When I was paying down my debt, I had a practice of sharing my tentative budget at the beginning of each month and posting the final numbers at the end. During those two years, there were months when I put up to 55 percent of my income toward debt repayment. It was a tad aggressive, but I did whatever I had to in order to get my balances down to $0. When that day finally came, I felt freer—lighter—and like the world had opened so many new doors for me. For the first time in my life, I could set real savings goals, like putting aside 20 percent of my income for retirement.
