Several months ago, I posted on the GRS forum looking for advice. I had a new job, a wonderful girlfriend, and was feeling a crunch from an over large rent payment, student loans, and clothes for the new job. Shortly thereafter, I got into credit card debt to pay for such things as furniture (a bed and a couple of chairs.). My student loans were 15% of my gross income.

I wasn't sure how to get out of the problems, and couldn't see a way to save. Each month, I'd pay down the bills and then the newly accrued debt on my Credit Card.


With my tax refund, I was able to get out of credit card debt.
1. I have reduced my rent by a third by moving my relationship with my wonderful girlfriend to the next level.
2. In part thanks to that, I'm paying for a lot fewer meals. We're cooking together pretty often.
3. I put my students loans on a longer plan, and am paying 10% of my gross income. At this rate, it'll be paid off in around 15 years. Unless my gross income goes up, in which case I plan to up the amount I toss at my loans.
4. I've got all the clothes and supplies for work that I should need.
5. Oh, and I got an 8% raise when I hit one year. (Apparently I'm good at this.)
6. Since January, I've been putting 6% into my 401k (6% is where the free money stops.).
7. As of yesterday, I've got a thousand dollars in savings.


I read Get Rich Slowly almost everyday. There's nothing quite like constant attention to ensure you follow through with it.


Thanks GRS.

Congrats! You made some sound economic moves (Although I hope the girl friend moving to next level was an economic decision ) and are reaping the rewards. Keep up the good work!

I agree that a daily dose of GRS and/or other PF blogs is a good way to keep focused.

Thanks! That means quite a bit.

I'm pretty good with numbers, and spend a few minutes each month looking through my CC statement and assessing what everything goes to. Additionally, at this point I'm keeping myself close to a spending-to-date throughout the month. That is, I want my balance to be no higher than X on day Y.

So, if I have scheduled to spend $20 a day, then by day 5 I want the balance to be less than $100.

It seems to be working for me.

Additionally, I just set up ING to automatically save $500 a month. I'm expecting another ~3% COL raise in the early part of next year, so that should let me save more and paydown my loans more, too.