How to live your life, while paying debts in your 20s

Updated on 01/02/2021.

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Good morning, lovely dreamers, and welcome to a new blog post! Today, we're tackling one of the biggest problems everyone has in their 20s and even early 30s if they're not careful. Debt.

Paying debts require sacrifice. Everyone knows that.

It's a hard process. If you want to get rid of it ASAP, first you need to cut down on every expense possible. In some cases, you need to pick up a new part-time job, start a side hustle or two, or do overtime at work just so you could enjoy life after you are free.

Becoming debt-free is a long and sometimes exhausting process.

But it's definitely not impossible. As long as you are committed, consistent and careful, you may find yourself in the sweet land of freedom faster thank you think.

Take us for example.

In 2013, Andy and I, being Maya, became the co-owners of a cafe-bar & tattoo shop. We were two young entrepreneurs, with high hopes and sparks in our eyes. (Oh, youth, innocence, naivety... )But we were forced by the economy (and tons of mistakes) to close our doors, sooner than we expected. This left us in massive debt, depression and it did shake our confidence A LOT. We went from finally becoming someone, to no one in mere seconds.We struggled to pay our debts for a few years actually - the pay in Eastern Europe is crap, and it was difficult to put something aside in order to do that.Then, we decided to move over 2000 miles away from home, in the hopes of achieving freedom. But then we hit other problems. That's why we had to come up with a system to help us break free faster.Here's what we learned in the process so that you don't have to make the same mistakes.

Being frugal is key.

This is the first and most important thing you need to learn if you want to succeed in paying your debts fast. Never buying the stuff you don't actually need, always making shopping lists, or finding ways to make some extra money on the side and of course - saving, saving and more saving.Since I can remember, I was like that, except for one thing - I was a smoker since my early teenage years until my mid-20s. This was my "treat", my escape. (yes! By the way, very expensive and nasty habit no matter where you live).Since even before moving to Spain, I cut down on everything. I even created myself a new eating diet, stopped smoking, no more going out, never eating in town, no more shopping - unless it's food or anything extremely useful around the house( like a pan or cleaning supplies).But what Andy, my fiance, taught me is that even though you have a lot to pay, you still need to live your life, or you get stuck - in a loop of depression and sadness. And it's all downhill from there.But enough with the chit-chatting! Let's get to it!

How to live your life, while paying debts

In our long quest of paying our debts and trying to live our youth (one of us is still in his 20's... yet!), we came up with a system on how we can live our lives while paying debts.

Our system is divided into 5 steps

1. Prioritize your payments

First and foremost if you have more than one debt, you need to make a list of every single institution, bank, friend, dog, cat, plant that require a monthly payment from you.We know the first reflex is to say: "I'm attached to another object by an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis" ( aka Leonard's from The Big Bang Theory definition for "Screwed", in case you didn't know).

But trust us, screwed you are not. All you need is a little bit of discipline and a good plan.

The banks in most cases have bigger fines than your friend who lent you money, so you know you need to pay the bank first, and then everything else.Since our last update, a lot of things have changed:

• we moved back home to Transylvania,
• covid-19 happened
• 2020 happened and
• now we're living in the apartment my dad left us after he passed away, so we're finally rent-free (and monthly council tax-free)!

If you are currently renting, you know that this is the most important step, and rent (+ council tax like it was in our case) always comes first - always, before any other payments.In the past(aka before this update), we talked about using money envelopes for prioritizing the payments, but that's so old school that we don't even use it anymore.Even though we don't use physical money envelopes anymore, we do have set up some payments through the bank, on certain dates. Basically the electronic version of a money envelope.

2. Go minimalist and cut down unnecessary expenses

As eastern Europeans born and bread, we come from a society of hoarders. Because pay is crap, and resources are still fairly limited, we were taught since childhood to recycle, upcycle, gather and keep basically everything we use on a daily basis because "we might need it for something someday".This includes appliances, and also clothing and accessories as well. Seriously, the bag of bags is just the tip of the iceberg.The good part since we got home is that there's no box filled with random cables no one used for 15 years just sitting in our apartment waiting for us - we took care of that when we redesigned the apartment.

If you have limited living space, then you know how important it is to actually use every inch you can, and not just for collecting dust.

And let's talk about personal choices. Do you really need 10 pairs of shoes, 7 bags, and 5 coats? Do you really need to shop that sale for another dress? Especially now when everything is closed and all the socializing happens online and in your PJs?What about random subscriptions you're not using?Make a list and really think of what you actually need and use, be true to yourself, and cut cut cut.If doing this by yourself is too difficult, find someone to help you and be your rock when you are too subjective.

3. Meal prepping and shopping lists

First, a confession. Andy and I absolutely hate meal prepping, in the conventional sense. You know, the kind you see all over Pinterest - the same recipe cooked for the whole week and split into 4 to 5 plastic containers, for "convenience".That's one of the most boring things ever invented if you ask me. Yes, I get why it sounds like a good idea, but it's just not realistic.Do you really want to eat the same thing over and over again for an entire week? No.Seriously, unless you have 4 friends that are meal prepping as well and you can switch containers between yourselves, it's not a good idea. Simply because it's boring.

That being said, you totally should have some sort of an idea of what you want to cook and eat for the following week.

Think of creating a menu. Planning meals can be a great way to express creativity and connect with your loved ones, that's why we love it. Check your fridge and storage space, get together and brainstorm your meals for the next week.

Tip:

Every Sunday evening after dinner you should check the fridge, freezer and the storage cabinet and see what ingredients you have.Then, plan the meals for the next week and if you notice something missing from what you need, start making a shopping list, then verify offers and sales at the local markets to plan the shopping trip accordingly.Also, cooking with what ingredients are in season will not only make the meals even more delicious but cheaper as well, so keep that in mind.

Related: How to save money while shopping – without coupons

4. Start a side hustle

Let's be real for a second. No matter how well you manage to cut expenses, plan meals and shopping trips, sometimes you still need a little more to help you get to the finish line.Having a side hustle can be an escape - from debt, and also daily routine.You could do so many things: from selling your stuff on eBay, become an Amazon FBA, market your DIY crafts on Etsy, your photos on Shutterstock, becoming an Uber driver, an online Udemy teacher of some skill, or you could start a blog!

Related:  Can you make money blogging without blogging about blogging?

5. Live!

And last, but not least in our system is probably one of the most important steps, live your life!

We were born to live AND work, not work TO live!

Find cheap or free ways to entertain yourself.For us, taking a walk on the beach, or in the park, listening to live music at outdoor free events and playing games like Heroes of the Storm and board games, are just a few ways to relax and live.But as most of us are indoors now because of Covid, and we've learned to appreciate indoor life more, we made a habit of reading more every day, watching a good movie (or having a movie marathon) every weekend, and having a catch-up with our close friends every week.

You don't need to spend money to feel that you are alive and living!

Remember that.Aaand that's all for today, lovely dreamers! We hope you enjoyed our advice about living life while paying debts. If you did, please don't forget to share it, pin it, tweet it!

Our question for you is: What kind of system do you have about paying debts?