How to Stay Motivated When Paying Off Debt

Paying off debt can be super exciting, especially at first!

But what do you do if you just feel like you a in a rut with your finances and debt payoff journey?

Here are some tips to help you stay motivated while paying off debt!

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Give Yourself Fun Money

One of the most important parts of paying off debt is making it sustainable.

You’ll get burnt out very quickly if you don’t allow yourself some free range in your budget.

That’s why I always recommend that people have a fun money category where they have some amount of money to spend on whatever they want.

Let’s face it, you’ll still impulse buy items sometimes. And sometimes you just want to treat yourself to Starbucks instead of your iced coffee at home. And that is totally okay!

Making room in your budget for fun money will actually allow you to stick to your debt payoff journey for the long haul.

This means that you’ll pay off way more debt than you would if you hit debt payoff hard and then quit.

Personally, I have a monthly “fun money” category in my budget as well as a sinking fund called “treat yo self” where I put money aside every month to save for a bigger purchase for myself.

Related: The Beginner’s Guide to YNAB

Utilize Visual Trackers

I absolutely love visual trackers. If you are looking for some fun ones for debt payoff and savings goals, I have my free printables available here that include tons of different debt trackers!

Sometimes debt payoff can feel like it’s moving at a glacial pace compared to what you want. That’s when visual trackers really help to motivate you to keep going!

They show you just how far you’ve come!

It’s also such a great feeling when you get to color in more lines or parts of your debt tracker after you make a payment.

Change Your Budget Incrementally

I talk about this all of the time, but I really think it’s crucial in sticking to paying off debt.

Many people try to slash anything they can from their budget in order to pay off more debt, but that can cause burnout.

If you want to cut your grocery budget in half, it’s not realistic to do that over night.

Instead, make incremental cuts to your grocery category by $25-50/month to find sustainable ways to save more on groceries.

That means more money to put toward debt in the long run.

Do a Savings Challenge

Savings challenges are an awesome way to kickstart a savings goal or emergency fund, but they are also super helpful for motivating you to save more money to put toward debt.

If you’re a cash spender, you could do a savings challenge where you save every $5 bill you come across for a year.

If you aren’t much for cash (because, same) then doing something like the 52 week savings challenge that I have in my printables is a great way to make putting money aside more fun!

I highly recommend these to beginners, but they are just as awesome if you are feeling like you’re in a rut with your finances. It’s a great feeling to calculate just how much you’ve saved at the end of the month or year!

Related: 5 Quick Ways to Save Money TODAY

Find a Budget Friend

You know how people are more productive when surrounded by other people who are being productive? It’s the same way with paying off debt!

A great way to stay motivated when paying off debt is to get a friend to join the journey with you.

It can be so nice to have someone to talk to, motivate you, and who understands the struggles of trying to become debt free.

So if you’re feeling “bleh” about your debt payoff journey right now, try finding a friend that wants to join you and pay off debt themselves!

This can reignite the fire in you to become passionate about your debt free journey again!