An Irishwoman has told how giving up takeaways and making €2 meals helped her clear an €18,000 debt in one year.
Grainne McNamee, 33, explained how she and husband Ryan's "mindless" spending left them thousands in the red.
But after Ryan faced redundancy in July 2017, the couple realised their spending had to change.
She said: "We’d recently bought a new car on finance, but it was on a complete whim.
“We literally walked into the car dealership and drove out in a brand-new car the same day, having signed up to what was essentially another €12,200 loan.
"This meant that each month, we were forking out over €450 in loan payments, just to meet the minimum required.
"It was at this point that I made the decision to try and clear over €17,850 worth of debt in just 12 months — something that some friends and family thought was far too ambitious at the time. But I was really determined to get our finances back on track.
"It took a while to get Ryan on board but eventually we were able to sit down and really fine tune our spending — cancelling memberships and direct debits that weren’t absolutely essential, and changing the way we viewed money in general.
"Soon we were paying about €1,115 in loan overpayments each month, and our total debt gradually reduced."
The Belfast pair calculated that they were spending €550 on food each month - particularly on takeaways and eating out.
But Grainne said that figures nose-dived once they ditched junk food and began a week-by-week shoppinh schedule.
She told the Irish Sun: "It wasn’t until I totted up the figures that I realised we were spending around €550 a month on food alone, which is a massive amount for just two people.
"So, I set about learning how to batch cook, meal plan, and started food shopping week-by-week instead of day-by-day which is what we had been doing.
"When you’re really trying to be careful with your spending and get the absolute most for your money, Musclefood hampers are fantastic.
"I now cook up hearty but healthy meals like Chinese pork ramen, meatball marinara and chicken katsu curry.
"When meal planning, I usually make a mental note of one night where we will be eating leftovers, usually just before our weekly food shop.
"Another tip would be to learn how to eat repeatedly, so eating dishes throughout the week which have similar or the same components.
"This may sound boring, but it gives you the opportunity to be really creative whilst being cost efficient as you can buy in bulk, and really make your groceries stretch further."
In July 2018, just 12 months after their spending habits changed, Grainne announced on her Instagram blog that the couple were debt free.
She added: "Ryan and I got married last year with no debt, and we’re now saving so much money every month that I can actually afford to just work two days a week!
"This gives me time to concentrate on my Instagram blog and I even wrote a book in December last year, called How to Get Out of Debt: An Eight-Stage Strategy to Pay Off Debt and Fix Your Finances for Good.
"People often think that living frugally means being miserable, but I’m the happiest I’ve ever been."
Follow her story here .
