Do you want to be debt free? In 2005, I had a huge problem with how to pay off debt. I had a plan to pay down the amount I owed (close to $50,000), but we didn’t make enough to do that in a short time frame. It would have taken 10 years or more!
(At the time, I didn’t know too much about earning money online. Now I know about plenty of stay at home work jobs to make extra money every month!)
Related: 25 Best Passive Income Ideas to Start Today
How was I going to be debt free and pay off debt if I barely had the money to make the minimum payments? I wanted to snowball our debt payments, but it seemed impossible.
I figured out how to pay off debt with no money by eliminating bills from our monthly budget. I just had to make some debt-free mindset changes and start slashing non-essentials from the budget.
Today, my family is debt free except for our mortgage. Thanks to changes we made to our habits and embracing debt free frugality, we’ve been able to pay off all car payments, invest in index funds, and save money for our son’s college education.
But the answer to paying off debt with no money was to stop buying some things that we had previously purchased every month. Here’s my list of the 10 Things I Quit Buying to Become Debt Free.
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Table of Contents
Stop Buying These Things to Become Debt Free
1. Gym Memberships
Health and fitness is an important priority for our family, but gym memberships were one of the first things to go to be debt free. What’s funny is that even while we belonged to a gym and were trying to pay off debt with no money, we had a treadmill and an elliptical machine gathering dust in our basement.
In addition to the cost of the membership, there was the added gas cost of getting to the gym – about 20 minutes each way. So we dropped the membership, and just worked out at home with exercising outdoors, workout videos, and our exercise equipment we already had.
Estimated monthly savings: $100 for 2 people
2. New Clothing and Household Stuff
Even though I worked from home, at the time we had debt, I would still shop at the mall, Old Navy, Target, and other retail stores for clothing and household goods.
To pay off debt and save money, I started shopping thrift stores exclusively (except for socks and underwear). I quickly found it EASIER and cheaper to find clothes and household items I liked – and since they were already preowned, I knew they could stand a few washings (I hated spending money on clothes and finding holes a few washes later).
For kids clothes, used clothing was also a huge savings. My son was growing so fast anyway, new clothing felt like such a waste.
Not only did buying used clothes and household goods help me get debt free and find money to pay off debt with no money, I also found a new side hustle that turned into a full-fledged business opportunity. I started flipping thrift store items for cash, thanks to a friend who turned me on to this side hustle.
Now I make thousands every month flipping used clothes, plush, and other goods, even though I’m still debt free. I rarely buy anything that’s not consumable new.
Estimated monthly savings: $100
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3. Cell Phone Upgrades
One things we had to let go of to have success with paying off debt was the constant upgrading of cell phones. This was less of a challenge for me – I’m not really tech-y – and a greater issue for my husband, who worked in tech and loved the newest cell technology.
To achieve this, we had to do a few things:
- Take care of our existing phones. That meant investing a bit up front for screen protectors and protective cases, so that drops didn’t cause damage.
- Stop the upgrade cycle. My husband used to love just popping by the cell phone store to check out the newest offerings. If we had an upgrade available on our account, this usually ended up with him coming home with a new phone.
- Sold old phones and accessories and put the money toward our payment balances.
- Bought older phones outright when needed. When we determined our son needed a phone, we added a line for him, but bought him a cheaper, older generation phone outright. We plan to do the same until he’s on his own plan, so we avoid the upgrade cycle of higher payments we got caught in before.
At one time, our cell phone bill for 2 people was over $250. Now we’re under $150 for three. In the future, we plan to investigate further savings with alternative service providers.
Estimated monthly savings: $100
4. Books
I’ll admit it. I have a reading obsession. Browsing the bookstore or library is my favorite. I love the smell of old books. It’s never hard to find something I want to read.
But when I was looking for ways to find money to be debt free and figure out how to pay off debt with no money, I knew I had to stop some of my book spending. I would go to community book sales and stock up on dozens of books every month. I’d download any book I wanted to my Kindle. And I’d spend tons on books for my son, too.
The good news is I didn’t have to stop reading – I just had to embrace more of a minimalist approach to owning books. Fortunately, technology was on my side. Now instead of spending hundreds each month on books, I save money on buying books with these strategies:
- Download books via my local library via Overdrive. I can download five books at a time and even put popular books with wait times on hold; the library emails me when they come in.
- Had my husband get a membership to a neighboring county library (he worked in the other county so he was eligible) with Hoopla so we can download books from there, too.
- Always check the local library system catalog to see if I can order one of their books for pickup before I purchase on Amazon.
- Use my Amazon Prime membership to get free book downloads every month. You don’t even need a Kindle to get these free downloads – you can use your phone or a PC. If you read a lot like me, the freebies of an Amazon Kindle Unlimited membership can’t be beat. You can try Amazon Kindle Unlimited FREE for 30 days now. Join Amazon Kindle Unlimited 30-Day Free Trial!
- Put books I can’t get via free sources on my Amazon wishlist so people can buy them for me as gifts.
- Select slower shipping when making purchases on my Amazon Prime Membership so I can get a free $1 digital download credit that I use for digital books.
Estimated monthly savings: $100
5. Home Décor
When life is overwhelming or when you’re struggling to pay down your debt and get debt free, there’s a fleeting satisfaction in buying all new rugs for the bathroom, for updating your bedding to something fresh, to buying something from the seasonal aisle at Target that is shiny and new. It makes you feel good.
But home décor really adds little to your life, and only delays your debt payoff and ability to pay off debt with no money. I stopped buying decorative home items when we were paying off debt, and now I’ve come to embrace a more minimalist aesthetic anyway.
Much of what I was buying wasn’t high quality or necessary – it was recreational spending, and easy to funnel into my larger goals of paying off debt.
Estimated monthly savings: $100
6. Cable TV and Landline Phone
Have you heard of cord cutting? Since we first started paying off debt, we’ve been enthusiastic cord cutters. It takes some getting used to, but today, avoiding cable and TV subscriptions is easier than ever.
When we first moved into our house, we had a fax line for our business, a landline phone, and a cable TV service, in addition to Internet. Every month, we paid $300+ for these utility services – and we probably didn’t even receive a dozen faxes ever. I still shake my head at the waste of money we could have used to pay off debt with no money and be debt free.
Fortunately, right around the time we started getting serious about paying off debt, we cut the cord and eliminated most of those expenses. Now we have one Internet bill and a streaming service (Amazon’s streaming service is great, and totally free with your Prime membership) or two. We run our businesses just fine without a fax or landline.
We currently use our Xbox One as a streaming device – this allows us to access Netflix, Amazon Prime movies and videos, Youtube, and even free cable channels like CW through one interface. Even after you figure the cost of a game console or streaming console, you’ll come out ahead compared to traditional cable.
Playstation 4 also offers the same streaming capability without any monthly fee or extra box sitting by your TV.
Estimated monthly savings: $200
7. Craft and Hobby Supplies
Dropping my craft supplies addiction was another habit I had to change to find money to pay off debt. I loved to peruse online craft forums and look at other’s projects. I’d frequently buy supplies for multiple projects in a month, while the ones in my stash gathered dust. I had a whole closet devoted to cross stitch projects in varying stages of completion.
To find money to pay off debt with no money and be debt free, I cut off the craft supplies purchases cold turkey and focused on working on stuff I already had.
Estimated monthly savings: $50
8. New Pets
Over the years, our family has had dogs, cats, geckoes, fish, and even a pet rat. We love animals, and they’ll probably always be a part of our lives. But the cost of vet visits and food for so many animals, not to mention the cost of startup supplies, is significant and has probably definitely interfered with our debt payoff progress.
Once we made a plan to get out of debt with no money and be debt free, we put a ban on adding new pets to our household. We care and love the ones we have, but adding more when we had debt was out of the question for our budget.
Estimated monthly savings: $150
9. Spousal Gifts
To pay off debt, my husband and I gave up gift giving to each other for most holidays. We still enjoy giving each other gifts for our birthdays, but for our anniversaries, Valentines Day, and all of the other commercial holidays, it just became less of a priority. He didn’t care if he got a Fathers Day gift; I didn’t care about chocolates on Valentines Day.
We still love each other and celebrate our relationship and appreciate each other, but we do it on our own terms, without feeling like we have to based on the calendar or societal expectations.
Estimated monthly savings: $40
10. New Furniture
Some of the debt we had to pay off was for furniture purchases we made early on. We didn’t have the cash to pay for bedroom dressers, so we charged them at 15.99% interest. We needed a bed but couldn’t pay up front, so we put it on a credit card.
Paying off debt with no money and being debt free meant we had to make do with the furniture we had already, no exceptions. I refinished an old dresser for my son’s room. We went without couches in our living room because we didn’t have the cash and were still paying off debt. We just lived with what we had until the debt was paid, instead of financing something we couldn’t afford.
Estimated monthly savings: $200
What did you give up to be debt free? How do you pay off debt with no money in the budget?
Great ideas! I love to simplify!
These are all great ideas. I have Incorporated most of these over the years being a single mom. My daughters are adults now and we have a blast going to the thrift store together.
That sounds fun, Jeanne!
Wow, eye opening when you put a possible dollar amount to these expenses. Thanks so much for breaking this down, these are some great ideas.
Thanks, Denise!
No… Not the books!!! Lol that is my weakness for sure, but I do love how ebooks are more affordable
I hear you! I love a good library, to be read pile, and book stack! It’s fun to stretch an Amazon gift card at Christmas – that’s all I want!
We have been practicing some of the same things, but I am hoping to quit with the furniture and start refinishing what we have!
Especially if you have kids. They’re gonna destroy it anyway, right? Might as well wait until they’re flying the nest.
I was excited to see that we already don’t buy most of these things! I do need to work on not buying books, though! Cable was something we cut over a year ago, and we never missed it. Great post!!
If you love books, it’s so tough. With Amazon Prime, my local library, and my husband’s access to Overdrive/Hoopla through a neighboring county, I can usually get what I need and most of what I want ~15+ books free to read a month. That’s usually enough for this bookworm.
Great list! Some of these I didn’t even think to cut out (gym memberships)! It’s crazy how a written number can make such an impact. It always surprises me when I hear people say that they purchase a Starbucks drink almost every day. Can you imagine the savings if they started making coffee at home!? Crazy!!
Truth on the coffee! We ended up buying the Torani syrups they use at Starbucks direct from the company (they always have a 10-15% off coupon code), with the pumps and everything! It saves a lot to be able to make fancy coffee at home for sure.
Awesome ideas! We are always looking for ways to cut back on our costs, and you have some great suggestions here. Love your ideas of ways to get books, and it’s so true what you say about gym memberships. I will have to share this article with my husband!
Thanks, Samara!
I’m pretty frugal on most of the listed items. Books I usually get at thrift stores and my Kundle is a godsend! It’s those craft supplies (mostly fabric) that are mybown personal addiction! My head swims with ideas and I have today vowed to stick with the supplies I have on hand….. I need help!!!!!?
I hear you. The prospect of all of those completed projects is more exciting than the reality, which is that you’ll never finish everything!