In 2008, Deacon and Kim Hayes, now 38 and 40, respectively, had just gotten married. Attempting to get a handle>Get 'a clear picture' of your spending
"I think every journey starts with having a clear picture of where you actually are," says Deacon. That is to say taking inventory of everything you make and everything you spend per month and "putting it either down>'Put some boundaries around variable expenses'
Deacon recommends you "put some boundaries around variable expenses," or>Ask service providers if they 'have any better packages'
Another savings tip Deacon offers is to take inventory of all of the bills you're paying and call up the service providers to see how you can cut the costs.
"Car insurance, cellphone bill, internet, anything like that," he says. Call up customer service representatives and say, '"Hey, I've been with you for a while, you guys have any deals going on? Do you have any better packages than what I have?'"
"All of a sudden you're saving $200-$300 a month just for making a few phone calls," he says.
Deacon looked into how he and his wife could consolidate their services. Instead of each being on a different cellphone provider, one party would join the other's service and end up saving on their plan. When looking at each bill, "My line was, 'How can I make this number smaller?'" says Deacon.
"On the whole, it was probably somewhere around $600-$800 a month that we were saving that we could put towards our debt," he says.
