting ice cream on Fridays), to win the overall war (he is happy enough to not feel deprived and will comply with the rest of the budget).  This strategy has kept us on track for the past 4 years to accomplish our goals.

3.  Know your motivation.

Deciding to budget and pay off debt (or whatever your goal is) is super exciting for a hot minute….then that fire will start to die out.  When things get tough, what can keep up your drive and motivation to just keep going?  

You have to know your “Big Why.”  This is the reason that is going to be bigger than any excuse you can possibly come up with.  When you don’t feel like cooking, but know you should to keep you out of the drive-thru; just lean on your big why.  Remember the reason you are doing this.

Remember why you decided you had this goal.  Maybe it’s for your kids to have more than you had, maybe you want to travel more, maybe you want a swanky retirement…whatever the reason, write it down and keep it near you for those weak moments.

This is the best way to keep on track when you just want to give up.

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4.  Manually track your expenses.

I get a lot of pushback on this tip, but this is something I can’t recommend enough.  There is a huge difference between watching transactions occur in your online bank account versus writing down every transaction, categorizing it and keeping running totals for your categories throughout the month.

I do what’s called a weekly check-in with my budget where I am writing down all the transactions from the previous week, putting them into certain categories and keeping running totals for those categories.  

This lets me know exactly where I am at for the month (ie. I have spent $205 of my $250 grocery budget for the month with two weeks to go), and I can update my husband as to where we are as well.  If I didn’t have category totals, I would have no idea what was going on until I got to the end of the month and realized we overspent somewhere.

Tracking your expenses by hand is another checkpoint of accountability for you to know exactly how much you’re spending and if you are in range for your budget or not.  There shouldn’t be any surprises at the end of the month. You should know exactly how much you have been spending and if you are within budget or not.

No excuses and no placing blame anywhere else.

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5.  Create visual motivation.

If you have a major financial goal you have set (like me wanting to knock out $80,000 in 24 months), the best way to keep yourself pumped up about it is to have some sort of visual tracker.  

This can be a countdown chart (I had one per debt).

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I have also used a debt-free vision board to hold all of my goals in front of me both short term and long term.

In some way, you should be tracking your debt payoff/savings goal.  I have seen people count marbles in a jar (every marble = $100) or have paper rings they get to tear off and throw away (every ring = $100).

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6.  Make a commitment to yourself.

I feel like this is one of those unspoken things that successful people do, and the unsuccessful people don’t do.

Make a commitment to stick to accomplishing your goal and push through any challenge you face no matter what until that goal is accomplished.  Make a commitment. You won’t give up until you make it to the finish line.  

You are going to have struggles, you are going to get hit with every life emergency you could possibly be hit with.  Life is going to come at you hard when you decide to start living differently. This is just how it goes.

What will make you different from others who try and don’t succeed?  You are not going to give up. No matter what. You are going to push through every challenge and bad circumstance.  You will keep going until you reach your goal.

Ready to get started?  Use these budgeting tips to start to attack your financial goal and actually accomplish it!  When all of these pieces align for you, you will be totally unstoppable!

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