Woman, 26, who earns $45,000 a year, reveals four budget hacks she used to pay off $20,000 in credit card debt in just ONE YEAR — without cutting back on ‘extra spending’
- Lexa VanDamme, 26, has revealed how she paid off $20,000 in credit card debt
- The American content creator and budget expert earned $ 45,000 a year
- She shared the four hacks in a TikTok that has been viewed more than 124,000 times
A woman has revealed how she became a budget expert, paying off $20,000 in credit card debt in just one year — all while earning a salary of just $45,000.
Lexa VanDamme, CEO of The Avocado Toast Budgettook to TikTok to detail the four hacks that helped her get rid of her debt once and for all.
The smart 26 year old shared that she took her spending habits seriously after she became too swipe friendly and racked up $20,000 in credit card bills.
In a viral video that has been viewed more than 124,000 times, the US-based content creator explains how she paid off her debt without cutting “all the extra expenses.”
Lexa took to TikTok to detail the four hacks that helped her get rid of her credit card debt once and for all
She revealed how she became a budget expert, paying off $20,000 in credit card debt in just one year while earning a $45,000 salary
In a viral video, the US-based content creator revealed how she paid off her debt by not spending money on her credit card and refinancing to a personal loan
She captioned the clip, “An overview of how I paid off $20,000 in credit card debt in just one year.”
Lexa started giving her more than 478,000 followers some background on her situation.
“For perspective, I made about $45,000 a year, lived in a two-income household, and we had no kids,” she explained.
Lexa’s first tip was to stop siphoning your credit cards.
She said, “Number one, I stopped spending money on credit cards, at least while I was trying to pay it off.”
She then said she refinanced it into a personal loan, which the budget expert said helped “lower interest rates,” making it easier to pay off.
For her third tip, she recommended that her followers adapt a budgeting system that felt right for their specific situation.
“Number three, I have a budgeting system that works for me. At the time, it was a zero-based budget, but really whatever works for you, you should do that,” she explained.
Zero-based budgeting is a method where all expenses must be allocated and approved.
She also advised her followers to find a budgeting system that works for them and that they don’t cut out all the extra expenses
Viewers flooded her comments section with praise, noting that her story had “inspired” them to take control of their finances
It is a system of starting from scratch each time, rather than starting with the previous period’s budget and changing it as needed.
On her latest hack, she was still indulging in some of the things she loved while staying within budget and working to pay off her debt.
“Number four, I haven’t cut all the extra expenses. Instead, I just cut out the expenses I didn’t really care about, that way I could still spend money on the things I loved, like iced coffee,” she explained.
Viewers flooded her comments section with praise, noting that her story had “inspired” them to take control of their finances.
‘This is so inspiring! I’m in a similar category trying to pay mine all in a year,” said one user.
Another person added, “I love it! My husband and I are trying to pay off a credit card at 21 percent interest. [We] has transferred a balance to a card without interest for 18 months.’
“I have $20,000 credit card debt and have been thinking about getting a personal loan,” someone else wrote.