telephus?

**betharoo0** · 01-02-2007, 03:13 PM

want to know how in the world you paid down 13,000 in debt and have saved 25,000 in one year! I believe you. I just want to know your secrets

BTW GOOD JOB!

**Missy** · 01-02-2007, 03:20 PM

she rocks!!

**cmu** · 01-02-2007, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by betharoo0

want to know how in the world you paid down 13,000 in debt and have saved 25,000 in one year! I believe you. I just want to know your secrets

BTW GOOD JOB!

I second that!!

**SammeyG** · 01-02-2007, 08:35 PM

I would like to know that one as well.

**jamie79** · 01-02-2007, 11:59 PM

I would like to know also since both dh and I are from Worcester and know how $$$ it is

**Telephus44** · 01-03-2007, 01:32 PM

I have to admit, most of it is because we make a fair amount of money and have good benefits at work. Before I was laid off, I made $40,000/yr. DH makes about $70,000/yr. We also both have (or had) employers that match our 401K contributions, I had some FSA matching funds, and we had excellent health care coverage for $120 a month. DH can get some consulting work for $55/hr if he wants to do it, and he made about $6,000 last year. We do try to live fairly frugally, and this had enabled us to put a lot more money aside than we would have otherwise.

...and there are some downsides. Like the fact that we spent $3,000 last year on eating out. Going to work on that this year. Also, since I'm now unemployed our income is going to go down significantly.

We generally try and do big picture budgeting. For example, next year we'll have a car loan that we didn't have this year. However, we also spent $3,500 on medical bills and $2,300 on classes for DH that we won't be spending next year.

I don't really have a whole lot of big secrets - just following the same frugal strategies everyone else does (pre-pay loans to avoid interest, more cooking from scratch, use coupons and buy on sales, etc.).