Last Updated on October 10, 2019

The debt-free success stories started back in July and surprisingly, it’s doing well.

There are so many phenomenal individuals out here who are committed to becoming debt-free with the hopes of eventually achieving a lifestyle that’s based around financial freedom.

Today, I am sharing another story in the Debt Free Success Series. This is a phenomenal debt success story from Sahirenys Pierce from The Poised Lifestyle. Y’all, I am a huge fan of Sahirenys. In fact, I started following her almost two years ago on Instagram and have been hooked ever since. I consider her to be one of many big sisters on Instagram. She is a wife and a mother of two toddlers. Both her and her husband have successfully paid off $99,000 in debt in 5 years. As of September 2019, she is celebrating her 6 month anniversary of being debt-free! Her personal story contains tips and inspiration for paying off debt and working forwards living a life that’s financially free!

Check out our interview below.

Complete the sentence “I knew I was debt-free when….”

I officially dropped my cost of living to the bare minimum. We saw debt-freedom as a way to lower our cost of living and afford our lifestyle in Southern California.

Tell me a little about yourself?

I am a Dominican millennial mom of two toddlers living in sunny San Diego, California. We love to cook appetizers at home and do family walks at the beach or in our neighborhood.

What did your debt consist of and how much did you (or do you) owe? 

Our debt mainly consisted of student loans and car loans. We both were first-time college graduates in our families and took out student loans to make ends meet while being a full-time student and working. Also due to the landscape of California, a car is a big necessity when commuting to work. Together we owed $99,102 just in student loans and cars loans.

At what point did you realize you wanted to be debt-free?

When I started my career in the financial services industry I was informed that I couldn’t file bankruptcy and that was a big wake up call to me. I had to be open and honest to my future husband about our financial security and we both decided to get rid of our student loans before getting married.

What steps did you take to reduce your debt?

We worked a lot of overtime, with my husband working 60+ hours with his regular career and side projects. I took another route to increase my income by getting certified and increasing my role in my company. That plus working on our food budget really allowed us to pay off our student loans much quicker.

What was the most difficult challenge you faced in eliminating your debt?

The most difficult challenge was the stability of not having a large emergency fund and having to cash flow our wedding. Accomplishing the two were big milestones for us and surprisingly we knocked them out at the same time as paying off our debt.

Now that you’ve reached this goal, what’s next for you?

We’re focused on building generational wealth for our family. We are doing this by focusing on building a strong foundation for our family by having a fully-funded emergency fund, maxing out our retirement, and building our businesses.