Not only did the Hartzogs map out a strict budget, but the pair also looked for other ways to bring in income.

“We increased our income as much as we can,” said Anthony. “It’s like, well I’m getting a free gym membership at a high-end gym. I’m getting paid to be here.”

He and his wife took an extra job at their local gym and even turned to various phone apps to build up their side hustles to draw in more dough.

From the peer-to-peer car rental service, Turo, to a dog-sitting company, Rover, both of them were taking on additional jobs to meet their goal of becoming completely debt-free.

“Since I work from home it was just easy,” Jhanilka said. “And our dog was pretty shy around other dogs, so it made him more comfortable.”

The pair even started a cleaning service, Maids 2 Match, to create more ways to bring in money.

Jhanilka, 31, is a licensed mental health counselor and Anthony, 33, is a director for a New York-based IT firm. Both knew that they wanted to do things for income outside of their 9-to-5 jobs — so they did, and clearly, it worked.

In December 2018, the Hartzogs met their goal just 23 months after starting and paying off their $114,151 in debt. Thanks to their unique spending habits, they could even buy a new car and pay it off within one year.

Now that they remain debt-free, the plan is to travel the world with their sights upon places like Brazil, Greece, and Morocco for this year.

Debt Management

Sign up for our daily Newsletter.