You’ve all read stories like this one about how I paid off my student loan in 5 months. Knocking out nearly $10,000 in 5 months is awesome, right? And inspiring. All that money paid off in such a short amount of time!
But stories like that don’t necessarily tell everything.
I don’t mean that I (or other people like me) are liars, either. I mean that before you can pay off your debt in some crazy short amount of time, you’ve got to become emotionally ready and committed to doing so. And that can take some time.
In my case, it took a long, long time. More than a decade. It took several false starts, a divorce, a remarriage, a long-term job loss, and some growing up, before I finally did what it took to get out of debt.
You’ve got to be real
Maybe nobody wants to hear that. But getting motivated to get out of debt (and then staying that way!) is a critical precursor to actually doing so. You’ve got to be ready.
In other words, you’ve got to really want it, and to know — deep down — why it’s so important to you.
You’ve got to admit that you’ve been making excuses for yourself — and then stop. It doesn’t matter if other people make more money than you, if you had an emergency, if you lost your job, if you live in a high cost of living area, or whatever. What matters is YOU, and your continued choices.
You’ve got to be real if you want to become debt free, and take responsibility for your actions and reactions.
Are you ready to get out of debt?
You’ve also got to want it badly enough that you’re willing to change your ways, your long-term habits, and your immediate goals. If you’re in a family, you’ve got to either get family members on board too (the best option) or forge ahead despite them (which is a very difficult row to hoe). You’ve got to be willing to say no to things that aren’t in your budget, and to get back on the wagon if you fall off.
Then you’ve got to actually do the work. Once you’re 110% committed, it can indeed go very quickly. (Especially when you’re super-focused and using a debt snowball.)
But you’ve got to get there first. And that’s the dirty little secret behind getting out of debt.
So, are you ready?
I'm Jackie Beck, personal finance writer and creator of 
Lol, that’s all very true. VERY TRUE. And peopel don’t always realize that. But of course, the other thing is, I think. Some people are so far in debt and they finally get their game together and make a plan and end up cutting 50% of their spending and getting 30% more income… which is great for them. And it shows how very inefficiently they were operating before. But dude, for a family like my wife and I, there’s no where left to cut expenses. And I’ve incrased side income a good deal, but at this point, it’s at the most it can be. And so we paid off our debt faster than minimum payments (by a lot), but not in 5 months or whatever people say. I think the faster people can pay off debt, sometimes that just shows how inefficient they were running. KNow what I mean?
Yeah, there can definitely be a lot of wiggle room in some budgets. In my case it was finally having money again after living on pretty much nothing that sped things along.
Agreed! You hit all the points I feel like I’m constantly trying to drive home. There are no excuses and you have to want it bad enough. When we hit rock bottom is what shook us to the core, but Im so glad it did! :)
It sure makes a difference!
We thought we were ready to really crack down, but apparently not. It’s hard “living on the basics” and never eating out or buying clothes. got some more work to do!!
It is hard to crack down and go back to living on the basics. Be sure to give yourself little treats along the way to help you stick with it — they don’t have to be costly, either :)
Very true! I remember when I was getting out of debt I wanted it more than anything and over that time my whole attitude in terms of spending changed. It comes down to a behavioral issue many times.
Oh you can say that again :)
Funny how this rationale also works for things like moving to a new state/country, finding the one, saving money etc. 100% commitment is the only way things finally get done. It’s also great that you made it clear in your post that the change to your debt repayment approach was years in the making. Thank you so much for this post. Makes me feel a lot better about my stopping and starting with my bill repayment situation!
Yup, you’ve got to be committed if you want to do anything worthwhile :)