My Journey To Becoming Debt Free

On a cold winter night in January of 2020, a couple of minutes past 11pm I walked out of the supermarket where I was working part-time, got in my car, drove out of the parking lot and shortly after came to a full stop at traffic light that had just turned red. This light seemed to have a delay, so I knew it would take a few minutes. My body relaxed, I laid my head against the seat headrest and patiently waited. It was the end of another long day. I had woken up at 6am, worked close to 9 hours in the office at my corporate job, stopped home to eat dinner, then went to stock store shelves for 4 to 5 hours. As exhausted as I was, I stared into space seating in complete silence and felt a deep sense of peace. There was not a single soul in the streets. In this precise moment, I acknowledged I deliberately chose to make a temporary sacrifice and work extra hours. There was a strong purpose behind it, and rather than wallowing in self-pity, I expressed gratitude and simply smiled. The light turned green, I slowly stepped on the gas, made a left turn and headed home. I got a surge of hope, the smile on my face was unwavering, and I said to myself, “Let’s go! One day and a couple bucks closer to being debt free!” This was a divine instant right in the middle of a tough season, where I suddenly gained perspective, and reliving it in my mind continually was a source of encouragement for the subsequent 18 months and even beyond.

About six months prior, near the end of the summer of 2019, realizing the poor decisions I had been making with money, while ignoring the $60,000 debt I was in, made me feel uncomfortable and irresponsible. Consequently, I decided to finally confront reality – as scary as it was – and challenge myself to pay off the debt as soon as possible. The total was comprised of student loans and a car loan. In 2015 I graduated from college with $55,000 worth of federal student loans, and six months later I started making monthly payments based on a 10-year plan. In the summer of 2019, I purchased a used car for $13,000 and financed it through a 5-year loan term. I was basically on the verge of succumbing to fixed financial obligations for at least the next decade of my life, and this was alarming. I could not merely accept having imposed limits on me for such a long period of time; therefore, I committed to doing whatever it took to gain sovereignty over my finances within one to two years.

Contemplating a plan of action to accomplish this audacious goal, I stumbled upon the work of Dave Ramsey, who is a well-known personal finance expert. Through watching inspiring YouTube videos on The Ramsey Show channel, I got a clear idea of what I needed to do, as well as how difficult it was going to be. In these clips, ordinary people related their success in applying the principles of the “7 Baby Steps” to financial peace, presented by Dave Ramsey in his book titled The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Success. Around the same time, I also came across the concept of minimalism, and it fascinated me. As I learned more about it, I started to embrace a simple lifestyle, and this had a significant influence on the financial decisions I made.

By regulating my cash spending habits – the factor under my immediate control – I was able to save a considerable amount of money and allocate it toward the debt. Furthermore, to increase my income, I chose to get a part time job at the grocery store where I worked for several years during high school and college. Lastly, another crucial step I took was developing a budget on an Excel spreadsheet, where I listed all my fixed and variable expenses, my debts and monthly income. This was a key exercise that provided me with an overview of my cash flow, and it served greatly as a reference for tracking my progress, helping me to stay motivated.

I knew this endeavor was going to require focus, discipline and intentionality. Committing to working as much as I could, while spending as little as possible, was rather extreme and unconventional; hence, I anticipated experiencing resistance from my external environment and getting lonely in the course. However, I was willing to take the risk and make the effort, as it was only temporary. I was convinced the payoff would be immeasurable and when all was said and done, I would have thanked myself for having done it.

Becoming interested in minimalism, researching it, and slowly mustering the courage to eliminate excess in all aspects of my existence was deeply transformative. It completely shifted my mind and by progressively adopting minimalist practices I appreciated how liberating it was to relinquish the extra and unnecessary burdens I carried. I found internal peace in owning less, simplifying routines, and decreasing commitments; in turn, I was able to focus on what was essential and really mattered to me. Taking inventory of my material possessions, evaluating where I was allocating my money, and asking myself if I could downsize and save, led me to become increasingly intentional in my finances. Initially, I went through the accessories, jewelry, clothing and footwear I owned and saw how much I had unconsciously accumulated. Since I didn’t even use most of it, I decided to keep the items I regularly wore, I jettisoned the rest by donating and selling what I could, and most importantly, I completely stopped buying any more. Likewise, I assessed the service subscriptions I was paying for monthly and deemed I could go without them; accordingly, I cancelled my streaming, online grocery shopping, and gym memberships. I also avoided going out to bars and restaurants, where I tended to spend mindlessly. Lastly, reducing my retirement fund contributions from 10% to 4% (the maximum rate to receive a full match from my employer at the time) slightly bumped up my take-home pay. As insignificant as each of these saving decisions may have seemed, every single dollar added up, and when all combined, they resulted in hundreds of dollars of additional income I had to chip away at my debt. This was sincerely a humbling undertaking and a reality check for me. It allowed me to recognize I was paying for things I could not afford and didn’t absolutely need; thus, I was forced to learn to live within my means.

After giving myself a pay raise by making lifestyle reductions and controlling my money spending behavior, the next step I took – to increase my income – was working extra hours at a part-time job. I thought going back to the supermarket in my town, where I had previously worked for a couple of years, was my most viable option, given there were people that knew me in the company, and I already had experience operating in various departments of the store. Therefore, I submitted a job application one weekend afternoon, during the following week I was called in for an interview, and within the next few days I started to work. Since the hours were flexible and I was familiar with performing duties in different areas, I was normally scheduled for two to three evenings on weekdays as well as weekends, and this resulted in about $1,500 of additional earnings per month. The initial weeks and months of working 7 days were the toughest, as I often felt drained, and the day I would finally become debt free seemed too far away. There were days I had second thoughts, I was overwhelmed, and I wondered whether I could indeed endure the process; but I leaned on my faith in God for strength and perseverance, and rather than focusing on the end goal, I simply put my head down and patiently lived one day at a time.

As the months went by, work consumed me, it took a toll mainly on my social life and I became isolated. I began to sense resistance from my closest relationships, but I learned to accept that not everyone would quite understand or support me. I could not abandon myself to conform to other people's ways. In fact, the loneliness of this endeavor brought me to some unexpected realizations that eventually served me in the long run. Some of the most impactful were my ability to stay focused and determined despite experiencing inner as well as external opposition; the value of looking out for myself and saying no, relinquishing social pressures; the power of embracing solitude and persisting through a demanding process without regard for worldly validation; how exerting extraordinary effort toward a personal goal puts what matters most into perspective and is inherently liberating; and the comfort, reassurance and unfathomable peace there is in prayer and in seeking to grow in my relationship with God amidst a hard season.

Having taken action to reduce my spending and increase my income, the other equally vital part was creating a budget. It was an essential tool to obtain a clear view of my cashflow, hold myself accountable, keep positive momentum going by seeing my steady progress and remain inspired. Cutting my living expenses to basically food and transportation, since living with my family helped me tremendously to save on housing, listing them and netting them against my projected income provided a close estimate of the amount I would have available to allocate to my two major debts (my car and my student loans) each month. Having a concrete visual of my budget simplified the decisions I made about spending, as I knew that unreasonably deviating from it would only cause me a delay. Also, detailing my loans in ascending order and paying them off from smallest to largest, regardless of interest rates, was a huge psychological motivator. Such a method for tackling multiple debts is known as the debt snowball, and although it omits the factor of interest, its major advantages are that it enables an individual to get speedy wins and boost morale, as well as it makes tracking a much easier task. Utilizing a budget was fundamental throughout my entire debt pay off pursuit. Updating it every time I made payments and seeing my loan balances gradually decreasing was quite rewarding and it gave me an incredible sense of accomplishment. In fact, using it has become a long-term habit of mine, and I believe it is one of the most useful ways to manage personal finances.

In July of 2021, almost two years after beginning my journey, I gave my two-week notice at my part-time job. On a Saturday afternoon, I ended my last shift at one of the cash registers, I said goodbye to some co-workers and my supervisor, I walked out of the supermarket, got in my car and drove home. It was a surreal moment, I remained emotionless, but I was filled with joy and gratitude. As I got inside my house, I went straight to my room and sat on my bed. A minute later my mom came in to say hi, she perceived something was up, so she asked, “Are you okay?” I looked at her with teary eyes and said, “I can’t believe what I just accomplished.” She sat next to me, hugged me tightly, and we both cried tears of joy. The day I submitted my final student loan payment came, I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and I was ready to enjoy the amazing freedom that came with it, continue with building a savings account, and explore the opportunities it could open for me.

The time I spent devoted to this endeavor was one of the most difficult and character-building phases I ever went through. It required a significant amount of mental, emotional and physical effort, but it was only a transitional period; meaning, I had to get through it to have more autonomy over my life. There is this interesting notion I once heard, and I truly resonated with. It implies there are only trade-offs, and attaining perfect balance is often unrealistic, especially when it comes to deliberately creating the life one aspires to live. There are chapters when most of one’s attention and energy must be dedicated to one area, acknowledging other aspects will have to be temporarily neglected, or paid less attention to. As hard as it was to accept this, particularly at the beginning, when I was uneasy about all I could miss out on, I eventually learned to let go of anything and everything that could deviate me from becoming debt fee. After all, I was profoundly transformed by this experience, and it taught me that living without any debt is foundational to not only economic prosperity, but also to enhance the overall quality of life, as it eliminates the stress, anxiety and limitations arising from being enslaved to financial obligations.