Maria and I are blessed in so many ways. We live debt-free, we are able to afford the occasional weekend getaway, we live in a comfortable condo in a very nice town, and I think we can all agree that Maria stays pretty well dressed. But we didn’t get here just by pulling out the credit card; we worked at it. One of the ways we gained control of our finances without adding to my law school debt was by going without certain things. Things that many people would consider normal. As Dave Ramsey says, “Live like no one else now so that later on you can live like no one else.” In that spirit, we wanted to share with you a few of life’s little extravagances that we live without so we can reach our financial goals at a faster pace.
New Cars
I drive a 2010 Ford Focus and Maria drives a 2009 Pontiac G6. And guess what? We’ve owned both of them outright for years. Maria paid off the auto loan for her previous car several years ago and immediately started saving up for her next car. She paid cash for the G6 in 2013. I bought a used 2009 Focus with a car loan in 2010 (before I met Maria), but that loan was the first debt I paid off after Maria and I started dating. She was so proud of me when I told her about my plan to pay off the car loan and I did it. That was even before we watched FPU together.
So, not only are we driving cars that we own outright, but we fully intend to drive those cars until they have to be replaced. By “have to be replaced,” I mean they are costing us more to keep running than it would be to buy a “new” car. And by “new” car, I mean we will buy a used, but new-to-us car. When you look at the numbers, it makes no sense to buy a brand new car or to lease a car. Used cars aren’t as shiny or as exciting to purchase, but they are reliable and are so much more affordable. Especially if you start saving now and pay cash for your next car.
Cable or Satellite Television
This one is becoming very common, but Maria and I cut the cable cord. We watch Netflix, Hulu, and broadcast TV. That’s pretty much about it. Granted, it’s pretty easy for me; I’d much rather read a book than watch TV. Maria, however, struggled with this one for a bit. She has adapted to watching everything live or streaming it later, but it took her a little while to get used to it. She missed the convenience of DVR. But not having a cable bill saves us hundreds of dollars a year, so we’re more than happy to do it.
Fancy Coffee
If there’s one daily indulgence that Maria and I have, it is coffee. But rather than spending $5 every day at Starbucks, we make ours at home or have the free coffee at the office. And if you think about it, that $5 a day per person adds up. There are about 240 working days in a year, so we’re talking over $1,000 in a year. We will gladly keep that money in our pockets and only treat ourselves to Starbucks every now and again. Lately, Maria has even debated saying goodbye to her Keurig machine and making coffee “the old fashioned way” in the morning before she goes to school. The jury’s still out on that decision, though.
Manicures
This one is really more Maria’s area of expertise. Frankly, I couldn’t even tell you what a manicure cost. What is it, like $20? $30?
So, I just looked it up, and I guess I was fairly close. But people seriously get a manicure a week? That’s crazy. I’m sure most of you get them more like once or twice a month. But even at that more reasonable level, you’re talking $500 or $600 per year on manicures. Maria saves a ton of that money by painting her nails at home. Honestly, I think she’s only gotten manicures a handful of times in the three years we’ve been together and one of those was for our wedding.
**A note from Maria: I will admit that manicures are one of the hardest things that we do without. I enjoyed a few manicures after Rob put this gorgeous ring on my finger … and then we did Financial Peace University and got really strict about our budgets. I always have polish on my nails and a part of me misses getting my nails done. But we choose our priorities and spend our money accordingly. And if I can use an $8 bottle of Ballet Slippers nail polish to help us get there, I’m ok with that. Especially if it gives me an excuse to watch a few episodes of Friends on Netflix while I wait for my nails to dry.
Don’t let Rob’s tone bother you. He’s a guy. And he’s the first to admit that he doesn’t get it :)
Home Ownership
We don’t own a home right now, for a few reasons. The main reason is because we have decided to save as much as we can before we buy a house. Dave Ramsey advises everyone to put at least 20% down on a house and get a 15 year mortgage. When we created our financial plan in 2014, we envisioned renting for a year while we paid off the debt and started saving. We still haven’t reached that 20% goal, but now we kind of have our sights set on a bigger goal, so we will keep right on renting. It might sound a little crazy to you, but after we payed off $180,000 in student loans and a $70,000 mortgage, we really aren’t to eager to go right back into debt. Renting works for us and gives us the time we need to save for that huge down payment.
Credit Cards
Neither Maria nor I have credit cards. I’ve never owned a credit card and Maria closed her last credit card account not long after we completed Financial Peace University together in 2014. To us, they’re just unnecessary and represent potential danger if we miss a payment. I’ve done just fine without them and Maria rarely used hers. Yes, she enjoyed her share of T.J. Maxx gift card rewards, but you have to spend so much money to earn them anyway. The point of getting our finances under control is not to increase our spending. And we get along just fine without those rewards. Besides, we spend cash so much, we have a coin jar which creates its own rewards.
UPDATE: We got quite a few comments, both on this post and from friends and family, about credit cards being critical to having a good credit score and getting a good mortgage. Maria and I decided to follow up with another post to explain our views on credit scores and how we plan to buy a house.
Gym Memberships
We also aren’t members of a gym. Maria and I both know from experience that we do not stick to a regular workout routine. So why bother with a gym membership that we 100% know we will not use? Heck, gyms are designed for people to not really use them. Planet Fitness intentionally markets to people who work out casually because they want the members who don’t show up very much. And I, for one, would be exactly that person. I hate working out. I might (might!) use an elliptical if it were already in my house. But that’s a stretch. So we save a couple hundred dollars a year by not joining a gym.
The Bottom Line: Spending Less than We Earn
Those are just a few of the things we do without, though I’m sure there are others I’m not really thinking about. I will say that we do allow ourselves some extravagances. Those are mainly food related and fashion related (for Maria). But we make sure to budget for them properly before we splurge on nice foods and clothes.
At the end of the day, we spend less money than we earn; all our bills are paid; and we still have extra money to save. Dave Ramsey would be proud.
I’m sure some of you have awesome tips for making room in your budget or extravagances that you live without. We would love to hear how you keep your living expenses down in the comments. And if you’re currently working your way out of debt, we would love to hear about that, too, so we can cheer you on. Our world is filled with so many messages encouraging people to drive themselves deeper into debt, let’s share the conscious efforts we make to get (and keep) ourselves out of debt.
Stay on Track with Our Debt Free Chart
If you are working to pull yourself out of debt, download our editable “On Our Way to Debt Free” chart. Maria made this chart for us when we first started our journey out of debt with Dave Ramsey and it helped keep us motivated along the way. The PowerPoint file is customizable to suit your financial goals. Click the image below to download your free chart.
We go without cable and just use Netflix with a Chromecast. We are on a STRICT budget right now as we work to pay off $40,000 in grad school debt (we are both elementary teachers). We save money by only allowing each other to have a certain amount of “fun” cash each month, which includes take out/restaurants. Using cash keeps us on track!
Hi Mary! We have certainly been there! I know the strict budget isn’t very much fun right now, but it will be so WORTH IT in the end when you finally pay off the last of that debt. Keep at it. We’re right here cheering for you!
I don’t think that your comment about credit cards is accurate if you are responsible. My husband and I have EARNED hundreds of dollars in rewards points with general use credit cards. Discover is our favorite, but since we use the money exclusively on Amazon, and needed a Visa card for foreign travel, we recently opened a Amazon Visa card instead.
Neither of us, before or after we were married, has ever paid a cent of interest to a credit card company. Now, it is so easy to set up automatic payments too. So, we have ours set up to pay off the full balance before every statement, though we only use that as a safeguard and usually pay it off manually. We will never be charged interest that way.
We use our credit cards to buy things that we would have to buy anyway: gas, groceries, plane tickets, etc. But we get 1%-5% cash back on every purchase. Its free money when you pay it off in full every month. I understand that some people may be tempted to spend outside their means with a card, but if you have self-control you are missing out on easy, passive income.
On another note, buying items online with a debit card is much more dangerous than with a credit card. That’s how people get their bank accounts drained, and not all banks will replace the money. With a credit card that money isn’t coming out of your account, and you just file a fraud notice.
Hi Amanda!
Thanks for your comment. Rob has never owned a credit card, but I used to have several of my own and I was just like you. I always paid off my balance and never paid a single cent of interest. And I collected rewards along the way.
The first time I did Dave Ramsey, I disregarded his guideline about not owning credit cards and kept using them the same way. Then, when Rob and I did Dave Ramsey together two years ago, I made the decision to say goodbye to my credit cards (and those rewards). I can honestly say that I haven’t looked back and I’m amazed at how quickly the spare change has added up for us into our own sort of reward.
I’m glad that you are able to make those credit cards work to your advantage, but I’m sure you realize you are in the minority. Banks offer credit cards to make money and it is a mega business for them. They hook a lot of people in with the rewards and then trap them in a mound of debt later on when they start to carry a balance. We aren’t here to judge whether or a debit or a credit card is a better tool. We’re just sharing what has worked for us. And regardless of the kind of plastic you carry, it is important to understand exactly how your bank handles fraudulent purchases made with your card. Thanks for the reminder on the importance of being informed!
Awesome response Maria!
Thank you for taking the time to answer so kindly. As you said, it is very important to be as informed as you can about any plastic that has your name on it before you make the plunge. I just think it is also important to let people know that points aren’t the only way that credit cards work anymore. Discover lets us use the money to pay towards our statement, or as credit on our Amazon account- just like you turning your change into gift cards.
I’m really interested in the culture that has raised so many to think that it is normal to keep yourself in debt. Our schools, especially high schools, should really be teaching these classes on financial literacy rather than having to learn hard lessons after it really matters.
I think that the two of you are spreading a really important message and giving others great motivation and inspiration to live a debt free lifestyle!
Love your advice. We treat our credit card like a checking account and pay it off every month while earning points for travel, but we also are on the fence about whether or not the potential of interest on a missed payment is worth it. We have an auto minimum pay feature set up to avoid a late fee or completely missed payment, but it’s still one of those “is this the right choice” things.
If you are considering the break from Keurig, a coffee maker with both a regular carafe and a travel mug option is a suggestion. It worked for us because I like a cup of flavored or decaf in the evenings and I can brew that and still have a full regular pot. Hamilton Beach makes one that uses grounds not pods which are most more cost effective.
Thanks for the tips (and I can’t wait for your Stitch Fix reveals in a few days!)
Hi, Carrie! Yeah, the points have just never been important to us, so Maria just decided to get rid of her cards for good. Our bank actually started paying cash rewards recently ($1 or $2 a month only), so I guess we are getting rewards of some sort, haha!
And the travel mug is exactly what Maria has been thinking she’ll do. It’s what I do on the weekends when we have somewhere to be in the morning, so I like the idea of it.
Thanks Rob!
Honestly – even though we pay off the credit card every month, I think we spend more than we would if we were paying cash at the time of purchase. It’s such an odd spot we are in because we feel like we aren’t in any debt and we are saving so it’s ok to use a credit card. Then we realize we could be saving MORE and kick ourselves, but we are kind of “addicted” to the travel rewards.
Does that make sense?
Great ideas! Also, I gave up my keurig too. Totally a press pot girl now! Such an amazing cup of coffee and it’s the perfect size for both me and my husband to have a cup, plus a travel mug for the road! :) I highly recommend it!
We’ve never tried a press pot. Maybe we should give one a whirl! Thanks for the tip, Bethany!
My husband and I are currently going through FPU. Tonight was the Debt class! I just wish we would have started this years ago! We can do it, it is just going to be harder to do than what we were accustomed too. I have been thinking for a few years now to get rid of cable. My husband is such a sports nut that I know it would be hard for him to live without his ESPN. Plus my boys LOVE to watch live games. If you know of a way to do that without cable let me know and I will probably be on board with that! We haven’t used our credit cards in over a year and a half. It has been freeing to not use them anymore. I don’t miss the “rewards” that they gave. I would much rather not live with a credit card and no debt than live with them to get “rewards” and the temptation is there. We are working on that debt now, but hopefully soon will be out of it! We have a mortgage on our condo right now, but selling it to go rent a place wouldn’t be good. Our interest rate is so low on the condo, we couldn’t rent something like this for what we pay in our house payment. I think that one of the ways we have just saved money is just by NOT going out to the stores. I don’t go until we NEED something. If I go to craft stores, I can spend money easily. I don’t go now unless there is a school project that I need something for that I don’t already have. We also don’t drink coffee here at our house. We are cutting back on going out to eat here too. Even McDonald’s adds up for a family of four! We really want to start setting a good example for our boys on how to handle money. I want to show them what this process was like for us so I can tell them “This is what we did and look what happened. It took us “x” number of years to get out of this mess. I want them to learn responsibility with money and I think by us starting to set the example now, they will learn with it too.
That’s great, Katie! Thanks for your thoughts. It sure sounds to me like you two are setting a great example for your boys and well on your way toward living like no one else.
I will admit that I cheat a little bit for watching sports. My parents have a cable subscription and I piggyback on some of their streaming services. I completely understand how hard it is to go without ESPN, FoxSports and the Big10 Network. If you have a service provider like Brighthouse, they haven’t started encrypting their standard definition cable yet, so you might be able to use that. And lastly, you can always buy an HD antenna rather cheaply so you can watch the broadcast networks.
Good luck and thanks for reading!
Loved your post; it was very inspiring for me to consider other ways for me to cut back on my spending habits! :) I saw the comment on the Keurig machine- I’m not sure if you know or not but there are reusable pods made for Keurig machines so you can just use your own store bought coffee, instead of buying the pods. I bought my reusable pod at Walmart but I’m sure they have them other places too. Just an idea if you didn’t know! :)
Thanks, Brook! I’d forgotten about the reusable pods. I’ll remind Maria!
Yep – I’m still driving my 2005 Honda Pilot – complete with scrapes, dings, …One person stopped me in the supermarket parking lot to tell me he liked my car because “it had character.” I only buy coffee at McDonalds – 99 cents is a lot less than the “fancy” coffee places. Plus, if I want a latte, it costs the same as a small coffee at Dunkin Donuts. I agree – student loan debt is outrageously high – it’s good that you’re so fiscally responsible.
Thanks, Susan. I’ve had a lot of changes over the past three and half years with Maria, but becoming more fiscally responsible was the biggest. We’ve worked hard at it. And I love my Ford Focus. I’ll be really sad when it comes time to replace her, but I’m hoping for a few more years yet!
While I understand I probably come from a very different point of view. The only debt we have is our mortgage and a car loan at 0% interest. We had the cash to buy the car ahead of time just went with the better deal of keeping the money invested and paying it over time while the money continued to work for us. I was with you on all of the cost cutting except the credit card. Personally I use an ATM so infrequently I’m lucky if I remember my pin. I really like having the record of everything we’ve spent money on for the month.
You mention buying a home as a goal but without any loans or line of credit what are you using to maintain top credit scores so you can qualify for the best loan prices? I fully understand that many people don’t have the discipline to own a credit card but that’s not the case here. I would think a simple credit card would do a lot more for you then just reward programs (which are mostly a gimmick).
I’ll echo the sentiments of others regarding credit cards. Particularly since you are living off the financial grid, relatively speaking, it may be more challenging for you to get a mortgage when the time is right. Longevity of positive credit history is extremely important in determining your credit score, which in turn determines loan pricing. While banks make money from late payments and interest charges, those are not necessarily the motivating factors in their issuance of cards; in fact, most credit card lines are securitized and sold off to investors (including your state’s teacher penion fund most likely, so don’t go pointing fingers!). Credit card issuers and their supporting networks make huge profits on the fees they charge to merchants, not only on the delinquent borrower. Furthermore, it’s easy enough to make sure you always pay in full and accrue the benefits (in terms of both rewards and in terms of future savings on your mortgage) without paying any charges yourself.
These are great tips! Some I am doing already and some I should be doing!
One thing for Maria… I stopped getting manicures a while ago (I still do like a pedicure maybe once a month because I feel like I am better at doing my finger nails than toe nails and I like the pampering you get with a pedicure, but I digress) and I bought the Essie gel top coat. LIFE CHANGING. My nails dry quickly and they stay looking great, no chips, nothing, for over a week! It’s a little pricey at $10 but TOTALLY worth it in my opinion! I actually got a real manicure a couple weeks ago and prefer mine over the nail salons!
I love this post! It’s so interesting how luxuries to one couple are necessities to another. My husband and I just “splurged” on a new-to-us-but-gently-used treadmill and we’re so glad we did! One of the MAJOR benefits of my husband being in the military is because families are constantly coming and going, you can get some great deals at yard sales and on sites like Bookoo and the Facebook yard sale pages… In fact, our entire house is furnished with gently-used items from either family/friends or military families.
Thanks, Bailey! Yeah, it’s totally about what your priorities are. As long as you plan for it and can factor it in to your budget while meeting your other financial goals, go for it. I’ve never heard of Bookoo; I’ll have to check it out. I had done freecycle before. It’s how I got a lot of blinds for my old house. It saved me a TON of money.
I’m not sure how much of a cut those CoinStar machines take, but we take our change to our bank where it is counted for free!
Hi, Sarah! Yeah, we don’t use CoinStar for the cash; if you get a giftcard from them, you get 100% of the value of your coins. Although, funny story, if the giftcard fails, you can get 100% the value of your cash. It happened to us and we blogged about it in this post: https://crazytogether.com/lessons-learned-at-the-coinstar-machine/
Haha, I feel like we could have written this post! Its nice to know that we’re not the only people without credit cards, brand new leased cars, or a CrossFit membership. We do “splurge” for Sling TV in addition to Hulu and our Amazon Prime but it’s been nice to have some “channels” like Disney and ESPN.
How does Maria make purchases from Stitch Fix without a credit card?
Judy
We both have debit cards for our online purchases. Trust me, there is no way I would live without Amazon, haha!
Hey, just found your site! We are on baby step 2, we have paid about 12,000 so far and have about 63,000 left. I will add our tips here, if you want live TV we use a digital antenna and it has high quality HD picture! Hang dry some clothes, saves on dryer expense. Learning to really meal plan as well! Thanks for the cool posts!
Thanks for the suggestions, Sara! Sounds like you guys are hard at work paying off that debt. Glad you enjoy the site! I try to do the meal planning, but it’s something I really struggle with. Maybe I should try setting it as my New Years resolution.
Rob and Maria, I want to first say congratulations on the recent news you shared. It will be a wonderful experience. On another note, I have always enjoyed reading your posts about FPU, Dave Ramsey, Debt Payoff, etc. You mentioned in this post that you pay cash for most things. So, I was wondering if you two use the envelope system or clip system. If so, I would love to read more about that piece of your debt free live style. Thank you for sharing and inspiring so many to live debt free!
Caralee, thanks, we’re pretty darn excited about our upcoming family expansion. And we’re glad you enjoy our debt and money posts as we feel passionate about them. On the use of cash, we have a sort of envelope system. It’s a little messy, so it may not be the subject of a blog post, but you never know.
When we budget for groceries/food, it covers almost anything we buy at the grocery store that’s not medicine (and sometimes we get lazy and include that, too) and food money for restaurants. So, at the beginning of the month, we’ll take out whatever our budget is in cash for groceries and restaurants and stick that in one cash slot in our wallets. And that probably covers most of the things we would buy at the store. For a few other things, we use our debit cards or we often have non-food money in another cash slot in our wallets that we will use. It’s not the cleanest system in the world, but it works for us. We’ll think about doing a more in-depth blog post on it, though. Thanks for the suggestion!
Great post guys! I’ve had a credit card for most of my adult life. While I used to be better about paying it off in full *most* of the time, I’ve caught myself carrying a balance more often than not lately. And most of the time I haven’t even charged anything big to it! Just lots of little stuff that added up! (I totally believe those studies about how we spend more with credit cards than debit!)
I’ve been contemplating giving it up. I know I can use my debit card to make online purchases. I’m a little concerned about making hotel reservations online, as I’ve had issues in the past with the payment actually going through when it was just supposed to be a hold.
Also I’m curious, what do you do for those times that you go to pay for gas, groceries, etc and your debit card won’t scan for some reason? I always fall back to my credit card in these situations. I don’t have a second debit card (maybe y’all do?) so I’m worried what I’d do in this situation without my credit card! I hate to be stuck with no way to pay!
Can’t wait to hear your feedback, I always learn a lot from the financial advice y’all give!
Thanks, Megan! I think your situation is a common one and a really good reason to not have a credit card, as you’re carrying your balance forward and paying interest you wouldn’t have to otherwise.
As for the hotel thing, I’ve had it happen both ways. For the most part, they don’t charge the full amount for the hold, but it does happen occasionally. I just always try to make sure I have sufficient funds available when reserving the room, just in case.
On the gas, I can’t say I recall having that happen, though it may have. Maria and I almost always have cash on us, though, as we use the envelope method to pay for groceries and restaurants. So if it were to happen, I would just use that cash and straighten it out later.
Hopefully, that helps! I think you’ll find life without a credit card is totally worth your while.