Before we talk about your spending, let’s talk about what you’ve already spent.

I want to ask you some questions. They might not seem directly related to a No-Spend Challenge, but the answers are the foundation to succeeding long term. Without them, you won’t see the full benefit of doing No-Spend Challenges.

If you’re going to do something difficult, then take full advantage of its lessons so you get better every time. You can only grow if you’re challenging yourself, so go big or go home.

Can You Relate?

If you were anything like I was a few years ago, you’re in some state of denial about your financial situation. I avoided acknowledging my financial future saying things like “I have plenty of time,” or “everyone has student loan debt.”

A year into grad school, I listened to Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University CDs. I’d borrowed them from a friend because I couldn’t afford the class. I’d just drained my bank account from a semester traveling the country and I knew I wasn’t being as responsible as I could be. I was also in school and knew my anticipated debt would be over $50,000.

After finishing the series, I didn’t feel motivated to pay off my debt. I just felt a panic attack coming on 먹튀.

I had anxiety thinking about the rest of the student loans I’d need to take out and how much I’d have to work to be able to pay for school. A few months later, my car died — bye-bye saving for school.

So I ignored the whole concept and kept spending. I took out another credit card and got a car loan. I knew paying off my debt was the right thing to do, but it felt impossible.

We all have skeletons in our financial closet, but more and more it seems like those skeletons are taking over our entire financial house. My debt brought with it feelings of guilt and shame. It restricted my choices, exhausted me, and left my self-esteem in the pits.

No wonder everyone has debt but no one wants to talk about it.

I was doing really well ignoring the whole financial thing until I met Travis. This guy wanted to pay off his student loans and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Instead of settling for getting by, he pushed me to dream about living more fully.

He got me thinking that maybe drowning in debt doesn’t have to be normal. Figuring out why paying off debt was important to me made the difference to convince me to face my fears about debt.

After years spent working at a foster group home, I know I want to be a foster parent one day. I know firsthand how difficult, rewarding, and essential it is for young couples to become foster parents. But I can’t do that if I’m stressed about making ends meet. As Dave Ramsey likes to say, broke people can’t help broke people.

That’s why I jumped on board with this insane idea paying off debt and building a solid financial foundation for my family, for now, and for the future. I realized that a few years scrimping would mean freedom for the rest of my life. That even though I could (barely) afford my debt payments, living with them hanging over my head felt like living under a pendulum.

Figuring out why you want to pay off your debt is key to paying it off. Retirement was not enough of a reason for me. Having nice things and a nice house didn’t motivate me. Planning future vacations and paying for them without saving for months — that lights me up. The thought of being able to stay home with my future kids sets me on fire.

What is it for you? Is it quitting your job to start your own business? Buying a house? Adoption? Being able to give insanely generously? It can be as simple as early retirement or as complex as financial stability to leave a negative relationship. Whatever it is, be honest, be vulnerable, and be passionate about it.

What’s Keeping You From Paying Off Your Debt?

Everyone has a financial vice, if not many. Mine was FOMO: Fear of Missing Out. I could be very frugal at a restaurant, but I would go out with friends or take a trip without a glance at my nonexistent budget.

I wish it was as easy as saying, “stop spending” or “make more money” and people’s problems would be solved. Everyone would be a whiz at delayed gratification and have zero entitlement about giving up their weekends for a second job.

But the mind is a complex beast that keeps us doing what we hate and far from achieving our goals.

What’s your excuse for not paying off your debt? You might be embarrassed to say it like I was, or you might have a really good reason. Whatever it is, you have to decide if the excuse is more important than your reason to pay off your debt.

These are some excuses I hear a lot:

“I don’t make enough money.”

“I couldn’t pay it off even if I tried.”

“I don’t have time to focus on it.”

“Everyone has debt.”

The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem, and the problem is your mindset.

These things are likely not keeping you in debt. They are just limiting mindsets.

Figure out your own limiting mindset and fill your mind with the truth that destroys it. Changing your mindset will change your outlook.

You might think you’re broke, but once you make a budget, you might find you’re just overspent. Think you don’t have enough time to work an extra job? Maybe you need better time-management skills or a job with flexible hours. Some of these lessons you’ll learn only after doing a few No-Spend Challenges, but some you’ll learn quickly.

Whatever you think is keeping you from paying off your debt, I promise you someone else has been through it and conquered the goal. You’re not alone. And you can help yourself get rid of these negative ideas by overwhelming them with positive ones.

How Much Debt Are You Going to Pay Off This Year?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics divided Americans into five earning levels and studied the income-to-expense ratio for each. The bottom two groups spent more on average than what they made, while the top three groups made more money than they spent.

The lowest earners spent only about $22K annually.

You’re probably thinking $22K!? That’s less than $2K per month, that’s my entire mortgage!

I get it. I’m not saying you have to live on $22K per year, I tell you this to eliminate the word “can’t” from your vocabulary. You can cut your spending, You can go a week, month, or year without spending on more than basic needs.

I also don’t say this to guilt you about spending too much. As simply as my family lived, we spent well over that every year. But if you make $40K per year and you’re still struggling to find money to pay debt, then I want you to see there’s still hope for you.

And if we’re being honest, those lowest earners probably don’t have any student loan debt, which means they might have a higher net worth than you right now. Think about that.

It takes sloshing through a lot of pride to get out of debt and have control of your money. We never saw a single penny from Travis’ paychecks for two years — it all went to student loans. Every bill and expense we had came out of my own [smaller] paycheck. And when he was unemployed TWICE during those two years, the debt payment came out of my paycheck, too.

Now’s the time to look at your debt, income, and spending and make a goal. Reverse engineer your freedom from debt.

Decide when you want to be debt free to determine what it’s going to take to get there.

That goal will help keep your No-Spend Challenge on track and sustain you on the journey ahead.

You. Can. Do. This.

It’s not enough to say, “Make a budget and stop spending money.” If it were that easy, everyone would do it!

For the rest of this guide, I’m going to lay out the tools you need to strengthen your willpower, spend less on things you don’t need, and spend better on the things you do need. I’ll give you ideas on how to use your newly found time and a little guidance for beyond the challenge.

You’re going discover what you find value in and leave behind the guilt that comes with overspending. I am so excited for you. I believe in you and know you can crush this. But you gotta believe in yourself too.

Hopefully the tips you gain here will give you more confidence to do that. Until then, surround yourself with people who encourage the crap out of you and you’ll start to believe in yourself as much as they do.

GO DO THE THINGS:

• Write down your why
• Think about your limiting mindset
• Make your goal
• Believe in yourself