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How Did You Become Debt Free?
Good Afternoon 
I'm actually posting this in response to AUSGlobetrotter's question asking how do we become debt free over on another post- How Many of us are 100% Debt Free. I didn't want to Hijack that thread so I'm going to answer here- I'm sure AUSGlobetrotter would like to hear everyone's story though (and so would I!).
My husband and I are in our 20s. I grew up in Australia but moved to the U.S. when I was 21 for a job opportunity. In Australia, due to the high cost of living I was already somewhat frugal- the only debt I had was my HECS debt which I paid off as soon as I could afford to (it's like a student loan). The one major thing that I did spend money on though was overseas travel- but I'm glad for the experience and I'm glad I got it over and done with when I had less responsibility.
Since moving to the U.S. I've never been in debt- if I haven't been able to afford it in cash, I haven't bought it, which was generally the train of thought I followed in Australia as well. When I first moved to the U.S. I moved to St. Louis (which Americans will know is a super affordable Midwestern city) and was pleasantly surprised by the super low cost of living compared to Australia!
I ended up getting married to a U.S. Marine and moving to a military town in North Carolina. Thankfully my husband has the same outlook toward money that I do and had never been in debt. About 3 years ago when he decided that the military life wasn't for him and that he'd be getting out at the end of this enlistment (which is up at the end of November this year) we made the decision to move back to St. Louis once he was out of the Marine Corps and save up to buy a house outright.
For the past 3 years- we've saved his paychecks and lived off mine (and there's usually a bit left over of mine) PLUS we've lived significantly underneath our means.
While his friends are renting $1000/mo+ apartments (which is in line with the BAH allowance of a little over $1100) + Utility costs, we've been renting a shabby little $600/mo house (my town is unfortunately expensive- $600 here is cheap) and have done without Cable TV or many other items of modern gadgetry (no iphones, ipads, ipods, gaming systems, tv, etc) in favor of saving money.
So, a month and a half ago we were able to buy, in cash, a nice 2100sqft house with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, double garage on half an acre in a nice neighborhood in St. Louis County which we're in the process of moving to (as my husband is soon to be out of the Marine Corps). Even with property taxes, it's still going to be a lot cheaper than renting! It does need some work and cosmetic updates- but nothing too major, and we incorporated the necessary work into our cash budget.
With that said however- I probably wouldn't have been able to buy a house in cash in a major city in Australia due to the atrociously high house prices there. My husband and I purposely chose to move back to the Midwest because of the reasonable cost of living. (St. Louis was ranked the #1 city for Cheapskates by Kiplingers).
Other ways we've saved money are:
-My husband was an Auto Mechanic before the Marine Corps, so we can afford to have older cars as he can handle most of the maintenance work / repairs.
-I cook almost everything from scratch
-I'm a Vegetarian and don't keep meat in my household, that alone is a money saver when it comes to groceries
-I sew, therefore I can repair a lot of clothes and linens rather than replace them (or sew my own)
-DH rides his bicycle to and from work every day to save on gas money
-All of our furniture is second hand (awesome 1950s stuff!) and we got it all for a bargain. We rarely buy anything 'new'.
-We didn't get into debt in the first place!
So, that's how my husband and I have done it. I'd like to hear your stories as well! To AUSGlobetrotter- hope that helps!
I'm actually posting this in response to AUSGlobetrotter's question asking how do we become debt free over on another post- How Many of us are 100% Debt Free. I didn't want to Hijack that thread so I'm going to answer here- I'm sure AUSGlobetrotter would like to hear everyone's story though (and so would I!).
My husband and I are in our 20s. I grew up in Australia but moved to the U.S. when I was 21 for a job opportunity. In Australia, due to the high cost of living I was already somewhat frugal- the only debt I had was my HECS debt which I paid off as soon as I could afford to (it's like a student loan). The one major thing that I did spend money on though was overseas travel- but I'm glad for the experience and I'm glad I got it over and done with when I had less responsibility.
Since moving to the U.S. I've never been in debt- if I haven't been able to afford it in cash, I haven't bought it, which was generally the train of thought I followed in Australia as well. When I first moved to the U.S. I moved to St. Louis (which Americans will know is a super affordable Midwestern city) and was pleasantly surprised by the super low cost of living compared to Australia!
I ended up getting married to a U.S. Marine and moving to a military town in North Carolina. Thankfully my husband has the same outlook toward money that I do and had never been in debt. About 3 years ago when he decided that the military life wasn't for him and that he'd be getting out at the end of this enlistment (which is up at the end of November this year) we made the decision to move back to St. Louis once he was out of the Marine Corps and save up to buy a house outright.
For the past 3 years- we've saved his paychecks and lived off mine (and there's usually a bit left over of mine) PLUS we've lived significantly underneath our means.
While his friends are renting $1000/mo+ apartments (which is in line with the BAH allowance of a little over $1100) + Utility costs, we've been renting a shabby little $600/mo house (my town is unfortunately expensive- $600 here is cheap) and have done without Cable TV or many other items of modern gadgetry (no iphones, ipads, ipods, gaming systems, tv, etc) in favor of saving money.
So, a month and a half ago we were able to buy, in cash, a nice 2100sqft house with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, double garage on half an acre in a nice neighborhood in St. Louis County which we're in the process of moving to (as my husband is soon to be out of the Marine Corps). Even with property taxes, it's still going to be a lot cheaper than renting! It does need some work and cosmetic updates- but nothing too major, and we incorporated the necessary work into our cash budget.
With that said however- I probably wouldn't have been able to buy a house in cash in a major city in Australia due to the atrociously high house prices there. My husband and I purposely chose to move back to the Midwest because of the reasonable cost of living. (St. Louis was ranked the #1 city for Cheapskates by Kiplingers).
Other ways we've saved money are:
-My husband was an Auto Mechanic before the Marine Corps, so we can afford to have older cars as he can handle most of the maintenance work / repairs.
-I cook almost everything from scratch
-I'm a Vegetarian and don't keep meat in my household, that alone is a money saver when it comes to groceries
-I sew, therefore I can repair a lot of clothes and linens rather than replace them (or sew my own)
-DH rides his bicycle to and from work every day to save on gas money
-All of our furniture is second hand (awesome 1950s stuff!) and we got it all for a bargain. We rarely buy anything 'new'.
-We didn't get into debt in the first place!
So, that's how my husband and I have done it. I'd like to hear your stories as well! To AUSGlobetrotter- hope that helps!
To each their own, however. Location of where I live is the one thing in life that I will allow myself to splurge on. Far be it for me to know what makes people happy, but for me being debt free wasn't worth living somewhere that I was miserable.
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