What better way than bacon? (Alternatively titled: Getting out of debt.)

I had run up a hefty student line of credit from living in England and owed OSAP a large amount. It does bear to be emphasized that I will never in a million years regret moving to England, it just set me back a wee bit.

Here is what I did to get out of debt as quickly as humanly possible.

1. Took a look at the amount of money I owed. – I had spent a lot of time ignoring the amount and hoping it would go away. Last fall, I sat down and tallied up the final amount. I spent a few days in stunned silence, but it was important to know where I was starting out from.

2. Track your spending habits: I called it budgeting, but it was more or less just tracking what I bought. I saved all my receipts and bought an awesome book to track it all in. (The irony of this does not escape me). What I did was not budgeting because I hate when someone tells me how to spend my money, even if that person is me. I tried to redefine what was necessary and buy accordingly. (Starbucks made the list of necessities..)

3. Created a few challenges for myself: I created a goal of when I thought was reasonable to be out of debt and worked hard towards it. Last September – January, I went on a clothing fast where I didn’t buy a single article of clothing for 4 months. I survived and I remained fully clothed. I now justify clothing expenses as blog expenses – Fashion Friday…right?..

4. Met with a financial advisor: I sat down with a professional who gave me the ins and outs of money management and helped me set up all the accounts that someone at my stage of life should have. The poor lady received many emails over the past number of months but I have been so grateful for the advice.

5. Worked approximately 60 hours a week. This is the crazy one. I treated debt like a marathon – it is a long haul – it sucks – you just need to keep moving. Someone recently asked me if this is sustainable longterm. NO! As of June, I am cutting my hours almost in half to have a summer, plan my sisters wedding, train for a marathon and have a social life again. I frequently worked 12 hour days, but my argument is that it was winter and I wouldn’t have done much anyways.

So there you have it. Is my way for everyone? Absolutely not. This is just what I did and as I said – I wanted to pay it off as fast as humanly possible. That being said – it is a huge relief to have the hard work behind me and to look forward to a summer with a bit more play.