Debt Mindset Series: Breaking Free With a Debt Challenge (2024)

Paying off debt can be tiring after a while. I’ve been on an aggressive debt payoff journey for over two years now and I’ve lost some steam quite a few times although I just have a small student loan balance left.

When it comes to crushing your debt, motivation and mindset are key and we all find motivation from different sources. For Candice, she started a debt challenge to motivate herself and others to crush their debt payoff goals. In just 11 weeks, she and 10 others took the challenge and paid off $39,000+ collectively.

I’m excited to my interview with her about her debt story but first, here’s a little more information about Candice.

Candice Marie is passionate about helping people take control of their finances. She started the blog Young Yet Wise as a way to document her own money journey, as a result she’s managed to bring her net worth from the negatives into the positives and wants to help others do the same. Candice enjoys long walks to the bank, eating dark chocolate, working out and reading personal finance books.

Describe your debt situation. How much you have/had and how you accumulated it.

The majority of my debt comes from my student loans. I graduated with $38,000 of debt which was still a blessing to me because my school cost $47,000 a year.

I do remember accumulating credit card debt and it took a few months to pay off the balance since I was only paying the minimum amount. It was upsetting that every time I got paid, I would have to pay this other bill and interest. So once I paid if off, I made sure to pay the full amount on my credit cards each month.

Related: Creating a Student Loan Debt Repayment Plan of Attack

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When did you decide your debt was a problem? Did you have an ‘aha moment’ and what triggered it?

My older cousin had asked me what’s my net worth? My net worth? I had only really heard of a net worth when it came to celebrities, I never really considered my own.

My cousin proceeded to tell me that if I was 23, then my net worth should be at least $23,000. I had nowhere near $23,000 in assets. How could this even be possible when I graduated with 38,000 of student loan debt, on top of my credit card debt? I didn’t want to know my net worth because I knew It would be in the negatives. I didn’t want to sit down and calculate that number because I knew it would mean that I would have to make some serious changes.

Did you implement a specific strategy to start paying off your debt? Why did you use that strategy?

Once I finally wrote down the exact amount of debt I had, I created a plan to pay it off. I decided to use the snowball method and get rid of the debt with the smallest balance first.

After a while, paying off debt alone was boring, so I created a debt challenge and got other people involved. It was like a debt competition to see who could pay off the most debt in 11 weeks. Collectively 10 of us ended up paying off $39,500 of debt in just 11 weeks.

Related: Staying Motivated During Debt Payoff

What were some obstacles you were/are faced with?

I loved having a community of like-minded people who had a similar goal as me, which is to get out of debt. Creating my debt challenge really helped me stay motivated and focused because I would see other people putting lots of money towards their debt and so that would motivate me to put more money towards mine.

Of course, there are days where you don’t want to put your extra money toward your debt, but once you start seeing progress and you see your debt going down and your net worth increasing it’s exciting.

What motivates you? What would you say to people who think they can’t get out of debt in an attempt to change their mindset?

Small steps each day create massive results over time. Just keep going and keep putting money toward your debt and you will start to see changes. Also, you need to set some guilt free money aside that you can spend any way you would like.

If you put every dime you have towards your debt, you will be miserable.

Learn More About Candice

You can keep up with Candice by checking out her website YoungYetWise and by connecting with her on Instagram and Snapchat @ youngyetwise

Candice has also created a free slay your debt guide so if you’re struggling with debt pay off and interested, you can sign up here