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How We Paid Off $60,000 of Debt in 7 Months: The Exact Framework

From the show · November 3, 2026 · Andrew Rocha

I bought the steel-toe boots for my warehouse job at Value Village for $5. They were a full size too small, and within fifteen minutes of every shift my big toe went numb. I needed them because I'd just come home from my honeymoon to find out I'd been laid off. The company was going under, so I did what any reasonable person would do and took the first job anyone offered me.

My wife and I were living in an 800 square foot basement suite. We had more than $60,000 of debt, and when we went through the budget line by line, we had $5 left after every bill was paid. Our main source of protein was canned chickpeas from the dollar store. To say life wasn't going great was an understatement.

Less than seven months later, the debt was gone.

On this week's episode of The Currency of Happiness I walked through the exact framework we used, step by step: three ways to get out of debt, and the seven steps we followed once we were out. This is the written version, with the sources behind the numbers.

Why you shouldn't listen to me (and why you might)

First, this is education, not advice. I don't know your situation, and big decisions deserve someone who does.

But I've spent eight years in banking, I'm a top 1% banker, and since paying off that debt we've built a 7-figure real estate portfolio. I've also sat across the desk from a lot of people whose money was pulling the rest of their life apart.

The numbers back that up. In the second quarter of 2026, Canadian households held about $1.76 in credit market debt for every dollar of disposable income, according to Statistics Canada (CP24). And money fights do real damage at home. A Kansas State University study of more than 4,500 couples found that arguments about money were the strongest predictor of divorce of all the topics it looked at. Lead researcher Sonya Britt put it plainly: "It's not children, sex, in-laws or anything else. It's money" (ScienceDaily).

I didn't want to be another one of those numbers.

Start with your why

Simon Sinek's TED talk on starting with why has been watched more than 60 million times, so I'm not exactly breaking news here (Simon Sinek). His point is that people are moved by why they do something, long before what or how.

My kids are a good test of this. If I ask my middle son what he wants to be when he grows up, he'll probably say a fire truck (not a firefighter, an actual fire truck). Why? Because they drive past our house sometimes and they look pretty cool. How? Maybe Elon Musk designs some new technology, or maybe he turns into a Transformer. There's a what and a how, and nothing underneath them.

A lot of debt plans look like that. "Be debt free" is a what. "Stop eating out" is a how. When it gets hard, neither one keeps you going.

Sitting in that basement suite, my why came down to two things. I wanted to be part of the solution for families like ours, not another statistic. And the selfish one: I wanted to be able to retire my wife early.

Figure out yours first. Then pick from the three ways below.

Way one: sell stuff

We walked around our 800 square feet and sold almost everything. The dining room furniture went, and so did some of the plates. We weren't inviting anyone over for dinner anyway, so why did we need them? We didn't have a TV either, so movie nights with our nieces happened on a small iPad. We made it work.

Then we started selling other people's stuff. (Legally. Please don't steal things.) Twice a year in our city, people put the big items they don't want on their front lawn for anyone to take. My wife and I drove around picking them up. One time we found two cases of golf clubs and sold them for a few hundred dollars. We also bought returned Amazon goods for about $25 and resold them online for a couple hundred.

When you're digging out of debt, you usually have more time than money. Use the time.

Way two: earn more

This should be obvious, but in a lot of the conversations I have, it isn't.

If you don't have a job, get one. There's no judgment in that. But if you want to pay debt down fast, you need money coming in to throw at it.

Then think about a second one. While I worked at the warehouse, I was also delivering food. I kept delivering after I moved to the bank, too. One day I met with a client about their finances, then got in my car for a delivery shift and brought that same client a pizza. It was a funny moment for both of us. I think it also showed them I took my own money seriously, and that helped them take theirs seriously.

The last option is the one most people never try: ask for a raise. This is how I set up that conversation. I ask my leader what it means to be a top performer, and I get the answer in writing. I find three things I can do in the next three months. Then I go back and say, "This is what you told me a top performer does. I've done all three. What would it look like to match my salary to a top performer's?" You add value before you ask for it back.

If they say no, that's okay. Maybe you're not a top performer yet, and now you know what to work on. And if you are and they still won't move, there's nothing wrong with looking at other companies.

Way three: spend less

This is the part everyone hates. I'll get the most hate comments for this one. But you need to fill the holes in your bucket.

Once a year I call every company that bills me and negotiate. You can call me a Karen, but it works time and time again. I'll call the internet provider and say, "I love the service you're providing, but I'm wondering if I could keep the same level of service and pay less for it." I always go in kind. If they say no, I say that's okay and ask if there's anyone else I could speak to. Even $20 a month off a two-year contract is $480, and that money can go straight at your debt.

Next, look for cheaper alternatives. Maybe the coffee comes from home for a while. Maybe the phone plan changes. We moved to an online-only sister brand of a big carrier and now pay $30 a month for the same plan that costs $90 at the main company.

And buy secondhand. Most of my wardrobe back then came from thrift stores and Marketplace, in great condition, at a fraction of the price. (The boots were the exception. My toes still haven't forgiven me.)

The seven steps that came after

You've probably heard of Dave Ramsey. If you haven't, look him up and you'll find an older guy who's a bit grumpy and likes to yell about money. I'm not going to yell at you, but his seven Baby Steps gave us a road map (Ramsey Solutions):

  1. Save $1,000 for a starter emergency fund. A lot of people reach for a credit card when something goes wrong, which means they're relying on the card company instead of themselves. This fund is for real emergencies. Forgetting your lunch isn't one. Worn-out tires aren't either; you should already be setting money aside for those.
  2. Pay off all debt except the house, using the debt snowball. More on that below.
  3. Save three to six months of expenses. If your job would be hard to replace like for like, aim for the bigger number.
  4. Invest 15% of your household income in retirement. Wait until the debt is gone. If you're paying 20% on a credit card and earning maybe 6% in the market, you're losing the difference.
  5. Save for your kids' education. This comes after your own retirement. Otherwise your retirement plan becomes your kids, and I don't think they want you living in their basement.
  6. Pay off your home early. In the Ramsey team's study of 10,000 American millionaires, 67% lived in paid-off homes, and the average one paid off their home in 11 years (The Wealth Advisor).
  7. Build wealth and give. To your church, a charity, whatever cause has been on your heart. Once the debt and the house are paid off, you can give with real force behind it.

Why the smallest debt goes first

The step people argue with most is the debt snowball. You list your debts from smallest to largest, make the minimum payment on everything, and throw every extra dollar at the smallest one. When it's gone, that whole payment rolls onto the next smallest.

On paper, you should pay the highest interest rate first. But we are wired for easy wins. If something takes a long time, we drift back to old habits before we ever get one.

There's research on this. Kellogg School of Management professors David Gal and Blakeley McShane looked at records from nearly 6,000 people in a debt settlement program. The people who closed more of their accounts were more likely to finish the program than people who had paid off the same amount of money across fewer accounts (Kellogg Insight). Gal admits that "from a rational perspective, you should always pay the higher interest balances first." We just aren't purely rational.

So whether your smallest debt is a $1,000 credit card or a $5,000 loan, start there. It's a snowball at the top of a hill. It starts small, picks up speed, and by the bottom it's big enough to take out everything in its way.

What the emergency fund bought us

Two years ago, my older brother was suddenly in the hospital. We lived three provinces away. My wife bought the plane ticket, booked the hotel room and told me to go.

I could go because we had that emergency fund. Without it, I probably wouldn't have been able to visit him, and I probably wouldn't have had that last conversation with him.

That's what the money is for.

Your turn

All of this goes back to one moment: eating chickpeas in that basement suite (not at the dinner table, because we'd sold it) and wondering if this was what life was going to be. We followed this exact framework. I retired my wife before I turned 30, and we've grown a rental portfolio since.

Take ten minutes this week and write down:

  • Your why, in one sentence. "Be debt free" doesn't count.
  • Every debt you have, smallest to largest.
  • One thing you can sell, one way to earn more and one bill you can call about.

If you want help turning that into a plan, our free goal-setting framework is built around the Six Fs: finances, family, friends, faith, fitness and freedom. It works for money and a lot more. You can grab it at thecurrencyofhappiness.com/guide.

So what's the smallest debt on your list right now?

Listen to the full episode of The Currency of Happiness wherever you get your podcasts. If this was useful, send it to someone who could use it.

Sources