An Australian couple have revealed how they racked up $151,000 worth of debt despite having well paid jobs.
Toneille Rowlands and her partner from Brisbane are earning about $300,000 a year between them, but Ms Rowlands said she first got into debt when she was a student working in retail on minimum wage.
She now shares her journey to getting debt free on social media and said there were five mistakes she made that got her into the red.
Ms Rowlands, who now works in construction management, said the first money lesson she learnt the hard way was to avoid the ‘bad debt trap’ of taking out high interest credit cards or loans and treating it as free money.
‘Debt is marketed to people. The credit was available to use and, over time, it just accumulated,’ she told news.com.au.
She said she wasn’t being extravagant, but that items like cars payments, trips and vet bills just added up.
The second lesson was to avoid ‘lifestyle creep’ where spending increases with higher income.
‘We were earning more money… and thinking I had more money to play with,’ she said.
Toneille Rowlands and her partner are on well paid jobs but still paying down $151,000 worth of debt
The third was to avoid impulse buys and to learn to ‘wait for what you want’.
‘It can save you big bucks later. Wait 24 hours before a purchase. Do you really need it or are you filling a void?’
The fourth mistake Ms Rowland said she made is that she didn’t have a budget.
‘If you don’t track your money, you’ll always wonder where it went.’
And rule number five was to have an emergency fund.
‘Be prepared so (if you suddenly need money) it doesn’t derail your finances.
‘These lessons cost me time and money, but they were worth it to learn,’ she said.
Over 2024, Ms Rowland said by focusing on these rules in combination with growing her income, she has paid off $67,000 of the debt.
The Brisbane resident said she was especially proud of paying off her car loan which came with a huge burden of interest
The couple are aiming to be debt free by March 2026.
‘Between August to December 2024 when my partner and I started doing our budgeting together our income over that five months was to 97,000.’
About 60 per cent went towards expenses, groceries, bills and subscriptions, while 22 per cent went towards paying off debts.
About 10 per cent was savings and the remainder was for investments and spending money.
‘I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved in those five months. We’ve paid off two phone plans, paid out two credit cards and also sold and paid out my car.
‘Our expenses are definitely high but that is because we had two holidays, refurbished our place when we moved in together and there’s just been one vet bill after the next.
‘But tracking every expense really allows us to identify where we did well and where we can improve for this year.’
Ms Rowland said she was especially relieved she paid off her car loan.
Ms Rowlands, who works as a construction manager, said debt was ‘marketed’ to people
‘The interest on that thing nearly killed me.
‘Throughout the year, I made consistent repayments totaling to nearly $10,000.
‘But I had this goal of really wanting to pay my car off by the end of the year.
‘As the year went on, I realised that the freedom of being debt free was worth more to me than keeping the actual car.
‘So I made the tough decision to sell it and that helped me make the final payment of $18,850.’
