Just like when trying to lose weight, the relationship with food has to change. Meaning your lifestyle has to change. The same thing happens when paying off debt or reaching FIRE. All the extra and unimportant things must be cut off or at least cheaper options found.
Once your cost-of-living is decreased, you can start increasing your debt payment or savings rate. However, I do not recommend doing the gazelle intense that many doing the Dave Ramsey method if you are not comfortable with it. Sometimes rushing to pay some debt off means that you might end up in the same position that you started at, this is because the lessons to be learned were not completed.
YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR HABITS
If you apply the steps of cinching your diet on your finances and slowly cut your spending. As well as allowing yourself to have some ‘cheat’ spending days. Just like when you are on a weight-type of diet. You’ll then be set for life, as the lessons learned will stick. In this way, you will have become the tortoise in the race to become debt free. Just like I talk about in another post. You do not want to be the hare, becoming tired before the race is over. You want to be the tortoise and make it to the finish line.
BECOMING DEBT-FREE IS NOT JUST A FINISH LINE
Becoming debt free should be a lifestyle choice, not just a finish line. This is why I think people should focus on their spending habits and see what caused them to become debt-ridden. If you identify and change those behaviors, then you will ensure that you only have to do this journey one time.