Frugal postgraduate reveals how she's paying off $166k of debt in 5 years

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Brooke Eichenbaum, 29, is living frugally to pay off $166k in debt, including $137k in student loans and $29k in a car loan.  Since graduating with a physical therapy degree, Brooke has cut costs by cooking 99% of her meals, avoiding new clothes, and opting for low-cost activities.  She earns $5,500 a month, putting $2,000 toward her student loan and $500 toward her car.  After three years, she has reduced her debt to $80k. Brooke’s tips for others: cook at home, avoid new clothes, plan free activities, and track spending.  She hopes her story inspires others to take control of their finances.

Transcript

00:00I have a huge debt payoff update. If you guys didn't know I started with $166,000 in debt

00:06and after my last payment I realized that I have passed the halfway mark. So my student loans are

00:13now at $66,300 and my car is at $15,600 bringing my total debt down to $82,000.

00:24I'm frugal and these are some of my favorite frugal things. I have one emotional support

00:30water bottle and I really don't get the point of having multiple. I've had the same two jeans for

00:34the past several years, a blue pair and a black pair and I don't stress about keeping up with

00:38fast fashion trends. This is all the jewelry I own, most of which was gifted to me, but they're all

00:43things that I actually love and enjoy wearing. I stick to a grocery list so I buy exactly what I

00:49need and no food or money goes to waste. I love my dupe lululemon bag because I don't need to pay

00:54three times the price for their logo. I have a refurbished iphone 14 and I'm okay with not having

00:59the newest model because getting an upgrade every year is a waste of money. This is everything we

01:03eat for dinners this week, cooking at home to save money and pay off our debt. On Monday I made these

01:07chicken tzatziki wraps with air fried sweet potatoes which is so easy and cheap to make and definitely

01:13makes enough for a lot of leftovers. On Tuesday we ran it right back with the leftovers and I usually

01:17like to skip a day between eating the same meal especially because I already had this for lunch

01:22today but I was super exhausted from work and just came home to rot on the couch before my fiance

01:27came home. On Wednesday I made a lemon garlic paprika salmon and a teriyaki salmon to finish a jar of

01:32sauce in the fridge and of course I added some rice and veggies. Y'all know this plate would have been

01:36like $30 in a restaurant plus tip and it was like five bucks. On Thursday I made a big salad and finished

01:42off all the chicken, some shrimp that was in the freezer, the last apple that was about to go bad and I

01:47love making these salads weekly. It's such an easy go-to dinner and the more random stuff in the salad

01:52the better. On Friday I brought home leftovers from my free lunch at work on Fridays which was

01:57this creamy pasta and steak. Oh my gosh it was so good. Free food is the best food. Budget my paycheck

02:04with me as a 29 year old who's trying to pay off $166,000 of debt. My paycheck this week was $2,855

02:11and I had $214 left over from last paycheck so that gives me $3,069 to budget with. Starting off

02:19with my student loans I'm budgeting $750. I already paid my car for this month but I'm going to add $50

02:25to the principal balance. Then I'm going to budget $200 for my IRA and $200 to my sinking funds. I'm

02:31going to set aside half of my rent which is $597 and then my bills coming out in the next two weeks

02:37are my insurance which is $200, my phone bill which is $50, my credit card is $653 and then my water

02:45bill will be $2150. That leaves me with $197 as a buffer until my next paycheck.

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