I started my journey of paying off my student debt in July of 2017. From July 2017 to February 2018, I paid $46,877 to my student loans and $3,220 to my credit card balance. This is how I paid off $50,000 debt in 7 months.

I attribute most of my success in paying my debt to cutting down my spending so I’m going to break down my spending for these 7 months. Then I will dive into what I did to cut down costs on these categories so I could allocate the majority of my income to my debts.

For these 7 months I spent a total of:

• $1,300 in auto which includes gas and insurance
• $400 on cell-phone bill
• $1,100 on home improvement
• $1,500 on shopping
• $1100 on food
• $3500 on rent
• $500 on everything else

In total, I spent ~$9,400 on expenses which averaged out to ~$1350/month. So let’s dive a little deeper into each category.

Auto:

• $672: auto insurance. I paid the 6-month insurance for both my mom’s car and my car.
• $395: gas.
• $218: car registration, smog check etc when I had to my car registered after moving to a new state.
• $42: parking.

Cell Phone Bill:

• $396: monthly cell phone bill and installment plan.

Home Improvement:

• $912: blinds and blind installation from Lowe’s.
• $205: storage units for my closet.

Shopping:

• $432: gifts (Christmas and birthdays).
• $1119: clothes, bags, and personal care.

Food:

• $1163: dining/drinking out.

 

7 Steps I Took to Cut Spending

 

1.   Shop for Better Insurance Rates

I cannot say enough how much shopping around for better insurance rates can save you. I am currently with Geico and have been happy with them but I still shop around on a yearly basis to see if any insurance companies offer a lower rate.

I even convinced my mom to drop her insurance company to join me after I saw that she was paying hundreds more than me with a longer driving history and no accident record. Not only was she able to get a lower rate, but by combining insurance plan, we were both able to get a discount.

 

2.   Take Advantage of Promotions Offered By Carriers

I switched to T-Mobile during a promotion period that allowed me to get a free iPhone 7. I actually ended up paying ~$100 for activation fee, etc so it wasn’t completely free but still a really good deal.

I also joined my friend’s plan and since she has a big family on her plan already, I was able to join for $30/month with unlimited data. With my monthly installment, I pay short of $60/month on cell phone bill. This was $40 cheaper than what I paid my previous carrier where I had limited data.

 

3.   Cut Down on Dining Out

Is it just me or does food just taste so much better when someone else makes it?

I love eating out. I don’t enjoy cooking much and consider myself a bad cook so I love dining out. I also happen to live in a metropolitan city with lots of good food so the urge to eat out is always there.

However, I buckled down and completely stopped dining out on the weekdays, opting instead to bring food to work and eat at home which saved me a tremendous amount of money.

At $10/meal (which I think is already a conservative estimate), I’m saving roughly $100 per week by eating home-cooked meals for lunch and dinner on weekdays. That’s $400/month and $4800/year I’m able to save!

An extra incentive: not having to wait in line to buy food is definitely a plus.

4.   Cut Down on Alcohol, Coffee, and Tea

It’s so hard to believe but beverages can really add up and cost even more than food. That’s why I focused a lot of my saving efforts on cutting down alcohol, coffee, and tea.

Luckily for me, I stopped drinking coffee last year so I was able to stop my $5/day spending on caffeine consumption.

I love good cocktails and bars were consistent hangout places for my friend group, so I’ve known for a while how costly drinks are at bars. The good news is as I get older, the urge to go bar hopping has gone down so I’ve been able to cut down on alcohol.

Unfortunately, I had a new obsession with boba tea this summer. I want to say that I succeeded to cut down through my strong will, but I attribute this success to the start of cold weather that stopped my craving.

 

5.   Live at Home

While it may feel weird to move back home after graduation, I attribute moving home to saving me the most amount of money.

While I still have to pay rent, I am paying a measly $500/month with everything from utilities, internet, TV, and my own room included! Spending only $3,500 on rent for 7 months on rent is unheard of.

Getting my own 1 bedroom apartment would cost me at least $1500/month on rent alone and I would still have to pay extra for furniture and utilities. To put this in perspective, at one (sad and dark) point in my life, I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment in college, sharing one bedroom with two other roommates and that still cost me $350!

I even save on groceries by living at home. While you may think that since I cut down on dining out, my grocery bills may have gone up, it is not true!

My parents rarely eat out and always make food that I am welcomed to eat if I am home so I am able to cut down on grocery costs. Even better than saving on groceries? Home-cooked meals.

6. Cut down on TV subscription

I have an Amazon Prime account that came with Prime Video and decided to cut down on Netflix which saved me $8/month and I honestly don’t miss it at all.

I haven’t kept up with any series at all in the last year and have recently defaulted to watching whatever is on local channels on TV anyways so ditching Netflix was a good decision.

 

7. Engage in Free Activities

I don’t know about you, but when my friends and I hang out, we mostly like to go out to eat. We go to restaurants, cafes, or bars to chat for hours. While it was fun, it was also costing a lot of money.

As the end of summer neared, the weather started being really great for outdoor activities. So instead of going out to brunch, I started suggesting outdoor activities to my friends, like hiking.

Not only was it saving money on dining out, it was a much healthier option. Plus, I struggle with working out on my own so it was a double jackpot for me. I not only saved money but recruited work out buddies who appreciated the healthy alternative.

Another activity I started doing was visiting my local libraries. I love reading and the winter months always have me yearning for a book to read so I visited my local public libraries (and don’t forget your county libraries!) to borrow free books.

I newly discovered OverDrive which is basically the online version of your local libraries where you can check out and read ebooks or listen to audiobooks online and it has since replaced my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Overall I am satisfied with the spending cuts I was able to make these past 7 months but still see room for growth. I am hoping to continue to further my efforts in cutting down costs so I can meet my goal of paying off all my student loans in 3 years!