A FRUGAL couple has revealed how they managed to lower their debt by making some drastic life changes.
Shannon and her partner, are both on a journey to clear their debt and have taken measures such as getting rid of furniture and slashing meals to do so.
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As a family-of-five, the household are all doing their bit to cut their budget to clear their debt as soon as possible, and upload videos of their journey on their TikTok account, makingfrugalfun.
The frugal couple have managed to chop down their debt from £458k to £130k at the moment.
On their website, Shannon reveals: “We meal plan to keep our grocery budget under £72 each week, and we always wait for a killer sale before purchasing fun things like clothing or electronics.”
The couple had tried other budgeting techniques such as Dave Ramsey’s Financial peace University.
Shannon decided to turn her mum blog into a personal finance one so she others could follow their journey to being debt free.
In just two years, the family have got their debt down by three quarters and happily share their tips online for others to follow.
One of Shannon’s hacks to getting debt free is by using a print out chart measuring the amount of debt cleared.
Shannon keeps hers in the kitchen on the fridge so that it is always in her eye-line and she can use it as a visual reminder as to why they are making the sacrifices they are.
In another video Shannon shares the five WEIRD things her and her family did to jump start their road to being debt free.
The first drastic change the couple made was by downsizing their rental house from 3000-square foot to 1000-square foot, saving the family a total of £849 a month.
She revealed that the family also sold their ‘new’ cars and bought old cars with cash with zero car payments, which saved them an additional £563 a month.
Shannon also claims that by not ordering takeaways, going out for dinner, and putting a budget in place for their weekly shop saved them around £578 monthly.
Shannon also said she began to work part-time in order to save on childcare costs which saved the family a staggering £1535 a month, Shannon claims these lifestyle changes took around seven months to implement.
The family also use cash envelopes to organise their money, as having a set amount of cash to spent in one section helps them to not go over budget.
To keep the family’s food budget down, Shannon counts how many weeks are in each month and sets aside £72 each week to feed her family-of-five.
They use cash envelopes to spread the money out but before heading to the shops, they double check their monthly meal plan and pantry to see what needs to be bought.
The family do their shopping list online so they know exactly how much they will need when they go the shops.
Shannon also said that eating leftovers has made a huge impact on her budget.
Shannon and her family have also downsized their home from a 3000-square foot home to a 1000-square foot.
She said: “Don’t get me wrong we definitely make the space work but the kitchen is definitely my biggest struggle point.”
Now Shannon and her family are close to being debt free, Shannon said that they will be saving for a new home.
The couple, from the US, are both podiatrists and have raked up a lot of their debt through student loans.
the family’s journey has inspired others on the social media app to clear their debt and often follow along with the family’s progress.
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