How I Paid Off An 80K+ Debt In Less Than Two Years

And regained control of my finances and my life.

Debt repayment is the most underrated path to building long-term wealth.

Most people talk about making money, which I understand. Making money is more exciting than using it to pay off debt.

But debt is the single biggest shackle of modern society. Debts bind us to the whims and rules of creditors. Debts prevent us from completely enjoying the fruits of our labor.

There is no real freedom or ownership until we break our bondage from debt.

And so, while I love other ways of wealth-building (i.e., investing, starting a business), there are several reasons why I put such high priority on paying debts:

1. Debt repayment is a safe wealth-building strategy.

Other means of building wealth can be extremely rewarding. Starting a business, for one, can generate enough money to finance the life of your dreams.

But business success is not guaranteed. There’s a real chance you’ll fail and even lose money in the process.

When you pay debts, however, there’s no way you can lose. As long as you pay your creditors, you’ll move closer to becoming financially free.

2. Debt repayment can increase your disposable income with zero effort.

I recently paid off my car. If I hadn’t done that, I’d continue to pay $500/month for the next three years.

Now that that debt is gone, I have an extra $500 for whatever I want. I didn’t have to work more or alter my budget to get this windfall. The money became available because it’s no longer bound to a car payment.

That’s the beauty of debt freedom. Some internet gurus sell people on the idea of passive income like it was some magical thing. Then they charge people thousands of dollars to “unlock” their secret.

The reality is you can make passive income just by paying off your debts.

3. Debt repayment gives you time freedom.

The less you owe, the less money you have to make.

Of course, we’ll always need money. Some expenses will never go away.

But if we were to remove our debts from the equation, we have the liberty not to make as much.

Society tends to glorify the idea of making more money. But to have the freedom to earn less and work less is just as powerful.

Personally, between money and time, I’d pick having more time infinite times over.

A Breakdown of How I Deleted 80K+ Worth of Debt From My Books

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, I was among many nurses who felt burned out.

I wanted a way out but didn’t have the time or energy to switch careers.

Instead, I focused on paying debts. My thinking was if I could reduce my liabilities, then I could spend less time working.

The debts I paid between 2020 to 2022 included the following:

• $40K-My student loan
• $10K-My wife’s student loan
• $20K-Two car loans from cars we barely use
• $10K-Personal loan from my mother-in-law

These are not exact amounts, but they’re very close approximations. I’d say the total debt I paid was a little over 80K.

The debts I paid are what I consider non-essential debts. I don’t call them that because they’re unimportant but because I have control over their re-occurrence. They’re non-essential for survival.

But I also had recurring debts. These are debts I’ll have indefinitely because they pay for living expenses. Therefore, there’s no point in trying to pay them off completely.

That’s why you don’t see credit cards on my list.

I use my credit card every month for some basic needs, like groceries. Its balance is rarely zero. The only way for me to keep my credit card debt from spinning out of control is by paying it partially every month.

Thankfully, I’ve done a pretty good job maintaining a reasonably low credit card balance for the last several years.

Keeping my recurring expenses at bay and the methods I’m about to share allowed me to eliminate over $80K from my books.

Here are the exact steps I took to pay down my debts and conquer my finances:

1. I leveraged savings to pay off my student loans.

There’s an age-old debate about whether saving or paying debts is better.

I’d say it depends. But I lean toward debt repayment for one reason: interest.

An enormous debt, such as a student loan, accumulates interest. And that’s money you could’ve kept for yourself.

That’s why I paid my student loan as quickly as I did. But before I was able to do so, I’d been overpaying my principal. I needed my balance to go down to an amount I could pay with my savings.

Half of the money I used came from my savings. The other half came from the equity of a house my wife, and I sold a few years ago.

Seeing my money get sucked in by my student loan stung, but it was worth it.

Eliminating my student loan allowed me to start my kids’ college fund, save for family travel, and begin saving for retirement.

2. I sold off liabilities.

I had four cars at one point. It might seem a lot, but my wife and I work as home health nurses. We drive a lot for work. So, for a time, we thought it was wise to have multiple cars.

Our logic was that if one car broke down, we’d have another.

But then I soon realized how much money it took to have four cars. They all carried a loan. They also all needed maintenance and other things, like registration and smog checks.

Once I got rid of two cars, I was able to add more money for retirement.

3. I used windfalls to pay off smaller debts.

My family lives below our means.

This remains our biggest “life hack” because it provides us ample disposable income.

I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I used my windfalls to spend on personal items for me and my family. But I don’t consider these expenses as lapses in judgment. Instead, I consider them rewards for making progress toward my financial goals.

Most of the time, I used windfalls to pay off debts.

It took only a few months for me to pay my mother-in-law with “extra money.” Even though my mother-in-law didn’t charge interest, it was a debt nonetheless. And it was a relief to get rid of it when I did.

4. I took multiple part-time jobs that paid for productivity, not time.

As a home care nurse, most of my jobs paid per visit rather than hourly. This arrangement is great because I’m rewarded for being efficient than for working longer.

What really takes a lot of time in my line of work is documentation. By learning to do it quickly and accurately, I’d been able to make more home visits.

It’s a win-win. My employers and patients are happy with my performance. I, on the other hand, get to earn more income.

Final Thoughts

I’m not entirely debt-free. I still have a mortgage and one car payment.

But I’m on track to paying them in the not-so-distant future. If I stay on my current course, I’ll be debt free in ten to twelve years. I’m confident that my past methods will continue to serve me well.

So if you’re struggling with debt or want to add financial breathing room, take a moment to review the ideas I just shared.

They work.

I know our situations are different. But there are general lessons from my experience that, if applied, can relieve you from the burden of debt and change your life.