How Cassidy paid off $18k in student loan debt in 10 months
💸 Ever wondered what it actually takes to pay off student loans fast?
In this episode of The Finance Girlies, Cassidy shares her journey of paying off $18,000 in student loan debt in just 10 months — what worked, what didn’t, and what she’d do differently now.
And whether you’re drowning in student loans or just looking for money strategies that actually work, you’ll walk away with plenty of ideas (and maybe a few “wow, she did what?!” moments from young Cassidy’s frugal habits).
In this episode, we cover:
✅ How Cassidy approached debt payoff with an all-or-nothing mindset
✅ The extreme frugality tactics she used (some were…questionable 👀)
✅ The lifestyle inflation trap and how she avoided it
✅ Small spending tweaks that made a big impact on her finances
✅ What she would (and wouldn’t) do the same if she had to do it again
✅ Why rewarding yourself along the way actually helps you stay on track
Resources & mentions:
🔹Budget Bytes – The go-to resource for cheap & tasty meals
🔹You Need a Budget (YNAB) – The budgeting tool that changed everything
Join the conversation!
💬 Have you ever paid off debt? What worked (or what definitely didn’t)? Email hello@thefinancegirlies.com — we love hearing from you!
And if you found this episode helpful, we’d love if you shared it with a friend or left us a review. It helps us keep bringing you judgment-free, relatable money convos. 💕
Love ya,
Emily & Cassidy
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Transcript
[00:00:00]
Emily: Welcome to the Finance Girlies podcast. Today is a part-two follow up to [00:01:00] last week's intro to debt. So if you haven't already listened to part one, go ahead and start there. This episode builds off some of the stuff we talked about in that part one episode. So, today's going to be fun.
Cassidy's going to share her story, about paying off $18,000 worth of student loan debt. And, whether or not you have debt, I think this will be a really interesting story and you'll be able to kind of gather some tips and wisdom, strategies, that you can apply to your own financial life, wherever you are.
So let's get started.
Cassidy: Yeah, and to kick us off, I want to go over just some average student loan debt statistics in general. Because I will preface this by saying I ended up paying off $18,000 in student loan debt. I graduated from grad school in [00:02:00] 2017, and I believe I started paying off this debt either toward the end of 2017 or 2018. And even then I knew that $18,000 in student loan debt was not really that much compared to what the average person had even at that time. So for reference, for 2024, the Education Data Initiative estimates that the average person with student loan debt has about $40,681 in debt, and that includes private loan debt as well. If you’re just looking at federal student debt, the average borrower or person has about $37,853 in debt.
Um, I remember looking up this statistic back in 2017, 2018, when I had graduated, and if memory serves, I believe the number was like in the low 30s. So like maybe the average person had around $32,000 a [00:03:00] year. That's the number that's like sticking out in my memory. So, even then, I was like, I know compared to some of my friends, compared to the average person, like, this is not a lot of debt, but, as I've talked about when I shared my story in that episode, I believe it was, I don't know. I don't remember what episode it was. One of the first ones. But I was raised on the belief that all debt was bad debt and I felt so much guilt even in college while I was racking up this debt and I knew that I needed to. I had applied for every scholarship I, I personally could. I had all of the federal aid that I personally could and I still needed to take out subsidized and even some unsubsidized federal student loans every single semester or year to get by.
And I felt so much guilt about having to do that. And so I already had kind of formulated [00:04:00] this plan that as soon as I could, I was going to make it my priority to kick all of that out the way and like, get it paid off. Um, Emily and I talked about in our last episode, which is a very, very good one if you haven’t listened to it already, that um, my personal philosophy on debt has changed. I think if this 2025 version of Cassidy had just graduated, uh, college and had subsidized federal student loans, which I think at the time had like 5% interest rates roughly, I would probably be like, let’s just keep making those minimum payments and maybe start investing instead. Um, but that was not my philosophy at the time. I was hell-bent on getting those things paid off as soon as possible, and so that's what I strategically did, and that is what I'm going to share with you today.
Emily: That was a good intro.
Cassidy: Thank you. So what I'm gonna do now is kind of set the scene for what life looked like gearing up to graduation [00:05:00] and when I began thinking about like, how am I going to actively pay this off pretty quickly? So I got married when I was 21. It was the summer between my junior and senior year of college. Um, my husband was a year ahead of me in school, so he had just graduated the summer we got married, and he had just landed his full-time, his first ever full-time job making $43,000 a year.
I worked part-time in college. I worked at my local, at my university library. I've told some people this, but honestly it was like one of the greatest joys of my life was working there all throughout undergrad. But I was bringing home $700 a month. So, whatever, um, what's $700 times 12? 7 times 12
Emily: We can do math.
Cassidy: Is 84. So I was bringing home $8,400 a year. So we were bringing home around $50,000 [00:06:00] total between the both of us.
So for the first year of our marriage, we were pretty much breaking even. We maybe had like a $2,000 buffer in our savings account, but it was nothing huge. We weren't tracking our spending. We weren't actively saving money. Like we weren't doing anything.
Um, but after I graduated from undergrad, I went directly into grad school, and that program was very, very short. It lasted a year and a half, and so we just kept living on that same income, like, through grad school. That was, that was the situation. But, because I was already thinking of, I want to pay this debt off as soon as I can, as quickly as I can, we had already made the conscious effort to not inflate our lifestyles, to try to keep our living expenses exactly as they were, so that whenever I got my first full time job, which hopefully paid more than $700 a month, we [00:07:00] could take all of that money and put it toward my student loans. Put it toward our emergency fund and all of those things. And so that’s what we did.
Emily: So, was that an easy decision to make? I'm just curious, like, what, what did that look like? Because, I mean, I know it was a little while ago, but I'm trying to imagine, like, did you feel like you were working really hard to live on that income? Was it tough to be like, we have to keep doing this? What was that like?
Cassidy: Yeah, that's an excellent question. I will say, I, it's so funny, my personal finance journey is also mirrored by this, like, frugal and minimalistic journey that I also went on in college. And I've also talked about this in other episodes, but I was 100% on like the minimalist, Marie [00:08:00] Kondo your life, only have what you absolutely need kind of mindset. And I think that mindset came from the fact of, I truly believed that I was going to be a low-income earner forever and that I really needed to adjust my lifestyle. Like, pretty much, raising my income probably wasn't in the cards for me. This was like graduate school Cassidy's mindset. I was like, I'm never gonna make a lot of money, so I just need to learn how to live very comfortably on the money that I do have so I can still reach my financial goals. Um, and I think that had become such a like, deep-rooted belief that I was honestly okay with it, you know.
Emily: Yeah, so, looking back on that time, did it feel difficult?
Cassidy: It, it didn't. I, I never had the thought of like, I wish that I could be doing this, but like instead I’m going to choose not to do it. It was, like, I was just always [00:09:00] racked with guilt about every purchase, which in hindsight isn't healthy, but I did not know that it was unhealthy at the time.
Emily: Right.
Cassidy: I just remember all of these instances of being like, I tried to train my hair to not need shampoo. I tried to do the no-poo method so I wouldn’t have to spend money on shampoo because I was like, it would be so nice to not have to buy shampoo. Um, I always trimmed my hair. I did not go to the hair salon because I was like, I can do this at home, even if it's not as good. Anytime that I wanted to eat out, like, sometimes when you go to a fast food restaurant, they'll have a little thing at the bottom that's like, take this survey and, like, get your next free meal or get 50% off your next meal or whatever. If anytime that was on the bottom of my receipt, I'd be like, the next time I'm eating out, this is what I'm doing because I pretty much essentially got like a free meal or a free coupon.
Emily: Mmhmm.
Cassidy: I was just constantly, like, gaming the system to try to figure out ways to reduce my living expenses. [00:10:00]
Um, this reminds me of Money with Katie, which is a podcast Emily and I both love. She talks about, like, taking toilet paper from places or, like, at the gym, like, taking all the little freebies. That was 100% my philosophy. Like, if I had to stay in a hotel for something, you best believe every single day I was taking all those little freebies that they set up in the bathroom because I was like, this is free stuff! I don’t have to buy shampoo. I don't have to buy soap. Like, I don't have to do all of these things. Um. Yeah, so that was just, that was my mindset.
I also, if you knew the 2018 version of me, that version of Cassidy can be quoted as saying, I don't understand how anyone could possibly ever want to live in a place that's more than 800 square feet, because 800 square feet, square feet is all of the space that you need to live comfortably. And I swore to myself then, I was like, you will never need [00:11:00] a place that's bigger than 800 square feet. Like, if you have that much stuff, you are doing minimalism wrong, was my philosophy. And so, all of those things combined, I felt very comfortable, like, staying in our 800 square foot apartment and continuing to try to find ways to not need shampoo and all of this other stuff.
Emily: Yeah, it's almost like a game. And I feel like a lot of personal finance, especially FIRE experts, like, financial independence, retire early. I feel like a lot of people have that similar story. Money with Katie being one example that you mentioned, but, yeah, it's interesting how that mindset can just, like, take over. And we'll get to like how maybe that's not the best thing, but
Cassidy: Yes.
Emily: Like, for the time, as we'll see, like it served you.
Cassidy: Mm hmm. [00:12:00] Yeah, and that's how I reflect on it now. I'm like, that mindset served a purpose, but I'm so, so, so immensely glad that that is no longer my philosophy and that I am comfortable spending money on things that bring myself joy.
Emily: Mmhmm.
Cassidy: And buying shampoo, you know? I like, yeah, I'm so glad that my mindset has changed, but also looking back, I'm like, it worked, ya know, it's good.
So yeah, that's kind of the, the premise. So my very first job, so just to recap, we continued living on roughly $50,000 a year. And we were like, as soon as I get my first big girl job, we are just going to redirect all of that money toward these student loans and get these bad boys paid off as quickly as we could. My very first job out of grad school, I was working as an academic advisor, making $32,000 a year and after, like, mandatory retirement contributions, health insurance premiums, like, I had to pay for parking, after all of that was taken out, was taken out of my paycheck, I was getting, I think my paychecks were like $850 every two weeks. So, I got two paychecks a month, $850 each. Which is $1,700 and we essentially took all of that money and put it toward my student loans every month. Um, so that was the biggest thing.
Another thing that we did, um, like, as I’ve alluded, I was already pretty frugal. But one thing that was shocking, well, I will say this, let me back up. Um, part of what we did, because we wanted to make sure that we were maximizing how much money I could throw toward my student loans every month, is we started tracking our spending. And this is what led me down the rabbit hole of using You Need a Budget, um, because before then, I really had no idea how much money I was spending on anything. It also shined light on, like, a lot of little purchases we [00:14:00] were making. You know, $20 on Amazon here, $20 on Amazon there, for things you think you need, but then ultimately don't use.
Um, for example, I went through a period where I did not spend money on myself, but if it was something cool for my cat, I would be like, they deserve it.
Emily: Winston needs this.
Cassidy: Right, I was like, Winston needs this cool cat tower, he needs this cool water bowl, he needs these cool toys, like, we're gonna make him comfy and cozy. Um, and then over time I realized, like, he is my heart and soul and also he is just a cat, like he is fine with a, with a balled up piece of tinfoil with supervision, um, or just like a random string, like, he does not need anything. So, using YNAB kind of shined a light on that and I was like, woah, I’m spending way more money on my cat than I, like have to be, you know. There's another area to trim down.
But another thing was, was spending [00:15:00] money on food. I was like, we, because I had never tracked that before, and in the grocery store, I mean, I would make a grocery list and stick to it, but a lot of times the grocery list did have, like, a lot of extras on there, snacks. Like, I wasn't necessarily super frugal in that department, because I was like, everyone needs groceries. That's a necessity. So, like, I'm not really. I'm not going to focus too much on like, how much I'm spending there. But once we started tracking our spending, I was like, oh, I think I'm spending double a month on food than what I would have guessed if you just would have asked me outright before I started tracking my spending.
So another big thing that we started doing was meal prepping every Sunday. And you know those meal prepping videos that were like all the rage a few years ago, where it was like, every Sunday, like here's me and my little glass container and I've got my broccoli and my grilled chicken and my rice and then you see like 10 of those meals and then it's like, here's my other meal. And it's like, that was what we did every Sunday for years.
Emily: Wow.
Cassidy: We would go to the grocery store. We would pick two to [00:16:00] three really cheap meals. Um, we got a lot of our meals from Budget Bites, because they have a lot of cheap recipes. And we would stretch them even further. Like, if a recipe called for, a whole pound of meat. We would be like, we're only going to do half a pound of meat and sub in beans for the other half. So like we were just, really, really leaning into, how can we stretch this food out and make it as cheap as possible?
We also always ate leftovers and this is something we still do today, but we try to keep our fridge and pantry as bare bones as possible to make sure that we're not spending money on food that we won't eat.
Um, and once again, like, a lot of this is reflective of how you were raised. Like, I was raised in a house where the pantry was almost like a room and there were just layers and layers and layers of, I mean, just more food than you could ever possibly imagine that had been, like, stockpiled over time and a lot of it had been out of date for years because it [00:17:00] had just been like shoved in the back of the pantry for years. And like, I remember seeing that as a kid, same with the fridge, it's like all the stuff buried deep in the fridge, like, layers of mold, hasn't been touched in forever. Like, that's, that's kind of the situation that I grew up in.
And so, once again, you tend to swing one way or the other. And I was like, if I'm gonna be frugal, and if I'm gonna buy this piece of food, like, I'm gonna make sure that I actually eat it and use it up. A lot of times, like, we would buy everything that we needed on Sunday, and we would plan it out to where, like, by the time we went grocery shopping the next Sunday, there was nothing left. Like, we had eaten up everything. Other than your staples, like condiments, butter, eggs, you know, things like that. Um, so that's kind of how we shopped.
And honestly, that's kind of how we still shop today. Like if you look at our fridge on a Saturday, you'd be like, do these people eat out every meal? There's nothing in here. Um, but it's really just because we've like eaten most of it up.[00:18:00]
Emily: Hmm. I remember you saying that in the past and, being shocked, because I've never been able to do that. I mean, I find, like, comfort in a full fridge just cause it means, like, possibilities. And I like to cook a lot. But I would like to be more like, like that actually. Like it's hard when you have a full fridge to make sure you eat everything.
Even if a lot of it, like, is kind of those, like, staple ingredients, things get mixed in, you, like, naturally overlook something. I don't know. I just, when you said that, I was like, I think maybe I could try to be a little bit more like that.
Cassidy: Yeah, okay. This leads into my next point. Also, in the season where I was actively trying to pay off my student loans, I was also really big on challenges. And one of the challenges, especially in the beginning, because we did have like more of a pantry built up and all that other stuff, I would just be like, Let's see how many meals we can build from everything in our pantry like let's just look and see what's there and that's how I, like, that's how we eventually used up [00:19:00] everything to get to the point where we were like, our fridge and our pantry are gonna be bare bones, but you know, I'd be like, okay, I've got four cans of beans and, I don't know, what else, what are some other things, like some rice and this and this and I'd be like this, kind of like a session of um, what was the little Food Network show?
Emily: Chopped?
Cassidy: Yes, Chopped. It'd be like an episode of Chopped. And I'd be like, if we have all of these ingredients, like, what can we make with all of these? And sure, you may need to buy one or two things at the store, but we did a lot of that. And anytime I felt like our pantry was getting too full, I'd be like, let's, let's make sure we plan our meals around, like, this one thing that we still have in the pantry, or this, you know, this tub of sour cream that we bought for this one thing, like, let's make sure that we incorporate it into next week's meal so we use it all up. Um, that was a really big thing, too, so.
We also did a lot of no-spend weekends. And a lot of times with these you can set the rules. There are some things you're obviously [00:20:00] going to want to spend money on, like, you could be like, I'm going to have a no-spend week where I, like, don't buy anything optional other than groceries and gas. Because, like, those are the two things that I need, you know, we would also do a lot of games like that.
Emily: Yeah, I can see that being, like, fun in a way. Like, it almost feels like, especially today, there are so many ways you can spend your money that's, like, in your face all the time, with, like, social media, and, that's the big thing. I don't know. Everything. And so, like, to simplify your options for, like, a weekend and be like, no, actually, I'm not gonna spend anything on anything that's not a necessity. Like, I feel like, I don't know. There's almost like some comfort you can have in that. Like, okay, then I guess my options for entertainment are, you know, going outside or like reading a book at the library or like, I don't know. It just kind of simplifies [00:21:00] your life in a cozy way. Not to say that spending money isn't fun and good, but I can see how on occasion that could be like a refreshing thing to do.
Cassidy: Yeah, it just forces you to think in different ways. Like, one thing I would do a lot if I did feel the urge to, like, want to window shop or just get out and do something is I would just go to my library, you know, and find several books to check out, and then it is like a real shopping experience. You are picking something up off the shelf, and you are going to a register to check out with that thing, and you are taking it home. But the difference is it's free. Um, so I feel like it still gives your brain, like, whatever it's craving when it really wants to spend money on something without actually spending money on it.
Okay, another thing I did in this same vein, was just becoming aware of my spending triggers. Like, I noticed this, this was more so something I developed in, I would say undergrad. I noticed a lot of times, like, I went to college in a very [00:22:00] small town. Like it was very much just like a university town, not a whole lot to do. Just had your typical stores. Like, Wal-Mart, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, just like your standard places like that. Um, and I noticed, anytime I was stressed, maybe about midterms, or sad about a grade that I got or just anxious about something I’d be like I’m just gonna go walk the aisles of TJ Maxx and see what I see, and then I would be like, this snack looks cool, I’m gonna buy it, this shirt’s only $10, I’m gonna buy it, and then, pretty soon, my like, sad girl, I’m gonna try to cheer myself up turned into me spending you know, $20, $25, $30 dollars. Um, and so, another thing during this time is like, I just wanted to become more aware of my spending triggers. And, so that I could become more aware of, like, I’m feeling sad. Therefore I’m feeling the urge to buy myself something to cheer myself up. Like, why am I feeling sad, what could I possibly do that’s like cheaper or less expensive or free, to like, make myself feel better? Maybe it is reading a book I already have, calling up a friend, you know, doing a puzzle, like, it just gets you thinking, so you're more mindful.
Emily: That reminds me of a tip I heard on, I believe, another personal finance podcast, and I think it was along the lines of every time you feel the urge to, shop, like, especially with online shopping because of how easy it is, just like clicking around and, and buying things and with like ads on social media and everything, it's just so easy.
Um, one way to like, avoid that, or to at least manage it a little bit, is to like, create a list of things that give you, like, a similar kind of dopamine hit, and to like, try going through three of those before, you know, you end up [00:24:00] making a purchase. So like, snuggle your dog, go for a walk, like, eat a piece of chocolate.
Cassidy: Yeah.
Emily: Like it could be a wide range of things, but you saying you tried to identify like what you were feeling and what else could, like, meet that need made me think of that and I've kind of thought of that strategy in the context of social media as well.
Cassidy: Mmhmm.
Emily: Like I think it can help.
Cassidy: Yeah. Like, instead of doom-scrolling on social media, I’m going to…
Emily: Yeah, exactly
Cassidy: Yeah.
Emily: Yeah, instead of buying this new sweater that I actually don't need but I'm just kind of bored right now.
Cassidy: Mmhmm.
Emily: I'm gonna take my dog on a walk.
Cassidy: Yeah. I also created, I think subconsciously, but like a little list of rules that I would run through if I still felt like I really wanted to buy something. And the questions would be like, if I bought this thing today, would I be super, super, super excited to use it [00:25:00] immediately. If it was a piece of clothing, would I be super excited to wear it immediately? If it was a book, would I be super excited to read it immediately? If it was this kitchen gadget, would I want to go home and immediately start using it because I'm that excited about it? And if the answer was no, then it was kind of a sign to me that like, you think that you want this thing, but once you bring it home, it's actually not going to do anything but sit in your closet, sit in a drawer, sit on a shelf. So, like, maybe just wait and if you still want it again in the future, and you think you'll use it, then you can revisit, but just kind of pause. Um, and then doing the same thing with bigger purchases too. It's like, and bigger can be whatever limit you want it to be. But if it's like, I want this thing, that's more than $50, like, I'm gonna make myself wait a day, two days, three days, a week, and then if I still want the thing, I can revisit.
Emily: Yeah, I think that's a good rule. I tend to do that as well like that at least 24-hour pause.
Cassidy: Mm hmm. [00:26:00] Yeah. Like, even now there have been so many books that I have wanted to go out and buy, but I'm also like, you have books here that you haven't finished reading, and you would realistically want to get through those before you went out and read the new book you want to buy, so just wait.
Emily: Okay. I apply it to my life in all instances except with books.
Cassidy: I knew you were gonna say that.
Emily: Uh, it is my guilty pleasure. I have no, no self control when it comes to books, so…
Cassidy: I love it. I love it. I love it.
Emily: At least I know myself.
Cassidy: Exactly. Exactly.
And then the last, like, kind of really big thing that we did, so as I mentioned, we probably had, like, about $1,500 to $1,700 a month that we were putting toward my debt. But one of our, like, last pushes that kind of helped us pay it off quicker than expected was that we went from being a two-car household to a one-car household.
So at the time, I still had the same car that I'd gotten when I was 16. [00:27:00] And it was worth $3,000 when I went to sell it. So like, not very much at all, but we did then take that $3,000 and use it to pay off the last little bit of my student loans. And then I think whatever we had left over, we put toward our first, like, official emergency fund.
Of course, not everyone can do that, right. But in our situation, we both worked full-time at the same university, we had the same hours. So we were like, there's nothing stopping us from just commuting every day together. And then if one of us needs the car for something else, we might have some, like logistics to work through but by and large, like 80% of the time, it's going to be okay if we’re a one-car household. And so that's what we did. And to this day, we're still a one car household.
Emily: Yeah, I think something to think about with that, too, is like, if you're going to downsize from two to one, from two cars to one car, like, you can kind of pocket that money you make from selling your car and put it toward whatever savings [00:28:00] goal you have. And like, that's great. But even beyond that, like you're saving on gas, you're saving on maintenance, you're saving on insurance, like those savings really add up. That's something I kind of battled with, when we were temporarily a one-car household thinking about buying another car. So, yeah, that's a really, potentially huge, um, advantage if you can make it happen.
Cassidy: Yeah. And even now, we both still work from home, so it feels easy, but I mean, like, of course, if we both had separate jobs, we were both going to physical places, like, it, it would instantly change, but.
Emily: Mm hmm.
Cassidy: For the past several years, it has worked.
Emily: Yeah.
Cassidy: Um, yeah. And that's really about it. Like. I said in the beginning, the biggest thing was just avoiding lifestyle inflation. And that’s this idea, if you don't know what lifestyle inflation is, it's just that like, as you earn more, you let yourself, like you let all of these [00:29:00] extra luxuries into your life. And so you're not actually able to, like, make progress on your debt or your savings goals because your spending is incrementally increasing with your income.
But, in saying all of that, it's very unrealistic to assume that someone has the forethought to be like, first of all, to be a two-person household and to have the luxury of being like, when one of us begins earning money, like we're going to live on one of our salaries, and when the other person starts earning money, especially a full-time salary, we're just going to put all of that toward our debt. For all of the stars to align in that way for the average person, it's probably just not happening, so there's not much that can be done about that, but it is just something to keep in mind if your income ever does increase, or if you join finances with someone else, or whatever, you know, just in thinking about, if I run into extra money, how can I use this to my advantage?
Emily: Yeah, yeah. Couple thoughts. One, I think it's helpful and I, not to say I've done this, but I do think it's helpful to have, like, rules for [00:30:00] yourself for when you come into an unexpected amount of cash, like maybe it's a bonus from work or like, um…
Cassidy: Tax refund.
Emily: A tax refund, or like a birthday gift, whatever it is to be like, this is what I do when I have extra money. And part of that might be enjoying it and like setting a portion aside to just, like, spend however you want. Maybe a portion of it goes to your short-term savings and a portion of it goes into your retirement account or something like that. But, yeah, I think when you are in a position like you were, like really focused on paying off debt, one, you may just be in the mindset of, I'm gonna put everything I possibly can toward paying off this debt. And like, for you, it seemed like you were able to do that in a short enough period of time where like, that was moderately sustainable. But if you're not, I [00:31:00] think having that rule of like, okay, I'm going to spend 20% of this. And it's just gonna be for fun and I'm, you know, not gonna worry about it because it's extra.
I think that can do a lot for, like, keeping you motivated and keeping you going. Staying on track.
Cassidy: Yeah, it is so important, like, regardless of what financial goals you're trying to reach, to still give yourself fun money to spend every month on whatever you want, even if it's a small amount, um, and yeah, just to continue adding, like, little joys and delights or, like, rewards as you reach these milestones, you know? And it can be like, I have paid off a thousand dollars in debt, so I'm going to treat myself to a book, or like a book and a coffee or something, you know, like it doesn't have to be this astronomical thing. Like, I'm taking myself on vacation. Uh, maybe, it's your life. You get to set up your goals however [00:32:00] you want. Um, but yeah, just adding in these little like milestone ways to reward yourself and celebrate yourself is very, very, very important.
Emily: Yeah, I love that.
Cassidy: Yeah. And that is something that I did not do. So to kind of wrap this back up, like, I, in part, was able to pay off my debt so quickly because I felt like I was very, very frugal and was ruthless about cutting out everything, even the things that I really loved. And truly, it was not sustainable. Like, it served its purpose. But I am so, so glad and I love my life so much more now that I have allowed myself to spend money on things that bring me joy. Whether it's a vacation to see a friend, good coffee, crochet and craft supplies, things for my house because that's where I spend 90% of my time, so yeah, I would say, I don't know, it's still important to splurge on things that matter to you.[00:33:00]
Emily: Mmhmm. Yeah. And like I was saying, like, you may not be able to pay off your debt in ten months. Like, that's not realistic for everyone. And so, yeah, your frugality, I don't know. You have to like pace yourself, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm sure our listeners all learned something valuable. I know I do every time I hear it. And I think we probably want to have, or we want to continue having more conversations around debt and maybe get into more of those specifics that we've kind of alluded to.
There's just so much more to talk about, so we'd love to know what questions you have around debt, um, topic ideas for episodes, yeah, so email us at hello at thefinancegirlies.com. And we'd love to hear your thoughts.
Cassidy: Yeah. Thanks for tuning in.
