The Method This Couple Used to Pay Off $51,000 of Debt in 2.5 Years

It doesn't take long for credit card debt to rack up—and for the Debt Free Guys, John and David, that's exactly what happened. "We were buying things we didn't need with money we didn't have," they explain. After discovering they had over $50,000 of debt between them, it was time to make a change. The first step? Start with a plan.  

Figure out where you're spending your money  

"I took a look at every single penny that we were spending over the previous year. Our biggest outlier, was one that many Americans struggle with, and that was our dining out and grocery budget. So we realized we had to become super meticulous with our grocery shopping buying items that were either on sale, with a coupon, or ideally both," they explain. "We didn't stop going out to eat all together, but we dialed that back so we had that much more money that gets funneled towards our credit card debt."  

It's also important to "money chunk"  

"Instead of spending all of our money right when we got our paychecks, as we normally would, we decided to chunk out our paychecks, so that we had specific amounts of money set aside for very specific categories. We weren't tempted, then, to start using our credit cards."  

Going for NSE (AKA not so expensive) options  

"As we age, or as our incomes increase, most of us experience lifestyle changes. What we could do for $20 at one time suddenly costs $60. So we realized if we got more strategic with how we spent our money, we could have that much more money that we could save towards our credit card debt," explain John and David. The bottom line? "You can still appreciate and enjoy the things you like, but finding slightly cheaper alternatives will help you stretch your dollars further."  

Send it before you spend it 

"We've all been there. Paycheck comes rolling in, we see that balance in our account, we get excited, and what do we do? We go out and have fun. Then, the bills start rolling in and we switch to using our credit cards," say David and John. "When that money comes in, make sure you send it—whether it's to bills or credit cards—pay that off first, then you know exactly how much money you can have fun with."  

Follow The Debt-Lasso Method

"The Debt-Lasso Method comes down to five steps." And David and John are going to break those down for us.  

Commit. "Commit to not using your credit cards anymore. Commit to a specific dollar amount you'll send to your credit card balances every single month," they explain.  

Trim. "With that committed balance you'll send to your credit card every single month, you can pay off a couple credit cards in the first month or two and get some quick wins under your belt." 

Lasso. "Bring as many of those credit cards into as few locations as possible and driving interest rates down as close to zero as you can get it."  

Automate. "A lot of folks miss their credit card payments and other bills because they forget about them. So, automate as many bills as you can, so that you don't miss them."  

Monitor. "You want to make sure all of that is happening every month, but also when you pay off a credit card, you want to shift the payment from that credit card over to those other credit cards."