Talaat and Tai McNeely and their kids
Tinley Park, IL — A couple from Illinois have successfully paid off their $330,000 debt in just 5 years, and many are wondering how they managed to be debt-free in such a short time. The couple, Talaat and Tai McNeely, have since turned their experience into a successful YouTube channel and series of online courses called His & Her Money to help other couples manage their money as a team.
After discovering Talaat had over $30,000 of debt from credit cards and vehicles, Tai almost backed out on getting married to him. However, they still pushed through — even though struggling at first — until they paid off that $30,000 in just their first year of being married.
Their next goal was to buy a house. The McNeelys bought their home in Illinois in June 2013. Even though they were living off a single income with Talaat earning a so-called “middle-class salary” as a special education teacher and school administrator and Tai being a stay-at-home mom, they managed to finish the payment for the house mortgage in just five years — which is 25 years ahead of schedule!
Just like them, an average American household also had debts such as credit card debt, student loans, house mortgage, among others. Tai and Talaat shared six simple, yet effective strategies to help pay off any amount of debt.
One is having multiple bank accounts. Tai and Talaat said they have 13 bank accounts such as for dining out, for vacation, for car fund, for annual or bi-annual bills, and for a main household checking account where their direct deposit comes in and where they get the money for all the different 13 bank accounts. They said separating everything and organizing it makes it easier for them to budget their money.
They also said making payments at least two times a month is helpful. “By doing that, we were able to pay the same amount of money each month, but it ended up being an extra payment a year. So that knocked off some years of our mortgage,” Tai said. It also applies to other loans as if paying the equivalent of 13 monthly payments per year instead of just 12.
Moreover, Tai shared that whenever Talaat got a raise, they would put the extra money toward their house payment instead of increasing their standard of living. She said, “I would do the calculations, I would break it up by 12 months, and I would call our mortgage company and say, ‘Hey, I need you all to increase our mortgage payment by XYZ.'”
Another thing that could help pay off debts is turning hobbies into side hustles. The added income from side hustles such as dog walking, creating crafts, freelance writing or editing, or selling clothes can be very helpful even though it’s just doing something enjoyable, yet profitable from home.
Instead of scrambling for money whenever bills that are due every six months, or every quarter, or every year come, Tai suggests planning ahead for it. Tai said. “What we did was, let’s say we had a bill for $1,200. We took that and divided it by 12 months and that’s $100 a month. So $100 every single month came from our main checking account to our monthly bill account, so when those bills came new, we had some money.”
While paying off their debt, Talaat made sure he and his family still enjoy life and have fun to avoid burning out and eventually failing. They bring their children to free activities at their local library and Home Depot and take trips to Wisconsin.
“It’s not about not having fun, it’s not about not having a life,” Talaat said. “It’s just building the fun and building the social life into the confines of the plan that you created for yourself to get out of debt.
For more details about the couple and their online courses, visit www.hisandhermoney.com
Watch their video below: