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7 Painful Things I Gave Up To Get Out Of Debt

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Getting out of debt requires considerable sacrifice.

Unless you’re lucky enough to be in a very highly-paid job, you’re probably going to have to make compromises.

After all, it’s only by changing your spending that you can finally get out of debt.

It’s only by redirecting money from one expense into debt repayment that you can speed up the process of becoming debt free.

If you’re serious about paying off your debt, therefore, it’s important to appreciate that you’re going to have to change your spending. You’re going to have to change your lifestyle.

And you’re going to have to give up some former expenses that made your life a little more colourful.

In the hope of making this transition from “spender” to “saver” a little less painful, I thought it might be interesting to discuss some of the things I gave up in order to save money, and so get out of debt as quickly as possible.

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Vacations

I love vacations as much as the next person.

Indeed, when you’re in debt taking a vacation can be one of the few opportunities you have to forget about “real life”.

Over the years I’ve visited a range of fabulous countries with my girlfriend. Truth be told, pretty much all my best memories all relate to some kind of vacation.

In order to get out of debt, however, I gave up on vacations altogether for some years. While my friends were setting off to Spain, Florida, Malta and so on, I was spending my vacation time at home.

I might not have been anywhere near as fun, but knocking vacations on the head can save you a considerable sum of money. As it turns out, you can still have fun at home, especially when the weather is nice, so its not as big a deal as you might think.

Free Time

I wasn’t just avoiding taking a vacation, spending my time relaxing in the garden instead. No sir. I was using this “free time” to actually increase my income – and so speed up my journey to debt freedom.

Free time became a thing of the past.

Instead, I dedicated myself to either agreeing to overtime at work or on freelance writing assignments from home. Both of these factors helped to boost my income, allowing me to pay off my debt sooner.

However when you realize that you haven’t actually take a proper day off in months it can become a bit of a depressing situation.

Hobbies

Before I got serious about paying off my debt I had an assortment of hobbies that I enjoyed. Actually, hobbies is probably the wrong word; they were passions. And like many passions, these involved spending money.

From eating out now-and again, to going to the movies, to growing my impressive music collection. Pretty much all of this got put on hold, and instead I looked for ways to entertain myself without spending money.

Buying New Clothes

While I’ve never been overly fashion conscious, when I was deeply in debt it certainly wasn’t unusual for me to splash out on new clothes from time to time, especially if I had a special occasion coming up. A friend’s party or a work event were perfect opportunities for a little retail therapy.

Of course, when trying to pay off debt I wanted to cut my spending as much as possible. As a result I pretty-much stopped buying clothes entirely. I just made what I already owned last.

Of course, this can’t go on for ever. Over time things wear out and fall apart, but most of us have so many items of clothing that we could go for a year or more without needing to buy a single replacement.

A House I Loved

One of the most painful things I gave up to become debt free was a house I loved. A spacious three bedroom property in the countryside, with a handful of lovely neighbours close-by.

On summer days, there was simply no better place to be. Many a happy evening was spent out on the lawn, glass of wine in one hand and a good book in the other.

Sadly, the rent was eating me alive, and considerably affecting my budget. While I resisted the move for rather longer than I should have done, with a heavy heart I decided on the more practical option; downsizing to a smaller property that would save me money each month.

Socialising

Some years ago I had a pretty active social life. I worked with a very close-knit team, and we regularly hung out together, going to clubs and bars. It all came with the territory. In essence we were like a small family.

However alcohol isn’t cheap, and going out two or sometimes three times a week was eating through my disposable income pretty quickly, no matter how enjoyable it was.

Once again, I made the tough decision to not just reduce my socialising – but pretty much to stop it dead. At least for a while. Oh sure, we could hang out and play video games or go for a nice walk, but bars were definitely off the cards.

Learning To Drive

Unlike most people, I never learned to drive when I was a teenager. I don’t really know why; it just never seemed a priority.

By the time I decided that driving would be beneficial it was too late. My debt was the priority. Driving lessons therefore got put on hold, and weren’t resumed for quite some years afterwards.

As you can see, finding the money to pay off debt wasn’t easy. It didn’t just fall into my lap. Instead I had to give up a whole lot of things I loved.

The message here is that maintaining your current rate of spending probably isn’t going to help you become debt free – instead you need to start pruning your budget and cancelling expenses.

I know it’s painful, but just remember that its only for a while. 

7 painful things I gave up to become debt free. If you're trying to get out of debt then rest assured you're far from alone.

Richard

Sun-worshipper and obsessive frugality blogger. For loads more money-saving advice come and join us on Facebook.

2 comments

  • Thanks for this post!
    I’m in the middle of trying to do this too in order to pay off my debt.
    Taking a break from travel and socializing have been the most painful. I never realized how much of my social life was based around eating, drinking, and spending money. Plus, travel is my passion.

  • There are a lot of sacrifices to be made but they will pay off in the long run. Slow and steady wins the race! I struggled with these things when I was younger but once you adjust the views your life changes and it’s now the new norm.