This month I completed a 6 month project of paying off my car. Here's some things I did that helped me do it!
Cut costs:
Limiting myself to $25 a week of fun money on a Google debit card
Roommate: Texting all my close friends to set me up with a roommate to cut my rent in half making it a very low bill
USAA: I got my family to sign up with USAA's auto insurance, which then allowed me to sign up and save hundreds on auto insurance after I applied all the discounts that they offer
Earned more:
Some things I recently sold online in the last 6 months: iMac, old Bike, PS3, N64, TV, video games old collectors toys—all the earnings went towards my debt
Chase Sapphire: I took a trip for my brother's wedding in Arizona and applied some credit card hacking by opening a Chase Sapphire card that gave me $400 extra bonus points that I was able to use towards paying my next 6-month auto insurance term and freeing more money for paying off my debt.
I took a retail job with Apple for almost 5 months and poured all the earnings into paying off my debt. (of course with the exception of 6% going into my 401k at a 75% match)
Compared to my brother and his sports car that's going to take 6 years to payoff, I feel pretty good about having a 2014 Sonata paid off in full and still covered for 8.5 years under Hyundai's warranty. Even throwing as much as I did at my debt, I'm surprised to say that I was still saving more through my main job's pension and the Apple 401k, than what the average American is saving, but now I plan on bumping this up even more so now that my car is paid off and I have a higher cashflow!
Also I left the Apple job this week and am back to working my normal 40 hours a week with weekends off. So much less stress than working 65 hours a week with now off days and I have so much more time to pursue all the wonderful things that make life worth living! Maybe I'll even go outside and get a tan.
However, I'm in my mid 20s and now it's kinda awkward to hangout with all friends that are complaining about all their debt . . .
Some things I did to help stay the course:
Small splurges - purchased the entry-level Apple Watch for half-off with discount for $175, I bought it as a halfway goal-completion treat, but I'm considering selling it later for closer to $300 and making some money off of it. (it retails for $350)
Social life - hanging out/talking with my best friend (who's also an accountant and fellow mustachian) for encouragement and hanging out with others and doing frugal things like hosting game nights.
Reminding myself of why I’m doing it and what the benefits of being debt-free are
Holding a carrot of a PS4/Brazilian steakhouse in front of me for when I finish. However, I've yet to reward myself with either of these though and am just ecstatic to have my free time back after leaving the 2nd job.