Hi,
I’m 25yrs with no kids, 2 car payments (I live in New Jersey) and recently married. (Everyone situation is different). I started 2018 with a brand new job but 12k in credit card debt with high interest rates & 3k in medical and zero savings. I’m ending 2018 with 10k in liquid cash and 4K in 401k and 3k in individual investment account. Here’s how I did it. I downloaded mint in January and it showed me my spending pattern and my financial status. I created a budget and cut my spending by 50% I was spending way to much on food almost as much as my rent. So, I started cooking and food prep every week. I’m now sepending only $300+ per month on food. And I’m also a bodybuilder so no I don’t starve myself. My wife and I split the rent and I pay for everything else. One job wasn’t cutting it so I got a second job in April. The second job was purely used to pay Credit Card debt because the interest was killing me. I finished paying off all credit cards in July. Started saving in August. I started my 401k in June. And my individual investment account in August. For Christmas I set $150 per person for gifts that I’m sure I will buy something and a box of cards for everyone else that I will just give a card. Turned out I only spent &1800 for Christmas expenses vs 4K+ in previous years. And I sold items that I no longer need on eBay for extra income to pay for my Christmas expense. So basically.. I monitored my finances, built a decipline budget and stick to it, Find help where I could, took advantage of cash back from the credit cards, my credit score automatically went up in the whole process, work multiple jobs to increase income while decreasing expenditures, sell stuff I don’t need and built an investment portfolio. It was a hectic year now I comfortably work one Job and 2019 will be twice as better now I learnt how to manage my finances and credit. Stuff we never learn in school. Hope this helps.
