Many of our readers know that we eliminated $20,500+ in debt in one day, and knew that we were keeping our 11 year old van! However, the transmission recently went AGAIN in the van (third time is a charm, right?!). So, here is my new ride! Grandma is 86 and is no longer driving, so her car has been sitting without being run very much, which isn’t good for any vehicle! So, for now I’ll be driving grandma’s car back and forth to work each week! I’m praising the Lord that we have this extra vehicle in our family, since otherwise I might have had to take on another auto loan! We have been taking drastic steps to reduce our debt, and if the Lord is willing, we will be debt free (other than our mortgage) by summer of 2015!

Our debt mainly consists of a HELOC loan we had to take out to help pay for IVF expenses for our son (Read our successful IVF story here). Our son is now six months old, and we knew going into this cycle that we would incur some debt! Time is ticking, and I’m going to be 40 in about two years, so we didn’t want to wait any longer. We also have my husband’s student loan, which has about $3,000 left on the balance. So, we’ve had to implement some DRASTIC strategies to get rid of our debt as fast possible. Here are some of the things we have done/are doing to get out of debt as fast as possible:

1. Sold our car. Yep, we eliminated $20,599 in debt in one day by selling our car to a local dealership for 130% value at their Columbus Day buy-back event. Now, yes, they did try to talk us out of that 130%, but we stuck to our guns, and walked away with $450 less in payments.

2. Sell your house. We tried this, and even had a realtor come to look at our house, but the market is so terrible in our area, we would have taken a huge loss. We also have lived in our house for over 14 years, and our mortgage isn’t too much higher than any rent amount we would have paid locally. However, we were (and are willing) to move if the time is right and if we can eventually turn a profit from selling. There are many others out there who might not be in such an economically depressed housing market, and definitely evaluate to see if this is the right option for you! I do know of others who opted to go for a Short Sale of their house, and were able to at least get out from under the payment.

3. Sell your stuff. We had a yard sale this summer and earned over $200 from selling our stuff! Check out our tips for how to have The Best Yardsale EVER! Also, check out local Facebook Yard Sale groups. So many of my local friends are in our local group and this is a great way to have a yard sale on the go! You can always check out Craigslist, eBay, and other sites as well!

4. Walk to work. My husband actually rode his bike to work for awhile to help stay in shape. Right now its a little tougher because he often has to go pick up our son from the sitter. However, this was one way that he saved us a large chunk of change when he was in nursing school! If he didn’t ride his bike, he would often walk to school, which really cut down on gas costs!

5. Get rid of cable. We are in the process of doing this, but we have to drive the cable box to a town about 20 miles away, and I just haven’t had the time to do this! I’m off for two weeks at Christmas and plan on taking the box back then, which will eliminate about $100 a month from our bill budget! Woot woot! Instead we have opted to stream Netflix through our Wii, and we can also jump online and watch shows directly from various networks.

6. Dump the landline. While we need our landline for our business fax, this would be the next thing I would get rid of immediately! Why pay for a landline (unless you need it for a business fax) when you have your cell phone!

7. Reshop for new/better insurance. I just recently found out I had life insurance coverage through work, and I’ve been paying for life insurance for several years. I will be getting rid of this as well over the holidays! I’m basically paying for coverage we don’t need, so that will put about $30-$40 back in my pocket each month. Since we got rid of our car, and I’m driving grandma’s car right now, that is one less insurance payment as well!

8. Pick up a second job. I’ve recently told so many people locally about my experience with Young Living Essential Oils, and I’ve started earning a part-time income from this business! It has been amazing, and I even have a BONUS offer for anyone who places orders through my blog! For years I tutored in the evenings, but stopped when our first son came home from Guatemala. However, I have recently started picking up new students again, and this money really helps with school expenses for my son! I’ve also recently started with Jamberry Nails and LOVE it! I don’t have to do any extra work except wear the nail wraps, because so many people ask me about them!

9. Read books from the library or check out our FREE Kindle eBook post each day!

10. Drop the gym membership. You don’t need a gym membership to get a good workout. I just ran around my neighborhood with my Map My Run app, and burned almost 200 calories in no time flat! Unless you can score a REALLY good deal (we do have a local gym that offers a $10/month fee, which is tough to beat), it is worth the savings to run up and down the steps at your house, walk the mall, or even throw Just Dance into the Wii!