Hard Earning Money in College - Featured Image

What Should You Do with Your Hard-Earning Money in College 

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Whether you are just starting college or already a college student, you have a lot of things on your mind. You probably have to worry about school, tuition, bills, insurance, and so forth. You start having a lot of responsibilities that you get stressed and overwhelmed about everything. Most college students have to start being responsible because it is part of life. According to Forbes, college students can waste money up to $49,000 on things like textbooks

You have to start being independent and take care of yourself because no one will do it for you. You may have some help from your parents, but overall, you have to do most of the work. 

You start picking up part-time jobs to pay for your expenses. You want to spend your hard-earned money on things you want rather than your expenses. However, that is not a clever idea. You need to manage your money so that you don’t become broke. Most college students spend almost all their money on parties, clubs, or bars every weekend. 

If you want some money after graduation, you should learn to take care of your finance. Here are some tips and tricks on what you should do with your hard-earning money in college. 

Save and Spend Accordingly

Most college students don’t know how to budget and end up overspending on many things they don’t need. If you have a budget, you know what you need to save and spend. You have to start thinking about your needs and wants so that you can begin to understand how to budget. Think of ways to shop and save like a pro. 

Many of you have been used to buying things you want, but now you have to transition to an adult mind. You have to pay for your expenses. 

You have to learn how to manage your expenses and your lifestyle. With school and work, you have to save and spend accordingly. If you spend all your hard earning money on the things you want, what is there left for you, right? 

By creating a budget, you can see how much you can spend every month. This can also come in handy, especially when Christmas comes around because that is the time most people go broke. If you save a bit, you have money to buy Christmas presents for people. You can create a budget by writing it out or downloading apps that can help you calculate. 

Start a Side Hustle

Some people end up graduating feeling lost and don’t know what to do with their lives. They end up doing something completely different than their degree. 

For backup plan purposes, you should invest some time and money into a side hustle if you end up not using your degree after graduation. Who knows, you might have a successful business after you finish college, and you might work for yourself rather than go look for a job. 

Do you want to start your own business, or do you want to work for someone? What kind of lifestyle do you want?

You don’t have to start something big; it can be a little hobby like starting a Youtube, selling on Etsy, writing a blog, and so on. Not everyone has a side hustle in college. It is an option if you want something more in life. 

Invest

Not many students think about investing when they are in school. By investing, you can earn extra money on the side to pay or spend on things. You can start investing in the stock market or cryptocurrency. You can start small and slowly build up your portfolio if you want. However, you have to understand how the system works. Don’t put all your money in without a clue what the stock market or cryptocurrency is. 

You are doing it at your own risk. Suppose you are afraid of doing it on your own and are busy with your schedule. There are brokerage companies that are willing to do it for you. They will take a percentage, but you do get some returns too. 

Investing is a long-term game, so if you start your first year of college, you will have a lot of money when you graduate. Time makes a difference when you start early. 

Build an Emergency Funds

Personal finance can be confusing to most college students, and you probably might not have an emergency fund yet. According to The Hill, 40% of college students are saving for an emergency fund. Even if you don’t have one now, it is never too late to start one. Some students leave home to go to college, so they are on their own. They are independent who have to take care of themselves. 

When unpredictable things happen out of nowhere, you are going to need your emergency fund to help you during your dire needs. 

Pretend you become unwell, and you have to go to the doctor. You get a medical bill that is way out of your budget for the month. This is when you get money out of your emergency funds. 

So it is extremely important to put some of your hard-earned money into an emergency fund when something unexpected were to happen. 

Start paying off Student Loans Early

Most people start paying off their student loans after college, but if you start paying off early, you’ll be in better shape compared to your peers. 

If you start paying your student loans early, you’ll start developing a healthy habit at an early age which is extremely hard to do at a young age. By creating this habit, you will be in good standing in the future. Even though most people want to have fun with their hard earning money, you can start small.

Even if you can only afford $10, that is still a huge difference. You’ll eventually understand how it can affect your interest rate. 

Final Thoughts

Money comes and goes, so you should always think twice when using it.

These strategies are something college students do not think about when they are in college. It is recommended that they should start to understand and learn the foundation if they want to start being financially literate, even if it’s just a little. Most students are too worried about other things that they neglect their finances. If you start early, the better you are when you enter the real world. 

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How to Get Out of Debt: 13 Expert-Backed Steps for Success

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You try your best to make your payments, but interest charges eat up all your progress. Next month, you’re back to square one. Sound familiar? Don’t worry: You don’t have to be stuck with debt forever. We reached out to several experts and got their best tips for how to get out of debt. Here’s what they had to say. Dealing with debt can feel like a hopeless situation.

You try your best to make your payments, but interest charges eat up all your progress. Next month, you’re back to square one.

Sound familiar? Don’t worry: You don’t have to be stuck with debt forever. We reached out to several experts and got their best tips for how to get out of debt. Here’s what they had to say.

1. Find Your Motivation

Before you get into the nitty-gritty of debt payoff, start by figuring out the big reason why you want to be debt-free. This is crucial for keeping yourself motivated when things feel difficult, according to Fo Alexander, founder of Mama & Money and author of “Dump Debt & Build Bank.”

Maybe you want to eliminate stress or give your kids a better life. Perhaps debt is holding you back from starting your own business or going on a dream vacation. “Paying off debt can get hard and discouraging, especially if you have a significant amount,” Alexander said. “Whatever your reason, make sure that it’s enough to keep you encouraged when times get tough.”

2. See Where you Stand

Once you identify the motivation for paying off debt, it’s time to figure out where you currently stand and devise a basic budget.

“You need to know what goes in and out of your household and whether those expenses can be covered with your income,” said Leslie H. Tayne, a debt solution attorney and managing director of Tayne Law Group, P.C.

Start by making a list of all of your monthly expenditures, including healthcare, utilities, insurance, childcare, and housing costs. Don’t forget to include debt payments, too.

Next, add up all your monthly income and subtract your expenses. The money leftover is your cash flow — and you may be surprised to find that it’s negative. If so, you’ll need to find ways to cut your spending so that you can pay down debt more aggressively, and eventually, grow your savings.

3. Identify Poor Spending Habits

Once you have a basic budget in place, take a look at your discretionary spending (AKA your “wants”) and look for opportunities to cut unnecessary spending. Don’t worry: You don’t have to live on a bare-bones budget forever. But if you want to get rid of your debt fast, it’s important to look for ways you might be wasting money and cut those expenses. “It’s easy to fall back into the debt trap if you don’t address the habits that caused you to get there in the first place,”  said Andrea Woroch, a consumer and money-saving expert.

She explained that identifying and eliminating spending triggers can help. “Everyone has a trigger, and it’s important to face it to avoid it and prevent it from destroying your financial gains.” For instance, if you’re a compulsive shopper, delete retail apps and turn off push notifications for sales. If you can’t walk into Target or Costco without buying a bunch of stuff, you don’t need (guilty), stop shopping at these stores in person. “Instead, order online and choose curbside or in-store pickup, or have the items delivered to you directly,” Woroch suggested.

And every time you dodge an impulse purchase, put that extra money toward repaying your debt.

4. Increase Your Income

You can only scrimp and save so much. In addition to cutting your spending, another way to pay your debt more aggressively is to earn more income. “It doesn’t have to be a part-time or full-time job, either,” Tayne said. “Side gigs, such as baking, photography, dog walking, babysitting, ride-sharing, or turning unoccupied space in your home into a rental, can all generate extra income.”

Just keep in mind that gig workers are responsible for paying taxes on their earnings, so be sure to set aside some of your income for tax time and find out if you need to make quarterly estimated payments.

5. Narrow Your Focus

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when tackling your debt. There can be many competing priorities, including keeping up on the bills, paying off debt, saving for retirement, buying a house, etc.

“People want to feel like they are making progress, so they spread their focus and resources across all of these goals,” said Brian Walsh, a certified financial planner at SoFi. “This may seem logical, but it is the exact opposite of what we recommend.”

Instead, focus on accomplishing one goal at a time. You’ll make progress quicker, and progress leads to persistence. For instance, work on getting rid of your high-interest credit card debt before moving on to your federal student loans.

6. Set Micro-Goals

Becoming debt-free is a big goal that will likely take a long time to accomplish. If you only focus on that one big goal, it can feel like you aren’t making progress, and you might get discouraged.

“We recommend breaking down your finances into micro-goals that allow you to focus on 30-60 day sprints that will build-up to the big goal,” Walsh said. For example, instead of saying, “I want to eliminate all my credit card debt,” create a micro-goal of paying off one card over the next month. Then, you can reassess your situation and choose your next goal. “The key is that they are short-term, measurable, achievable, and build toward the bigger goal.”

7. Start a Debt Snowball

When it comes to paying off debt, the standard advice is to tackle the debt with the highest interest rate first and work your way down (also known as the “debt avalanche” method). From a mathematical perspective, this is the best way to save money in the long run. However, it may not be the best strategy for you, especially if you struggle to stay motivated.

If you need an extra mental push, try the debt snowball method instead. This involves using your extra funds to pay down your smallest debt first while paying the minimums on the rest. Once you knock out the first debt, apply your extra funds to the next-biggest debt, creating a snowball effect.

“Writing off an entire account of your debt is a great victory and provides some much-needed positive reinforcement,” said Maria Alcantara, a chartered investment manager and founder of Millennial Money Queens. “Managing money is often a mind game; we need to take into account the fact that we are human beings, not just robots that will quickly make the most logical and analytical decisions.”

The debt snowball method helps make debt payoff a source of pleasure rather than pain. It may cost you a little more in interest overall, but the psychological benefits can be worth it.

8. Pay More Than the Minimum

Paying the minimum payment due on your debts will ensure you avoid late fees. But when it comes to getting rid of your debt completely, it’s important to pay more, according to Tegan Phelps, founder of The Blissful Budget. Otherwise, you get stuck in a cycle of barely paying down the interest you accrue each month. “Doing this will ultimately pay your debt down quicker and save you money in interest,” Phelps said.

9. Set up Automatic Payments

Another mental roadblock to paying off debt is having to take money out of your bank account and send it off to your lenders. Physically moving your hard-earned money between accounts can be a mentally painful process.

That’s why it can help to set up automatic payments. “Setting up automatic payments ensures that you are at least paying the minimum balance each month,” Phelps explained. “This also allows you to stay consistent with making payments versus trying to remember to pay your balance after you receive your statement.”

10. Apply for a 0% Balance Transfer Card

If you have a lot of high-interest credit card debt and a decent credit score, one simple way to get a leg up on paying it off is by moving the balance to a 0% balance transfer card.

In order to entice new customers, many card issuers will offer to charge you 0% interest for anywhere from 12-24 months if you transfer your balance from a competitor. “This means that your monthly payment will go fully toward your past purchases/expenses, and nothing will be wasted on interest so that you will pay down your balance faster with less money,” Woroch said.

When using this strategy, it’s crucial that you stop charging expenses to the old card you just transferred your balance from. Also, take advantage of your 0% interest period and do your best to pay off the whole balance before interest starts accruing again; otherwise, you could end up back where you started.

11. Negotiate Your Rate

Did you know it’s possible to negotiate your interest rate with lenders, especially if you’re in good standing? Carmen Perez, a personal finance advocate for Varo Bank, said one way to get ahead of your debt is by calling up your creditors and asking for a rate reduction.

When calling, be sure to remain calm and polite. It helps to bring up examples of how you have been a good customer, such as making all your payments on time. Your lender may be willing to temporarily or permanently lower your interest rate, allowing more of your payment to go toward paying down the principal.

“It never hurts to try,” Perez said. “The worst thing they can say is ‘no.’”

12. Consider Bankruptcy as a Last Resort

The thought of filing for bankruptcy might seem scary. And it’s definitely something you should only consider as a last resort since it can damage your credit for several years. Even so, it could be worth pursuing if your situation is dire.

“If your debt load is so large that you cannot make a dent in it, even after aggressive budgeting, then bankruptcy may provide a way for you to eliminate it and get a fresh start,” said bankruptcy attorney Thomas C. Rollins, Jr. “While bankruptcy will hurt your credit for 7-10 years, depending on the chapter of bankruptcy filed, it can often result in a vastly improved financial situation for those that use it properly.”

If you find yourself buried in debt after losing a job, a medical emergency, or a divorce, weigh the pros and cons of filing for bankruptcy. And if you do go the bankruptcy route, don’t wait — you’ll likely fare much better by filing bankruptcy early, rather than struggling for years and then filing later.

13. Don’t Forget to Reward Yourself

You didn’t go into debt overnight, and you won’t get out of it overnight, either. Sometimes the journey to becoming debt-free can feel like it’s never going to end, which is why Grant said it’s important to put in place positive reinforcements along the way.

“As you work toward becoming debt-free, you should set realistic goals and reward yourself for achieving them,” he said. For example, if you cook at home four days a week to save money for debt repayment, reward yourself on Friday by ordering take-out for lunch. “This positive reinforcement adds a level of excitement to the journey by being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

This post originally appeared on Your Money Geek

The PBJ Theory, Please Quit Complaining About Food Budgets

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Looking to save money on monthly budget? Here is the Peanut Butter & Jelly Theory that is a quick thought on how you can save money on quick recipes for your family. #budget #savemoney #personalfinance

I’m about to save you thousands of dollars.

All the money you spend in your life, or even an average month. Chances are one of your largest expenses is food. It happens literally to everyone.

Eating Out Is The Worst For Your Wallet

So when people start to track their budgets, they always come to the same conclusion. “I need to quit eating out more”. The average person eats out 4.5 times per week costing them $12.14 per meal on a national average according to a 2016 survey conducted by Zagat. That doesn’t even include the additional cost of tipping.

That means the average person spends $54.63 eating out a week or $218.52 a month on just eating out. Unless you have a side-hustle that makes you lots of money. The obvious answer is to eat in!

What About Eating In?

Most people think they can easily quit dining out, and start cooking delicious meals. Here’s the thing with cooking for yourself, the movies get it wrong.

It’s not always a romantic and soothing experience.

Often times it’s a “Crap, I need to eat. What should I cook?” experience that you pray to the food gods you have the right ingredients in your fridge and clean dishes.

Let’s face it, we are busy in our lives and don’t have the time to visit the store every day buying fresh ingredients for a new recipe we found on the internet.

In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, researcher Eddie Yoon over two decades collected data as consultants for consumer packaged goods companies. He found that:

  • 15% of people say they LOVE to cook
  • 50% of people say they HATE to cook
  • 35% of people say they are ambivalent about cooking (mixed feelings)

If you’re one of the people that hate cooking, you should create a meal plan to make it as easy as possible.

Plan a week in advance what you’re going to eat for each meal and know how to cook it. This way you’ll have the ingredients and can plan accordingly for time.

However, not all plans work out.

Introduce The Peanut Butter and Jelly Theory

When meal plans fail, let me introduce Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, otherwise known as a PBJ.

Let me first admit that I have an addiction to commenting on Finance forums, Facebook Groups, and Blogs. The mechanics of building wealth are simple and I’m always happy to remind people that things are often more simple than they appear. Like how I responded to this comment and created “The Peanut Butter and Jelly Theory”.

I get it, you want to start saving money on food and you’re looking for suggestions from the personal finance community to help.

Answers ranged from getting a crockpot to make meals simple, cooking large meals on Sunday and eating leftovers throughout the week, to buying frozen meals that may not be great for you, but easy to prepare.

All of the responses skirted around the idea that a solid weekly meal plan is the best option to help you save money on food. However, sometimes these meals don’t work out for a number of reasons, and once you fall off the wagon, you can end up at the local McDonalds.

So I introduced the Peanut Butter and Jelly Theory. The cost-effective, quickest meal ever to keep your budget on track.

This is easily the most actionable thing you can do to start immediately saving on your food budget. In many cases when people eat out, it’s due to convenience because they don’t have anything at home to sound appealing. That’s when the Peanut Butter and Jelly Theory comes in handy.

“Stash emergency PBJ&J supplies in your kitchen. When hungry, but have nothing else. You can have a PBJ. If you’re not hungry for a PB&J, wait 2 hours until you’re hungry enough to eat a PB&J.”

Sometimes a PBJ isn’t exactly what you’re craving and your favorite restaurant sounds better, or your family would not be happy about that. Well suck it up, you’ll soon be out of debt and you can buy your family a jet ski. Everyone loves a jet ski.

Try the Peanut Butter and Jelly Theory

If you want to save THOUSANDS on food budgets, you should try the Peanut Butter and Jelly Theory! Meals cost less than $1 to make, you’ll save time and money. Most importantly, you’ll have a secret stash of PBJs to make and everyone is a stack of cash saved from eating out!

You’re welcome.

Disclaimer: Wallet Squirrel did not invent the Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, just an advocate of saving money. Wallet Squirrel was not sponsored by big PBJ corporations to promote their superior and delicious product.

9 Bad Spending Habits That are Killing Your Budget

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Alright, it is time to get our budgets back on track and get rid of bad spending habits.

Getting rid of these horrible spending habits could possibly save you thousands of dollars a year. It has for my wife and I.

We all have been guilty of bad spending habits at one point or another in our life. In fact, a lot of us might still be guilty of these bad spending habits, I know I am.

Let’s take a look at these 9 bad spending habits that are killing your budget and save you some money!

1. Not Paying Attention

We all need to pay attention to our bad spending habits. This is something that really turned around my wife’s and my finances. We now track our spending on an almost daily basis by using the Mint application.

Tracking your spending allows you to see how quickly frivolous spending can really add up. Until then you really do not realize how those horrible spending habits are really killing your budget. My eyes were blown wide open after the first week of tracking.

Here is what we did. We downloaded the Mint application and set up our budget within the application. Checking the application almost daily I am able to monitor our transactions and see how we are doing in each budget category. I am also always trying to see new ways as to where we can save money.

I love Mint. It is clean. Simple to use. But very powerful. If you do not know Mint you should check out our Mint App Review. Here Andrew walks you through as to what the application is and what it can do for you.

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2. Making Excuses

It is so easy to make excuses to enable bad spending habits. It is so easy to skew the purchase from a ‘Want’ to a ‘Need’.

But do you really ‘Need’ it? My guess is probably no!

Instead of focusing on materialistic items, focus on your final goal. Remember that you want to pay off your car by next year. Or that you want your student loan payments to disappear three years from now.

It might be tough in the beginning to let that item go but guess what. Something better will be out once you pay off your debt. Treat yourself then!

3. Eating Out

I talked about this a few weeks ago but eating out is the toughest on this list for me. I love food and I live in a foodie city, Denver. Surrounded by so much good food and having a 1-year old that wears you out on a nightly basis makes it very tempting to eat out a lot!

One solution would be the PBJ Theory that Andrew came up with a few weeks back. If you have not read it, I suggest you do. It is very cleverly written.

While I think think the PBJ Theory is a good emergency fall back, I do not think you should always rely on it (Andrew agrees with this). Instead, plan that you will be too tired to cook an intense meal (an hour or more cooking time) a few times a week.

There are plenty of healthy recipes out there that can be put together within 20 minutes. Just the other night I made us these very yummy black bean quesadillas for dinner. The meal took about 15 minutes to cook and we were very satisfied for under $8.00.

The best part of this meal is that all of the ingredients could be frozen if you do not get to the meal right away.

Comic Courtesy of: http://www.thecomicstrips.com/store/add.php?iid=162132

4. Not Eating What You Have

We have all been here. We find some awesome food that we plan on eating in the coming days. Then those days pass, then weeks pass, and then a couple months. One night you are hungry for a snack and remember that awesome food you found a while back. So you run to the fridge to only find it growing a tree out of it (mold).

Do not be this guy. This is literally just throwing money into the garbage.

My wife and I keep a pretty tight weekly menu throughout the week. I make our meals to feed four people so we will have leftovers for lunch the next day. Then that is it. Those leftovers are done. If there are more, like from a crock-pot meal, I will freeze for a meal later on down the road.

We also do not buy that many perishable snacks for home. Most of the snacks we have are healthy non-perishables. We do not buy any more until those initial snacks are gone.

For more information on how we save money on groceries check out my 7 Ways on How to Save Money Groceries article.

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5. Worrying About What Others Have

As humans, we tend to compare ourselves to others. This comparison could include lifestyle, looks, or what the other has that you do not. Do not fall into this trap as it can lead into a dark spiral that creates bad spending habits.

You might feel the urge to go buy that sweet new phone because your buddy has it. Or you might want to upgrade your car because it looks like a junker and not like the sweet new SUV your neighbor just got.

Sure, it would be awesome to have that new shiny toy but is it really worth it? Not long after the joy it brings will wear off resulting in your wanting a new shiny toy to bring that joy back. See how this turns into a nasty spiraling circle of bad spending habits?

Instead, I propose you do not buy that new shiny toy. It is a temporary band-aid. A distraction to what you really want. Financial freedom.

You should work on paying off that debt you have. My wife and I were very aggressive over the summer to get our car paid off (see how we paid off $7,000 in 3 months). Even though it has been a couple months, I am still finding joy because I now know I never will have that payment again. That liberation never goes away.

6. Monthly Subscriptions

Man, it can be so easy to spend money on these monthly subscriptions that we have available to us now. They are set up by the companies so brilliantly as well. We purchase them, set up the monthly charge, and forget about them.

We spend $198.19 a month on subscriptions.

  • Spotify – $9.99
  • Netflix – $9.99
  • Amazon Prime – $8.25
  • Dollar Shave Club – $3
  • Cell Phone – $116.20
  • Internet – $50.76

Surprisingly, we were able to cut these back by a significant amount. Our cell phone bill was just under $170 a month. The internet bill was just over $100 a month before we cut out the cable and switched to an antenna for the local channels.

Also, since I can barely grow any facial hair, the Dollar Shave Club subscription was cut back to only come every other month.

Keep an eye on these subscriptions as they can easily be forgotten about and turn into bad spending habits. Overall, we have saved about $1,300 a year with our most recent changes.

7. That Fancy Coffee

I do not drink coffee so this one really is not applicable to me. But I do know enough people who spend WAY too much money by stopping by their favorite coffee shop to grab a $10 latte on the way into work every morning.

Even if a person grabs their latte three times a week, that is costing them over $1,500 a year. Just in coffee!

Now my wife loves her coffee and loves that $10 latte but she has made a rule that she cannot get one unless she has a gift certificate. She will ask for a gift certificate to Starbucks for Christmas and her birthday to crave her want. In between those times, she will just brew her own at home every morning.

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8. Shopping Convenience

My wife and I have a rule that if we did not buy it on our weekly grocery trip, then we do not get it until next week. There is one exception to this rule, if the item is an essential ingredient to a recipe then we can go grab that ingredient.

When we do need to run to the store during the week we make sure that we do not shop at a convenience store. We will take the extra few minutes that it takes to drive to a grocery store to grab the item.

Convenience stores up-charge their merchandise because of the convenience it is to shop at them. Shopping here instead of going the extra two minutes out of your way is pure laziness and just throwing money away.

Just stay away from these stores. There is no real reason to shop at them.

9. Buying Unnecessary Items

Don’t get me wrong. I am guilty of this all the time and just recently started to learn how to control the urge to spend because I want that new shiny toy like everyone else has.

We recently just paid off our RAV4 14 months early. Our other car, an Accord, is really beaten up, I mean really beat up. I’m now the guy that no one wants to park next too. Because of this, I had the urge to trade in the Accord for a new 4Runner, which I love.

When those thoughts started running through my head I needed to stop everything and refocus that my wife’s and my next goal is student loans. We could not do that by adding on a $600 monthly car payment.

Plus, even though it looks horrible, the Accord is mechanically sound. There is no reason to get a new car right now.

The next time you want to get that new shiny toy, I suggest you stop everything you are doing and refocus on what your real goals are. Those are what will bring you true happiness in the long run.

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Now Go Break Those Bad Spending Habits

Just like me, I am sure you are a work in progress. It takes a lot of time and effort to break bad habits. I do not expect you to go out and change all of your bad spending habits within 24 hours.

That would just be crazy.

Pick one bad habit and start changing that one first. Then add on another one to change. Keep this positive cycle going until you feel like you have everything under control.

Changing your bad spending habits will get you on the right path to financial freedom.

How to Pay Off Your Car Loan Faster – How I paid off $7K in 3 Months

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Still have a car loan? Let's get that paid off faster! Here is how my wife and I paid off the last $7,000 of our car loan in 3 months. #savemoney #personalfinance #moneytips

Today it is your turn to learn how to pay off your car loan faster.  Over the last three months (May to August), my wife and I have worked really hard to pay off our car loan.

I can now say, as of the end of August we finally did it! What an amazing feeling it is to free up $405 a month to tackle other debt we have. Ugh….student loans…

We took a multi-faceted approach to tackling this debt so we could start focusing on our combined $90,000 student loan debt.

Where to Start

To start off with how to pay off your car loan faster, you need to create a roadmap. Do not just jump into the process without a plan on how you will tackle debt so aggressively.

This roadmap should look to answer three questions. When? How? What? You should look at when do you want to pay it off by. Then look at how and what you can do that will help pay that car loan off faster.

You will want to make sure that you choose items that are feasible for you to achieve. I want you to be successful in paying off your car loan faster!

It is a good thing I have a list of easy ideas for you to use. Let’s get started!

Refine that Budget

One of the first things we did was take a serious look at our budget to find where we could cut down costs. We decided to cut our weekly grocery bill by 25%. We also cut our entertainment budget along with our utilities.

Take a look at your budget to determine what categories can be trimmed down in costs. Some easy categories to start looking at first are entertainment, eating out, groceries, or utilities. I use Mint to help organize our budget and see where we are actually spending.

One sneaky way we adjusted our budget was during the summer. We were able to temporarily remove our son’s daycare expenses. As a teacher, my wife has the summer off so we were able to pull him out of daycare for 10 weeks. This ended up saving us $3,000!

mint can be a great tool to help refine your budget so you can pay off your car loan faster

Cutting Excess Spending

Cutting excess spending goes along the same lines with refining our budget. I look at refining your budget as a high overview and cutting excess spending as working on the nitty-gritty details.

So how did we cut out our excess spending? Easy. Start by looking at each expense you have and ask yourself, “Is this a need or a want?” If it is a need, then keep it. If it is a want, then it needs to be cut out. Do you really need to pick up a pop every day on your way to work (Personal example)? Probably not.

We made the cut with our cable bill. We didn’t need it anymore so I canceled it, just leaving us with our internet. This saved us 50% a month on our cable/internet bill.

Couponing on Necessary Spending

Of course, there are plenty of items that are necessary. These include groceries, cell phone, gas, and so on.

In today’s digital world it is so easy to find coupons to help us save money. I recommend grabbing the Honey extension for your internet browser to help you with necessary online shopping (see review here). Then for in-store shopping, I would download the Ibotta app on your cell phone (see review here).

These apps help my wife and I save money each and every week which in turn can be used to pay off our car loan faster.

use the Ibotta app to pay of your car loan faster

Selling Unnecessary Items

If you read my How to Get Rid of Distractions article, you know I was trying to sell items around the house that I did not need in my life anymore. Well, I did sell most of the items on my list. This money helped us shave off nearly $1,000 from the car loan. Pretty awesome right!?!?

Your assignment is to look at the items you barely use around your house. Ask yourself, “Do I really need this? Does it help me towards my goals or does it distract me from them?” If you do not need the item or it is a distraction, it is time to sell it. You can either sell the item on Craig’s list or eBay to help you earn some extra cash to pay off your car loan faster.

Side Hustling

I could write a whole book about side hustling, in fact, some people have. So this will be a 30,000-foot level overview about earning extra money so you can pay off your car loan faster.

Side hustling consists of extra gigs you do to earn extra money on top of your full-time job. These gigs could be selling photography, driving for Uber, delivering for Amazon, freelance writing, and so on.

I have used any income that has come from Wallet Squirrel or my photography sales to help my wife and I widdle down our car loan.

For more ideas, check out our list of side hustles that Andrew and I have actually tried out.

Remove Temptation

Advertisements are everywhere to tempt us with the latest coolest gadgets for purchase. Giving in to these temptations is a weakness of mine because I am such a materialistic person. So I had to find a way to minimize these temptations so I did not want to go out and buy things I did not need.

For me, the biggest culprit was all of those emails from retailers that I love such as REI. To help reduce these, I started using Unroll.Me to unsubscribe me from all of those pesky emails.

Whatever might be tempting you, try to find a way to remove that trigger to spend excessively.

Staying Focused

The last item on this list is the centerpiece that brings all of this together. You need to stay focused on your final goal.

I like to have my overarching goal written down with every subgoal that is going to get me to the final goal underneath it. Then I look at these goals on a weekly basis deciding on which subgoal I am going to accomplish. It feels so good to check those subgoals off knowing that I am one notch closer to completing that overarching goal.

Now Go Save!

Now it is your turn to go out and save to pay off your car loan faster.

How do you plan on tackling this debt?